Are you doing it right or just doing it?

Are you using Facebook for your business? What about LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare or YouTube? 2010 was the year brands joined social media sites en mass. Some strategized and dove into the conversation with a strategic plan to create buzz and conversation. Others just jumped in.

Still feel like you’re company’s dog paddling when you should be swimming?

IBM and McDonalds are still floundering for safety when it comes to conversations on Facebook or Twitter, says Forbes Magazine. A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm recently assessed the Facebook presence of the world’s top 50 brands and released a white paper outlining their results.

From Forbes Magazine: “Five of the top 45 companies on Interbrand’s list had no Facebook presence and seven others—namely Disney, Gucci, McDonald’s, Louis Vuitton, American Express and Sony—allow only for “company-initiated conversations,” meaning consumers can read, but not chime in the dialogue.”

The social media flounder

So why don’t they get social media? Forbes Magazine makes a couple of good points but the answer is simple. Social media is social. It’s a conversation, not a broadcast tool. If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, you’re supposed to be conversing with others – not broadcasting marketing messages or controlling who says what.

Larger companies like those in the top 50 of the world, tend to hire slick marketing firms with big budgets, powered by marketers who’ve been well schooled in traditional PR. But social media is anything but traditional. Sure, it’s strategic and planned and a budget is needed, but it’s more about the art of the conversation – that’s where the magic happens.

Swimming with the current

Companies that invest in the conversation and understand that the conversation happens 24/7 with both positive and negative in the mix, reap the rewards. But you have to know where your target market lives and how to talk to them. Soulja Boy has 2.5 million Twitter followers but the release of his newest album, “The DeAndra Way,” landed an abysmal 90^th place on the billboard 200. Ouch.

From Fast Company Magazine: “There are a number of things to think about. First, as Billboard.biz points out “Soulja Boy is very much a singles artist,” so expecting huge numbers of albums to sell isn’t necessarily the right thing–although the album did sell less than the previous one, at first. Twitter may not be the right promotional vehicle for pushing album sales. The timing for the launch may have been off, due to market conditions. Twitter may have been flooded that week with tweets to do with global events, meaning promotional tweets got lost in the flow. There could’ve been any number of reasons–including the fact that the new album simply may not be as good as the earlier release–why the Twitter campaign didn’t work.”

Knowing where to find your tribe is important but so is knowing how to talk to them and what to offer in exchange for their loyalty. Twitter and Facebook are tools to help you get closer to your target market – they aren’t a free pass to the end of the rainbow.

Plan your plan

If you’re struggling with social media, start with strategy. Define what your goals are (sales, community, etc.) and then plan out your approach. Look at your risks and your opportunities and ensure every step in your plan adheres to your end goal.

And then work on execution. If you’re a small company, creating an in-house expert may be your most cost-effective option, but choose wisely. Your social media representative needs training and input from everyone in the company. This is a team effort and the more players you bring into the mix, the more vibrant your community will be.

And don’t be afraid to steal ideas and make them your own. Groupon, an online group-buying service, has their editorial training manual online. It won’t help you with what to tweet, but it will help with finding the right voice and tone.

Of course, the best learning comes from watching and chatting with others you think are doing it well. If 2010 was the year to jump into social media, let’s make 2011 the year to do it better.

Got social media questions? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn – I’m always on.