[tweetmeme] Don’t be fooled by the all time high of Social Media Hype.  Coming from the tech world of Solution Based Selling I can see how easy it is to rush into using Social Media platforms before strategically building a Digital Strategy (aka Shiny Object Syndrome). Of course you need a Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr page for your company … right? I get it.. you might assume that by jumping on the Social Media bandwagon you will drive a good amount of traffic to your site… That’s not realistic unless you put a strategy in place first.  SXSW Interactive and Blogworld opened some eyes to a new breed of “Social Media Agencies” and “Social Media Experts” who primarily speak and consult about what they are doing for clients on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.  Typically these “Experts” have a Tech, PR, or traditional marketing background which led me to the question a few things… Have these “Experts” ever run a successful business before? Do they even understand fundamental business processes? It seems so often that “Social Media People” talk up the Social Media Fluff but lack a understanding in key business principles and objectives.  Our Digital and Social Strategy always starts with Forrester’s POST Methodology.

P is People. Don’t start a social strategy until you know the capabilities of your audience. If you’re targeting college students, use social networks. If you’re reaching out business travelers, consider ratings and reviews. Forrester has great  data to help with this, but you can make some estimates on your own. Just don’t start without thinking about it.

O is objectives. Pick one. Are you starting an application to listen to your customers, or to talk with them? To support them, or to energize your best customers to evangelize others? Or are you trying to collaborate with them? Decide on your objective before you decide on a technology. Then figure out how you will measure it.

S is Strategy. Strategy here means figuring out what will be different after you’re done. Do you want a closer, two-way relationship with your best customers? Do you want to get people talking about your products? Do you want a permanent focus group for testing product ideas and generating new ones? Imagine you succeed. How will things be different afterwards? Imagine the endpoint and you’ll know where to begin.

T is Technology. A community. A wiki. A blog or a hundred blogs. Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy, then you can decide with confidence.

(Thanks to Jeff Bernoff of Forrester’s Groundswell Blog)

I tend surround myself with business and thought leaders, along with a great mix of Digital Strategy Rockstars. These business leaders and Rockstars leverage Social Media to help grow both their business and their clients businesses.  At the same time I run into daily “Social Media People” that talk all about “Social Media Stuff” and don’t understand business principles behind their message. So before you go out and build a Facebook fan page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account, make sure you know where your audience is and have clear defined objectives. That way when you start diving into your strategy you be able to leverage the right technology to help your business grow.

If you are like most other companies you are looking to find a way to promote your product/service/campaign in order to turn your web presence into a revenue-making machine. The fact is there are tons of Social Networking sites out there.. Leveraging the proper Social Media Marketing techniques and space though is the trick. As you can see by looking at  Brian Solis’s Conversation Prism above there are many outlets you can leverage that can help you drive more traffic and gain natural search engine optimization. Find out how BuzzShift can help drive quality traffic and conversions by signing up to receive our Free Site Assessment.

BuzzShift is an Online PR and Social Media Agency.  Much of what we do is Content Creation, Content Optimization, SEO and Social Media Tactics.  We don’t follow trends but as much as staying in the Pulse of what is going on “Now”. BuzzShift uses a variety of Rockstar quality marketing techniques to help you influence and engage people.

What are we good at?

Indentifying, Engaging, and Influencing Online Conversations.

How do we do it?

How else, other than our Tasty Bag of Tricks:  Using Social Media Intelligence, we identify and monitor the influencial communities that you need to be a part of. Our job then is to encourage them to do the things that you want them to do by engaging the right people. Causing them to fall head over heals in love with your product or cause. This is what we call Generating Effective and Measurable Online Buzz.