Grow Your Business— Social Media is a vital element in marketing your business.

Social media has become a standard in marketing campaigns for both small and large business.  Its popularity has made it impossible to ignore. People are spending a large part of their waking hours looking and interacting with social media. In order to stay competitive, you need to be a part of it.

Social media is an important part of your cross media mix. And there are a few things to know so you can get more value for your efforts.

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Social media cannot be your advertising campaign.  You can have it as a part of your plan, but it cannot be your only source for advertising and marketing. There is no media platform that works that way and social media is no different.  All campaigns need to encompass a variety of media to introduce or reinforce your brand and message.

Have a plan. Understand what your campaign goals are as a whole and how your social media plays into that campaign.

Social media in itself has a variety of different platforms and they all have their own purpose. Not every platform will be beneficial for every business.  Certain businesses will be more effective on certain social media platforms.  

If a product or service is visually driven, like jewelry designer, clothing store, home decor, travel agency or pool builder. Those businesses will more effective on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and google plus, etc. where an accountant or someone who is trying to self brand would be better off on LinkedIn.

A couple important things to know is that YouTube and google plus really help your seo, so those two platforms should be mandatory.

Social media advertising is not free. Not only is it extremely time consuming, in order to make ground you absolutely have to pay to direct people to your page. The benefit is that you have a lot of control as to who sees it and you can pay as little as a few dollars a day. Just know that like everything else, you get what you pay for.

Create a successful page. Whatever social media platform you  choose, it's important to know that relevant content, consistency and paid advertising is a must. You need a variety of interesting information to keep people interested. And don't be boring. You can even use humor if it's appropriate.

Interaction is the key to social media. That's that beauty of it. People can get answers to their questions quickly, and can voice their opinion in a public arena. Let your customers drive the information. Find out what they are wanting to read and how often to post.

There are social media advertising professionals. And If it turns out you don't have the several hours a day to post and keep everything up to date, you can hire a professional that understands how it all works.