Three Steps That Lead to Great Social Media ROI

Establishing a web presence for your business is really easy; however, establishing a good web presence takes a combination of time, planning, and execution. Take social media for example. It seems really casual in the sense that it's conversational and most people post off-the-cuff.

That said, anything you set up has the potential to affect your overall brand. If you create a business page and then rarely ever post anything, your customers that seek out your page will be disappointed with your follow-through.

So the first step is allotting time, which is precious to all business owners. Either you embrace this part of your own marketing or you delegate it to someone you trust who knows what the company's voice should be.

Planning is probably the most frequently neglected aspect of the strategy. Since a status or tweet can be thrown together in a matter of seconds, often that is how they occur. A more professional approach takes into consideration the target audience and time of day of the post, maximizing the probability that the post will achieve a wide reach. Moreover, planning should be used to schedule frequent, consistent updates, ones that form a cohesive marketing statement on behalf of the business.

Finally, execution brings it all together. Planning is nice, but if it never gets from the drawing board to the web, it's a waste of time. Commonly, enthusiasm wanes after the first initial wave of activity. This is where professionalism needs to take over, just as it should in other aspects of your work.

While it certainly isn't always easy, if you put together the combination of time, planning, and execution, your investment in your web presence will return solid value and assist with your overall marketing edge.