Have you avoided a move towards social media marketing? For the uninitiated, social media can seem like a waste of time. But marketing is about more than frittering away time on Facebook. It can be a genuine source of profitable income and could give your SME the traction it needs to grow.

So how do you get started? How can you avoid wasting time on social media? And what tools are there to give you a helping hand?

Planning Your Strategy

Social media marketing is a time-consuming process, so be aware of this from the second you start to plan your strategy. That means:

• Don’t waste time on networks that aren’t relevant to your industry.
• Don’t sign up for too many networks and attempt to run all of them at once.
• Don’t write off a network because it looks ‘boring’.

Remember: social media marketing is about using resources wisely. Bad your brand name on every site, by all means (you can use this tool to help). But don’t actively use every single network on the web. Put some in reserve and concentrate on the key networks first.

The networks you use will vary depending on your industry; LinkedIn is surprisingly good for generating referrals for B2B customers, while Facebook excels in generating interest for B2C. If you work in a different niche, such as recruitment, LinkedIn is the obvious choice, but there are other networks you can use too; you’ll find a list in this handy PDF.

Using Automation to Keep Focus

Once you’ve chosen your key networks, you need towork out how to best use your limited time in order to post updates and interact. Many brands choose to oursource this to a social media management company or agency. If you’re going it alone, automated tools can help.

There are two main types of automated social media tools. There are some that distribute one update to different networks by placing them in a queue and posting to a schedule; Buffer is a good example of this. Then, there are others that link social networks together with triggers so that an action on one results in an action on another. For example, you might want a tweet to trigger a Facebook post. Look into Zapier if this sounds useful.

Automation should be used sparingly in social media. The clue’s in the name; you still need to personally interact with fans and followers to get results. But automation gets you part way there by making link posting easier and faster.

Final Thoughts

We’re fast heading towards a world where social media marketing isn’t optional; it’s basically a prerequisite of building a great brand. If you don’t get involved now, it’ll be more difficult to build a presence on social media later when your competitors are more established.

Like SEO, social media is an ongoing activity; a marathon rather than a race. But put the effort in, focus your resources correctly and adjust your approach to fit your niche, and soon you’ll reap the rewards.

By Sam Wright

Sam Wright is an SEO expert and writer. If you’re looking to advance your marketing career, Sam recommends taking a look at the Brand Republic job boards.