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.

Chances are, at some point or another, you’ve received an email from a search engine optimization (SEO) firm that promises to submit your website to thousands of search engines or hundreds of directories promising higher rankings, more visitors, more clicks.

If you fall for this ploy, you’ll find yourself out hundreds of dollars with no real value in return.

The truth is that there are only three major search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Any other site that calls itself a search engine simply returns results from one of the big three, so submitting your company website to any of these other so called “search engines” is a waste of your valuable time.

When to Submit Your Website to Google, Yahoo or Bing

You may want to submit your website to the major search engines if it is brand new, and you want your website to be included in search results as soon as possible. Honestly, this is really not necessary – and many argue that it won’t speed up the process.

The major search engines do a pretty good job of finding new content fairly quickly, and your website will soon be listed in a few days – even if you never officially submit your site to a search engine.

Search engines use programs called robots or spiders to crawl the internet looking for new content. These spiders follow links from one web page to another, and from one website to another, with complex algorithms.  When the spider encounters new content, a new page, new photograph, or a new site, it indexes the information immediately.

In other words, it records the new content and its location so when someone does a search including keywords or phrases that matches the content on that particular web page or site, that specific URL address, title and description will appear in the search results.

And your site will appear on Google, Bing, and Yahoo whether you officially submit it or not, so please – please! – don’t waste valuable time, effort, or dollars succumbing to scrupulous ploys and promises of what you can already get for free.

Who really does marketing? Can "they" do it all?

I’m a bit annoyed that all the various companies involved in marketing say, a little too assertively, that they “do marketing.” If that sounds confusing well it’s understandable.

Marketing is such a broad term and encompasses such a multitude of services and skill sets that for most business people, someone saying they “do marketing” can be as confusing as a Chinese menu. “Marketing” is a term applied to high-level strategic planning and branding as well as getting trade show posters printed at Kinkos.

Add to this confusion the plethora of marketing, advertising and promotional tools available to promote your business, and the task of marketing your company in an effective manner can quickly become overwhelming

For example, here is a partial list of marketing and advertising tools available:

• Advertising: TV, Radio, Cable, Magazines, Newspaper, Classified, Co-Op Advertising, Yellow Pages
• Direct Marketing: Direct Mail, Telemarketing, Email Marketing, Newsletters
• Marketing Communications: Brochures, Sales Sheets, Presentation Folders
• Advertising Specialties: Promotional Items
• Online Marketing: Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Website Development, Directories, Blogs, Banner Advertising
• Public Relations: Press Releases, Articles, Event Marketing
• Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs

With such a variety of marketing avenues to take, it’s difficult for a client to decipher the most appropriate tools to use when promoting their business. Business owners often meet people who claim to do marketing, often proposing rudimentary, rather than a comprehensive marketing program, invariably tailored to their particular expertise.

For example, many advertising agencies will say they can develop a comprehensive marketing plan and strategy, but that’s not their area of expertise. And, without a doubt, advertising will be the cornerstone of their marketing recommendations, whether it’s the most effective tool to promote your specific business or not.

Marketing is not unlike seeking medical advice…

If you have a back problem and see orthopedic surgeon, she will recommend surgery because this is how she was trained to fix back problems. If you go to a chiropractor, he will conclude you’re out of alignment and suggest a regular regimen of adjustments. And a physical therapist will discern certain muscles weaker than others, causing an imbalance in your core and recommend strengthening and conditioning.

Marketing is not unlike seeking construction advice…

It’s the same process as if building a home. You’re not going to hire a plumber to design your house – you’re going to hire an architect. And the same goes for your marketing, don’t hire your public relations firm to produce a strategic marketing plan.

It’s not easy obtaining appropriate advice from a specialist in one profession, and the same is true with marketing.

It’s hard to get objective advice where there isn’t a self-serving interest.

What you really need is a marketing consultant who has the training and experience to develop an effective marketing program specific for your individual business goals and objectives.