by Mardy Sitzer

When it comes to Social Media you will hear me rant Strategy First but today I’d like to veer a bit of course and suggest Ready, Fire, Aim as a first step.

While I couldn’t agree more with Sun Tzu – “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”. This is for seasoned warriors or in our case – seasoned marketers.

Yes, you should have a clear strategy, you should have SMART goals, and yes, you should know what you are going to measure. You should even have some of your resources and content lined up before starting.

But, if you are a small business or solopreneur, or just getting your social media feet warmed up, then by all means – jump in head first.

Ready: Set up your accounts and complete your profiles. Don’t miss out on the biggies – make sure you set up a Facebook Page (different than a profile), a Twitter account, LinkedIn is a must and then head over to Google+ and get set up there as well. Make sure your website has links to your social media sites. Oh, and might as well go for it now while you can – set up Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, Digg, Stumbleupon, and others that you heard about.

Fire: Start reaching out and connecting to people you already know. Friends, family, colleagues, clients, vendors, even prospects. Say ‘hey – just jumping in – care to offer any tips?” Then start practicing some Kung-Fu RTs (those are Twitter Retweets) and Facebook shares; try a little Ju-Jitsu photo posting and throw in a few Sharp Shooter style connections to some pros in your field. Keep a keen eye on your surroundings and do some reconnaissance to find out what’s trending and what the competition is up to out there.

Aim: Okay now that you have your Kung-Fu and Ju-Jitsu moves going and your recon missions are starting to provide some solid intel – it’s time to sit down and get serious.

1. Start with a set of specific goals that are business outcomes.

2. Establish what can be measured and gather the baseline data to measure against.

3. Define the marketing strategy.

4. Identify the channels where you will be marketing.

5. Identify the metrics that will be used for each channel.

6. Identify how and where you will collect the data.

7. Set a realistic time frame to run your campaigns and programs.

8. Establish regular reporting intervals to review progress and ascertain if adjustments are needed.

9. With PPC, there are more data points beyond views and clicks. You can track and measure conversions. With simple code snippets from Google AdWords, you can track if visitors from your ads either made a purchase or filled out a form.

So what ever you do – just do something. Don’t wait for social media to pass – it isn’t going to go away. If you wait, then a lot of business – and your competitors will just pass you by.

Mardy Sitzer is founder of Bumblebee Design and Marketing, which brings smart ideas to life with great design, superior content and delivered with technical know-how. We create the buzz you can bank on with print and digital – our team delivers consistent marketing and communications solutions.