Social Media is not just Twitter and Facebook. Don't forget LinkedIn and blogs. It is also social bookmarking services, like Stumbleupon, Digg, and Delicious. It is picture sharing (Flickr, PhotoBucket, etc.) and video sharing (YouTube, Vimeo, etc).

Many people get into Social Media and quickly get overwhelmed. Many proudly proclaim that Social Media is a waste of time and there is no point to it. Those who do not practice are quick to judge.

For some, indeed, Social Media is a waste of time and they should not be doing it. You have to like it to be a part of the community. You have invest in it, like you spend time on relationships with your friends. You have to contribute and help others. Also, it might not be for you. You have to decide for yourself.

To help you decide, here are tips on how to get a head start with Social Media and do not let it take over your life.

1. Understand Social Media.

Social Media requires commitment. Make sure you have time to invest in it. Schedule 3 hours a day to research your Social Media channel of choice. Spend this time reading about it, searching the conversations, understanding how it works, learning the lingo and the etiquette, etc. Most importantly, discover how it is going to help you achieve your goal.

You need to have a target audience. Who do you want to talk to? Who is your audience? Is it your potential customers? Is it your peers? With whom are you trying to connect? Your strategy then will depend on your answers.

For example, if you are trying to connect with your customers, you will be searching for possible questions your potential customers are asking. If you are looking for peers, you will be seeking conversations regarding professional topics you are interested in.

One important thing to remember, if you are trying to connect with your customers, first, you need to find out where they are on Social Media. Then, go to them. RapLeaf and FlowTown are great tools to help you locate your customers.

2. Decide, what you want out of Social Media.

You have to have a goal. Why are you getting into Social Media? Typical mistake is to want sales out of your Social Media activities. Forget about it. You will get revenue eventually, if you are good. But not right away. You first have to build a community, which is time-consuming and hard. So, pick a different goal for starters.

For example, take your customer service to Twitter or Facebook to reduce phohe calls to your support line. Offer coupons or promotions to your customers through Facebook. Provide value to the customer, and do not spam them with links. Remember, only 44% of links shared on Facebook and Twitter are clicked on - make your sharing efforts count (source: TechCrunch)

In other words, set your goal, decide on how you are going to achieve it (strategy) and what exactly you are going to do (tactics). It is also helpful to set targets (25 new fans on Facebook, 5 retweets a day on Twitter, etc).

3. Select tools and start practicing.

You are ready to pick the tools. Pick the ones that have the functionality you need and also are the most comfortable to use for you. It is important to like the tool you use.

My tools of preference are HootSuite (web and iPhone app), Twitter app on iPad, Osfoora for iPad, TwitDeck (desktop). I like Hootsuite because it allows to schedule updates and re-tweets. I will write a post about my favorite tools later. Osfoora has a great interface and I really like it for iPad.

One app that deserves a special mention is Flipboard for iPad. It is a fantastic aggregation software that allows you to read your feeds from Twitter and Facebook. The most useful is the ability to preview sniplets of articles and share them.

Check out a great article by Jen Lopez (@jennita) from SEOmoz on how to manage Twitter accounts. Jen is a Community Manager and provides a couple of suggestions on how a company can use Twitter to reach their customers.

4. Be patient.

The followers will not flock to you. You need to start interacting with people, form relationships and friendships. It also helps to meet people in real life. Conferences, meetups, tweetups, interest groups work best. If you stay engaged and contribute to the community, you will greatly benefit from social networks. But you have to be patient - it will not happen overnight.

5. Measure your progress.

Track your success, but in a smart way. Measure what matters. If you are trying to reduce customer support phone calls, measure the number of calls before and after you started your efforts. Add answers to frequently asked questions and watch the traffic. Post articles based on Social Media discussions and monitor how many people wrote comments and bought from you.

Overall, pay attention to your interactions with people. Do they comment on your posts? Do you answer their questions quickly? What do they talk about? Do you comment on their posts?

Now, that you are a Social Media participant, you cannot quit. You will have to keep it going. Be prepared. And it will eventually take less than 3 hours a day, but don't count on it.