Smile for the Camera means more today than ever, and so does social media!

If a photo is truly worth a thousand words, then I can only imagine how many words Instagram is worth. That’s because the photo sharing social media platform, founded in 2010, has reached a new milestone. It now has more than 300 million active monthly users, sharing 70 million photos daily. That’s up from 200 million active users just nine short months ago according to a news story in the USA Today. It also tops Twitter’s (Founded in 2006) 285 million current active users.

To put that in perspective, the population of the United States is roughly 323 million.

Of course Facebook still dominates the social media world with 1.23 billion active monthly users and there are countless numbers of other social media platforms.

Why are these numbers important you may ask? The answer is simple. The earth’s population is about 7.2 billion. Facebook alone reaches 1/7 the population of the planet. Add in all the other social media platforms and the number of people that can be reached using any one or a combination of several of these platforms is mind boggling.

Yet, there are many businesses still not leveraging social media to build their brand or connect with current and potential customers. Worse yet, there are many businesses that have delved into social media but are not approaching it in a meaningful way to build their brand or be relevant in their industry. In many cases, poorly managed social media sites have damaged a company’s reputation.

So where does that leave your business?

Entering the social media world is both easy yet complex. It’s easy from the standpoint of the cost is minimal. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and voilà, you can be off and running as most social media sites are free for users.

The complexity enters the picture as you decide what social media platform would work best for your business, what your strategy will be, and how will it complement/define my brand.

That takes a well thought out plan. It also takes time for someone to set up the social media page, monitor and update it frequently. Equally important is consistently responding to comments and engaging your followers. That person should also be monitoring the industry as a whole to determine when new opportunities arise.

If you are not using social media to build and promote your brand, then you’re truly missing out on a great opportunity. Speak to an expert who can help provide insight and help guide your path to social media success.

Do you have a social media success story you can share? Let’s hear it. Perhaps it will inspire others to enter the world of social media.