A Social Media Strategy is Like Your Love Life

I was recently having a conversation with a coworker about developing a social media strategy. He was unfamiliar with the medium, so I was more than happy to share my knowledge and experience. I can not tell you how many of these conversations I have had over the years. I have found them much more interesting when the person or people I am talking to are active and ask a lot of questions. That describes this conversation. Tim is a General Manager at a large hotel and has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry; however he will tell you that his knowledge of social media will fit in a thimble.



Through the first part of the conversation, he kept trying to come up with an analogy. We went through cars, old dogs, putting together puzzles, making a large dinner and many more before I had an epiphany. I said, “Let’s try this. Developing a social media strategy is like your love life.” It seemed to fit, so I went with it. As you read through this entry, think of the object or your desires and social media as two in the same.

That First Date
You are scared, but you finally work up the courage to ask the new out. You are so nervous that you nearly wet your pants. To your surprise, she says yes. The big day comes and the two of you hit the town. At first, the conversation is kind of awkward. Let’s be honest, there is not much conversation at all. Almost all of it is coming from you. You throw out your best one liners and stories, but your date is slow to respond. You go through the entire first date with very little conversation. Based the limited conversation, you would think you would give up. However, there is something very intriguing about this one and you want to try to go out again. You go out a couple more times and now the conversation is much better. Not great, but at least you are not having to do all of the talking.

Your Lesson: Don’t get discouraged when you are getting started. Continue to post and monitor. This is not a, “If you build it, they will come” scenario. You will need to get the word out about your efforts.

Playing the Field
You are really enjoying each other’s company, but you are not sold that she is the one for you. You decide to play the field a little bit and your attention wonders. You get so focused on other things that you almost loose her. She tries to communicate with you, but you don’t respond. She is upset with you and you have to make up for neglecting her. You respond to all of her questions and help her through some challenging issues. She is feeling better now, but you still have work to do.

Your Lesson: Don’t neglect your customers who find you and take the time to reach out to you. If you do not respond within a very short amount of time, you run the risk of creating a bad customer experience. Think of it as a customer calling you and you put them on hold for two days. In addition, it is advisable to keep you focus on one channel. Especially at first. Don’t spread yourself too thin and make sure you have the bandwidth.

You Find “The One”
You take that big step and decide to become serious. You quickly move past the “getting to know one another” stage of your relationship. At first, you don’t want to share you inner most secrets. In time, you learn that it is not all about you. Your two-way relationship involves listening, meeting more of your partner’s acquaintances and participating in the broader community of people. It is not easy, but you are learning.

Your Lesson: Don’t “talk at” people who are part of your network. Talk to them with the understanding and expectation that they will talk back. If all you do is sell your products, your community will become bored and leave. Find a way to give back and keep them engaged. Be open and honest. You may feel “exposed” at times and you may feel like you are giving up a little control of your brand. If you are not upfront with your community, you can bet that they will be with you. They will either expose you publicly or just leave your community for good. Address the challenges openly and honestly and you will be much better off.

Long Term Relationship
You are in for the long hall at this point. You are on cloud 9 and things are getting better every day. You have gotten to know one another very well at this point. Surprisingly, you learn a lot about yourself because of what your partner is telling you about yourself. You learn to be sincere with your communications. You know you are not perfect and now you are comfortable letting your partner know it. Let’s be honest, you always knew you were not perfect and your partner did too. Now, your partner loves and respects you even more now that you are able to be transparent and admit your flaws.

You think you are done? Not even close. This only marks the end of the honeymoon. Earlier, you neglected your partner and almost lost her. You were able to recover and get things back on track because it was early in your relationship. Now you have history and a much more involved relationship. Neglect your partner now and it will be much harder to recover. You are very comfortable together, but you don’t want to get overly comfortable. Peeing with the bathroom door open or letting one rip at dinner will set the relationship back several steps. You are yourself, but maintain control.

Your Lesson: Open up. Everyone knows you are not perfect including yourself. Don’t be afraid to expose your flaws. Keep the community engaged. You must keep looking for new content and new information that your community finds interesting and continues to put your company in a good light. Up to this point I have talked about “letting go”. As you community expands, you must also maintain a bit of control. Make sure content is relevant to your company and community. Control rants and social commentary the best you can. Keep in mind that anyone who posts or maintains your social media sites is an ambassador of your brand. It is easy to get too caught up in the “social” aspect of the medium. Maintain professionalism.

Babies!
Now it is time to grow your little family. It is not long before you hear the pitter pat of little feet. Or, maybe the tweeting of little voices. You are firm in your ideals and know who you are. This knowledge and experience is passed down to your offspring and they now share your message.

Your Lesson: As mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to focus on one of social media channels when you are getting started. This will help with quality control as well as help you develop and learn as you go as opposed to jumping in head first. Once you get that channel established, expand your social media strategy to include other vehicles. You will find that the same content can be shared across all channels.

Social media is a great way to build your customer base, but more importantly it also is a great way to retain your customers and keep them engaged. It is more work and more expensive to get that first customer than it is to keep them. Think about the dating scenario, playing the field can be expensive and exhausting. Wooing potential partners with nice dinners is tough on the pocket book! Once you have that first interaction with the customer, you have to work to keep them. Building a lasting relationship with the customer builds trust and loyalty. Social media, when engaged properly, can be a hugely successful tool when trying to keep your customers engaged. Make the commitment to social media and you will likely find a similar commitment from your customers to your company and your products.