CollaborativEye

Getting started with Social Media is so easy, you may be tempted to fire and then aim. This is a BAD IDEA. Here are some questions I've developed to help businesses think through their goals and target audience prior to jumping onto Twitter or Facebook.

#1 What would you like to achieve with your Social Media program? (choose top 5 and rank in order of importance):

• Building and promoting brand
• Increasing customer engagement
• Improving collaboration and communication
• Promoting thought leadership
• Networking
• Marketing/Sales campaigns
• Generate revenues
• Customer service/support
• Help with product development/market feedback
• Recruit and retain talent
• Generate ideas/innovation

#2 Community engagement: Choose the top 3 and rank importance for how you would like to engage with your community:

• Corporate Voice ( speak to your market)
• User-generated content (create excitement)
• Enthusiasts (stimulate a passion around a topic, activity, or hobby)
• Associates/subscribers (engage with members)
• Loyalty (build and reward loyalty among most loyal customers)
• Peer Support (help each other)
• Events (build and sustain buzz around specific events)
• Innovate (generate ideas)

#3 List top 10 keywords/phrases that your audience would be interested in

#4 Who are the top 5 thought leaders and influencers your audience respects?

#5 What web sites, magazines, and blogs does your audience interact with?

Thinking about and answering these questions will give you a solid footing on which to build a social media strategy for your business.