Social Media is not a single activity, it's a process.  And as such, it undergoes sequential stages.  If you're contemplating a Social Media Program, here's an interesting article about how to implement it.

Click on the title to access the entrie article.

Five Stages of Social Media

by Janet Lee Johnson

“We need to start by recognizing that social media marketing is not free.

“BusinessWeek, in their excellent February article called Debunking Six Social Media Myths, exposed this brilliantly as Myth #1, and stated that $50,000 is a beginning point for a two- to three-month social media campaign. In my experience, I believe that's about right. In spite of the free tools out there, every brand needs a strategic approach to social media in order to gain any traction.

“In my experience, a strategic approach to social media success takes five phases:

“Phase 1 - Discovery
In this phase, we explore three variables:

1. People: Who are your prospects and customers, and how do they feel about your brand, service and products? Are they talking about you online? If so, what is your online reputation? (Positive, negative, neutral?)
2. Competition: What are your competitors doing online? Where can we leapfrog them? What is their online reputation?
3. Spiders: How easy is it for you to be found by an average searcher who may be searching for your products online? (Keywords, site optimization, Search Engine Optimization [SEO], etc. come into play here.)”