Social media networks are a fun but challenging aspect of the world wide web. Staying on top of your industry’s network takes creativity, an ability to read your audience, and well-timed posts. Here are three ways to make your internet presence the best that it can be.

Choose a Fitting Platform

There are numerous social media platforms out there and choosing the right one for your business can require some planning. Each of the five most popular platforms provide different benefits depending on your reason to be on the website. Being the largest, Facebook is good for gaining exposure due to the sheer number of people who you will be able to reach. Pinterest specializes in photos and infographics and might be best for a company that sells visual appeal, such as wedding venues, fine dining restaurants and clothing retailers. Pick a platform that speaks to your goals and your audience.

Optimize Use of Hashtags

A hashtag is a label for a specific topic, widely recognized as being preceded by the # symbol. Both searchable and clickable on social media, hashtags are a great way to make your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages easier to discover and receive more views. Make sure you use the label in a message or post related to the topic and avoid using it randomly just to garner attention. You can even create your own hashtag to drive traffic to your personal or business profile. When creating your own hashtag, use a phrase that other people are likely to search for; in other words, be creative but not too specific. Beware of overusing hashtags, as this looks messy and detracts from the original goal of driving traffic to your page.

Keep a Constant Presence

The internet moves at an exponential pace, so you want to ensure that you are creating content every day to maintain a visible and viable presence. Because Twitter posts are so short, posting multiple times a day on that platform is ideal, while on Facebook it is best to limit to one or two posts per day. Take some time to read other Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with trends and be willing to adapt to the evolving needs of your audience. Fortunately, there are time-saving tools available to schedule and automate posting to your pages.

Social media is not going anywhere, so it is only to your benefit to optimize the ways in which you use these internet platforms.