Whether you are devising a business plan for a start-up, creating a campaign strategy for an engagement tool or simply writing a blog post; you have to always consider the basic values of what you are doing and why you are doing it.

So often, we disregard the basics because we think they are the obvious. We think that it’s common sense and we don’t need to waste our time discussing common sense do we?

Fair enough, but in Social Media, common sense isn’t so common.

With a gazillion people trying to learn something about something; a billion brands trying to learn something about people and a million agencies trying to make money out of brands. (Hang on, i’m lost already, can you repeat that…)

Today I Tweeted a very simple Social Media model that I put together off the back of some research a few months ago. It’s simple model based around some core fundamentals that any serious marketers should follow. By serious, i mean the ones that actually care.

Let me break it down for you…

Create

Short for creative, as in ‘originality’. Content is King remember and if your content is good, why wouldn’t people share it? Give your audience something exciting to deal with and package it with a nice colourful message.

Stimulate

The message… How do you grab the attention of the audience without showing them Megan Fox in a hula outfit?
Think carefully about your content; has it been created with the audience in mind and is it what they are expecting?

Listen

Social Media = Communication. So why are brands still going at this in a Direct Marketing one way traffic fashion. Your audience are talking, shouting, screaming, begging for you to listen to them. If you want to get them on side and eventually sign-up/spend with your business, you have to listen to their needs.

Curate

After you have listened, you need to be the Curator. By definition a content Curator… is someone who continually finds, groups, organises and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online.
Got it? It is up to you to source those networks, build those tribes and share your content to the masses!

Acknowledge

As a content aggregator you must understand and acknowledge the audience. It goes hand in hand with listening to them. Acknowledge that the audience has the power, word of mouth spreads faster than your email campaign ever will and these chaps that apparently are interested in your brand or product have the power to dictate your companies’ future.

Feedback

Ultimately any time questions are asked or discussions are raised; feedback needs to be addressed. Whether it’s feedback to your audience or to your team, for you to understand the campaign process you need to utilise the opinions from everyone involved. Develop and grow your structures as a unit and begin to create again.