One of the great opportunities of jumping into social media is that there really are no cost barriers for entry. You do not need to whip out your credit card to create a Facebook page, Twitter profile, LinkedIn account, YouTube channel, or to start your own blog. For the time being, all of these services are available to us free of charge.

The fact that all of these tools are available free of charge only means that we have access to them. It does not mean that once accessed we are socially connected to our networks and part of the “social media revolution.” Anyone who believed that by creating an account that their friends, contacts, customers, and fans would multiply like rabbits in spring, surely has been greatly disappointed. Consequently, many of these people have arrived at the opinion that social media is a fad and failure, and are waiting to say “I told you so.”

Though I am sure that there are those businesses and individuals who became overnight superstars without an ounce of effort (I don’t believe this but I have no way of proving the non existence of god either), most of us have had to work at becoming successful. What is true in our day to day lives is also true on-line: It takes work to build relationships and to build businesses and organizations. To successfully use social media, you need to work at identifying, reaching out to, and building your network.

Though success on social media takes many forms, one of the important indicators is whether you have been able to reach your intended audience. If the audience you need to reach is 20 people, and 16 of them are in your network, that translates into an 80% success rate. Conversely, if your audience is 40,000 and you only have 400 in your network, you have a 1% success rate. Which network will provide a greater chance at being successful?

The size and value of the networks that we are able to create on social media platforms are directly related to the effort that we put in. The more time you invest the greater the opportunity to increase the size of your network. The key element here is the commitment of time. The time to build a network of 16 could take 20 times the effort than the time invested to build the network of 400. Which network will provide you with a greater return on your investment?

For those of us who are entrepreneurs, we know all to well the notion of “sweat equity.” We recognize that our time has value, and if we invest it, there is a cost. Any entrepreneur, organization or business that jumps on the social media train, needs to understand that this is not a free ride, if you want to arrive at your intended destination. Jump on without a ticket, or more importantly without a timetable and itinerary, and your destined to see the sights, but you are not likely have a pleasant and successful trip.

The amount of time you and/or your organization need to invest is a function of how big of a network you are looking to build, and how quickly you want to build it. Your time investment will be determined by your goals. If you can successfully build it, and sustain it, you will have created value. In fact, over the long term, your investment in time can create real savings.

At one time my company produced a monthly publication that we printed and mailed to 1,000 legislators and staff, executive branch officials, and clients. This publication cost us $12,000 per year. Today between social media and email, we are reaching in excess of 3,000 people per day, and have no budgeted line-item. Is everyone in our network reading our content daily? I doubt it. But they have not unsubscribed or hidden our content either. In today’s economy, a $12,000 reduction in expenses is nothing to sneeze at. Did it take work to build our Facebook Page, Twitter Following, and audience for our Blog? Did it take time to build our email list? The answer to both questions is yes. I think it has been worth it.