Social media has become part of many people's everyday lives: Facebook-ing friends when we’re supposed to be working; watching YouTube instead of Coronation Street; and Twitter-ing - if you’re not now, you soon will be - with people we’ve never even met. But what about social media as part of a corporate marketing strategy? Can companies be social in this sense?

The answer is yes, most definitely! Here are a few things to consider as you embark on your campaign...

Marketing managers need consider what they want to achieve with a social media strategy. If clear objectives aren't set the campaign will easily lose focus (like any good marketing campaign you will need to set out metrics to measure your success).

Next, think about your audience. Are they active in social media, even Internet literate? If not this doesn’t necessarily mean they never will be, but keep in mind the channels within social media that will be most appropriate. You should not rule any demographic out. If you are certain that your end customers aren’t active within social media now and never will be, consider communicating with their key influencers: children, friends, and colleagues.

Now consider that well-known brands are often perceived as monolithic, impenetrable presences: a ‘thing’ rather than a ‘them’. With social media comes an opportunity for brands to communicate with customers on a more personal level, literally human to human. The human face of a brand is its employees, and it is important that brands empower (and trust) their employees to represent them online. Forrester Analyst Josh Bernhoff asserts that brands are wasting their time if they are not prepared to let their employees, rather than the brand, do the talking:

“Your customers and your prospects are connecting and talking about your products and your company right now... You need to be part of this conversation... You might start a blog... a Facebook group... But until you start connecting as a corporate employee, you won’t understand what is going on out there.”

Another way of putting it is: companies don’t blog, people do. It is difficult for brands to move away from wanting to control all corporate communication with the utmost diligence. But social media is about the moment; brevity is its defining feature. Status updates are changed hourly, blogs are hurriedly published with typos, comments left breathlessly without hesitation - the next day yesterday’s activity is on page 7, no longer important. In short, there simply isn't time for all comms to go through the usual sign off channels - so try and loosen the reins a little.

Authenticity is a key concept to be mindful of when it comes to brand engagement with your customers within the social media environment. People don’t want to hear ‘risk-avoidant lingoism’ (as one commenter recently put it), but instead real opinions and helpful advice from the experts, the employees! Be careful to keep alive the inherent spirit of authenticity and informality, or else your efforts will be less successful.

Lastly, remember that participation isn’t limited to ‘speaking’. Josh Bernhoff cites four other ways for companies to get involved with the conversations happening in social media: listening (finding out what your customers are really saying); energising (getting your best customers to evangelise your products); supporting (helping customers solve their own and each other's problems); and finally, embracing (working with your customers to make products better).