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In fact, small and medium size businesses expect to spend nearly as much on social media as they do on search engine marketing.

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Some people think that a good minimal website is that which has few design elements as possible.  While others believe that the number of elements is not the key, but rather the way they are putted together. There is also some that don’t consider colorful sites as examples of minimalism because they believe that colors distract the viewer and take away the minimalist effect – the old cliche, less is more.

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2012 and the launch of kickr.biz signifies a renewed vigour and a recognition that the web is changing, and for the better.

Its no longer enough to inform, you will have to engage.

1. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking for more leads, more direct sales, greater brand awareness, conversions, or brand engagement? Understanding what you’re trying to actually do with your social media presence should be the first step in developing a social media strategy.
2. Why social media? Do you want to build stronger relationships with customers and prospects? Tap into online word-of-mouth channels? Demonstrate that you’re down with the kids? You have a niche audience that’s difficult to reach otherwise? The best way to avoid recklessly jumping on the bandwagon is to examine why the wagon is the best way to get where you’re going before you hop on. Ask yourself: is spending money on social media going to provide better ROI than other forms of advertising you could be spending money on?
3. What kind of social media will help you best achieve our goals? Do you need to utilize social networking sites, blogs, real-time updates (e.g., Twitter), social news sites, media-sharing sites, review/directory sites, virtual worlds, or display ads on social media sites? In some respects, talking about a social media presence is like talking about having an advertising presence: you must specify what you’re doing and where you’re going to place it. Examine the characteristics of the type of social media you want to have a presence on and how those characteristics fit what you’re trying to accomplish to help choose the ones that will work best for you.
4. Are you prepared to let go of control of our brand, at least a little? You can’t participate in social media without being…well…social. And that means engaging in a conversation with customers. Once you engage in a conversation, you have to give up control. Is your company willing to do that?
5. What will you do to encourage participation? There’s nothing more embarrassing than going to a corporate YouTube channel and seeing that the viral video it spent tons of money making has just 127 views. Ditto for going to a company’s Twitter feed and seeing that it has all of 11 followers.

What are you planning to do to drive people to your social media presence? And do you have the money to do it?

1. Who will maintain your social media presence? Participating in social media takes a lot of work. You must have something to say and you must have someone to say it on a regular basis. It won’t happen unless it becomes part of someone’s job. Do you have someone ready to commit a big chunk of time to maintaining your social media presence?
2. Do you have the resources to keep this up, or will this be a short campaign? Similarly, unless you specify that what you’re doing has a limited duration (such as a Twitter feed based on a particular conference), people will expect you to keep it up. Have you budgeted the resources to continue your social media presence beyond the fiscal year?
3. How does engaging users via social media integrate into your overall marketing/communications strategy? None of this stuff exists in a vacuum. It has to be part of a larger marketing/communications strategy. How does social media fit into what you’re trying to do in all your other channels, and how will you use those channels to support each other?
4. How do we measure success? What constitutes failure? Are you measuring views, followers, comments, or subscribers? What’s the threshold for your success metrics that takes them into success territory?

Drive traffic, gather data, connect, measure.

1. What will we do less of if we’re spending resources on social media? Chances are you have limited budget (if not, could you contact me immediately?). If you spend more money on social media and other nontraditional forms of marketing, you have to spend less on something else. How will your overall goals be impacted by taking money away from other forms of advertising/marketing and moving it into social media?

Credit: Sincerest thanks got to Sean Carton for the 10 steps.

Sean Carton has recently been appointed to develop the Center for Digital Communication, Commerce, and Culture at the University of Baltimore and is chief creative officer at idfive in Baltimore. He was formerly the dean of Philadelphia University’s School of Design + Media and chief experience officer at Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc.

Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider real value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.