Greg Verdino recently wrote a smart, meaty post called The social media deadzone: why only tools focus on tools. His point is that we need to put strategy before social tools (some of which may not even exist in 12 months) to achieve objectives. While I mostly agree with Greg, there are situations when it's advantageous to say, "ready, fire, aim." Sometimes in social media, being tool-focused can work to your advantage.
1. When you're a total social media newbie: this is the best time to go ahead and be a tool because it gets you excited about social media and motivated to develop a strategy. Sure, you're bound make some mistakes. But people are more forgiving of rookie errors and at least you'll get to know the lay of the land. And if you're a local business, it's possible you're not even popping up in local listings and reviews on Google, Bing, Yahoo or Yelp, so it's worth your time to get the ball rolling with those even if the strategy is not yet in place. You'll also want to reserve your preferred username across several popular social tools before someone else does.
2. When you have to experience it to get it: some social tools you have to dive into before you really understand their potential. In fact, a tool such as Twitter could actually alter your PR, customer service or sales strategy when you see how powerful it is. Once you do get it and understand the rules of engagement, it's much easier to be strategic about it.
3. When you're a victim of paralysis by analysis: the constant stream of voices (mine included) offering social media insights and advice can get a little overwhelming. Too much analysis can lead to paralysis. And when you overthink this whole social media thing, you could start to question your strategy or take yourself too seriously. That's when it's time to turn off your analytic mind and just use the tools in front of you. Get involved, try new stuff and have some fun with it instead. Ironically, doing so is likely to feed right into your strategy.
Do you agree? Can you think of other times where it pays to be tool-focused in social media?
