Sooners and Social Media

By John McGory

The Oklahoma Land Rush drew 50,000 people to the territory on April 22, 1889.  The boomers and sooners staked claims on two million acres of land the federal government made available to the public.

Today’s headlong dash into social media often resembles that land rush.  The mad scramble to stake a claim as cutting edge in a saturated world of media is as chaotic as that April 1889 day. 

The similarities between the land rush and social media are real.  The cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie grew from no residents on April 21 to each having more than 10,000 residents two days later.  Sounds like Facebook to me.

Planning in a chaotic environment can lead to positive results or disaster.  The sooners entered the territory early and hid until the rush began.  Startled boomers on horseback were outraged when they spotted sooners setting up new homes on prime pieces of ground they had already staked out.  While underhanded, the courts upheld many of the sooners’ claims.

Disaster can strike in chaos when poor choices are made due to a lack of knowledge.  The boomers and  sooners who knew the location of planned railroad lines and roads reaped rewards, while the uninformed staked claims in remote areas.

Thankfully, a business plan for an active social media program doesn’t have to be unethical or uninformed.  A few simple steps can lead you in the right direction.

Start with a thorough audit of your marketing and communications program –  can they be done more efficiently?  Are expensively printed brochures and magazines ineffective?  Is communication between key members of your team breaking down? Who is your target audience? The audit will provide the answers you need to improve.  A consultant can help in uncovering real savings and opportunities.

The completed audit will give you a roadmap for your social media plan.  Then you can put in place the correct social media sites and tools to answer your problems and seize missed opportunities.

Business-to-business marketing is going to be different than business-to-teenage girls.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and all the other social media sites have their strengths and weaknesses, depending on whom you are trying to reach.   A solid audit will get you on the right sites with audience-appropriate content.

Purchasing hardware and software is where disaster can strike.  Trying to do social media on a fax machine just doesn’t cut it.  But investing significant dollars in technology can be fraught with danger, too.  New technology comes along so quickly that it is a challenge to know which way to go.   All you can do is research, talk to the experts and keep in mind your return on investment.  

The rush to social media success doesn’t need to be done at break-neck speed.  Informed decisions through planning will help you stake out that prime piece of social media property.

John McGory is a partner for Webface, a marketing and communications company that can help your company plan for its social media future.