Social Media Rules of Engagement: Why Your Online Narrative is the Best Weapon During a Crisis

4Mission recon:why knowing your audience is critical to success

Gone are the days when being present on social media was a choice. For many, social media is the fad that hasn’t passed. It’s here to stay, and if you’re still debating whether or not to get onboard organisationally, the clock’s ticking. Fast. Because organisations that have been trying to avoid social media have actually been avoiding the broader communications and information revolution that has occurred.

It’s a revolution that your customers, stakeholders, workforce and competitors have already joined. While you’ve been sitting on the proverbial fence waiting for the fad to pass, they have adapted to new ways of communicating, networking and consuming information. This means your organisation is now at least a decade behind the social and information revolutions of your competitors and adversaries. And you’re at risk of organisational obsolescence.

How long can you sustain a business model or military strategy that is over a decade old when your competitors have innovated to exploit the technological communications revolution? How long can you maintain a strategic advantage in your marketplace, or on the battlefield, when you are missing from online conversations?

How can you influence what remains of your traditional audience as your offline communications options disappear or are overrun by digital and social replacements? Do you even really know your audience anymore? What matters to them and what are their ...