It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically over the last few years and that with an increase of than 800 million active users, the amount 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, thousands of people are posting more personal and business information online than previously. 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 a few times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from worldwide using these sites, each day, that so many businesses are determined to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. However it also important to get a knowledge of how these sites are being used and what’s involved in maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your web footprint can stick around for some time so don’t underestimate how this can affect the perception of one’s brand on the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for your business.

1. Private Jet Travel to understand – It is very important that you understand the basics of how is social media actually works and how it’s being used. What exactly 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? Perchance you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up a personal account, then testing some of the features, or get yourself a trusted friend showing you their account and guide you through. Alternatively you can find so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media, that you could run a search on Google or on YouTube on a particular 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 desire to achieve for your business by it? It’s really essential that you identify your purpose for getting involved in social media (or any marketing activity for example). You need to workout why you are taking part. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, build relationships your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Be sure you be realistic about what you believe you will be able to attain.

3. If you decide to engage in social media, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media sites available, which ones are best for the business? Consider where your market would socialize online, and take into account the amount of time and resources you would realistically be able to invest in maintaining and administering your website presence. Those are right for you? You will probably find that some certainly are a better fit than others.

4. Quality Content – If you decide that social media is right for your business, carefully think about the amount and quality of information you need to share in the web sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for some time, so you must make sure it accurate and reliable information that is valuable to your market. It must be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.