Are you confused by all the chatter about social media and social marketing? The interest and enthusiasm is so enormous it’s easy for simple, smart thinking to get trampled in the rush to jump on the bandwagon. So here’s some easy to apply ways to think about planning a foray into the social arena.

When crafting a social media strategy, it’s important to not only know what the basic platform options are, but also to understand how to align these models with your brand objectives. Here are three basic options:

* Hub and Spokes: Content, plus management, plus marketing.
* Stand-alone: Create once, self-managed.
* De-centralized: Mining existing communities.

Hub and Spokes

In this model, the brand owns a social presence like a blog or other community-driven experience and creates content for it on a regular basis, using an editorial calendar to make content decisions up front to ensure the site is kept fresh. Content from the owned web is then re-purposed or promoted in a variety of social channels. Community management in this model is key because we’re not only hoping to form a community for a brand, but we’re trying to do it at a new destination the audience isn’t very familiar with yet.

Case Study: http://www.iqagency.com/work/ups-racing-social-site

• A social hub for the UPS Racing community on the WordPress platform.
• Content developed for the main site is pushed to Facebook and Twitter.
• Over time, UPS was able to build a fan-base of repeat visitors (based on analytics reporting) not only for the site, but also within with other social sites.
• The community and content is managed by UPS employees and contractors.
• This model works best when an organization has staff to dedicate to social.

Stand-Alone

Often, clients come to us with an idea for a Facebook application or desktop widget. They want the benefits of being in the social space, but want a community that is self-managed and needs little additional content creation, governance, or investment after launch. They hope to include mechanisms for sharing that create natural, viral activity that maximizes an initial, one-time investment. It can be done of course, but the more likely outcome of this type of project is a high upfront cost for an experience that may not attract or grow an audience. To have the greatest chance of success in this scenario, you have to really know the audience you’re trying to engage, the places where they are currently forming communities, and the kinds of content and experiences they are most likely to care about and share.

Case Study: http://www.iqagency.com/work/picture-health-widget

De-Centralized

This model works best when there are existing communities in a variety of social spaces that are already having conversations about your category or brand. A strategy for this scenario involves building out a brand or product presence at the relevant sites and using a community manager to engage with the existing audience to attract fans, followers, and subscribers.

Case Study: http://www.iqagency.com/work/socialonline

• Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo presence.
• Agency provides community management and rich content development.
• The community continues to grow and support sales within the retail channel.
• This model works best when a community exists and an organization wishes to enter conversations with a smaller up-front cost.

First things First

Before jumping to tactics, work to build a social strategy that considers:

• The audience you’re trying to reach
• The goals for the brand and program
• The internal and external resources necessary to manage the community
• How content will be created and distributed
• The budget for on-going content development and drive-to marketing

Then use these answers to choose the social model that best serves the needs of the audience, goals and the brand, and the ways in which social will be managed and supported by the organization.