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The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan Page 1 of 10

The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan
November 07, 2008by Peter Kim 140

Peter Kim is a Senior Partner at Dachis Corporation. He blogs
about social computing and marketing at Being Peter Kim.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been curating a list of social
media marketing examples. The list started with 100 examples
(including 35+ from Mashable) and has since tripled in size with the
participation of over a hundred contributors with examples from
companies around the world.

We could probably come up with 3,000 examples instead of 300 – but
the current set already gives us a pretty good sample to think about. One takeaway: for now, those neurotic
about missing “what’s next” can relax a bit. Consumers still use a broader set of social tools than corporations,
but new categories of tools aren’t emerging rapidly today, giving brands a chance to catch up. It’s time to master
the last big thing while you have a chance to catch a breath.

As corporate adoption emerges, there’s nothing wrong with learning lessons from others and making them your
own. Start by making sure you have all of your bases covered with the major tools. In other words, copy and
paste the items below, then fill in the blanks with your own company-driven effort.

Here’s a framework of 22 tools to consider with notable brand examples:

1. Blogs (Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines)
2. Bookmarking/Tagging (Adobe, Kodak)
3. Brand monitoring (Dell, MINI)
4. Content aggregation (Alltop, EMC)
5. Crowdsourcing/Voting (Oracle, Starbucks)
6. Discussion boards and forums (IBM, Mountain Dew)
7. Events and meetups (Molson, Pampers)
8. Mashups (Fidelity Investments, Nike)
9. Microblogging (method, Whole Foods)
10. Online video (Eukanuba, Home Depot)
11. Organization and staffing (Ford, Pepsi)
12. Outreach programs (Nokia, Yum Brands)
13. Photosharing (Rubbermaid, UK Government)
14. Podcasting (Ericsson, McDonalds)
15. Presentation sharing (CapGemini, Daimler AG)
16. Public Relations – social media releases (Avon, Intel)
17. Ratings and reviews (Loblaws, TurboTax)
18. Social networks: applications, fan pages, groups, and personalities (British Airways,
Saturn)
19. Sponsorships (Coca-Cola, Whirlpool)

http://mashable.com/2008/11/07/social-media-marketing-plan/ 5/6/2012


20. Virtual worlds (National Geographic, Toyota)
21. Widgets (Southwest Airlines, Target)
22. Wikis (Second Life, T-Mobile Sidekick)

And use this username check tool to see if your brands/preferred handles are still available.

I haven’t found a single company doing all of these today. Forget divining a big, meaningful business objective
before getting started – you’ll end up in analysis paralysis. Just make sure you’re making an existing business
function better and get started. Today.

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, cmcderm1

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42 Comments

1.

Patrick Courtney

Great list. Thanks, Peter! And just because these opportunities exist doesn’t mean they’re right
for a brand. Technology comes after objective and strategy.

November 07, 2008

2.

Josh Chandler

It is great to see some real life corporate examples of this in action, it helps put my ideas into
better perspective if I judge against what the likes of Dell and HP are doing!

November 07, 2008

3.

Jordan Levy

Working a social media proposal right now, the examples of major companies using the various
strategies is really going to help me out. Thanks for taking the time to put this list together.

November 07, 2008

4.

Mark Schoneveld

I can think of at least one brand that did/does nearly all of these: the Barack Obama campaign.

November 07, 2008



5.

alisa hansen

hi peter, thanks for this list…though i have to admit i am uncomfortable, as a social media
strategist myself, with starting with tools and technology. we always start with objectives and
data…those inform strategy and the tools and technologies (tactical implementations of the strategy) fall
out of that…these are great examples though…just a caution that leveraging varying combinations of these
tools does NOT a strategy make (also, don’t think of social as silo…your Web strategy ought to inherently
have social elements to it…its not about a social strategy, its about your entire Web, and ultimately your
marketing mix, strategy)

November 07, 2008

6.

Eugene

You forgot one important use of social networks by corporations: HR and hiring. A lot of HR
people are using tools like Spokeo.com/hr during their recruiting process.

November 07, 2008

7.

joanned

or write a good blog and do nothing

November 07, 2008

8.

LJ Jones

This is a great list of tools to consider in developing a strategy. I think the key is to figure out what
you would like to communicate to your audience and who your audience is, and then decide
which tools can best help you do that. In a rush to get in to social media, too many companies jump in and
start creating profiles and grabbing up tools without first thinking of what they are going to say. Just
because you have a profile on a bunch of different platforms doesn’t mean you have a social media
strategy. Develop a strategy first, then implement the technology.

November 07, 2008

9.

John Flynn

I really like you comment on just do it.

You can think about it all day and night but one day you have to jump in the pool.

Thanks!



November 07, 2008

10.

Kevin

I really liked the list you put together. Real life examples that show what leading companies are
doing today. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very valuable information.

Kevin
http://www.kidsdesk.net

November 07, 2008

11.

Lior

Great List of tolls and brand examples. Thanks!

November 07, 2008

12.

Steve Kleine

Great list. It is really helpful to see the whole “menu” of options. I do agree with the comment that
says to start by figuring out where your audience is engaged online, then develop the content and
commit to interacting with them on a daily basis.

November 07, 2008

13.

Ryan

Really great list of examples, thanks! However, this is not a social media marketing plan, it’s a list
of social media tools with examples of how they have been used for marketing. If you had titled
this post something like “22 Great Examples of Social Media Marketing,” I would love it. But instead I’m
disappointed.

False advertising on your part? I guess it worked, but I’m not subscribing.

November 07, 2008

14.

Fuzz

great list of tool

November 08, 2008

15.



Tom O'Brien

Peter:

Great, edited list. I only wish we could talk about all the cool work we have done beyond Mini.

We (MotiveQuest) have done really interesting Listening projects for well over 100 giant brands. The depth,
quality and quantity of consumer insight available just by listening and analysis is staggering.

Thanks for the mention.

Tom O’Brien
CMO – MotiveQuest LLC

November 08, 2008

16.

Tom O'Brien

Hi Peter:

thanks for the Mini mention – I wish we had a few more clients who would let us share their stories publicly.
We have worked for well over 100 well know brands and the amount and quality of consumer insights out
there in the online conversation are simply staggering.

Tom O’Brien
MotiveQuest LLC

November 08, 2008

17.

Nicky

I’m rather disappointed after having high expectations from the title. I agree with Ryan’s point.

1 – because this isn’t a social media plan. It’s a list of tools and things companies are doing. 2 – because
of the assumption made that you can forget about strategy and objectives and just adopt a tool and it will
work! A big problem social media practitioners are facing right now is how to link Social media to an
organizations strategy and business objectives and, most difficult of all, prove the return on investment.

If they go into a company with a list of tools and no idea how it fits into a company’s strategy they will not
get buy in. I know because I talk to executives fresh from a “Social Media sales presentation.” I’ve worked
in corporations and in small companies and there are business objectives that have to be met. There are
SM tools that can help (and you have listed several), but not by themselves and not without a strategy.

For an idea of how to start thinking about a Social Media Marketing plan/strategy, have a look at this post:
http://nickyjameson.com/2008/09/17/whats-your-social-media-marketing-strategy/

Once a company has addressed these questions, the tools that fit will become a lot clearer. Good list of
examples though… not common to find that.

November 08, 2008



18.

Patrick Schwerdtfeger

This is a good list. Thanks for posting. But it’s worth mentioning that all these tactics need to be
part of a larger integrated marketing strategy. Simply going onto all these various platform and
attempting to be active within their communities does little more than waste time. You have to start with a
strategy. Click on my name to receive a free 52-step roadmap to online profits.

November 08, 2008

19.

Ron Robinson

This is indeed a good list. I plan on launching a beauty networking site in a few weeks in order to
help women find the right beauty and skincare products for their skin.
My target audience is women 25-60 y/o who are beauty involved. I have a plan to use some of the above
tools to reach that demographic. After launch, if I find that my audience is slightly different than expected, I
need to be fully prepared to change the mix in order to build my audience.
Ron Robinson
Founder, beautystat.com LLC

November 08, 2008

20.

Cath Lawson

Thanks for sharing these ideas Peter. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Despite all the new
ways to promote your business – forums are still v popular. I still think they encourage more
discussion than blogging.

November 09, 2008

21.

michael lam

Hi- nice list, but VERY misleading title man. I expected 22 STEPS, not 22 totally different types of
companies to try and figure out what they do so that maybe I can emulate them too…..

November 09, 2008

22.

Philippe Borremans

Tools don’t make the plan indeed… I see this on a regular basis; companies who jump on tactics
& tools and then become totally frustrated because the tools do not deliver.



Like any other business planning, also social media marketing plans need to start from the business and
communications objective. What is your issue, who do you need to reach, what change do you want to
achieve etc… All crucial questions to ask BEFORE looking at tools and tactics.

Could very well be that social media are not at all part of the solution for your enterprise… Let’s get back to
basic planning, testing and implementation – where and if it makes sense – and stop the hype…

November 09, 2008

23.

Chris
November 10, 2008

24.

Steve Poppe

You are my second Peter Kim hero. Both strategists. Good work.

November 10, 2008

25.

Andy Merchant

Great frame work of tools Peter. Just to let every one know the original social media marketing
examples list by Peter has been turned into an editable wiki called the social media business list
http://socialmediabusinesslist.pbwiki.com/. Please feel free to add to the list with your business social
media assets/activities.

November 11, 2008

26.

Dave Peck

Great list and resource! Thanks

November 12, 2008

27.

max

http://funnyflux.com/ – Extensive collection of clean humor, funny pictures, movies and flash
Videos

November 15, 2008

28.

Sylvia Montgomery



Peter — thanks for sharing this great compilation. As a marketer for professional services firms, I
am alway curious of how social media is being leveraged by the industry. Can you point to any
professional services firms that are embracing social marketing as part of their overall marketing
mix? Curious…

November 19, 2008

29.

joanned

@Sylvia Montgomery
That is by far a great question. Somebody, please answer that. Because I have yet to know of
any embracing social media completely.

November 19, 2008

30.

Brandon Holmes

ahhh, this post is refreshing for organizers of social media plans

December 09, 2008

31.

Evan

Great list…all companies need to do more in these areas. Are there any companies with decent
fees and brilliant results that can handle this on an outsourced basis. Or is it better to master
these areas yourself and put them into action….

December 12, 2008

32.

Nick Ayres

Peter – thanks for this great list and for including The Home Depot as part of it. I’m not sure how I
missed it before but I’m just now coming across it. In any case, I wanted to mention that we are
actually at a different URL on YouTube – the correct URL is http://www.youtube.com/homedepot.

Thanks!

January 19, 2009

33.

Pinky

great list of tools

January 26, 2009



34.

michelle

I agree in principle with avoiding “analysis paralysis” – and to the nay-sayers who think you must
have data and analysis before you even start the profile building process, I would refer them to a
local radio celebrity here in Austin who spontaneously grew a Facebook account, which was created totally
without her permission, populated with lots of photos available elsewhere online to give the impression that
she was building content, and operated long enough by the ID hijacker to accumulate over 300 friends
before he handed over the keys to the person whose name and popularity (and reputation) he’d hijacked.

If you or your company do not own your name(s) on these social platforms, you better get them before
someone else does, whether you use them or not.

January 28, 2009

35.

Jeff paul Internet Millions

Jeff Paul reigns as the King of internet marketing arrived on the T.V over ten years ago.showing
ways of earning money by sitting at home.

January 28, 2009

36.

Chris

great article.

It’s so cool to see this many examples in one spot. It’s easy to forget about some of these when you’re
focused so much on all the others. I love it when i see a small business here in Philadelphia using cool
social media marketing.

Chris

January 31, 2009

37.

Jaish DeSouza

This is a great of information. Very well aggregated. Thank you Peter Kim

February 01, 2009

38.

Jon Roberts

Very interesting article, I never really thought that there were so many different social media
tools. Keep up the good work.



February 27, 2009

39.

Francis

Brilliant! (As usual)

March 19, 2009

40.

LaurelPapworth

A list of tools is not a social media marketing plan. And the reason why you “haven’t found a
single company doing all of these today.” is because a plan is not a checking off a list of tools. Try
listing these tools under 5 steps -> like Gary Hayes has done here They are INVOLVE, CREATE,
DISCUSS, PROMOTE, MEASURE.

March 23, 2009

41.

Derek Peacock

Great information! Every business every business needs social media marketing

May 30, 2009

42.

Eline Walda

That’s a great list. I don’t think it is essential to do ALL of these things, though. For organisations
with limited means/manpower, I believe it’s preferable to excel at a number of these things rather
than to do all of them indifferently and without focus. Quality first!

August 26, 2009


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