Post Control Marketing

“See the forest for the trees” is a saying that means getting caught up in the details and failing to understand the bigger picture. With all the new social media channels vying for our attention these days it is easy to get bogged down by all the particulars and immediate demands. Yet being able to discern the overall pattern or vision from the minutia of specific social media options and tactics is a valuable skill. Strategy – taking a broad, long-range approach and thinking systemically – is a very valuable skill. A 30,000 foot view, not a 3 foot perspective is what is needed to plan and marshal organizational resources to meet and exceed business goals.

How valuable is strategic thinking? A global study of over 60,000 managers asked them to access over 20 leadership practices (such as innovation, persuasion, communication, results orientation) and 20 measures of effectiveness (such as future potential, credibility, business aptitude, people skills). “Having a strategic approach” was seen as 10 times more important to effectiveness than other leadership behaviors and nearly 50 times more important than tactical behaviors. Another study asked 10,000 senior executives to select the leadership behaviors most critical to organizations success. “Strategic” was chosen 97% of the time.

Most people may agree that strategy is very important yet thinking strategically is not easy. Strategic thinking is especially hard when immediate demands are often rewarded over long-term vision and planning. Yet seeing the forest for the trees is a leadership quality necessity for social media success. When faced with 800+ social media sites, apps and services – a lot of trees – being able to focus on a long-term approach is the only way to see the path to reach your ultimate business or organizational goals.

Many marketers, advertisers, public relation professionals and entrepreneurs are jumping into the social media race, but they must be in it for the long haul to see real, lasting results. They must take the time to take a step back and see the big picture through a strategic social media plan. Trying to apply old marketing control strategies in this new consumer controlled social media environment does not work. Social media marketing is a different game with different rules.

Sure, there are plenty of tips. A Google search of “social media marketing tips” returns 135 million results. But very few tell you to do the same things and what worked for one business will not exactly work for others. For marketers and advertisers to succeed at social media integration, they must first start in a place rooted in their distinct situation and drive a strategy of choosing social platforms and creating content based on their business objectives, marketing strategy and target audience. This can be accomplished by following a 5-step process:

Define current business and social media situation
Create a big idea and plan integration
Selection social media channels
Integrate non-marketing social media activity
Finalize social media plan and sell

That is what I have detailed in my new book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution. It is a roll up your sleeves roadmap to sound social media strategy that draws from the best in academic research and professional business practice. An approachable text to teach my social media marketing students, it lays out a method that cuts through the hype and sets a strategic mindset to take advantage of the exciting opportunities of social media. This text provides the context, process and tools needed to create a comprehensive and unique social media marketing solution.

Are you having trouble seeing past the trees of social media channels and tactics? Perhaps you need to take a step back along with my students and invest some time into getting above the forest and plan a path for long-term strategic success. Do you see the value in strategic thinking? How can you take the time to make it happen?

\For more insights into the big picture in social media strategy consider my book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution.

It is hard being a marketer or advertiser these days. It feels like everything you were taught about marketing and advertising has been turned on its head. Most of the core principles, whether you practice the Four P’s or the Four C’s are about marketer and advertiser control. Yet, the problem today is that the marketer, their advertising agency, and PR firm have lost a lot of control over much communication about the brand.

With the rise of social media the power of the consumer’s voice is now equal or even more powerful than the brand’s voice. Consider the fact that consumers’ trust other people’s opinions online much more than any brand messages you can publish in ads or on the web. As mobile use increases, the consumer’s voice will only get more powerful, more immediate, and more frequent. Customer service departments know this very well.

We are in the midst of a consumer revolution where the marketer, advertiser, and PR professional are no longer King. Content is King and consumers control what content is viewed, shared and created. Does this mean marketers, advertisers, and PR pros should simply give up? Not in the sense of throwing in the towel, but they need to understand one key lesson for today’s social media environment: Learn to give up control of your brand to regain it. Share on X We may no longer be able to control much of the brand talk online, but we are able to influence it if we switch from our old traditional, mass media control model to a new social media engagement mindset.

A shift in mindset of this magnitude is not easy. The shift to Integrated Marketing Communication was relatively easy in comparison. We simply had to start working with and unify disciplines, partners and channels such as advertising, public relations, direct response and Internet (interactive). But now the consumer is also creating brand content. You can’t have conference calls with consumers and send them your brand standards, marketing plans and creative briefs.

If you want to find your brand these days you must be willing to lose it. This doesn’t mean that social media marketing has no strategy. On the contrary, strategy is even more important. More and more CMO’s are shifting budgets to social media yet most still struggle with integration of social into their traditional marketing, PR, digital and advertising efforts. Others struggle with focusing a strategy in social with such a dynamic environment and simply end up chasing the hot new social channels as they come out.

If you struggle with integration, if you’re missing focus and simply feel social media is out of control, it may be time to take a step back and look at the big picture. Reset your mindset about marketing, advertising, PR, and digital control. Take a 30,000 foot look at your brand, situation, and at what works and doesn’t work in social media to develop a framework that will work today with Facebook and Snapchat and will work tomorrow for whatever new network or mobile app comes out of the tech corridor.

A basic social media strategy framework:

Identify your business goals, marketing strategy and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Determine your target audience, discover where they’re talking online and what they’re saying.
Engage the target on their social platforms with meaningful branded content in a way that leverages each platform’s key capabilities.

This list is incomplete, but it gets you started in a place rooted in your unique situation and drives a strategy of choosing social platforms and creating content based on your business objectives, marketing strategy and target audience. For a more comprehensive look and process for social media strategy I have written Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution. It will take any marketer, advertiser, PR pro, digital consultant, entrepreneur, or student through a simple step-by-step process to developing a truly integrated and enduring social media plan.