Lee Odden asked this interesting question of several dozen social media insiders.  Their answers make up his latest blog post, which you can find here:

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/04/social-media-strategy-tactics/

The overwhelming majority said “Of course you need strategy first.” But Guy Kawasaki had a different answer.  He said,

“Get more followers, make them happy, promote your stuff to them once in a while.  That’s all you need to know about strategy right now.”

What’s most interesting to me about his statement is that it reveals perspective.  For someone like him – the big Apple corporate evangelist – “planning a strategy” could be a year-long process in his world.

But for small business owners or anyone with a limited base of technology resources, his simple advice of  “Get more followers, make them happy, promote your stuff,” can seem daunting.

If you set out to “get more followers” would you know the first step to take?  Or does the thought of figuring out the first step give you a headache and cause you to look for the next item on your to-do list?  Doesn’t it feel much more reassuring to get someone who knows the ropes to develop a simple strategy for you?

(By the way, throwing a few hundred bucks every month at some VA to post tweets for you does NOT count as “developing a simple strategy.” That’s the worst example of tactics without a strategy.)

I agree that spending months of time or thousands of dollars on simply “creating a plan” is overkill with your social media efforts, no matter who you are or what size your business.  By the time your 3-month analysis and write-up is complete, the market will have shifted beyond recognition.  Again.

But that’s exactly the same reason why most business owners do themselves a tremendous disservice when they attempt to do their social media themselves – or hire an assistant to manage it for them. You’re in business to do your business – not to stay on top of every twist in the marketing landscape, and figure out how to capitalize on every new opportunity.

Do yourself a favor and find yourself someone who knows marketing and who also knows social media and have them help you with your strategy before spending a penny on your tactics.

Someone like me, for instance. Email me at JuliaKlinePersonal@gmail.com to continue the conversation.