While we all know that there are many reasons to enter social media as an individual, from catching up with old friends and colleagues to finding a new job, there are also plenty of reasons to enter social media as a business. Social media is a great marketing tool throughout several industries and for all different types of companies, helping to further develop the inbound marketing process for your business.

While there may already be your company’s website with the advertisements and promotions to draw on the eye of several existing leads and clients, your placement in line of search engine results will not always be at the top. There is incredible inbound marketing available from all the different types of content that are available to be created and published to a broad, worldwide audience via social media. Therefore, when the proper steps are taken in creating goals and planning for social media marketing, success is inevitable.

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See the following six steps that can help launch and maintain effective social media for the development and success of your business:

1. Start with your marketing goals and plan, laid out in a timely and detailed format. Often there is the reliance upon SMART goals. These are intended to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. This is a good time to make sure that the team is working together to bring forth ideas for the plan and goals; laying all the first steps out on the table.
   
   
2. Know your audience and create your buyer persona. While there are several non-effective leads present in the social media audience, you want to make sure that your message will reach the goal audience. This will also help further finalize the plans for your content, design and overall presence of your social media account(s).
   
   
3. Be sure to focus on quality content more so than quantity. This is a marketing plan, and just like your promotions this content needs to catch the attention of your audience and all other potential leads. There is no need to ramble on and on just to have more content. The attractive quality content pulls the visitor into your company itself.
   
   
4. Create a schedule that is integrated with your marketing plan. Your quality content will need to lead your potential leads, group members or others toward your website, promotions or other locations. Possibly the events where you will be located or exciting sales or other presentations at your store.
   
   
5. Give up control. Be open to the questions, inquiries and input of visitors, leads, customers and others. Many times, social media is intended to be conversational, and while you are the expert on your business there is a great reason to provide FAQs or other supplied knowledge legible to the layman’s eye.
   
   
6. Continue learning and growing from within your existing experience. Remember that social media sites and accounts are continuously growing and changing, and there may be many reasons for changes or additions to the format and type of content presented to your audience.

REFERENCES: blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/, www.entrepreneur.com/article/217578, www.jeffbullas.com/2014/02/10/5-essential-steps-to-success-in-social-media-marketing/