As announced last week, the Fundamentals series will start to get serious about getting into social business. The first phase of entering social business is the Analysis phase where we look at current position, assessing value and effectiveness as well as caveats and pitfalls.

In this post, we’ll look at base-lining, which is the idea of getting a basic feel of where you and your organization stand in the social media sphere. Base-lining consists of a series of assessments on:

• People;
• Presence;
• Reputation;
• Competition; and
• Company

Let’s walk through each one step-by-step with actions to get you started.

People

Are people—i.e. consumers, employees, vendors et cetera—are embracing and using social media, and which tools are most popular?

• List the people you know who are related to your company or industry.
• Categorize them according to their relationship to your company or industry, e.g. customer, employee or journalist.
• Find out which websites and social media platforms these people visit and use.
• Score these people on the influence/impact they have on company, brand and/or product/service.

Presence

Are you easy to find on the (social) web? If people search for your company, brand, products or services, what will they find?

• List the search engines that are relevant to your business. These may include websites like YouTube, Technorati or Twitter Search. Search for keywords related to your company, brand, products and/or services, and evaluate your position according to your marketing goals/objectives and/or your expectations.
• Create an overview of influential websites—such as review websites, niche blogs or online retailers—that are relevant to your company. Search for mentions of your brand.
• If you already have a social media presence, create an overview of all your social media profiles and their “reach”, e.g. Facebook Page members or Twitter followers.

Reputation

Within the conversations taking place online, is the opinion/sentiment around your brand positive, neutral or negative?

• Create an overview of influential websites—such as review websites, niche blogs or online retailers—that are relevant to your company. Search for mentions of your brand and assess what the tone of the commentary is.
• Search conversations on the websites and social media platforms the people related to your company use. Find out whether you’re being talked about positively, negatively or neutrally.

Competition

How well do you fare compared to your competitors?

• Perform both the Presence and Reputation assessments on your competitors as well.
• List the social media activities of your competitors. Look at where they’re active, what they’re doing, what their level of commitment is, and how they’re being perceived by their fans and (prospective) customers.
• Assess whether your industry as a whole is ahead of the curve, behind it or in the middle when it comes to social business.
• Compare the industry’s scores to your own company’s scores.

Company

How well are you prepared internally to undertake social business?

• What is the value, need and confidence in getting into social business? We’ll talk more about this in Part 2 next week.
• Which obstacles, risks and issues need to be resolved before getting into social business?
• What needs to be done to integrate social into the existing overall marketing and business strategy and activities?
• Which changes do internal communication and collaboration processes need to undergo to facilitate social business?
• Which people are needed and appropriate to champion and participate in social business?

Performing these basic tasks will give you a first feel of what your “going-in position” is for social business, and what you might need to address now or at some point in the future.

Next week, we’ll continue the Analysis phase by looking at how to assess value and effectiveness of social business to your company. Until then, the comments are yours.

To me, it looks an awful lot like the crackdown procedures of the MPAA and the RIAA on the movie and music piracy scene. It does signal the perilous situation in which these organizations and their business models are. They are looking to make money from a changed world in a way that only worked in the old world. They’re trying to change the world instead of changing their business model.

Copying of content, piracy of audio and video, and music services on the web are not bad. It’s even a form of flattery. Apparently, it’s worth using and consuming. Attacking these practices and services is essentially also attacking the one they should be aiming for, consumption. They’re running their business into the ground while under the impression that they’re saving it.

Protecting the future by killing the now doesn’t work.

1. Preparation: Before embarking on social media activities, you should have scouted out your audience. How social media savvy are they? How large is the audience? What is the level their clout? What typical conversations (about your brand) are already taking place? Et cetera. Finding the answers to these questions helps you determine whether the audience is willing and able to embrace you within the social media space. It helps you fine-tune your expectations, priorities and going-in position.
2. Policy: Create a social media policy for those who will be involved. This creates clarity on what can and what cannot be done while engaging in social media. Prepare not only general guidelines for everyday social media activities but also prepare specific guidelines for special occasions such as publicity dramas and compromised accounts (hackers).

Know what to do when going in. Know what to do once you’re in.

He also mentioned “protecting the future”. Every major business decision and business activity was made based on the protecting the future. Many companies capitalize on opportunities in the here and now, generate massive amounts of buzz for a certain (short) period of time, or are focused on quick wins. The question remains, however, whether these initiatives contribute to setting a company up for long-term success.

Using the “protect the future” mantra helps you analyze opportunities and make conscious decisions.

Are your initiatives focused on protecting the future?

Take the time to reflect on what should be rather than what could be. The current economic circumstances form the best stress-test for your organization and your skill set. Find out what’s working in your organization and what isn’t. Examine best cases and perform some “business process scrutineering”. Make sure you have your exit strategies and future plans in place.

Consider your plan B. Make it just like another plan A.

Maybe I don’t understand it, but what exactly is “the box”? The problem with the phrase is that it has a different meaning for everyone because the reference for “the box” is different for everyone. Sure, there could be unwritten parameters that would describe what is conventional and what would be “outside the box” within a certain context, but even these can be arbitrary. Instead of determining whether something is inside or outside, adjust the parameters by which you judge.

Don’t think outside the box. Make your box bigger.

Products/services come to an end for a multitude of reasons. Most common ones include:

• Consumers don’t buy them anymore leading to losses
• Margins have been cut due to competition
• Companies divesting in a certain product/service
• Substitute products/services have entered the market

Whatever the reason for the end of a product’s lifecycle is, have you thought ahead? Do you have in mind what to do once that moment comes?

Some questions to bear in mind are when considering future options are:

• What would you want to do? Put motivation behind the direction you’d like to take.
• What would your customers want you to do? Think about your target audience, your value proposition and your business model.
• What can you do? Choose a direction that emphasizes your strengths and competences.

Think ahead. Stay ahead.

They give you an overview, either when you’re already in business or before you enter an initiative. Process diagrams give you an indication of how complex a certain series of activities is. Maybe something made sense during a meeting, but a diagram reveals how cumbersome that something is. Adjusting the process and implementing it will result in clarity and consistency.

Evaluate your processes. Look for shortcuts. Achieve results quicker.