Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss Poor Performance.
The Royal Marines, you have to love them for coming out with stuff like that. I have a friend who was a Royal Marine and when I worked with him, this was the mantra he drummed in to us all. I am sure the drill sergeant who came up with that handy little phrase didn’t envision it being used by social media nerds but for me it is one of the great truths in social media strategy.
Your first day as Head of Social Media for a company will have people cry at you, “Lets do this on Facebook, lets start a hashtag campaign,lets do a viral video, lets build an app…..”. It is your moral duty to slap these people and say,”Wait, we need to have a plan in place first.” . I am serious about the slap bit by the way.
Plan everything. Plan like you are Hannibal Smith from the A-Team. Plan what, why,how, who and where.
Planning is the only way your social media strategy can move closer to the heart of your business. Without a resolute plan of attack, your efforts will always be deemed to be PR or at best digital marketing when in most cases they can be so much more.
Planning will allow you to help dictate when content gets pushed out on social channels rather than being the last to know and the last to go.
My plan tends to include but not be limited to –
* Channel overview
* Brand Plan
*Consumer Plan
* Marketing Plan
* Crisis Plan
* Integration Plan
* Product Plan
*Content Plan
I am still finding things to plan.
Get planning…or I will send the Marine round.
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