Social media is so much spoken about today. The benefits and importance of social media are so stressed upon that every person worth his name or every business worth its money is trying to make the most of it.  Social media has taken communication and sharing stuff over the internet to a new level. With social media particularly social networking websites, you are able to reach millions of people together and this kind of farfetched reach is not possible with any other kind of advertisement or promotion.

If you want to spread awareness about your business or if you want to find and reach your target audiences in the least time possible then you have to register yourself on one of the hugely popular social networking websites like Face book, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. Just registering (which is free) with them and creating a general profile page and leaving it there is not enough. To make the social networking website work for you, to spread awareness about you or your business you have to follow certain etiquette of social networking. Given below are some of the things you can do to be well known on social networking circles and to promote yourself.

• Create an interesting profile page- your profile page says a lot about you or your company. Make your profile page as interesting or eye catching as possible. Today social networking websites provide many options to customize their profile pages so that it reflects them or their companies. You can use pictures, video clips and even audio files to enhance your profile page and to speak volumes about your organization.
• Keep your profile updated- just creating a profile page and leaving it there is not sufficient if you want to be successful with social media. You have to keep it updated constantly with the latest happenings the buzz around your company or products. You can inform your contacts and friends about the latest developments and features your product has been fitted with to make it better than the competition. You can use the events page provided by social networking websites like Face Book to describe to your contacts an upcoming event, the how, where and when of it and also make it more interesting by exchanging comments with others who were present at the event.
• Create fan pages for your product- this is a great option provided by social networking websites. Any user can create a fan page for any product by describing all about it and giving the many attractive features of the product. Then you will see the popularity of your product growing by leaps and bounds as more and more users become fans.
• Join interested communities- like minded people who have common interests create groups or communities and exchange ideas and views about things related to their interest. Joining such communities which best reflect your business interests make it easier for you to reach out to target audiences.

Using social media effectively can guarantee increased awareness about your product and also an increase in revenue.

Marketing for any business is essential and the cost of marketing is probably the most integral and one of the highest costs for the business. In this day and age of the ‘survival of the fittest’ and cut throat competition, marketing the business and its products effectively is the primary goal for any business organization. Social media is a large phenomenon in the online world and this social media has a very wide reach more than probably the regular means of promotion.

Social networking websites such as Face Book, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are one of the best forms of promotion and marketing for your business. These are websites through which users share information, thoughts, ideas and strategies on a single platform. Here any kind of information can be shared and exchanged and users get the opportunity to express themselves clearly. These social networking websites are ideal promotional tools which have to be utilized sensibly. These websites provide access to millions of people and this kind of audience reach is much more than that provided by other means of advertising and promotion.

The best thing about social media is that it is free of cost. You can register and create a profile with any social networking website free of cost. In any business the cost paid for the promotion of the business and its products through any means of advertisement is never free and the cost is thousands of dollars. When you have access to such a forceful means of promotion and while there are no charges for using it then why not market your business through it?

Any entrepreneur should keep in mind a few factors when using social media to promote his business and to spread awareness about his brand. These include being forthright and practical about the claims of the business they make. They must give a very realistic picture of their business, products and the achievements or highlights of their business. They should refrain from exaggerating facts about the business or the products as this will put people off from visiting your business webpage and trying their product.

Keeping yourself active on the social networking websites will immensely help you to increase awareness and try to convert potential customers into actual ones. Make sure you keep on updating your company profile or your personal profile with the latest buzz about your products or events. You can even use the events page provided by most social networking websites to promote an upcoming business event and even to post comments about it.

Joining communities which best reflect your business interest is another social media marketing strategy which you can employ to help your business. Always be active in the community or group page and make sure you reply to comments and enquiries.

You have to employ a keenly thought out marketing plan if you want to utilize the full scope of promotion through social media. You also need to be abreast with the latest trends in social media to apply it to your business.

We are now living in an era where social networking websites, such as Facebook, Plurk and Twitter, play a vital role in spreading your thoughts and your websites. Not only that you will be able to acquire referrals through the use of these social networking websites, you can also gain avid readers, excellent comments and more online friends. Among the social networking sites, most web specialists prefer Twitter as the best vehicle to propagate attention-worthy stuffs. In the real world, the word of mouth is possibly the best form of advertising, likewise over the internet, Twitter is the closest thing you can refer to as ‘word of mouth’.

This only means that you need to get your target audience to tweet about your website. Here are some things you can do to do just that.

1) Learn to express your website concept 140 characters or even less.

Make sure you allot space for the URL so be brief with your website concept, possibly, 100 characters. The next thing you should focus your attention to are the things that happened after the launch – who is tweeting and how they are tweeting. Make sure that your message gets through to your readers. To give you an idea on which sections of your website are most useful, it is essential to get feedbacks from your readers and act on matters you need to improve if they view your website different from what you want.

2) Sketch an image that describes your website the best.

Your primary goal is to give twitterers a reason to click on your link and find more interest about it.

3) Even if your target viewers are not on Twitter, their most favorite bloggers are.

More than just referral links, Twitter credits its users a great deal directing huge amounts of traffics to websites. Since people are tweeting about a certain entry in your website, you can establish traffic without much effort in advertising. Bear in mind that the ones you need to reach are the most internet-savvy people which can be found mostly in Twitter.

4) Make sure that your Twitter ID can be recalled from the name of your website.

This will help you establish a brand on the online world. This strengthens your web presence and gives you some authority upon responding to certain user issues.

5) Place a Follow Me on Twitter Badge on your website directing to your Twitter page.

Since you are trying to get more people to come more often to your website, you can gain loyalty through Twitter. Putting a badge or a follow me link at a prominent place at your website will be an easier way for your visitors to track on the recent posts in your blog when you tweet them and eventually go check it if your tweet has caught their attention. It is better than RSS for the simple fact that it is a lot more personal – that is also why you should try to convert your RSS Feed followers to Twitter followers as well.

6) Make sure that your Twitter homepage resembles the design of your website.

It would be great if your readers recall your website when they see your Twitter page. Using the same color scheme as well as background makes your followers feel fluid while viewing your accounts and matching them with your website. Try adding extra details on your websites when designing the background image to offer the readers more of your insights.

7) Be Responsive – Turn your “Show me all @ Replies” mode on.

The primary reason for this is for the Twitter followers to be able to contact you – whether it is for praise or for clarifications and questions. Also, try sorting your personal Twitter account with the one you are using for your website. Twitter has always been a great help in addressing user concerns fast.

Establish your Brand. Try using Custom Alias feature in TinyURL.

This is very helpful in lengthy Twitter messages as sometimes it could limit you in including your entire URL on your tweet. That is why it is important for your to try this cool TinyURL feature for you to be able to shorten your link and be able to spread it along with a brief and concise message about your website using Twitter.

9) Monitor the status of your website using search.twitter.com

Try searching your website name just to see how many people are tweeting your website and using URL shortening applications. If you are not getting the results you wanted, try to append the filter:link to your search. Mainly, the reason for this is to see who’s connecting to you and as well as to search for new clients and attend to other people’s concerns.

Now the next thing for you to do is to subscribe these in your RSS readers. This is a great way for you to be able to address issues concerning the readers at the moment. It is also somehow flattering to be able to find people who are actually discussing about your website.

10) Keep your Twitter account personable and avoid spam.

A lot of followers unfollow Twitter accounts for this specific reason. No one wants to follow someone who is just busy promoting himself or his creations 24/7. The fact that they are following you means they are interested and are already a part of your users, hence they do not need to be pimped at. One of the wonders of Twitter is that it enables people to somehow get an overview of other people’s lives especially those who are not close to them.

To nurture your followers, tell your users about the relevant changes and recent updates to your website. Let them join your celebration if you win an award for blogging or if you get featured at a high-traffic, and popular website. However, do not focus your tweeting to just that. The key to getting more followers is to capture their interest – interest that serves their concerns.

Social media is one of the most effective ways to build and maintain a brand image on a global platform. By simply building your list, you can tap into the enormous potential of a global market. This market is one of the most responsive in the world, and must not be ignored. However, there are certain things that must be kept in mind when you try and generate a market online. The first thing you need to look into when creating your image is authenticity. Being honest and truthful in what you portray about yourself is the best way to generate genuine interest in your brand.

This makes all the difference in the world to a user, because it is only seldom that people fully trust information on the Internet. You, yourself, are probably skeptical of the posts on Twitter, or on your Facebook page. When you follow someone on Google Buzz or Twitter, how many of his or her posts genuinely interest you? Do you actually care about those Internet advertisements that you are bombarded with?

At the moment, the yardstick is of incredibly low standards. This is the best time for you to stand out, and you should begin by keeping it real. Honesty is a fundamental necessity in a healthy relationship. With honesty, people will be interested in you. Subsequent to this, they will get to know you, like you, and buy into you.

It isn’t difficult to understand the bottom line when it comes to social media. It’s the easiest way to make money. All you have to do is be yourself, and be true to yourself. Depict yourself, your talents, your brand, and its beliefs and values clearly. Wear your heart on your sleeve, and believe in yourself. You will then inspire other people to believe in you, too. Tell the world what you are passionate about. The Internet is a place where you can showcase your personality to the world. You will always find someone to listen to what you have to say.

When you want to build your brand online, you need to use a different approach when it comes to people. Instead of seeing potential customers in everyone you meet, try and view them as potential friends. Make them feel appreciated for the value of their friendship. This will lead them to trust you, and your business, and in time, you will rake in profits. Don’t treat them as assets, but as people.

You must also ensure that your business is worth their while. If you do not offer customer satisfaction, there is no other place where that news will spread as fast as on the Internet. Make sure your product and service is as close as possible to what you project it to be. You have a great image, and a great product – why wouldn’t people want to be a part of that? By simply valuing the people you are reaching out to, you will encourage them to value you and reach out to you. Social media offers a plethora of opportunities. The time is right to jump on the bandwagon.

I have begun to think now since quite a few days, have any Gods come down on the earth? Are there some super natural beings among us? Of course there hasn’t been any such announcement on any news channel or news broadcast, but maybe it is possible! It could be possible that some extraordinary beings do exist among us, who look just the same, like any common individual, but are empowered, with some special power. Why do I think so? Well, because I see a new world. Like the little atoms came together and formed molecules and more molecules years ago, over the past 40-50 odd years, this world also came together piece by piece. Just that none of us noticed what was in the making, and today that we have this entire creation before us, we are in awe.

As you have probably guessed, I am talking about the online world, that almost everyone is a part of today, except those who are afraid of change. This world that was created by seemingly ordinary beings bestowed with the gift of novel ideas in technology, the technological Gods if I might call them, was set into creation mode somewhere in the 1960s with the first e-mail. Little did anyone think then that one day the world would come to the state in which it is now – so technologically advanced! But today, now that we stand audience to this whole new world, we know exactly how far we have reached.

All of the various social networking sites that are available to us today – Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are in plain and simple terms the various elements of the new world. Why am I calling it a new world? Because, we see almost every aspect of our dear old world, slightly modified and made more interesting when we go online. Take for example, an e-mail, which is a reflection of the ordinary letters sent across by those in the past, the online video chat is a replacement for personal meetings – like people popped into people’s houses you can today pop up in people’s inboxes; photographs posted online are like the traditional photo albums, you make friends online, you have people annoying you with random requests, you have people making groups, through the themes you even have the option of making  your page (your city of this new world) look like how you would want your space to look! What more does one need in a world? Doesn’t there exist here every single thing that would be required to term a space as a ‘world’? I believe that pretty much everything is complete; the social media has come up with an alternate world. Orkut, Facebook, etc in fact have even created new identities for us, identities which we need not worry about tarnishing or messing up, identities in which we need not be ashamed of being part of a Mafia, of being bakers, or cabbies or even farmers, identities which do not force on us white collared jobs and other such differences, identities where in we are not obligated to anyone, identities which let us be free and comfortable.

So, even if you do find elements of ‘a world’ missing, a few blank spaces, Rome wasn’t built in a day! Like the present world has been evolving from centuries, this world will also evolve; evolve to great extents, till probably one day, you might even see smaller animated versions of you doing all sorts of things in there. Therefore, I must say, that indeed we are all lucky today, lucky to be able to witness the beginning of a new creation, the beginning of a new civilization!

The retailers are in an unusual position for using the social media in imaginative ways. The retailers vigorously use the Facebook and Twitter for their private use so to request them to post for work is easily done. Aim: Having discussions close to your institution creating useful social capitol.

Linking the online and the offline clients experience is a strong method to play with the client at higher level and communicate more about your trade, artifacts and services. You can check @Giapo and @Thewinevault or @Mojooldbank for some terrific examples of how retailers can employ the social media.

You will need a computer or an iPhone at your workplace so that the retail people can post updates to the business account. It is important and sensible to have a look at @Cotweet or @Hootsuite. These are the tools you use to manipulate your Twitter and Facebook profiles so that all your employees and the stores can go to and post to the same account.

Think about unusual ideas, let your imagination go and find out some terrific ideas for your business. Here are some to start with.

1. Upload the new inventory:

Uploading the fashion of the upcoming season is thrilling. Your staff will probably want to try new items and also may be use their discounts on some of the items. Now if you possess FlipCam it is possible to take video of this and upload it to Youtube and Facebook. Your people can communicate the way they want and collect information from the community about what is in demand this season.

2. Show the items:

Demonstrate your products! Let people see your products, show them the gadgets, and communicate the new technology used in the shoes, the quicker processor of the new Netbook or even the class of the material in the suits for the winter. You are sharing the know how of the items and also are building confidence and giving your clients the power and asking the followers to be more informed about the company and you and the items.  This makes them look better when they discuss with their peers afterwards.

The video and the images are important to the content. The visual effect is quick and people understand and recognize. This will result in your product viewed and discussed in social media at the earliest. Too much text pushes people off.

3. Register for @Foursquare:

Foursquare is a IPhone and Android tool and is location based. You can use this application to sign in to locations which are close by.  All businesses such as cafe, bar, retail stores, restaurants which have an existence should sign up. After this you offer special deals to the main businesses. The business that signs in more than anyone is considered as the main or the mayor of your business. If others check in more they automatically become the mayor. The @Giapo gives the mayor a free of cost Gelato and @Mojooldbank has a coffee card system where after the 5th check in there is a free coffee on offer.

4. Queries and Help:

Questioning and replying to your followers is the best way to keep them happy. All your employees should be involved in the question answers posted by the public and actively ask queries ask for the opinions about the new items and also which kind of items they want you to store.

Client support has become very social so being close to the clients is so important to the business. Being available when asked upon is a magnificent way of connecting with them, support them, and build a trusting relationship with your clients.

5. Important news and Information:

Each and every client standing near your counter buying something should be queried “Are you a member on Twitter or Facebook?” You will find that most of them will say yes to Facebook and some to Twitter, but if you inform them that there is information and discounts which they can see if they follow you it will certainly give confidence to them to participate more.

You must tell everyone that walks in through the door about Facebook Fan page and the Twitter account and the client should walk out knowing how to search you. It will be even better if you have a computer in the workplace. You can communicate with them and ask for the name and take them to your Facebook page with the discounts you are offering to them. You can repeat that for Twitter as well. Follow the customer and also thank them for dropping in.

Every communication with the client is a conversation, the more constructive and more interesting it is and about your business the better it is.

As always don’t forget to leave me your feedback!

1.  By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network

2.  If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users)

3.  % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%

4.  The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females

5.  80% of Twitter usage is outside of Twitter…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?

6.  Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen

7.  The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube

8.  There are over 200,000,000 Blogs

9.  25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content

10.  34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands

11.  78% of consumers trust peer recommendations

12.  Only 14% trust advertisements

13.  Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

14.  24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us.

15.  In the near future we will no longer search for  products and services they will find us via social media