By now, most marketers know that social media can play an important role in any marketing campaign. But knowing is only half the battle. When it comes to incorporating social into a marketing strategy, how do you actually do it?

We recently sat down with Dawn DeVirgilio (@dawndevirgilio), the global social media manager of ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, to gain a better understanding of how social media strategy can align with marketing (click here to see the full webinar).

By collaborating with ExactTarget's content marketing team, DeVirgilio has built synergies that help support her overall social strategy and continue to offer the most up-to-date content to her social audience. As she curates content, DeVirgilio aims to provide relevant material that benefit her audience. Creating a calendar and plan for her social media efforts has allowed her to collaborate with marketing to run meaningful campaigns.

It's an important lesson for both marketers and social media managers—especially as the social web continues to broaden and consumer habits continue to change. Consider this insight, from Edison Research:

"One in four social network users knowingly follow brands, products, or services on social networks. For those who use these sites and services several times per day, this figure increases to 43%."

In other words, consumers are already turning to social media to connect with your brand. Now, it's up to marketing teams to adjust to this evolution. Failing to incorporate social media into our overall campaign planning is tantamount to ignoring a highly engaged audience that already has an established relationship with your brand.

Campaigns can incorporate multiple social media programs and tactics, each of which may produce myriad offers along the way. At the end of the day, though, learning how to incorporate social media can play a pivotal role in helping marketers reach their campaign goals. We don't need to reinvent the way we execute campaigns—we simply need to ensure that we're using the powerful tool that is social media.

So, without further ado, here are Dawn's 4 steps for building a social-savvy marketing campaign:

1. Understand the changing landscape

First, marketers must take a step back and strive to understand how social media can enhance overall campaign planning. While traditional tactics like direct mail, webinars, and event marketing remain relevant, social media can help take messaging to the next level.

2. Get to know the social consumer

Social consumers are connected. They’re all over the social web—and that makes for an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap with a new audience. Whether through listening, engaging, or publishing new content, the social web always provides an immediate opportunity to show consumers that you are interested in having a meaningful dialogue.

3. Create a social campaign

After you’ve done all the homework on the landscape and your potential audience, it's time to launch the campaign. It is important to align social media tactics with the overall goals of your campaigns on the front end. We launch campaigns to generate leads, to acquire funding, to increase awareness, to increase sales, and to persuade. If executed successfully, your social efforts can generate an audience that matches the overall objectives of your campaign.

4. Make it memorable

Brands all over the world are running thousands of social-enabled campaigns simultaneously, making it even more important that your brand stands out from all the social clutter. Ultimately, for social to make its biggest impact in campaigns, we need to be more relevant—and memorable—than our competition. Brands like Starbucks and Old Spice have both mastered incorporating social media in overall campaign planning and are great examples to follow.

Learn more at salesforce.com/marketingcloud, or download our free e-book, 4 Basic Steps to Add Social Media to Successful Campaigns.