Social media has changed the world as we know it. How businesses capitalize on social media can enhance marketing efforts if utilized well. However, there is a catch. Isn't there always?

Businesses have been taught to believe social media is a good thing because it is free. As Mack Collier pointed out yesterday, social media isn't free. There is an ongoing misconception that businesses should adopt social media tactics because they are free. Sure, anybody on Facebook can go on and create a brand page -- but so what?

Like any other media, what you do with it means all the difference between success and failure. Some mistakenly label any kind of engagement in destinations like YouTube and Facebook as social media strategy. However, these are actually just places where people gather; they are tools - first and foremost.

Social Tools mean nothing unless they are used how each is intended; after all, no social tool is the same.

As a rule, we operate by the philosophy of never utilizing social media for the sake of it; doing so is counterproductive. Utilizing social tools requires the same thinking as any other marketing endeavor; it requires understanding:

• What you want to get out of it (objectives)
• What tools are best to meet these objectives (strategy)
• How you use each social tool effectively (tactics)
• Evaluating ongoing outcomes (measurement)
  
  

There is absolutely nothing in the above that suggests social media is free. Adopting and implementing anything from the web 2.0 landscape requires smart thinking that costs manpower. Granted, depending on what any business chooses to do with it could potentially cost less, but there is a cost.

Let's say one morning a brand manager wakes up with an idea to produce a YouTube video. Awesome! Now I challenge anyone to convince me it costs nothing to put that video on YouTube, or to develop the strategy of why it's up in the first place. The video loses meaning without a thoughtful plan behind how it can reach consumers, or what specific goals it can achieve.

Bottom line: You get what you pay for. If a business wants to create something meaningful, then it requires investment in resources - manpower and otherwise - to capitalize on the real ROI of social media.

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