Good thinking on social content by Tara @missrogue Hunt

“Social content development needs to be as rigorous as radio/television/print content development, only more complex b/c it’s interactive.

…but most companies undervalue it and delegate it to interns or outsource it. That is such a missed opportunity.

Instead of saying, “we should be on twitter,” ask, ‘what should the role of twitter be for us. (If anything) + who can make it worthwhile?’”

Demystifying Social Media

In April 2012, McKinsey Quarterly published a clear guide for executive leadership on how to harness social media to shape consumer decision making in “predictable ways.”

In summary, there are two interrelated reasons why social media remains an enigma for many execs:

1. Its seemingly nebulous nature: Discussions are take place across audiences and platforms, making it difficult to figure out how to influence these conversations.

2. There’s no single measure of social media’s financial impact.

Social media has four primary organizational functions: 1.) to monitor conversations and 2.) respond to them; to 3.) amplify the central themes and to 4.) lead.

To work, it demands these three core priorities:

1. A clear framework to help CEOs evaluate investments
2. A plan for building support infrastructure
3. Performance-management systems to optimize and scale performance

Here’s the critical part: Companies that have these three elements in place can create “critical new brand assets,” open up new interactions with constituents and completely reposition a brand.

This is a valuable piece. You can read it in its entirety here.