Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn are several of the current popular social-media platforms for engaging business customers and networking. Online users constantly are being encouraged to click “like” if they agree, retweet things, follow stories, pin items of interest and update their work history. Each medium is free to join, but is it cost effective?

Creating an account may be free, but someone must be assigned the job of tweeting, updating and pinning to get solid exposure for a company or business. The average social-media user, who uses these sites for personal interaction, is used to seeing inconsequential updates from friends who have eaten chocolate cake for breakfast or are excited to watch the season premiere of their favorite television show.

In the business world, however, timely, frequent (but not annoying), relevant posts are needed in order to influence potential buyers, market products and engage customers.

An August Forbes Magazine article stated that, “almost 60 percent of marketers are devoting the equivalent of a full work day to social media marketing development and maintenance.”

An employee assigned the task of updating a company’s social-networking sites and pages has to be paid for that time, and business owners and managers know that time is never cheap.

To help area business owners understand how to get the most from these social-networking sites, the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce and CVB is planning some introduction to social media classes. They will cover Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn basics. Attendees will learn time-saving tips and tricks and the best ways to utilize social media to benefit their businesses and customers.

Class dates will be released soon, but those who want more information or would like to sign up can email assistant@libertycounty.org or call 368-4445.

Scott is the administrative assistant for the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce.