Social playbook – you thought it was all about PR or branding??

When was the last time you thought that a communication plan or social media action play book created for your organization (or the client if you happen to be an agency) could be to do with anything other than branding, public relations, buzz, and may be HR/employer branding?

The probability of this is very high – and it’s quite but natural for communication professional to work in a silo – a silo or PR or employer branding et al.

Well, those days are gone, and if there is such a play-book you proffer to your leadership, you are taking the first step in being a social media myopic.

The proliferation of social media across the different levels in your organization is complete, and you are well aware of this. By the same logic the proliferation of social media is as much complete in the external world – a world that encompasses your prospective employees, the next COO you are out to hire from out there, your product/service consumer, your media consumers (aren’t our journo friends consumers of what we communicate, and channels to a larger audience? J), your lenders (banks), your vendors and so on and on – just about every constituent you can imagine to be of present or future consequence.

Yet, how often does a play book you and me make cater to such a varied and dynamic constituency? If social was all about some buzz in the online world, then your playbook can be as you wish. But social is all about engagement, and at some point measurement of what the social media plan has delivered in value to the organization – and how much the plan has impacted the entire universe of constituents’ (call them stakeholders if you wish)

True, it will be impossible to make such a comprehensive play book. But what is important is to make sure that the kind of message that is sent out there is not just plain breast-beating to build an employer brand, but also to cultivate an image of a credible and competitive player in the space your organization is in.

Revisit your social plan now – do you see the kind of silo-isation as mentioned in the first part? Or can you see that you are factoring and attempting to engage the entire universe of constituents in your plan?

Revisit and Rewrite your social book today if need be. Not today, right now! 

Related articles

• LinkedIn’s Newest Crusade: Fix That Employer Brand! (forbes.com)
• Recruitment & Employer Branding (slideshare.net)
• 10 must-have traits for working in social media (prdaily.com)
• Social Media Playbook (radian6.com)
• LinkedIn attempts to quantify the Employment Brand (gautamblogs.com)