The social media boom has revolutionized the world of marketing, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Social media brings power to your fingertips and when used wisely, it can lead to success and consistency in your business. If you want to capitalize on this marketing opportunity, it's important to follow some best practices that will improve the likelihood of success. To get started, we have outlined seven of our favorites:

Avoid Insensitive Remarks

This one is pretty obvious. A somewhat surprising number of people have gotten in trouble for making insensitive remarks in their marketing materials or through casual online conversation. Just remember that your audience is full of a variety of people. Making light of a serious situation that's trending in the media, especially ones that you attempt connect to your business as a marketing ploy, could gain you a bad reputation.

Avoid Being All-Business

You probably already know that most customers hate to be bombarded by constant pleas to buy a product or service. Yet, time and again, businesses will often push sales by talking about their offers ad naseum. With social media, it's best to go off-topic once in a while. This will make you appear more human, ensuring that there's more than just a salesperson behind the keyboard.

Avoid Too Much Complexity

You should present each post, comment, picture or video in the simplest way possible. If the information your conveying is too complicated, you risk alienating your desired audience.

Be Consistent

A lot of companies fail at this portion of social media strategy. Creating a Facebook account and posting once or twice a month isn't enough. You need to provide some sense of consistency. Create a schedule and stick with it. This goes for each platform of social media that you decide to use.

Don’t Cross Post From Facebook to Twitter

Or vice versa, for that matter. No matter how many times someone remarks that Facebook and Twitter are different social channels, there’s always a brand that decides it's too lazy to come up with separate posts. Cross-posting from Twitter to Facebook is the perfect way to show that you don’t really care about your message, your audience, or your brand. People will notice and they’ll eventually tune out.

Exercise Caution When Using Hashtags

Hashtags are one the most popular trends to hit the world of social media, and frankly, it's quite easy to overuse them. Many businesses have added multiple hashtags to the end of every post or tweet, much to their follower's annoyance. Only use hashtags when they are relevant and at least somewhat specific. Writing something like #waffles often won't be very productive because it is too general.

State Information About Your Business

You don't want to be longwinded, but when you start up a social media account or campaign, make sure that everyone understands what type of business you are and the type of presence you plan to have on the site. You don't have to be too specific; just make sure that you spark some interest.

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Does your social media marketing suck? Knowing is half the battle. If it’s time to rethink your strategy, all is not lost. Do research on what others in your industry are doing in social media: what works, what doesn’t and their tone.  Take the time to get to know what your potential clients or customers want to see from you.

We understand that social media can be overwhelming, and it's not always easy to change with each update or refresh. If you are looking to boost your social media marketing then you may want to take a step back and reevaluate the online presence you already have.