Social Media and Ball Point Pens

Whether your organization is B2B or B2C, there are opportunities for almost any company to leverage social media. And certainly, beginning to pay attention to key social media channels in order to better understand the landscape is a good thing to do. But a social media plan involves more than just getting out there and doing it.

My analogy involves a ballpoint pen - a tool for communication. Very quickly, I can show you how to click on the top of the pen to extend the ball point past the barrel. That’s a simple process. Technically, once you put the pen to paper, you have become a writer.  That doesn’t make you an effective writer, or one that anyone would care to read. In order to become an effective writer, you’ll need to hone your writing skills and apply strategy. What is my audience? What is my message? What is my goal? How can I effectively convey my message to my audience and keep them interested?

These same questions must be answered when your company steps into social media. It comes down to strategy. Effective, strategic use of social media can extend customer relationships, create new awareness, provide support for brand champions, and increase sales. Without strategy, however, a social media program has the potential to waste time and effort while missing opportunities that your competitors are leveraging.

If you haven’t stepped into social media as a way to extend your customer relationships, it’s really something that you need to consider. If you have already begun using social media for your business, are you using it strategically, or are you “scribbling on paper with a ballpoint pen”?