All too often, I observe businesses jumping into the social media pool because it is the "thing to do" right now. No one wants to be left behind and I certainly appreciate that feeling. However, if you dive on in without regard to planning and goal setting, you may be setting yourself up for an investment of time that doesn't deliver results.
For this reason, once you understand the technical way to use social media tools, spend some time thinking about their uses within your company. Consider:
- What is your goal for using each tool? Why are you on that platform and what do you plan to gain from being there?
- Are your target customers using this platform? When and how are they using it?
- How will the various social tools interact? How can they feed one another and work together?
- What guidelines will you use for the type of content that you deliver through each media? Does everyone in your organization understand these?
- How will you tie your online efforts to your offline efforts?
- What is unique about your business and how can you bring that to your online communications?
Now, do I recommend getting on Twitter to get the feel for it? Of course and the same is true for all other outlets. But, as you do so, recognize that simply joining in isn't a strategy. It's an activity, a task, something on the To Do list. A strategy requires planning and understanding the over arching goals of social media for your organization.
