Drill or Hammer? The Right Tools for Social Media Engagement

Carpenters, plumbers, electricians…they all have specific tools for the work they do. Before beginning their work, they asses the situation and the site. Then they select the right tools for the job at hand. It’s no different when looking to engage in Social Media for a company.

When we say “tools” in social media terms, we are talking about the technology applications that will enable good engagement, whether you’re building your own community or engaging in other communities. Take for example discussions about the practicality of Twitter as a “tool” for companies to use, or blogging.

Our approach for social media engagement is always based on 3 Core Principles (Promise, Tools and Bargain) and so tools are important in terms of being the right one to facilitate the promise and enable the audience your engaging with to complete the bargain.

In some cases it is a single tool, such as a blog, which will suffice. In other cases it may be a combination of tools like a microblog, video and blog. The key is to not try and use all the tools out there. In the rush to expand a presence into social media, a fatal mistake can occur when trying to adopt all the tools you can, with little sense of their value or the manner in which communities use them.

(Author: Giles Crouch, Managing Partner – Twitter: Webconomist)