How to Add Social Media Websites to Your Marketing Plan

As social media websites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook soar in popularity, webmasters and business owners are realizing the true marketing potential hidden in these huge networks. Simply put, social media websites are hosting huge “conversations” made up of website members and everyone, including millions of potential customers, is participating. 

Here are a few tips for engaging in social media marketing, SMM:

1. Listen to your customers. Search to find out just exactly what customers are saying about you and your product. Subscribe to news feeds using Google Reader (Reader.google.com).

2. Talk back. Take an active role in responding to comments made about your company. Don’t ignore anything, especially negative comments. When you respond make sure your tone is professional and friendly.
3. Join the club. Create accounts at various social media websites including Facebook, and MySpace. Most major social media websites offer business pages and there are even websites dedicated to helping you start your own social media website.
4. Find the right network. When choosing a social network community in which to market your services, choose one with members that fit your product. In some cases, choosing a smaller social network site that is more specifically targeted to your company will be much more successful that trying to navigate a network as broad as MySpace or FaceBook.
5. Social media marketing is good for every business. Companies of every size should have a social marketing plan, even if it is just for the sole purpose of monitoring what people are saying about the brand.
6. You’ll be judged by the friends you keep. It works just like your mom told you in high school- potential customers may judge you by your contacts, so be choosy about who you add.
7. Resist the urge to sell. Social networking websites are best used to network as an individual not as a salesman. Be yourself and let the sales come from that. Acting as a salesman on a social networking website is a lot like being the annoying multi-level marketing person in your neighborhood.  People will avoid you. 
8. A warning about Wiki.  Wiki-style, community-edited information sites should be used with caution. Just because everyone is invited to add content on any topic on these sites, doesn’t mean it’s always a good idea.
9. Offer something valuable. Take time when creating your social media profile. Remember that the ultimate goal in social media marketing is to obtain contacts. If you aren’t offering something genuine and valuable, people will not be interested in being in your network. 
10. What does your audience want? Determine just exactly what your network is looking for and offer your service in a way that meets their needs.  Make sure what you’re offering is really what they want, and stick to it.
11. Sometimes less is more. Adding too many contacts to your network may take away from its overall quality. Strategically add one or two individuals who have many contacts of their own. Then, through second and third generation contacts, you will have access to many people while maintaining your own very high quality list.