What, No Plan for Being Social?

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	June 25, 2010

What, No Plan for Being Social?
By: Doug Bedell

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It's dangerous for organizations to be communicating without a plan for what they want to say and how to say it, and communicating via Web social media channels surely is no exception.

Yet, in a recent survey, only 51 percent of the firms who said they were using social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube had a strategic plan in place for doing so, and 88 percent agreed it's important to have such a plan. Is fascination with social media or pressure to use the new channels, getting ahead of orderly business processes? It would seem so.

Digital Brand Expressions (DBE), a Web marketing firm in Kingston, N.J, conducted the survey of 100 companies in May. Given the findings, it's aptly entitled, "Social Media Without a Parachute."

Almost unbelievably, DBE found that "Surprisingly, even for the firms that do have a strategic plan in place, only 29 percent reported distributing policies and/or communications protocols to employees. This leaves the majority of organizations exposed to problems arising from employees saying the wrong things in the wrong ways to the wrong people at the wrong time."

No kidding.

There's a lot of helpful details in the DBE report, but it's dismaying to see that even in the firms with social media plans, human resources, customer service, and general employee usage are typically not included. Marketing, public relations, and sales have the lead, and that's about it. Don't most employees have access to computers? Don't they need guidance on relating to the public via the Web? We're not just playing games here.

For richer or poorer, Web communication is going to be an increasing part of business reality. True, the new modes have been coming on fairly quickly, but CEOs need to get effectively tuned into their value (and potential liabilities). We recommend the DBE survey for clues on how to proceed.

What do you think? Post a comment below!

Comments

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Mike Byrnes (Boston, MA)	on 29 Jun 2010 at 2:54 pm

I agree. Once a client determines what they want to achieve, it is easier to determine if their efforts are successful. To me, I think it comes down to a few things to aim for in the social media marketing plan... http://byrnesconsulting.com/2010/04/08/what-to-aim-for-when-using-social-media/ Thanks for sharing this information! Mike Byrnes, President, Byrnes Consulting, LLC, www.byrnesconsulting.com

GoldenDog (Charming Village in England)	on 26 Jun 2010 at 2:50 pm

Understanding the benefits and potential of Social media for an organization is Step One. If they can not visualize it then they cannot write a plan. Buying into innovative thinking changes everything. The most dramatic impact has been in w/ governments grasping the possibilities. I get them thinking and realizing that we are on the tip of a massive change in how we communicate. for example how proactive is it to have the guys putting up the closed road sign on a flooded road to tweet it... Think of how incredibly effective and efficient that is for all those who need to know not only within the response team but the public and media too. Can't have a plan if you don't know what you are planning for. 100% correct you need the plan to make it happen.

Brooks T. Cooper (Evansville, Indiana)	on 25 Jun 2010 at 12:07 pm

I write socialized media plans for a living and have found the the key points of what you are addressing is the common misconception of most business leaders. It\'s not enough to have the plan sit on the shelf and become just an object. You have to embrace it!

About the Author
Doug Bedell

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the proprietor of Resource Relations in Central PA, which focuses on organizational communication, crisis communication, and social media. His blog, “Beetles Beat,” can be found at www.ResourceRelations.net. On Twitter, he’s DougBeetle.