Social Media is about being Tactically Strategic
Posted on 22. Jul, 2008 by Tac Anderson in Social Media
Jeremiah has an interesting list over on his blog. Being a Social Media Analyst he’s compiled a list of all us corporate social media types.
It’s a pretty cool list. But I think there is one drawback to the way his list is compiled. It make’s it sound like you either have Strategists or Tacticians.
When in reality, my experience is, good social media workers fall along some spectrum between strategy and tactics.
Is the Marketing Campaign Dead?
Many people are calling for the death of the campaign. I think that for most social media endeavors that makes sense, but there will always be times where a short timed campaign makes perfect sense.
The problem with campaigns is that they are not flexible. You front load the campaign with all your money, buy your media and then launch it into space. Social media requires you to be able to think on your feet. You have to be flexible, adaptable. All of your assumptions about an initiative can change with one comment or someones positive or negative blog post.
You have to be Tactically Strategic.
You have to understand the larger strategy, and be able to align changes with the strategy while not alienating the customer/community. This requires more than just good project management skills. This also requires an ability to translate strategy into something actionable, on the fly.
What do you think? What’s the perfect mix between strategy and tactics? What other factors make for a good social media worker?
Technorati Tags: Social Media, Strategy, Tactics, Marketing
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8 Responses to “Social Media is about being Tactically Strategic”
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Jen Harris
22. Jul, 2008
Tac-
I think that there are more Tacticians that could be Strategists, but most current Strategists are old school Marketers trying to blend SM/NM into their campaign. They rely on their Tacticians to provide input and implement “their part” not thinking there is a continuance of “tactics” that in the end will have a greater impact than ANOTHER campaign.
Right now, it is not a bad thing to have the two seperate categories. Yes, you have to be tactically strategic…but those that are currently Tacticians will soon become Strategists, the planets will align and all the consultants will have to find something newer & greater to pitch!
Lynn Crymble
22. Jul, 2008
Personally, I believe a Social Media worker should not necessarily be labeled as such.
When it comes to creating/updating websites, the strategist/account manager should simply have social media as part of their knowledge base. Anything created in the digital space should include some sort of social component to reflect the way the Internet is moving in general.
When it comes to a campaign, if it makes sense, the account strategist should consider if and how a social component might be included and tie in to the overall ongoing social media efforts.
And when putting all these strategies into place, the tactical employee (be it a Project Manager or Developer) should obviously understand what is involved just as they would for any other tactical implementation.
So, this is my convoluted way of saying that I agree with you Tac! Thanks for the post.
Michael Brito
22. Jul, 2008
no, social media is about being strategically tactical! Kidding ….
Naomimimi
22. Jul, 2008
Tactics without strategy are shots in the dark. Strategy without tactics is just a plan on paper.
The two are inseparable and need to be understood equally otherwise the SM boat is going to go around in circles. There’s an intuition required to be good at it. Direction is needed, structure is useful, but it needs to flex to stand.
Lee Aase
22. Jul, 2008
Until you had made the comment about being strategically tactical, that’s what I was going to say. So now I won’t.
It’s a bit like the proactive/reactive dichotomy, where people think “proactive” means intelligent, thoughtful etc. while “reactive” connotes Pavlovian conditioning. “Tactical” connotes “nose to the grindstone” and shortsighted, while “Strategic” is considered a “big picture” thinker.
I think you need to be proactive about being reactive, and strategic about being tactical. A good strategy is being highly responsive (that’s the positive way of saying “reactive.”)
I think the dichotomy is a false one. Most of the time we need to be tactical and responsive, but sometimes we need to step back and think about the general direction we’re heading.
I think Jeremiah’s categories are OK, but I personally am in both camps. Part is internal evangelism and planning for social media, and part is making external connections.
Maybe that just means we need more staff to do the two roles.
Michael Brito
22. Jul, 2008
@Lee Aase
Hello my friend. Great analysis of being strategically tactical and proactively reactive (or vice versa). : P
A lot of times, the perception is that those who are tactical, are not necessarily strategic in the way they execute. This is wrong. I would argue that a person who is tactical in job function but thinks strategically is far more valuable than one who is strategic in job function but can’t “get stuff done”.
Rich Taylor
23. Jul, 2008
In Commercial Open Source Software, many companies separate their Community Managers and their Marketing Managers. The reason for the separation is that the goals are different. Marketing Managers are still necessary to generate leads and get them to the sales reps. The Community Managers are extremely important to build the community and spread the good news of the product. There is plenty of overlap in the responsibilities, but I believe some separation is important to keep both engines running and achieve both goals.
Tac Anderson
23. Jul, 2008
Rich, that’s a great point and could/should be an entire series of posts. I would point out that this doesn’t apply to OS but all community managers. I still think it’s vital for the people involved to be able to think on their feet and understand the strategy and how tactics affect it.