Earlier this week I wrote an article called 10 Social Media To-Do’s for Nightclubs & Promoters in 2012.  But this is assuming you have all of your ducks in order before even beginning on social media.  Some small businesses should NOT engage in social media.  There’s no point.  But that’s NOT the case with nightclubs, promoters, bars and lounges.  You NEED to be on social media, you don’t have a choice.

Now that we’ve gotten that clear, let met present a short quick-and-dirty list of questions to determine weather your nightclub is ready to send out that first tweet.  Lets dive in.

What’s Your Reason for Being on Social Media?

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make it getting on social media “just because everyone else is doing it.”  That’s not a good reason at all.  Before you spend time and money on social media, ask yourself

• What are you hoping to get from you being on each social network (separately)?
• Are your business goals aligned with your social media goals?
• How is social media going to bring more butts into your venue?

Your first step is to sit down with your team to determine this.  As the business owner, you’re not going to do this yourself.  Make sure you hire someone competent enough to understand the questions above from a management perspective.

Which Social Media Sites are for Your Venue?

Depending on the purposes you outlined above, now you have to choose a social media platform that you’re really going to focus on.  You need to choose the social media network(s) that are geared towards helping you accomplish your goals.  For example, if your goal is for everyone to know that you have the best visuals nightclub in the world with the latest and greatest LED lighting and sound system, then YouTube needs to be a place where you focus your attention.  That’s where people can come and LISTEN and SEE the masterpiece you’ve created.  But a local bar on South Beach might not need YouTube, they would rather be on twitter and with their locals.  Another club might want more pictures, so they hang out on Facebook.  Every venue has it’s own “thing” that it wants to do.

Do you have the MONEY to INVEST?

Time is money, and someone’s going to have to spend some serious time on these social networks.  That’s why it’s even more important to try and pick ONE social network and be really good at it.  If you’re going to pick two networks, then focus on one and have the other one just to have it there.  But if you have the MONEY to invest in a full-time community manager, then you can invest into two networks at the same time.

What’s the Plan when Someone Talks to You on Social Media?

Have you thought about this?  Probably not.  You’re probably thinking social media is how you’re going to PROMOTE your party.  WRONG.  You’ll get unfriended and unfollowed faster than Jeremy Lin’s rise to stardom.  Social media is about interaction.  So what’s your plan when someone complains about a bad experience?  What’s your plan when there’s a customer service question?  What’s your plan if someone’s asking to book a night, a table, or a guest list reservation?  Write out a flowchart of the possibilities and make sure the community manager is following protocol.

Got a Social Media Plan?

I probably should have talked about this towards the top, but don’t really think of this list as something you do in order of 1 – 6.  Instead, these are 6 things you need to do, period.  I would start out with a plan.  Like a business plan, a social media plan serves as the foundation of your efforts on the networks.  Here is where you set rules for the community manager, standards of brand management, and what you’ll do when negative mentions begin to appear.

Can you Measure your Success?

Remember, this is all useless unless you have a goal to reach.  How many followers do you want by the summer of 2012?  How many fans do you want liking your page by Q3 of 2012?  How many tweets, retweets and mentions are you working towards?  How many hits on YouTube are you looking to achieve?  How many videos do you want to upload per week?  These are just a short list of possible goals you and your team can set.

Just because everyone else is jumping off the cliff doesn’t mean you should follow.  Build a bridge to your fans and they will follow YOU.  Happy social media-ing!