When many companies get into social media, one of the strange offshoots of their enthusiasm is they place their social media efforts into a silo.

This often happens because a company is so focused on making social media happen they forget to integrate it into the other parts of the business.

It’s a situation that emerges because the effort to create and launch a social media strategy and then implement a tactical plan can take a lot of time and energy.

This means the idea of blending social media into their communications, marketing and sales activity may appear like a different project altogether – something that would take a separate plan to implement.

The reality, however, is social media must be part of the overall mix from the beginning.

When a company starts to explore the idea of embracing social media, it also needs to think about how social media will support its communications, marketing and sales efforts. As important, a company needs to consider how its communications, marketing and sales efforts will support social media.

In other words, you want to create an ecosystem in which cross-pollination makes 1 + 1 = 3.

The worse thing a company can do is put social media into a separate silo or make it a corporate orphan left to its own devices. Without the support of the organization, social media can suffer and fail due to a lack raison d’etre.

The bottom line is social media needs to be embraced and cherished by everyone. When that happens, there are benefits for everyone involved.