Many channel vendors struggle with implementing successful social media activities both internally and for partners. There are several reasons for less-than-stunning programs, but 4 of the most common across all channels organizations are:

• Difficulty in showing ROI
• No clear understanding of social media etiquette
• Unsure of who to target
• Limited resources to dedicate to the program

Below are some ideas on how to combat the problems listed above and specific examples I’ve seen being implemented in various places.

Show ROI for Your Channel Social Media Programs

In a previous post, I talked about some general ways to measure ROI through metrics. Sure, things like website visitors, leads, customer engagement, or number of people submitting employment applications sounds good, but metrics like this mean little if you can’t associate it with monetary value. You’ve got to set a baseline for comparison.

Ask yourself, “How much revenue is my company or channel bringing in? How much time do brand and product managers spend on figuring out how our products are perceived by customers?” These two things are very easily associated with a monetary value, either income or opportunity costs. Compare the metrics from before your social media programs were implemented to now. Has there been an increase in sales or a decrease in costs for marketing? If so, you can probably attribute the difference to your social media efforts.

The Bottom Line: Figure out which metrics you can easily associate with either revenues or costs and develop your social media activities around changing them. If the activities you are doing can’t be associated, you should probably change your approach.

Understand the Social Media Landscape

Often, channel vendors jump into the social media space without a firm grasp on how to act and communicate. Simply posting links or self-promotion is not going to get you anywhere. There has to be an effort around interaction and two-way conversation to be successful.

Whether it is a blog, Facebook Fan Page, or Twitter profile, you’ve got to be open and altruistic. Due to the nature of social media, people will reject outright promotions if you don’t mix it with content that’s also valuable to your followers. The other day I was on a call with my marketing department, being asked as to why one of our Twitter followers was upset about a tweet. The reason was because someone had posted the same link multiple times but masked it with different intro text. It was misleading and a waste of time for anyone who had already clicked on one of the previous posts.

The Bottom Line: Be open about your company and the content you share, have meaningful and personal conversation with people, and produce valuable content for your fans and followers that they will want to share.

Pick a Specific Target Audience

Sometimes vendors aren’t even sure who to target. In one instance they may be talking to channel partners and in another customers. Just like any marketing program, your social media activities need to have a target audience. What you talk about, how you present yourself, and your overall strategy all depend on who you’re targeting. You’re not going to offer end-customer promotions on a blog that your partners subscribe to. Likewise, end-customers don’t care about new marketing materials available in your partner portal, so why tweet it to them?

If you want to sell more products through your direct sales team, create a blog that targets your leads and other end-customers and post detailed information about the best ways to use your products. If your partners are failing to engage in downloading sales materials from your partner portal, find them on Facebook, create a Fan Page, and offer them the content there. As an example, PTC does a great job of offering free and useful information (such as videos, pictures, discussions, etc.) to customers on their Pro/ENGINEER – Did You Know? Facebook Fan Page.

The Bottom Line: Don’t just create a blog or Twitter account and post all of your corporate, sales, employee and product information there. Tailor your actions to meet the needs of a specific target audience, be it partners, end-customers or qualified leads.

Dedicate a Resource to Your Social Media Programs

How many brands can you name that talk to you on a regular basis? None. A brand cannot talk, but people can. Companies rarely send a post-purchase direct mailer without the CEO or some other figurehead signing it, so why would you run your social media program differently? Lots of companies even have one or two people acting as the face of their organization at press conferences. Everyone needs a spokes person (i.e. have you ever seen the move Thank You For Smoking?).

People on social media don’t like being sold to – they like being talked to. In social media, organizations have what is called a “community manager”. These are people that act as an expert on your company and spend all day talking to people on Twitter and Facebook, getting to know your target audience. They also write blog posts that engage your audience members, encouraging interaction, content sharing, and advocating a sale or buying themselves.

For example, Everything Channel (@everythingchnl) has several people dedicated to creating content, each an expert on different subject matters. This content is created specifically for social media, and everyone who creates the content does so based on a guideline document. This creates a cohesive, clear presence and followers know where content originates.

The Bottom Line: Find someone to run your social media programs who knows how to interact with others on social media, can write well, and has a strong understanding of your products and solutions. You can still have a corporate Twitter account, but put a face behind it.

In the weeks to come, I will address each of these areas individually and further explain

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