The most common social media mistake I see my clients making is starting their social media without a plan. Their are several scenarios that happen.

1. You hear someone talking about how much success they've had with social media so you jump in and set up a Facebook profile. 
2. Your boss comes in and says, "We need to get on that FaceTube or YouBook thing, and you need to take care of it."
3. You realize that your old advertising methods aren't working and you need something new so you give it a shot.

In most of the scenarios above you end up failing. Why do you fail? Primarily you fail because you don't start with the right questions:

1. What are my goals for social media?
2. Who is my customer?
3. Where is my customer active in social media?
4. What information does my customer want to know?

The thing to remember about social media marketing is that it cuts both ways. It's better to not be involved than to do it poorly.

Let's dig into these questions

What are my goals for social media?

There are several metrics that you can track:

Engagement:

1. # of new people on your email list
2. # of fans/followers
3. # of comments / likes / share of your content

Revenue

1. # of online sales if you have an online store
2. # of new customers coming into your store

Who is my customer?

I'm always surprised when I ask prospective clients who their customer is and they say everyone. It's not everyone, you might take everyone's money, but that doesn't mean you should be working with everyone or that everyone will buy your product or service. Build a profile of your best customer: age, sex, likes, occupation etc.

Where is my customer active on social media?

There are several ways to find this out:

1. Ask them – this is the one that most of my online peers miss. Ask them in your store, ask them when you're meeting with them, email them if you have a list, but ask them.
2. On Facebook –
   • Go to advertising
   • Start an ad
   • Adjust the demographics to fit your demographics
   • Ask yourself if that's enough people

What does my customer want to know?

This will depend on your business. Bars need to let people know what specials, events and music they have coming up. Clothing stores should share sales, dressing tips, Real Estate agents can share tips for lowering your mortgage rate etc… You can also do some of the following to find out what they are interested in.

1. Ask them…
2. Search.Twitter.com – search based on your business type and keyword phrases
3. Do a Google search with the keyword phrases for your business – look for social media sites that could be a good fit
   • "Keyword phrase" blog
   • "Keyword phrase" forum
   • "keyword phrase" in video
   • "keyword phrase" in News

Feel free to ask any questions about planning in the comments below.