As opposed to:

• letters;
• emails;
• the telephone;
• business cards;
• brochures;
• lunch;
• networking;
• selling;
• advertising.

The business case

It’s easy to get carried along with the euphoria of social media, but do you really believe it’s a game-changer or have you deluded yourself into thinking that just because everyone else is on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn you must be too?

What is the business case?

No seriously, have you got this one nailed down?

Do you have in place:

1. The people?
2. The content?
3. The platforms?
4. But, most of all, an idea of the Return on Investment (ROI) that you expect?

Don’t fudge the question.

Do your customers care?

You need to understand if your market is ready for your sudden zeal to promote social media. You have heard that Facebook users are younger than LinkedIn, and you need to have a blog for Search Engine purposes, but have you even asked your customers of the need to engage or buy from you from behind the bushel of platforms that you are now promoting?

Just remember, no one, and I mean no one, cares about your product or service. They only care what it can do for them.

They are not interested how much content you produce, unless it chimes with their needs.

Content, content, content

No not just any old crap (“yawn… oh if I must”) but something that is invested with your soul.

I have banged on about doing Art (see Linchpin by Seth Godin).

Would you pay serious money to read, listen to or watch your content?

Or even if that is pushing things too far, how good is it on a scale of 1-10? If you are not pushing the Excellence envelop then you will get washed away in a wave of Ho Humness.

Less is more.

Evergreen content is not called that for no reason. In my experience, it is so good that you will tell everyone about it (yes, good old fashioned word of mouth). But if you don’t adopt a lazer focus to your efforts, you will end up with a scatter-gun approach where you water down your content to nothing.

Believe in your product/service

For me I don’t see social media as work. I do it because I love it.

Social media will not mask your lukewarm interest in the business or its products or services. Make sure that whoever is pulling the levers isn’t following some dull script. They have to walk the talk.

It’s OK to have second thoughts. In fact, it’s healthy. Being committed needs to be backed up with some common sense. Keep everything under review. Don’t be afraid to apply the brakes and focus on one platform and get really, really good at it rather than spreading your resources to breaking point.

And if all else fails, you can always go back to speaking to a few people. You and they may feel refreshed to hear from a real person.