Another way to view the pyramid

     As the actual social media tools, blogs, RSS, and social networks evolve over time. (Twitter is more useful when more people use it.) As this occurs it can also be helpful to view the same pyramid idea less from a tool standpoint and more from an objectives standpoint.

     Until you create a social media strategic plan based on marketing objectives, and find ways to use social media tools to listen and join the conversation going on in your markets, you may find it harder to engage and network and ultimately build relationships and sales through the use of social media tools.

     I believe the process for meeting long-term marketing objectives through social media is universal, but the tools needed to meet them are not. Twitter may indeed be a primary social media tool for some, while the Facebook platform or a blog is what allows another to progress through these stages. A third organization may find it can strategically move through the hierarchy by integrating every tool in the toolbox with its offline initiatives.

     Source: Let’s talk, Social Media for small busniess, version two (John Jantsch) e-book