If you are anything like the vast majority of companies I meet, you’ll have the Facebook site, you’ll have the Twitter account, you’ll be updating them on occasion with a sudden rush of adrenaline and enthusiasm and then you’ll leave them for months. Then you’ll come back to them again a few months later. Leave them for a few months. Back. Leave. Back. Leave. And so on and so forth.

If that’s you, you’re suffering from “Social Sweetshop Paralysis”, a fairly serious business condition but entirely treatable. This colourful, wonderful communication dreamland lies in front of you, but as you take your first steps in, you freeze. You know you should be using social media but you’re not exactly sure what for, where to look or, more importantly, why!

With the introduction of social networks, businesses have been given endless channels to market themselves. Whereas before they only had their web site, they now have the social networks, enewsletters, blogs, micro blogs, discussion forums, mobile alerts, PPC advertising, banner advertising, video channels. The list goes on.

The common fallacy with the web is that updates can be taken care of quickly and easily. Updates can be made quickly but, because of the speed of updates and because our thirst for information is so great online, the number of updates required outstrip conventional channels. We want updates, we want frequent updates and we want them now! The odd update, here and now, is not enough. If you’re going to use social media to communicate, you need to play by its rules which are frequent, focused and relevant posts.

Social Sweetshop Paralysis strikes so many people because the initial enthusiasm to use social media is quickly undermined by the sheer volume of work involved in feeding the channels and the lack of things companies usually have to say.

Whenever I discuss social media with companies, and advise to first of all consider who they are, what they offer, who they offer their service and products to and what their tone of voice is. Depending on the answers to these questions, we can then start to recognise what channels should be used and how they should be used.

Social media channels should not simply regurgitate the same information found elsewhere. The content featured should reflect the nature of the channel and the nature of the audience using that channel.

By getting in place a plan, from the start, which recognises what the channels are you are going to use, what you are going to use them for and the voice you will use on them, you can enter the extraordinary world of social media with your eyes open and aware of the job ahead.