Social media can be effective in growing your business, but it all starts on where you define your ROI (Return On Investment). In developing a social media strategy for your organization, it is vital to understand what social media can and cannot do and to clearly identify what kinds of investments are required in implementing a strategy.
It is important to remember that social media is all about conversation. Engaging in conversation with people you help, your customers and clients, and the community of people you effect.
Here’s a basic overview and breakdown of the capabilities of social media and the investment needed to implement it in your business.
Return:
- Brand building
- Relationship management
- Product development
- Reputation management
- Customer interaction
- Customer feedback
- Customer support
- Community building
Investment
- Sharing relevant information
- Listening to feedback
- Interacting with customers
Making social media work for you is simply a matter of your willingness to take the time to build relationships. Can social media convert leads into sales? Abosolutly, but those leads will be the result of the relationships you build.
How is your social media strategy performing?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Great thoughts on this. I thing you are so right. Really the biggest investment is your time building solid relationships by providing the aforementioned investment pieces. The best part is the returns you get over the long-term.
Oh, and loved the MC Hammer flow chart.
it's really hard to get people to think about building relationships in social media, even when they understand building relationships with wine & dine…is this me or do you face the same thing?
do you remember when people first started to use email and all the complaints about it on how they didn't have time to sit there and write emails? it's the same thing all over again!
they forget about hammertime…lol
Now that you mention it, I definitely see the same attitude towards social media as I did with email when it first came out.
I also do encounter the same situations you referenced. There is a large disconnect in most people's minds between the value of face-to-face (or over-the-phone) interaction and online communication (i.e. blogs, Twitter, Facebook).
That really gives an advantage to the people who are willing to try out social media and get started now.
Thanks for the great info.
This is helpful for me right now. We are re-evaluating and determining some best-practices for relation to our customers daily,at conferences, and long-term.
yea, that's the challenge here…the capabilities are changing pretty quickly. by the time you determine a strategy and implement it, it's time to refine that strategy! it's like the days of upgrading your computer every 6 months…
True,True…
Thanks for this. It helps alot. I've really just begun researching and focusing on the capabilities of social media. This is a great start for me.
I'm glad this added value to you!