Social media may be the next wave in marketing, but how do you know if your company is well-equipped to jump into the interactive pool without drowning? Before touching your toes to the water, survey your brand’s assets, audience and breadth of ability to participate on social sites in order to gauge your social media readiness.

According to a recent article on iMediaconnection.com, there are four critical questions to ask that outline a brand’s social media potential.

1) Do you have inventory? Is it valuable to your audience?

To Elixir, this question means: What kinds of content do you have on your site that can be leveraged? Each quality media component is valuable for usage in a social campaign. Articles, images and videos can be spread across the social web and used to engage your audience. Inventory can be overlooked from a company perspective, but often the assets that are most successful in building a brand identity are sitting right in front of you. Tweet your video of the week or point fingers to an arresting image. Streaming pre-existing content into the web is the best approach to initiate presence.

2) What way does your audience use technology?

Use technology in the ways that best fit your consumers’ needs. At Elixir we explore where and how your audience interacts online: Does your target market connect with friends and family using Picasso, or do they prefer Facebook? Expand your consideration outside social media: What ways in the real world do your customers use technology to make their lives easier? Incorporate social media methods into their common technology needs.

3) Are you ready for help to be its own reward?

For help to be its own reward, revenue can’t be a priority. That can be hard to grasp for many brands. ROI is reaped by actively facilitating the needs and wants of your customers in regards to the product or services you offer. The benefits of social media campaigns aren’t always immediately apparent; the long term return will be seen in improved awareness of customer opinion, translating into a better brand.

4) Are you willing to apply people to the solution?

As commonsensical as it may sound, you do actually have to spend time understanding the social media spaces your customers are active on in order to put in to action a successful campaign. This means that you should NOT simply prop your brand within social networks or strategically place ads to fake your presence. Rather than representing the brand as a static corporate entity within a massively active space, you need to converse as individuals of the company with your consumers to accurately observe their responses and build upon your brand.