Don’t treat unequal circumstances equally.
Every business is different and unique, therefore the Social Media strategy and its tactics should also be unique to each business and its customers.
Still, it is helpful to have a starting point, a template if you will. To build roots for a business just beginning (or refreshing) its social media play, I’ve designed a model we’ll call “Dialing 8″
Dialing 8 was once a term used in business travel, to get long distance on a hotel telephone or hitting a home run in baseball. For others, the number 8 stands for New Beginnings or Infinity. Personally, I’ve used the term as a reminder to stay strong and last long – and that’s what we hope to do with your social media plan.
We can use the metaphor of a tree with branches or of a wheel with spokes. We could even use the metaphor of a spider (eight legs) spinning a global web. But let’s not get hung up on the metaphor, hmm?
This series is going to focus on using the blog at the core with eight branches or spokes extending your business reach. Here’s the outline:
Business Blog Site
- Content Curation
- Resource Sharing
- Visuals
- Rolodexing
- Circles of Influence
- Consumer Central
- Outreach
- Calls to Action
Each module has five questions:
- Why are we doing this?
- What do we need to learn?
- What assets or tools do we have/need?
- What actions will we take (and where)?
- How do we measure success?
Let’s not forget perhaps the most important question, one that drives most of what we’ll be doing: Who? Who is our core customer?
So why a blog at the core? Blogging affords you better “branding” potential since you have more (if not complete) ownership over design and content. Additionally, the three things we should understand about blogs and the inventory of content we create on them is how much blogs improve:
- Page Depth
- Findability
- Repurposing capabilities
With every post or page you publish on your blog, you create Page Depth. Relevant Page Depth improves your Findability in searches. And as we publish onto other sites such as Twitter or YouTube, your blog becomes a place to collect or repurpose those pieces of content.
Welcome to the Dialing 8 series.
Related articles
- The Top Four Social Media Myths (adrsocialmedia.wordpress.com)
- Rationalizing Time Earmarked For Social Media (ishmaelscorner.com)
- My Favorite Video: Social Media Revolution 2011 (itsamarketingworld.com)
- When a Social Media Center of Excellence Can Hurt You (brasstackthinking.com)
