Chapter Six of "Social Media for Strategic Communication"

In chapter 6 of Social Media for Strategic Communication, I learned about the strategic part of social media. To start, I learned how social media is at the center of many conversations today. While it may provide an opportunity to catch up with friends, check in when you are at various locations, and share exclusive experiences on your own personal network, social media can be used for many more things. The platform can also be used as a powerful tool that can be used strategically and also applied in the professional settings. We only see the surface of what we see online, but we don’t see the hard work that is put in place in order for the content to be the best as possible. The social media industry has seen many strategic plans executed successfully and creatively over the past few years. For example, NBC Sports created a significant amount of buzz around its coverage of the Olympic Winter Games this past year. NBC used many different integrated digital marketing approaches which unified its brand voice on a global stage. Another example is the company Cinnabon, who realized the shift of attention of social media among its customers. After seeing this, the company invested more in its management of community involvement and content creation on social media through real time engagements with customers and Twitter chats to get its customers more involved. All of these brands have a strategy behind each post, update, and piece of content they share on any social media platform. Every company has goals they want to reach and accomplish, so posting the right content is very important. This is why companies have incorporated a strategic plan, which is a systematic, aligned, and thorough document which outlines what a brand wants to accomplish to address, take advantage of an opportunity, or explore potential new possibilities from start to finish. This does not just helps the social media professional follow a set of guidelines, but also the ability to apply these guidelines to various areas, industries, and situations. A strategic plan also allows the social media planner to use the plan as a road map and tailor it for each campaign or client. I learned a lot from this chapter, and hope to learn more in the upcoming chapters.