Today, Flint social media strategist Libby Hall explains step-by-step how client SunButter succeeds in social media. The start to Libby’s post:

Here’s an example of strategic social media in action for our client, SunButter.

SunButter sunflower seed spread is like peanut butter, but totally peanut-free and made from sunflower seeds, so it’s perfect for people with peanut allergies. It’s also delicious, as fans on the Internet will attest.

These were the kind of conversations we found when we started listening to people talking about SunButter in 2010. The only way to explain how positive the results were is to say that people are crazy about this stuff. We’re extremely fortunate to work with a client that is so well-loved by such a passionate fan base. It was a logical next step to create a social media strategy that turned these fans into SunButter advocates.

To continue reading her guest post, go here.

Thanks, Jay, for the opportunity to share some of our clients’ success stories!

We have been collaborating with Jay to create social media strategies for our clients for two years now, and we feel extremely fortunate that he is coming to Duluth to share his knowledge of the social web with our community.

Jay writes the world’s No. 3 social media blog, Convince & Convert, and is also co-author of the just-released social media playbook, “The NOW Revolution,” which was voted the No. 3 business book in the March edition of Inc. Magazine.

The day-long conference at Lake Superior College in Duluth will focus on how businesses can harness the power of today’s dynamic social media environment to create faster, smarter, more-social companies. After Jay’s keynote speech in the morning, WestmorelandFlint’s social media and public relations strategists, along with other northland business leaders, will present on a number of topics geared toward small business owners, nonprofits, and public relations and marketing professionals.

For a quick preview of Jay’s book and presentation, read about 7 ways social media is changing the way we do business.

Click here for details and registration information for the 2011 Northland Social Media Conference.

The Flint Group has a blog for many reasons. Here, we share work that excites us. We celebrate our clients’ successes. We chat about our industry. We want you to know us. The real “us.”

That’s why we blog. We have a strategy, a purpose, a reason for its existence.

But even with a smart strategy in place, it’s easy to let a blog slip into the shadows. Blogging takes time and effort and some serious dedication.

Blogging is hot right now. From teenagers to dads, from small startups to Fortune 500s, everyone’s doing it. Writer or not, if you have a keyboard (or a smartphone or a tablet), you can have a blog.

Every once in a while you hear the rumor: blogging is dead. Riiight… That’s simply not true. In fact, blogging is booming. Take Google’s platform, Blogger, for instance. Users are writing 250,000 new words a minute. That’s almost 5,000 new novels a day!

Needless to say, blogging is freakishly alive. In fact, we’ve barely even scratched the surface.

Well, I think I’ve reached the mini-skirt level. What’s that, you ask? In the words of our friend Jay Baer:

“A blog post is like a mini-skirt. It has to be short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the subject.”

Strategy BEFORE tactics - A common pitfall: A business will say, “We need a Facebook page,” or “We need to do something with Twitter.” Truth is, worry about tactics LAST not first. The tools will change over time. Two years ago there was no such thing as Twitter, three years ago, no Facebook, four years ago MySpace was a HIT, but not so much anymore.  Develop a strategy FIRST. The tactics that follow will then become obvious. Read Jay Baer’s article “The 7 Steps to Creating a Social Media Strategy” for more.

Establish objectives - What do you intend to accomplish with a social media strategy? Just saying you want 500 new followers or fans isn’t enough. Go deeper and establish some clear objectives. With social media you can address many areas, but define them now so you can stay on target.

- Improve the company image as being  ­_________ (professional, caring, responsive, more…)

- Increase trial/use of our products or services

- Increase customer access to information on our company / products / services

- Increase membership / participation

- Improve customer / member communication

Budget for it - There is a common misconception that social media is FREE. Well, it isn’t. Yes, access to many tactical tools are free, but effectively employing a social media strategy that yields results requires an investment. Josh Lysne’s article, “It’s a lot of things… free is not one of them,” talks about the significant investment of TIME required to appropriately deploy a social media strategy. “You need to regularly engage your audience. You need to actively monitor what is being said. You need to review, refine and rework your engagement strategies.” All of these are vitally important and all of these require TIME – so budget for it. This may mean a new full-time position (or two) simply to execute your social media strategy, so be prepared.

Follow through - In consideration of the TIME factor mentioned above, follow through can become a pitfall and challenge for many. Social media creates an environment for audiences to engage with your brand – whether you like it or not. You need to be prepared to initiate and respond. How will your business deal with a situation that suddenly goes viral like the YouTube video “United Breaks Guitars?” It can happen at any time, but if your social media strategy is thorough, you will have a listening program and a response plan in place… AND you will have someone assigned to respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

The biggest tip of the cap to the Anchorage Concert Association is their willingness to JUMP IN. They’ve established a Facebook presence and are beginning to find their way through the social media maze. Alaska-based businesses have been a little hesitant to adopt digital communications solutions, but that is starting to change. Effective social media strategy and planning can remove the fear of trial and error and replace it with a confident approach to optimizing customer engagement and relationships.

Colin is a senior strategist for AadlandFlint and the Flint Group. Follow him on Twitter at @colinnclarke.

Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net