The need for a partner
Bloomberg Businessweek writer Felix Gillette recently wrote that "opportunities in corporate social media are popping up faster than cat videos on YouTube." He's certainly got a point. Social marketing has broken through to the mainstream, and brands in every industry ranging from retail to automotive and financial are implementing social strategies, creating social presences, and monitoring and analyzing their efforts.
But whether or not your company has a social media manager already, one thing is clear: Social isn't something that you can assign to an intern. Part of the challenge of social is creating and maintaining an authentic voice for your brand, focusing on innovation while keeping risk management in mind (can you really afford to let an offensive comment sit on your wall for more than an hour?). The right social partner will help you to not only define, finesse, and execute your strategy, but also arm you with the tools needed to create a workflow around your social efforts, tie these efforts to broader marketing initiatives, scale these efforts, and demonstrate return on engagement.
Here are the 10 questions that you should ask a potential social marketing vendor, and the red flags that you should watch out for.
