Social Media Strategic Management From Concept to Practice

by James M. Helms on October 23, 2008

The recent social media discussion by Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse (and fortunate people like me and you) concerning home bases, outposts and passports has been really informative and interesting. I won’t reiterate the entire conversation but I do want to give you an overview of the general concepts as well as some tools that you can consider using as you formulate your online social media strategy.

As you read this post and think about some of these ideas remember that there is a huge conversation taking place across the internet. Everyone within the conversation has something to add. Some people like David Armano who blogs at Logic and Emotion has the ability to take abstract ideas and create graphical models to help us understand this whole web 2.0/Social Media/Tubes thing we have going on.

With social media that is what is happening. We are trying to figure out where social media fits within our lives, business, and relationships. How can we leverage Social Media in a way that adds value to our lives, customers, business and overall strategy? This discussion begins with the concept of a home base, our little piece of online real estate.

Conceptually your home base would be the core of your online efforts. Additional third party sites are places where you reach out to engage people or to continue a conversation. In the following video I introduce several tools that can aid you in setting up and managing your satellite locations around the web.

In the recent discussion Chris Brogan mentioned that his blog was his Home base, the hub of his online efforts. Third party sites were outposts that reinforced, or pointed people to his home base. Likewise Darren Rowse indicated that his Problogger.net and his Digital Photography School were his home bases. Again his outposts (previously termed satellites) are third party sites are where he creates “Relationships, ideas, traffic, resources, partnerships, community and much more emerge from the outposts - much of it making [his] home base stronger”.

From the discussion another blogger, Kyle Lacy, added a valuable component to the conceptual model and used the term “frontier” to shed a different light on a passport (an account that grants your access to features of an outpost) by saying a frontier is:

a website or service you have a presence on but rarely go. This is a site where you may have an RSS feed plugging your most-used social networks (Twitter) or your blog. The concept of frontier can be compared to Chris Brogan’s idea of a passport but shed in a little different light.

In short any tool that allows you to syndicate and in turn aggregate information from across your satellite sites is a great tool to use for social media. Likewise actively listening for words and phrases within the space that you are interested in helps you to identify places on the web to engage. The video conceptually shows a variety of tools to assist you in this task. Once you get the hang of things you can effectively manage your satellite sites within a reasonable time.

So How do You Manage Your Outposts and Still Have Time to Focus on Your Home Base?

Glad you asked. You manage your outposts and frontiers by using web based tools. There are a great variety of tools that can assist you with managing your online presence some of which are:

  • Syndicating Sites
  • Aggregating Sites
  • Listening Tools
  • Leveraging RSS

Specific examples are given in the video and you are welcome to post additional tools in the comments below. Bottom line you just need to leverage existing technology and understand that there is room for a lot of innovation in this space. And Darren, I think “satellite” is a great term…I just don’t know if it’s been created for the web yet.

If you have made it this far in the post and the sole reason for utilizing social media is to get traffic this post isn’t for you (i.e. you just wasted a couple minutes of your day). While social media sites can send traffic to your website you are also able to direct traffic to your satellite sites. Social media is about communicating with people not pitching products & services. Contrary to some people’s perception social media is not a marketing channel to push your wares. If you disagree I invite you to voice your opinion in the comments below.

Social media for a business IS still a function of marketing. In a customer centric organization listening, communicating, and engaging with customers allows the organization to understand & meet needs, often times creating brand evangelists. Social media is about creating community, changing negative perceptions, and so much more. Feel free to expand on this as much as possible in the comments below and in continuation blogs of your own.

I want to reiterate Problogger (Darren Rowse) comment about web based tools. Darren aptly pointed out that “Sometimes the tools and technologies become bigger than they need to be. I am constantly reminding myself to spend less time focusing upon the tools and more time focusing upon my goals.”

The quote may initially seem devastating to a blog that talks a lot about web based tools. Not so! web based tools are simply tools - web based tools assist you with your online activities, that’s it. Knowing how to use the tools to assist with your goals is paramount to effective online strategy implementation.

When it comes to social media don’t focus on the tools before the goals within your strategy. Said another way, first focus on your campaign and then leverage available tools that help you meet your goals. Don’t burn yourself out by dedicating too much energy on the outposts. Take it a step at a time, first ensure that you have a vision for tomorrow, that you create campaigns to full fill your vision, and that your strategies and goals support your overall mission. Let’s save that discussion for a post in the future.

What about you? I know for a fact that you have a lot of value to add to the ideas presented in this post. Leave your comments below and by all means lets continue this conversation.

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Viewing 19 Comments

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    That's a really great explanation! We've been walking around these ideas on our blog recently (http://www.i-com.net/blog/does-social-media-rea...) but haven't been able to articulate it quite so clearly. I find myself endlessly frustrated by people who think the key to social media is to have as many contacts as possible as quickly as possible and then just pelt them with (sometimes useless) content across dozens of places - not every piece of content is suitable for every social media site.

    It's impossible to build online relationships with thousands of people but social media is great for finding specific discussions or for talking to people who already know who you are - but you still need to manage where you're going for those conversations.
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    You're right Mindy. Many people don't have any idea how to start working within Social Media. If you don't know what you're doing it is really obvious, really fast. With web based tools it is a lot easier to manage a wide variety of conversations across a variety of platforms at one time.

    The largest point dealing with Social Media that I think needs to be made is that it isn't about traffic...its about relationships and community. Thanks for your comment Mindy.
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    Thanks, though this is very much the bloggers view of social media - not a social network strategist - it's intriguing to see the concept of many-to-many synchronous communciations reduced to the 'one-to-many, locked content' world of the blogger. Educational :)
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    Hi Laurel, I think that you have a lot of great insights about social networking strategy. I do think that if you down play the value of a blog in the social media space you can miss out on future innovation and change that can be added within a 3.0 world. Bloggers are not limited to their sites, the entire internet is their network.

    Within a closed social networking community the tendency is to congregate into niche's and specialties. It's important to include alternate views from a variety of networks for an idea to become truly collaborative.

    I don't view this post as solely a "one-to-many, locked content' world of [a] blogger" I view it as a strategy to collaborate with a growing population. A strategy to step beyond the world of locked content to encompass a variety of ideas beyond niche populations.
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    James, great job trying to capture the amorphous mass that is new media...I think the most critical part of what you discuss is creating a strategy. Even if your end goal is just to enjoy the use of social media (not drive traffic, sell a product, market your brand) it is good to put some structure around your efforts. With all of the different social media tools, it is easy to get lost in a sea of opportunity. Creating a structure helps you focus on learning what is closest to you, then moving outward.

    My one recommendation is that people be open to the idea that your home base could be any application. Though there does need to be a home base, it could be almost any place...and truly, your home base should be a good fit for both your business AND your potential clients.

    Thanks for unpacking what can be a very confusing process...will definitely refer people here to get a handle on the basics!
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    Absolutely JeanAnn, I agree with you on all points. You're right it's a massive amount to talk about all at once...and there is so much more to talk about. Yes, a home base can be any application. A home base simply represent a point...or reason...to be doing what you are doing on the internet. Thanks for stopping by I know that you are incredibly busy.
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    Thanks for inviting me to read this post, James. The visuals do a great job of pointing out how our social media platforms stack up against each other.

    Far too may of us fail to use a social media strategy, resulting in being overwhelmed and chaos, which can often lead to abandoning the use of social media altogether.

    I'll be tweeting about this presentation as soon as I'm finished here.

    Sharon McPherson
    @SharonMcP
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    Web-based tools really do save time. I have a lot of feeds syndicated, I'm subscribed to RSS feed of this and many other helpful sites, and I use tools to help me send my message to several sites at one time.

    Great job on the explanation. You have a great voice!
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    Sharon & Yvonne, thanks for providing me feedback! You're right if you don't use the right tools managing a variety of platforms can easily leave the users feeling overwhelmed.
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    James, a great post! I think the most important thing, as you mention, for a business is to focus on their goals not the tools. Personally, I think that's what hinders companies from getting started in social media because they look at all the tools (and are advised, inappropriately at times, that they need to use them ALL to be in all spaces to reach ALL potential people) and get weighed down in decision making.
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    Very well done James! Love the video. "Social Media" is a blobular (I just made that word up) quivering mass that is difficult to wraps one's arms around. The "home base/outpost/frontier" model ties it together very well.

    I think it's an important point that the guy with 20,000 followers on Twitter and the like may not really be any "better" utilizing Social Media than the guy with a small handful they are really connected to.
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    Beth, I totally agree with that. Like I mentioned tools are just tools they don't represent "social media' (or what ever term you want to apply to communicating). It's the idea of listening to your customers and finding the best places on the web to do it. Tools simply allow people to listen to more...faster.

    Jay, I think you may agree that the blobular mass isn't really too difficult at it's essence. For a business it's just about conversation in a non-sales pitchy way. Listening is the best way to understand needs. Understanding and solving real problems is the best way to have and provide a valuable product or service.

    I think the internet itself is a little harder to wrap your mind (or arms) around. There are so many sites and networks that you can quickly feel overwhelmed and stretched. Leveraging web based tools and approaching an abstract idea with a conceptual model makes things a little more bearable.
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    Incredibly informative post, James. I particularly like your line "I am constantly reminding myself to spend less time focusing upon the tools and more time focusing upon my goals.” ... As one tends to spend more time getting ready to be ready, your declarations offer more of an "AHA!" moment, then an encouragement to spend more.

    Perhaps spending 20+ hours a week updating and connecting really isn't the end of the journey. Perhaps truly investing a quality percentage of ourselves in a few sites, might actually benefit us more than delving into 100 different social opportunities. My final thought - After all, aren't we all in this to benefit potential clients which hopefully results in our bottom line being a little more profitable?
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    Calie, the line "I am constantly reminding myself to spend less time focusing upon the tools and more time focusing upon my goals.” was from Darren Rowse of http://problogger.net . And I totally agree that it's really important to be focused on goals before tools.

    I really think that investing a quality percentage of ourselves in everything that we do is really important. By leveraging tools I think you can strategically invest your time in a greater number of communities than without.

    I attended a Legion of Tech ( http://legionoftech.org/blog/ ) event here in Portland and listened to Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck of Wine Library TV ( http://tv.winelibrary.com/ ) he said that he was on a mission to meet everyone in the world...it was hilarious, and in our minds totally not possible. But you know what? Gary can do it, he is passionate about everything that he does.

    Gary has also been known to say that he has the most un-scalable business in the world, because of the amount of time that he invests with people (listening, responding, interacting). With web based tools he is more able to meet everyone in the world and still invest a quality percentage of himself.

    Ultimately there are only 24 hours in a day...and our present life is only so long...you can only invest 100% of yourself into your passions and that is enough.
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    Hey James -

    I am a problogger.net fan! I enjoy Darren's writing style and quality of information that he shares.

    Your response made me pause. If we all strive for quality and contacts - Where should we invest the majority of our time? Are we personally and/or professionally better served through personal interaction (meet-ups, networking, seminars) or through building our on-line communities?

    P.S. Wanted to let you know that your graphs are absolutely fantastic! Great visual imagery! Thank you, James.
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    Hi Calie,

    The graphs are great...unfortunately I cannot take credit for them either...the images are attributed to their creators within the post. I did make the video, I am glad that the visual imagery was found to be valuable.

    I don't think I have a great answer to your question, I do think that it is an absolutely fantastic question to ask. All I can say is what works for me, ultimately it's a question that everyone (and every business) has to answer for themselves. Personally, I am doing my best to engage with people no matter where I go...there is always room for improvement (and always will be). For a business/professionally it's necessary to engage where your customers (target market) are...that may be online, offline, or both.
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    I disagree with your comment that social media is not marketing. Of course it is. It is another marketing channel - an extension of how you position yourself, your organization, your product, etc. The difference is that social media users have no time or tolerance for groups or people that use the medium to say and do the same things they are doing in their traditional marketing. It's not a sales pitch. What you have to do is add value - be creative - educate - expand your community - begin a dialogue. One way to think about it is how do I react when I go into a presentation at a conference and the presenter talks, and talks, and talks and shows me a PowerPoint with lots of charts and graphs and no examples and I've toned out in seconds and want to leave. Or I go to a presentation where the presenter is dynamic and begins a dialogue with the audience and its interactive and everyone is engaged, excited and walks out with a strategy or tactic or new information they can take home and tell others about. Then I remember the presenter and their company. I've been marketed too, but it's subtle and I don't think about it that way.
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    Aimee, Yes, I totally agree with you. Let me explain by quoting the last part of the paragraph and the first part of another:

    "Social media is about communicating with people not pitching products & services. Contrary to some people’s perception social media is not a marketing channel to push your wares. If you disagree I invite you to voice your opinion in the comments below.

    Social media for a business IS still a function of marketing."

    I think we actually agree more than disagree. Of Social Media you mentioned that "It's not a sales pitch" and that is what I was attempting to say when I mentioned that "social media is not a marketing channel to push your wares" Notice the start of the next paragraph where I say that "Social media for a business IS still a funct