This may be the question of the day, but not necessarily the first you should be asking yourself. When it comes to promoting your company, the first question I encourage people to ask is “why”. Why am I or my company getting involved and what, if anything, do I (we) intend to contribute? In essence, I’m asking that you consider what your social media strategy is and define in detail what you want to get out of it.

Define, evaluate, observe and engage

Define – What do I want to get out of participating? Why am I here? To listen and discover? To stay on top of trends? To promote and educate? To sell?

Evaluate – See what social media tools are available and which align with your company objectives. Research and discover where your audience is, they may not be where you think.

Observe – Follow thought leaders, competitors and companies with a purpose driven strategy for social media. Listen and discover what is being said in your industry and by your target audience.

Engage – Decide which media is right for you and get started. Remember to be consistent and that the purpose of any social media involvement is to enable a more interactive relationship between people.

Putting together a social media strategy, like any other business strategy, will help greatly in gaining a faster return on your investment. Design your strategy with a specific business purpose in mind. Let’s face it, although many of the social tools are free, the time it takes to truly engage and get the most from this opportunity can be significant but at the same time very rewarding if you’ve defined your goals and measurements of success ahead of time.