We’re all trying to reach out to our ideal customers or clients. We want them to be aware of what we’re offering, selling, or doing, and we want to demonstrate to them why they should choose us over our market competitors.

The social web platforms offer us such a chance. We can engage directly and regularly with new and existing customers or clients, to put them first in the queue for special offers or new products, and to make it easy for them to share our content with their friends.

But rather than let the first question be a case of choosing whether to launch a Facebook group, start a company blog, or register on Twitter, it should be to ask just how much time, resources, and budget we’re willing to commit – now and in the long term.

Like any web content we publish it shouldn’t be taken lightly and needs to be backed up by a strategy where all the pros and cons have been carefully considered. That way we’ll give ourselves the best chance of engaging our audience – no matter where they choose to congregate.

Credit

• Social network icons by Rogie King

But like the musician who releases a fantastic first album when most of their tracks were penned years ago – back when they were a lovesick teenager at college – we may have enough great content in the well to fill up three months worth of newsletters, but what about the next quarter?

Suddenly, at the behest of their record company, this musician is now expected to produce subsequent albums of equal quality in the space of a year or less. We’re also on the conveyor belt now. There’s a captive audience and with that the added expectation that our publication will continue in the same vein.

If we’re serious then we’ll need to assign people with the necessary roles and responsibilities. We’ll need time to get used to the publishing process. We’ll need to know what our audience wants and what we’re measuring. We’ll need a plan.

A workshop I attended at a recent conference discussed how Councils here in the UK are coming to terms with modern public interaction platforms – such as the social web.

There were tales of councillors and public officials being asked (or, in some cases told) to start a blog, Facebook group, or Twitter feed. While some embraced this new-found medium of expression and interaction there were others that had no real interest or motivation to learn and, subsequently, left their blogs, groups and feeds idle after an initial flurry of activity. All that remained was the potentially dangerous impression that they didn’t much care about the needs and opinions of the same public that voted them into office.

Our clients or employers may think they need a social web presence – purely because they feel they have to these days. But it’s our responsibility, as part of the development of an overall content strategy, to ascertain whether they have the time, team, budget, and heart to keep up such a public publishing strategy.

A visual – though unscientific and subjective – analysis could be presented in a diamond form (Figure 1), where each element is assigned a rating of 1 to 3 – with 3 representing the optimum level. Let’s look at a few scenarios.

Figure 1 - An unscientific analysis of whether a client or employer can keep up a social web publishing strategy.

Scenario 1

Figure 2 shows a business or organisation with an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and resourceful team – backed up by a sizeable marketing budget. What they lack though is the time to devote to a social web publishing strategy.

Figure 2 - An enthusiastic and resourceful team with a sizeable budget, but lack the time to devote to a social web publishing strategy.

A common scenario, and one that requires a strategy that allows for small tentative steps. Only when they’re comfortable with a regular publishing pattern, and ready to accommodate more, should the strategy allow for expansion. With all that enthusiasm and drive it’s likely that a successful foray will allow for more time to be allocated to the team.

Scenario 2

Figure 3 shows a large business or organisation with lots of time and available marketing budget to devote to a social web publishing strategy, but show a visible lack of enthusiasm.

Figure 3 - A large team with time and a budget to devote to a social web publishing regime, but lack enthusiasm.

Initially, you should try to get to the root of the problem. We’re all afraid of what we don’t understand so this lack of drive may well stem from a lack of knowledge and exposure to the social web. If audience research suggests that public participation and interaction would greatly benefit the client or employer then you have to provide valid reasons why to spark some interest – whilst educating those who are tasked with creating the content.

Scenario 3

Figure 4 shows a small business or organisation that possess an enthusiastic team with time to devote to a social web publishing strategy, but don’t have much in the way of a marketing budget.

Figure 4 - A small, but enthusiastic team with time to devote to a social web publishing regime, but without a large marketing budget.

This typically describes a young web-savvy company. A small team like this can be very agile up against their larger industry peers and willing to try something that might not necessarily pay off initially, but be mindful of their time – you don’t want to burden them with too many spinning plates.

In closing

The social web has brought businesses and organisations closer to their audience than ever before, but with that exposure comes the temptation to overstretch beyond your means. Adopting a mentality of ‘we’ll update it one day’ and ‘it’s there when we need it’ just won’t do.

No-one wants to see web white elephants. No matter how much time and money has been afforded to them these desolate ruins, if left exposed to public scrutiny, have the potential to alter perceptions and damage reputations. The development of effective content strategies can help provide a roadmap for everyone.

Social Web Diamond (1.8 MB)