One might think that it takes 3-4 full-time employees and hundreds of thousands of consulting hours to take your company into the social marketing/media scene…well depending on the size of your company you may very well be right. In the case of most small to medium sized businesses and even the odd large corporate; you can start small and then work your way up.

Step One: You first need to know your consumer. Who they are, how they buy, what they want and how you are already fitting their needs. Most companies should already have this information being concentrated in traditional marketing and sales forecasts for new products or services. The information here will help discover what social markets and platforms are best suited for your current clients AND new ones since this is what marketing is all about.

Step Two: Your company has a marketing department, or person, and this will likely be the person who will be responsible for updates and stats on these social media networks and platforms. It would be at this stage if not before to make sure this individual has interactive digital experience or start to get some time in this area. Once you need to see how things are working and not just planning for them to work for you that is a whole other ball game to understand. That said, someone who knows and understands other marketing and advertising methods of the company PLUS the social marketing is gold.

Step Three: Before you hire an outside consultant (detailed below) make sure you get your internal team set and talking BEFORE you bring in your consultant. If everyone understands what is needed, what is wanted and what the message needs to be and are all on the same page it makes it all that easier moving forward. If you don’t have this sorted, your consultant could take you through this step but of course it will be added to the overall price and could be costly to the overall project expense. *This is a small yet important step and could be as easy as a couple hours of internal meetings, however it will save time and money down the road and ensure your company gets what they wanted in the end.

Step Four: The next step would be to get a socially connected or I guess you can say social media expert consultant to help you plan with your internal team(s) what development will take place using the information you have collected as a team. If you make more then one person at your company be responsible for this leap, the better chance you hitting the nail on the head.

And remember, it is not a science or are you re-inventing the wheel. You are though using your current marketing methods in a more interactive way and at a rapid rate with real time results. Can it get any better?