The Financial Times Guide to Social Media Strategy

Many organizations don’t use social media strategically.

Social media change how organizations recruit employees, research markets, serve customers, and communicate internally and externally. Social media are transforming the business world.

To stay viable, organizations must become active on social media. While most firms understand this imperative, few use social media strategically. They can’t accomplish much with an unfocused and uninformed approach. Your organization can learn to create and adopt an effective social media strategy.

Instead of trusting “tactics and technology,” develop a comprehensive social media strategy.

Social media represent a powerful tool, but many firms mistakenly put their faith in tactics and technology instead of adopting strategic thinking. This creates problems that affect their social media activities:

• Without strategic planning, many social media tools waste money.
• Ad hoc social media activities rarely align with organizational goals.
• Many organizations create multiple “orphan” social media accounts with few followers...