Social Studies: Social Media 101

And there is only more to learn every day. The Web accelerates trends' average life cycle, so it seems the whole world is accelerating but you're the only one lagging behind. For every source of credible information, there are a dozen snake oil salesmen trying to scare you into buying the all-in-one solution to soothe your fears of the looming social media revolution.

At Third Degree, we're here to cut through the inflated hype and the paranoia to see what "social media marketing" is and where it's going.

First, we established a task force to craft a concrete definition, philosophy and process for those fluffy 'social' terms, both for ourselves and for our clients interested in marketing in new media. (Psst. It's actually not "new.")

We consider "social media" a method of connecting people. So when we talk about "Social Media Marketing," this is what we mean:

Social media marketing is a directed dialogue between brand and audience.

A "directed dialogue" is not idle chit-chat. It's a focused, authentic back-and-forth interaction between the client and their target. The rest of this "study guide" is devoted to explaining the current research-based trends, our philosophy and process for social media campaigns, and a case study from Tinker Federal Credit Union's "What Money Means to Me" campaign.

Now, let's hit the books!

The Treadmill

When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you only know about hammers, well; you can see where that leads us.

It's easy to get swayed by Facebook's membership numbers, a popular blog, or the last viral video you came across. "We need a blog!" you might say to yourself.

Don't get distracted! Focusing on tools limits your strategies to the tools you know about, rather than considering your unique challenges and audience.

To put it another way, many approaches to social media are like buying a guitar and expecting to be a rock star. Just having a guitar doesn't mean you're a rock star and having a blog doesn't mean you're engaging in a social media campaign.

We call that old approach the "Tool Treadmill." There are always going to be new services and ways to communicate. Latching on to the newest thing feels like you're moving, but you're not really getting anywhere. Truth is, it's impossible to accurately predict which one will be the next Google or which will be the next Alta Vista.

The best way to craft your social media campaign is to let your strategies dictate the appropriate tools, not the other way around. You need a process that will remain relevant regardless of whatever new tools are around the corner.

So what does this all mean? Focus your campaign on creating authentic relationships, not making the next fad.

Third Degree's Social Media Philosophy

At Third Degree, we engage with each client's unique challenges and priorities. We know that to create a relevant dialogue, you can't take a one-size-fits-all approach. You have to research, plan, execute and assess every step of a social media campaign. Though we remain aware of the newest trends, we don't get distracted by the last thing we saw. By building a foundation of real metrics and research, we can craft a campaign that has real results. We call it working forward.

Social media marketing is an ever-evolving field that can often be confusing or overwhelming. Third Degree keeps a clear path based on a few fundamental principles: active awareness of new media, personalized approaches, research-based metrics and practical expectations. We always keep in mind a foundational statement to make social media marketing real and workable for our clients' brand messaging. This is Third Degree's Social Media Marketing Philosophy...

We grow relevant relationships through focused dialogue, as part of a unique and holistic communications strategy.

That's a mouthful, so let's break that down bit by bit.

Grow: Advancing our clients' agendas and growing each relationship to its potential through the medium of social media.

Relevant: Choosing mediums that are relevant, effective and that meet our clients' goals.

Relationships: Mutually beneficial connection between the brand and audience.

Focused Dialogue: Two-way communication between brand and audience. Directed, targeted and segmented by users, their markets and the relevant distribution channels, types of content, and platforms.

Unique: Targeted, non cookie-cutter approach specific to each brand.

Communications Strategy: Integrated campaign that takes into consideration the brand and every other media element to ensure the best results possible.

So that's Social Media 101. Focus on the methodology, not the technology. You can use the web and its many tools to start a dialogue with your audience, but make sure you know why you're doing it before you think about how you do it.

If you have any questions or comments, please see our Third Degree Social Media facebook page to find out more and to comment on anything you've seen here.