At the opposite end of the social media debate is the guy who jumps on every social media platform before it’s even out of beta. The social sharing buttons on his blog seem to go on forever, and he’s got profiles on every site from Bebo to Yelp.

Here’s the problem. You can’t just jump in head first and use social media just for the sake of using it. It can be overwhelming and will get frustrating when you’re not seeing any positive results from your efforts. And how can you, when you’re spending 5 minutes a month on each site?

Instead, before jumping aboard every new network, you need to take some time and research the different social media platforms to determine which ones will give you the best results. Not all social media networks will be beneficial to you. The most important thing to keep in mind when researching the different networks is where are your customers and competitors hanging out? This is where you’re going to want to be.

Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media goals is that while networking is free, it still takes time and ultimately time equals money. You have to invest your time into building up your profiles and interacting with your followers, otherwise you end up just like the guy with too many profiles. If you don’t have a goal or plan in place you could find yourself wasting lots of valuable time just using social media for the sake of using it.

This is where having a plan comes into play. You need to think about what you want to achieve from social media. For example, let’s say your goal is to increase how many people you follow on Twitter (which will in turn increase how many followers you have) by 500 in 30 days. Break that goal down into smaller, easier-to-achieve daily goals. To follow 500 new people in 30 days you’ll have to find and follow 16 new people every day. That’s totally doable without spending a lot of time, and there is a clear benefit.

Let’s say another goal you have is to Increase your Facebook Business page likes by 100 in 30 days.  Again, break that down into smaller daily goals that are easier to achieve – to reach 100 new likes in 30 days you’ll have to get 3 new likes every day. It’s much easier to reach your social media goals when you have a clear plan in place.

Just like people so easily fail at New Year’s Resolutions (because they think it’s a good idea but don’t implement any commitment or structure into it), if you don’t put a plan into place when it comes to what you want to achieve with social media, you’ll find yourself frustrated and not getting the results you want.

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media and having a plan is that it’s not all about you – yes, your ultimate goal is to get more followers and to turn those followers into customers, but the main focus needs to be your audience and building a relationship with them. Remember, people buy from those they know, like and trust.