After working with businesses and their Social Media for 5+ years – which is eons in the social space - I've seen some wonderful successes and a few tragic flops. In some respects, Social Media marketing is a moving target with new platforms launching, changing, and exiting - daily. However, over the years I've noticed that there are some MUSTS about Social Media use for growing your business.

Over the next 5 weeks, we'll look at my short, serious, unfiltered, truthful list. Let’s start with #1.

1. One is not enough. There are hundreds of Social Media platforms, and to think that you can be successful by using only 1 of them is wrong and will end badly for you. Social media users don’t aggregate to any one platform, and although there are a few platforms that are more widely used than others (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name three), they tend to reach different groups and types of users. However, most users diversify their own Social Media usage, so if you are truly going to impact them, you’ll need to be ever-present across the networks and platforms they use. No. One is not enough, so as you plan your strategy, consider what combination of platforms make sense based on your goals, target market and who resides where on Social Media.

Social Media platforms will continue to multiply (like Tribbles on Star Trek), so you'll need to plan on revisiting your platform choices as user demographics change and flex.  Will Twitter continue to grow? Will LinkedIn usage grow among executives?  One platform is not enough and choosing once isn't either.

Be sure to check back next week for hard truth #2 as we consider the task of creating, curating, and writing content. Hang on folks!