As with all areas of your business, you want to approach social media marketing strategically. If you fail to move forward with a well-defined plan of attack, you won't get the results you want, and you might even do more harm than good.

Just as people judge your company based on your Web site's level of professionalism and quality, your potential customers will also judge your brand based on how you handle your social media efforts.

If you take a haphazard approach, people just might get the impression that you apply that low degree of focus to all areas of your business. You need to have an effective social media strategy. This is how to build it.