At this point, social media is a given. As in, if you have a business, you better be thinking about it. And in the business world, when you think about things, you can call it a strategy.

A strategy is a puffed-up word for a plan of action. And if you have a plan of action, you are that much more likely to act on it. Something that many folks thinking about media simply fail to do.

So what I want you to think about is this: you don't need a social media strategy. You need a BRAND strategy for using social media.

Here's what I mean:

Social Media Strategy: use Facebook and Twitter for your business.

Brand Strategy for Social Media: use Facebook to talk about upcoming events, special deals, ask questions. Use Twitter to alert customers to breaking news, thank them or share links to great stuff.

This brand strategy isn't the one you need, but it's an example of how a brand strategy is more in depth than just a social media strategy. Think about the channels. How will you use them? Who do you want to talk to? All these inform your plan of action. I mean, strategy. Well... you understand.