The social media have been the most used, most known, and most probably the most abused form of media in this modern time. Twitter has been one of the top visited and top-rated social networking sites.

No matter how much people fuss about what one is tweeting, no one is in control. Being a no-rule social site, this has been taken advantage of by many, from marketing, advertising, campaigning, and even spamming. So how do we take advantage of it in a win-win situation for all?

1. Do not rush, nor spam. Keep things discrete and you can grow from there. Follow potential target people, tweet with much content, give links, and they will start to follow you. Then, you can broaden your marketing efforts.
2. Take note of the trending topics. Almost everyone who uses twitter view the trending topics knowing these are the hottest subjects in their country or worldwide. Make the most of this idea. Tweet using informative and relevant topics. For instance, let’s say that you are trying to market a site that teaches people how to purchase ranches and farms.Well, you could produce tweets that give people advice about how to choose a ranch or farm, how to make an effective offer, etc.
3. Use hashtags. This is the easiest way to be found. Using a hashtag (#) gives you an idea if there are actually people who have the same interests as what you are trying to campaign. With these, you will know what to trend, who to follow, and eventually gain followers.Be consistent. Tweet every so often, but not in an annoying way. Keep things controlled, significant, and helpful in a way or another. Engage in conversations. Once you keep tweeting and you gain a follower, interact with them in a way that is not obtrusive or irritating.
4. Be respectful so you will be respected. Be cool without trying too much. Do not be so over your campaign that you end up bugging people. Know when to reply to a tweet, and do not even think about making your move on a person who’s feeling extreme emotions. You just might be dumped.

People wake up in the morning and read through their timeline as if it is the morning paper. Twitter has made the whole world know what is happening in just 140 characters; so make the most out of it.

What started as a social-networking site geared toward college students has grown exponentially as a must-have resource for businesses of every kind. Facebook not only puts your business out there to it’s approximately 845 million active users (Facebook.com), it allows users to “like” your page and share their thoughts of your business with their network of friends.

When you first decide to start marketing with Facebook, you’ll need to create your business’ page. A page is essentially another website for your business located within the realm of Facebook.

This page should include the following:

• An identifiable image for your business such as your company logo or a great shot of the exterior of your business’ building
• Address — for obvious reasons. You want your customers to be able to find you
• Important company information such as the description and contact info
• Updates via wall posts so your customers quickly see what’s going on
• Custom apps — Facebook has many apps including video streams, menus and others

Once your page is developed, market it as you would your regular website. Add the Facebook url to business cards and promote the fact that you’re on Facebook with in-store flyers, posters and by talking to customers.

Once you begin getting “likes,” you can then easily see certain statistics about your site including customer demographics, which of your posts are the most engaging to customers, how often people visit and on which days of the week.

You can also run Facebook ads, dedicated ads that show up on the sidebar of Facebook users’ news feeds. Ads are targeted and can quickly get your page noticed by people who may not have heard of your business yet or seen your page. For instance, let’s say that you own a coffee coupon site and your mission is to get people to sign up for Folgers coffee coupons. Well, you could post a Facebook ad showing the various coupons that you have available or post an inviting message informing readers about the coupons.

Facebook also has plug-ins you can add to your company’s website or blog. You add plug-ins to your website that allow site visitors to like your site, send links directly via Facebook, comment, see activity feeds and friends’ recommendations.

Today I woke up, logged into my blog and was relieved to see that no SPAM comments were waiting for me to approve. Yes, there was one in my trashcan (Gotta love those German Viagra comments). But, it wasn’t visible to me (unless I looked in the trash).

Now, I was a bit surprised that my new FREE plugin (Akismet) virtually eliminates SPAM and keeps my comments clean. But, not waking up to SPAM and instead having good old fashioned HAM comments waiting for me, made me wonder, “Have I ever inadvertently left SPAM comments for others?”

As much as I hate to admit it, the answer is “yes.” When I first learned that blog commenting could help market my blogs, I left a slew of “Hey nice blog – visit xyz site for more information about your topic.” Then, I wondered why after hundreds of similar posts, none of them were getting approved.

Now I realize that posts like “Nice post – keep up the good work and visit my blog” are considered SPAM and will most likely get deleted or at the very least annoy the heck out of the owner. On the other hand, comments that actually contribute to the conversation and help out typically stick. For instance, let’s say that you own a site that is promoting phlebotemy certification programs. Well, you wouldn’t leave  comments like great site or phlebotemy certification works all over relevant sites with your link back to it.  Instead, you would leave meaningful comments that discuss phlebotemy, what certification entails, how to become a phlebotemist, etc. In eseence, you would write comments that can actually help someone and teach them something.

The key to not leaving SPAM is to put some thought into your comments. Leave valuable posts and never blatantly promote your own site. Instead the only link to your own site should be a hyperlink to your name and that’s it. If the reader wants to find out more, they will find you – trust me.

Now that I implement this non-SPAM method when I leave blog comments, I am seeing an increase in targeted traffic. I also feel better that I’m not working plugins like Askimet too hard. Instead, I am leaving the owner with some tasty “food for thought” that they can use and enjoy.

Now I wonder, “What kind of blog contributor are you?”

When you market a new or existing business, you have to be creative in your marketing tactics. You can’t simply throw up a website, submit it to a few spam directories and then sit back and wait for floods of traffic or people to buy your product or service offering. You have to actually use creative marketing strategies – ones that put your site in front of targeted clients day in and day out. And, how do you go about this? You think outside the box.

1. Don’t just write articles – create viral reports. Just about anyone can create a properly search optimized article but not everyone can create a viral report. One that will be read by one person and then passed on or at the very least, talked about for years and years to come. Therefore, focus your efforts on creating reports that last not articles that are long forgotten.
2. Give them something to talk about – reader interaction should be your primary goal with any site you create. You must encourage interaction between your readers and inspire them to participate in blog posts and forums. Not only will this keep them coming back but it too will create a viral effect.
3. Don’t BS – be honest with your readers and they’ll be loyal to you. Don’t give them false expectations on fast riches if you know that it will take them years to build a similar income as yours. Instead, be honest about the amount of work that will be required, type of additional products they’ll need to succeed, whatever – just be honest. For instance, one of our readers owns a popular international pen pals matching service and although he provides members with the platform to meet someone special, he doesn’t blatantly state “you will find the love of your life if you sign up for our pen pal service.” As a result, his members sign up with realistic expectations – they will meet new people and form meaningful friendships when they become a pen pal. They don’t sign up thinking they will meet the love of their lives guaranteed.
4. Give more than you get – when you market you should always give more than you get. Everyone likes free stuff and the more you give away, the more you will get. This includes free samples, books, reports, whatever you can give. By doing this, your site can definitely go viral.

In conclusion, marketing a new or existing business takes creativity. You have to write viral reports, give readers something to talk about, don’t BD and give more than you get. When you do this, you will succeed and your creative marketing strategies will pay off handsomely!

If you need just one tip on what to look for in a social media marketing specialist, let it be someone who is trustworthy. Knowledge can be learned, experience can be gained but integrity and honesty cannot be improvised or faked. You need to be able to find someone you can trust and partner with as you share your thoughts on growth and marketing ideas. Even new products may leak to your competitors is you’re not careful.

Here are some other tips you will find useful when hiring a social media marketing specialist:

Have an excellent product

Make sure you have something of quality offer. Your world will expand to an international market with discerning taste and a possible encounter with customers who either love to enthuse about a product or put it down for being worthless. As you develop your online presence, you will also be creating a brand name and reputation.

Your product or service will carry the feedback of customers for a long time, so it would be a good idea to get it right the first time around. And a social media marketing specialist should be able to advice you on what may need a little tweaking.  Your product does not have to be perfect, but it has to have value. For instance, let’s say you own a hotel comparison site. Well, you would want to make sure that your site is in order and able to compare hotels before you begin promoting it.

Make sure there’s passion

A social media marketing specialist must have passion for the job. Time won’t matter, only results.

The Marketing Specialist must be driven to learn daily

The internet is a constantly evolving medium. Those in the internet business need to stay on top all the time. They need to know new marketing approaches and updates; they also need to know what doesn’t work anymore. Furthermore, it’s not just about strategies but new technical skills that could make the job easier and quicker. In short, don’t hire someone who relies on one strategy alone.

The Specialist must be approachable and easy to get along with

Unless you are the company and you have no employees, then there shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you have staff, this “new guy” must be able to get along with them so as to make the job easier.  But at the same time, the “new guy” shouldn’t be a push-over but be able to gain the respect of you and your staff.

She/he must be reactive and quick on the draw

There will be times when you need to react fast, and your marketing specialist should be able to come up with solutions and new ideas to deal with the fast-changing pace of the internet. For instance, I once found a client at the internet marketing forum australia and we used a variety of creative marketing strategies (Twitter and Facebook) to get her site the exposure it needed to be successful!

In conclusion, hiring a social media marketing specialist isn’t hard but it does take a bit of patience to find someone suitable. Simply follow the above tips and you too will find a great social media marketing to spearhead your campaign and get you noticed too!