Do your homework before diving in — you’ll only drown in the massive social media ocean

I had the opportunity to sit in on a recent Business Development & Senior Sales Peer2Peer session on Social Media Marketing with guest speaker Brock Hart, Creative Director at MFX Partners, as he shared his Social Media marketing experience.

Brock talked about what to look for before implementing a B2B or B2C social media strategy and gave examples of what’s worked for him

Plan, look, listen, and be consistent

He pointed out that companies are no longer selling to people, they are connecting with people, and today’s customers have a voice online. It is important to keep in mind that “social media is a two way conversation” and that overall companies need to be more transparent.

“Where your consumers are today, they may not be tomorrow”

Brock’s 4 steps to take before diving into social media:

1. Listen – locate your customers, where are they? and what are they talking about?
2. Look – for small and focused industry forums/groups and what topics are top of mind
3. Know – your brand strengths
4. Plan – your Social Media Business Objectives – what do you want to push? Brand? Product? Where does your consumer spend time online?

Brock Hart

He went on to suggest social media tools for networking with customers, blogging, traffic stats, and more; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Wordpress, Blog Carnival, Google Blogger, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, Ning, PostRank, Google Analytics, TinyURL, flickr, and list goes on and on.

He noted that it’s important to do your homework before diving in — you’ll only drown in the massive media ocean, and not to put much stock in any single tool, because where your consumers are today, they may not be tomorrow. “Always Track, Track, Track”, he advised.

Brock also talked about the challenge of social media time management — advising the group to map out the people it will take to roll out your plan.

Brock Hart: Consistency is essential

When messaging, Brock reminded the group that people are drawn to fun and disruptive online activities. He recommended Twitter contests, short videos on YouTube, or sharing an opposite point of view on an industry forum. And once you start blogging, he said, be consistent. If you write once a week, make sure to do it on a regular basis.

Here’s an important final message I took from Brock’s chat: Do you have a Social Media strategy? If not, you may want to get started before you are left behind. Your customers might not be online right now, but they will be.

Wanda Eby is the Programs Coordinator at Commmunitech. Follow her on Twitter..