Where Is Your Web Strategy?

Too many companies fall into the trap of handing off “social media” to the fresh-faced millennial and calling it a day.

Is this a move you really want to make?

Beyond Facebook

Social Media is arguably the most high-profile, highly visible face for organizations.

With real-time search evolving rapidly, the employee in charge of updating statuses and creating blog content has the authority to shape the overall perception of your company and your brand.   Would you feel comfortable sending this employee off to represent your company at an international press conference?

Just “knowing” the technology isn’t enough.

Without an understanding of your company goals, products/services, positioning, messaging and competition – your social media is bound to flatline.  That being said, without an understanding of internet trends, your best intelligence will become outdated.  Solve this by combining the skills of the tech-savvy with the analysts in strategic management.

Refusing to Listen?  You’re on the fast track to becoming Irrelevant. The internet is a whole new ball game where the collective opinion of the group matters more than slick advertising. Traditional outbound marketing must shift to inbound strategies: listening, nurturing, engaging.  On Mashable’s 3 Things You Need to Know About Social Media Strategy B.L Ochman writes,

“Any company that isn’t willing to listen to customers and be nimble and quick enough to respond, and, when necessary, change, will soon be unable to compete with smart, tech-savvy companies that can turn on a dime.”

Have a Sense of Purpose . I always ask what success looks like before I begin a project. If you can’t visualize your ideal outcome, then take a step back.  Social Media strategies look different for each business.  Is your priority strengthening relationships with core clients? Generating new leads? Understanding the competitive market? Figure out what makes the most sense for your needs first, then delegate the work.

Thomas Edison

I firmly believe that the difference between success and failure is simply execution. A notorious over-thinker myself, I tend to find my brain reeling through tiny thought-movies of potential scenarios.  The biggest challenge in this is spending way too much energy on strategy and not enough effort on execution.  

Ideas are useless until they hit the ground.

All too many times, my best ideas never amount to anything because I think they deserve a perfect execution.  I’m learning that execution doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to execute.  People who take action will always be more successful than those who hang back and wait for perfect.  Some of the best advice I’ve gotten from an employer is the importance of “getting it out of your inbox.”  How many times have we talked ourselves out of making the initial phone call or drafting the proposal, until a hot idea grows stale?  I have become quite a big advocate of just trying something to move forward.  The worst that can happen (I’ve rolled through the thought-footage) is that you’ll just learn what not to do when your next idea rolls in.