One of the first questions I ask when I work with a new client is, how does stuff get done? If they can’t tell me how they do what they do, it’s a red flag — an indication that no amount of social media strategy will help them become better at what they do.
Most people think they need social media to enhance their marketing and outreach. And for many, it’s true. But good marketing and outreach doesn’t come from social media alone. It starts with a cohesive, comprehensive workflow in which everyone involved knows what happens next. If you work in a silo-ed organization, it’s quite common for employees not to know what happens after they complete a particular project or element of that project. They just hand it off to the next person, no questions asked. No amount of social media marketing will make an organization like that better. In fact, it will only serve to highlight how inefficient and backwards they are.
Good social media marketing relies on great content. Great content thrives on information. If, as a social media manager, I don’t know what’s going on inside a company, or what different departments are working on, or what issues sales or customer service representatives are having, social media isn’t going to help. Before a company can think about optimizing their online presence they have to optimize their workflow.
Ideally, research and development should be talking to customer service on a regular basis, so they can understand issues customers are having with the product or service. Ideally, the faculty of a school should be communicating regularly with Admissions about what’s going on inside their classrooms. When processes allow for open communication and collaboration, the workflow becomes more efficient.
Good social media marketing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is the product of cross-collaboration and a workflow that thrives on sharing information and knowledge.