I’m a process guy. I like breaking big tasks down into little, manageable chunks and checking them off the list. A project as sprawling as SmartBrief on Social Media would never get out the door each day without a well-designed workflow. That’s why I appreciated Brian Solis’ thoughtful post on the developmental stages of an organization’s social media efforts.
I think lists like this are useful even for companies that are well on their way to establishing their social presence. Take a look at that list. Where are you? Find your number and then ask yourself — what do I need to do to make the leap to the next level? If you think you’re already at 10, chances are you skipped a step along the way.
One caveat though — building a social media presence isn’t like building a souffle. You can’t just go through the steps once, stick it in the oven and pray it turns out OK. Once you move on to the planning of step two, you still need to perform the observations associated with step one. We never graduate from any of these levels — we just add stuff on top.
At what stage of social media development is your company? What step is the hardest to implement? Can you think of a company that’s a true “10” on this scale?