Growing Organizations with the Social Strategy Readiness Model

Success within the SSRM begins with developing a social content strategy that clearly aligns with business objectives through specific themes and goals. Next, it’s essential to build a structured approach that fosters collaboration and matches the organization’s current phase within the model. Finally, effective content distribution across owned, earned, and paid media channels enhances social media’s impact and long-term contribution to organizational goals. This method enables organizations to use social media as a strategic asset that strengthens and supports the entire organization.

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Social Media as a Strategic Tool

Social media is no longer optional; it’s a strategic tool companies can use to strengthen their brand, engage customers, and support broader business goals in recruitment, HR, sales, and marketing. The SSRM includes five progressive phases, each designed to build on and reinforce the previous. This structured model helps organizations grow step-by-step, supported by practical tools like online lessons, templates, and management reports.

A key point to keep in mind is that the speed at which organizations progress through these phases depends heavily on urgency and available resources. This roadmap’s success requires not just capacity and technology but active support and prioritization from management, especially as organizations move into more advanced stages. Only when management sees social media as a crucial channel that supports recruitment, HR, sales, and marketing objectives can an organization fully leverage the impact that the SSRM offers.

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The Five Phases of the Social Strategy Readiness Model

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Phase 1: Ad Hoc – The Inconsistent Posters

In the ad-hoc phase, companies take their first steps on social media without a specific strategy or structure. Social media here is often seen as an afterthought: posts are shared irregularly on a single company profile, without additional support from earned or paid media. This limits brand recognition and gives the audience little chance to connect with the brand.

• Media: Owned media only, through a single company profile, without additional support.
• Approach: No strategy or regular posting schedule; posts are shared randomly.
• Application: Limited to company profiles managed by a single person without specific social media expertise.
• Technology: No tools; everything is posted manually.
• Impact: Basic visibility, but reach and engagement remain low due to lack of consistency and structure.

Recognize this?

At this stage, companies often feel like their social media “isn’t really alive.” Typical comments include, “We should do more with social media,” or “It just doesn’t happen regularly.” This phase is familiar to businesses that want to be active on social media but haven’t yet invested time or knowledge to set up a strategy.

Why take the next step in the Social Strategy Readiness Model?

The shift to Basic Publishing builds a reliable and consistent foundation for visibility. With a regular posting structure, you build brand recognition and increase trust with your audience. This structure also lays the groundwork for growth and a professional social media policy, making the transition to a more effective and goal-oriented approach.

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Phase 2: Basic Publishing – Building Consistency

In the Basic Publishing phase, social media takes on a regular role within the organization. Companies recognize the value of consistent posts and begin using a basic content calendar. This schedule ensures reliable visibility, increasing brand recognition and trust. The focus remains on owned media, primarily company profiles, without extensive use of employees or paid campaigns. Content here is informative, covering products, services, and updates but lacks depth and interaction.

• Media: Primarily owned media (company profiles) without extra support from employees or paid channels.
• Approach: A basic content calendar is used to ensure a regular posting schedule and consistent visibility.
• Application: Company profiles are the main channel, sharing informative content such as product news and updates.
• Technology: Basic social media planning tools are used to schedule posts, simplifying and organizing the publishing process.
• Impact: This phase provides a stable, recognizable presence that helps build the brand, but interaction and engagement remain limited.

Recognize this?

‍In this phase, companies often feel that their social media looks more professional, with a clear schedule. However, engagement remains relatively low. Common comments include, “Our posts look good, but we don’t get many responses,” or “We have a plan, but there’s little interaction.”

Why take the next step in the Social Strategy Readiness Model?

‍The next step, Experimentation, provides an opportunity to deepen your social media strategy by involving employees through employee advocacy. This adds authenticity and extends your reach by sharing a more personal story. Extra management involvement at this phase sets a strong example, building a culture of social media engagement within the organization.

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Phase 3: Experimentation – The First Steps in Employee Advocacy

‍In the Experimentation phase, organizations begin employee advocacy by actively involving management and employees in the social media strategy. Social media shifts toward broader use of owned and earned media, with both employee and management profiles used to amplify the brand message. This phase provides room to experiment with diverse content formats, like videos and stories, to further boost reach and impact.

• Media: A mix of owned and earned media, using personal profiles of employees and management.
• Approach: Management and select employees are actively encouraged to share content. Management sets the example, which boosts employee involvement.
• Application: Besides company profiles, employees’ and leaders’ personal profiles are used to add credibility to the brand message.
• Technology: The organization introduces an employee advocacy tool to support employees in sharing content easily, alongside content creation tools for visual and varied content.
• Impact: Involving employees and management enhances brand authenticity, while experimenting with different content formats provides valuable insights for further optimization.

What is Executive Profiling?

‍Executive profiling means positioning management as thought leaders in their field. By sharing their expertise and vision, they strengthen the brand identity and build trust with the audience. For the organization, this boosts brand credibility and fosters internal engagement, as management demonstrates that social media is a strategic part of business goals.

Recognize this?

In this phase, organizations see the impact of personal contributions from employees and leaders. Typical comments include, “Our employees feel more engaged now,” or “Our content is reaching and engaging more people.”

Why take the next step in the Social Strategy Readiness Model?

‍Moving to the Collaborate phase allows for scaling employee advocacy by involving a larger group of employees or local partners, such as dealers or franchisees. This expansion provides deeper and broader reach, enhancing brand credibility. Management involvement remains crucial in this phase, creating support for a broader representation of the brand.

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Phase 4: Collaborate – Engaging Employees or Local Partners on a Larger Scale

‍In the Collaborate phase, social media is used more widely to strengthen the brand message. Thanks to management support from the previous phase, there is now more buy-in across the organization. Employees or local partners now better understand how social media supports business goals. At this stage, companies choose to either activate a larger group of employees as ambassadors or engage local partners, such as dealers or franchisees, via the local hero model.

• Media: Strategic use of owned and earned media, with employee or local partner profiles taking center stage.
• Approach: Companies involve either a broader group of employees as ambassadors or local partners as brand representatives, working together to create a consistent and effective brand message.
• Application: In addition to company profiles, personal and local profiles of employees and partners are actively used to reach a wider audience and personalize the brand message.
• Technology: Tools such as a mobile app for easy sharing, Canva integrations for content creation, and WhatsApp for direct communication support this broader effort.
• Impact: Social media becomes a cost-effective tool that strategically supports business goals by involving a larger group, increasing brand credibility.

Recognize this?

At this stage, companies find that their brand is stronger and more visible. Common comments include, “Our employees and partners are regularly sharing content,” or “Our message is reaching more people.” This phase is ideal for organizations with an established social media presence that now want to expand strategically.

Why take the next step in the Social Strategy Readiness Model?

The Performance-Driven phase brings even greater measurement and optimization. By combining employee advocacy and the local hero model with paid advertising and integrating social media with CRM and ATS systems, the organization can link social media directly to business goals and measurable results. This creates a powerful strategy where every campaign’s performance is closely analyzed, targeted ads amplify organic reach, and social media directly contributes to goals like revenue growth and recruitment.

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Phase 5: Performance-Driven – Impact and Measurement through Employee Advocacy, Local Heroes, and Paid Advertising

‍The Performance-Driven phase is the final step in the Social Strategy Readiness Model. In this phase, social media and advocacy are fully data-driven and aligned with specific business goals. Organizations combine employee advocacy and, if applicable, the local hero model with paid advertising for maximum reach and impact. The mix of organic efforts with paid ads delivers the widest reach and the best results.

• Approach: The focus is on measuring and optimizing performance through detailed analysis and using BI tools (Business Intelligence). Paid advertising strengthens the efforts of employees and/or local partners by reaching specific audiences directly.
• Application: Full use of company, local, and personal profiles with a targeted approach for specific audiences, supported by paid campaigns.
• Technology: BI tools and integrations with CRM and ATS systems directly link social media to core processes like sales and recruitment. Social media thus becomes a key part of the business strategy, aligned with business goals.
• Impact: The combination of authentic and branded content with support from brand ambassadors at every level of the organization creates a powerful presence across owned, earned, and paid media. Thanks to CRM and ATS system integrations, social media becomes more measurable than ever, with leads directly linked to specific posts. BI tools provide data-driven insights, which contribute structurally to organizational success.

Recognize this?

Companies in the Performance-Driven phase view social media as a strategic tool with measurable results. Common comments include, “We’re getting direct leads from our social media campaigns,” or “Our strategy aligns seamlessly with our business goals.” Companies seeking maximum impact and valuing deep integration of social media with recruitment, HR, sales, and marketing goals will benefit most from this phase. This stage is especially beneficial for companies wanting to use social media strategically to contribute significantly to growth, revenue, and broader business goals.

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The Path Forward: Always-On and Continuous Optimization

‍The strength of the Social Strategy Readiness Model lies in an “Always-On” approach. This means social media is not used temporarily but is a permanent part of a sustainable, mature strategy. For successful implementation, it’s essential that management recognizes that a mature approach has real impact and directly contributes to business goals. A mature social media organization is ‘Always-On,’ with sufficient capacity and engagement in every phase of the model.

Always-On also helps both management and employees recognize the strategic importance of social media. With an employee advocacy tool, solid training, and guidance, employees discover the impact of their efforts, strengthening their engagement and motivation. Offering optional workshops and training programs further increases organizational knowledge. Companies can pursue this journey independently or with the support of social media professionals and agencies to maximize impact.

This model provides companies with a clear view of where they are and what steps are needed to move to the next level. Whether you’re just starting, aiming to optimize your reach, or already in the data-driven phase, this roadmap helps organizations achieve business goals by using social media strategically and effectively.