How to implement a Social Media Readiness Assessment of your company

There are 8 key categories of 42 Best Practices each to answer before any company wish to fully embark on using social media to connect with the public.

Senior Management

* Senior Management is interested in leveraging Social Media as a new marketing channel
* Senior Management understands that Social Media is a long term priority
* Senior Management is prepared to contribute to social media content development (blog postings, press interviews, etc.)
* Senior Management is interested in taking the feedback from customer views and other data to make changes in the organization
* Senior Management is willing to provide the resources necessary in order to get the social media program off the ground (budget, staff etc.)

Social Media Knowledge Level of the Company

* We understand which social media channels are available and which are the best fit for our organization
* We have a solid understanding of how our employees and executives are currently using Social Media
* We have read industry-based reports and benchmarking studies on Social Media
* We have attended conferences and networked with colleagues to gain a better understanding of how they plan on implementing Social Media
* We have joined Social Media peer groups to learn more about how we can leverage Social Media
* We subscribe to Mashable or other Social Media educational sites

Customer Engagement Level

* Dedicated online community groups (Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, etc.) already exist for our industry or product types
* We have a company profile on Social Media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
* Our subscriber list is growing among the various forms of Social Media currently being used (Twitter, Online Newsletter, etc.) and we know how large our reach is online
* We regularly contribute to online discussions (forums, blogs, etc.)
* We know if our audiences tone is positive, neutral, or negative on 3rd party sites
* Our audience (customers, prospects, etc) regularly make comments on our postings

Competitive Insight Analysis

* We have audited our top competitors online strategy, evaluated their maturity and have a basic idea of what they are doing with Social Media
* We regularly track our competitors (# of Blog Postings, Comments, Twitter Followers, Facebook Group Members, etc.)
* We monitor competitive social media changes and updates daily
* We provide competitive positioning information to our product management group
* We have joined our competitors online community and networking groups

Staff and Resources Allocation

* We have defined roles and responsibilities for people in our organization who are involved with Social Media
* We have a dedicated internal point person to manage our Social Media program
* We have consulted with Social Media experts to ensure our programs success
* We have an industry thought leader who contributes to our blog postings
* We have consulted with our IT department to get their input on technology selections
* We have developed and provided a training program to employees and contractors

Plan and Channel Selection

* We have created and presented a social media channel map which highlights how we will use Social Media
* We have a defined strategy with clear objectives, targets, initiatives and measures
* We have analyzed and prioritized our Social Media channel options and have consensus on which opportunities pursue first
* We have evaluated and selected technology solutions for implementing our Social Media program
* We have developed a project plan with timelines, deliverables and milestones
* We have communicated our Social Media plan to our employees

Process Documentation

* We have incorporated and integrated Social Media into our normal marketing mix (product launches, marketing plans, customer service, etc.)
* We have developed a calendar for selecting topics and organizing Social Media communications
* We have defined the frequency for updating our Social Media channels (blog, twitter, Facebook, etc.)
* We have a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss our Social Media program (topics, results, competitive insights, new opportunities, etc.)

Governance Measurement

* We have a policy to govern the use of Social Media with our employees, contractors, prospects and customers
* We use a dashboard to report on our top Social Media metrics
* We communicate the results of our Social Media program to Senior Management on a regular basis
* We have documented the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for the Social Media applications that we provide