Ah, social media strategy. It seems any company anxious to use social networks for their marketing and advertising purposes either sees it as free and treats it appropriately, or falls victim to the latest snake oil salesman. The truth is social media is anything but free, but it is an extremely powerful way to extend a brand strategy into the digital space – when done right.

All businesses build a business plan with at least a bit of a brand strategy attached, and most then create a digital strategy to help them tackle a website that presents them to the world. But traversing the world of Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and more presents opportunities and challenges that can’t be satisfied simply by registering a free account and asking your fans and followers what they’re doing this weekend.

A social media strategy needs to take into account your business and your goals, balanced with asking the right questions to get the right strategies and roadmaps in place. Questions like:

• Competitors: Who are your competitors, what are they doing and what can we learn from analyzing them and what people are saying about them?
• Reputation: Are people already actively engaged around your brand online? And if so, what reputation do you have? Are there opportunities or threats there?
• Staff: How many hours are needed to resource a social media presence? Can it be done internally, or will outsourcing/hiring be needed?

If you’re just getting underway with your social media strategy, or you’ve started and not achieved the results you were hoping for, the time is right for a deep analysis and real strategy. Call 416.885.6592 or email with any questions you have!