2010 and social media advisors
30th December, 2009 - Posted by admin - 12 Comments
As we get to the end of the year and the end of the decade, there are a lot of posts and articles listing top 10 successful companies/gadgets/social media incidents, as well as company/gadget/social media failures. And there are still more articles coming up from social media experts, chock full with advice on what to do in 2010, and how to embed social media in your firm/organisation/policy/dress sense. The advice is all pretty predictable: listen, be understandable and be accessible. I don’t disagree with the advice – indeed I’ve advised as much before, as this blog will attest. But it’s all been said before so I’m not going to repeat it and provide pearls of wisdom for 2010 on how to use social media.
Instead I’m going to make a plea to anyone preparing a policy, a strategy or a plan for a social media business: stop eulogizing about technology, opportunities and the cultural importance of social media and learn to read and write a damned strategic and business plan.
The number of times I come across so-called ‘Strategic Plans’ that are more a religious expression of belief in technologies and fail utterly to consider local, internationalisation plans or global management techniques, is quite frankly, scary. I’m constantly disturbed by the complete lack of understanding of the financials involved in running a social media strategy, let alone operating a social media business. Let me make this plain: Free (as per Chris Anderson’s Future of Radical Price) is not a business plan. It’s not even a strategic plan. (It’s an augmentation of a pre-existing investment; but that’s another post.)
But strategic plans are not just the presentation of costed pathways for a business or product, they are also genuine analyses of the current market and they provide evidence of the value, niche products and audience for competitors in the marketplace. Strategic plans provide a series of options for development of a business or its assets and products, and these pathways then lead to development of business plans for clear tactical execution of a strategy. Often a strategic plan will recommend several possible development options but only one or a few are approved at Board level (or Executive level if we’re referring to government or third sector organisations). So a strategic plan starts with an industry analysis, you move on to product analysis, you then look at regional differences, you do decent SWOT and 5-Forces analysis (and possibly VRIO analysis), and then you make recommendations based on competitive opportunities and create financial modelling to support those recommendations. Then a business plan will develop on the initial modelling for one of the recommended strategies and will focus even more practically on timelines for execution, responsibilities and reporting, and tactical implementation of a strategy. Financial modelling will focus specifically on the business or product, but it will be a subset of an entire investment modelling budget.
Essentially if you don’t know how to develop a strategy and a business plan and you can’t read a financial statement then you have no business giving advice about social media which claims success for a company, a product or even a region. If you are planning a social media strategy or business, you are kidding yourself if you think your advice is separated from the costs associated with implementing your pearls of wisdom. You’re a fraud.
So go out and learn to read and write these documents, or find someone who will do it for you, and learn enough to know whether the documents make sense. Otherwise pack up and find another profession because you will fail.
Tags: advisor, business plans, expert, social media, strategic plans, strategy
Posted on: December 30, 2009
Filed under: social media
12 Comments
Rich Baker - Digital Engagement
December 30th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Great post thanks! I agree entirely. I used to think my varied business experience put me at a disadvatage in the social media ‘space’. In fact it does the opposite.
uberVU - social comments
December 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by joannejacobs: New post on 2010 and social media advisors: http://joannejacobs.net/?p=1338...
Sophia
December 30th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Dear Joanne,
Great article, thank you – I have been about to take the plunge into Social Media for business but thankfully you have reminded me that solid groundwork comes first. Poor preparation = poor performance…
giles palmer
December 30th, 2009 at 11:51 am
you rock Joanne
Paul Fabretti
December 30th, 2009 at 11:57 am
@Joanne – great post. Articulates the shortcomings of social media as the strategy perfectly.
@Rich – I totally agree with you. Anyone can learn “social media” tools, understanding when, where and how to use them is a very different kettle of fish!
Gemma Went
December 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
On the money, as always Joanne.
I’d also like to point out that this can be applied to any other strategy: PR, Marketing, Online etc. If this top level planning isn’t done, you’re wasting both time and money on ineffective activities.
Need help with your 2010 strategy? « The Cube
December 30th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
[...] 2010 and social media advisors [...]
Ande Gregson
December 30th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
great to see you back on form. great post.
adoption curve dot net » Blog Archive » links for 2009-12-30
December 31st, 2009 at 1:08 am
[...] 2010 and social media advisors "Instead I’m going to make a plea to anyone preparing a policy, a strategy or a plan for a social media business: stop eulogizing about technology, opportunities and the cultural importance of social media and learn to read and write a damned strategic and business plan." Joanne Jacobs' well-timed "grow up" post. (tags: joannejacobs socialmedia strategy) [...]
Put down those shiny toys and get back to business people « The Cube
January 7th, 2010 at 12:12 am
[...] Applying the usual goals-objectives-strategies-tactics model to your social media plan will work well, but ahead of that make sure you fully understand your business plan and the top level goals that need to be achieved as these will drive your social media plan. If you don’t have an adequate business plan in place, Joanne Jacobs has written a useful post on what this should include here. [...]
Top 30 social media, marketing, pr blogs « The Cube
January 16th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
[...] Agent Up there with Amber Naslund, Beth Harte, Joanne Jacobs and Ann Handley as my ‘power women’ to watch. I pretty much share every blog post [...]
olivier blanchard
February 9th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
How did I miss this until now? Brilliant!!!! I think I love you (professionally speaking, that is).
Thanks for writing this. We need more of this kind of post and less of the usual SM evangelism fodder.
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