Image Credit: 50 Social Media Icons by Ivan Walsh

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One of the first things an entrepreneur or organization needs to consider with respect to social media strategy is social capacity. What are your true capabilities when it comes to  engaging in social media?

3 Factors That Affect Social Capacity

Culture

• Is your organization passionate about their stakeholders and do you believe that audience engagement has value?
• Does you organization see social media as an opportunity or a waste of time?
• Is your culture built on open communication or hoarding information?
• Culture has a lot to do with your ability to plan and execute a successful social media program – Trying to launch a social media initiative in an environment that doesn’t really care about communicating with stakeholders is a waste of time and money.

Time

• Social media demands time – time to come up with a plan; time to create content on an ongoing basis; time to use the tools for listening and participation
• The amount of time you have doesn’t need to have a bearing on your level of social media success – but it should guide your level of participation
• If you don’t have a lot of time start slow and select social media tools that fit with your ability to create content and manage participation (I suggest starting with one…two if you’re ambitious)

Attitude

• Do you believe that engaging with your audience is the right thing to do…regardless of ROI?
• Yes…regardless of ROI. Before you lose your mind and start writing nasty things in the comment section, let me clarify
• I get the fact that ROI is important  – you have to understand your objectives and use analytics tools to measure the success of your social media efforts – whether that’s leads, sales, engagement levels, etc.
• But it’s also important to realize that social media is intangible…and be willing to view social media the same way you would some of your other marketing channels
• Be honest – Do you know the exact ROI of all your existing marketing initiatives?
• How about negative ROI – What’s the Return on Ignoring your audience?

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“The closer you get to someone, something, some brand, some organization… the harder it is to demonize it, objectify it or hate it. So, if you want to not be hated, open up. Let people in. Engage. Interact.” (Seth Godin)

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This visual was inspired by a recent Newt Barrett post on Content Marketing Today – Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy.

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Chris Brogan is a busy guy…

Average Emails per Day – 590

• Untargeted press releases – 48
• Bacn (look it up; anniversary of the term is tomorrow) – 114
• Requests for help/ideas – 171
• Friends – 49
• Interview requests – 27
• Project-related mail – 54

Other Communication:

• Average Direct Messages on Twitter per Day – 210 (up from 180)
• Average Text Messages a Day – 52
• Average # of Phone Calls a Day – 19
• Average Books/Products sent to my Home/Business (per week): 8
• Average Paper Mail (personal) sent to me (per week): 3

How Chris spends his time (less accurate, may not add up but presume overlap):

• Typical hours awake each day: 19
• Average hours in front of a screen (laptop, phone): 14
• Estimated time on Twitter (non-conference day): 4 hours (multitask)
• Estimated time in email (non-conference day): 2 hours (multitask)
• Estimated time on blogs (reading/commenting): 2 hours (condensed)
• Estimated time on Facebook/other networks: 1 hour (multitask)
• Estimated time spent writing (book, proposal, contracts): 3 hours
• Estimated time spent with family: 3 hours
• Estimated time spent reading: 1 hour

Check out Chris Brogan’s “Behind The Scenes” newsletter for great social media content (that’s a little different from his blog) and some cool behind the scenes stuff.

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This marketing visual was inspired by the SEOmoz video below.

The Twitter explosion may start becoming important as a driver of web traffic.

Because popular posts get tweeted/retweeted hours before they are linked to on the web, it’s likely Google is using the Twitter feed to search out the freshest content.

As popular tweets continue to earn links on the web, Twitter’s use as a social media tool may also start to help your SEO efforts, particularly in the area of link building.

Video Summary Notes – Important Factor in Getting Re-Tweeted:

Tweet Length

• You will need to account for “RT@Username”
• Tweets less than 100 characters reduce “friction”
• Shorter tweets are easier to copy and have more impact

Time of Day

• 9:00-3:00pm PST hit heaviest % of twitter users
• 9:00-10:00am is best to hit London, a Twitter hotbed

Phrasing

• Definitive/Authoritative
• Humourous – comedians are starting to use Twitter to test their jokes
• Shocking/Sensational
• Mysterious (WOW! Check this out…Oh my god! I can’t believe this…)

Subject Matter

• Technology
• Celebrity related
• Politics
• Images – low level of commitment required

URL vs. No URL

• Tweets with URLs outperform tweets with no URLs

Account Information

• # followers – the more followers, the more re-tweets
• Your photo – adds authenticity
• The usability of your profile – the more info you have, the better

Push Campaigns

• Ask friends to RT posts
• Use direct messages
• Add “Tweet This” buttons

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – How to Get Re-Tweeted from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

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This social media visual was inspired by two Shane Gibson tweets:

• Social Media Tip: Shortening the engagement curve is about being top of mind faster
• Social Media Tip: Using more than one channel/stream shortens your brand engagement curve

I agree with the Shane’s engagement strategy. However, it’s also important to be mindful of return on time invested. There are so many channels available – figure out your social media objectives and engage in as many platforms that make sense.

My main social media channels are Wordpress, Linkedin, Twitter, Flickr and Slideshare – and I dabble in Facebook and Youtube.

What is your social media strategy and what channels do you use?

This visual was inspired by Seth Godin. Check out The Five Pillars of Success post.

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1. Develop strategies based on the dynamics of online search, content marketing (brand journalism) and social media
2. Create great content that helps answer your target audience’s questions and solve their problems
3. Publish content on the web and across social media channels
4. Promote content using search engine optimization, permission based e-marketing and social media
5. Manage, maintain, review, update and archive content on an ongoing basis
6. Collect, measure and analyze marketing data to assess engagement, conversion rates, leads and sales

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