Social Media Managers Should Use SWOT Analysis Often
Created in the 1960s and early 1970s, SWOT analysis is used for communications experts and leaders to assess an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis relies on internal and external data that “can guide businesses toward strategies more likely to be successful, and away from those in which they have been, or are likely to be, less successful.”
Potential benefits that can stem from a SWOT analysis include: understanding the organization better, addressing any weaknesses, preparing for and deterring threats, capitalizing on opportunities, taking advantage of the organization’s strengths, and developing business goals and strategies for achieving them.
To put it simple, you are able to prepare for anything that may potentially impact your business. As communications professionals, we have done a SWOT analysis or two.
Social media managers are the voice for the brand. They have the opportunity to directly connect with the organization’s target audience. There are brands that communicate differently based on who they are talking to. Some brands have to have a professional tone, while others can be casual.
It is important for social media managers to know who is in their target audience. As Julie Atherton, author of Social Media Strategy: A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing and Customer Engagement, wrote that the audience central to any social media strategy. She adds that the target audience “is arguably the most important element, as your success in social will be dependent on your understanding, relationship and responsiveness towards your audience.” Without knowing your target audience, you can miss the mark on communications.
This is why a SWOT analysis can (and should) also be conducted for the company’s social media channels. The company will still have bottom-line goals that will need to be achieved, but the strategy can be different through social channels. For one, your target audience on social media may not be the company’s traditional customer profile. Atherton wrote that “it is important to remember that a brand’s social media audiences can be very different from the traditional audiences found on your customer database or shopping in your store.” Additionally, social media managers have to be prepared for any opportunities or potential threats coming their way. Managers have to be able to adjust based on actively listening to their audience and assessing the climate (by conducting a SWOT analysis).
Social media has made it easier for brands to interact with customers, non-customers and trolls. By assessing the organization’s threats, all parties can prepare how social media managers will address certain controversial issues that they may be involved in. Brent Barnhart, a writer for Sprout Social, talks about the importance of having a crisis plan, so the company is taking the proactive approach to a potential issue. Real-world examples are always helpful, so let’s go with Publix. Recently, this supermarket chain has gotten some heat for an heiress funding the insurrection in the Capitol on Jan. 6th. These reports came out as early as Jan. 6th, but the social media personnel decided to proceed with business as usual until they had to address the issue.
Since they had to work on a reactive response, many social media users were less than happy with the statement. The tweets on Jan. 29th and Jan. 30th are drastically different. The earlier tweet was fun and allowed users to send responses, the latter had responses disabled. This blunder is the reason why social media managers have to create SWOT analyses as much as they need to stay updated with internal and external threats to the company. There are many social listening tools and sentiment analyses that could have been explored during that time. In my opinion, it shows that the social media team was unprepared and unwilling to hear feedback.
There are countless opportunities that social media managers may be able to capitalize on by conducting a SWOT analysis. This is where managers can actively listen to see what products and promotions their audiences are interested in; look at the competition — assess their strategy, platforms and success; and look at metrics that can be improved. Wendy’s does a great job at giving the audience what they want. Now, I don’t think that a SWOT analysis has to always be this extensive process. Sometimes it can be because you see an opportunity on the rise, and you’d like to seize the moment.
We understand that social media changes by the hour, so mangers have to adjust to the whiplash of preparing for your day to turnaround because of an unexpected surprise. Wendy’s had the presence of mind to create a campaign based on Chance the Rapper’s tweet to bring back spicy chicken nuggets (and they weren’t even tagged). They were able to reach their goal of 2 million likes in a day-and-a-half.
As previously stated, social media managers have to be willing to conduct a SWOT analysis how ever often they need to make sure that they understand the company’s opportunities and weaknesses. We live in a time where we have to adjust based on what is best for the company. By being proactive, the manager can navigate communications to its target audience without coming off as tone deaf. Also, they can make fun campaigns that can boost the company’s social media presence.
