Growing up my mom would ask me “If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?” Luckily, I typically had a 5 pronged response for what was needed to get me to jump of the bridge. There are 5 things to make sure are in place before jumping off the bridge into social media as well. You wouldn’t send a marketing email without some sort of plan and measurement in place first. Typically, you would have a reason and a goal for sending the email for sending it. The same thing needs to be true of social media.

Here are the five things you need before jumping off the social media bridge:

1. A reason –
   There needed to be a reason why I would contemplate jumping off a bridge. The same is true with social media. Why are you wanting to jump into social media? Are you wanting to build brand awareness? Increase engagement? Map your objectives against your overall marketing goals or business goals.
2. Enough water –
   There needs to be enough water at the bottom of the bridge. You wouldn’t jump head first into 3 feet of water. You also shouldn’t jump head first into a shallow audience base. Determine where your target audience is. They might be on Facebook. They could be on Twitter. Or they could be on a smaller niche network. Find your audience first and make sure there is enough there to make the jump.
3. Bungee cord –
   I know many still wouldn’t jump of the bridge with a bungee cord, but it’s the first part of the safety structure. This is your over arching social media strategy. The general approach you plan on taking to building and maintaining a social media presence as well as your goals.
4. Safety net –
   Just because you have a bungee cord doesn’t mean you should have a safety net. Your social media safety net is your measurements. Find the appropriate measurements for you goals. Not all goals will have the same measurements. And not all measurements will fit all your goals.
5. The Blob –
   Yes, you need to have “The Blob.” The blob represents flexibility. The strategy and execution of social media needs to be flexible. The world of social media is still evolving. Changes need to be made. A strategy created at the beginning of the year may be obsolete by June. Be willing and able to be flexible.

Like jumping off a bridge, it’s important to make sure you’re not going to kill yourself. You don’t have to jump off the highest bridge first. Start small. Perfect your safety on a smaller scale. Then tackle the higher bridges when you know there isn’t going to be a safety malfunction.

For you daredevils out there, this might be fun, but they also built in safety features: