Don’t just Set it and Forget it.

Great article on openforum.com: 4 Myths about social Media Business by Leah Betancout. I loved Myth #2: Set It and Forget It.

With great anticipation, businesses set up a blog, twitter and facebook  and think that it will just all happen for them.  It won’t without regular posting, cross promotion between social media sites and monitoring.  No-one will want to venture to your blog if it never changes. It all takes maintenance, not just end of the day quick post stuff, but thought and time about what your business wants to say and promote.

Myth #2: Set It and Forget It.

Don’t expect a case of build it and they will come. Warren Sukernek, partner and vice president of strategies at Lift9, compared it to building a brick-and-mortar store and not putting a sign on the outside.

“You’ve got to promote it,” he said.

Cross promote your web site with the pages you set up on social media sites. Sukernek advised integrating these social media sites into your business’ offline activities. For example, a retailer should list their fan page URL and Twitter name along with its company’s web site.

Time spent on social media efforts depends on the type of business and the goals involved, according to Sukernek. Goals should be distilled down to revenue and key performance metrics.

“Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Set some reasonable, manageable objectives,” he said.