Brett’s note: this guest post is by none other than the great Jen Fong. If you’re into social media, you need to be following Jen. If you’re in the direct sales industry, you need to be following her. If you do both, like many of you do, you are obligated to check her out immediately. Jen and I got to meet at the DSA Internet Marketing Seminar in December. As we softly cracked jokes during one of the presentations, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit. I thank her for passing along this excellent post. If you’re interested in guest posting, check out the extremely lax requirements.

I recently attended a social media conference where a fairly large company shared its Facebook Page as a case study. They had obviously spent decent money with an agency to design custom tabs and an application that allowed users to interact with its products (or at least images of its products.)  It really was a very nice Facebook Page…very pretty.  Had a lot of potential to be engaging.

So then someone in the audience raised their hand and asked the obvious follow-up question: “So how’s it working for you? What results have you seen?”

Blank stares.  Deer in headlights.  Absolutely no idea at all.

And that, friends, is a fail.  A big time fail.  It doesn’t matter how well designed your Facebook Page or other social media tool is.  If you don’t have a strategy behind it, and a way to measure the results, then it’s my opinion that you’re wasting your time and money.

So how do you create a social media strategy?  Isn’t that just for big companies with big social media departments and lots of cash?  Nope.  A social media strategy is just as important for the solopreneur as it is for the company with the big department.  And the principles behind creating a strategy are the same.  It boils down to these questions:

WHAT do you want to accomplish?

What are your goals for social media, and where does that fit into your larger marketing goals?  Is it increased sales?  Increased brand awareness?  More reorders from existing customers?  Figure out what you want before you do anything else.  This will help you identify those metrics that you’ll measure in order to determine the success of your efforts.

WHO do you want to reach?

You need to have a very clear understanding of the demographic you wish to reach in order to achieve your goals.  I typically find that people are entirely too broad when it comes to defining their target market (I’ve even had the answer, “everyone with a pulse”), and this is a mistake.  Why?  Because, for example, the way you are going to market skin care to a 20 year old is completely different from the way you market to a 60 year old.  They have different needs.  And the content you provide as part of your marketing campaign needs to be consistently relevant to the market you select.  So choose.

WHEN do you have time to use social media?

Social media requires you to interact daily with your target market.  And that means that you need to be willing to set aside time every day to engage.  You can’t just set up your profiles and walk away.  Your community needs to be nurtured.  So figure out how much time you can dedicate daily.  This will help you decide where your efforts will best be spent.   For example, if you’ve only got 20 minutes per day, perhaps you want to focus on just one tool, such as a Facebook Page.  If you can allot an hour daily, maybe you can add a blog and Twitter to the mix.  By defining the time you can spend up front, and then scheduling it daily, you’ll be a lot more strategic when you’re actually using the social media tools you’ve selected.  Instead of just using the tools all of your competitors are using, you’re spending time on the tool(s) that best meet(s) YOUR goals.

WHERE can I find my target market online?

Once you understand your market, then you can find them online.  Many people start with Facebook just because there are so gosh darn many people there.  Chances are, among the 400 million or so people, there’s someone interested in what you have to offer.  But also think about each tool from a user standpoint…there may be specific social media platform, even niche-specific ones, that have a high percentage of users that may be looking for exactly what you have to offer.  By understanding your market, and the tools they use (do some research!), you have a better chance of success with your social media marketing strategy.

HOW will I share information my target market will value?

Finally, you need to decide what you’re going to do to achieve your goals using the social media tools you’ve selected.  I advise business owners to make a list.  For example: Make a friend list on Facebook for all existing customers, invite them to join me on Facebook, and comment on at least 5-10 updates from this list daily.  Set up a customer group or Page where I’ll share tips on using my products, list special offers, create games, and in other ways promote engagement: post at least 2 times daily to the Group or Page.  By writing down what you will do ahead of time, you will be more productive and strategic during the social media marketing time that you’ve scheduled.  Rather than sitting there trying to decide what to do (and getting pulled off in a million directions, which can easily happen with social media) you are instead using your time wisely, and strategically.

By starting with a plan, you then have the data you need to measure your social media efforts, and decide whether or not they’re working for you.  You can make sure the measurement tools are in place to support your ability to measure the metrics you’ve defined. (I can’t tell you the number of companies I’ve worked with who don’t even have effective Google Analytics in place to track a sale from point of origin to final conversion.)

The amount of time social media can soak up, if not used strategically, can cost your business more than you can afford to lose.  Set up your strategic plan first, so every moment spent brings value to your organization.

Your thoughts?

Jennifer Fong is a social media speaker and consultant who teaches direct selling companies and independent business owners how to use social media effectively as a business building tool. A former direct sales company CEO, Jennifer combines her expertise in direct sales with her passion for social media marketing to provide direct sellers with the knowledge they need to put social media to work for their businesses in a strategic and profitable way.  Jennifer blogs about social media for business at http://www.jenfongspeaks.com.  You can also find her on Twitter at @JenFongSpeaks.