Focusing more intently on thinking about social media strategies that work, I came across an interesting point in a relevant posting.
Instead of referencing social media as a tool, this new media communications professional/blogger poses that we should instead think of it more as an art. Basically, that any monkey can use a ‘tool’ but only talented artists can play an instrument and make it work beautifully -- a strong metaphor when you consider how much noise there already is in the digital media world.
Others have explored the strategy and success of social media campaigns from conception. Too often we see (and some implement) recommendations that adhere to pedestrian (and overused) steps that simply ensure clients are able to jump onto the social media bandwagon: start a blog, join Twitter, create a Facebook group.
First, not strategic. Second, not necessarily does every company benefit by being in the space. It's crucial to consider if the culture of the company is in a condition to take advantage of social media without becoming stagnant or redundant. Sometimes the best question to start with is if the client will find value in it and if not, will education of social media shift that perception?
A past client situation comes to mind: Our team brought up starting a blog - a few times - knowing the company was full of strong, engaging, creative writers with important things to say. But in our client’s opinion, (who was very aware of what was and wasn’t being talked about in her industry) any blog the company contributed would’ve only been static in the industry conversation. Instead of starting a blog just to have one, the company still won’t go there until they’re confident that they have something meaningful to say that will help them stand out in the medium. And we trusted her.
Before recommending any strategy to the client, shouldn't we evaulate the environment that company is entering specific to their industry and determine the best, if any, approach? Yes, unless we want our client to be the next 'worst example' story.
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