As the 21st century continues to unfold, social media has become an increasingly integral part of our daily lives. From tweeting about our company products to participating in free contests via Facebook, social media has become the way we network, do business, and entertain ourselves.

Despite those facts, last year taught many of us that we cannot use these platforms carelessly. Here are four things you can do to supercharge your social media campaigns quickly and easily:

1. Put Limits on Your Use of Twitter — If You Don’t, Twitter Will do it for You

As many business owners and Internet marketing experts know, Twitter is one of the best channels to use when you want to advertise company products and services. After all, you can open a Twitter account for free and can tweet whatever you’d like in a matter of seconds.

Despite the cost-effective and convenient nature of Twitter, business leaders must use discretion with respect to the number of links to product pages they tweet. Once you’re tweeting more than two or three of these types of links a day, people can interpret your activity as spam and un-follow you.

So be mindful of what you’re sending out to your followers. The reason Twitter puts limits on activity – such as daily tweets, direct messages and the number of people or accounts one can follow – is to reduce the amount of downtime and error messages on the site.

If you start tweeting an absurd number of links, you can even be reported to Twitter. Twitter users are exposed to 58 million tweets per day. A company on average should post no more than 10 times a day, as users are more likely to tolerate a lot of tweets from an individual than they would from a brand or business.

2. Borrow Promotional Ideas From Your Competitors

In many cases, business owners are told to be innovative and creative when they could achieve just as much by being resourceful. Sometimes the best way to boost revenue involves using social media to figure out what your biggest competitors did and adapt those strategies to yours.

Ideally, your business will schedule several social media contests a year and be able to deliver on a consistent schedule. Starting with four campaigns (one per quarter) may be a good way to engage with fans and followers and experience steady social media activity throughout.

In between the contests, companies should be learning from data collected from the previous contest while planning and promoting the upcoming one.

It’s also important to remember that certain contests – such as giveaways and promotions – have rules and regulations. Make sure you know the legalities and guidelines with whichever social media platform you are using to run a campaign.

3. Make It Personal — But Not Too Personal

Adopting a detached, professional tone will not help you attain the type of interaction and conversion that you want. In many cases, business professionals have been surprised to find that being conversational and interactive with prospective clients has often been the key to making the sale and building up a good base of loyal customers.

To make social media personal, it’s important to do things such as posting a photo of yourself and tweeting data that helps people get a sense of your personality. Some examples would be your favorite type of latte from Starbucks or the type of pet you own.

Oreo does a really good job with this type of social marketing. Not only does the popular snack brand have a humorous tone to its tweets and social content, but it engages with fans by retweeting their funny tweets and keeping conversations going about current topics everyone is talking about.

Although social media experts acknowledge that the “make it personal” principle is important on channels such as Twitter and Facebook, many are also recognizing the fact that revealing too much information can be dangerous. Cyber security strategies such as consolidating social media outlets, creating social media training programs for employees, and using secure passwords are a crucial part of protecting your brand’s security.

4. Don’t Talk At Your Audience. Instead, Talk With Them

When you comment on your favorite brand’s Facebook page or send them a tweet and get no response, it can be unsatisfying. When you post about poor customer service with no response, it can be downright infuriating.

Interacting with followers and fans is an essential way for brands not only to engage their audience, but also build a brand following and generate good PR. Fans, along with the rest of the world, will notice when a company is paying attention to them, when a brand is doing something right and when customer service is excelling (like when a brand apologizes to a customer and another person takes notice).

Plus, it’s all unfolding in a public forum. So don’t ignore that grumpy customer. Engage them in the open, answer their questions and address their concerns (with an emoticon smiley face if you’re feeling especially cheerful).

The Big Takeaway
Although social media offers dynamic, cost-effective channels through which to do business and exchange ideas, it is important for users to exercise discretion and wisdom. By carefully considering the information listed above, social media users can make prudent decisions that help them accomplish any personal or professional goal they set for themselves. Good luck!

About the Author: Stacey Waxman is a freelance writer who is passionate about marketing. She enjoys staying up to date on the latest and greatest marketing trends. Stacey encourages your feedback via email