One way to communicate directly with a targeted audience is to create a company news site, one that focuses on the company, its news and events, and industry issues. Maples Communications proposes creating a news site to the company’s global content onto a single page, updated and prioritized each day and laid out much like a newspaper.

Walking into a ballgame, you are likely to hear someone shouting, “Program! Get your program! Can’t tell the players without a program!” I can’t think of a better analogy for developing a “best practices” social media program: its all about nailing down – in writing – who you need to connect with online, what you are trying to achieve with them, and knowing what to measure so that you will know if you have achieved your goals.