Is Social Media Strategy for businesses the intersection between web design and online marketing?

+4 Vote Up
Social Media  Strategy is the begning of the integration of online and traditional media.  As we are quickly discovering if one does not have an intregrated approach to both digtial, social and traditiional marketing they are not going to achieve the maximum return for their marketing investments.  The results of 2011 are showing that for most orgnaizations that added social media to their marketing mix it acconted for aproximatly 25% of their overall sales volume.
  Tim Pacileo Tim Pacileo
President and Executive Consultant,  TheBoardRoomAdvisors, LLC
on 12/27/2011
I think the question is a bit convoluted. Social Media Strategy is the foremost essential strategy of all of marketing, both online and offline. The website design is just one tool to accomplish the strategy, which should be based on consumer pull not marketing push. Also, it is not just about Social Media, but that the "Social Multi-Medium is the Message." So in addition to the website, coordinated use of all relevant social media platforms should be part of the mix.
  Frank Feather Frank Feather
CEO,  Geodevco Inc
on 12/28/2011
+2 Vote Up
From a results standpoint, 'Social Media Strategy' is about marketing (identifying and interacting with prospective customers, building brand awareness, minimizing interaction to achieve sales, improving revenue/share/profit, etc).   Effective web design is one of the tools available to enable this goal.  So it seems reasonable to consider these an 'intersection', but important to not lose sight that social media strategy is a component of improved marketing (including achieving business/profit goals).  These should drive web design, not vice versa.
  barryb borden barryb borden
Principal,  DJV Healthcare Services
on 12/29/2011
+2 Vote Up
I believe that Social Media is a "transitional" set of tools for on line interaction, just like web design.  Looking at the long term I believe the term Social Media will disappear into a long list of terms that will be replaced with newer on line interaction terms and methods that will be developed by creative companies like Google et al. Therefore, Social Media Strategy is a misnomer.  The use of Social Media is a "tactic." There should be an On Line Strategy that allows for business to take a broad view of the investment value of on line enterprise.
  Gerald Bricker Gerald Bricker
Principal,  Aadvise Consulting, LLC
on 12/28/2011
+2 Vote Up
I think Social Media has many different audiences and it truly depends on who is the intended audience; where do they "live"; what are you trying to get them to do; what content, features and functions can you provide; and if you are linking them back to you, why are they going to engage on your site rather than anyone elses.
Here are several examples that I think tend to get overlooked.
Facebook/ Google+ and being "liked" - Pretty pedestrian if all you do is stick up a page and ask people to like you. Doesn't do much for them and does really nothing for you. But is you can create content that is targeted and appears in their stream that they can click back to you... then you can measure efficacy. If the content is a special offer or some other enticement and that generates business then great. This is one venue that can work if thats all you want. Its still a one to many marketing and you still need additioanal social media strategies to build habits and loyalty.
If you are a business and you are trying to build loyalty vs sell a product, I think your approach needs to be different. You may have a section of your main site for that purpose but you, in fact, lose that audience if the first thing they see is the site aimed at marketing products.
Building loyalty is about listening and asking people to come in and help you serve them better. It can start with a blog posting that people react to or asking them to tell stories about how they have used your product or service. It can be your blog post on a site that is exclusively yours, or something on someone elses.
For example; Trip Advisor lets people talk about the places they have visited, hotels and venues, acitivities, etc. A lot of people talk about their experience and smart business peopleare monitoring that site to respond to both positive and negative reviews. When someone sees a negative review followed by an apology and an offer to make things right, the audience can see that this is a business who genuinely cares for feedback and does not get frightened off of the product or service. There are sites for consumer reviews about almost everything so if your social media strategy does not include reviewing those sites then its a big gap in your strategy.
To me, social media that is effective is consumer/audience centric and gives them a voice that they otherwise would not have.  For example, if you are a retailer, social media capabilities may allow you to have customers tell you what kinds of products they like and would really buy. It may include ways to use products better or provide additional uses.
  Carol Rizzo Carol Rizzo
CIO,  T1D First
on 12/28/2011
Carol:
You are clearly a very bright lady.  I enjoyed reading your response.  I do have a question.  Remember the American Airline commercial a few years back where the company President was sending is staff out to do face to face visits with their clients who were lost to competitors?  That commercial intimated that face to face was better than email, faz and other forms of mass media available at that time.  So, where does Social Media and face to face collide in the most positive way.  I continue to believe that it is the development of relationships that matter the most, and I concur that those relationships can be with the masses, but there remains I believe that need for the individual or the mass to know you up close and personal as well.
Thanks for the opportunity to respond,
Gene
  Gene  Dameron Gene Dameron
on 12/30/2011
+1 Vote Up
Gene,
Thank you for the compliment. It brightened my day!
Social media today can include face to face. It should not be your exclusive strategy for face to face but it can help ou overcome time and distance. Webex, Skype, Apple Facetime and Google all provide tools to allow you to interact one to one or one to many. And like those people you bring in for focus groups, you can record their feedback and see each individuals facial expression!
For example, if you have a number of customers that you are getting feedback from, why not invite them to a meeting. Bring them into your process for problem solving and product creation, to view messaging and the like. Create champions out of your customers and they will become vested in your success by offering you their feedback and opinions.
Imagine if Richard Branson (Virgin CEO) invited you to a small meeting to understand more about your feelings about travel and destinations you've visited and why?
Or if the President of your bank reached out and wanted to hear about the best thing the bank has done and the thing thats pissed you off the most. Now obviously these people have to be trained to be listeners, empathetic and to not be defensive.  They have to follow up on the "I'll get back to you's"....
Obviously you can't possibly do it with all your customers but finding those who are opinion leaders in the social networks is getting pretty easy.  You may also uncover new markets and ways to brand your products that you never considered.
TAke care and good luck
  Carol Rizzo Carol Rizzo
CIO,  T1D First
on 12/30/2011
Carol:
Thank you!  I admit to being an old dog, in a relatively new arena, consulting.  I do what I do because I have a passion for the healthcare outcomes for the frail and elderly.  I am an outside the box thinker even though I am an old coot, but that in and of itself is inadequate in today's competitive market.  Your points are well made and clearly I need to take full advantage of all on line assets if I am to succeed.
Gene
  Gene  Dameron Gene Dameron
on 12/30/2011
Gene,
I too am in consulting and have developed a social media strategy to attract more people to participate in health and disease research. These are exciting times and the technology is enabling and making thing far more affordable. A friend of mine Laurie Orlov writes a blog that may be useful called "Age in Place" http://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/12-most-popular-posts-2011
  Carol Rizzo Carol Rizzo
CIO,  T1D First
on 12/30/2011
Excellent observations Carol!
  Mark Bowen Mark Bowen
President/CEO,  BTU Marketing Services, LLC
on 12/28/2011
+2 Vote Up
Social Media does not equal Marketing.
Having trained hundreds of marketing and PR professionals on social media, there is a huge miscommunication in the value adds aroudn social media within a business organization.
Social media provides a wild variety of benefits that all levels of a organization can use, ranging from executive communication, team management, project coordination, sales prospecting, competitive intelligence, and more.
From a strictly ROI perspective, it is often more effective to enable and activate social media to refine process points within a business and to have the bonus value add of some 'marketing perks' when a team or project is properly using the tools.
EXAMPLE: From an HR and recruting viewpoint a business can save tens of thousands of dollars in recruiting fees every year. A typical headhunter charges %20 to %40 percent of first year salary. A $150k executive role would cost $30k to $60k in fees. A social outreach campaign to a small group of employees already on the payroll can be managed for $5k to $10k.
EXAMPLE 2: By using social media from a competitive intelligence perspective, you can detail 5 to 25 like-minded businesses operating in your industry. Using social network analysis you can create lead lists and map out potential targets (could be used for sales, recuiting, vendors, etc)
EXAMPLE 3: By understanding GPS, Mobile, and Search audience usage you can define popular keywords and trends that gain additional exposure for your business. This data can also  allow you to map out areas of low competition and high worth niches so that you don't have to go 'head to head' against a competitor with bigger budgets.
As for audience metrics... I haven't seen a single professional niche that doesn't use social media for work related purposes. We've worked in multiple high-security and regulated industries that have an incredible usage of social media. There is an inherent driving force for people searching for information to do things more efficiently where social media content providers answer those questions. This means that technicians, doctors, financial analysts, and civil workers use search and social to make informed decisions on a daily basis.
  Barry Hurd Barry Hurd
Managing Director,  123 Social Media
on 12/28/2011
+2 Vote Up
If you ask 100 business owners that already have a web and social media presence this question, I'd wager you'd get 100 distinctly different answers. Frankly, it's kind of a murky question, in so far as it appears to make a binary decision out of a question that is anything but. Anyone that tells you that they have a social media strategy that is locked down is either naive or an idiot. It all changes too fast. Just trying to keep up with the almost-daily evolution of Facebook is a full-time job. We are living in a world that is in the midst of a tectonic pardigm shift, away from desktop computers and towards iPads (and presumably, eventually, other tablets) for accessing the Internet. Right now, we're too deep in the middle of the forest to be able to see the trees from here. There's simply too many changes, too many unknowns, and too many new ideas popping up to be able to get a handle on the ultimate Social Media Strategy.
From where I sit, this is a time where savvy companies need to keep a pole in the water with almost everything that looks like it could hit. Ignore the iPad phenomenon at your peril. Facebook is the big dog, but seems to be quickly reaching the point where they are as big and as unresponsive to customers as Microsoft. I doubt Facebook will be the next big player in Social Media - the ones to worry about are the guys in some garage or living room with the Next Big Idea that nobody's yet heard of. And, of course, the way people interact with datat (read: iPad) will change the way they use social media.
As a designer, I find the big issue for social media is design. I don't care how cool your value-add is, or how wonderful an idea it is – if the user experience is bad, it's a non-starter. For years, my go-to, multi-platform solution was Adobe Flash. Not any more. Apple effectively killed Flash when they banned it from the iPad. Problem is, HTML5, while it is a soltuion, falls into the "not ready for prime-time" category, when compared to a mature technology like Flash. It's better than no solution at all, but the tools to really make HTML5 work just aren't there yet. That leaves dedicated apps. And the dev tools for dedicated apps are a mixed bag.
From a client point of view, looking at a social media strategy as the junction between web design and online marketing is, I think, fairly limiting and narrow-minded. The only way I know to develop a workable social media strategy is to keep your ear to the ground, set your strategy in sandstone (so you can change/evolve it quickly) and to USE THE TECHNOLOGY YOURSELF. If you're sitting in an ivory tower boardroom, asking yourself 'what is all this hullaballo about social media?' you've already lost. Buy an iPad. Use it. Follow the tech blogs. All of them. And interact with people online. Get a personal Facebook page. Upload pics. Connect with friends. This is NOT something you can synthesize. The medium isn't just the message – it's the entire experience.
  Brad Kozak Brad Kozak
Principal/Creative Director,  Novel Idea
on 12/28/2011
Brad your point on 'ask 100 different owners and get 100 different answers' is a good one.  Message and focus management become more challenging in a 'social media' setting.  For example, while this string contains a plethora of good ideas and contributions, many don't directly address Troy's question.


  barryb borden barryb borden
Principal,  DJV Healthcare Services
on 1/9/2012
+1 Vote Up
For business, the beginning strategy for social media is to begin to understand its value. This value can be explored by mining the Social Media web sites data. The most popular sites populated with Social Media are as follows:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Foursquare
  • LinkedIn
Once the mining exercise is complete, a full analysis of the available information is required. Useful information can be encouraged by pushing to the various sources with thought provoking dialog.
Further sites such as Twitter can become multi-dimentional for the business by pushing marketing information to the followers.

  Mark Mariotti Mark Mariotti
Chief Executive Officer,  Future Management Holdings...
on 12/28/2011
+1 Vote Up
I firmly believe social media for business is very dangerous and can result in negative feedback that may not be controlled. The real problem is business gets caught up in the pitch of the moment and sometimes does not consider all the consequences. Social media can’t be controlled like a web site and can result in a great deal of negative comments and actions. If you try and control the social media the backfire can even greater. Can a corporation be held responsible for actions on its media site? Such as a suggestion resulting in a loss to a person following that advice. So be very careful about using this tool.
  Joe Weingarten Joe Weingarten
Executive Director,  Macintosh Reseller Association
on 12/28/2011
+1 Vote Up
To me, a business that does not invite genuine feedback from its customers is hiding under a rock tryingto avoid embarrassment instead of being proactive and doing something. Today almost every interaction between any business and customer is subject to a negative experience and customers need to know that the company has heard them and is doing something to address it.
If the problem is that your prices are too high or that your employee was rude, wouldn't you like to know that?  The at least you have the opportunity to either explain or apologize and create a connection!  Feedback is a gift!  It may be an overused saying but if you can't see that your customers are telling you something about how they feel, believe me they will tell others in other forums that you can't control.
I am not suggesting that banks or investment advisors or lawyers give advice though those that have begun to demostrate a keen expertise have found their business to increase because social media is definitely about finding people with expertise.
  Carol Rizzo Carol Rizzo
CIO,  T1D First
on 12/28/2011
Yet another excellent observation Carol! There are several organizations that use Twitter subscriptions to thier own clients as a pre-emptive customer service tool.
  Mark Bowen Mark Bowen
President/CEO,  BTU Marketing Services, LLC
on 12/28/2011
+1 Vote Up
No but it is a focusable one to one channel that allows your target audience to interact with your brand, support it via social interaction and to market it within the context of social channels. If by intersection you mean a full integration of existing web assets and a brand page presence in one of the social environments to leverage all. "Intersection" I think is the wrong metaphore and web design is less important in this context than the proper integration of these digital marketing channels.
Once again it is not a one size fits all nor is it a matter of one paradym taking charge over another. If you get too caught up in the "social marketing furvor" or even in the "mobile" marketing hype you forget that audiences are the sum total of all messaging, selling and brand marketing exposures.
I would say more that a well thought out and executed social media strategy, particularly one with strong content drivers (video, end-user cross talk, blog, informational or instructional white papers etc.) effectively integrated with mobile, website, e-mail and, if your audience targeting efforts identified it, any traditional media needed to prime the online pump is the true baseline strategy starting point.
It is fair to say though, given the amount of complexity and the constant state of functionality flux social sites seem to have, that social marketing (media or otherwise) is now a critical concern in a well rounded marketing plan and requires a clear and committed strategy to succeed.
  Mark Bowen Mark Bowen
President/CEO,  BTU Marketing Services, LLC
on 12/28/2011
+1 Vote Up
Generally when people talk about Social Media they refer to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other similar web-based services.  The consumer market is awash in strategies for using these.  And, a goodly number of consultants have turned their attention to B2B industries.  However, we are recommending our clients stop before investing time and energy.  According to a recent survey of engineers and other technicians, most of them do not actively use social media for work related things.
This is driven by the following:  the confidential nature of what they do, major company crackdowns which prohibit use of social media while at work and by the massive workload on these folks in todays environment.
My own anecdotal observations indicate social media has been populated by sales types trying to out post their brothers.
  Frank Hurtte Frank Hurtte
Founding Partner,  River Heights Consulting
on 12/28/2011
+1 Vote Up
Wow. I'm going to have to disagree with everything that everyone has said so far.
Tim, social media is not about the integration of off-line and online marketing. It is, first and foremost, about engaging people in the co-creation of media.
Frank F., social media is fundamentally different than the media environmnet in which traditional marketing strategy has evolved, which involved analyzing, segmenting, targeting and pushing content to consumers. Social media invites consumers to participate in, extend, and share media, leveraging their own creative contributions and their credibility within their social network. It's really a totally different paradigm.
Joe, one of the big lessons of the media landscape over the last 5-10 years is that NO company has complete controll of its message. Nothing prevents customers from discussing, praising or bashing a company in any forums they find online. That's why some companies find that if they invest in these forums, and participate alongside their customers, then can learn from and perhaps influence them.
Frank H., the survey you site, and/or your definition of social media, are flawed. Engineers were some of the earliest users of social media, if you consider bulletin boards, technical forums, places like slashdot, IBM Developer Works, to be social media, which I certainly would.
The mistake you should warn your clients away from is misinvesting in social media where consumer brands, rather than b2b brands, are discussed.
  David Schatsky David Schatsky
Principal/Founder,  Green Research
on 12/28/2011
+2 Vote Up
But why would you want to allow your customers to bash you on your own web site. Apple on it's discussion boards is fast to remove anyone bashing Apple. Yes, people will bash bad business but to allow and encouage people to take you on in your own back. Not a smart approach.
  Joe Weingarten Joe Weingarten
Executive Director,  Macintosh Reseller Association
on 12/28/2011
You are disagreeing with me (per your assertion that you disagree with "everyone")? Just need to clarify as I did not comment to the affirmative on any of the observations you sight (the correct usage of the word).
I appologize if I sound annoyed but your generalizations, although followed by fair input on each of the specific observations, are quite insulting in a group of folks you don't know and frankly, in may case anyway, you don't have the credentials to support your opinions authoratative value.
I would be careful about your written input in future if I am somehow misunderstanding your input.
  Mark Bowen Mark Bowen
President/CEO,  BTU Marketing Services, LLC
on 12/28/2011
No, I didn't mean you, Mark. I seriously doubt others were offended; I see no sign of that in anyone's comments. And no offense was intended. On the other hand, your assertion that I don't have the credentials to support my opinions is unwarranted and indeed incorrect.As the president of the leading research and advisory firm in the digital media and marketing industry, Jupiter Research, until the sale of the company, I understand these issues very well indeed.
These are discussion forums and I expect most people value a respectful and spirited give and take.
  David Schatsky David Schatsky
Principal/Founder,  Green Research
on 12/30/2011
Social is about engaging and having a dialog with your cusomters as well as assocaites.  While many orgnaizations attempt to block it in the work place, the reuslts is that employess with their own smart phones, tablets, etc still get to the sites and converse.  Where the real issues lies is that those orgnaizations that do block social media, also block out access to any negative PR that they could have countered had they actively minitored the social media sites and consequently their PR team are blindsided making the matter worse.
  Tim Pacileo Tim Pacileo
President and Executive Consultant,  TheBoardRoomAdvisors, LLC
on 12/28/2011
Social media is the next big thing in the digital age and online marketing. Its potential to penetrate across diverse markets from across the world in the shortest time duration is enormous.
http://amruthatechnologies.blogspot.com
  Anand Radhakrishnan Anand Radhakrishnan
CEO,  Amrutha Technologies
on 1/9/2012
Social Media strategy will be an important business need and intersect with web design and online marketing, but will be successful only if it is done in a subtle way rather then agressive approach. This can be in the form of social awareness and sharing of benefits and information and realistic and accurate datasharing.
  Mukes Gupta Mukes Gupta
Chief Operating Officer,  Canadoil Complete Engineering,...
on 1/7/2012
First Tuesday is hosting what promises to be a provoking MBA-style seminar led by representatives from brands considered global (and local) leaders on this very topic on  Tuesday 24th January.   The event is supported by the recently published book "The Social Media MBA"
I mention this for those that want to take the deep dive on social media.

  Dean Bellefleur, PMP Dean Bellefleur, PMP
President & Founder,  D-idea™
on 1/3/2012
First of all, Social Media is not a stand alone strategy.
I believe that to be successful in social media, it must be seen as an extension to the core marketing strategy.  Social is simply another channel that consumers use to get educated, get feedback, share results and in some cases to actually complete the commerce transaction.
To me, the strategy must be customer centric and you should map out where you can intersect with your customers.  But to simply have it point to your website, is very short sighted.
Social commerce will emerge from true integration of buying triggers into the social experience and understanding the engagement ladder.  http://www.solutionzmedia.com/images/wommladder_FINAL.jpg
  Chicke Fitzgerald Chicke Fitzgerald
CEO,  Solutionz Holdings
on 12/30/2011
Social media and web design are tools and another channel marketers use to reach a potential target market and engage in a two way conversation.  Customers gather information from web sites and share their experience in a variety forms wtih real time responses.  As with all marketing tools:  trending information can be gathered, adoption, knowledge on competition, address solutions to issues with key factual information versus opinion only and use of social media depends on your industry, market, purpose and plan
  Denise Zonca Denise Zonca
on 12/29/2011
Simply put, a business will be a "Social Business" (in all its manifestations) or it will not be in business for very much longer.
It is a matter of deciding what that means for any particular business.
  Frank Feather Frank Feather
CEO,  Geodevco Inc
on 12/28/2011
Frank that was Excellent. I think you are absolutely right. Business is SOCIAL or it doesn't garner customers and supporters. Why else do business support charitable events? They want to be known as the good citizens. And here again Social media is one of the best ways for getting that message out about your commitment to the common good!
  Carol Rizzo Carol Rizzo
CIO,  T1D First
on 12/28/2011
Carol, thanks. Please check out "Social Business" on IBM's website. It underpins everything else.
  Frank Feather Frank Feather
CEO,  Geodevco Inc
on 12/28/2011
The confusion  is that social media is a baby step to data curation. It's not what your friends think, it is the abiulity to track information that you need. The Flow is the first real-time data curation system deployed.  The ability to use the Flow intent based taxonomy and understand the intent of data logged and requested separates the Flow from Social Media and Google search. Truly disruptive.
  Stan Alterman Stan Alterman
on 12/28/2011
Social media is the answer if you have the relationships.  Without the relationships I question how valuable it is today.  That does not mean that Social Media will evolve and provide everyone not only the opportunity to makket a product or service but actually receive immediate feedback as to how they were delivered and if the met the needs of the purchaser.
  Gene  Dameron Gene Dameron
on 12/28/2011
 https://www.gplus.com/Social-Media/Discussion/Is-Social-Media-Strategy-for-businesses-the-intersection-between-web-design-and-online-marketing

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