Being effective in social media marketing requires choosing the right social networks on which to spend time and effort (and money). And you do have to choose because a) there are too many networks and b) some will work better than others.

To choose the "right" social networks you should consider:

<strong>Your offering.</strong> Are you a retailer or a service provider? How much explanation does your offering require?

<strong>Your target audience</strong>. Who is buying your product or service? Where does the target prefer to receive information? Where is the target likely to make a decision?

<strong>Your strengths</strong>. Are you visual or do you like words? Are you more likely to take and post pictures or write a 1000-word blog post?

<strong>Where have you had the most traction?</strong> If you haven't yet been measuring response, then start right away. Google Analytics will tell you where people are coming from, and this is very valuable information. If most of your customers are coming from a particular social network, it makes sense to focus your energy and effort there.

I met a blogger who writes about event planning, and she gets the most visits to her blog from Pinterest.  So she focuses exclusively on building her Pinterest presence. Then there's the women's clothing and accessories retailer who gets most of her online orders through Facebook.  She has decided to budget for Facebook ads and sponsored posts and it is really paying off.

In both cases, these people understand their product/service and where to best market it. And they have decided to really focus on the social network that provides the most bang for the buck.

How many social networks do you focus on? Are you finding some work better than others?