More and more, businesses worldwide are adopting social media as a marketing tool, only to end up using it in wholly ineffective, or, worse, inappropriate ways.

Social networks are now littered with thousands of accounts set up for marketing purposes, and most of these accounts are effectively junk; now lying dormant after the initial rush of excitement gave way to a realization that social media marketing wouldn’t achieve the results — product sales or brand awareness — originally hoped for. There’s no doubting that social media marketing can be tremendously powerful. There have been numerous examples of successful, high-profile campaigns (after all, that’s why there’s so much pressure for businesses to be “on Facebook” or “on Twitter” now), but the key to a successful social media marketing campaign, however, is knowing when — and how — to use the medium.