Social media has become part of most people's daily lives, in part due to the ease with which it facilitates communication, allowing people to connect with others who have similar interests, and share information. With the use of social media platforms, which serve as the basis for an online community, people are able to share activities, post opinions and update statuses within minutes. Additionally, social media tools allow users to upload and share multimedia content, blog about an issue, and use software (app) downloads that connect them to a wide range of available goods and services. The pace at which social media is growing also has no chance of slowing down anytime soon, with over half of adults connected to one or more social media sites. With the number of people using social media, marketers are quickly coming to understand how it is an important and effective tool for creating positive influence and relationships with consumers, customers, and other businesses. Consumers will use social media to learn about new goods and services, conduct research and share information to make a choice. Sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are among those that consumers commonly rely on to learn about new goods and services. Blogs and social networking sites are useful for conducting research and learning more about a topic, which can carry a lot of weight in your purchasing decision. By studying these consumers and the social media patterns they use, companies are able to collect data. Marketers can then use this data to develop social media marketing campaigns. Effective social media marketing requires having goals and developing a strategy to achieve them. Creating a social media marketing plan is important because it documents in writing your company's goals and strategies, budget and returns, and a method to track, measure, and manage engagement. A well-written plan will be clear and concise, cover all points and anticipate any questions. Clear objectives help steer the social media marketing campaign in the right direction, and the ability to have flexible objectives allows businesses to change depending on the circumstances. Once objectives are established, marketers are better able to develop strategies that will help connect the target audience with the objective of the initiative. Strategies include deciding which platform and tools to use, who will participate in the conversation on behalf of the company, and how to allow customers to join the conversation.