Defining and Measuring a Strategic Social Media Plan

Author Sheila Kloefkorn Published September 20, 2012

Many organizations and marketers jump into social media without first planning out their strategy, which can lead to lackluster performance and big disappointment. A strategic social media plan needs to be mapped out, with meaningful KPIs (key performance indicators) in order to align business objectives and tangible results, determined by key metrics.

The social media strategy funnel shows that when planning a social media campaign, you should start with your business mission, not the social media tactics. Start with your goals and don’t jump into using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn without clearly defining why you are there in the first place and what goals you want to accomplish leveraging those social networks.

Search Engine Watch provides a clear social media strategic plan map and uses a “Who > Why > What > How” model to build a cascading tree for “Scope > Mission > Goals > Tactics”.

The main steps in planning a strategic social media plan are as follows:

Select Scope (i.e., department, business function)
Gather Scope’s Business Goals
Define Social Media Mission/Purpose
Define Social Media Goals
Define 1-2 KPIs for Each Goal
Choose Tactics for Each Goal
Define Metrics for Each Tactic

Social media networks can be used to support a variety of business functions, for a variety of business objectives, including:

Marketing
Sales
Customer service
Research
IT
Human resources
Executive management

Separate social media strategies should be created for each business objective or function and should start with defining a high-level purpose. For example, an example for a customer service scope would be, “To reduce the amount of inbound customer service calls and support our customers through alternate means of communication.” It can be as simple as that.

This is just the first stage in defining a strategic social media campaign and being able to measure ROI. Defining, tracking and measuring are just one key part of a social media campaign.

For more information on strategic social media marketing, contact KEO Marketing today or continue to browse our website.

About Sheila Kloefkorn
With more than 20 years of hands on marketing strategy and operations experience, Sheila Kloefkorn is dedicated to developing marketing strategies and plans that help clients succeed. Some of the world's largest brands have depended on Sheila for marketing programs that delivered tangible and substantial results. Specialties: B2B marketing, lead generation, lead nurturing, sales strategy, marketing strategy, competitive marketing strategy, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), mobile marketing,, email marketing, website design, marketing plans.