I like sports metaphors when describing social media. We’re in the early innings of learning how to use social media, and while there are a lot of blog posts on what to do as the game begins, there are few examples of how to manage the game during later innings.

I’ve distilled our experience into the following chart. The chart describes an organization’s natural progression through the early stages of using social media to later phases, when it’s more important to engage consumers on an ongoing basis.

  • The chart reads left-to-right, starting with the conceit that customers will become more and more demanding. Initially, organizations try to attract followers, viewing social media as an extension of loyalty programs. Items in boldface are initiatives we’re working on.
  • As organizations become more sophisticated, they’ll use the Internet’s ability to conduct A/B research to test offers before going to the masses. Google’s recent TV ad on the Super Bowl was a great example of this. For months countless people clicked on the “Parisian” ad over all the others, so Google knew people would like it before it made its buy.
  • As organizations get smarter they shift from “one size fits all” and start targeting by geography and occasion. @WholeFoods and @RitzCarlton are just two of dozens of brands that are rolling out local accounts after determining a single presence inadequate. In the next week, @MGMGrand is launching individual Twitter accounts for each restaurant at the popular Las Vegas resort.
  • As the number of accounts proliferate, organizations face serious challenge scaling their efforts. @BestBuy has attempted to address this using SMS text messaging to give employees the ability to look up information on individual SKUs, and using @Twelpforce to manage employee knowledge.
  • As @BestBuy scales its workforce, it will use insights from thousands of consumer interactions to challenge its vendors to do more. In this regard, it is no different than the relationship between Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola. Organizations will find ways to help their customers sell more effectively to consumers.
  • The destination is a point where many organizations know where their consumers are, and they orchestrate their employees and partners around the highest-value opportunities.

What do you think?