Steve

Thanks
Richard

A little more background here on the approach that I take, if for no other reason to keep the conversation going since this is interesting to me and I find little content on this topic.

I use 4 steps as I start with a client, or start a new iteration in the process. If we are starting on a new Iteration, these 4 steps can all be sized to the appropriate level. They are:
• Assessment
• Goals
• Roadmap
• Measurement

Assessment – This step defines the current state of a company’s social media program. There are 3 primary activities that I go through for the assessment.
• Survey – online, 20 minutes, taken by stakeholders, practitioners, executives
• Interview stakeholders
• Research – Assets, competition, etc

Goals – These start with business goals, both Corporate and Marketing, customer service, sales, etc, depending upon the objectives of the Social Media program. These goals are broken down into the elements of a Social Media programs can help the organization achieve these goals.

Both the Assessment and Goals are lined up against the Social Media Maturity Model. This model outlines an organizations’ progression from Novice to Expert with Social Media. For more details: http://pwsmc.com/2010/07/09/the-social-media-maturity-model/

Roadmap – The roadmap pulls from 17 tactical execution modules to make up each phase of the process. This is a bit of an a la carte menu, but every program is different and needs to be customized in order to achieve the defined goals.

Measurement – It is very hard to manage what you can’t measure. Defining the proper metrics to track is one of the keys to keeping a Social Media program on track.

Feel free to Attack, Defend or Modify (as my history teacher in high school used to say).

Technology is absolutely the last component. That’s one of the reasons why it is at the bottom of the graphic. Just as in software development, where one of the first questions has to be, “What are the business needs this will product will meet?”, not “What functionality shall we have in the product?”, so too it goes with social media. A good example of this was at a recent conference where a young lady from Microsoft came up to me and said, “My boss wants me to start an online community, what tools should I use?” I immediately stopped her and explained that the technology should not be taken into consideration at this stage of her project, and I redirected to the conversation to a discussion of the organization’s business objectives. Too many companies have failing social media initiatives because of a “if you build it, they will come” technology focused approach.

2. These are the components – not the methodology or process. I purposely kept them separate because I was finding that folks need to understand the components before they can understand the process to use them. To use another software development analogy, a coder needs to understand the different types of commands before they can combine them to create a functional, working program.

The process is iterative, and I’ll be covering methodology and process in a later blog posts. And yes, the idea is get a high-level understanding during the strategy phase and drill deeper later. Or as I sometimes describe it, the first pass through is to identify the current state. Later passes address the changes required to support the social media initiative.

You are right that there’s no one best way, and I think anybody who says they have the “ultimate approach” is either fooling themselves, their employer/client, or both. I agree that we’d ultimately address all the same points, even if from different approaches.

Adding to your point about the non-linear nature of the process… so many leaders think that once (if) they’ve done all the proper strategy and planning, they launch and never look at it again. But as you know, the process is not only iterative in the planning/pre-launch stages, but needs to be revisited on a regular basis for re-validation and realignment.

Thanks for your observations and contributing to the conversation!

Steve

1. I advise folks to start with an articulation of their vision and goals/objectives without regard to social media. Once they’ve defined them, then they can assess whether and how social media can be leveraged to help achieve their goals. If technology enters the conversation too early, it can dominate the discussion and lead people astray. Delaying its inclusion emphasizes its role as a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself. I would almost argue, therefore, that the strategy process for a social media initiative doesn’t begin until after “steps” 1 and 2 are substantially complete.

2. I consider some of the elements you’ve identified as part of the strategy process more appropriate for assessment (e.g., documentation) and/or tactical planning (e.g., decision making) stages. As you note in the “Procedures and Processes” bullet, however, perhaps the idea is get a high-level understanding during the strategy phase and drill deeper later. And, as Paul noted in his comment, the entire process is iterative, with lots of looping back and refining as you continue to move forward.

As evidenced by my preceding comments, my model and its details would look different from yours, and to a naive viewer our approaches could seem contradictory and confusing. Ultimately, we’d address all the same points, but our differences illustrate that there’s no simple formula or “one best way” to approach the development and implementation of social media initiatives. They also reinforce for me the non-linear nature of the process. Organizational leaders and their social media teams who recognize and accept both of those realities will ultimately be more successful than those who don’t.

Thanks again.