Do you wonder whether Facebook, YouTube and other social media tactics are really worth the effort?

You are not alone.

Most entrepreneurs and business leaders know that social media has something powerful to offer, but initial attempts at making something happen are less than what was hoped for.

This leads to doubt and scaling back on social media marketing.

“It didn’t work,” they’ll say.

And here’s why: tactics such as blogging, tweeting, and friending the world on Facebook are worthless without a good social media strategy behind them.

What Is Social Media Strategy?

There’s a big difference between something you know in your head, and something you’ve committed to paper (or pixels). So let’s just cut through the jargon right now and say it simple: this is your PLAN. And it’s best when written down, referred to often, and revised when necessary.

The social media strategy is similar to any plan you’ve created for other projects, only here, you are planning just how and why you will produce content and encourage interactions online. It starts with market research, competitive analysis, and specific goals for your campaign, and only then do we start talking tactics.

The process looks something like this:

Sounds Great: How Can I Get Started Building a Custom Social Media Strategy?

Lucky for you, we’ve got plenty of free resources in the laboratory and some great products to get you started on mapping out a social media strategy that works.

• Simple business plan – this is a beginning document meant to get you thinking about strategy. It asks nine not-so-simple questions to get you thinking about things like your target market, costs of doing business (both time and money), and how to get honest about what you are really selling.
• Digital Asset Sheet – this is a simple chart meant to help you keep track of key digital assets AKA content on the web that support the campaign you work on. By taking stock of these assets in a straight forward and written manner, you will be in a better position to leverage them later.
• Knowing What to Sell Your Customers – six questions to help you get at the heart of what your customers want. Too often we try to develop something we think they will buy without considering in planning whether they even want it at all. See how I came to realize about planning for sales from my sons birthday party.

Contact My Media Labs to develop your social media marketing strategy today.