Chapter 6 Reading

Chapter 6 in our class book Social Media for Strategic Communication is called Strategic Planning for Social Media. We have discussed in class before how important it is to be strategic in running a social media account. There are many challenges to administrating a social media account and some of them are content creation, maintaining a consistent brand voice, and making a sound strategy that will move your account in the right direction.

When social media specialist Kevin Saghy spoke at a PRSSA meeting, he mentioned strategic planning. He has been with his current brand for about a year and a half now and he said he is finally starting to get results on his implementation of a new strategic plan. Strategy, whether it be in the form a board game like chess or running a campaign, takes time. Strategic planning as stated in the book is like a "road map" that guides the specialist and their actions in the plan.

I liked the book's mention of how a plan helps "the media professional follow a set of guidelines (like in Pirates of the Caribbean-you've got to stick to the code)". A plan should be formulated with care and have thought behind the actions that will be taken to run the campaign. But just like anything in life, plans can and will change. I have heard plenty of times in my classes that students my age will have to continue to adapt to technology to stay on top of the game. Strategic plans should be built with flexibility in mind. After all, Captain Barbossa says that the "(pirate) code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." Guidelines are meant to be followed, but they are not the end-all-be-all rules because there are not very many concrete rules in the social media landscape. It has rapidly changed, and will very much continue to rapidly change, over the years. One platform may be new and exciting this year but in five years it may be obsolete. So stick to the guidelines, but do not be afraid to branch out if necessary.