Step 2: Clarify Your Value Proposition and Messages

If you missed my earlier posts on executing best practices in social media, you can find them here.

For all the novelty of social media, successful execution invariably hinges on an age-old fundamental concept-a clear and consistent value proposition across all business touch points with impactful message points.  If the company is going to achieve and maintain a brand value using social media, it will need to first understand the company’s stake in the marketplace and the value it offers to its customers.  The value proposition is all about the customer.  What matters to them and how you can deliver value that differentiates you from your competitors.  The questions you need to ask are: 

1. What benefits will a customer receive from your company?
2. What core competencies do you offer?
3. Can you identify and satisfy unmet needs of your customers?
4. What do your customers want most from you that you can provide better than your competitors?
5. What is important to your customers?
6. In reviewing the needs of your customer, what are the common denominators?
7. What are your competitors’ weaknesses, and how might you exploit them?
8. What changes do you need to make to succeed?

In social communications, the company’s value proposition is no longer confined to what’s printed on your Web site or brochures, and it’s no longer static.  Everything said in blog posts, comments, wikis or forums is part of the value proposition fabric, along with everything the company does, from how it promotes products or services to how the delivery driver behaves in traffic.  If everyone is not crystal clear on what the company stands for, what it believes and how it behaves, at best you’re setting the stage for a diffused and ineffective program, and at worst a public relations nightmare.    

Every company needs to understand that every employee is a brand ambassador.  By amplifying word-of-mouth, social media makes adherence to that principle even more critical.  Before you launch a social media program, you should clarify your company’s value proposition and product or services positioning, as well as any relevant vision statement, and make sure everyone involved in the initiative understands it.  You don’t want employees quoting from a script every time they engage with the market, but you do want them to be able to authentically and consistently representing what the company stands for.

In summary, you want to develop a value proposition and key message points that address: (1) Why should someone care? (2) Why should they be interested?  (3) What’s in it for them?  and, (4) What impact will your company have on the marketplace?  The end result is to have a value proposition on what the company stands for and how it is differentiated in the marketplace with four or five compelling reasons why someone should buy your products or services.

Social media is word-of-mouth on steroids in reaching customers and prospects in new and meaningful ways.  It is critical for everyone to be on the same page in delivering the company’s messages.  Spread the message wide, but keep it consistent.

As you execute your social media program, your customers and prospects will comment and share their impressions about your brand and products at the various touch-points instantly validating or bashing your value proposition and message points.  Being a part of the conversation allows you to modify the value proposition and create new message points and content to meet the information requirements of your customers.  In the social media era, it is almost a prerequisite for the value proposition and message points to be dynamic according to the marketplace.

Tags: Bob Maples, communications, digital media, marketing, marketing communications, marketing strategy, PR, public relations, social media, social media best practices, Steps, value proposition