An action plan designed to achieve a long-term or overall goal - this is how the Oxford Dictionary defines strategy. Simple and perfect! Every marketing medium and media vehicle chosen by the brand must fit perfectly into its overall strategy. TV, print, radio, internet portals, mobile devices have done this and now it's time for social media to follow suit. We've come to a point in time where the question has shifted from "why social media" to "how social media." Social media is everywhere. It is hailed as the greatest revolution of recent times. To put this in perspective, if we assume that Facebook is a country, it would be the third most populous after China and India. If Youtube had been a TV channel in India, it would have been the 11th largest. Twitter is the second largest search engine, followed closely by Youtube. As you were reading the statistics above, more than 100 hours of videos have been uploaded to Youtube. Aston Kutcher and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Sweden, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Panama. Over 25% of search results for any brand would link you to user-generated content on social media. All of these things work in social media's favor despite Facebook and YouTube being banned in China (stats courtesy of Socialnomics). The return on investment (ROI) in the case of social media is great considering you are still in business after 5 years! There is no escaping these media. One should not enter social media without a proper strategy. Any mistakes made on this medium are amplified to a large extent. In this article, I will explain how to build a successful social media strategy starting from the group. Follow the 5 steps below and you will have a successful social media… print medium… available in the market for both paid and free. My advice is to try Tweet Deck, Google Analytics, Klout, Facebook Insights and Youtube Insights before moving on to paid tools. Some of the metrics you should measure in addition to achieving your defined goals are share of voice, awareness, engagement, influence and popularity of your social media properties. Work on the information you gain to optimize your content and plan. Remember, one must always learn and grow as the nature of social media is never static. Follow these five steps diligently and you will have a successful social media strategy. A good social media presence will help you run successful campaigns. You can get in touch with me anytime via my social media accounts mentioned on this site. And yes, don't be featured in any media just because your peer/competitor is.