With all the noise about social media today, it's very easy to get caught up in the hype of Facebook, Twitter Foursquare et al.
So here's some sage advice for companies and organisations from the PR Warrior.
Ignore 'em!
DO NOT set up a Facebook page or open a Twitter account.
DO NOT blog.
PUT AWAY that video recorder and under no circumstances should you record a podcast or attempt to get involved in a geo-tagging service such as Foursquare.
Not yet anyway.
Okay...now, take a deep breath.
What is it you're trying to achieve from a marketing and corporate communications perspective?
Answer that question first.
Then - still resisting the urge to rush head-long into social media - start thinking about a few other 'big picture' questions:
- What do you want people to think or talk about when they hear the name of your company or organisation?
- What topics do you want your brand to be associated with?
- What 'category' do you want to 'own' in the mind of consumers and stakeholders?
- What conversations do you wish to ignite/be part of?
Content = 'building blocks'
Social media can be used for a lot of things including customer service, recruitment, brand communications and customer engagement.
Whichever way you slice and dice it, however, it still has a lot to do with content.
Think of content as the 'building blocks' of your social media efforts - in this case content could be a blog post, a free downloadable e-book, a video interview, a podcast, a tweet, a comment on someone else's blog...even a simple link.
That being the case, if you haven't thought through answers to any of the questions above, then you could be muddying the waters and not being anywhere near as effective as you could be with your communications.
Only then should you start letting the 'tools of social media trade' invade your headspace.
