There’s a problem I have been seeing a lot lately among businesses who are late to adopting social media. They are excited, just raring to go (which is admirable) but they have no perspective on what they’re getting themselves into. They look up every possible social network and just start registering. Now, I’m a big proponent of social media as part of a successful automotive seo strategy, but it needs to be approached cautiously.

If you’re new to social media, or if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your current social presence, here are a few ways to get everything under control:

1. Start small. Social media is a great tool, but only if it is being used actively. I’d recommend you start with just Facebook and Twitter. These are the big two (if you want to start with just one, make if Facebook). Get in the habit of posting regularly and, even more importantly, get in the habit of interacting with fans and followers. When businesses spread themselves too thin, engagement is what suffers. Don’t let this happen to you. Stick with just one or two social networks until you truly feel you’ve got the time, knowledge and energy to expand.

2. Have a voice. This voice will largely depend on who is in charge of your social presence. If you have a talented, funny writer on your staff, then I’d say have them take charge of social media. Just be sure they have a firm grasp on business appropriate humor as well as your clientele’s sense of humor. If you’re in a more serious industry, then make sure the tone matches your business. For instance, an automotive dealership will be friends with pretty much anyone, so they can by funny but need to focus on mass appeal. A more tech based company will probably focus on IT related humor. A funeral home probably shouldn’t be making jokes at all, because for some reason a sale saying, “We’ll urn your loved one’s business!” doesn’t go over well. (If you have a better funeral home advertisement joke, by all means share it here.)

3. Post consistently. If you look through my blog and others here, you’ll find plenty of advice on the best times to post. If you really want to get the most out of social media, figure out the schedule that works for you and stick to it. Sporadic posting can hurt you and over-posting can be even worse. Keep it to a strict schedule and never slack on your content. Once you can do this for one or two social networks, then you should look into expanding further.

Original post about social media can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "3 Tips to Avoid Social Media Overload."