Getting started with social media is a little like starting a family – except instead of taking care of a baby, you’re taking care of your brand.

You think about it for a while, discuss it at great length and when you feel like you’re ready, you start to weigh the pros and the cons. You consider your resources, who’s going to help you take care of it, nurture it, protect it and how will you handle a crisis? You’ve got your support system in place, a whole team perhaps and you’ve read all the relevant material you could get your hands on. Like so many others before you, you’re wondering if you’ll ever be fully prepared.

Just like you wouldn’t mindfully go into starting a family unprepared, you’re not going to begin your social media strategy unprepared either. However, if you’re waiting for the perfect time to get started, you may wait forever. There may never be that unlimited budget for whatever you’ll need and no matter how much you prepare, your baby, er, brand is going to grow and change and you’re going to have to grow and change to meet its needs. So be prepared but be flexible enough to adapt when needed.

The Time Is Now

What are you waiting for? Much like starting a family, once you have started down that path, you are committed. You have got to be in it for the long haul. Your brand is waiting to makes its social media debut and let its voice be heard. Granted, those first sounds may be tiny and small and it may take some time to find that voice, come into its own and mature in all the ways you’ve envisioned it, but with you there for guidance and direction it will happen. Sure you might make a few mistakes along the way, who doesn’t? The important thing to remember is that mistakes are a part of growth, and through learning from them we gain experience.

Start with baby steps, but start now.

Have you kicked off your social media strategy? If not, what’s holding you back from starting today? We’d love to hear more about it in the comments below.