It's time for summer vacation:
- car ready: oil changed, gassed up and washed
- clothes packed: an outfit a day, plus a couple for dress up stuff, lingerie and sundries
- entertainment (car): bag-o-fun packed with electronics, DVDs, CDs, magazines, games and extra batteries
- mail forwarded and dog at the kennel
- picnic basket packed: snacks, water and treats
- stove off, iron unplugged and alarm set
- map in hand: route planned, rest stops and best exits for food noted
- hotel reservations: made last month and confirmed yesterday via email (copies on hand)
- entertainment: amusement park tickets reserved last month and confirmed via email (copies on hand)
You're all set to go!
Think for a second...if you put that much effort into planning a vacation, wouldn't you put in the same amount of effort to planning your organization's social technology? As in the example above, proper planning helps to ensure you'll have an enjoyable vacation, with solutions and contingencies at hand for the unexpected. You should do the same thing for your business, plan, with solutions and contingencies in mind for the unexpected.
Nugget of knowledge: successful marketing campaigns are thoughtfully planned out.
Consider these steps as you begin planning:
- Do your homework: read blogs and white papers; attend webinars, meetups and tweetups; watch videos --> learn from other's missteps and get motivated by their accomplishments
- Begin at the end: envision success, know what it looks like --> set your goals and objectives, make sure they are realistic and set a time to reach them
- Control your brand: capture your name in the social media space --> get your username on as many sites as possible, you will not use them all, but no one else can be you in those spaces
- Be self aware: know your organization's history and mission, know who your customers are and where they are --> go to where your customers are
- Get your house in order: make sure your organization is on board with adopting social technology --> who is responsible, resources allocated, social media policies and integration plan into current marketing efforts
- Check out your competition: do a CASE study
- Evaluate your progress: make sure you're social media is taking you where you want to go --> set benchmarks as you would for a traditional marketing campaign
- Go for it! You will make missteps, it is okay --> do, mess up, learn...it's the evolution of success
And yes, you are there now.
