Overview of what social strategy is, why it is important, how to do it. With examples of social media, social marketing and social business strategies including results.

1. A Realist’s Guide
to Successful
Social Strategy
14 October, 2009

2. I am not a social media expert.
• I am a strategist who also knows social
• VP/Account Management and Digital Strategy
• Brand, marketing, communication strategist
• 20-years experience, American Airlines, Gateway
computers, Harley-Davidson, numerous other local/
regional brands

3. Hi. I’m Sue Spaight. I’m here to poke you
in the eye and make you think. @Tom Martin
Sue calls B.S. on me and makes me think harder.
@Jason Falls
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5. Marketers are like kids at Rita’s candy shoppe,
gazing at all the pretty opportunities. Most of us are
afraid of strategy, because we don’t feel confident
outlining one unless we’re sure it’s going to work.
-Seth Godin
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6. Get real. “Being social” is not a strategy.
If you jump into it with no clear strategy, you have
absolutely no right to expect it to work.

7. Today’s topics
• Social Strategy: What is it? Why do it? How?
• Strategies behind some successful social brands
• Q&A

8. What is a strategy?

9. Social media is not a strategy.
It’s a channel (set of tactics).

10. Multimedia is not a strategy.
It’s a tactic.

11. Strategy is the road.
It answers how you will engage.

12. GOAL: 29,029 Feet
OBJECTIVES: Reach top of Everest; don’t die
STRATEGY: Be as prepared as humanly possible
TACTICS: Intense training; best climbing team;
right route for weather; use best tools available

13. OBJECTIVE: Resolve dissatisfaction
STRATEGIES: Listen, learn, participate; tell our story;
engage customers by sharing info that matters
TACTICS: blog response, Direct2Dell community

14. Three levels of social
Social Business: At heart of the organization
Social Marketing: Impacts product, distribution, etc.
Social Media: Another communications channel

15. Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

16. Listen & be responsive.
Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

17. Responded to my Twitter product inquiry immediately...
at 7AM on a Sunday.
For a company that is all about listening, that is very strategic.

18. Put a human face on
the organization.
Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

19. With at least 198 employees on Twitter, the Zappos
social strategy is personality-driven and the logical
extension of their service culture.

20. 18 months after the launch of the blog,
online mentions had almost doubled, and positive
mentions had increased from 68% to 83%.

21. Entertain or Inform.
Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

23. Tell strategic
stories.
Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

24. Proof:
stories change perceptions.
The Trans
Courtesy Tom Martin www.tommartin.typepad.com

25. Consider a storytelling strategy
• Build social around your core “brand idea”
• One of the most underutilized social strategies
• This does not mean “create a press release feed”

26. Create a community
of ambassadors to
spread the love.
Social Media Strategy
Mount Fuji: 12,388 feet

27. • Brand awareness equal to model on market 2-3 years
• 50,000 interested prospects
• 97% not current Ford owners

28. There are now more than 5,000 members. Branded
mentions of Fiskars products are up 600%. Sales are up.
The program successfully made crafters value
Fiskars beyond price.

29. Everyone has ineffectual cousins
• “Create something viral”
• “Push out messages”
• “Do this to win this”

30. Social Marketing Strategy
Mount Kilimanjaro: 19,340 feet

31. Create “insider” vibe
with special social-
only promotions
Social Marketing Strategy
Mount Kilimanjaro: 19,340 feet

32. >$2 million direct revenue since 2007
Also driving interest in/purchase of new product

33. Caution
• For most brands, there is a “higher order” social
strategy
• Dell “earned” its success selling direct on Twitter by
creating passionate community elsewhere first
• This does not mean “forget all this relationship-
building stuff, get out there and sell, sell, sell”

34. Empower employees.
Facilitate service.
Social Marketing Strategy
Mount Kilimanjaro: 19,340 feet

35. I think Twelpforce can be a catalyst to think very
differently across our company about customer service.
It begins to really blur the lines between customer service
and traditional one-way marketing communications.
-Barry Judge, CMO of Best Buy
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36. Collect ideas/
Invite customer input
Social Marketing Strategy
Mount Kilimanjaro: 19,340 feet

37. There are now more than 5,000 members. Branded
mentions of Fiskars products are up 600%. Sales are up.
The program successfully made crafters value
Fiskars beyond price.
The Dell community has contributed 12,698 ideas, posted
87,031 comments and promoted 692,897 times.
Dell has implemented 379 ideas.

38. These conversations are going to occur
whether you like it or not. You can learn from
them. You can improve your reaction time. And
you can be a better company. What’s most
important in the long run is how we learn from
any situation and improve for our customers.
-Michael Dell
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39. Customer experience is
social strategy job #1
• Great product - people will know
• Bad product - people will know
• Speed and power of dissemination is proportional
to the degree of superiority or defect
• Technology will continually make it faster and easier
to access, organize and use information
The Transparency PrincipleTM Copyright Karlson Consulting www.marketingmeritocracy.blogspot.com

40. Social Business Strategy
Mount Everest: 29,035 feet

41. True “brand integrity” is a
powerful engagement facilitator
• How a brand treats:
• customers
• employees
• community
• environment
The Transparency PrincipleTM Copyright Karlson Consulting www.marketingmeritocracy.blogspot.com

44. Launched in 2005. Sales in 2007 grew at three times the
rate of category growth. Raised >$4 million for shelters.

45. Why social strategy?
• Clarify how you are going to achieve an objective
• Know how to apply the tools
• Know what success looks like

46. How to create your own
social strategy
• Most social strategies are hybrids
• Know what social level on which you want to play
• Be a realist!
• Aim high, but “baby steps” are often the best start
• “Listen and respond” is an excellent starter strategy

47. How to create your own
social strategy
• Learn from others, but tailor to your situation
• Flows from business, marketing, brand strategy
• What element of plan best extends into social?
• Build social around your essential brand idea or a
core element of your value proposition
• If you don’t know these things, take a step back

48. Strategist coordinates
sspaight@meyerwallis.com
www.spaighttalk.com
twitter: @suespaight
414.224.0212

49. Bibliography/Credits
• Slide 4: David Armano, Dachis Group
• Slide 5: Seth’s blog: sethgodin.typepad.com
• Slide 11: Denise Kohnke, Laughlin Constable
• Slide 13: Dell, presentation, Social Media Strategy, slideshare.net
• Slide 20: Mack Collier, presentation, What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social
Media, slideshare.net
• Slide 24: Tom Martin, presentation, Can One Man, and iPhone and Twitter Change Consumer Perception
of Mardi Gras, slideshare.net, tommartin.typepad.com
• Slide 27: Ford Fiesta Movement Reaps 50K Potential Buyers on $0 Ad Budget, adrants.com

50. Bibliography/Credits
• Slide 28: How a Social Community Became a Veritable Sales Force, BL Hochman, whatsnextblog.com
• Slide 32: ideastorm.com
• Slide 35: barryjudge.com
• Slide 37: Dell Outlet Surpasses $2 Million on Twitter, community.dell.com
• Slides 39, 41 Karlson Consulting, karlsonconsulting.com, marketingmeritocracy.blogspot.com
• Slide 44, The Brains Behind Great Ad Campaigns, 2009, Margo Berman