Throughout the last several years, we’ve all watched as the social media trend has continued to grow and expand to more users than ever (even my 82-year-old Grandma now has her own Facebook account). Just as the handwritten letter has become an all-but-lost means of communication, e-mail may follow suit as brief, 140-character messages on Twitter become the latest way to communicate with the masses. Even presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, has embraced text messaging as a way to reach potential voters.

One of the benefits of social media is that individuals can tailor his or her experience and choose the exact information to view or receive. But how much is too much communication? Even though you may subscribe to your favorite clothing store’s contact list, it doesn’t mean that you want to receive an e-mail from them multiple times a day notifying you of their latest item or sale. Yes, you might have signed up to receive a text message notification, but you don’t necessarily want a new text message each time any announcement is made. This type of “over-communication” can lead to negativity and even loss of loyalty to a brand. I have unsubscribed and canceled myself from several groups due to what became an overabundance of annoying messages.

It can be difficult to find the correct balance when communicating with an audience. You want your message to be heard and for people to take a particular action. Instead of overwhelming your audience, make sure you are providing them with wanted information and not just useless propaganda. Pay attention and listen to what your users want to gain from the site. Are they looking for daily e-mails and text messages containing every piece of news from the day? Or are they more interested in visiting a Web site at their leisure and leaving comments when appropriate? Some simple research such as surveys or focus groups at the beginning of a project can easily identify user’s goals and provide clear direction on how a site should operate. Perhaps even experiment with different techniques with a pilot group before launching to the masses. Feedback from a small group can provide a great deal of insight and allow you to make adjustments prior to reaching out to a larger group of individuals.

Social media has and will continue to play a huge role in communication. As more and more companies are adopting social media as part of their communications strategy, it becomes even more important to be able to engage audiences, create additional users and retain those users to build loyalty for a brand.