As business people, we’re becoming more and more inundated with the presence of social media and the real-time nature of the social web. Our interests range from skepticism to curiosity to rampant enthusiasm, but one thing remains clear: social media in a business context needs a business case to go along with it.

If you’re exploring how social media fits into a business context, you’ll need several strategies to build a strong case for it, and this month, we’re going to help you lay the foundations.

If social media is new to your business, we’ve got some ideas for framing out the first conversation you should have about social media. From laying a groundwork for social media understanding to broaching some of the key topics and questions like strategy, resources, and how to measure social media, we’ve got some succinct conversation starters to get you in the door.

To help keep the discussion focused, build your conversations with your team, your clients, or management around three key principles of social media: listening, engaging, and measuring.

Making the case for listening might start with seeing how your own company is faring on the web, but sound listening strategy goes well beyond brand monitoring. Learn how to mine the social web for critical business intelligence, understand how and where your strongest advocates are participating in social media, and discover how prospects identify themselves through social channels.

When you’re ready to make the leap to participation in social media, it’s important to consider all the important aspects to engagement. We’ve got a quick discussion guide for you for The Why and How of Social Media Participation that talks about some of the most consistent culture elements of social media and social networks, and why participation can hold for your business.

And to be sure you’ve planned ahead, check out Part 1 of the Anatomy of Engagement Guidelines that’ll walk you through considerations for drafting social media policies and guidelines in your organization. Part 2 takes you through the important pieces of guiding social media participation inside your company, including thoughts about what to moderate and how to manage information flow.

If you’re in a company where regulatory issues are in play, or you’re accustomed to legal review of communication materials, you’ll want to check out this ebook on Fostering Social Media Success with Your Legal Team, with ideas on how to bring you or your clients’ corporate counsel into the discussion about social media participation. The tough critics matter, too.

No conversation about justifying social media would be complete without a chat around measurement, so we’ve started the discussion here with Why Measurement Makes the Case, including some ideas for demonstrating the impact of your efforts. But never fear; if more discussion on measurement, ROI, and the new world of new media metrics has you hungry for more, we’ve got you covered. Stay tuned for a future month of The Engaged Brand dedicated to all things social media measurement.

This month is full of resources and ideas for how to get your company or client conversation started around social media. What else would you add? What ideas and approaches have been successful for you? Let us know, and happy reading.