What’s Your Social Media Information Strategy?

Diamond’s social media research and expertise points to the fact that if companies don’t manage their social media presence, others will.

United Airlines wouldn’t listen.

After witnessing United baggage handlers damage his $3,500 Taylor guitar, Dave Carroll tried for months to get restitution.  In the end, his claim was denied – though the incident was not.  He vowed that his story would not go untold.

Over 5.68 million people have now watched his ode to United on YouTube. United scrambled to respond to his message and sent him a Twitter apology a day after he put the video online.  But the video remained, and continued to damage United.  The song is available on iTunes.  There is already a sequel and a third song on the way. Given the strong competition in the airline industry, it is information and events like this which can further reduce profits and increase costs.

Companies shouldn’t wait to get involved with social media.  It leaves too much to chance.  Companies need to play a proactive role in developing  a focused strategy to embrace social media information.

Diamond’s Social Media Information Flow Framework (see Figure 1) structures the complex dynamics of the environment, focusing on the information that can both be produced and controlled, and how that information – if proactively managed – can become a competitive advantage.  Once a company engages in social media, there is a repeatable set of information-centric activities that drive a company’s social media game plan.

Figure 1 – Diamond’s Social Media Information Flow Framework

As shown in Figure 1, the first steps for entering the social media scene are to understand environment dynamics, assess current state, and then seed the environment with information.  This information is what constituents will consume using a broad set of devices, channels and touch-points.  Finding one’s bearing within the environment is a critical step before entering the social media information flow of capturing, analyzing and making adjustments to a social media information game plan.

Diamond’s framework sets the stage for further discussions when developing a comprehensive social media information strategy.

Getting In the Game

Example 1, Sears

Having a presence on a Social Media platform is relatively easy. Sometimes companies will do it themselves, and if not, as previously mentioned, their customers will create one for them.  The challenging part is capturing and analyzing the information from these platforms to make strategic decisions. Capturing the information gathered from social media sites takes time and effort, but the results can help a company truly understand and influence customers.

Facebook, the world’s second-most visited website after Google, has the highest customer captivity among social media sites.  Facebook has made significant investments in its analytical systems so that it can harvest its 2.5 Petabytes (PB) of user-generated data.  This data can be turned into information about consumer preferences, product affinities, priorities and more.  The rate at which companies are beginning to understand the value of this information is increasing rapidly.

Using Social Media Information – From Influence to Action

Celebrities and media companies have also been successful in using sites like Twitter to talk to their fans and customers directly.

Ellen DeGeneres’ ability to influence more than three million Twitter followers  is a great accomplishment.  An important question regarding that fact is whether or not she has gained a better understanding of her followers.  Does she leverage that information to gain a better sense of what should be on her next show?  Twitter is a very important channel for the success of her career.

An example of the power to not only influence, but to get people to take action is evidenced by Lance Armstrong’s recent Tweet: Good morning Dublin. Who wants to ride this afternoon? I do. 5:30 pm @ the roundabout of Fountain Rd and Chesterfield Ave. See you there. The result of that Tweet was that 300 people showed up to meet him!  While a successful learning event for Lance, it’s also an event that probably has him thinking of how to leverage social media to send and receive information about his plans and further build his brand.  This ultimately gets his fans more involved in what is important to him – e.g. fighting cancer.

Example 2, Pharmaceuticals - Direct to Consumer Marketing Information

From a corporate perspective, using social media to support causes is important as well, but there are many other large stakes at hand.  Not all companies have been able to adapt to the social media revolution and they have found social media finding them first.  For example, Intel’s CIO started engaging social media after social media engaged her.  An Intel employee released confidential information in a blog entry and the ramifications eventually made their way to other Intel senior executives, and ultimately in the CIO’s inbox.  At that moment Intel decided to embrace social media and began to develop a plan on how to control the information generated.  Intel now has social media guidelines that they have published.  Intel continues to evolve what information it produces and captures, analyzing it to make better corporate decisions for both employees and shareholders.

No Game Plan is Not an Option

Social media is not a game that a company can refuse to play.  There are many examples beyond those provided that show how social media is placing companies between a rock and a hard place.  The good news is that there is a way to navigate the waters – embrace social media using a structured framework and leverage the lessons learned from the efforts of other corporate social media trailblazers.  Do not wait while information about your company takes on a life of its own – think about developing a social media information strategy now.

Tagged as: Customer Impact, Facebook, Intel, marketing, Sears, social media, Twitter, United