South Africa, March 3 -- Despite the immense opportunities good social media can afford businesses, many operate their platforms and profiles in isolation, often putting out content that they think their target audience will like but that doesn't necessarily make sense to their business goals, ethos or offering.

To leverage social media's full potential, a business must align its social media strategy with its business goals by defining its business goals and outlining its top priorities

For some, this could be acquiring new customers; for others, it's ensuring the success of a new product line or increasing market share.

"Whatever your goals are, it's critical that you define them up front and only then start looking at how your socia...