Social media: time to get serious

The hype around social media is beginning to die down. Now it's time to get serious. If you are going to make use of social media in your business (and you don't have to), then you need to have a strategy, a plan to measure the results, regular checkpoints, and a willingness to put some resource behind your efforts. 

Here are a few tips to crank up the volume on your social media campaigns.


* Make sure you can measure your results. If you can't measure, you can't judge how well you are doing. There are plenty of tools available.

* Behave professionally. Don't leave your Twitter feed to the office junior (unless they are very good).

* Get your internal people trained, so they are confident to use social media responsibly.

* Look for niches and special areas where your customers are speaking. You don't need a presence on every social network.

* Don't hide your involvement. It's no longer the time for limited test sites. Go mainstream.

Finally, don't believe what external advisors and consultants tell you without reviewing their evidence. By now, anyone who advises on social media policy should have a track record of success. If you're serious about social media, you need solid professional advice.