More companies, brands and organizations are seeking social media counsel, services and campaigns than ever before. More agencies, practitioners and so-called social media gurus (see below) are positioning themselves as experts with all the answers. Cutting through the clutter and finding the right partner is tough, so we’ve created an RFP template for anyone who is looking to identify the social media company that’s right for them.
Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a daunting task as best, but writing an RFP for social media services without a detailed knowledge of the space can be a nightmare for both the issuer and the recipients. To set the relationship up for success you need to ask the right questions to find the right partner.
So, in an effort to improve communications between clients and prospective social media agencies, and to help clients ask the most critical questions of their potential vendor, we’re pleased to share SMG’s Social Media RFP Template with anyone who’d like to use it. The document is freely available to all and can be changed or modified as needed without restriction.
The SMRFP covers what we feel are the most important questions to ask a potential vendor across a wide variety of potential service offerings and scenarios. You’ll see that the section on measurement is particularly detailed as we can all be a more disciplined in how we approach tactics. To make the most of the document, please modify it and remove what doesn’t make sense for you.
We expect to revise the Social Media RFP Template as offerings, services and best practices change and evolve. In the meantime, we’d love to hear what you think about it, so please leave a comment with your feedback.
The full text of the template is available on our Social Media RFP Template page. If you want a formatted Word version, please register and we’ll follow up to get your feedback and announce subsequent releases.
Finally, don’t miss the upcoming webinar on “How to choose a Social Media Vendor” on Wednesday January 21st via our friends at Social Media Today. The webinar will feature Maggie Fox (CEO of Social Media Group) and Scott Monty (head of social media with Ford Motor Company). You can register here.
You guys really went into the depths of detail for this template, but I think it is great because at a minimum it should make companies think about things they most likely are not already.
While this should help companies find good partners, I can also see this helping companies take a little test to see if they are even ready to have a partner yet.
Thanks CC, I think it has more detail than most companies will need, hopefully they will just delete whatever they don’t need rather than republishing. I totally agree that the issuing company itself needs to understand the questions as well as the potential answers to make a sound decision.
Loved the video clip! You guys/gals absolutely ‘nailed it’ as Jon Stewart might say! I am looking forward to the seminar. Been toying with a social media collaborative of sorts me-self aka ‘Tweditors’ see http://tweditors.com….
@2healthguru
Great template and great idea. Thanks for sharing. We’ve let our customers know about it. Loved the video too!
So good the video! I like it.
Glad to see something like this. I think it will be beneficial to both prospectiv clients and prospective service providers. I’ve shared it with the members of the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community via LI, Twitter, and FB.