In business circles, opinions about social media marketing range from “a wonderful tool for making new contacts” to “a giant time-suck that produces mixed results.” That’s not really in unusual dynamic, especially when we are talking about different forms of Internet marketing. What is different about social networking, though, is that both opinions are potentially correct.

In other words, if you aren’t using your time efficiently and effectively, social media really can wreck your calendar. With that in mind, here are three things you should try to ensure that the time you’re spending on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is being put to its best use:

1. Put yourself on the clock. Set aside a certain amount of time each day (like 30 or 60 minutes) for social media, and then stop when you hit that point.

2. Run regular, measurable promotions. From time to time, see how many new orders or customers you can get from social sites. If that number is low, reduce the amount of time you’re putting in.

3. Concentrate your firepower. For a lot of businesses, LinkedIn deserves the most attention, because that’s where the best potential customers (i.e. decision-makers) spend their time, rather than Facebook or Twitter.

If you let it, social media marketing can easily become the biggest part of your day – there are just too many tweets and updates to send, contacts to make, and even photos to see and games to play. So, it’s up to you to ensure that you’re making the most of your time online.

Call Marcy Design, a Columbus Ohio website design company to help with your web, marketing and advertising campaigns.