Let's start with not getting all caught up in terminology.
Some folks are trying to reterm social media into new or emerging media.
What ever way you want to describe or accept it, this technology can be a low-cost investment (of either time or financial resources) to help find prospective folks to buy your good or services, while also being an excellent way to reach out to clients you already have relationships with.
In a recent report from Hubspot, 40% of businesses using this technology (social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and blogs) have generated at least one customer from each of them.
What has your other marketing efforts gained you lately? The thing about new media is that it can be daunting.
Like looking at the elephant as a meal, it is a challenge to know where to begin.
The thought of creating a marketing campaign around these social networks can be overwhelming.
That is if you are a small business.
The implications are bigger as the size of your business increases! A while back, I wrote an article for church marketing that came from the point of "what if I was just starting to market my church? What course of action would I take?" At the time, I mentioned social networking as a critical component of marketing success.
Let's broaden that out for a moment.
Let's look at all businesses that are just starting out.
You have heard the buzz words or you wouldn't be here reading.
So you understand that you have to get started using these new (in some cases) technologies.
But just having a profile on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in and of itself is not going to take you to super star status.
You are going to have to get into the mix to fully understand them and also to see their potential But if you are just getting started, let's review these 5 tips that should make your life a bit easier! 1.
Do Your Homework! Coming here is a start.
But just like studying for a test, doing the legwork PRIOR to jumping in can get you optimal results.

• Blogs and forums - Subscribe to them, become a fan or get them on your RSS feeds.
  Find out what people are talking about in your niche.
  Not sure where to start? Go to Google and put in "yourniche forum" and begin there.
  Another great resource for this is Alltop
• Use Alerts - Use Trackle, SocialOomph or Google alerts to check if people are already talking online about you or your business.
  
• Go "Old School" - New form of communication...
  actually talk to customers or others in your niche to see what sites they are getting the most benefit from.
  

2.
Understand That You Are A Noobie!

• Don't judge yourself against others - Pay no attention to the person with thousand of followers or friends.
  They started exactly where you did.
  Jeff Johnson once told me (and when he says it I believe him) that you want to be in competitive markets.
  It's the pioneers who have the arrows in their backs.
  So don't take on something that you aren't sure is going to work.
  Deliver great content in your own voice and you will attract the right customer for you.
  
• It's a process - Learning is part of that.
  Expect that you are going to spend heaps of time reading and learning.
  Oh by the way, don't forget that engagement thingee.
  That's where the tools I mentioned above can cut the learning curve immensely.
  
• Understand that not everything is going to work perfectly the first time you try it - Let the first person who hasn't had a glitch and I will show you a person who isn't out there consistently.
  Go from the "if you ain't failing, you aren't trying" Make those failures a teachable moment, then make adjustments and forge ahead.
  You can't win if you aren't playing! People won't remember the failures if come back with consistently great content for them.
  

3.
Rather than being in "sell mode, converse with Your Fans, Followers and Connections!

• Your investment is time and as such, your focus should be on building relationships and customer engagement.
  People don't want sales pitches every time they hear from you, but conversely, they are almost willing to learn something.
  Balance them out! A simple way to do that on your twitter account is to tweet something to the effect of: Follow me (or us as the case may be) to get special deals and pre-advance sales notices! We had one client that said, if you buy 5 bottles of wine, you get the 6th free.
  The reception was bigger than they expected.
  Why you ask since his twitter following wasn't that large at the time? Because we are social people and social people tend to pass the word about good things they like.
  In effect, that tweet went kind of viral.
  And that translates to more sales.
  We all know and understand word of mouth is critical as our clients and customers then become our sales people.
  Thus, your marketing cost is reduced as well.
  

4.
Cross-Promote Your Social Media Presence I know...
you are saying, "What is he talking about?" What I mean by that is take into account that everyone has a preferred way or network that they use or communicate in.
Some folks are Facebook users, others Twitter as well as a myriad of other social networking sites.
Connect them by adding the links of your social media page location to your blog, website, business cards, and e-mail signature (Check out Bojo for your email sig) Even give thought to the message inbound callers hear when they are on-hold.
"Check out our Facebook Page.
We would love to hear from you!" I am an advocate of trying to keep a consistency among your profiles with the same picture and profile name.
5.
Use Social Media Regularly and Reassess The key to getting your visitors to come back to your site or fan page is to create content that is of value and then offer deals using social media.
Kind of like the turtle slow and sure wins the race with this technology.
Don't expect that overnight, things are going to change because suddenly you have embraced social media and their respective sites.
If you want to better understand you visitors and their needs, look at both their comments and the topics they are commenting on.
And when you comment, be sure to include the person's name as part of your response.
(So, yes, you should be responding to people comments as well! In fact, it is critical to your success!!!) At the end of the day, don't put all of your social networking time and effort into one site or strategy.
Today's Facebook was yesterday's MySpace.
Be ready to adapt your strategy and platforms.
As one person I spoke to recently about working with them vs them doing it on their own...
"it isn't about your time commitment.
It is more about your commitment over time.
" So true! I would rather have you work at it 15 minutes a day 5 days a week than 8 hours on 1 day and then leave everything untouched for 4 weeks.
Remember...
slow and steady is what wins this race.