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It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically over the last few years and that with more than 800 million active users, the number of Facebook users is easily more than twice the size of the entire population of the United States!

Its growth has been astronomical and today, millions of people are posting more personal and business information online than ever before. It’s happening at lightning speed with a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.

Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet users use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting each day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from worldwide using these sites, every day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get a knowledge of how these sites are being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your web footprint can stick around for some time so don’t underestimate how this may affect the perception of one’s brand on the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media is right for your business.

1. Seek first to understand – It is crucial that you understand the fundamentals of how is social media really works and how it’s being used. What are people and businesses doing with social media marketing? What gets them results? A few of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perhaps you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up a personal account, then testing a number of the features, or get a trusted friend to show you their account and show you through. Alternatively you can find so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media, you could run a search on Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest watching the video tutorials to obtain informed.

2. Understand your purpose – What’s your purpose is for using social media marketing? What do you hope to achieve for your business by it? It’s really essential that you identify your purpose so you can get involved in social media (or any other marketing activity for that matter). You need to workout why you are engaging. What do Luxury Travel Tip be prepared to achieve? Do you simply desire to build brand awareness, engage with your visitors or identify new sales opportunities? Be sure you be realistic about what you think you will be able to achieve.

3. If you decide to engage in social media marketing, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media sites available, those are best for your business? Consider where your target audience would socialize online, and think about the amount of time and resources you would realistically be able to invest in maintaining and administering your website presence. Which ones are right for you? You might find that some are a better fit than others.

4. Quality Content – In the event that you decide that social media marketing is right for your business, carefully consider the amount and quality of information you wish to share in the online sphere. Remember it will probably stay there for a long time, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that is valuable to your market. It must be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.