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

Its growth has been astronomical now, millions 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 surfers use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting every day and most at least several 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 into their marketing mix. However it also important to get an understanding of how these sites are being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your online footprint can stick around for a long period so don’t underestimate how this may affect the perception of one’s brand in the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for your business.

1. Seek first to comprehend – It is vital that you understand the fundamentals of how is social media marketing 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 guide you through. Alternatively there are so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media marketing, that you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest watching the video tutorials to obtain informed.

2. Understand Luxury Travel Tip – What’s your purpose is for using social media? 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 example). You need to workout why you are taking part. What do you expect to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, build relationships your visitors or identify new sales opportunities? Be sure you be realistic about what you think you will be able to accomplish.

3. If you decide to take part in social media marketing, which sites are best for you? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, those are best for the business? Think about where your target audience 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 might 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 consider the amount and quality of information you wish to share in the online sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for years, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that is valuable to your market. It must be relevant, otherwise people won’t read it.