We write today with some uber-easy advice for Social Media Marketers.
It’s a dog-eat-dog social media world out there. One company’s desire for a viral video is another company’s IT nightmare. One personal brand’s quest for world domination is another’s boxes upon boxes of books in the remainder bin.
Social Media Strategy Can Be Simple. Just Think It Through.
Ah, THINKING! Critical thinking, or scenario planning, or mindmapping. Something using your head can get you there. Right?
Which brings us to GOP Candidate for President Michele Bachmann.
This isn’t going to be a rebuke of her politics, or a discussion of whether or not we agree with her stand on the issues. Plenty of places can let you do that. Instead, we just want to discuss whether or not Michele Bachmann HAS a Social Media Strategy.
Bachmann launched something over the weekend called “The 99 County Tour.” You can see evidence over there on the right hand side that she’s tweeting about it. Actually, her “Team” is tweeting about it. (On Twitter, her campaign’s account is TeamBachmann.)
Problem? In this reporter’s humble opinion, this was not thought through very well. Ignore poll numbers, ignore issue stance, ignore everything for a second…and focus on the name of this tour.
“I got 99 counties…”
Are there 99 Counties in Iowa? Do you care? Do Iowans care? Does it matter because we just put an earworm in your head?
Here’s a BRANDING PROBLEM waiting to happen. The most important thing that Rep. Bachmann (R-MN) has to do is this:
Build a Personal Brand around Michele Bachmann to increase the chance of winning early states, then winning the GOP nomination, then the Presidency.
People of Earth, you can say this about any candidate for any office anywhere in the USA. Breaking the larger OBJECTIVE down into these three steps gives you three smaller OBJECTIVES, but, in turn, gives you something to actually build towards.
Social Media Strategy for Michele Bachmann Made Simple
Why do we talk about this? Well, take a look at Exhibit 2.
What you have here, in Twitter lingo, is a “Verified Account.” That’s what the Blue Checkmark Starburst tells us. Built In Audience. 35,000 followers.
(We won’t even get started on the Facebook page for the Representative – a recipe for brand-building disaster, what with its free-flowing commentary on everything and apparent lack of monitoring or engagement.)
Yet, no real Twitter Strategy is apparent. A Tweet here, a video posting there – “Michele’s Path to Victory” is today’s video – an occasional “RT” (Retweet) and maybe a Foursquare Check-in.
The Social Media Strategy is NOT Holistic. You’ve got a couple Twitter accounts competing with each other, and, if you were to sniff around on other sites, you’d be left to your own devices to find out what the Congresswoman stands for.
Advice: Break This Down Into Steps…
…And use the tools and audience at your disposal to start turning those steps into actionable strategies.
Step One: Tweet with the Entire State of Iowa.
Wait, that sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? No, you have the reach with your 35,000+ followers, start actually saying hello to people.
Step Two: Outline Your Plan for Your Presidency as it pertains to Iowans.
You can do this for any industry you’re in. That’s right, you have a plan for the Widgetmaster 3000 and you are launching it to Lawyers in Kentucky. Go! Speak to them and share how they will Benefit from your Widgetmaster.
Step Three: If it Doesn’t Impact Iowans and you Cannot Spend Time on it – Don’t Do It.
This means that there’s no real reason to share all of your daily activities on Facebook if you can’t support that platform and you can’t speak to Iowans there. Don’t waste your time there.
(Again, any industry can benefit from this advice. Why check-in on Foursquare if you’re a B2B concern? Etc., etc. – don’t waste your time with marketing that isn’t Objective-Oriented.)
Notice how we didn’t talk about policy? Didn’t talk about issues? We broke this down into the actionable steps, and the most actionable step RIGHT NOW is the one that increases chances of winning Key Early States. Rest of it? Doesn’t matter.
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