Chapter 21
The Social Marketing Compass
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
—UNKNOWN
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Depending on the drivers for engagement and the state of adoption in the Social Web, our first steps might require a Day Zero approach. What if we could just start from scratch, what would we do differently? In most cases though, we have to recognize existing programs. Our work in the Conversation Prism and establishing the Conversation Index must prove complete and irrefutable. It serves as the social map for planning and defining our approach.
Now we have one more step to undertake before we are ready to draft a market-ready social media blueprint. For smaller companies, this process is straightforward. Nonetheless, we must conduct an audit that surveys the Social Web for any existing social profiles, objects, and accounts that are already in use or were created earlier and now remain dormant. This allows us to assemble the fragmented pieces that may exist and also assess the state of affairs, caliber of content, and relevance of accounts to evaluate and regroup. As a result, some accounts may remain, some may be reorganized, and others may become inactive or erased altogether. These actions will be determined by the results of the Conversation Prism research.
For intelligence purposes, we should also review the activity of our competitors. This deserves ongoing attention.
This step is designed to unearth any potential land mines or surprises to ensure that anything ...
