Today, businesses have unique challenges especially when it comes to making their presence on the web and attracting customers. Some of the challenges they often face are: -          Devising focused social media marketing strategies -          Identifying the target markets -          Determining appropriate social platforms for marketing -          Identifying the impact of social media marketing on their business -          Managing social platforms and harnessing their real power -          Enhancing customer satisfaction through social media -          Improving business performance through social media Therefore, in order to carve a niche on the web, businesses must understand basic principles of social media marketing. Social media marketing not only mitigates risks, but also delivers the real value that helps a business to stay ahead of their competitors. Here are a few key elements of social media marketing:

1. Share regularly - Social media is all about sharing. Therefore, there must be regular sharing of educational documents, informational videos, inspiring infographics and presentations. This will engage more and more people.
2. Real time updates – Share your fresh content at the appropriate time. This improves the reach and effectiveness of your content. (Tip – Send well-timed and well-written messages.)
3. Focus on educating your customers – Social media marketing is also about solving problems of your customers. Therefore, focus on educating and informing your customers rather than selling your products or services aggressively.
4. Adopt multichannel approach - Social media marketing is not about "one-size-fits-all", so use various channels for sharing your content. (Use innovative Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, slideshare, snapchat, LinkedIn and Blogs, etc. because innovation is the antidote to limits.)
5. Give free information – Disseminate as much information as possible to your customers. Provide free case studies, whitepapers, e-books and webinars to build trust.
6. Listen more – Connect with your audiences. You should listen to their problems and solve their issues.
7. Engage – Never break the chain of communication. Keep on posting your meaningful content (quotes, videos, presentations, infographics, etc. because "a picture is worth a thousand words") to engage your audiences.
8. Use top social media management tools – Use the best social media management tools in order to engage more customers and generate more traffic.

Of course, social media marketing is not a piece of cake, you need to analyse every aspect of your business to develop a focused social media marketing strategy to achieve your goal. So gear up and get ready to ascend up the ladder. Quick facts:

• The best time to post on Facebook is 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Other optimal periods include 12:00–1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 1:00–4:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.
• One of the best slots to post on Twitter is weekdays from 12:00–3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
• The best time to post on Pinterest is in the evening for the whole week.