It's true, before throwing half a million dollars at a trade show budget or banners, directories, PPC, microsites, print ads, brochures and whatnot I'm going to build a strategy.

Before figuring out what tags people in my marketplace use or what hip urban dictionary language to use in my blog post, I just need a few people to check it out for a week. Then we're going to set it up and go talk to people. Like humans.

This is nothing like designing a house first before building it, because the house is already up and the party is on. Just bring something people will drink.

My thinking is that it's probably best to take a hybrid approach – know where your customers are hanging out and come up with ways to best reach them and resonate with them. Stay flexible to take advantage of new opportunities and scrap those that aren't working as well as you'd like. As new platforms come out, perhaps send some canoes into the water to see what happens. Watch results and see what works and what doesn't work and then refine, refine, refine.

I think then you get the best of both worlds. You have a flexible roadmap, you know what you're trying to accomplish, yet you're limber enough to jump on new opportunities for all they're worth.

http://Lyfe.Lyf.com
http://Lyf.com.co

I agree many company marketing/communications people are fuzzy on what social media is, but that doesn't mean the goals that can be reached aren't real. It doesn't mean that those companies can't be educated about what's possible, what's already been achieved and what makes sense in terms of planning and goal setting.

Being flexible is not doubt important and I don't think anyone that has actually helped companies achieve business goals using social channels would say the strategy has to be rigid.

I don't think it's an issue of tactics versus strategy. In fact, many of the metaphors make sense 'Don't build a house before you plan, don't take a trip before you figure out the destination'. Except that we're dealing with a group of people who've never been in a house, or traveled outside their village.

It is impossible to determine strategy when there is little understanding to work with. The vocab of social media is confusing. The ideas/values of social media are counter-intuitive. The purpose of social media seems to be without purpose (the most common response to my 'do you twitter' is – I'm too busy to tell people what I've had for lunch – sigh).

So, we start with the experience. Then we decide what we want to do (kind of). It usually takes a bit of exploring the idea of social media (by doing it in small and innocuous ways) to really understand what's possible.

Chris Jarvis
President, 3BL Media Canada
Owner, Realized Worth
Follow on Twitter: @RealizedWorth

Firstly, there are few things I've witnessed that cannot be improved upon, and this particularly applies to anything I've designed:) That said, good process accelerates good outcomes. What you've described is building in feedback loops to insure that corrective refinements and adjustments receive needed visibility. Feedback loops constitute sound business logic and should be incorporated into all processes, but this doesn't change the fact that strategy should drive tactics. The strategy or the tactics may change as a result of feedback, but in my opinion the hierarchy should remain the same.

I agree. The best strategic plans have flexibility built into them to accommodate the changes which naturally occur as a result of market fluidity.

Thank you for your insight. The issue is often much larger than social or marketing, but fundamental business strategy.

One thought to add: the “Social Communications” transformation we're just starting is going to require many companies to re-think business strategy, not just their “go to market” strategy. Re-aligning and empowering employees so they can communicate with customers and prospects means marketing, sales, stores and customer service are going to have to share who “owns” the customer at the same time, rather than handing off responsibility. It will also require companies to blow up their “command and control” mentality about go-to-market communications.

So the discussion about strategy and tactics may feel like a “chicken and the egg,” question, but we need to remember that there's bigger questions, like “what kind of farm is this?”