Social media marketing is steadily increasing, and marketers are beginning to see opportunities to generate quality leads and position themselves as thought leaders in their industries.

Before you begin using any type of social media tools to communicate with people, you need a plan. You need a strategy. There are some basic questions you need answer BEFORE incorporating social media into your overall communication plan.

What are you after?

• Thought leadership?
• Buzz?
• Lead generation?
• Awareness?

Can you write your social media goal in one sentence?

• "Anything that creates positive lasting memory is customer service." â€" Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO
• "Humanize the Ford brand and but customers in touch with Ford employees." â€" Scott Monty, Ford Motor Co.
• "Instill trust in the brand, and highlight the people behind the brand are parents too." â€" Lindsay Lebresco, Graco

It's important to note, your goal sets the stage to write actionable and measurable objective. Answering this question is much like setting a beacon of light in your midst for all others to follow.

How will you know if your social media efforts work?

• Set measurable objectives.
• Choose the right evaluation tools based on your objectives.

By the way, most data can be analyzed with a spreadsheet and presented in nice little graphs. But for better tracking, consider listening platforms such as Radian6 and SM2.

Who's responsible for social media engagement?

This can be a touchy question to answer, and it is likely to start turf wars in your organization. But it doesn't have to. Who manages social engagement is not a difficult choice if the goal is clear.

What's in it for your customers, stakeholders, etc.?

This is an important question to answer, because marketing communications is about the people most important to your organization. And, unfortunately, my friend, it ain't you. Since the advent of social media communication strategy has shifted to be more "other-oriented." What does that mean, though?

Being other-oriented is a broad topic. Think of your social media strategy as a social decentering exercise for your organization. Social decentering is taking account of your customers thoughts, feelings, values, background, and perceptions. Social decentered social media strategy is developing and communicating solutions that touch their thoughts, feelings, values, and that enhances their background and strengthens perception.

Again, all this is guided by your goal.