The Circular Model of SoMe for Social Communication – Share, optimize, Manage, engage.
As a former public relations practitioner, then researcher, and now professor I noticed the field of PR lacked a widely accepted model for social media planning. I developed The Circular Model of SoMe for Social Communication so that others could have an easy to follow and easy to adapt planning strategy.
There are four aspects of the model; each is powerful in their own right, but together they allow practitioners to develop a solid strategy. The model, as you see, is deliberately circular.
The reason for this is that social media is an ever evolving conversation. When a company is sharing they may also be managing or engaging and even optimizing their messages concurrently. Therefore a linear model fails to bring together what is necessary for today’s strategist.
As highlighted throughout the text, in order for social media and public relations strategies to be successful, they must fully align with company goals and objectives, while also taking into account consumer preferences.
Here are some questions often asked as one uses the Circular Model of SoMe for Social Communication planning:
- Share: Where is my audience? What types of networks are they engaging on? Where should we be sharing content? It is vital social media strategists understand how and where their consumers interact. This is a company’s opportunity to connect, build trust, and identify channels that allow for true interactions.
- Optimize: Are there issues that need to be addressed? What type of content should be shared? Do we have brand influencers and advocates? Where are we being mentioned and how? To optimize any conversation listening is paramount. A strong communication plan that optimizes your content results in maximum impact of messaging, brand, and value.
- Manage: What relevant messaging should we manage, monitor, and measure? By setting up media management systems like Hootsuite companies can keep abreast of conversations happening in real-time, respond to consumers instantly, send private messages, share links, monitor conversations and measure successes/failures. Metrics are integral in managing a social strategy. As practitioners we must illustrate the value of our efforts and report back to C-level executives the ROI of our campaigns.
- Engage: Who should we engage with and how? Do we want our consumers to take action on what we’ve shared? If so, what do we want them to do? Cultivating an engagement strategy can be difficult, but once a company realizes the benefits of authentic engagement true relationships can be build.
The Circular Model of SoMe for Social Communication is meant to be the first step in planning a full social media campaign. This model along with the social media plan provided in the text will help social media strategist, public relations practitioners and social marketers build strong, lasting relationships with consumers.
Gina Luttrell 