Including social media in your marketing mix can be a very convenient, cost-effective way of communicating instantly with a large group of people. Using it correctly can help strengthen your relationship with current and potential customers, share your organization’s successes with the public, and enhance your overall business reputation. However, using Social Media without a defined strategy can drive folks away from your business in an instant.

Too many businesses flock to social media as a trendy cure-all (or so they think) to their marketing woes with no real plan of action. To create a successful social media presence, you first need to determine if your social media accounts will be used for personal or business purposes. Then, be sure to focus your efforts and your posts to the relevant audience. If your Facebook page exists to share personal information with your family, for example, don’t accept friend requests from business associates and/or post personal items to the public. Your business accounts should be used to provide intelligent, concise and well thought out posts that showcase your business and your professional expertise. Provide links to resources wherever possible or available.

Think of each social network as a different media outlet with its distinct advantage. Use Facebook, for example, as the social environment for your business or personal life; LinkedIn as the best place to showcase your professional persona and that of your business; Twitter is great for sharing news items that resonate with your customer base or showcase your expertise.

Remember to modify the images you post as well to fit the social network’s requirement. Facebook default image sizes are not the same as the requested dimensions for image uploads to LinkedIn or Twitter.

Taking the time to think out your posts and the strategy will help you create engaging and authentic good content that your audience will find interesting. And can benefit your business.