There are Social Media tools out there to help you re-connect with your friends, find people with similar interests and ones to connect you to your professional peers. There are Social Media tools to help you communicate short messages and ones especially for longer ones. There are tools for building networks and others to help you find a date. Basically, in one form or another, the Social Media tools available to you can do pretty much anything short of making you a sandwich. And it’s only a matter of time before that’s possible.

For businesses wanting to climb aboard the Social Media bandwagon, it’s a jungle out there. There are a myriad of available options and a wealth of different ways to use the tools available to you. For everyone other than the extremely Social Media savvy out there (and no, the fact that your business card says “Social Media Expert” does not make you one), this minefield is one that is almost impossible to traverse without casualties. That unfortunately doesn’t stop most organisations from diving right in there and building profiles left, left right and centre. Sadly, it’s not a case of deciding to ‘do’ Social Media and going forth and ‘doing’ it. It’s a process, and one that is best undertaken with a measure of care. These tips cover an important aspect of planning your Social Media campaign – choosing the tools that you’re going to use.

1.    Bear in mind their intended purpose

And respect it! It’s true that there are commercial applications for a number of Social Media tools out there and as marketers, it would be foolhardy to ignore that. However, being aware of why the platform was created in the first place will give you a great deal of insight into whether or not it is applicable to your service or product offering.  For example, Twitter is a platform for sharing resources and information – businesses can participate meaningfully in this activity and share things of value without disrespecting the community. More than that though, if you comply with this, your endeavours are more likely to be successful.

2.    Figure out what you’re trying to achieve

All too often, organisations get involved in Social Media either because everyone else is doing it or they feel they should or because they fear they are missing out on an opportunity. What that opportunity is, many have no idea. However, as with all marketing efforts, having an end goal and knowing how your campaign is going to help you get there, is very important. How else will you know whether your investment of time and money is worthwhile? To a large degree, knowing what you are trying to achieve will help you determine what medium to use. If you are trying to increase acquisition and sales, Facebook ads may be the way to go, whereas if branding and communication of a message or positioning is what you’re after, consider using YouTube or Twitter. That’s not to say that there is not overlap in these platforms or the goals that they fulfill. There is. It’s just that the one should inform the other so that you don’t end up trying to use MySpace as a Instant Messenger.

3.    Go where your customers are

Of course, Social Media is all well and good, but if you aren’t using the platforms that your customers are using (or at least the ones that your target market is using) then what’s the point?  This will require some research into what demographic is using which platform as well as some insight into how and why people are using Social Media. Facebakers can give you some insight into what’s happening on Facebook (a Social Media tool that everyone seems to want in on) and there are various other resources at your disposal including the Twitter blog for Twitter, as well as various other blogs and resources devoted to keeping up with how consumers are using Social Media. It’s the Web – information is endless. Make sure you use what’s at your fingertips. 

4.    Assess what your competitors are doing

If you really have no idea what you’re doing, it can be useful to look at your competitors, assess what they’re doing, their level of success or failure and what you like and dislike about their campaigns. This will give you a starting point for your strategy. The idea is not to work harder than they do in order to get better results – it’s to learn vicariously from their experience and work smarter. Remember though, no one likes a copycat and when it comes to Social Media, judgement is swift and often difficult to recover from.

5.    Consider the marriage between your platform and the brand

At the end of the day, some brands are not suited to Social Media. In the same way, there are certain tools that by virtue of their characteristics are incompatible with the positioning of the brands trying to use them. This incompatibility makes for an unhappy marriage – one which is fraught with conflict, miscommunication and frustration. The fact is that no matter how much a pair may like the idea of working well together and living happily ever after in a mutually rewarding relationship, this is not always the case. Whether this is because the brand is serious and the medium frivolous or because of a deeper underlying issue, the fact remains the same. When you are selecting Social Media tools, consider whether they share similar values with your brand and what aligning yourself with a particular tool says about you. This will give you a good indication of whether or not the ‘death do us part’ bit will come earlier rather than later.

The trick is to marry your brand with a Social Media tool which suits it best. Image Credit: Toomas and Marit

Also check out:

• Social Media Around the World
• Friday Fact Box - Social Media Statistics