If you’re working in social media as an account manager, or if you’re simply trying to optimize the management of your own accounts, it’s important to subscribe to a few different strategies along the way. If you don’t, you can often become the victim of an over saturated news feed.

Over saturation occurs when the list of people you’re following (on whatever network) is not specific, targeted, or relevant. This can quickly lead to a news feed flooding with activity. Activity that is not productive or helpful to the cause of networking and engagement.

Following many users is fine, but following the right users is imperative. Once you’re properly targeting the scope of the market you want – and this is a process in itself, you can start engaging them. This is one of the many reasons why paying a $500 fee for 5,000 followers is completely ineffective. When you properly engage the people that you know are appropriately targeted, the results you will see increase dramatically. One follow from an engaged customer is worth several of the unverified, bot, and random accounts you will receive when purchasing followers and likes.

So, how do you find the balance for your feeds? With a few steps.

Eliminate the noise

Filter out any and all content that isn’t relevant to your business. If you’re unwilling to part with certain feeds for personal reasons, these are what personal accounts are for. It’s easy to get lost in Twitter or Facebook feeds that are constantly auto-updating themselves. You need to make sure that what does come through is topical and relevant. Sift through your friends, likes, those you are following, all of the above. Cut out anything that doesn’t directly (or indirectly) contribute to your brand.

Network effectively

If you don’t know who you should be engaging with, there are, of course, tools for this. But you need to be very careful how you set the results and filters for these kinds of searches. Gain a basic understanding of how SEO works, and identify the keywords and terms that will lead you to your customers.

Be transparent

If you’re a business, people on the web are going to catch onto the fact that it’s your goal to make money. That doesn’t mean you have the go-ahead to start spamming mentions demanding people to try your product. It’s best to be upfront about what your goals are, but try not to let them consume your online personality. Online channels enable brands to demonstrate their corporate cultural. Use these platforms to develop your brand.

Follow these steps as a guide, and allow yourself to have some fun with developing and maintaining your brand personality, and you’re well on your way to creating an engaging brand. What are some of the rules you’ve found most helpful to developing your brand?