Maintaining an effective social media presence for your company involves a series of choices. First, you need to determine which platforms make the most sense for you; then it’s time to delve down into which groups or discussions that are occurring on those platforms are worth participating in.

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Not all conversations are created equal: some online discussions rapidly garner a lot of attention, because people are interested in who the participants are and what they have to say. Other discussions may be quite high quality, yet they remain obscure because no influential people are participating in them. You can learn a great deal and even make meaningful connections through these low-profile discussions; in fact, some people prefer to use social media in this way.

However, if your social media marketing goal is to raise your company’s visibility and extend your brand’s reach, you want to focus your attention on participating in those discussions that involve influential people. Each industry has its own set of influential voices; these are the leaders and visionaries others turn to for insight and advice. You’ll want to look for where these individuals are active on social media, perhaps they are members of your industry LinkedIn groups, hosting or participating in Reddit AMAs or leading Twitter chats.

These are the discussions you want to be part of – comment, question and contribute as appropriate. As appropriate means in a way that furthers the discussion, rather than blatant self-promotion. As people see the value of your contributions, your credibility begins to grow. More people will become aware of you, and by extension, your company. Make sure your profile information is accurate and complete so it’s easy for people to find you!