Week 9: Social Media Strategy

1. Week 9: Social Media Strategy Presented by: Jessica Fenton

2. Agenda Four Pillars of Social Media SWOT Analysis Social Media Implementation

3. Four Pillars of Social Media Strategy • Communication • Collaboration • Education • Entertainment • All 4 are required in order to stabilize social media platform and ensure success

4. Pillar #1: Communication • Every company communicates with its audience in some way • Methods of communication include: E-mail Newsletters Blogs/MicroblogsYouTube Social Networking Sites • Considerations: How is your communication perceived by your audience? How do you measure the effectiveness of your communication strategy? • Example: Hubbell Homes (Hailey Brownstone)

5. Pillar #2: Collaboration • Numerous business sources and experts stress the importance of collaboration within the workplace • Traditional methods of collaboration include: Brainstorming sessions Strategy retreats Conference calls • Social Media-related methods of collaboration include: Company wikisCompanyblogs •  Company YouTube channel Video conferencing • Example: General Electric (SupportCentral)

6. Pillar #2: Collaboration (cont.) • Engaging your customers or prospective customers in some form of collaboration can be a powerful tool  Can be beneficial to your company BUT be prepared to take the good with the bad (and maybe the ugly) • Example: Dell (IdeaStorm) • Example: Starbucks (MyStarbucksIdea.com)

7. Pillar #3: Education • Educating customers and training employees is crucial for success • Involves leveraging your expertise and/or the expertise of your employees or co-workers • Social media tools make this easier and more • dynamic • Methods of education include:PodcastsYouTube videosVirtual SeminarsBlogs • Example: RE/MAX (YouTube Brand Channel)

8. Pillar #4: Entertainment • Kitchen blenders = entertainment? • Any business or organization can • find attributes that others might • consider entertaining • Do: Be interesting and compelling • Don’t: Be afraid to experiment • Example: PS22 Chorus

9. Social Media SWOT Analysis • To leverage the power of Social Media, businesses must understand/identify:Strengths that the company can utilize Weaknesses to enable the development of solutions, thus changing weaknesses to strengths Opportunities to improve business performance and competitiveness Threats to develop effective responses to alleviate the business dangers

10. Social Media SWOT Analysis

11. SWOT Analysis: Laleeta Design Inc. • Strengths • Fashion and media expertise/ knowledge of marketplace • Promotion via Website, emails, Facebook • Networking @ various events • Design collection of beach tunics (multi-purpose fashion statement) • Have utilized technology in the following ways:- Website for promotion and sales (Paypal)- Evites- Communicating with clients and media- Use mobile technology • SEO Top search outcome when you type in “Laleeta”; 4th on list when you type in “beach tunics” • One partner attempting to learn how to use social media more effectively (continuous learning is important to organization) • Fun, creative and innovative partnership • Lots of initial ‘buzz’ and social media conversations • Email list of 500 customers

12. SWOT Analysis: Laleeta Design Inc. • Weaknesses • Only 1 product in the mix at the current time  cannot expand due to time and budgetary constraints • Have not implemented many social media initiatives to date (with the exception of promoting Laleeta on personal Facebook pages) • Co-founders are not particularly ‘tech-savvy’ • Collaboration with partners in India has proven to be a challenge • Small team may, at times, result in lack of idea generation or expertise • For personal use, partners are only using Facebook, LinkedIn • Email and SMS/BBM primary method of communication • Knowledge gap in terms of social media awareness and how to reach out to current and potential customers • No follow up on initial ‘conversations’  partners have been on hiatus

13. SWOT Analysis: Laleeta Design Inc. • Opportunities • Customers value new and different items (ie. soft cotton, exotic design elements) • Customers value/appreciate good service (ie. ease of online purchase, delivery) • Customer target group (women ages 20-45) is very tech-savvy - use social media in both personal and professional lives • Many communities in which to tap (ie. Travel, Beach, Bollywood)  opportunities are limitless and we can leverage Social Media to identify new customers • We have sought feedback from customers • Threats • No full product line currently (could = loss of value) • Have not engaged in the conversation that is required to expand our client base and product line like other fashion companies, who also pursued social media initiatives more aggressively • Product offering is seasonal • We have been reliant thus far on word of mouth through friends and friends-of-friends (limited customer base) • Competitors have more diverse product lines and are available in more doors and variety of outlets

14. Laleeta Design Inc. • Social Media Strategy: • ✪ Thoughts? • ✪ Comments? • Ideas? • Please share! 

15. Social Media Implementation Plan • 6-Step Guide (Safko & Brake, 2009) • Define a 12-month Social Media Macro Strategy Should consist of a variety of tools we have learned about  Strategy should be realistic (ie. add 1 tool each month) • Engage Your Employees Greater success if implement strategies with employeesie. Create a company blog • Get Closer to Customers and Prospects Cannot control the conversation but you CAN influence it Listen to your customers/be where your customers areie. create a blog, comment on existing blogs, create a presence on a social networking site  attract attention

16. Social Media Implementation Plan • 4. Think Like a Publisher • Remember: EVERYONE is a publisher Define your content and your expertise Engage your audience • 5.  Create a Community Appoint a community manager Identify community evangelists Align your content with audience needs Encourage user generated content • 6. Measure What’s Most Important •  Measure success by involving employees, customers and prospects in the process •  Qualitative feedback (ie. surveys, encouraging blog posts/comments) •  Quantitative feedback (ie. Google Analytics, sales & profitability)

17. Social Media Implementation Plan • 10 Pieces of Advice (Kaplan &Haenlein, 2009) • Choose carefully Cannot participate in ALL social media applications Choosing right medium depends on target group and messageExample: U.S. Army • Pick the application, or make your own Might be best to join/use existing application + benefit from existing popularity (why reinvent the wheel?) In some cases, the right application might not be available yetExample: Sears/MTV • Ensure activity alignmentCrucial that all Social Media initiatives be aligned with eachotherExample: Dell

18. Social Media Implementation Plan • 4. Media plan integration Integration with traditional media is keyExample: Coca Cola • 5. Access for all Must determine who has access to Social Media applications All employees? Specific administrator groups? Necessary to develop guidelines for usageExample: IBM • 6. Be active Social Media are about sharing and interaction Ensure that content is always fresh  Firm involvement must extend beyond responding to negative comments + explanations  must be about engaging others

19. Social Media Implementation Plan • 7. Be interesting You need to give your customers a reason to engage with you Find out what your customers find interesting, enjoyable + valuable • 8. Be humble Take the time to discover Social Media + the basic rules before participatingExample: Boeing • 9. Be unprofessional No need to spend $$$  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes! • 10. Be honest

20. Thank You Any Questions?