Most marketers know that Social Media is a very important tool for customer acquisition and (more so) retention. Business owners are a little more difficult to convince, but without social media, you're essentially handicapping your marketing efforts. Even if you accept that social media must be a part of your strategy, it's difficult to know where to start. Here are a few ways you can acquire customers using several of the popular social media platforms.

1. Search for Your Brand Name and Respond.

How do you know that your brand is the center of discussion on Twitter or Facebook or any other social media platform? The simple answer is to do a search. You can search directly on the platform such as Twitter or even use a search engine.

You can also use tools such as TweetDeck. This tool lets you search for keywords that aren't included in hashtags. After you find your brand, you can then use your social media account to respond to feedback.

2. Create a Strategy Before You Start.

It's bad form to just jump into social media before creating a strategy. You should perform a search on social media to first look for mentions of your brand and also to find out what's popular. You can use the popularity of certain products and services as a springboard for your introduction into social media.

Your strategy should include the platforms you plan to use, how often you want to update your social media posts (you should aim for at least once a day), and what type of information you want to share. Remember that social media is meant to engage users, so you might even need someone to interact with your users on a full-time basis.

3. Be Receptive to Feedback.

Remember that your social media posts are public, so the way you respond to feedback can either attract customers or push them away. Whether it's good or bad, you can turn feedback into a golden opportunity. You can gather questions, insights, and ideas from your current customers and use that to educate your prospective customers.

Social media is often used for brand reputation management. If you happen to have an incident that leads to some bad publicity, you can use social media to manage it. This can often lead to other visitors determining if your brand is right for them.

4. Keep Track of Statistics.

There are several tools on the market to keep track of your success. Statistics are important, especially when you're new to social media. You want to know when users click on your links, find your brand through social sites, and any numbers related to acquisition strictly from social media. These statistics can help you target your efforts in the future to make your marketing efforts more financially effective.

Getting started with social media marketing is easy, but making it work is much more difficult and requires a strategic effort. Either way, you can't go wrong with social media. Once you figure out how it works, you'll find that it is a low-cost and effective way to convert visitors into paying customers.