Why Smart Social eats digital strategy for breakfast

Work smarter, not harder

At Good Rebels, we’re proud to be social. Given the current climate, some may view a public proclamation of our love for social media as controversial. The digital world is over-saturated; consumers are constantly bombarded with information, advertisements, and social posts from friends, family, influencers and brands. Following the rise of ‘fake news’, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the fall of Facebook, many people have become disillusioned with social media and the online world in general. A recent survey commissioned by Digital Awareness UK found that 71% of students have voluntarily taken digital detoxes to escape the pressures of social media and that the vast majority believe that social media would be more enjoyable if there were less advertisements and a greater focus on creative content. The “techlash” has begun and in many ways it’s been a force for good, a catalyst for change. Now that their credibility is at risk, digital first brands are taking a step back. Low value social (such as repetitive content, lackluster creative, content that misunderstands its audience etc.) is only contributing to information overload and acting as a roadblock to relevance.

Social may be out of style but we know that at its core social is about human connection, and our mission is to help other businesses establish a corporate culture of people first. We believe that social media and the human centred organisation go hand in hand. Rather than abandon social completely, brands need to focus their energy on developing a Smart Social strategy.

Social evolution

When it comes to social media, most digital agencies and digital first brands are stuck in the early 2010s. Maybe they believe that a smarter social strategy is out of their reach, maybe they’re short on time and resources, or maybe they believe they lack the creative scope to adequately implement a strategy that is anything other than ordinary. But Smart Social is within everyone’s reach, and social evolution is inevitable. It’s no longer enough to fill out social calendars with the same, stale content. There are some major challenges set to shake the digital world to its core, and all brands need to take note. We need to ask ourselves the following questions:

• Is it actually possible to achieve direct conversion through social?
• Which specific KPIs should we be measuring at each stage of the customer life cycle
• Are we spreading ourselves too thin on social? Which social platforms should we be focusing on?

Our recent study on Smart Social, which you can find here, tackles all of these questions and much more.

Our strategy

A Smart Social strategy drives behaviour change at every stage of the consumer journey. It’s data-driven, relevant, and fluid. Our Smart Social framework is based on three core elements:

• Social work dimensions: these are areas in which agencies and brands should work together in order to achieve social excellence. Brands should focus on innovation, creativity, technology, intelligence, business strategy, and overall presence.
• The consumer life cycle: identifying each stage of the customer journey, and how the consumer’s relationship with the brand is being impacted, ensuring a meaningful relationship between the two.

• Business impact: measuring social contribution through specific KPIs to ensure cost efficiency, satisfaction and consumer loyalty.

This methodology is the one we refer to when embarking on a project centred around social. It allows us to connect people, brands and technology in a way that is flexible, personalised and forward-thinking.

Smart social

If you want to understand more about Smart Social and why evolving your social strategy is the key to complete and genuine human-centricity, you can read more here, where we discuss Smart Social and its relationship with the human centred organisation, the smart services we offer at Good Rebels, and our own Smart Social strategy.