Konnected

The number of social networks is staggering and the list is growing almost daily, if you don’t believe me check out some tech blogs and look at all the sites receiving funding for their startup.  With all of these networks available how do you know if you should participate. You can decide quickly by answering the question does participating in this network work with our current social media strategy and more importantly does it help in achieving long term business objectives?  Obviously to answer this question you need to have a social media strategy, if you don’t have one stop reading this and do some research on social media strategies.

The Process

If you do have a social media strategy you can then begin to answer the question.  To evaluate the social network first describe to yourself and some co-workers what exactly is the social network.  How does the social network operate?  What features are available? Who does it target?

Next look at who is currently on the network.  What are the demographics of the user base? Are your competitors using it? How engaged are the users on the network?

After defining the network users look at if you will be ale to measure the success of using the network using the metrics you defined in your social media strategy.  Can you measure your efforts? Will it be possibly to attribute leads and revenues to the network?  Can you estimate what your target metrics will be for the new network?

If you can see the metrics you next need to look at what stage the network is in.  Are the users mostly early adopters? Has the network begun to attract the mainstream? How long has the network been active?  What is the long term viability of the network, do they have funding?

After answering all of these questions you finally have to determine if you have the resources for participating on the network.  Do you have the time to engage at the level necessary to meet your metrics?

Conclusion

If going through this process you need to decide if you should have a presnce on the social network.  I would suggest not simply answering yes/no but instead attaching one of the following categories to the social network:

• Join – Passively Follow
• Join – Become an active member
• Join – Make the network a pillar of your social media strategy
• Ignore – Reevaluate in 6 months

If you decide that you believe the network is a good fit but you are unsure of the resource commitment you will need to look at your marketing mix.  Look for other areas that may be under performing and decide if it is worth reallocating resources or splitting your resources between the two.

Going through the process of evaluating a social network will provide you with confidence in either deciding to join a network or to ignore it.  You will know that your decision is based on meeting your long term goals and will be able to avoid a time and resource drain.