2011 was a banner year for social media marketing. It was the year we saw major brands take the leap in creating a presence on Facebook and Twitter. At the beginning of the year it was still unusual to see major brands pointing to their Facebook/Twitter URL at the end of a TV ad, on their packaging or on a billboard. Now it is almost the norm. This growth in brand presence on social media came about a year after the meteoric growth of consumers on social media. Companies realized that more than 700 million users were active on Facebook (more than 1 in every 10 people on Earth) and this lead to the words “social media” being on the mind of CMOs all over the globe. That being said, there are a lot of changes in store for social media marketing in 2012.

Writing content that captures your brands voice and audience’s attention is not always easy. When writing Facebook Posts for a business’s fan page it’s important to not over complicate the process. To make your job easy, keep in mind the following tips to help systemize your approach for providing valuable content that is easy for your community to engage with through like’s, comment’s and share’s.

Twitter is without a doubt one of the best ways to share trending news and is a fantastic tool for giving your brand a voice and personality. Done right, ‘tweeting’ will build your following, brand reputation, and customer’s trust. Using Twitter also allows you to engage with real people with specific interests, who are genuinely intrigued in what you have to say. With any marketing strategy, you have to ask yourself what it is that your target market needs or wants from you, and then deliver exactly that. Twitter users prefer a genuine tone from the businesses they follow, so as you tweet, think about what your voice is and how you want your business to appear to the Twitter community. Here are some tips to building a successful Twitter community: