Ask the Vetrepreneur: Your business and social media

Q: Should my business be on social media?
A: Absolutely. Social media in an incredible way to market your business and build your brand – for free. Social media as a marketing tool can help lower your cost to acquire new customers and build brand recognition.
Q: How do I decide what social media platforms to use?
A: That largely depends on the type of business you have and what makes sense for you, given your time and resources. Start by asking yourself, “What is my ideal audience?”
Q: What are the best tools for managing social media?
A: There are so many wonderful tools out there. Here are two I recommend:
Find a URL shortener. If you post a lot of articles, especially your own original content, this is key.
Use TweetDeck for Twitter. You can create groups of people whose content you want to keep up with, as well as track specific hashtags. The beauty of TweetDeck is the ability to schedule tweets; you can simply check in periodically to answer replies, retweet others’ content or comment on relevant topics.

Mark Rockefeller is an entrepreneur, attorney and veteran. He is the co-founder and CEO of StreetShares, an online marketplace where investors compete to provide shares of commercial loans to small businesses.
Follow Rockefeller on Twitter 
@markrockefeller or StreetShares 
@StreetShares
Have a question? Send it to him at questions@streetshares.com.