Your social media campaign should be guided by solid business goals, just like your company.  This will ensure that everything you do in social media provides a direct return on investment to your business.  What is surprising is that only two goals (Search Engine Rankings and gaining more Visibility) make the list for most entrepreneurs.

What is equally as important is the ability to grow your business through partnerships, elevating your brand or expert reputation and creating your own marketing annuities through social media.  When has marketing ever been an annuity?  But blog readers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. are all opportunities to create a communications/relationship channel into the marketplace.  And your own channel will last a lot longer than any traditional marketing, unless you have a ton of money to keep the traditional marketing alive over time.

Social Media Business Objectives

Dabbling here and there without a holistic approach to social media marketing and how to use keywords strategies, SEO, blogging, micro-blogging, social communities, networks, online reviews and ratings, profiles and more is what makes no sense.  Dabbling will also guarantee frustration and a very moderate return on your efforts.  What ever you do, have a plan.  If you don’t have a social media game plan, then find someone who can help you.  It is easy to waste hours of precious time and get little return, and your time is worth more than that.  As it stands now, the missed opportunities are your goldmine waiting to be discovered.