Maximize Your Social: A One-Stop Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy for Marketing and Business Success

Chapter 3

Determining Objectives and Background for Your Social Media Program

The creation of any social media strategy starts with soul searching vis-à-vis determining your objective or what you want to achieve through your social media program. Once the objective is decided, the first step is to flesh out other areas concerning your target demographic group, market focus, and branding guidelines, because the remainder of your strategy will be leveraging these. This chapter will explain how to create each section in order to prepare a comprehensive foundation for your strategy. Main points included in this section should be included in an executive summary, which would ideally precede this background information.

A holistic approach should be taken in determining the basis for your social media strategy. Ideally, the mission in creating and implementing your social media strategy should highlight the potential that social media has in merging with legacy marketing and communication activities as well as cross-organizational roles to reach specific strategic objectives that exist regardless of social media.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND PROJECTED OUTCOMES

Business objectives and projected outcomes require complete clarity in what you are trying to achieve in social media and, if successful, what the outcome would look like. Determining your objective cannot be overemphasized; this is how you’ll you determine success for your social media strategy—and therefore how you judge the return ...