Building a web strategy

Have you ever noticed that the visual models for web strategy look like a multi-armed bandit?  Each item in its own silo, all stealing from the company's resources?  And strategy is generally one of the items, because after all, it's one of the things you do.

I'm not sure which came first, the model or the practice, but the model is actually pretty accurate.  Most businesses are doing a lot, with their company being the only common thread.  

Companies large and small see that Acme Co. has started using Twitter and its generating traffic, so they open up a Twitter account and hire an intern to tweet.  Before you realize it, you have a strategy that looks like a multi-armed bandit, stealing company resources and projecting a disconnected view of your company.

Web strategy is better viewed as a work flow.  It isn't something you do.  It's something you build and follow.  Each of the pieces of your web presence plays a specific role, or maybe a few roles, in helping you achieve your business goals.

Everyone's workflow will look a little different because everyone has different goals and not all goals need a comprehensive workflow.  The above is just a quick sample I created to illustrate my point.  

For this blog, my goal is to change the way people look at their web strategy and current web presence.  I will promote it on LinkedIn, Twitter, G+, through email, and I have made sure to cover the topics and keywords I expect will help it be found in search.  I will use Google Analytics to see how my promotions perform and will use comments and shares to measure the effects of the post.

While I use LinkedIn, Twitter, G+, email and analytics for more than promoting blog posts, I don't view any one of them as something I have to maintain.  I simply view them as the next step in a given workflow to achieve my goals.

What's your web strategy look like?