Social Media Plan

I am a mere 46 days away from graduation. When I am not scrambling to complete my work and school assignments, I am on the hunt for a job. Many of these positions require Social Media experience, which comes as no surprise. I have been surprised by the number of applications looking for individuals to create social media plans for their business.

I am well aware of social media, between personal experience, school and work requirements, I know how to handle myself on a variety of platforms. However, I have never made a true social media plan. Here is some information I found on socialmediatoday and thought would be helpful to others.

1.       Paint the big picture of the opportunities Social Media can provide

Suggestions include beginning your plan with startling statistics/quotes about social media and how many people are moving away from traditional media and towards social media.

2.       Define Social Media

Social media has so many meanings to people based on their knowledge and experience. Provide a specific yet all encompassing definition will provide a level platform to begin expressing ideas too. I really like the definition provided by socialmediatoday:

“Social media is user-generated content on the internet.  It’s created with free or inexpensive technology, is easy to update, and can reach a niche audience or millions.  It can be mere words in a blog, but also user-generated videos, photos, and audio.  It can be interactive with unfiltered comments from visitors.  And as user-generated content, it does away with controls associated with traditional media – and most of all, it removes the need for big media.”

3.       List tangible business goals

Upper management may not initially see the benefits of social media. This is the part of the plan where you should high light HOW social media will improve business. This can include building awareness, strengthen relationships, improve customer service, generate sales, etc.

4.       Plan a timeline of steps

This is your chance to plan the objectives. Have measureable/attainable goals set and when they will be accomplished by. This shows management you are working and not playing, while also giving you a timeline to accomplish things by.

5.       Set realistic Expectations

Make sure your management realizes that social media not guaranteed to do anything. Explain how it takes time to get a loyal following, some platforms may not pan out, etc.

6.       Ask for resources

Asking for training, help, a budget to get help make the best effort, etc. Unlimited access to the web via smart phone and laptop (if you don’t already have those)

7.       Decide who will be in charge of Social Media

Doing it internally, hiring a consultant group, etc. Lay out what you think the best options would be.

8.       End with an urgent call to action

End you plan with a call to action that shows the need to join social media. 

Klout Score

Recently, I've been running across mentions of a Klout Score. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I had no clue what they were referring to. So to enlighten my other readers who may not know, these are my findings and understanding of the Klout Score.

The Klout Score is a way for you to measure your online influence. Influence is defined as your ability to drive action which means responses, shares, etc. 

To break down what goes into the measurement, here are the three concepts considered: 

True Reach: How many people you influence

Amplification: How much you influence them

Network Impact: The influence of your network

Using services, such as the Klout Score, will be beneficial to both individuals and businesses. Online presence is everything and we should be aware of the influence of our online actions. An interesting tidbit, the common score is 20. When I linked this blog, my Twitter and Facebook accounts, my score was 12. Obviously needs improvement, but I'll keep working on it.

Kony 2012

If you've been on any news site or Facebook within the last few days, you've probably heard of Kony 2012. For those of you who haven't here's the scoop: Kony 2012 is a video launched by Invisible Children. This group uses creativity to produce visual messages in support of ending child armies.


The actual Invisible Children are child soldiers whose lives are living hell. Most are kidnapped from their homes/villages when they are very young (sometimes as young as 5), then they are forced into the military and drugged so that they have no fear. If they try to escape, they are captured and killed in front of other children to set an example. These children are raped (many girls serve as sex slaves), treated like servants and are the first sent into battle. They are offered up as sacrifices against trained armies in an effort to save older soldiers lives.


Back to Kony 2012 though. The intention of the video was to harness the powers of social media and make a change in the world. Joseph Kony (the man at the top of this blog) has been in hiding since 2006, and this video is an effort to familiarize the entire world with his face and the travesties he has committed in an effort to capture him. High aspirations, but it seems to be working.


According to an article by wtop.com (based out of Washington, D.C.), the video was posted to YouTube on March 5 (2012). By Thursday morning (March 8) the video had already been played 30 million times. When I looked at 7:30 a.m. March 9, the video had over 55 million views.


I have seen opposition to this ideas behind this video and don't understand. Although I am well aware of the issues faced in the U.S, we are all apart of one global community. I agree we need to "fix" the issues at home, but we don't have an issue like this at home. We don't have children being forced off to war at 5, our children sign up at 18 if they WANT too. It takes five seconds to share a video on Facebook, 30 minutes to watch the entire video, and then you can choose if you want to act based on the information you've heard. 


If the United States were ever in a position to have these types of horrors on our soil, I pray that other parts of the world would respond the way I have seen most of my friends respond- by sharing the information and helping to spread the world. This is a call to action; something as small as sharing the page is answering that call and helping to support the child soldiers of Africa. I hope that this video makes it harder for Kony to stay underground. Maybe someone will have the courage to disclose his hideout information now that there is global support and we can all hope, for the sake of the children, that this comes to an end.


I have also seen debates about the negative ramifications of the video. Mainly, the timing of its release and the validity behind the information used in the video. Many question the timing because there are already U.S. troops in Uganda looking for Kony, they also question it because most of the resistance is no longer in Uganda, but in places such as the DRC. Regardless, this video raises awareness of child soldiers. No matter where they are, it needs to be stopped. 


Regarding the informative content of the video, it started with pictures/videos of the producers son. What makes anyone think that this wouldn't be opinion based? If I wanted the straight facts, I wouldn't be relying on social media to spit this into my lap. The video was not designed to show you the efforts taken by Ugandan government because that's not the point of it. The point was to show you the travesties faced by child soldiers and for the global community to respond in order to rid the world of child soldiers.

The 15-year-old in me is very excited because I just read some very interesting news.

Remember MySpace? The first social network people used and enjoyed? Well, it has new owners and is making a come back! 

After losing most of its users to Facebook, MySpace (for a lack of a better phrase) went down the sh!##@r. Although still preferred for most upcoming artists (free music uploading), it lost the bulk of its crowd and driving force. 

Only time will tell if it is a flop or not.

I may even have to start taking bathroom pictures at odd angles again...

Social Media Cheat Sheet

Once again, I’m blogging about industry related news.

For those of you who have been hiding in a black hole somewhere, you may not have a full understanding about how important social media is to ALL industries. It’s a chance to connect with your customers, get news out quickly to a targeted public and too many other benefits to name.
For those who may still be a little unsure of what social media is, this is for you 

If it is too small to read, go to the bottom right of your browser and zoom in to about 400%. This is the ultimate cheat sheet on social media. It includes the “what,” pros, cons and how to get started. Take advantage of someone else’s creativity and use this information, it will help you.

For my PR folks...

Whenever I have free time at my internship, I have been reading/catching up on my PR blogs and interesting information. Here are some of the links I found most interesting in the past week.


This blog is all about how to make your pitch stand out. Very valuable information for those of us who don't have media contacts yet!


This one is social media tips for the New Year. Although we're about to start February, it's ok to just begin New Years resolutions!


This blog is an interesting little nugget I found online about new ways the FBI is looking to patrol social media.


This has more information about social media.


Sorry readers....Not my best writing on display here. This is good information though and should definitely be read by those interested in PR and Marketing!