Social Media and Strategy

Question: "How should social media change our business goals?"

Answer: "They shouldn't."

The challenge with social media isn't about how to deploy shiny new tools throughout our organization, it's to understand how such tools can support and add value to existing business objectives.

Based on that philosophical framework, it's easy to see that spending time trying to figure out a MySpace strategy or how to influence customers with tweets on Twitter is heading down the wrong path.

The right path is the one that enhances trust and extends our thought leadership in the places where our customers are choosing to congregate online.

Sounds simple enough, yet therein lays the challenge.