Comments on: Social media strategy starting points http://www.foviance.com/what-we-think/social-media-strategy-starting-points/ Foviance is a ground-breaking customer experience consultancy, providing usability consulting services, web analytics, user experience and accessibility consultancy in London, UK. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:29:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Billie Andersen http://www.foviance.com/what-we-think/social-media-strategy-starting-points/comment-page-1/#comment-6778 Billie Andersen Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:44:39 +0000 http://www.foviance.com/?p=6350#comment-6778 I agree with aspects of your response, in fact the purpose of the article is a call for people to ensure that they effectively plan a social media strategy. The two words ‘simple’ and ‘quick’ at the beginning of the article could be taken as misleading when read in isolation, however the article as a whole warns against ‘jumping blindly on the social media bandwagon’. As you point out in your comment, social media enables more open and natural conversations between companies and customers which I agree with, however that reason alone is not sufficient to drive a social media strategy. As stated in the article, a company needs to understand what their business objectives are for social media, as they will for any project undertaken. This will shape the strategy, and also help to shape how to measure the success of that strategy. It is definitely not heralded as a cheaper or quicker alternative to other ways to interact with customers. This article should highlight what areas of thought need to occur before even starting a social media strategy, and should highlight a starting point for ways to research the social space. This article should help to stimulate ideas with a company and they will hopefully aim to approach any strategy in a logical and informed manner. I agree with aspects of your response, in fact the purpose of the article is a call for people to ensure that they effectively plan a social media strategy. The two words ‘simple’ and ‘quick’ at the beginning of the article could be taken as misleading when read in isolation, however the article as a whole warns against ‘jumping blindly on the social media bandwagon’. As you point out in your comment, social media enables more open and natural conversations between companies and customers which I agree with, however that reason alone is not sufficient to drive a social media strategy. As stated in the article, a company needs to understand what their business objectives are for social media, as they will for any project undertaken. This will shape the strategy, and also help to shape how to measure the success of that strategy. It is definitely not heralded as a cheaper or quicker alternative to other ways to interact with customers.

This article should highlight what areas of thought need to occur before even starting a social media strategy, and should highlight a starting point for ways to research the social space. This article should help to stimulate ideas with a company and they will hopefully aim to approach any strategy in a logical and informed manner.

]]> By: Patrick Kennedy http://www.foviance.com/what-we-think/social-media-strategy-starting-points/comment-page-1/#comment-6726 Patrick Kennedy Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:39:11 +0000 http://www.foviance.com/?p=6350#comment-6726 Simple and quick? I think that's a bit misleading and prolonging the hype and misunderstanding with which many organisations approach social media. It's like saying having a professional web presence for your business is easy. Sure, building and launching a website can be straightforward but having a properly supported and operating website is a very much more complex task (ie setting up the "backoffice"). And many organisations still don't have the processes and personel in place to get this right. And getting involved in social media is even harder. It's mire than just signing up to Twitter or creating a facebook fan page. Yes you need a strategy, but there is a he'll of a lot of work that needs to take place to allow a business to work in a way where such dialogue with customers will work. Otherwise it's just bolted on and superficial. We should be advising businesses to look at social media because it's better for conversing with customers in a more open and natural way, not because it's quicker or cheaper, because that isn't necessarily the case. Simple and quick? I think that’s a bit misleading and prolonging the hype and misunderstanding with which many organisations approach social media.

It’s like saying having a professional web presence for your business is easy. Sure, building and launching a website can be straightforward but having a properly supported and operating website is a very much more complex task (ie setting up the “backoffice”). And many organisations still don’t have the processes and personel in place to get this right.

And getting involved in social media is even harder. It’s mire than just signing up to Twitter or creating a facebook fan page. Yes you need a strategy, but there is a he’ll of a lot of work that needs to take place to allow a business to work in a way where such dialogue with customers will work. Otherwise it’s just bolted on and superficial.

We should be advising businesses to look at social media because it’s better for conversing with customers in a more open and natural way, not because it’s quicker or cheaper, because that isn’t necessarily the case.

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