Adding "social media campaign" to your business plan may sounds like a good, smart idea. After all, you read about it in the Wall Street Journal, right? Not so fast. Here's the problem: more than half of all social media campaigns will flop, according to market research firm Gartner. That means even if you've slapped together a "viral video" that just gets your mom in stitches, and have a pimped out MySpace page, chances are 50-50 that it's going to be a bust.

So, what's this mean in terms of your business plan? Don't dedicate all your marketing cash toward one effort like a viral video or a sweet Facebook page that will produce questionable results. Diversify your marketing and advertising, and if you think you know what you're doing when it comes to social media (and of course you do) give one effort a shot, but don't blow your whole budget on it. For start-ups, it's better to stick to tried and true techniques like search engine optimization, creating a great website that converts, and, if you're old school, traditional ads. The exec from Gartner leading the study puts it well:

"[Facebook] is more for the community than it is for the bottom line."