Social Media Strategies That Matter: A Review of Now Is Gone, Part I

Managing communications and marketing for three, Indiana-based financial companies, I want to stay on the cutting edge of communication research and strategies. While part of that endeavor has lead me into a Master of Arts in Applied Communication, I continue to look toward industry leaders, such as, Geoff Livingston for the latest in social media.

While graduate school has equipped me with a deeper understanding of theory, how it applies to creating better communication strategy,and how it is changing for PR pros like myself, I've found no better book at explaining social media strategy than, Now Is Gone.

That said, I think Livingston over-emphasizes the use of marketing as the be-all, end-all of communication for corporations. And his view of public relations is, well, myopic. One of the important points of making a social media strategy successful is knowing the audience, but Livingston thinks public relations counselors are lacking in that regard. He says, "a classic public relations error involves not understanding targeted publications; missions and what they write about."

It's common practice in public relations programs -- it was heavily emphasized in mine at IUPUI -- that not knowing your target audience is communication suicide. It should also be pointed out, many public relations counselors of today are turncoat journalists, writers and other professional-types that have worked in mainstream media. Without a thorough understanding of audience characteristics in those professions is tantamount to finding yourself in the unemployment line.

My point being, public relations counselors, marketers and advertisers are communication professionals first. They are all specialists in their respective disciplines and that's that. In business one without the other leaves any company or institution crippled.

But Livingston's communication nearsightedness doesn't distract from his understanding of how social media strategies can be successfully built. He stresses these important characteristics:

• Provide useful information to help a social community.
• Make the information you provide valuable.
• Understand that implementing a social media strategy will be a team effort.
• Be transparent. In other words, as Livingston says, " companies should reveal who the main content providers are."