It’s big, it’s powerful and it’s changing the way the business world communicates. Social media, it’s unavoidable. Everyman and his laptop are jumping on the social media bandwagon but without strategic planning it can all go horribly wrong.

Earlier this year UK homewares store, Habitat, reportedly put an intern in charge of Twitter postings. The intern used phrases related to the Iranian elections to boost Habitat’s mailing list. After the postings, the campaign spiralled out of control and Habitat found itself the subject of a Twitter witch hunt and the focus of embarrassing mainstream media attention.

“Whilst social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, provide an excellent platform for businesses, without a strategic plan or an appreciation for the power of social media, businesses could be doing themselves more harm than good – as is the case with Habitat,” said Philip van Zyl of Get Social Media.

Philip van Zyl helps small businesses and individual brands understand how social media can help achieve business goals.

“It’s no longer a question of whether social media is going to be pivotal for successful business marketing. Your customers are speaking about your company, your brand and your services right now. The real question is: are you going to join in the conversation or simply watch it unfold? Social media is enabling these conversations and the sooner you start including it in your marketing plan the better your chances of not being left behind,” said van Zyl.

Philip has recently produced a free ten step social media guide, available at getsocialmedia.net. The 40 page guide explains the ins and outs of social media, minus the social media gobbledygook. The guide includes a roadmap workbook so business owners can complete and customise their own social media strategy.

According to The Get Social Media guide there are three basic principals:
1. Have clear business goals – without them nothing you do online or offline will help you realise them
2. Have a call-to-action on your “main site.” A main site can be a company website or blog. With no call to action on the main site there’s no reason for people to engage with your business
3. Social media sites are feeders to your main site – engage in social media with this in mind

One brand that does social media very well is Wholefoods. In 2008 Wholefoods reinvented its online presence. The business goal was to project a better sense of what Wholefoods stands for by communicating directly with their customers. Wholefoods uses sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr to communicate and encourage customers to visit the Wholefoods website.  Each time a customer is drawn to the main site they are encouraged to perform an action – i.e. “checkout our website and find out more about your local store specials.”

“Wholefoods is just one of the many companies that have reaped the benefits of a successful social media campaign. I hope my free guide inspires companies to become more involved with social media and helps them to become just as successful,” said van Zyl.

A free copy of the Get Social Media Guide can be downloaded at getsocialmedia.net.