As most of the savvy practitioners in the social media sphere have already been telling us, there’s a new kid in town and he’s big.

But before rushing to sign up Google+ to the team once it’s rolled out, businesses would do well to think about how and where this giant fits into the team.

The new tool is likely to be an asset but anyone who has attended a Quest PR social media seminar will know , that, in a new world, some of the old rules of the game still apply, chiefly “focus” and “integrated planning.”

As the question goes, when going after a specific target, who has the greater chances of effectiveness: the machine gunner or the sniper? The latter is focused on the target and has spent time judging the environment and preparing. The sniper knows exactly what they are going after.

The analogy applies in communications whether using the new tools, the traditional ones, or fusing both sets.

The acres of media coverage devoted to the arrival of Google+ have been numerous, stirring up a frenzy among the clickerati. But, while the jury is out for some as to whether or not the new giant will knock the incumbent titan Facebook from its lofty pedestal, we can reasonably assume that if it gets a good head of steam – Google already benefits from a huge user base harnessing a raft of free services – then, it could do it, while providing significant firepower to our business strike forces.

Whichever tools are used, the focused and planned approach will deliver the best results. The approach can be simplified into the following steps.

Where are we now?

Who are we? What do we offer? What’s the external environment telling us? What is the competitive environment telling us and how our clients and consumers behaving? What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats we face?

Where do we want to be?

What are the aims and objectives of using our media?

How do we get there?

Who are our stakeholders (external and internal)? Do they use social media? What key messages do we want to convey to them (don’t hit them with numerous messages as this will confuse them as to who you are and what you’re about)? Which tactics will we draw upon and how do we integrate and schedule them so that they support the overall communications effort in a tightly coordinated way?

And, finally, how do we know we’ve arrived?

As the old saying goes, if it moves, measure it. Otherwise, why bother? We need to identify the best means of determining whether or not the campaign has worked? Remember that there’s a difference between being efficient and being effective. And, just as importantly, what can we learn from the execution that can feed into the next plan?

Mervin Straughan is a communications consultant and qualified life coach (www.straughanconsulting.co.uk). He edits the tourism website My Goals Buddy and the tourism and lifestyle news site Beautiful North Yorkshire.

The Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse sketch in which the duo and friends act out what life would be like for the Beatles 50 years on is one of the hilarious highlights of their BBC 2 show – grey mop tops chased by posses of pensioners and undergoing prostate check-ups.

However, their latest Hard Day’s Night-type parody prompted me to consider the potential outcome of a time-travel test involving the Fab Four in which we pit their reputation against the influence of social media.

This week’s sketch shows the band dropping in at Tarbucks – a tea shop run by comedian Jimmy Tarbuck but resembling a deli with its centrepiece cheese counter.  Lennon, played by Enfield, casts an eye over the Cheddar, Stilton and Wensleydale before proclaiming to a reporter who has followed them into the shop that the Beatles are now “bigger than cheeses”. As Beatles fans will know, this is a skit on the original inflammatory claim that the supergroup was “bigger than Jesus” which led to a storm of protest with public burnings of Beatles records, an unwelcome wave of activity by the Ku Klux Klan and death threats against Lennon.

As well as damaging the band’s standing in God-fearing America, the PR faux pas is believed to have been a key factor in its decision to abandon tours thus depriving the world of any more live performances.

But here’s the thought: wind the clock forward, recreate the Beatles blunder but bring those Bible-thumping generations to the present day, slip them a laptop and give them a Twitter tutorial.

Back in 1966, the band weathered the storm but how would they have fared today? Even in a society in which some commentators would say we’ve reached the point where “anything goes”, it’s difficult to gauge whether or not they would have survived the blogosphere backlash, the Facebook fracas or the Twitter 140-character tirades which would have surely gone into overdrive.

Would this scenario have ended with another online Rage Against the Machine campaign, this time with the intention of preventing the Mersey boys securing a modern-day Number One?

And staying with the Sixties theme,  let’s consider the central issue posed in the acclaimed British film Made in Dagenham based on the women machinists’ 1968 strike for pay parity with the men at Ford’s Dagenham plant and the furore that broke out both at work and in households where both husband and wife worked for the motor giant.

True, their actions led to a meeting with the Labour government’s employment minister Barbara Castle which paved the way for change but the Equal Pay Act did not come into force until seven years later. Again, how differently would that battle have been fought today with greater awareness of discrimination and the power of digital democracy? And what would have been the impact on Ford’s global reputation?

Increased communications power presents a plethora of issues today for reputation managers and the organisations they represent.

Commercial lawyers such as Yorkshire-based hlw point out that, while there’s a prize to be won in the social media battleground, there are pitfalls, too. Yes, there’s a wealth of marketing and customer relationship opportunities but hlw warns of the risk of a consumer or employee click back – especially against those firms that have overlooked the need for a social media policy to be in place.

By empowering employees to use these forms of communication as PR and brand ambassadors, organisations and their people must also accept responsibility and understand that there are frameworks within which they must work. They must also understand the potential reach of their messages and be clear as to what needs to be said and not said.

During Quest’s series of successful social media seminars this year, delegates have been amazed at the successful case stories of companies that have harnessed the power of blogs, vlogs and tweets, using these relatively new tools to open larger markets. But the sessions have always highlighted what can go wrong for commercial operators. There is an important message here because, in the battle between David’s Public and the commercial world’s Goliath, the mouse can often be mightier than the sword.

But, let’s end on a positive note. We know that when we combine common sense with best business practice and a good understanding of the legalities, we can enjoy reputational and marketing rewards – and some of the companies that are already the Big Cheeses of the day are proving it.

Mervin Straughan runs Straughan Consulting Ltd, a North Yorkshire based communications and life coaching consultancy.

A classic PR clanger this week saw Gordon Brown being warned by Nasa that his plans to build new coal-fired power stations will produce more – instead of less – carbon emissions. Such an example highlights that the CO2 education process is more aligned to a long haul marathon as opposed to a quick channel hop.In the countdown to 2008, enlightened businesses seeking to reduce their greenhouse emissions back up ethical statements with responsible actions. These ‘CSR savvy’ organisations are confident in the knowledge that following this path is more than just good PR – it’s about achieving competitive advantage.Quest is proud to be a member of a newly-launched CSR Consortium spearheaded by CSR strategist Mervin Straughan.The Consortium draws on its expertise to enable companies to link responsible business to improved financial performance. And with 9 in 10 employees in the UK believing it is important for their employer to be environmentally and socially responsible. Click here. (Source: Financial Times) it is vital that bosses listen to the messages – especially in light of the war for top talent which is forecast to further accelerate in 2008.