19-Point Checklist for Social Media

In a recent study (HBR article), hospitals found that when surgeons followed a 19-point check list death rates fell by 40% and the rate of complications fell by almost a third.

Even the best trained, most experienced professionals make mistakes or forget things. There's a risk in relying on our memory, intuition or “gut instinct.” For almost every activity, we would likely see better results if we implemented a similar "checking" process.

So if you’re starting a new social media program, what should be on the 19-point checklist? What are the items you need to assess before you start or complete any project?

The 19-Point Checklist for Social Media

1. What business objective does the program meet? Define the opportunity you are going after (e.g., target audience, industry segment) or the problem you are planning to fix (e.g., customer service issues, low brand recognition).
2. Is our approach original or unique in some way? Research similar programs and make sure yours stands out by being uniquely relevant to your audience.
3. Does the big idea relate to our customers and their needs or desires and at the same time is it relevant to our company/vision/passion in some way? Big ideas go awry when they are fun and crazy to get attention but in no way relate to the company value. There needs to be a connection to affect your brand.
4. Have we brainstormed enough ideas to keep the project fresh for 12 months? You want to be open to opportunity, change and feedback as you move along, but it is very helpful to have a plan for how the program will grow and continue to be effective over time.
5. Do we have someone in place to moderate and manage online behavior? Don't leave this to chance. Any online program must be monitored with specific people (or person) given responsibility to moderate or escalate problems.
6. How will we deal with negative behavior? Negative behavior online takes different forms. There are trolls and bots looking to create damage. Make sure you have the tools in place to fight this behavior before it starts and a moderator to catch anything that slips through. You can make it easy for your audience to notify your moderator of rogue behavior by adding a button to the site. Negative behavior can also be an unhappy customer. This is an opportunity that needs to be escalated to the appropriate people based on the comment.
7. What is the escalation process? There are 3 groups who should receive negative customer input: customer service, product development and marketing. If the customer is having a problem with the product make sure there is someone responsible in customer service to respond and try to resolve the problem. Get important product feedback into product development and fix the product if needed. And finally if there is feedback on the marketing program itself learn from it and evolve your marketing efforts. Deploy a process for the right people to receive the information in a timely manner.
8. Do we have a plan to market the program and make people of aware of it? People won't know about it unless you tell them. Reach out to bloggers, post the program prominently on your corporate website, include it in email signatures for employees, include an email marketing campaign, put a flyer inside product packaging and don't forget SEO/SEM activities.
9. Are we putting in place elements that will entice our audience to get involved? Encourage social interactions with giveaways, contests, and public recognition for their input.
10. Are we going to give public recognition to people who respond, comment, rate or provide other valuable insight to our customers? If it makes sense for your audience and the program, make sure the customers that get involved and add value get recognized. This can be public by giving them a special badge (e.g., Top 10 Contributor, MVP) that appears next to their name on the site, a badge they can post on their blog or the opportunity to meet with your top executives.
11. Do we know which metrics we want to measure? Determine in detail what you want to know as the results for your campaign. There are metrics for visits, pages views, interactions (comments, ratings) and other web activities. But you can also look at leads generated, click through to sales, or revenue increases if you put the systems in place to evaluate these metrics.
12. Do we have comparable results for similar programs implemented by similar companies? Make sure you set your goals reasonably by comparing similar programs from similar companies and developing a good understanding of your target audience size and potential behaviors.
13. Do we have tools in place to accurately measure results? The cost of measurement is an important part of the overall cost for a program. You need to plan for the tools required to measure the metrics you listed in #11.
14. What is our strategy for course correction? Online programs are easy to track in real-time. Make sure there is a feedback mechanism inside the program. Track feedback and results and be prepared to make changes if the results aren't what you expected.
15. Whose job is it to ensure the success of the program? In many companies, social media is distributed among a number of people who have other full-time jobs. It is critical in this environment that one person is named as ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the project. Every project requires a leader.
16. How do we envision the program evolving over time? What wish list items would we want to add? You can't always afford (in time or dollars) to fit every feature into the program at launch. Make a prioritized list of the features or ideas you would want to add to the program over time. Or look at follow on programs that make sense if this program is successful. Keep the ball rolling -- marketing has a snowball effect.
17. How specifically will our company benefit from this program? How can we put numbers on that? Your CEO is going to want tangible results. Make sure you track all costs for the program and make sure you define results with real numbers. In other words, rather than saying we have better brand recognition, you want to be able to state brand recognition has increased by 150%. This requires baseline numbers before you start the program.
18. What metrics will we use to determine if we should pull the plug on this program? In many cases, you can run an online program very cost-effectively so it makes sense to try new things. But you need to plan in advance for a program that just isn't working. Rather than pour in more resources and time, it may make more sense to pull the plug and take what you've learned to the next program.
19. How will we transfer learning from each program so that our social media activities get better and better over time? It's nice to say that we learned from this, but how are you going to institutionalize and transfer that learning? You can use an internal wiki to document planning and results for programs and keep a "what did we learn" page that is required reading by anyone starting a new program.

What items are on your checklist?

(Image: www.auburn.edu)