When I talk to clients and colleagues about social media, there is one question that almost always gets asked: “Can you suggest some examples that are like our situation?”
My impolite answer is usually “No.”
Well, I don’t usually say this, and I most certainly don’t just say that.
My interpretation of what is really being asked is: I want a shortcut to know what to do.
What I find I am saying more often than not is: “I’m not sure there are any examples that are just like your situation.”
Followed by: “It can be dangerous to simply grab a seemingly similar social media case study from somewhere else and apply it to your situation.”
The Architect’s House
My thinking is this… Coming up with a social media strategy is a bit like designing a house. As a former architect, I used to get people asking me, “What would you design if you had a blank site and an unlimited budget?” My answer is, “I don’t know.”
Sure, we could dump an existing solution on the site and it might work for better or worse.
My preference, is to sit down and explore the problem and the desired outcome before telling you what I would do. Effectively, you need to design the house to know what it will look like. There are simply too many options and variations and possibilities otherwise.
Your Social Media Strategy
That same applies to social media – there are literally millions of strategies and combinations of platforms and processes to consider.
And, whilst case studies for social media are very useful to show what someone else has done and what may have worked in their situation, the usefulness to your situation is limited. At best, it becomes a guide.
What I’d suggest is:
- You start to collect your own social media case studies.
- Then start to discuss them to consider what works.
- And, then create your own personalised strategy based upon what you’ve learnt.
- Finally, test it out for yourself. This way you give yourself the best possible chance of coming up with a strategy that will work best for you and your unique circumstances and set of resources.
