Okay, I admit it, I'm old school. In my office, every good plan begins at the white-board.

And the more complex the plan, the more colors are used.

Today's whiteboard session was about the integration of Social Media in to one of our largest events, the Premier Business Leadership Series which occurs October 26-28 in Vegas this year. Our primary social objectives are to broaden the experience of the event to those who are unable to attend, and engage the attendees who do.

Meg Crawford is a relatively new addition to our SAS Marketing team. Meg's role is Social Media Marketing, with an emphasis on our large events. Meg, myself and our event team have a vision to reach these objectives, and now we have a plan! We have clear roles and responsibilities for our staff attending the event, as well as those remaining at home. We have spelled out expectations for our speakers and thought leaders, as well as the sites where content will reside. We are excited to communicate our plan across the company.

I asked Meg to share some tips for success and thought I'd share her response.

Meg's top 5 social media planning tips:

1. Know your audience – It is not as simple as blindly blanketing the social media world with your message. Actively seek out your core audience and what tools they use, then provide useful, relevant information through those channels.
2. Know your resources – Find the champions within your organization who are the channels into the social media universe and utilize those people to support, enable, and create within those spaces.
3. Have clear, obtainable goals – set challenging but, reachable and measurable goals. How else will you know how far you have come and how far you can go?
4. Map out a content plan – Have a basic plan in place that schedules your content across your social media resources. Mind-mapping and editorial calendars are great tools to flesh out the many angles to approach your content, as well as, consolidate your resources
5. Measurement/Monitor – Analysis of your effort should always be part of your plan from the beginning. Keep in mind that the social media world is a two way street so, you should be just as focused on listening as you are on pushing your message. Additionally, you should have measurable parameters in place to gauge whether or not your campaign achieved its goals.
6. *Go to your nearest office supply store and pick yourself up a whiteboard. Multi-colored markers optional but, recommended.

I know Meg added that last one just for me, and it's good to know we are on the same page.

So this is what's working for us. Identify objectives up front and create a plan to reach those objectives. Bake in the measurements of success, then try, test and adjust.

Are you going about social media integration in a similar way?