For the training and consulting business related to social media optimization (or company’s use of social media), it is very useful to have a framework (some people call it – success map) which defines general steps for the incorporation of a social media activities in the company’s business processes.
After the development of the framework of a particular activities, it is much easier to create the detail map of the business processes and the responsibilities, needed to develop and maintain a social media activities within the company.
I researched a number of proposed frameworks for social media (optimization), and I found several very useful works. Here is the review of nine proposed general frameworks for social media (social media frameworks taxonomy), and the tenth is my proposition for the subject (I already created SMO Matrix, but it is related to the brand reputation management). The details for the proposed frameworks can be found on the destination Websites.
I – 11 Guidelines to Social Media Success by Eric Enge
First, I will present social media success map by Eric Enge, which is the collection of successful social media activities (advices):
- Know your audience / Pick the right social media site to target
- Discover the needs of your audience
- Learn the lingo and value system
- Make friends
- Add unique value to the community
- Don’t self promote
- Make sure the information you provide is accurate
- Be transparent
- Be patient
- Be prepared to let go (your content)
- Don’t spam
II – Burton’s Group ACES Framework for Social Media
ACES is the complex framework based on the four elements:
- Audiences
- Capabilities
- Enablement
- Sustainability
It is the recommendation to examine all the given slides at the destination Website.
III – KUDOS Framework for Social Media Marketing
Kudos framework is one of the most mentioned SM frameworks (together with the ACES framework) in the search results. It is related to the definition of the strategy and the evaluation of a social media campaigns:
- Knowledgeable (Does social media activity demonstrate knowledge on the part of the brand?)
- Useful (Not all of social media activity is useful to the brand’s audience.)
- Desirable (Do the brand and the audience actively want social media activity?)
- Open (Open means honest and transparent.)
- Sharable (Another degree further of open is making the activity sharable.)
IV – OASIS Engagement Framework for Social Marketing
OASIS is a five step process:
- Define your Objectives
- Know your Audience
- Develop a Strategy
- Plan the Implementation
- Think about Sustainment
V – A Framework for Social Media By Mark Ouyang
This framework is the structure of desirable goals related to social media activities. Those goals can be linked to the particular proposed features which are the representation of a social media activities.
VI – Framework For Social Media Strategies by Josh Klein
In his much wider article about social media, Josh Klein defined the framework for the development of social media strategies:
- Be Listening (Social Media Monitoring)
- Be Great (It’s impossible to fake greatness. Not in the long run.)
- Be Available (Engagement)
- Have A Conversion Engine (Social media is just another part of the larger puzzle, and nothing replaces a business model.)
VII – Social Media Process by Milestone
Milestone in their presentation “Social Media Optimization Strategies” defined six steps social media process (I like this one):
- Setting social media campaign goals.
- Creating social media strategy/Defining promotion plan.
- Setting up customer’s profile on social media sites.
- Training.
- Social media tracking/Reputation management.
- Returns.
VIII – 14 Steps Social Media Content Creation Process from “Now Is Gone”
This is very useful part of the creation of social media strategy, related to the content creation process, from the blog of the book “Now is Gone”:
- Clearly articulate who your stakeholders are.
- Clearly articulate the key issues these stakeholders care about.
- Begin by researching which, if any, top bloggers are discussing these issues.
- Once your initial search yields important blogs, please visit them and note which social networks the bloggers use to connect (back channels).
- Don’t just observe, participate.
- Comprehensive industry analysis.
- Identify the outcomes the organization would like to achieve.
- Identify the company’s value for the marketplace.
- Draft an editorial mission to serve the community/stakeholders.
- Examine the company’s resources.
- Select the outreach mechanism(s) that best fits the industry’s preferred content needs…
- Determine who will create the content.
- Select general content categories to provide guidance on a weekly basis.
- Determine measurement based on outcomes…
IX – Building A Company With Social Media by Elliance
How to engage the human resources of the company in social media landscape? Search Illustrated column @ SearchEngineLand.
X – Framework for Social Media by Dragan Varagic
Finally, here is my proposal of framework for social media (v. 0.2):
Social Media Optimization Framework
- Defining the goals and the audiences.
- Identifying and researching the competition.
- The analysis of the chosen social media (conversation/content analysis).
- The selection of the communicators (the persons who will use particular social media).
- The education about the use of chosen social media.
- Content plan creation and the deployment for the particular social media.
- Visual identity usage, related to the rules of the particular social media.
- Communication plan creation and the deployment for the particular social media.
- Social media monitoring.
- Evaluation (real-time).
Your SMO framework is spot on, but a word of caution: the social media landscape is moving too quickly for the old patterns of research and analysis. While it is important to be prudent, make sure you are agile enough to seize opportunity where you see it.
Define your goals, analyze, educate, plan … but not at the pace you would in traditional media.
Hope my framework was informative. Best of luck!
– Josh
Greetings,
This is an excellent post to quickly see and compare the different approaches to Social Media, for particular purposes.
Thank you for the inclusion in your research.
john
Hi Dragan,
very good post. I love the way how you put all this frameworks and methods together. It think your Framework is good, but rethink the evaluation. In most every case companys don’t want to reload the hole thing just to evaluate the revenue. Companys are driven by efficency and they don’t like to spend money on thinks they’ve already done, like the definition of goals.
Birger