For some companies Social Media feels like it just takes so much effort for so little return. Whilst for others they are investing thousands of pounds in resources and tools to leverage it.

So where does the difference lay?

It’s simply in the planning. If your business doesn’t have a defined strategy for a particular activity, and a relevant plan to implement it, then it will always feel like a struggle.

No more so than when it comes to a Social Media Strategy as few people really understand how to leverage effectively, and are easily caught up in Likes and Follows, often a false measure of success.

In addition Social Media can be one of the most distracting marketing tasks to perform. Even seasoned professionals can find themselves off on tangents getting caught up in conversations and interesting factoids.

TIP: Instapaper is a great tool to save lengthy articles for later reading.

Then there are those that not only have a Social Media Strategy, have their plans in place and tactics developed, they also have dedicated teams in place to track conversations in the online space.

These organisations have set up dedicated Social Media Command Centres to monitor activity specific to their requirement. This isn’t just for large organisations though, you can have your own Social Media Monitoring System for very little cost with tools like Hootsuite.

As I said it is all in the plan, but this infographic from Being Your Brand should give you some idea of what is possible.