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As social media continues to be become an integral marketing tool companies are looking for new and creative ways to utilize these channels to interact with their customers. For those companies yet to take the plunge into the world of social the abundance of social media channels can be overwhelming. So where do you get started? How do you “jump-in?”

Andy Sernovitz takes a look at case study by Joyce Munoz on how her company got their social media program off the ground in his SmartBlog article, “Andy’s Answers: How Avery Dennison got started in social media.”  Sernovitz touched on 3 “big ideas” from Joyce’s presentation that helped their campaign garner early success despite being new to the game and not being a traditionally “sexy” company:

• Find internal social media evangelists
• Just launch
• Keep it simple

Although I think Munoz makes some excellent points, companies need to be careful about “just launching.” Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you should dive in head first. It is important for companies to develop a social media strategy before jumping-in:

1. first examine who your audience is,
2. what their intentions are
3. and where they are consuming content.

Too often brands jump into the social media realm blindly, which leads to a poorly executed campaign that can actually degrade the brand. At some point you will need to “just launch”, but make sure you are informed before you do.  

Even after you have indentified the right approach to take to start a successful social media campaign it can still be difficult to get the decision makers at your company to buy off on it. Rob Birgfeld discusses a list of tips to sell the executives on social media and develop a companywide social media-plan in his SmartBlog article, “5 Steps to Building a Companywide Social-Media Plan”, which include:

• Start small and test
• Record victories
• Communicate
• Assemble an interdepartmental team
• Produce

It is important to measure the effectiveness and keep a record of the social media channels you utilize to show decision-makers what works and what doesn’t.  This will help them  feel more comfortable that you have gathered the knowledge to help the company succeed in the world of social. In the end you still need to “produce”; if the campaigns aren’t successful the plug will be pulled and the executives will be very hesitant of social media in the future.

Your customers are already in the digital realm: on the Web, connecting via social networks, and using their smart phones, so it is important you are there also. Just remember with so many different channels it is important you understand where your audience is, so you can engage them through the most effective channels. Are you where your customers are?