If I’m being completely honest, I’m probably the least “social” social media professional you know. I have (and regularly use) personal accounts on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube…the list goes on and on. Yet I’ve been on Facebook for over 6 years, a visit to my profile will teach you little more than my birthday. Sure you can see my resume on LinkedIn, my personal style on Pinterest and what makes me laugh on Twitter, but if you are trying to get an accurate sense of who I am – what inspires and motivates me – your best bet is to just ask me. Now how antiquated does that sound?

I’m active on all these different platforms, I understand the ins and outs, and all the idiosyncrasies; however when it comes down to it, I love my privacy settings and I reserve a lot of my social updates for my friends. I have friends who are the complete opposite – they’ll let you know what they are thinking about eating for lunch, what they actually decide on having and then later reflect on how they should have had for lunch instead (with Spotify providing the soundtrack for their deliberation all the while). And that’s great if that is what works for you.

But B2B marketers don’t have the option of not engaging; they need to break through all the lunch and song conversations.

As a marketer, you can’t just simply establish social profiles for your brand, and then watch it take off without any further consideration. Just because you build social properties, it doesn’t mean you will automatically grow a substantial following. And this is especially true for niche, B2B marketers. As we’ve called out time and time again on this blog, the key to success is creating and executing a great strategy.  Here are a few suggestions that can help you make sure you are creating a strong strategy:

• Before diving in, know where your audiences live online, and what they are talking about.
• Understand the strengths and limitations of each social network. They are not one size fits all.
• Social media can be a great part of an overall marketing strategy, but it can’t live alone and it can’t be static.
• Share content that others find valuable, don’t make a post just for the sake of posting.

It’s important to have a clear plan outlined prior to diving into social media because once you start your official social media properties; you’ve signed a virtual contract with the online community that you are going to be present. And the real way to be successful is to be responsive through the thick and the thin. While no one wants to hear negative comments about their brand, let alone have them published on the internet, a thoughtful and sincere response can sometimes save an otherwise doomed relationship.

If you are able to engage your virtual community, and not just promote yourself, that’s where you’ll start to see the real benefits of social media marketing. When you can bring in that human connection to your online efforts, that’s when users are going to be interested in what your brand is about offline.