Everybody’s using social media to promote their businesses these days, but not everybody’s doing it right, the Inc.com article “5 Essential Social Media Stages” explains. Social media success won’t come from haphazard posts – just like marketing that you pay for, research and having a concrete plan are necessary to make a positive impact.  Work through the following elements to develop a winning approach:

Collect

At its base, social media is still all about content. No matter how great your social skills may be, you can’t be successful without information that interests your audience. Gathering an archive of useful and relevant content isn’t as arduous a task as it may seem. Search social sites for stuff other people are sharing, set up Google alerts for relevant topics, and generally just keep your business page in mind whenever you’re looking at stuff online. Remember, your content doesn’t have to be just about tanning, but anything likely to be of interest to your audience. Health, beauty, celebrities, and travel are some that come to mind…and humorous content is always a winner! If you develop a file of content, you can make a plan and pull from the file whenever you can’t find anything new to share.

Curate

One easy and effective way to find content is from sources within the industry. Identify product and equipment manufacturers, distributors, associations and publications that provide information that will interest your audience. Follow them for content that you can share directly and information that will provide inspiration for your own.

Create

Even better than sharing content is developing your own. It educates and entertains your audience, shares your business personality, and positions you as an expert in your field. Tips, tricks and explanations are great, and using videos and pictures is always better than words. Document events, show people how you engage with your community and let people get to know your employees.

Share

Once you’ve collected the content, sharing is easy. Develop a plan as to how frequently you want to share. Try to make your posts timely whenever possible and fill in from there. Remember, you want to stay in touch, but you also don’t want to overload your followers with too many posts.

Engage

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of social media success is engaging with your audience. Most importantly, never neglect a comment directed to one of your accounts. Whether it’s a praiseful or critical comment, a question or suggestion, always respond in a timely manner. Whether the person is seeking a specific response or not, your interaction will work to tighten their bond with your brand. But also be proactive. Ask your audience to participate in conversation about your posts, encourage feedback and talk to people like they’re your friends.

Click here for the article from Inc.com.