Social media marketing is part of most marketing plans today, but many still are missing the mark, and it’s costing them dearly. They believe if they simply make an occasional appearance on Twitter or Facebook, post a tip or two here and there, they are done and have accomplished their social media goals. Then they wonder why they’re not seeing the same results others are seeing. What is happening is that while yes, they are technically "out there," they don’t have a clear direction on what they are doing or how to get the best results for their efforts. They are missing their mark.

Here are a few things to consider with your social media marketing efforts:

Discover Your Niche Social Networking Magic - When considering your social media marketing, you need to understand the importance of niche social networking. What is that, you ask? It’s making sure you market to your niche. Sounds simple enough, but you wouldn’t believe how many don’t do this with their social media blasts. They throw out tips and comments and hope someone in their industry finds it. They neglect to use the appropriate hashtags and even worse, they fail to utilize any industry-related news that would resonate well with their audience. To sum it up, they miss out on key connections because they haven’t been speaking the right language to the right people.

So how do you market to your niche in social media? It’s basically the same as you do with your general marketing. You first identify what your niche is … who you are trying to reach with your social media efforts. Then decide what it is you are trying to tell them. This is important because you need to convey the right message to get the best results. Finally, you need to research where they are and make sure that when you send out your social media messages, you are getting to the right people.

It is also important to note that even with Facebook and Twitter, you can reach your niche by branding. (Have you branded your Facebook timeline yet? You should!) How can you do this? It’s easy. One way to brand your social media is to use images. It’s often the images that sell. They connect you to your audience, and in that brief second after they see your image, they feel that bond with you, your company, and your brand.

Reviewing Your Online Reputation - Don’t you want to know when someone is talking about you – good or bad? That’s why it’s important to monitor your online reputation. Now many think this is only used to find out the "bad" things being said about them, but actually it’s quite the opposite. When you put systems in place to monitor your name, business name, niche, and so forth, you get to hear all the good things people are saying about you as well. You can then determine who is spreading the word about your products or services, or who might be passing along your articles and content.

You can review your online reputation through tracking systems such as Google Alerts, Google Reader, and other related tools. Another cool social media tool is Klout. It allows you to see your social media influence and measure your influence based on your ability to drive action in social networks. The higher your Klout score, the better. The best strategy for getting a higher Klout score is to create great content that your networks wants to share. Having a good Klout score is just one of the ways to tell if what you are doing is working.

Yes, there is a lot written on social media. One of our best tips is to embrace it all. Learn as much as you can about how to do it right and continually tweak what you do. The results will show you why it’s a key factor in today’s successful marketing strategies. And remember whenever you need help; you can depend on an online support specialist to take over for you. They are already skilled in social media marketing and can assist you in creating and maintaining both the image you want and a brand you can be proud of.