For years now we've heard, "Advertising doesn't work. No one cares what you have to say about your company."

And now we're starting to hear the same thing about social media: It doesn't work. At least, that's what I'm hearing.

I've been advising companies on creating and implementing their social media strategies for a handful of years now. And the more I worked with clients, the more I realized that some businesses were able to hit the ground running, while others took longer to ramp up.

'The Formula' Appears
So I started tracking the key elements of the companies that were winners out of the gate. I knew I was in the right business the first time I worked with a client who had "the formula." We went through our normal strategic methodology. We implemented with the expected consistency and efficacy for which we had become known; and we got stellar results.

You see, early on we realized that social media success came down to a highly structured approach once the formula was identified. But if the formula was hidden or had to be unearthed, social media was ineffective at best.

Entrepreneurs come to us eager to talk about the myriad ways social media can improve their business. For many, social media is seen as a silver bullet. They read the case studies of wild success and think the same thing can happen to them.

But, again, without the formula, social media is just words on a page.

The Formula
So what's the formula? The formula is having an opinion and having something to say. Read that again to make sure you've got it.

The average person thinks that both of those elements are the same when, in reality, they're vastly different.

Having an opinion means that you don't waffle; right, wrong or indifferent, you have a distinct thought about where you stand on almost any issue.

Having something to say means that your target market cannot find the expertise you provide anyplace else. It might be similar, but what you deliver has a slight twist--a highly visible differentiator--that makes all the difference in the world.

The Formula in Action
One of the first examples we had of the formula in action was a client who's a business coach.

She had the formula:

• She had a distinct way of advising her clients--they could count on her for the straight, honest, unabashed truth.
   
• She had a very impressive background, and her clients loved working with her.
   
• She was very clear about who she was, whom she worked with and what the majority of her clients needed to do to move their businesses up a rung.

All this, and she still didn't have the reach she needed to take her own business to the next level. There was something missing.

She was missing a platform. She didn't have a strong platform from which to share her potent advice and client success stories. I just happened to be the person who could provide her with a bright, shiny platform--social media.

The Moral of the Story
I took an around-the-barn approach to impress upon you that without steak there can be no sizzle. I've never seen a business owner completely fail at using social media because she only posted to her blog twice a week instead of three times. I have, however, seen hundreds of businesses eat social media digital dust because they didn't have an opinion and had very little to say that was original. It's quite difficult to create a platform for a middle-of-the-road parrot.

Exceptions to the Formula
There are some exceptions to the formula:

• A company without the formula but with deep pockets will eat the lunch of a business that has the formula--temporarily. Money can buy you temporary mindshare, but it won't buy it forever if you don't have something to say.
   
• If there are two companies that lack the formula, the one that is more consistent with blog posts, podcasts or Tweets will win. Consistency is key--even if you're not saying much.
   
• The company with a fun and engaging brand that doesn't take itself too seriously will win over the buttoned-up company. Social media is social; if you can be more approachable, chances are you'll be the belle of the ball.

We've been successful because we're now able to recognize the companies that have the formula and provide them with a social media-based platform. Sure, it takes a bit of technical skill, but the seed of success is always there with the client. There's no hocus pocus--just the formula.

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