Are You Overwhelmed By The Thought Of Social Marketing?

Social marketing seems to be the ‘in’ thing at present. Whether you are reading a post on SEO, marketing or ‘how to increase traffic’, the one common theme is going to be ‘you need to engage in social marketing’. With so many different social sites around, many web owners feel totally overwhelmed by thought of participating. If you are one of them, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

The most basic of questions is always the stumbling block: Where do I start? Do you engage in social bookmarking, do you set up a page on Facebook or Myspace, or do you join a forum? There are so many bookmarking and forum sites around, jut picking one can be hard. Social marketing need not be difficult not overwhelming. There are many options available.

One option is to employ a professional social marketer who can do the job for you. When I suggest this people often shy away. I am not sure why. In a bricks and mortar world, if they wanted to promote themselves or a product they would head off to a marketing expert straight away. Why is the online world any different?

If that option is out of the question, then you will need to do things yourself. The easiest option is to start your social marketing through a niche friendly forum. Your approach should be low key and the emphasis should be on the social. By all means include links to your web pages in your profile and signature, otherwise, forget your links.

Another option is to create a blog and optimize it for both the search engines and your potential customers. Encourage visitors to leave comments and respond to each comment once it has been left. Blogs are one of the easiest first steps into being social. Joining blog communities like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog can also provide opportunities for interacting.

Social marketing need not be overwhelming if you are prepared to start slowly and maintain the emphasis on social. Overtime, as you build a reputation and gain more confidence, you can start to spread your wings and tackle more social media outlets.