It's one thing to talk about Social Media Strategies, but how does one actually do it?  I think a lot of people are trying to figure out how they make their content more accessible - and the strategy is going to differ from industry to industry (maybe even, from business to business) but overall there probably is some sort of roadmap or path to taken.

In 5 Ways to Apply Social Media in the Travel Industry by igniteLisa  an attempt to lay out, maybe, 5 basic steps you'd do if you were a hotel or resort, for example:

 "…So in light of this “cry” for tactics, I will suggest the following ways that the travel industry could use social media to better meet the needs of their customers. They are as follows:

1) Flickr - Hotels, condos, cabins, and resorts could have a Flickr account where they publish photos regularly (perhaps even seasonally) , and encourage guests to upload and tag their personal pictures as well. Since guests want to know how things are “really like”, these user generated photos will ensure that 1) picture of the hotel wasn’t taken in the 70’s, and 2) the place really exists. Geotagging is also a nifty feature as well.

2) Blogs (Area blogs, cabin blogs, etc) - Blogs are a great way that individual and large hotels can start communicating with their audience year-round. For instance, when I was looking at places in Idaho, I found a blog written by an area local. Not only did it show me what life was like day to day in Tetonia, but the archive showed me a wealth of information about the area in different seasons, activities in the nearby areas, and just random local facts. This can be an excellent way for hotels and local area tourism to leverage their resources such as the area’s “best kept secrets”, and the “hole in the wall” restaurants.

3) Video Tours - Many franchise hotels have paid to have a “virtual tour” created for their hotel. While these can be effective, low-cost video tours could easily be created and published to a YouTube channel for a fraction of the cost. This would also give an opportunity for additional, frequent coverage that a virtual tour wouldn’t provide.

4) Custom Google Maps - Creating a custom Google map for a specific location could be a way to promote an entire region or city. This “visual itinerary” could provide guests with a visual map of lodging, nearby restaurants, museums and parks, shopping, and other areas of interest. It would also provide guests with easy directions.

5) Twitter Updates (Deals, Specials, etc) - Twitter could be a way to update travelers of current specials and promotions, especially during the off-season. On the local level, it also could be a way to promote local events to area or in-state residents. (If this tactic were implemented, a good bit of caution would have to be made regarding the frequency and quality of this content.)

So what would be the 5 things one would do for Architects?   How about the 5 things one would do if you were running a non-profit, like the Web Analytics Association?  

Seems to me that most of the Social Media Strategy, based on what I'm seeing here, and what we're coming up with for the WAA, is a content distribution strategy - another form of marketing by providing information in an on-demand and non-obtrusive way.

So when we get down to - Social Media Strategy is … figuring out how the audiences you want to reach are consuming content (ie: are they looking at flickr alot - if so maybe we want to be there too).

How about a job site? How would they use social media strategy? Tricky, but I suppose user generated content might both inform job seekers and at the same time, generate search engine traffic.

Interesting article about 5 Ways to Apply Social Media in the Travel Industry as it got me thinking.