Social media marketing (SMM) is one of the most important marketing tactics online marketers are employing these days and it makes perfect business sense since SMM enables marketers to interact with the target audience directly and instantaneously.

Interaction is the thing which can propel any campaign from just an average one to an effective one as potential customers get involved in the campaigning process themselves. This involvement makes them remember the campaign and the advertised product/services and the brand for long. And if the campaign is interesting enough, they share it with other people achieving much sought after viral status.

SMM is done on the platforms where online population networks, interacts and shares information. Some examples of such platforms are social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Linkedin etc; micro blogging sites such as Twitter; presentation sharing sites such as Slideshare etc.

Here is how you can utilize these platforms for social media marketing:

Step 1
Register at the most popular social media sites such as Mixx, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You want to go to the sites where a large chunk of traffic constitutes of your target group. So research extensively for the social networking sites as your subject of promotion may require a niche site.

Step 2
Create a profile which promotes the product/service quite subtly. Complete all the details and write a brief summary. Don’t forget to add a link to the promoted website.

Step 3
Join relevant groups and communities. If you are promoting financial services, no sense in joining software community, right? You will be promoting your service within these groups and communities, so it is very important to be in the right place for the SMM to succeed.

Step 4
Once you have joined a group or you have created your own community you should start working on establishing your credibility there. This credibility won’t be built by starting blatant promotion right away. It will be built by contributing to that particular group initially. Once you have built your credibility and made some good friends you can start the promotion subtly. Because you are trusted member your word will carry weight and people will pay heed to what you are saying.


Step 5
Create interest whipping posts. Now that you have built your credibility, you can start your promotion through posts which whip up the interest of the visitors. Remember your SMM will not work if you are bland. It will work only when you can stir some emotion and elicit a response from fellow members. But don’t go overboard and create only what is relevant to the product/service being promoted.

Step 6
Follow up on the replies and comments. Just creating posts and going absent for a long time will not work as effectively as when you are replying to the comments to your posts. By doing so you are engaging the fellow users on a deeper level and increasing your personal brand equity on the side.


Step 7
Reply to other posts too. Aggressively creating new posts is not enough, you should also involve in the discussions started by other users too. Your comments should be genuine, relevant to the post and should promote the product/service subtly.
Tips & warning

1) Always be subtle in your promotion
2) Respect other members and comment on their posts occasionally even if they do not relate to your promotion.
3) Obey the site rules, or you will find yourself banned forever
4) Be kind, be considerate, and be active