How are you using social media to help grow your business? The fast paced world of social media is always changing an it can make creating a successful social strategy somewhat difficult at times. Whether it's being able to create the type of content that provides value to your audience or understanding the best ways to manage paid advertisements, it's never been more important to be in the know when it comes to the current best practices of today's most popular social networks.

So why are you using social to begin with? Most real estate professionals will agree that at the end of the day it's all about getting in front of more buyers and sellers to generate more business. But in the noisy world of social media and with almost all of your competitors trying to grab the attention of the same audience, how do you truly get your message heard? The answer is paid advertising and the value of this tool is growing exponentially. In fact, 65% of marketers increased their paid social media ad budgets in 2013 (Vizu).

The "Social Media Checklist 2015: 7 Steps to Generate More Business" provides a roadmap to creating an effective social media strategy in the new year, and Homes.com has created a seven part blog series to offer details on how to achieve each of the steps found in this helpful checklist. This time around, we'd like to share exactly why you should start investing in paid social media advertising and what you can do to get the most out of your efforts here.

1. Test multiple images and copy points

The images and copy points that you choose for your ads are of utmost importance, but not all of them will be winners. The good ol' fashioned process of trial and error is the only way to figure out which combination will work best. The image you choose is the first thing they see, so make sure that it's something colorful, eye grabbing and portrays what you are trying to offer. Once you've captured their attention with a great image, the text that you choose is what will entice them to find out more. Mix and match copy points with different images and track the performance of each combination. Once you've figured out which of them is getting the most interaction, then you have yourself a winner!