It is worth reading the entire “Yes, Your Social Media Strategy Needs Design” guest post on Harvard Business’ blog by David Armano but if you’re super busy then a brisk tour through Tim Malbon’s discovery and analysis “Moving beyond a shallow definition of social media” is must.
David argues that too many companies have ‘social media’ campaigns that look like bits and pieces held together by string and gum. They’re like a MacGyver invention.
He argues that businesses need to look at evolving how we work, communicate, interact and collaborate at a very basic level. It’s not just a step back. It’s not the oft-quoted ‘holistic view’ but the need to design elegant business systems that fit together as snugly as an iPhone into iTunes.
Tim, one of Made By Man’s stars, is keen to stress the importance of “visual design” – one of the social media agency’s own core business design concepts. He suggests that that by applying a visual strategy to a problem that you force yourself to commit. That, Tim argues, is good.
What do you think? Are too many social media campaigns nothing more than individual efforts crudely connected by whatever comes to hand? Should we force yourselves to plan our business in a more elegant, a more visual, way?
July 22, 2009
Connections