The place to start is with an objective. Any marketing plan needs to begin with an objective and work backwards. If the resulting map of how to get to the end result doesn’t lend itself to social media then it may not be the ultimate answer.

If it is, then the next step is to have a cold look at the real costs. Social media is free, apparently. Of course it is - as long as you value your own time and that of your colleagues at zero. This isn’t actually how businesses run. If someone suddenly has to run a Facebook page, man a Twitter feed or two, keep everyone updated on LinkedIn or, most recently, arrange circles of people on Google+, then either they’re new or their time is being diverted from somewhere else. That’s before you’ve considered the time taken to make a YouTube video, even if uploading and distributing it are free.

These are the costs you need to consider when you put a social media plan together, and the payback needs to outweigh them. This may not be in pure cash terms, it might be in goodwill.

For example, one large retailer in the UK has someone assigned to look at Twitter, Facebook and other networks to check for negative comments. He responds and offers to help by email; he resolves them and not only is an issue addressed, it’s taken out of the public view so damage is minimised.

This is a good place to start. You might think your company isn’t on social networks; actually it may well be, it’s just that someone else is talking about it and you’re not taking part. Someone else might have registered your name and be ‘spoofing’ your identity. You can only know if you’re on the networks yourself.

It’s worth joining and having a look, and that’s probably the best way to start participating. Have a look, get the hang of how people behave on the networks and what they expect, learn about the dynamics and culture. Then start interacting - establish your expertise and promote yourself or your business gently.

The result can be spectacular or it can take a while, in the same way that people with websites 15 years ago found it a case of revolutionising their company or thought ‘so what’? What’s certain is that in a short time the people without some social media engagement are going to look like the people without websites or email did in the last major wave of technology.