Sean Carlton had an insightful 10-point checklist post on ClickZ reminding marketers not to succumb to the urge to jump on the social media bandwagon without using the same strategic approach you would for the rest of your marketing efforts. One thing I heard many marketers say in 2009 was "we need to be on Facebook or LinkedIn." They would skip straight to the tactic rather than developing the strategy first.
At JMG, we spent a lot of time and energy in 2009 educating ourselves, bringing this knowledge to our clients through lunch-n-learns and workshops, as well as adding social media to our overall marketing strategy and planning processes.
Sean's list reminded me of the commitment and investment required to make a social media plan successful. We talked to our clients about this last year, figuring out who the best resources are to develop and work the plan (internal, external or a hybrid plan using both parties' participation). Let's also not forget that social media isn't FREE because, at a minimum, of the time required and the need to measure results.
In 2010, we have to make the resolution to discipline ourselves to always take that step back and give sound advice, or social media can be just another way to throw away good marketing dollars. What can you do moving forward in 2010 to make your client's social media more strategic and ultimately more effective?