Many businesses and organization of every size see that social media holds a lot of opportunity and thus must get in as quickly as they can.  Getting a quick start is great idea but careful planning will help  make your Social media initiative a success.  Here are some first step for your organizations dive into social media:

• Determine what social networks your target customer is using – While most people you speak with will say “you need to be on on Twitter” or “you need to be on facebook” the truth is you don’t need to be anywhere that is not going to help improve your business, and if you aren’t reaching customers then you are not improving your bottom line.
• Set Policy for Social Media use – After you know what social networks you want to be involved with you next need to decide who’s actually going to write the content and publish all the great stuff you want to share with the world.  Begin with the basics like who or whom will be manage the company’s social accounts (ie the official Twitter profile or facebook fan page).  You also will need to put together some policy for employees use of social media.  This will ensure that employees are representing the brand you have or are creating.
• Decide what you will be publishing – When entering the social media world you want to portray your organization as a leader in the industry.  You cannot do this by simply re-tweeting or putting links to other work.  You should decide how social media will highlight your organization’s ability and expertise.  This means you should look for content to publish that will highlight your firms work, causes, and or research.
• Stay consistent – After your initial push into social media you may lose some of the enthusiasm that started the initiative but it is important to stay an active member in ALL the communities you are involved with.  Social media users like to follow, friend, and like sources that provide information they find interesting on a regular basis.  If you can’t provide users with the information they want they will simply go elsewhere.