If you have a business, you need to be on social media – it really is that simple. A business without a social media presence is like a driver cruising down the street at night with no headlights. It’s dangerous, and it significantly lowers the probability you’ll end up where you want to be (and even if you do, it’s going to take you a lot longer to get there).

There’s no question that social media is a key factor to success in business these days. But how do you pay for it? How do you find the time to manage your accounts?

First, let’s get one thing straight. There’s a lot you can do on social media for free. You can set up a Facebook account and start posting, just like you can set up a Twitter feed and start tweeting. The problem, of course, is your reach. Because so much information is being shared on these social platforms, the networks themselves have no choice but to filter out some updates to be seen by their intended recipients and to let others go unseen.

Facebook, for instance, states that, “Of the 1,500+ stories a person might see whenever they log onto Facebook, News Feed displays approximately 300. To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story (from more to less important) by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

Read more: How To Start Investing In Social Media Marketing The Right Way