I read a blog recently that talked about the critical importance of content and links and referred to them as the king and queen of social media.  While I agree wholeheartedly I think the ace that trumps everything else is strategy.

Many companies have a selection of white papers newsletters feature articles videos and other valuable information that potentially could be great content for a variety of social media platforms.  Unfortunately much of this content resides on the company website and is seldom used – it’s part of the deck of cards but doesn’t get reshuffled and played again.  Content is definitely the king but for the majority of B2B companies the king is in repose when it comes to social media.

Unfortunately again the same holds true of our fair damsel the queen.  While linking with existing key online groups and forming new social media groups is absolutely critical to social media success many companies don’t have a well-thought out strategy for accomplishing this.  Either they keep waiting to get into the game or they hedge their bets by starting off with too small of a wager i.e. having an intern start Tweeting or writing a blog.  Without a well thought out strategy of how to identify and link with the target audiences it’s usually not worth wasting your ante.  Having an array of random cards won’t win many hands certainly not the queen’s.

Creating a successful social media program requires developing a strategic marketing communications plan that clearly identifies the company’s goals and outlines how you will achieve those goals.  Although the tools and techniques of social media are relatively new the principles of creating and implementing a successful MarCom program are the same.  If you don’t have the expertise to develop a strategic plan you need to find a partner your ace in the hole who does.  The longer you wait to get in the game the more you lose.

When you deal in the Jack (ongoing monitoring and engaging) and the ten (ROI analytics) you end up with a straight  flush – an unbeatable hand.