Interaction Isn't Predictable – Research, Adjust, and Build
I’m just going to be completely blunt and tell you that I think the social media portion of my web strategy has been a failure so far. Yes, I’m only a month in and awareness has increased and volunteer numbers have gone up, but I want more. It isn’t that social media is “not working” or that the numbers aren’t there. It’s that it hasn’t looked like what I expected. I had hoped the pages would be burgeoning with active engagement. I dreamed of times where students and members of the Springfield community would @reply a quick question to @uisvolunteer or write on our fan page’s wall to discuss how they liked an event and start to use the space as their own. That simply isn’t happening.
So I started to dig into the problem to understand why. I talked to students and looked at different trends and numbers for our campus and Springfield in general. I found a few good nuggets. I learned that students here don’t want to use Facebook or Twitter for information, they want to limit it to social networking. Students also don’t care for blogs. Most didn’t know what a RSS feed was. Further, out of all of our students (both undergraduate and graduate level) less than 1% are using Twitter. In the entire Springfield community? Less than .01%. Those numbers are staggering and factor into the big picture, but still doesn’t address the level of engagement. Low usage simply isn’t a sufficient excuse.
I’m noticing the voluntary nature of social media leads to a level of interaction that is unpredictable. Think about it. I could post this and you could forward it to some friends, retweet it on Twitter, comment, or do nothing. I may have an idea how something may go over and predict possibilities to a certain extent, but never completely know what will happen. So what does this mean for social media strategies? A cornerstone of any strategy should include periods of evaluation that include three stages: the Research stage, Adjust stage, and Build stage. It is my belief that if you’re not doing these things, you’re not creating the best strategy possible.
Research
We’ve all been told to listen, but here’s the thing, listening isn’t enough. It’s just one piece of an entire puzzle. What other points of data are you analyzing? Are you considering and learning about the target’s environment? How are you actively getting to know the people you’re targeting?
This is also a time where your organization analyzes internally. How is our progress looking? Are we still adding value and helping solve problems? Do our objectives align with our mission?
The marketing world revolves around the buzzword of influence. A major problem I have seen with marketers is incredible rigidity. Instead of reevaluating, time is wasted attempting to influence people to adopt a failing system. This research portion is the first step in meeting people where they’re at; focusing on relationship, trust, and collaboration, not simply influence. We need to focus on relationship and trust because we should come from a short-term and long-term perspective and this heavily influences positive word of mouth.
Adjust
After doing research it’s now time to set a plan of action. That’s why it’s important to have an overarching mission, flexible goals, and solid objectives so that plans can be perfected as you learn more. You need to do something with your research. Your strategy should never stay the same because people always change. As needs, desires, and be interaction shift, you should be right there moving with them. Don’t forget to consider long-term goals as well. Social media isn’t actively used on our campus now, but it will be in the future. That’s why I am focusing so much on building a sustainable system that can function well even when I’m not around.
Build
Now it’s time to implement your objectives and build on your foundation. Remember to think big and build small. Every small victory leads to more accuracy, more reach, and better content.
One thing I’m also working on that is important to remember is patience. I’m heavily engrossed in social media so it affects the rate at which I expect things to happen, i.e., immediately. Not everybody works on 140 characters and real-time communication.
Think of crafting your social media strategy as art. In photography there are rules that help you compose good photos, but ultimately rules can be broken and one photo can have forty different interpretations. Photography also requires trial an error to see which shots work. Building a masterful strategy can be arduous, but as you test the waters, evaluate, and learn, you’ll be creating an amazing community of engagement and effectively reaching your niche.
Proud to know you man, what a post. This blog was well worth the wait. Excited to see what you bring next for the SquaredPeg guest post.
I liked you post, especially that comparison of social media to art. Not everyone can be an artist, so maybe not everyone can get engrossed in social media. Is it enough to KNOW that SM exists and roughly what it means and how it influences our lives these days without being a rabid blogger, commenter, Twitterer, FB addict? Fascinating stuff, I think. Can’t wait to see where SM will take us.
Howard, you’re going places. You have the pulse on this stuff and continue to impress the hell out of me. Great post.
Thoroughly enjoyed the blog. When I started reading it, I was wondering if the use of the social media (such as fan pages on facebook) would be utilized better if people were taught how to use it, but you are completely right. If you want the product to mean something to the consumer, you have to meet them where they are at. Otherwise, you are just pushing a dead system. Thanks again for your awesome post.
Great post Howard! You’re so right about listening (and really the whole post is right, haha). You have to go beyond that. You can listen all you want, but if people aren’t talking, then neither party is getting anything from it. If they aren’t going to twitter, for example, to ask questions, then you aren’t hearing them and they aren’t getting answers. You need to be where the students are at and so you may need to adjust like you said. Using twitter as a texting client, for example. Students want text on their phone and twitter can do that for you.
@bradjward – Thanks, man. Wouldn’t be where I’m at without your mentoring. Hopefully people like the post I write for SquaredPeg.
@asandford – That’s an interesting question/point you have with SM and the level of activity. I think there’s definitely opportunity out there, but some have the aptitude and it comes easier to others. Those who can form a solid online community definitely have something special because their interpersonal skills can transcend into the virtual world.
@rachelreuben- Thanks for the encouraging words! Means a lot to me.
@blackcatherine – I have that trouble too, but I think while people can learn the guidelines of the community, I can never control a system that’s based on user content. It’s kind of like a review system on amazon.com. Some people throw erroneous information there and give an inaccurate rating that doesn’t help anyone.
@jeremywilburn – I didn’t want to use it in the post because it’s such a buzzword, but intimacy within communication is really the high-reaching goal, you’re exactly right.
Spot on observations Howard. The whole part about learning and adjusting is why so many in the world of higher ed just quit trying with SM after their initial attempts. They try it, it doesn’t work like they hoped, so they just quit (without trying to figure out WHY it didn’t work). Keep up the good work.
I agree with your assessment of blogs, twitter, and facebook in terms of student use. I do think, however, that in the future these types of social platforms will be in play….and in a big way. In a sense, higher education seems to be ahead of the curve…yes I said it… AHEAD!
We saw it just within the past few weeks with the Twitter explosion. As more and more students embrace these technologies, there will be a demand for them.
Great blog! Keep it up!
Interesting article.
I love FB, I cant quite understand Twitter though.