1) Good Social Media Strategy starts with consistent messaging across all content touch points including:  your Web Site, how and what you say on your Blog, Press Releases, Conventional Product and Company documents, Twitter, Facebook, Images uploaded via Flickr, Videos on YouTube, etc.

2) Be patient when using Facebook or Twitter for evangelizing your company or brand - each community has a set of unwritten rules and etiquette and it takes time to learn these and become proficient. “Time takes Time”

3) Speaking of Twitter and Facebook, we find Twitter to be more productive for clients who are in a business to business market and Facebook to be better for business to consumer facing companies.

4) An effective Social Media Strategy needs to include engagement and interaction with other individuals within the communities you have an established presence in - don’t just “broadcast” (push your messaging out), you want to interact with people in a meaningful way. It takes time to build to this but people do notice “broadcasters” versus “interactors.”

5) YouTube should be part of your Social Media Strategy when you are ready to take this step or outsource it to an agency or consultant that has a good understanding of the marketing requirements to be effective. We have a short post on “Video Marketing“  that will give you a good overview of leveraging YouTube’s powerful communications capabilities.

6) Return on Investment (ROI) is critical to any Social Media Strategy or Online Advertising Campaign. You can track this using Google’s Free Analytics (which opens up a world of insightful data), Contact Us Forms, EMail Newsletter Sign Ups, etc. There’s a whole group of new Tools and Services emerging for tracking Social Media, more on this in a later post.

7) Don’t just think of Social Media Strategy as a way to promote your brand or company - social media is a wonderful tool for “real time alerts” on what is going on in the world around you, complaints, positive comments about your company, brand, products, people, etc.

8) Ignore the heat, smoke and light around Social Media - the term has become synonymous in some quarters with instant riches, success, fame, fortune, etc. We say hogwash to all of this - it takes a focused social media strategy, coupled with technology tools like a TweetDeck and lots of hard work to become successful using social media marketing.

9) Craig’sList doesn’t come to mind when people think about Social Media Strategy, it’s an “old” technology platform, tried and true (some think a bit staid); but, it still works if you want to convey a message out to a large group of consumers and it’s free. Should be a regular digital touch point where you post about your company with a call to action component in your post.

10) Research is another critical part of any effective Social Media Strategy. Meaning, Technology, Processes and Methodologies are all evolving rapidly and it does require some time to just sit down and research what’s going on around you. Two great reference books: Chris Brogan’s “Trust Agents” is a great/informative read and Shel Israel’s “Twitterville” is another insightful book about Social Media Strategy, with an emphasis on Twitter.

Our Social Media Platform of choice is Twitter to Connect with us Twitter/LinkedMedia - we look forward to Engaging, Conversing and/or helping you Define or Refine your Social Media Strategy.