For starters, don't beat yourself up. You're in good company. Many a traditional marketing expert has found him- or herself, like you, simply too busy.

The good news is, others jumped in blindly, made mistakes — and in the process, cleared the path. 

1) Make sure the pool has water in it. In other words, have a handle on what you’re getting into.

This involves, on the one hand, learning about the tools.

On the other, understanding the practices and principles of effective social media use and having a clearly stated social media mission and vision.

The tools are not cookie-cutter in terms of which to choose, what combination will best serve your organization, or how you set them up and use them.

And also, there’s more to social media than starting a Facebook page, signing up with Twitter, setting up a blog (to name just three of your options) — and bombarding people.

Social media is — the name is the clue — social. You share, you contribute, you have conversations: It’s a two-way-stream.

• Yes, you need your mission and your vision, which may by different from your  organization’s regular mission and vision.

• Yes, you need to have focus and know what you want to achieve.

Within this context, you might want to ask questions like:

What contribution can our organization make? What can we give our members and donors?

How, in other words, are we going to meaningfully participate in the conversation?

2) Have colleagues / staff / all the important players bought in? Are they ready to jump in with you?

Social media is social — about communication and conversation; the tribe and the team. Collaboration is key. By its nature, jumping into social media is not jumping in alone.

You’ll most likely have people in your organization who will balk at the idea. People accustomed to working independently might need to be convinced of this new-to-them reality. Work with them. Hear them.

Give them the support they need. They’ll most likely give their support when they begin to understand the potential big-picture benefits to the organization.

Similarly, you don’t want random people Twittering and Facebooking off-message. You’ll foster goodwill if they understand why — and even more goodwill if you find ways that people who are not directly involved can participate and feel involved.

3) Do you all know how to swim when you jump in?

Putting on life jackets and giving life support in the water is challenging, to put it mildly. In other words, have everyone up to speed beforehand. Maybe you’re immersed in social media already and know what you want to do. There is loads of information online for you to google and learn from.

But if you don’t have the time or the inclination, don’t be reluctant to call on a social media manager, coach or consultant for support. Get help becoming informed. Get help with training. Get help where you need it. Get help developing and initiating your custom-design plan.

4) Does each person know, and has each person practiced, the stroke they’re going to swim?

Not everyone needs to be — or has the capacity or time to be — a star in the individual medley.

More effective is to have a team medley.

For example, the Facebookers (think breaststroke swimmers);

the Twitterers (think butterfly);

the Bloggers (think freestyle);

the Vloggers (video bloggers — think backstroke);

not forgetting the people applauding from the stands (those in the organization, as well as members, donors, and volunteers who are not directly involved, but who might play a supportive role, give suggestions and leads, and help as needed);

and the team manager, who may or may not be the trainer/coach.

(To see why the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a good nonprofit model, click here.)

5) Do all members of the team have a clear picture of the race they’re competing in?

You can probably survive for a time treading water or floating and maybe it will even get you somewhere eventually. But think of Michael Phelps.

Training for the right race, wearing the right swimsuit — knowing where you’re going — gets you there fast, and first.

There’s gold in social media. It’s within reach. Do the prep, select the tools, choose and equip the team, and once you’re set — go for it and enjoy the swim.

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