How to build a social strategy

Nice summary on how to build a social marketing strategy. Thanks for sharing Steven.

How diageo's digital strategy started?

View more presentations from steven van belleghem

Social media tools don’t buy happiness ...

But they’re very useful. Of course the essence of social media marketing and conversation management is not in boxing everything neatly in one or the other tool. Successful marketing and communication is more then ever about content, creativity, the message. Not software ... but it helps.

Those who still remember the days when the internet was associated with whistling modems must have another déja vue these days. Last century it was common practice to build your own tools to develop and maintain websites, which gave us loads of content management systems. Books were written about it, studies made and conferences organised, resulting in a landscape so complex you needed a consultant to guide you through.

Today they are back, the tools. Not to build websites but to shape your strategy and to be a good conversation manager. Solutions come in all shapes and sizes, as social media are a lot more complexe then your own websites. On one hand you need to manager different platforms and on the other hand you want to follow and interact with over 500 million people on Facebook alone. Not a simple task, so you’ll need more then one solution.

Now, how do we find our way in these hundreds of tools? Let’s split them up in a number of categories. This is - again - not as straightforward as it may seem because every tool seems to take a different angle to managing social media. I prefer to split social media management platforms along the logic of the steps that are often used to set out a social media strategy:
1. Listen
2. Engage
3. Act

In the “Listen” phase we first of all need social media tracking tools. This can range from a simple and free Google Alerts to a very advanced Radian6 of the recently launched Engagor. But also your own site analytics software (e.g. Google Analytics) falls into this category as it allows you to measure the effect social media on the visits to your site. And then there are also those sites that measure your performance in social media such as the Klout (which is in itself subject to much controversy).

Once you have clear view on the ongoing conversations it’s time to step into the conversation yourself. But there are many channels and many participants in the conversation both inside and outside the company. So a traditional content management system or a CRM tool will not do the job. That’s why we see a number of social media engagement tools appear such a Hootsuite.

Now comes the time for some real action. Claim, maintain and promote your own piece of social media territory. This is the least developed part of this emerging industry. There are a number of solutions that allow you to manage Facebook pages, and a number of existing CMSystems work on plugins to integrate with the large social media platforms. When it comes to tools for launching social media campaigns we look forward to what Spreadid wil offer, a soon-to-launch Belgian initiative (in which I’m a stakeholder).

But as already indicated in the beginning, tools are but a means to help. Succes in social media only comes with the correct message, the exact tone of voice and of course a smart strategy.

Mini-interview at Fusion Marketing Experience with Jim Ducharme

Square Melon was one of the proud main sponsors of the Fusion Marketing Experience in March 2011. This is a mini-interview Jim did with me. More video's to come (with more content :) )

The internet is disappearing

My Tweetathlon for Music For Life #itweetforlife

Over the last days I've on a small Tweetathlon after my fellow-greyhound @guidooohh challenged me not to mention Square Melon during 40 (relevant) tweets and before the end of Music for life. And it has been a remarkable experience. Here are a few things I learned.

- It takes quite an effort to publish 40 tweets in about 3 days, but it's more the logistics of publishing them that was a drag (copy, paste, shorten message, shorten URL, get in the correct hash tags).
- On the other hand, findin inspiration was not so difficult. Although today (day before Christmas) the constant flow of content online seriously slowed down.
- I took pride in making all (well most) tweets relevant. Either by putting out a message or linking to an interesting online item. However, this is not a guarantee for a lot of reactions or retweets. Hence this tweet I sent out this morning:
Nihilism is the ultimate social media conversation magnet (hier net te plaatse in team bedacht) #36 #itweetforlife

But since I'm kind of proud of my work, here is the full list of 40 tweets:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

(*) Square Melon ... What will they think of next #hetwaswelmoeilijk #itweetforlife #mfl10 @guidooohh en de rest: Fijne Feesten Gewenst!

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

The Power of Twitter in Information Discovery http://ht.ly/3u6tX #39 #itweetforlife

guidooohh guido everaert

@ibert ok, ok, i av lost... Dokken dus...#itweetforlife #mfl10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

How Santa Lost Control of His Branding #37 #itweetforlife
http://ht.ly/3u4vh 

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

My Pummelvision video is ready, enjoy my life in Facebook foto's http://ht.ly/3u4sL

#37 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Nihilism is the ultimate social media conversation magnet (hier net te plaatse in team
bedacht) #36 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove 

OK, one more Christmas video ... Tron! http://ht.ly/3u4iE  #35 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

The Star Wars Christmas edition to round up the list #34 #itweetforlife http://ht.ly/3u3Tn

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

And more Christmas mellowness, here are the Chipmunks? #33 #itweetforlife http://ht.ly/3u3KZ

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Stepping up the Christmas mellowness with some TV classics, do you remember Alf? #1987 #weep
#32 #itweetforlife http://ht.ly/3u3Hi

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Vind een vent zoals je schoenen kiest, franse dating site lanceert zich http://ht.ly/3u3wo
#31 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Schrik om te rijden in de sneeuw? Maybe the dog can help http://ht.ly/3u3mv  #30 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Cool app: Beluga helps groups of friends stay in touch. Vanavond eens testen rond de
feesttafel. http://ht.ly/3u3h2 #29 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Een digitaal kerstverhaal ... http://ht.ly/3u3b9 #28 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Waar zit de Kerstman? Norad en Google helpen ... http://ht.ly/3u32P  #27 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Make the ringtone the message, great campaign from Guatemala (practice you Spanish) http://ht.ly/3u2Ua  #26 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove 

Looking forward to see my life flash before my eyes:
Pummelvision.com http://bit.ly/euIkdS
#25 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove 

Oudenaarde > Antwerpen - 75km - 1uur what's the
problem? #23 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Het heeft nauwelijks gesneeuwd in O-VL, je kan gerust de baan op. Snap niet waarom De
Lijn daar problemen heeft #22 #itweetforlife #radio1

guidooohh guido everaert

@VLRik mocht het daar stoppen, ik zou hem nog vriend kunnen noemen #goresmeerlapperij
#itweetforlife // cc @ibert

guidooohh guido everaert

@ibert platte chantage kan eigenlijk ook hè... ik zou dingen kunnen vertellen over je, die

misschien wel 50 euro waard zijn #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Ted.com launches: Ads Worth Spreading http://ht.ly/3tAMY  #21 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Where there's a panic, there's an opportunity http://ht.ly/3tAD6
#20 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Beautiful experiments about Internet gifts and stolen pixels. #19 #itweetforlife http://ht.ly/3tAzQ

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Unconventional rules of post-digital marketing: don't share & encourage, incentivize &
convert #18 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Unconventional rules of post-digital marketing: don't just use the complete web, there's life

in the real world too #17 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Unconventional rules of post-digital marketing: don't make it easy, make it worthwhile #16 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Unconventional rules of post-digital marketing: don't stay in conversation at all cost, shut
up if not relevant #15 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Unconventional rules of post-digital marketing: don't offer tools, add value #14 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Wat worden de gadgets van volgend jaar? http://ht.ly/3tAeq #itweetforlife #13

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Die van Path komen toch altijd met een interessante insteek voor hun Social Netw
applicatie #itweetforlife #11 http://tcrn.ch/fesmJz

guidooohh guido everaert

Beste mensen vraag @ibert nu eens hoe dat zit met Amphion en
ontlok hem het woord... Iets met square en lemon #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

We gaan eens een tweet demarrageke inzetten, wat geld uit @guidooohh
zijn zakken slaan voor #mfl10 #itweetforlife #11

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

Betaalt 1,5 EUR toeristenbelasting en vraagt zich af wat ik daarvoor krijg van
"A" #itweetforlife #10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#9 Think I'm a Pussycat Doll fan, do you

still love me? http://yfrog.com/h092fcj
#itweetforlife #mfl10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#8 About fruit & technology, and I'm not making a mistake here ... http://youtu.be/kAG39jKi0lI
#itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#7 Is a bed in the Hilton big enough for me and my ego? #partytonight #itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#7 Zijn dat de mensen van de helpdesk die die wishes inzingen voor Electrabel? http://bit.ly/hnxOgz  #itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#6 Location based chat roulette (no video unfortunately) http://bit.ly/eRfM6n  #itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#5 Some arty stuff to kick off the day http://aol.it/g7KLzk #itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#4 Did you know Adam Curry is Podcasting cool music again? #itweetforlife #MFL10 http://bit.ly/eW5EPt

guidooohh guido everaert

@ibert zijt ge daar alleen of zijn er nog snaken van 't bedrijf? #3 #itweetforlife

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#3 Een specialleke voor #itweetforlife Veel volk hier! — at Het Glazen Huis http://gowal.la/c/3beaa

guidooohh guido everaert

@rik_lagey help mij,'t is hard tegen hard...hij mag niet meer vierkante citroen in
zijn tweets vermelden @ibert #itweetforlife #MFL10

guidooohh guido everaert

@ibert excuseer, in het overigens goede artikel staat al een tag naar uw X,
gaan we zo beginnen? #itweetforlife #MFL10 http://bit.ly/eaTYj0

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#2 Follow the WikiLeaks river of news (tx Dave Winer) http://bit.ly/ev52U0

#itweetforlife #MFL10

ibert Bert Van Wassenhove

#1 Zal ik eens beginnen met de trends van 2011, in't Nederlands #itweetforlife #MFL10

http://bit.ly/eaT

Cool inspiration for an interactive book we're working on