This is a joyous time of year; and whether or not you actually celebrate the holiday of Christmas, that fact remains the same. It’s a time of year here we all come together to celebrate the good things that the year prior has brought and to look forward to and prepare for the year to come.
We had a wonderfully insightful series that ran during the Halloween season and it would be a shame to not highlight this time of year as well, so strap in and get ready for the next 9 times we meet on here because we’re going to be exploring 9 essential elements that should make up your frame of thinking in 2013.
Make a List
The time of year to be thankful has come and gone, now is a time to be greedy. You’ve looked back over this year and you’ve learned a lot of Social Business practices and the tools and tactics that go along with it and now is the time to start preparing for 2013 and figuring out what you want to implement and in what order.
Here are some things to think about when you’re building out your list:
To Decide and Implement Within First 3 Months of 2013:
- Locating an executive champion (or becoming one if you’re in the C-suite)
- Revisit overall business objectives and vision statement, adjust accordingly
- Choosing an integratable Social CRM
- Map out an internal training schedule
- Choose departmental integration leads and build a non-silo based team
- Set up measurable goals to track once systems are in place
- Complete internal training on new CRM systems and internal processes
- Quarterly check on goals and tracking
- Optimize list of priority keywords being listened for through Social CRM tool
- Begin outgoing content dissemination and launch inbound marketing strategy
- Final review of yearly goals and 2014 projections
- All departments fully trained on all systems
Check It Twice
So, you have your list (it will grow from the initial framework presented above as necessary from your particular business), but now you need to make sure that all new tools and tactics align with your legacy company vision statement and value statement. Are you bringing in new ideas that move you further from the heart of your company? If you are, you need to spend a bit more time in compiling and assessing your list.
As much as we talk about transition and change on this blog, the heart and soul of your brand should stay the same. All we are doing is adjusting communication and listening practices and channels in order to adapt to a changing market.
Take the time to evaluate and make sure that the changes you are bringing in for your 2013 plan are in line with who you are as a company and a standing brand because once you start changing those things, your target markets begin to shift and you have to start all over.
Fill Your Stockings
Now that you have your list and you’ve aligned it with your company core objectives it’s time to start putting everything into motion. Everyone loves gifts at Christmas, so just imagine how grateful your customers will be when they realize their gifts from you are going to last all year.
By putting large smiles on their faces, you’ll start to get some gifts from them as well and that will put smiles on your faces as well.
What are you going to be adding to your list for 2013? What areas do you think will take some time to decide and how can we help in this process for you? It’s Christmas, after all.
Thoughts?
