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How to implement a Social Media Readiness Assessment of your company

Guest post by: Andrew Chow

Article Overview: Whenever a company wish to assess if they are ready for social media, there are 8 key categories of 42 Best Practices each to answer before using social media to connect with the public.

How to implement a Social Media Readiness Assessment of your company

There are 8 key categories of 42 Best Practices each to answer before any company wish to fully embark on using social media to connect with the public. Senior Management

* Senior Management is interested in leveraging Social Media as a new marketing channel

* Senior Management understands that Social Media is a long term priority

* Senior Management is prepared to contribute to social media content development (blog postings, press interviews, etc.)

* Senior Management is interested in taking the feedback from customer views and other data to make changes in the organization

* Senior Management is willing to provide the resources necessary in order to get the social media program off the ground (budget, staff etc.)

Social Media Knowledge Level of the Company

* We understand which social media channels are available and which are the best fit for our organization

* We have a solid understanding of how our employees and executives are currently using Social Media

* We have read industry-based reports and benchmarking studies on Social Media

* We have attended conferences and networked with colleagues to gain a better understanding of how they plan on implementing Social Media

* We have joined Social Media peer groups to learn more about how we can leverage Social Media

* We subscribe to Mashable or other Social Media educational sites

Customer Engagement Level

* Dedicated online community groups (Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, etc.) already exist for our industry or product types

* We have a company profile on Social Media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

* Our subscriber list is growing among the various forms of Social Media currently being used (Twitter, Online Newsletter, etc.) and we know how large our reach is online

* We regularly contribute to online discussions (forums, blogs, etc.)

* We know if our audiences tone is positive, neutral, or negative on 3rd party sites

* Our audience (customers, prospects, etc) regularly make comments on our postings

Competitive Insight Analysis

* We have audited our top competitors online strategy, evaluated their maturity and have a basic idea of what they are doing with Social Media

* We regularly track our competitors (# of Blog Postings, Comments, Twitter Followers, Facebook Group Members, etc.)

* We monitor competitive social media changes and updates daily

* We provide competitive positioning information to our product management group

* We have joined our competitors online community and networking groups

Staff and Resources Allocation

* We have defined roles and responsibilities for people in our organization who are involved with Social Media

* We have a dedicated internal point person to manage our Social Media program

* We have consulted with Social Media experts to ensure our programs success

* We have an industry thought leader who contributes to our blog postings

* We have consulted with our IT department to get their input on technology selections

* We have developed and provided a training program to employees and contractors

Plan and Channel Selection

* We have created and presented a social media channel map which highlights how we will use Social Media

* We have a defined strategy with clear objectives, targets, initiatives and measures

* We have analyzed and prioritized our Social Media channel options and have consensus on which opportunities pursue first

* We have evaluated and selected technology solutions for implementing our Social Media program

* We have developed a project plan with timelines, deliverables and milestones

* We have communicated our Social Media plan to our employees

Process Documentation

* We have incorporated and integrated Social Media into our normal marketing mix (product launches, marketing plans, customer service, etc.)

* We have developed a calendar for selecting topics and organizing Social Media communications

* We have defined the frequency for updating our Social Media channels (blog, twitter, Facebook, etc.)

* We have a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss our Social Media program (topics, results, competitive insights, new opportunities, etc.)

Governance Measurement

* We have a policy to govern the use of Social Media with our employees, contractors, prospects and customers

* We use a dashboard to report on our top Social Media metrics

* We communicate the results of our Social Media program to Senior Management on a regular basis

* We have documented the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for the Social Media applications that we provide

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Article Tags: competitive insight, customer engagement, governance measurement, knowledge, process documentation, Senior Management, social media readiness assessment, staff and resources
Referred by: http://MoonLoh.com



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Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts - Hi Shri, Thanks for posting this. I also read it and I believe Social Media is here to stay, until the next best thing comes up. Social media proved to be useful for me many times and I think everyone should use it for their business.
Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance - [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl] I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it. There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input. As for Jennifer, You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook. The only way to know is to try it.


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