10 Social Media Tips to keep you motivated for Social Media Marketing

Those of you who have been doing social media marketing for a while, will know by now that social networking requires some time, effort and resources. This post will give you 10 useful tips to keep you motivated and to get your social media marketing in top form.

1. Social media has become main-stream and it should be part of your online marketing mix. Maybe it is time to revisit that social media strategy and based on your results in the past 6 months, to evaluate what has worked for you and to continue to do more of that.

2. Stick to your plan. To realize the benefits from your social media marketing, you should know exactly what you are trying to accomplish before you spend all the efforts.

3. Although there are hundreds of social media platforms, try to limit your involvement to the main channels that give you the best results, for example to use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with Blogging. Maybe it is a good idea to add a niche or industry specific social media platform to network with like minded people.

4. Be realistic with the time-commitment. To fully succeed through social media marketing, you’re going to have to commit some time and energy to making it work.

5. Use automation. There are dozens of automation tools to help you manage your time on social media. Use them wisely and in moderation. I like to use Hootsuite and Ping.fm.

6. Get personal. Don’t rely entirely on automated tools. You need to interact with your friends, followers and connections.  Social media doesn’t work if you aren’t interested in forming real relationships.

7. If you have been personally involved in all your social media marketing efforts so far, you would understand enough of how it works. Why not consider outsourcing some of your social media marketing? You can outsource some of the tedious social media tasks, like scheduling your tweets, adding content to your Facebook Wall, arranging events etc.

8.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. There’s not a “rule book” for social media success. Once you have started, keep going.

10.  Don’t over-complicate. Social media is mostly a mixture of common sense, interaction and dedication. Don’t make it more complicated than it is and remember to have fun!

What keeps you motivated for social media? Please share in the comments section.