November 2, 2011

Written by Douglas FleischliSponsored by

Demystifying Social MediaA Roadmap to Assuring a Greater Online Presence

Summary

The wave of social media continues building momentum in influencing all aspects ofdaily life. There is no question it has changed the way we interact as friends, consumersand business professionals.

Social media influences brand visibility, inbound opportunity, engagement andinvolvement … all essential components necessary for an organization to succeed in itsdigital marketing efforts.

The vast of outpouring of workshops, books, webinars, courses and consultation servicescan have a “Las Vegas Effect” on distilling how to get started and determining how toget the most from a social media program. All the flashing lights and calls for urgencysimply add to the confusion. It’s not advisable to dive in and start posting theorganization’s messages without a roadmap identifying where the organization is todayand where it wants to be tomorrow in its overall marketing/public relations position. Asin all roadmaps, there are certain points or steps that provide guidance to reach afavorable destination.

This document has been written to specifically demystify the social media process.Outlined are clear, proven and attainable steps, which will help an organization begin itsjourney to successfully organize and harmonize all stages of its social media goals andinitiatives.

Topics

Introduction 2Check List 6Goals 7Destinations 8Teams 8-9Content 10Engagement 10Measure 11

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The Road to Demystifying Social Media and Making it Work

The Growing Digital Age

The wave of social media continues building momentum in influencing all aspects ofdaily life. There is no question it has changed the way we interact as friends, consumersand business professionals. The following statistics confirm this ever-growing trend andincreasing dependence on digital media.

• One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook ( This number is calculated bydividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users)

• People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook• 190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter (May 2011)• YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (as of February

2011)• Flickr hosts over 5 billion images• Linkedin users grew from 50 million in 2010 to 119 million in 2011 (138 percent

growth)• Eighty percent of companies use social media for recruiting—95 percent of them

use Linkedin1

The value of social media is quite clear in increasing brand visibility, engagement andinvolvement—all essential components necessary for an organization to succeed in itsdigital marketing efforts.2

However, the thought running through many executives’ minds are comments such as“It’s easier said than done!” or questions such as “How do we make this happen?” or“How will it deliver results that help the bottom-line?” and “What needs to be done tokeep it organized?”

Although the necessity of an ongoing social media engagement is becoming moreapparent each day, there are a number of considerations that make organizationshesitant to jump into the “great digital conversation.”3

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1 20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographics, Jeff Bullas, 20112 The Value of Social Media to Entrepreneurs, Dane Carlson, August 2, 2011, Business Opportunities WeblogNetwork August 2, 2011 by Dane Carlsonz3 Think Social Media isn’t a Big Deal? Some Would Literally be Lost Without it!, Beth Kneisler, AccountExecutive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, April 13, 2001, The PR Expert

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Practical Considerations:

• Time consuming• Labor intensive• Lack of overall visibility and oversight• Too hard to track engagement with so many online channels• Lack of control and not keeping up with content and feedback• No clear return on investment• Commitment is too great • Fear of misinformation and wrong messages

For organizations to build and maintain profitable relationships with their audiences in today’seconomic climate, the hesitancy over pursuing an ongoing social media program must end.The movement of truth is… does an organization want to be proactive or reactive?

Like any other communication management function (marketing, advocacy and publicrelations) within the organization, the ideal position is to be proactive. This is achieved bygiving thoughtful planning to the complete orchestration of social media marketing fromconception, execution to evaluation. Specific best practices must be established to assure asmooth and organized optimization of audience engagement. As in other business functions,some important questions need to be raised before getting started:

• What is the intention and purpose of the organization’s social media efforts?• How will social media increase brand awareness and support overall marketing goals?• How can the organization keep social media efforts organized and manageable with

limited time and resources? • How will proper oversight be maintained?• What content needs to be produced and who will produce it?• When and where will content be posted?• Who will be on top of managing the feedback from the posted content?

Rising Beyond the Social Media Hype And Reaching A Solution

The vast outpouring of workshops, books, webinars, courses and consultation services canhave a “Las Vegas Effect” on the executive facing the mounting responsibilities of managing asocial media program. All the flashing lights and calls for urgency simply add to the confusion.It’s not advisable to dive in and start posting the organization’s messages without a roadmapidentifying where the organization is today and where it wants to be tomorrow in its overallmarketing/public relations position. As in all roadmaps, there are certain points or steps thatprovide guidance to reach a favorable destination.

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Illustrated in the figure below are clear and attainable steps, which will help anorganization begin its journey to successfully organize and harmonize all stages of itssocial media programming.

The highlights of each step are as follows:

• Goals—ensure the path to success by establishing concrete and measurablestatements that will drive leads, keyword placement and brand awareness, etc.

• Setup—select the social media channels that connect with audiences• Teams—organize a flow chart linking managers, contributors and engager• Content—develop a production timeline of messages, media and stories• Engagement—invite circle of contacts to read postings, monitor and

participate in the conversation and feedback • Measure—examine a complete overview of engagement in real time

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Quick Start Check List

Step 1 – Define Goals

-Research: Ask Questions !

- Set Goals !

Step 2 – Setup Social Media Channels • Facebook !• Flickr• Twitter• Linkedin• Wordpress• YouTube• Blogger• Delicious• SlideShare

Step 3 – Organize the Teams

-Managers !

-Authors !

-Community Engager !

Step 4 – Create Content

-Editorial Calendar !

Step 5—Engagement

-Review Metrics !

Step 6 – Measure Results and Refine Goals

-Results !

-Redefine Goals !

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Step 1 – Set Goals

Before posting messages and information across the social media map, it isrecommended to set some goals. In other words, an organization needs to identifymeasurable, relevant statements that influence the intent and design of thecommunications and engagement. This gives the organization and its stakeholders aclear idea of what success looks like resulting from the effort. In this stage of creating anoptimal social media program, it is also advantageous to conduct a little research.

Research starts with asking questions, identifying potential problems and capitalizing onopportunities. Here are three key questions that will cover many relevant issues relatedto social media activities:

• Where is our organization today and where do we want it to be tomorrow?• How is our branding perceived by our audiences and should we change it?• Who are the key audiences that make up our community of stakeholders?

After taking some time to collect answers to these questions, the next steps are toestablish goals based on the findings of the research.

Examples of social media goals for business:

• Establish an average search ranking of x? after three months of starting our socialmedia efforts

• Produce a quantifiable increase in leads and positive customer service reports• Improve keyword saturation, branding and SEO •• Increase by 15 percent the gathering of customers’ thoughts, experiences and

opinions • Add 12 brand ambassadors to each geographic region• Test two new ideas before audiences each quarter• Introduce two new audiences to the product line and services

Examples of social media goals for nonprofits:

• Grow donor base by ten percent during the calendar year• Raise number of volunteers by eight percent during the calendar year• Increase Facebook fans by five percent during the holiday season• Broadcast three messages that underline mission and purpose each week• Highlight two success stories and messages of inspiration each week• Increase number of social media contributors from two to six by the end of the

fiscal year

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Step 2 – Setup Your Social Media Channels and Destinations

In the effort to make online communications strategic and significant tools in supportingthe bottom-line, an organization must determine the right social media channels topublish/designate content and engage with stakeholders and other audiences. Thisneeds to be done carefully in order to avoid posting on channels that will not help reachgoals.

It is key to know the channels that are appropriate for the organization, its brand andaudiences. Each channel has its own features and character. Understanding eachchannel will ensure proper use of time and get the most mileage from publishingcontent such as text, blogs, photos, Internet forums, videos, podcasts and other media.

Popular social media networks:

• Facebook Profile and Page: Friend and consumer social network• Flickr: Image and video sharing network• Twitter: Microblogging network• Linkedin: Professional, business-based social network• Wordpress: Open blogging tool and publishing platform• YouTube: Video-sharing network• Blogger: Blog publishing service• Delicious: Social bookmarking web service• SlideShare: Slide presentation sharing web service

Step 3 – Organize the Team

At this point in the social media planning, it’s pretty clear that it takes more than oneperson alone to effectively produce and publish content along with monitoringengagement. Three roles are needed to successfully launch and sustain a social mediaprogram that exists to achieve the organization’s goals. The roles are manager, authorand community engager. The number of individuals involved in these roles dependson the size of the organization.

Each organization consists of a number of professionals who are closely affiliated with itsmission and primary function. By having a manager in place, an organization has theopportunity to use its untapped resources to produce compelling content. Authors canbe sales reps, engineers, developers, executives, tech support and others who regularlyengage with clients.

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Here is a breakdown of clearly defined team roles, which adds a new level oforganization and quality assurance:

Managers

The Manager holds the leadership function of the social media campaign.Responsibilities include the following:

• Defining the qualifications, responsibilities, parameters, guidelines of the authorsand community engager

• Setting up social media channels and publishing templates• Developing and maintaining an editorial calendar, which includes a one to two

week plan stating production timelines and schedules for two or three authors • Reviewing, approving and publishing all content by authors prior to ensure,

accuracy, proper use of keywords and branding consistency

Authors

Authors produce assigned content for publishing. They are the writers, photographersand videographers of the organization who may not be necessarily directly connectedwith the marketing/public relations department. Under the manager’s direction, authorsare able to anticipate and prepare for assignments in a reasonable span of time. They areable to focus on their expertise and share it with audiences that are solely interested intheir content.

Responsibilities include the following:

• Writing, editing content (messages, event coverage, blogs, news, tags, invites,announcements and more)

• Create two original news stories every week• Generate all photos and video clips

Community Engager

The Community Engager is of vital importance in the function of an organization’s socialmedia efforts. Their role is to engage in conversation with an organization’s audiences,keep tabs on what is being said, and build a community that is mutually beneficial.Responsibilities include the following:

• Informing audiences about postings on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. throughdirected email blasts

• Engaging with fans, followers and others posting comments and feedback• Monitoring reuse, shares, and retweets

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Step 4 – Content Calendar and Creation

Editorial Calendar

This enables the manager to plan ahead to select a range of topics and news items toprepare and post. It shows which authors are assigned to prepare specific content(messages, questions, teasers and news) and media (photos, graphics and videos. Thisincludes topics, themes, timelines of production and deadlines when tasks and contentare due. Each month is broken down into days, and each day has its set of tasks to keeptrack of content in all stages of development.

The calendar allows a manager to give assignments to the authors, set deadlines anddesignate social media channels appropriate for the content. This proactive approachschedules a steady production and delivery of preplanned content to ensure thepublishing of timely communications.

By adopting an editorial calendar, an organization can also use its in-house resources toreview content before it’s published, which is a wise practice to avoid problems relatedto misinformation, factual mistakes and grammatical errors.

Step 5 – Conduct Engagement

Social media is primarily centered on producing content that drives meaningfulengagement. Messages, photos, videos, stories, questions, announcements and ideasdrive discussions, comments and feedback. Without fresh and active content, a socialmedia program is simply an electronic version of print media—one-way communication(sender to receiver). The essence of social media is two-way communication (sender toreceiver then back to sender).

Social media opens a new door for organizations to have an engagement strategy thateffectively monitors and measures the exchange of content between senders(organization) and receivers (audiences/stakeholders). Reports and graphs, showing therelease of content across a set of channels, illustrate the progress in reaching audiences.The feedback, comments, retweets and other responses from those receiving contentenable the organization to listen to what stakeholders are saying in response to thecontent.

The beauty of social media is that it takes traditional marketing/public relations to ahigher level where the mission is to be proactive in creating relevant content that drivesmeaningful engagement.

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Step 6 – Measure and Redefine Goals

Measuring ultimately rounds out the process outlined above … hence the importance ofsetting goals in the first place.

As previously noted, goals are stated as results with a due date. For example, a goalmay have been to increase “likes” at the Facebook page by 20% by a certain date.Examine the results against the goals and identify any cause and effect. Another way toapproach this would be to pose the question, “Knowing what I know now and whatmight I have done differently.”

Once goals, results and corrective action are collectively evaluated, the process is simplyrepeated. Experience shows that reviews every two to four weeks are a good place tostart. Once the “machinery” is in place, monthly or even quarterly assessments can bemaintained.

You are on your way … best wishes in your efforts.

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About Amplephi

Amplephi (www.amplephi.com) is hosted digital media-marketing platform that enablesthe effective management of all the tasks related to social media communications. Theprimary goal is to help organizations succeed by maximizing the power of their content.This is achieved when the organization’s diverse teams of communicators are organizedto intelligently publish content, engage with their audiences and measure feedback.

Backed by a year and a half of development and a dedicated team of software,marketing, marketing and public relations experts, Amplephi is a solution that amplifiesmessages, enhances engagement and strengthens ties between organizations and theiraudiences. Amplephi’s distinctive quality over other social, publishing and monitoringplatforms is the fact that it brings together all social media activities (content making,editing, publishing, sending and monitoring) under one platform.

The Vehicle to Help Reach Your Destination

Benefits Of A Single E-marketing Platform:

• Saves time by publishing content from one platform• Gives a clear outline of responsibilities and tasks • Provides editorial calendar for assigning and producing content• Tracks feedback and engagement between organization and stakeholders• Automatically Illustrates metrics of social media activity

Amplephi allows organizations to drive and capitalize on the marketing and publicrelations benefits of social media. For the communications side of an organization,Amplephi makes it possible for an administrator to orchestrate tasks and responsibilitiesassociated with an ongoing social media campaign. It offers the means to manage aneditorial calendar and the teams of contributors, as well as authorize the publishing ofcontent, monitor engagement and record metrics in one easy to operate location.

Yes, one administrator can plan, schedule, assign, create, publish and monitor contentfor a vast number of social media channels in a faction of time it takes to manageconventionally. With Amplephi in place, efficiently incorporating and streamlining socialmedia best practices into the greater branding/marketing strategy is within reach.

Contact Information

Amplephi1592 North BataviaOrange, CA 92867

1.714.921.9300 x 131

www.amplephi.cominfo@amplepi.com

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About Douglas Fleischli

With more than 20 years in the public relations field focusing on journalistic writing andstorytelling, Doug Fleischli has mastered the art of weaving strategic messages into human-interest articles for the purpose of helping companies build profitable awareness and generategood will.

As with many public relations professionals, the advent of new media has created bothopportunities and challenges in their reputation management efforts. During his graduate studiesin media psychology at Touro University in Los Angeles, Doug affirmed his views on new mediain that it narrows the gap between the one communicating the message and the one receiving it.The result of this unprecedented era of engagement is the merging of the two entities, which hasled to a meaningful and dynamic community where content is shaped by the exchange ofthoughts, creative expressions, news and opinions.

With that said, Doug has extensively researched the role of social media from the perspective ofonline storytelling, the international exchange of scientific data and as a driving force in socialchange such as the recent rising of “Arab Spring” in the Middle East. His exploration continues asthis ever changing medium of communication redefines how people interact personally, sociallyand professionally.

Douglas FleischliPR Writer, Storyteller & Online Journalist949-233-5993Blog: http://doug79.wordpress.comwww.linkedin.com/in/dougfleischlitwitter.com/DougFleischli

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