Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 If you’ve been wanting to market your business, but haven’t taken advantage yet of all that social media marketing has to offer then stay tuned. Today social media is one of the most powerful tools there is when it comes to getting your business the exposure that it needs. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ have been setting the stage for businesses worldwide to gain visibility and become successful. Beginning steps for social media marketing If you’re new to social media and don’t know where to begin, here are a few tips to help you get started in social media marketing: Set Realistic Goals – Every business is built on the foundation of a successful plan. When it comes to social media marketing, developing a plan and setting realistic goals are going to be important. Goals allow you to set milestones for success. In addition these milestone allow you to measure your progress. Have a Team in Place – While you can manage social media on your own, it’s more successful when you have a team backing you. There are numerous areas of your business that will require your attention. Having a social media marketing expert handle social media for you is a time-saver. You can either develop your posts and have someone distribute them for you or you can have someone write and distribute your posts for you. Know Who You’re Targeting – Knowing your audience and what they are looking for is important. This will allow you to develop social media posts that will be of interest to them. Word of mouth can be a powerful tool when you have something meaningful to say. Cross Promote – Marketing works best when it’s combined. Link your social media profiles to your website and your website to your social media profiles. It’s All About Quality and Not Quantity – Make sure that the content you put out is relevant and is quality content. If you put out numerous posts, but they are irrelevant to your audience then what’s the point? When you have nothing worthy to say; people begin to ignore you. Be Sociable – Social media is about one thing and that is “being social”. This means interacting with your audience. You need to respond to their comments and answer any questions they may have. This is how you establish yourself as an expert in your field. This is how you keep your audience coming back for more. Focus on a Few Social Media Outlets – While you don’t want to put all your eggs into one basket; you also don’t want to spread yourself thin. Join and set up social media profiles on only those outlets that are going to truly benefit you. It will do you no good to set up a profile on Twitter if your audience is hanging out on Google+. Know where your audience is and focus on those social media sites. Again, you want to make your posts and information count and if your target audience isn’t around then who are you talking to? Social media marketing is now mandatory in business Social media has changed the face of business today. It has gone from being an option to a mandatory part of any successful businesses marketing plan. The key here is to get started. It’s one step at a time, but always moving in the right direction. To get started you need to learn about social media and develop a social media plan. A great place to do this is Training Hangout . Training Hangout gives you access to experts, a complete social media training library and much more. Training Hangout gives you all the social media marketing knowledge you need in one place. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Training Hangouts - Social Media and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Kim Beasley Follow @kimbeasley Kim Beasley specializes in coaching business owners to grow their visibility online using social media and their website (WordPress). Her focus is to teach owners how to raise their Engagement Factor while using such social media as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Pinterest to name a few. The Engagement… View full profile ›More by this author:7 Keys to Developing a Heart Centered BusinessGetting Help Through Google HelpoutsBlogging Tips to Help New Bloggers