It started out so simple. A post here and there. Then you started watching your competition and trying to figure out why your online sales sucked wind.

Not only are 'you' spending tons of time getting your content out, but you're hooked on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat. Instead of spending your moments focused on your business, you're focused on, online chatter as the answer to growth.

Here are my rules to guide you back to reality.

If you are a small business (I mean under $1MM in revenue) then you most likely are trying to do SMM and lead generation on a shoe string. If that's the case, do not personally spend more that 2.5 hours per week creating and posting content - and do this only during your non-work hours.

If you have kids in high-school or college, family and friends, then ask for help and even barter. Engagement is the number 1 success story to get you found. Post, share, comment, like, and increase your target audiences. Put up a business page and create and join groups.

Just remember that social media WILL NOT produce ongoing sales! Keep reading.

If you have over $1MM in sales, hire an agency or consultant and even look to hire in-house (full-time or part-time) or a combo of both, external and internal sourcing. If your company exceeds $1MM and you have average or better margins, then ramp it up and invest in a more dominant online presence.

Social media marketing and lead generation get complicated. So where do you start? Here's our 10 keys that sustain a successful online brand. But before you click, keep reading.

Yes, we are in the social media marketing and lead generation business. We're good at what we do and we are successful. Most of our business growth comes from word of mouth. And that's typical for our brand of business. Happy customers refer us their friends and business acquaintances.

Over the years the hardest thing we've come across is to work with people or businesses that have little if any social media understanding. So, we made a business decision to not on-board these types of clients. We spent an horrific amount of time holding hands. It cost us a lot of lost revenue - so our decision was really made for us.

And while this seems to be a hard line insult, it actually got us thinking how to help people get clarity to take it to the next level. After all, we're a boutique firm ourselves and understand what growing a business is about.

Here's the offer - it's FREE. No gimmicks, solicitations or stalking. We created a MENTOR program. Here's my definition: a mentor is someone you can turn too, on an ongoing basis, a trusted adviser. It's more of an informal process and mentors should not charge for their guidance.

If you need a mentor - I will mentor you. All I ask is that you understand that I will not train you up on social media marketing or lead generation. But I will guide you and answer your questions and you can use me as a sounding board for ideas. If you want to know more then click here and set a time to talk.

If your serious about needing help, then this is my personal invite to you.

Regards -

David Speyer