POST: A Systematic Approach to Social Media Marketing
What do most companies do wrong when they start marketing with social media? They lack an overall plan. They are missing their objectives. They don’t know who their target audience is? Market research firm Forrester has coined the Acronym POST. The POST method is a planning methodology for companies to enter into social media marketing.
POST helps address “should my company have a presence on Facebook?” or “why isn’t anyone reading our company blog?” It is the central concept in the book Groundswell.
The POST method stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology.
People: This is about reaching your targeted customer. Who are they? What are their interests and their demographics? What types of social media are they most likely to use? If you’re targeting college students, use social networks. If you’re reaching out business travelers, consider ratings and reviews.
Objectives: What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to generate awareness? Influence the influencer? Build or regain trust? Energize your customers to talk about your brand? Decide on your objective before you decide which technology to use. Figure out how you will measure results.
Strategy: Strategy in the POST method means how will things be different afterwards?? Do you want a closer, two-way relationship with your best customers? Do you want to get people talking about your products? Do you want a permanent focus group for testing product ideas and generating new ones?
Technology: After you’ve decided on people, objectives and strategy then decide the best application to use. Should this be blogging, if so, which software? Should you be using wikis, MySpace or YouTube? Perhaps you will want to form a niche community?
Too many businesses start with the Technology. They will start with “we need a blog” or “our company needs a Facebook page.” Using the POST method helps remove the guesswork.