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Once you create a Twitter account and link it to your website your brand will become a viral sensation, right?

Wrong.

Social media algorithms and strategies change daily, so how do you keep your brand in the conversation on social day in and day out? Oftentimes my clients think their social media presence will develop overnight which is unfortunately not the case. Mashable’s list of Top 10 Brands on Social Media in 2013 reveal specific reasons why brands are popular on social media. Now of course, the term “popular” should be used loosely, as brands all have different goals and measurements of success on social media. Some are looking to increase their following while others are looking to achieve higher engagement rates. It is important to keep in mind when developing a social media strategy that it must be tailored specifically to each client or brand in order to meet their goals.

Though those listed on Mashable’s Top Brands list are all well-known companies, there are reasons other than their large following and popularity that landed them on this list. How did they do it? Here are a few tips to ensure your brand stays relevant on social media, for the long-term:

1. Consistency

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In today's world, having a large social audience can mean BIG BUCKS and because of that, now more than ever, businesses of all sizes are investing a lot of time and money into social media as a form of branding and marketing. With that being said, I wanted to share how you should go about tracking the success of your social media efforts using Google Analytics in a few simple steps. Using Google Analytics makes it easy for you to track how many conversions that you are getting from your social profiles the beauty of using Google Analytics is that it is TOTALLY FREE! 

Google Analytics & Social Media Traffic

Assuming you are doing some search marketing to supplement your social, you should probably already have Google Analytics setup. If you don't, there are tons of video tutorials out there and Google's support page on installing Google Analytics is also a great learning resource.

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Tomorrow April 23rd , HubSpot’s attempting to break the record for World’s Largest Webinar … and we want you to be a part of it.

Join us here: http://hub.am/1oN0PbY

During this webinar, you’ll hear top secret social media information from executives at LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. This webinar is live-only, so you’ll only have one shot to view this webinar and break a Guinness World Record.

Here are the details:

SPEAKERS:
Scott Engelman, Head of Online Marketing at LinkedIn
Jed Clevenger, Global Head of SMB Channel Marketing at Facebook
Russ Laraway, Senior SMB Director at Twitter

HOSTED BY:
Dan Zarrella, Social Media Scientist at HubSpot

LIVE WEBINAR DETAILS:
Date: April 23, 2014
Time: 11am PT/ 2pm ET (60 minutes)
Hashtag: #WLW14

If you’re still not sure you want to attend, you should know that we’re giving every single attendee 20% off to HubSpot’s INBOUND conference, plus a ton of other free stuff for people who sign in 15 minutes early.

Register here: http://hub.am/1oN0PbY

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Social media can give entrepreneurs the same opportunity to build community and engage customers as their better funded competitors. But when time and resources are limited, it’s crucial to laser focus social-media efforts to achieve goals: Do you want to drive sales, generate qualified leads, build relationships with current customers and bloggers in your industry? And of course figure out how you can measure it.

For entrepreneurs needing a little help developing their social-media plan, here are a few tips. 

Be crystal clear on who your target audience is. Determining your target demographic is imperative for success (without customers there are no sales). Make sure you have a clear image of who you exactly what to reach. Make sure you know them inside and out and are familiar with their interests, needs and biggest challenges. How does your product or service solve their problems? Also look at influencers in your industry, as they can play an important role in reaching your audience.

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Everyone has a strong opinion about Google+. Start a conversation about it and you’ll rarely hear middle ground. People either think it’s a social media gold mine or a ghost town that’s overhyped and full of accounts people don’t use. So which is it? This post explores the history of the toddler social network and explains why it would be foolish to ignore the social side of Mountain View.

Google’s History in Social

Social has been a Google endeavor for nearly a decade. Google+ represents the company’s fourth social initiative and the first to break into the top tier of social networks. Launched back in 2011, G+ represents Google’s social challenge to Facebook, which has long dominated the social sphere in terms of number of users.

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On Facebook there isn’t one “perfect post” or ideal time of day to post. Instead, you can develop a strategy that gets different types of content to different types of people, at different times. The key factor to remember when creating Facebook content is that you need to be vigilant—constantly looking to diversify what and when you post.

1. Keep things positive
Being positive promotes engagement and encourages sharing. Equally as important, being negative may cost you fans. People are quick to unlike a business if posts are negative or controversial.

2. Make your posts informative by giving “tips” and including links
The most appealing updates are ones that offer something. Don’t disclose everything — this increases the likelihood that fans will click.  Post an interesting fact. If you are an expert in the field, share tips. If you’re sharing a blog post or an online article, create a status update that features the piece’s most interesting fact or statement to stir reader curiosity and encourage click-throughs. Instead of copying and pasting a long URL into your status update, use a link-shortener like Bit.ly to make your post brief and more likely to be shared.