I imagine most people react to the video above in three ways: you laugh at it, you are offended by it, or you don’t get it.

In case you didn’t get it, the video is satirical (it took me a minute to understand too).

But The Onion makes a good point in the video. Too often, companies create social media accounts because other companies have them and social media seems like the popular thing to do. This “everyone else is doing it” attitude might get you a few likes or tweets here and there, but does it really further your brand?

“And remember, any teenager could have done what we did for no money. And much faster.”

You don’t necessarily need to spend a bunch of money on social media but it does require a clear strategy and a bit of time. Here are my steps to put together your social media plan:

1. Ask yourself,  “who is my audience?” If you’re a B2B company then maybe your audience is clients seeking more information. If you’re a student, it could be a companies you aspire to work for.

2. Determine the audience needs. What do they care about? Where do they work, meet and play? They key to this is listening to your audience before you do any talking.

3. Develop your objectives that accomplish your goals and meet your audiences’ needs. The intersection of your goals and their needs is the most important factor. Don’t rush on hitting these objectives.

4. Develop and post content that your audience will genuinely care about. Don’t just put words into the digisphere. Develop brilliant opinions. Post creative solutions. Help people help themselves. Establish yourself as a thought leader through your social medium.

The witty video I posted at the beginning of this post is wrong; we can have original ideas. But original ideas always seem to manifest themselves when you have a clear direction to go.