A couple of yr in the past, I wrote an article with pointers on writing an internet site design and improvement Request for Proposal (RFP), which acquired a terrific response. Now I believe it is excessive time to do the identical factor for these wishing to have interaction an company for Social Media Advertising and different On-line Advertising and Promoting session and implementation.
Beneath are my strategies of the best way to put together an RFP for social media initiatives, retainers and campaigns. I additionally counsel doing analysis on-line and viewing different Request for Proposals to see what works greatest to your group. Needless to say no matter format you select will decide not solely how lengthy the responses are, but additionally what sort of focus you’re in search of from the respondents. Every part of the RFP is printed beneath, together with some clarification and urged questions. Have enjoyable!
Details about your group and undertaking
Introduction
The aim of this part is to present a quick overview of the corporate issuing the RFP and the social media undertaking or desired work relationship between the corporate and the seller. Present as a lot info as you’re feeling is critical to permit distributors to arrange an correct proposal. When you really feel that there’s sure proprietary or different info that you don’t want to make public, require a Non Disclosure Settlement be signed earlier than receiving that info. This will restrict the participation of distributors, however it’s oftentimes needed to guard personal info.
1. Firm Overview
- Organizational historical past
- Your enterprise aims
- Your organization’s historical past utilizing social media or explanation why your group intends to start to take part in social media
2. Overview of Challenge
- State the undertaking aims and the way they relate to the enterprise aims said above. Clarify the kind of vendor relationship desired i.e. Challenge-based, Company of File, and so forth. Clarify the present involvement your group has with social media channels and the way they relate to each your group’s main presence and any associated campaigns
- Clarify the social media channels you would like the marketing campaign to contain, until you’re in search of strategies of which to make use of, then please specify that to the distributors
- Clarify how the undertaking matches into your general advertising technique (on-line and offline) and if there’s one other vendor concerned in different features of your Promoting and Advertising initiatives
- Clarify the measurable outcomes you wish to see
- Clarify the period of the work – is it a short lived marketing campaign, or an ongoing organizational advertising platform?
3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders
- Listing main audiences for the corporate, i.e. demographics, psychographics, and so forth
- Listing main info wants of every viewers group
- Establish if any market or viewers analysis will probably be needed within the execution of the marketing campaign
4. Overview of Response
- Make it clear the kind of response you’re in search of:
- Are you in search of a hypothetical method, or an evidence of the seller’s technique of how they’ll come to create your marketing campaign. Many occasions a hypothetical method shouldn’t be the easiest way to method an RFP course of just because a vendor will probably be lacking a number of key items of knowledge which may negatively have an effect on their capacity to suggest a particular resolution. We propose in search of extra normal responses and weighing the effectiveness of previous shopper work closely
Tips for Proposal Preparation
- To be able to give all certified distributors a degree enjoying subject, it is essential to arrange a straightforward to observe schedule for each when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
- Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, 12 months). In case your RFP is publicly listed, it’s going to assist these looking for RFPs on Google or by different strategies to search out related Request for Proposals
- An elective requirement is to specify that every one distributors register their intent to submit a proposal by a sure date – normally inside 1-2 weeks of the RFP problem. This can be a good approach to restrict the potential variety of distributors who reply when you anticipate a big quantity of proposals and would relatively obtain a smaller quantity
- We advocate permitting a query and reply interval that ends a minimum of 1 week earlier than the proposal is due. It’s as much as you whether or not to permit questions by e-mail, convention name or particular person telephone calls. We do advocate that you just share all of the questions (and solutions) with all distributors so as to maintain issues as equal as doable. At all times specify which format -phone name, e-mail, and to whom these questions must be addressed. We advocate figuring out a single individual in your group to be the purpose of contact. Simply be certain that trip schedules, and so forth do not intrude with this course of, and if there’s every other motive why the first level of contact may should be out of city through the course of, specify a secondary level of contact
- Responses from issuer to be despatched by
20XX within the following codecs (specify whether or not digital submissions, laborious copies or each have to be both emailed, mailed or hand-delivered) - On the idea of the replies to the RFP doc, a brief checklist of potential distributors will probably be chosen and this group will probably be requested to current demonstrations of their capabilities and imaginative and prescient for the undertaking. These conferences will probably be accomplished by
XXth, 20XX - Awarding of the contract to chose Vendor by
XXth, 20XX - Work to begin by
20XX and to final till (if relevant)
Vendor Questions and {Qualifications}
The next is a sequence of questions that, if relevant, we recommend you ask the distributors submitting proposals. Some might not apply, however it’s a nice concept to get as a lot of an concept of the seller’s method and philosophy on social media as doable. Evaluate the responses each amongst one another, and to the analysis and studying that you’ve got accomplished to ensure that the seller is updated with the newest considering and greatest practices.
COMPANY DETAILS
- Firm title and father or mother firm title
- Possession construction
- Years in operation
- Mailing tackle (headquarters)
- Different workplace location(s)
- Major telephone
- Fax quantity
- Web site and weblog URL
- Major level of contact (title, title, telephone and e-mail tackle)
- Complete variety of workers
- Variety of vendor workers whose main operate is social media
- Present shopper checklist with these engaged in social media work recognized
- Share of whole income that’s social-media associated
- Three references for social media work together with; firm title, main shopper title, contact particulars and transient clarification of providers supplied
- Any potential conflicts with present vendor shopper base and this RFP
- Senior social media employees bios and hyperlinks to social media profiles the place relevant
- Please present an entire checklist of related social media platform and know-how companions
- References from purchasers at the moment engaged in social media work with the seller
CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE
- Listing all social media and on-line advertising capabilities
- Do you’ve gotten any proprietary instruments or merchandise associated to social media?
- Please checklist any expertise you’ve gotten with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
- Is there a particular business or sort of labor your agency makes a speciality of?
- Please checklist and supply hyperlinks to main social media communication channels to your firm (i.e.firm weblog,Twitter account, Fb group, blogs authored by principals, and so forth.)
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY
- Please define your social media technique course of
- Which stakeholder teams do you usually embody in a method engagement?
- Describe the ultimate deliverable of a method engagement
- What’s your method to threat administration in social media?
- How do you incorporate present purposes, web sites, microsites and publication applications into your general social media technique?
- How do you guarantee compliance with shopper authorized necessities?
- Please describe your method to integrating throughout shopper advertising, customer support and company communications departments. Please present an instance of your work on this space
- How do you method adapting a conventional model right into a two-way dialogue?
- Please present a case examine of your technique work that resulted in a social media initiative and the enterprise outcomes achieved
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
- What’s your model/repute monitoring course of (i.e. proprietary instruments used, methodology, and so forth)?
- What’s your opinion on automated sentiment evaluation?
- What know-how do you employ to help in on-line monitoring?
- How lengthy (on common) between a possible problem being posted on-line and being flagged to the shopper?
- What quantity of mentions has your group dealt with prior to now (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
- What’s your high quality assurance course of to make sure that the massive volumes of information gathered within the monitoring course of are dealt with effectively and consultant of the general on-line dialog?
- Please element your methodology for dealing with on-line crises
- What providers do you present in help of on-line disaster administration?
- Please describe the construction of your disaster administration group, together with bios and related expertise
- How do you assess which mentions require speedy responses and which don’t?
- Please define your normal method to sourcing and responding to feedback
- Please present a case examine detailing your work for the needs of managing repute or on-line disaster administration, together with outcomes and classes realized
- Please embody a pattern of your monitoring report format and/or a hyperlink to acceptable dashboards (specifics must be eliminated)
METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING
- What methodology do you employ for measuring the success of your social media applications for purchasers?
- Please present particular examples primarily based on previous work
- Have you ever developed any proprietary metrics? How have you ever utilized these for purchasers?
- How have you ever outlined Return on Funding (ROI) from a social media perspective prior to now?
- How do you are taking knowledge factors generated from varied social media channels and measurement instruments and mix to present an goal/complete view?
- What’s your method to server analytics and neighborhood analytics for program measurement?
- Do you’ve gotten the potential to measure value per lead or value per acquisition? Please present an instance of a undertaking on which you’ve gotten accomplished so
- What platforms are you unable to measure precisely, or capable of present solely restricted measurements from?
- Please present a pattern of a measurement doc or closing report (specifics must be eliminated)
- What share of the funds do you advocate be devoted to metrics and measurement?
CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING
- Do you provide social media coaching providers for purchasers? If sure, what codecs are they accessible in?
- What inside processes do you’ve gotten in place to make sure that your employees is stored present on social media improvements and greatest practices?
- How do you measure progress and consider coaching effectiveness?
- How do you advocate that purchasers maintain updated on the newest social media improvements and greatest practices?
SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS
- What are your design, inventive and neighborhood administration capabilities?
- What share of your employees is devoted to constructing and deploying social media options versus administration and consulting?
- Please describe your expertise with the next platforms and techniques:
– YouTube or comparable video sharing websites
– Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Boards
– Content material Administration System (CMS)
– Buyer Relationship Administration (CRM)
– E-mail Advertising
– Search Engine Optimization (website positioning) and Search Engine Advertising(SEM)
– Fb Pages, Apps, API integration
– Cellular utility improvement
– Twitter
– Information sharing websites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, and so forth.)
– Digital Worlds and Augmented actuality
– Photograph sharing (i.e. Flickr) and different content material sharing websites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Scrumptious, and so forth.)
– Social Media press releases(SMPRs)
– Crowdsourcing or Wikis
– Actual world occasions organized through social media (e.g. Tweetups)
– Rankings/Customer support websites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, and so forth.)
Please present examples of social media channel improvement work accomplished throughout the final two years
COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)
- What’s your course of for figuring out influencers inside varied social media channels?
- How do you establish and outline “affect?”
- What’s your outreach course of for speaking with recognized on-line influencers?
- What instruments and approaches do you employ for Influencer Relationship Administration? (Third-party, proprietary,and so forth.)
- How have you ever built-in Influencer Outreach with conventional communications and/or advertising campaigns?
- How do you method seeding conversations inside stakeholder teams?
- What’s your exit technique with influencers as soon as the initiative is accomplished?
- How do you guarantee authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a shopper?
- Please present a case examine of a web-based neighborhood outreach undertaking
CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- How is a typical shopper engagement along with your agency structured?
- How do you construction your account groups?
- Please define your inside communication construction. In case your account employees is separate out of your undertaking administration employees, please element how these groups work collectively
- If you’re chosen to offer social media providers, who will probably be assigned to our enterprise (please present names, titles and quick biographical notes)
- What share of senior employees involvement is structured in to your initiatives? What function do they play?
- How are your initiatives priced? Utilizing an hourly charge? Blended company charge? If the previous, please present a charge card
- What change administration practices does your company make use of?
- What studies will probably be supplied to the shopper so as to talk undertaking milestones and general undertaking well being?
- What’s the frequency of those studies?
- What’s your course of for gathering enterprise necessities?
Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is an efficient first step when contemplating On-line Advertising and Social Media work because it takes considerate planning to specify and assemble an efficient, built-in marketing campaign. A effectively thought-out, high quality RFP is important to a profitable endeavor as a result of it lets you focus in your objectives and precisely the best way to obtain them.
