What is social media marketing?

Social media is a term that’s used for a whole lot of different things on the web. You’ve probably heard of some of them: YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr are different forms of social media. Blogging is another popular form of social media. In total, there are probably thousands of various social media websites, but all of them share a common theme of being interactive communities.

Social media marketing is the practice of using social media to create awareness, credibility, and eventually profit for your small business. I should mention though, that it isn’t just a one way street; how successful you are at marketing your small business with social media will depend on how much you put into it.

How can I use social media to help my business?

The first thing to do is get your feet wet. Find a blog that you enjoy reading and start regularly posting comments on it. What you’re doing is starting a conversation with that blog’s owner and its readers; aka, you’re building relationships.

Once you understand the conversational nature of social media, you can really jump in and get going. Most small businesses already build relationships and network in the physical world, so it really isn’t a big stretch to take it digital.

An easy place to start is to create an account at MySpace, Facebook, or LinkedIn. With that account you can make friends, build relationships, and direct people to your company website.
A better way, in my opinion, would be to create a blog for your business. In one action you can give your company a web presence and start building popularity.