What Is Your Role as SRO Professional?

Social Reach Optimization, SRO, is an organic social media strategy framework. It provides a clear structure for those responsible for implementing SRO, and a method of working with all Co-workers.

Giving a title to an action or role creates a sense of ownership and gives Co-workers a clearer understanding of their contribution within the SRO framework. As the team grows and works together, it helps embed SRO into their work routine.

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SRO Professionals

SRO frameworks should be steered by dedicated professionals, to ensure quality and to support Co-workers as they carry out the steps that achieve a sustainable organic social media solution. Assigning at least two professionals to a product owner role is recommended. Logically, these are individuals from the marketing/communications department. But, they can also be from other departments. The critical requirement is knowing the company well, the ability to communicate with management, and to complete tasks in a structured way.
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These roles manage the framework strategy and structure as product owners. They will guide the team through the three project phases: the strategy & structure, pilot, and scale-up phases. They also are the content creators and disseminators within the SRO framework. They are responsible for creating content based on the social media content strategy and ensuring that all brand ambassadors receive the right content to share via their personal accounts.
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These dedicated individuals are trained as SRO Professionals, completing tasks within the SRO framework. Once they have completed all the steps successfully, they receive an official SRO certificate. This confirms that they have studied and acquired all the necessary knowledge to manage and direct the SRO framework in your company. The SRO Professional has access to the accompanying Apostle employee advocacy software, allowing them to finish all the milestones of the SRO framework and recruit participants.

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What Is Expected?‍

Managing SRO

The SRO Professionals take the lead in establishing the social media strategy and structure, the fundamental elements of the SRO Framework. In this phase, they will identify the key roles in the framework such as Social Creators, set measurable goals aligned with the broader SRO framework, define content themes, implement the strategy in the Apostle software, create role-specific groups, and establish a content planning schedule. As the framework progresses, the SRO Professionals represent the framework at management level and conduct quarterly meetings and monthly editorial meetings.
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At times, Co-workers will need motivation in times of low activity, or new groups need activating during scale-up phases. The overall responsibility for executing these tasks lies with the SRO Professionals, who either step in to perform them themselves or ensure their completion. These matters are deliberated upon in both quarterly and monthly meetings. Using the Fogg Behavior Model principles discussed previously, the SRO Professional takes responsibility for the activation and implementation processes, including overseeing and supporting the other three roles. The SRO Professional will create your social media content strategy and structure and provide training to the Social Ambassadors, Social Creators, and Social Activators. 

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Activities 

• Establishing Strategy & Structure.
• Apostle Platform set up.
• Host the kick-off meetings and webinars during your pilot phase and scale-up phases.
• Monitoring Team Activity & Insights and updating the brand ambassador team on the progress.
• Chairing the monthly editorial meeting and management updates.
• Submitting progress reports to the management team.
• Team activation: ensuring Co-workers are and stay motivated and keep posting on social media.
• Expanding and scaling up.

Content Creation: 

Crafting engaging and compelling company content is the foundation of the SRO Professional’s responsibilities. They understand the nuances of different social platforms, tailoring content that will resonate with specific audiences while consistently upholding the social media content strategy, the brand's voice, and identity. Additionally, they will monitor and curate the stories that other employees provide. Once the content is confirmed, the SRO Professional will use the creation and scheduling tools to disseminate it to the brand ambassadors to post on their personal social media channels.
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The SRO Professional will configure Apostle’s employee advocacy software to the right settings for your company. They will also create your content management elements within the tool. Your social media content strategy will be accessible to all, helping users understand communications objectives by viewing content pillars, topics, and goals. Through strategic planning and execution, they ensure consistent and timely posting to maximize the brand's visibility.

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Activities‍

• Content creation and dissemination
• Technical configuration and platform management
• Editorial and content review
• Social media content strategy management

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Who?

SRO frameworks should be steered by dedicated professionals, to support Co-workers as they carry out the steps that achieve a sustainable organic social media solution. We recommend appointing two SRO Professionals to ensure quality and continuity. 
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Fictional example - Calico has recruited Co-workers from across the company to play a role in their SRO framework. Their Communications Manager will act as SRO Professional and will be joined by their Business Development Director, who already works with every department in the company. Between them, they have a complete overview of the business and product/project progression and are confident in reporting on the framework’s achievements to the C-suite and Board.

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Time Investment:

There are seven milestones to pass before an SRO Professional is ready to lead and manage Social Reach Optimization in your company.  As they manage the framework, your SRO Professional(s) can concurrently work towards the completion of seven milestones to achieve certification. Always set a realistic duration within which to achieve these milestones. The SRO Professional is ultimately responsible for keeping the Co-workers on track and completing structural tasks scheduled at appropriate points.

To distribute the workload at the right pace for your company, each milestone has a customizable deadline. Typically, a company will complete the seven milestones over one year. The responsibility for the SRO framework and the creation and distribution of framework messaging primarily falls to the SRO Professionals.

Messaging should be disseminated at intervals between each milestone. As each step is completed, your social media strategy moves to the next level. It’s simple to set achievable deadlines in the SRO framework and adjust these as necessary to fit deadlines and accommodate any changes.
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The average time indication is 76 hours for the SRO Professional over an average period of 3 - 12 months.

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Attributes Needed:

• Active interest in the evolving digital landscape and new techniques
• Confident working at a strategic level and engaging with the C-suite
• Able to motivate and inspire colleagues
• Proofing and editorial sign-off
• Social media content strategy development and presentation
• Platform management

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