I mentioned in Monday’s relationship challenge post that I attended a wedding last weekend and learned two lessons I would be sharing with you. The first was a reminder on how important relationships are. Today you get the second.

This is such a simple lesson but one I think we often overlook.

Hard work pays off.

That’s basically all there is to this lesson. My friend who got married, Mary, put her heart and soul into this wedding. For ten months she worked tirelessly to make this joyful event everything she ever wanted it to be. And in the end, it was more beautiful and loving than I think even she imagined it could be.

I think this is such a potent lesson for social media because delving into using social media for your business is going to take a lot of hard work. So it’s important to remember that in the end, it will all pay off.

But you already know this, so what else is there to know? I think it’s important to understand where to put all this time and effort. It’s easy to get bogged down in social media and end up spending an hour somewhere that won’t pay you back in the end.

Here are the top five ways to spend your time in order to yield the best possible results:

1.) Blogging

I know, how many times have I come back to blogging? Here I am again. Instead of reiterating myself over and over, I’m just going to link to old posts that explain how blogging is an amazing way to connect with customers, communicate with customers, turn readers into clients, and so forth. In the end, I truly believe there isn’t a downside to starting a business blog and putting a large chunk of your efforts into this platform.

2.) Reading

Staying on top of your industry trends is a powerful tool. Knowing what is working for others in your industry can help you decide what to do with your own business. And if you’re going to be putting your time into blogging, then you need to read other blogs to get a feeling for how they are written, what sort of value they are providing, and so forth. Check their comments section, are they having conversations? Are their ideas being reflected back at them in an interesting way? What can you learn?

3.) Conversing

This is where Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn come in. Truthfully, not every platform is going to be right for every business. That is why I didn’t give them each their own number. But all three can be amazing for different types of businesses. Deciding which platform to concentrate on can take a lot of hard work in itself. But once you figure out which will help promote your business, they can be extremely beneficial.

For help deciding which platform works best for your business, shoot me an email or leave a question in comments and I’ll help you figure out what you want to use the platform to accomplish, and from there we can decide which one works best.

4.) SEO

Being found by Google is a huge goal that many companies find so overwhelming they completely ignore it. SEO is not my area of expertise. I can’t tell you how to get your site to the first page, that’s left to the real experts who are both artists and scientists. However, I can tell you that it’s not something that can be overlooked, and you would be a fool to do so.

5.) Brand recognition

When you start a social media campaign, it’s worth the time and effort to make sure your company’s brand is consistent across everything you do. Social media isn’t just about conversing and connecting, it’s about building awareness for your company. Don’t confuse potential customers by using many different logos or pictures.

What do you think? Do you agree these are good ways to spend your time and important areas to put in the hard work? Do you sometimes need to be reminded that putting in hard work will pay off in the end? I know I do.