13 Steps to Social Media Excellence

I was a on a plane over the weekend and was paging through a airplane magazine that had a list of 12 ways to get fit for 2010. As we get prepped and ready to enter the New Year with specific goals, it might be a good idea to look at 13 ways to prepare your organization for a push into social media.

This list is not the be all, end all of what you should be doing, but is a great outline in order to get your social media house in order so that you are not just pushing out social media debris in 2010

Day 1- What is your social media blueprint for 2010? Has your company sat down with pen and paper and mapped out any kind of strategy? A strategy is much more than registering for a Fan Page on Facebook

Day 2- Profile Your Audience. Each organization is going to have a very different audience so now is probably a great time to sit down and re-evaluate if your audience is the same as last year or has it changed?

Day 3- Define your Objectives. Are you going to start a blog? Start a Facebook Fan Page? It’s best write a complete blueprint for 2010.
Day 4- Define Your Budget. So many people believe that social media is “free”. Well, that sentiment couldn’t be further from the truth. From man hours, to time working with consultants, editors, etc, your social media implementation is going to cost something. Make sure it’s budgeted (even if it’s simply time budgeting) in order to complete your goals.

Day 5- Get Full Corporate Buy-In. A social media strategy won’t work unless you have full corporate buy-in from the CEO and down the ladder.

Day 6- Define Your Message. Your message this year may be much different this year than it was last year. Define what it is that you are saying to your organization’s fans and try to stay consistent.

Day 7- Define Your Corporate Tone. Is your corporate tone a serious one? Can you get away with being a bit irreverent? Whichever, stick to one tone so that your fans know what to expect.

Day 8- Segregate Your Best Customers. If you have customers that sign up for your Facebook Fan Page, read and comment on your blogs and are following you on Twitter, that customer is very interested in your success most likely. Segregate these customers and engage with them more frequently.

Day 9- Recruit Your Corporate Spokespeople. No matter what industry you are in, there are going to be industry champs. Can you get them to write a guest blog for you?

Day 10- Plan Which Social Media Content Silos are Best for You. Facebook audiences tend to be different from MySpace audiences and so on. With so many social media sites starting each day, more and more are becoming audience specific as opposed to a generalist like Facebook. Work to identify where your audience is spending it’s time.

Day 11- Implement. Once you have identified your audience, your targeted content silos, tone and message, it’s time to launch with your social media campaign. Make sure your plan is fully planned out for 4-6 months in advance so that you can be on your way to success.

Day 12- Measure Results. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmfs3z8esI
Day 13- Lather, Rinse Repeat. No marketing campaign is ever going to be perfect. Look at what is working and what needs some extra lather. It’s relatively easy to implement changes. Just make sure that you are always looking ahead at least a few months whenever making any changes.