Personality is important when it comes to blogs that educate and market. Shawn Mullen of Protex Central has a successful but focused blog.

As with any move, deciding on the use, kind, look, and feel of social networking sites by today’s system integrator is more a business decision than one based on dazzling technology. Here are some ideas courtesy of Inc.com.

First — Ask what are the needs of your business? Figure out what your needs are.

Second — What are you using the site for? After you’ve established your needs, consider the primary goal of your social networking strategy. Do you want to recruit employees for a certain department? Do you want to market a new line of services? Do you want to connect to more people in your industry? Do you want to reach out to potential new customers?

 Third — Whose attention are you trying to get? Narrow your focus. 

 Fourth — Which sites do you want to take on? Do you have enough staffing power to handle multiple social networking sites? If not, it’s important to focus on one or two, or you could spread yourself too thin.

Fifth — Who’s going to manage your page? Would your social networking activity fall under a current employee’s responsibilities, or do you need to bring on new talent or to an outside service?

Sixth — Who has access to your page? What type of trust level do you have established at your company? Will all of your employees have access to the social network account, or a select few? Take the time to assess the skills and character of those who can log into your page, or you may run into unsavory situations down the road — especially when dealing with former workers.

Seventh — When it comes to a blog or your sites, who’s going to be the personality?