When I think about all of the monster catastrophes that so many brands have brought upon themselves by conducting social media marketing incorrectly, a few commonalities start to surface:

1. Lack of or false transparency
2. Failure to engage
3. Invasion strategy

You would think by now these folks would get it, but it seems like many brands are still floundering. What seems to be happening is someone, either on the brand team, or at an agency, or many times both, says “hey, this social media thing is really heating up, let’s do something quick to get in there.” And then a bunch of people with no experience in the space come up with a plan using their traditional media backgrounds to make a big impact in a short period of time. NNNNT (score board buzzer), wrong.

Any successful social strategy needs to take into account the delicateness of the space, this is where people hang out online folks. You are a guest. You can’t just show up and start shouting all sorts of great things about yourself and expect to be accepted. It’s a process, one that takes time, patience and involvement. When brands try to push their way in, all they succeed in doing is at best being ignored, at worst generating a s*/t storm of negative word of mouth, bad press and negative associations. Community building does not happen overnight. But when it does, it’s a hugely powerful catalyst for people to engage with your brand in a meaningful way.

Allow me to make some suggestions:

1. Approach with caution, and respectfully (this one is really important)
The code of conduct for any social marketing effort should take first and foremost into consideration that the brand, an outsider, is asking permission to engage with the community. If the campaign begins by establishing real and well thought out connections with the community, engaging the community, asking for permission and for feedback, it’s much more likely that the community will be receptive.

2. Do your research
There are over 350 social networks, many of them appeal to specific niches. Within the larger networks are smaller groups of people. Then there are applications, widgets, blogs, forums, micro-blogs, video sharing sites, photo sharing sites, well, the list is a long one. It’s important to engage with the proper audience in the right space at the right time. It’s much more than just tossing up a Facebook page, some Facebook ads and creating a MySpace profile. There’s a lot of real digging to do. The power of the web to isolate and target niche audiences in unmatched. Niche audiences are passionate audiences, and are much more receptive when you can deliver content that relates to their affinities.

3. Know the tools inside and out before you use them.
There are so many tools and resources out there, technology, communities, blogs, sites, services, individual influencers, strategies and tactics. I’ve hear too many times people saying things like “Twitter’s getting big, let’s do something on Twitter” followed by “Gee, do you think I should actually be on Twitter?” How are you going to know how to use a tool for a brand if you don’t use it yourself?

4. Engage the community
The social web is all about two way communication. It’s one of the things that can make a social campaign so effective. If you engage with members of the community in a meaningful way they are going to be much more likely to engage their peers on behalf of your brand.

5. People, be transparent.
I mean, we know that by now, right?