This article will be about the big picture that is often missed by many social media ‘followers’.

What are the basic objectives of any effective social media campaign?

I have come up with the following THREE “MUST HAVES” for success:

1.  An efficient website design. Social media gurus can talk all day about Facebook and Twitter but the most important, sometimes overlooked factor is, THE WEBSITE.  Getting a lot of traffic to a website does not put gas in the car – SALES DO!  If a website is not appealing, confusing, or unprofessional a user will not give you a sale, regardless of how many thousands arrive at the site.

2.  Complete profiles on social media websites.  It is not OK to start your profile, forget about it for a while, and never finish the profile.  Is that a sign of your work ethic? (btw, I found this out by accident because I have been slacking on LinkedIn.  I have been busy and have taken a few verbal beatings for not practicing what I preach.  Side note: my LinkedIn will get finished but this is an example of not enough time in the day, not laziness)

3.  Training, training, training!  I can not stress this enough, I tell my clients that they are stepping into an interactive marketing campaign and if they are unable to put the time into it then they need to hire someone (like me ) to do the job.  Once the can of worms has been open, it can not be undone and a bad web presence is a major turnoff.   That being said:

• If you are in the process of hiring a social media marketer, you will want to ensure that initial training is provided AND ongoing training will be available on an as needed basis.
• If the site will be company run, web presence consults should occur frequently to ensure the newest marketing trends are being utilized.  In this industry the air is always shifting and it is easy to get left behind.
• If you choose to hire a marketer – please use due diligence, interview, and call references.  It is sadly and industry that has gotten publicity for fly by night companies.

Now that I have spoke about my very general ‘Must Haves’  for success – What would you choose as your three most important objectives of an effective social media campaign?

AND next week I will discuss what I believe are the 3 general GOALS of any social media campaign and look at various ways to ‘quantify’ social media outcomes.  Look forward to it, until then, lets see what you think!