Social Marketing is a new concept for marketers on the Internet. In fact, most do not have any idea what it is, or even how to go about doing it. However it could be a very strong part of your overall marketing plan.

Most people have heard of social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr . Some have heard about social bookmarking sites such as Digg and De.licio.us. There are still other sites known as social shopping networks, and very few people have heard of these. Social shopping networks are niche online communities where users rate and recommend products to other users in that niche. Such a site is Jellyfish.com, which was recently acquired by Microsoft. Here users discuss and bid to purchase recommended products.

Generally speaking, using social networks to build links for SEO purposes is not a highly successful plan. In fact, most of these networks block the search engines from following these links back to your website. However, if you are building links to create highly relevant and targeted traffic to your website, than social network links will work very well. It should be noted that most initial social network traffic does not result in sales immediately, but that traffic is far more likely to begin a viral effect that can progress for a very long time.

Another important facet to social marketing is creating and maintaining a blog in your niche. Blogs are viewed very favorably by search engines so developing a trusted profile in a blog can be a crucial step to driving social traffic.

So, what’s involved? Social Marketing can be time-consuming because it relies on credibility. Credibility must be built by adding value to the network. For everything you take from the network you should try to give back three-fold. The users of social networks want to know what value you are bringing to the network, or your contributions are ignored. It can be a harsh world. A good Social Marketing program requires a great Content Development program or it will not succeed.

If you are not a regular participant in social networks, then you should make sure you have the services of an experienced social professional to begin your Social Marketing program. Contact us today to learn more.