strategy not tacticts

Seth Godin is one of the smartest men who blog, I don't know about him in real life but I enjoy his blog and his books, most significantly Tribes.



To follow up on my post that blogs aren't dead, they are the foundation of your social media strategy- his post today nails on the head why we are more interested in tools/ tactics than we are in strategy.

Most of us are afraid of strategy, because we don't feel confident outlining one unless we're sure it's going to work. And the 'work' part is all tactical, so we focus on that. (Tactics are easy to outline, because we say, "I'm going to post this." If we post it, we succeed. Strategy is scary to outline, because we describe results, not actions, and that means opportunity for failure.)

This is why every organization wants a Facebook page: because every other organization has a Facebook page. A Facebook page might be exactly what you need- but you better have a strategy to manage it, much like the editorial calendar you already have for your blog! But don't go starting a Facebook page until you have a strategy...



If you have a Facebook (twitter, youtube, myspace) page but no strategy- don't delete and start over when you feel like it either- keep doing what you are doing and build and implement a strategy based on what you have learned so far! We are nonprofits, we have budgets, just because these are free tools we have to build these into our existing marketing, fundraising, donor relations, new audience acquisition, board engagement, etc... programing. Your social media strategy should fit your demographic, your mission and vision. You should have measurable goals, a timeline and evaluative mechanisms.



Sorry to burst your bubble, but to do this stuff well you have to think ahead. Nothing is worse than starting something then not engaging with in. The expectation is you are in these spaces, think carefully how you will allocate the resources. And test the waters, thoughtfully making decisions as you learn.