There are many aspects to consider before launching your business into the social media world of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. If you take the time to establish to really understand your social media goals and develop a strategic plan to achieve these goals, your plunge into the waters of social media will be much more successful.  Marketing strategist Lee Odden first addressed this in a great post on TopRankBlog, and it’s a post worth reading.

Here are the highlights:

Common questions asked by small businesses considering a Social Media Strategy:

“Should we develop a strategy first before engaging?”

“Should we experiment or develop a strategy as we go?”

“Is it okay to ask customers if they’d like to buy directly on social networks?”

To set up the framework for a successful social media marketing program, consider these suggestions prior to jumping in:

• Identify your business goals and how these are to be measured.

• Develop an approach and methodology to use in your Social Media program. This is essential for planning, implementation, accountability and measurement of success.

Setting Social Media Goals, Then Listening in on Conversations

The goals set for your specific business will lead you to the appropriate social media venue for success. For example, if you want to create conversations with your customers, this would require a different network than developing sales leads. Having a clear understanding of your customer needs and business goals will lead to the perfect social media platform (ie: Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube, or Twitter), or perhaps a combination of these social media tactics.

Listen before leaping.

Once you develop social media goals, research each network and listen to the conversations happening there. You will quickly find out where your business belongs, and where you don’t. This small amount of research will provide valuable insights each social media platform, and where your customers are most engaged.

While I strongly recommend formulating a specific, permanent strategy, doing so shouldn’t deter you from diving into social media, especially if you are employed at a large corporation or organization. Trying to get an overarching social media strategy through layers of bureaucracy, can delay and even kill its implementation.

Social Media by its very nature is a fluid, ephemeral media in which you can experiment with different tactics to see which resonates with your audience. Once colleagues begin to see the fruits of your labor, you’re more apt to gain consensus and supporting data to support your strategy, creating momentum within your organization and getting the naysayers to quickly jump on board.

The vast number of emails I get from SEO companies promising to get my website on page 1 of Google is quite amazing. These firms must not be doing their homework because my website is already on page 1.

Most often, SEO experts who spam your inbox are snake-oil salesmen reincarnated, using unethical techniques to drive search ranking up. If you’re a novice to search engine optimization, you may be tempted to contact one of these firms – especially those who offer an enticing ploy of not charging until they achieve vague result. The problem is that in search engine optimization there is the right way (“White Hat” methods) to achieve good results, and the wrong way (“Black Hat” methods).

Black Hat Methods Can Get You Blacklisted

SEO firms that employ “black hat” methods such as keyword stuffing, hidden text, cloaked and doorway pages, link farming, and blog spamming, can indeed improve your search rankings short-term, but these techniques violate search engine terms of service, putting your website at risk of being banned. Search algorithms identify SEO trickery and will eventually blacklist your site from future searches, keeping potential customers from being able to find you. It happens every day, and quite often business don’t even realize it until much later.

Costly fees necessary to reinstate your site’s SEO status and integrity

One day your website appears on page 1 of Google and you happily pay the charlatan’s SEO fee; the next day, your website has been “blacklisted” and doesn’t appear on any search engine. Now that great deal is going to cost you more money, time and resources to correct the damage done.

The first clue a SEO firm may be unscrupulous is the fact they promote themselves via unsolicited emails; if they market their own company by using unethical spam techniques, how ethical will they be in their SEO practices to promote your company? Not very, so remain diligent and discerning when choosing a firm to do search engine optimization for your business website.

Social Media needn't be overwhelming!

Back in the good ol’ days of the web (circa 2004), it was so easy for businesses to market via the internet; all that was necessary was a functional website. But the advent of social media has made a dramatic impact with online marketing— and in a good way. Social media is, for the most part, free, saving many marketing dollars. But just because it is free, doesn’t make it easy or cost-free, if your time is valuable. So before you jump into the social media frenzy, do your research and discover where your time and resources are best spent. A little research on the front end will save you a lot on the back end.

Use the Freebies

1. Use the free sites. Free, online networking services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great marketing vehicles to post significant news, offers, promotions, and events for your business. For example, a seafood restaurant can promote $1 oysters and ½ price margaritas to loyal Twitter followers and Facebook fans.

Measure results, focus your efforts

2. Track your social media program. See which of the free social media sites are delivering results worthy of your continued efforts and focus; abandon those not measuring up to your goals.

Search Engine Optimization — It really does matter

3. Social media can also improve rankings on Google and other major search engines by building inbound links to content on your website. Learn how to optimize your website to improve how your website ranking, or hire a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) professional to do the job for you. Be sure they know how to integrate social media into your SEO program. Many times you can learn some great tips by seeing what your competition is doing and what’s working for them. Google your competition — if they appear on the search engine before you do, check out their site and compare what they are doing and you’re not.

Customers are greedy – Give them what they want

4. Customers are self-centered; they want to know: ‘what’s in it for me?’  Use social media to give customers expert advice, great links, and share valuable information. Don’t hype your business; instead create a dialogue by connecting with the customer. If you have something interesting to say, say it. Create a blog, webinar, or YouTube video to share what you know with your clients and potential clients.

Blogging is bragging!

5. Blogging helps customers find you. Comments on blogs don’t necessarily happen overnight, but your information will come up in an online search which potential clients will read, then click on to check out your website. Twittering and micro-blogging are popular now, but whichever you decide, do it regularly. Consistency wins out over content every time. Post on a regular basis; you may not necessarily get read, but your customers will see you’re out there and are current. And when they need you, you’ll be top of mind as someone to call.

“Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. No one actually knows how. When finally done, there is surprise it’s not better.”

Avinash Kaushik

Social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) is in vogue among connected consumers and many companies are hoping to capitalize on this marketing avenue to promote their business. I was curious to know how effective (or not) social media has been for other marketing aviation professionals — are they truly walking the walk, rather than talking (tweeting) the talk — I recently posted the above quote on LinkedIn to learn what experiences my colleagues have had using Social Media.

Troy B. reported, “Frankly, we’re loving it. . . When I reach someone who buys an airline ticket, parks in on-airport parking, purchases food, beverages and a magazine, brags about our WiFi and speedy screening lines, and plans to do it again soon — all based on info I’ve tweeted — I start to like the results.”

However, some are not 100% confident in this colleague’s social media experience.

“… there are a great many people who have learned the hard way that the medium is far less benign that was first assumed,” said Ronald K. “A lesson of both teenage sex and social media is that both are best done with adequate protection in place.”

I agree social media can often be impulsive, not to be taken lightly with its implications, and often times regrettable, not unlike teen sex.

And also concede that as a customer service tool, social media may well be worth the time and effort, especially for brand/image sensitive businesses. However, many of my own clients are in B2B space, and I hesitate to recommend Facebook or Twitter as a marketing tool because it is hard to quantify its effectiveness. I know from experience placing an ad for these clients will make the phones ring, and public relations will build awareness.

Steve E. said, “If you compare dollar-to-dollar spending, I’ll take social media over standard media any day as the immediate discussion that ensues is direct and instant and something that far exceeds anything standard advertising has to offer.”

But how well will social media generate new businesses as compared to traditional media is the question I need answered before recommending social media to my clients.

Allow me this hypothetical:

Using traditional marketing tools, say I run a 6-month, $10,000 advertising campaign for a client in a trade publication reaching their target audience. Assume this campaign generates 100 leads and the client closes 10. The cost per new customer acquisition is $1,000.

Alternatively, the client contracts to develop and monitor a social media program. We spend on average one hour a day building their network, making posts, responding to queries and, at the end of six months, the program has also yielded 10 sales. Assuming $100 per hour is charged (social media needs to be monitored by qualified staff, thus a higher per hour fee), then the cost to the client is $13,000! (5 hrs/week over 26 weeks = 130 hours x $100/hour). This is significantly higher than traditional advertising.

Granted, one can argue with my numbers in my hypothetical example, but to do social media effectively, you have to commit to high level of time management, and you also need to highly capable people managing your social media programs (otherwise more harm than good may be generated). With these facts in mind, social media may not be the holy grail of marketing as many proponents suggest.

Social media has a definite role in marketing, such as customer service and company announcements. But as an effective sales generating tool, I remain skeptical. I continue to encourage my clients to wait before they act impulsively and regret it.

Much like I advise the teenagers in my life.

Some marketing professionals are saying the traditional role of Public Relations has lost some of luster, overtaken by a more contemporary form of PR – social media. Marketing forums and group discussions from Inc.com to LinkedIn have all been debating this issue But as far as I am concerned, traditional public relations, i.e. press releases, articles, events, etc. will never play a secondary marketing role for most businesses, especially ones that have a brand image that needs to be nurtured and protected.

Social media plays an important role in marketing, but most times it is one that is supporting more traditional marketing and public relations activities.

For example, if a neighborhood restaurant donates a percentage of sales to the local high school marching band, who benefits? Pretty much everyone. The students, the band, the school and the parents, who have to shell out less for the activity. But the hero is the neighborhood restaurant. If they can leverage their generosity with an effective public relations program, it can generate loads of press exposure and tons of goodwill with consumers. Goodwill that can generate ten-fold payback of the actual donation cost.

Could social media pulled this event off as effectively alone? Probably not. Outreach to mass media outlets traditional PR is the marketing tool that does the heavy lifting in generating the kind of media buzz – one that I’ve only seen achievable through PR. Social media can certainly play a role in building awareness to those who are already fans of your business. But most editors and reporters are much too busy to activity monitoring more that a few Social Media channels. They are still looking to their normal PR channels for news worthy items to feature.