Doing a good job with your social media presence means that you are:

• Consistently crafting and posting relevant content to all active social media channels
• Being promotional only some of the time
• Responding to comments or questions directed at you on social media
• Actively engaging those you follow
• Monitoring & maintaining your active social media accounts
• Organizing those you follow into Twitter lists, Google+ Circles, and the like

Leaving off any one of these points means you aren’t managing your social media presence as well as you probably should.

Only following through on Point #1 is like hanging an “OPEN” sign in your front window, but then not following through on any of the other tasks related to effectively running and growing a business.

I know that it seems like posting regular social media updates is the bulk of the job, and consumes the most time, but posting updates plays a smaller role than you might think.

Social media is not to be used like a bullhorn, shouting messages at people.

Social media is a two-way form of communication between a brand and the consumer.

If you have/had a brick and mortar store location, you wouldn’t avoid answering the phone. You wouldn’t ignore a customer who walked up to the counter to pay for products you sell. You wouldn’t leave burnt out light bulbs burnt out, or stop cutting the grass in front of your building.

So if you find that you’re only posting updates to your social media channels and nothing else, your social media presence is leaving much to be desired. Your social media presence might even come off like you don’t care about your customers, and find no value in developing a strong community between your brand and your customers.

And if you are considering hiring a social media firm to manage your social media presence for you, make sure their services include all 6 bullet points above. Otherwise consider finding another firm that does all those things as a standard practice and without charging extra.