Social media strategy

Definition of
social media
What Is A Social Media Strategy? A social media strategy then must consider how social
A social media strategy is a plan of how to maximise media can be used and if it is needed:
engagement and interactions across social media to for social communications internally and externally
achieve a company’s objective. These objectives may to harness value from collaborative relationships
be to generate leads, improve brand awareness or as a tool to manage and monitor brand reputation
create a viral effect. (internally and externally)

A social media strategy defines the relationships,

their value and sets out a plan to harness them to
achieve a particular goal or set of goals.

Social media strategy

goals
Businesses can align a social media strategy to many different goals:
improve the rate of innovation and new product development
improve knowledge management (reduce duplication of work)
gain crowdsourcing investment
acquire customers
to improve the quality of talent applying for jobs
to save costs on operations with suppliers

Depending on what goals are used a

social media programme developed
linking business objectives to measurable
KPI’s.

Social Media Strategy

For Small Business

So this all may seem as though it is purely focused on those businesses

that can afford the time for big strategic plans, that have lots of
resources and people to play with. Well, small businesses a lot to gain
from using a well thought through social media strategy. Forming
alliances and collaborative spaces that are local can result in new revenue
streams that allow small business to compete with much larger
organizations. Social networks offer some of these benefits, but they are
dispersed and informal. Formal collaborations ARE NOT networking
spaces or simple networking groups – they are formal places that
companies can submit tenders, see examples of collaborative projects and
have visibility of capabilities.
 NEGATIVE MESSAGES NO
!

Examples of negative messages

1.salary reduction announcement 9. announcements of policy cahnges
2. employee layoffs 10. rejection of annual leave
3. Data breach 11. the crash of stock market
4. rejection of promotion application 12. negative evaluation
5. rejection of the project 13. Rejection of job application?
6. disruption of water supply 14. Increased work hours
7. customer complaint 15. Cancelling an event or promotion
8. bribery scandals

INDIRECT BAD-NEWS MESSAGE

ORGANIZATION 8.3.2.1: BAD-NEWS MESSAGE BUFFER
Begin with neutral or positive statements that set a welcoming tone and
8.3.2: INDIRECT BAD-NEWS MESSAGE ORGANIZATION
serve as a buffer for the information to come. A buffer softens the blow
Key to achieving Goal #2 of delivering bad news—i.e., helping the
of bad news like the airbag in a car softens the driver’s collision with
receiver understand and accept information they don’t want to hear or
the steering wheel in a high-speed car accident. If there are any silver
read—is organizing the message using the indirect approach described
linings that can calm the poor person about to be pummeled by the
in §4.1.2 above. If you tactlessly hit your audience over the head with
dark thunder clouds of bad news, here at the beginning would be a
really bad news, you run the risk of them rejecting or misunderstanding it
good time to point them out. The following are some possible buffer
because they may be reeling from the blow and be too distracted with
strategies:
anger or sadness to rationally process the explanation or instructions for
Good news: If there’s good news and bad news, start with the good
what to do about the bad news. A doctor never delivers a really serious
news.
diagnosis by coming right out and saying “You have cancer!” first thing.
Compliment: If you’re rejecting someone’s application, for instance,
Instead, they try to put a positive spin on the results (“It could be
worse”), discuss test results in detail, talk about treatment options, and start by complimenting them on their efforts and other specific
only then come around to telling the patient the bad news. At that accomplishments you were impressed by in their application.
point, being clear about the bad news ensures that the receiver Gratitude: Say thanks for whatever positive things the recipient has
understands the gravity of the situation and is therefore motivated to done in your dealings with them. If they’ve submitted a claim that
follow through on the therapeutic recommendations given earlier. Key doesn’t qualify for an adjustment, for instance, thank them for
to avoiding misunderstandings when delivering bad news, then, is the choosing your company.
following four-part organization: Agreement: Before delivering bad news that you’re sure the
1. Buffer recipient is going to disagree with and oppose, start with something
2. Justification you’re sure you both agree on. Start on common ground by saying,
3. Bad news + redirection “We can all agree that . . . .”
4. Positive action closing Facts: If positives are hard to come by in a situation, getting started
This is much like the three-part structure we’ve seen before in §4.1, only on the next section’s explanation, starting with cold, hard facts, is
the body is now divided into two distinct parts where the order really the next best thing.
matters, as we see in Table 8.3.2 and the explanation for each part Understanding: Again, if there are no silver linings to point to,
below it. showing you care by expressing sympathy and understanding is a
possible alternative (Guffey et al. 2016, p. 194)
Apology: If you’re at fault for any aspect of a bad news message,
an apology is appropriate as long as it won’t leave you at a
disadvantage in legal proceedings that may follow as a result of
admitting wrongdoing. (See §8.2.2.2 above for more on effective
strategies for apologizing.)
The idea here is not to fool the audience into thinking that only good
news is coming but to put them in a receptive frame of mind for
understanding the explanation that follows. If you raise the expectation
that they’re going to hear the good news that they’re getting what they
want only, to let them down near the end, they’re going to be even
more disappointed for being led on. If you hit them over the head with
bad news right away, however, they may be more distracted with
emotion to rationally process the explanation or instructions for what to
do about the bad news.
 NEGATIVE MESSAGES NO
!
CONTINUATION...
DIRECT-APPROACH BAD-NEWS
MESSAGES
8.3.2.2: BAD-NEWS JUSTIFICATION
The justification explains the background or context for the bad news before delivering
We’ve so far looked at expressing bad news using the indirect
the bad news itself. Let’s say that you must reject an application, claim for a refund, or
request for information. In such cases, the explanation could describe the strict approach, but is it ever right to deliver bad news using the direct
acceptance criteria and high quality of applications received in the competition, the approach? Are there occasions where you can or should be upfront
company policy on refunds, or its policy on allowable disclosures and the legalities of about the bad news? In the following situations, yes, it’s certainly
contractually obligated confidentiality, respectively. Your goal with the explanation is to
appropriate to deliver bad news by getting right to the point:
be convincing so that the reader says, “That sounds reasonable” and similarly accepts the
bad news as inevitable given the situation you describe. On the other hand, if you make When the bad news isn’t that bad:
the bad news seem like mysterious and arbitrary decision-making, your audience will In the case of small price or rate increases, customers won’t be
probably feel like they’ve been treated unfairly and might even escalate further with legal devastated by having to pay more. Indeed, inflation makes such
action or “yelptribution”—avenging the wrong in social media. While an explanation is
ethically necessary, never admit or imply responsibility without written authorization from
increases an expected fact of life.
your company cleared by legal counsel if there’s any way that the justification might be If your job involves routinely delivering criticism because you’re a
seen as actionable (i.e., the offended party can sue for damages). Quality Assurance specialist, the people who are used to
Use additional strategies to make the justification more agreeable such as focusing on
receiving recommendations to improve their work will
benefits. If you’re informing employees that they will have to pay double for parking
passes next year in an attempt to reduce the number of cars filling up the parking lot, you appreciate the direct approach. Some organizations even
could sell them on the health benefits of cycling to work or the environmental benefit of require direct-approach communications for bad news as a
fewer cars polluting the atmosphere. If you’re informing a customer asking why a product policy because it is more time-efficient.
or service can’t include additional features, you could say that adding those features
When you know that the recipient prefers or requires the direct
would drive the cost up and you would rather respect your customer’s pocketbooks by
keeping the product or service more affordable. In any case, try to pitch an agreeable, approach: Though the indirect approach is intended as a nice way
pro-social or progressive benefit rather than saying that you’re merely trying to maximize to deliver bad news, some people would rather you be blunt. “Give
company or shareholder profits. it to me straight, doc. I’m a grown-up. I can take it,” they might say.
Since a message must always be tailored to the audience, getting
8.3.2.3: THE BAD NEWS ITSELF AND REDIRECTION
Burying the bad news itself in the message is a defining characteristic of the indirect permission for taking the direct approach is your cue to follow
approach. It’s akin to the “poop sandwich” organization of constructive criticism through with exactly that. Not doing so will arouse the angry
sandwiched between statements of praise (see §11.1.4.2 below). Far from intending to
response you would have expected otherwise.
hide the bad news, the indirect approach frames the bad news so that it can be properly
understood and its negative (depressing or anger-arousing) impact minimized.
When you’re short on time or space: One of the hallmarks of the
The goal is also to be clear in expressing the bad news so that it isn’t misunderstood indirect approach is that it takes more words than a direct-
while also being sensitive to your reader’s feelings. If you’re rejecting a job applicant, for approach message (see Table 6.1.5 for comparative examples). If
instance, you can be clear that they didn’t get the job without bluntly saying “You failed
time is limited or you’re constrained in how much space you have to
to meet our criteria” or “You won’t be working for us anytime soon.” Instead, you can
clearly imply it by putting the bad news in a subordinate clause in the passive voice: write, taking the direct approach is justifiable.
Though another candidate was hired for the position, . . . When the indirect approach hasn’t worked: If this is the third
The passive voice (see §4.3.4 above) enables you to draw attention away from your own time you’ve had to tell a client to pay their invoice and the first two
role in rejecting the applicant, as well as away from the rejected applicant in the context
were nicely-worded indirect messages that the recipient ignored,
of the competition itself. Instead, you focus on the positive of someone getting hired.
While the rejected applicant probably won’t be throwing a celebration party for the take the kid-gloves off and issue a stern warning of the
winning candidate, the subordinate clause here allows for speedy redirection to a consequences of not paying. You may need to threaten legal action
consolation prize. or say you’ll refer the account to a collection agency, and you may
Redirection is key to this type of bad news’ effectiveness because it quickly shifts the
reader’s attention to an alternative to what they were seeking in the first place. Some
need to put it in bold so that you’re sure the reader won’t miss it.
kind of consolation prize (e.g., a coupon or store credit) helps soothe the pain and will be When the reader may miss the bad news: You may determine
appreciated as being better than nothing, at least. Even if you’re not able to offer the from profiling your audience and their literacy level that they might
reader anything of value, you could at least say something nice. In that case, completing
not understand indirect-approach bad news (see Step 1.2 in the
the sentence in the previous paragraph with an active-voice main clause could go as
follows: writing process in §2.2 on analyzing the audience). If your reader
. . . we wish you success in your continued search for employment. doesn’t have a strong command of English vocabulary and misses
This way, you avoid saying anything negative while still clearly rejecting the applicant. words here and there, they may not pick up on the buried bad news
past the mid-point of a challenging message.
8.3.2.4: POSITIVE ACTION CLOSING
As we’ve seen in previous explorations of message organization (e.g., §6.1.7 on email), In the above situations, structure your message following the same
the closing here involves action information. If your redirection involves some alternative, three-part organization we’ve seen elsewhere (e.g., §6.1.5 – §6.1.7 on
such as a recommendation to apply elsewhere, some follow-up details here would help email parts):
the reader focus on the future elsewhere rather than getting hung up on you and your
1. Opening: State the bad news right up front.
company’s decision. Your goals here are the following
Ensure that the reader understands the bad news without rehashing it 2. Body: Briefly explain why the bad news happened.
Remain courteous, positive, and forward-looking 3. Closing: Express confidence in continued business relations with a
End the conversation in such a way that you don’t invite further correspondence
goodwill statement and provide any action information such as
The first and last goals are important because you don’t want the reader to respond
asking you to clarify anything. The second goal is important because you ultimately want
contact instructions should the recipient require further information.
to appear respectable and avoid giving the reader a reason to smear your reputation in Of course, clarity and brevity in such messages is vital to maintaining
social media or proceed with legal action against you. friendly relations with your audiences (Guffey et al., 2016, p. 190).