You know your organization needs to move into Social Media; but where? There are over 300 blogging services, over 200 news feed services and mutiple Social Networking services like Bebo and Facebook. Should you be everywhere? While it might be ideal, trying to be everywhere could cause more harm than damage over the long term.

Microblogging is just one example (the main channels are Twitter, Plurk and Identi.ca) where you can only place 144 characters. As Jeremiah Owyang points out, many brands fail on services like Twitter. In part because the concept of Microblogging doesn’t suit the brand and because of the ability to understand how Microblogs work and sustain a presence there. Microblogs come down to a “who” not a “concept” like a brand and thus require an “individual” to represent the brand. For a company, a Microblog might be more useful for crisis responses and good quick stories.

Success in Social Media comes from selecting the right channel and building, then sustaining, the right message(s) over time. Building a presence in Social Media also means investing some time and understanding the ROI is not immediate like banner ads and Landing Pages. Social Media is a Sustainable Marketing activity that is like marketing itself - a managed investment. Properly managed, an investment in Social Media will result in increased customer loyalty, lead generation, brand strengthening and product innovations.

So when looking at engaging in Social Media it’s all about finding the right channel and the right target market. You may not need to engage with Microblogging and perhaps just a blog is a good start and then develop your strategy from there. Segmenting in Social Media channels is as important a segmenting in Web marketing and marketing planning as a whole.