Social media marketing is a marketing platform that allows you to market your business or website through social sites.  Unlike conventional marketing channels, social media marketing is based on interaction with your target audience.  Instead of TV or radio advertising that tell the consumer what to think, in social media marketing the reader can talk to you or your past customers and form their own opinion of your product or service.  When executed correctly marketing through social sites is extremely effective at driving massive amounts of targeted traffic your way and can be significantly less costly than traditional marketing methods.  Which poses the question, how do you use it “correctly?”

Social media marketing takes some finesse.  It is not about pushing what you have to offer in someone’s face.  It is first and foremost about marketing yourself and your product second.  Your goal should be establishing yourself as an authority through social sites by giving your audience information they can use.  Spamming the internet with “buy my stuff” posts isn’t going to get you anything but a bad reputation for you and your company. You should make people want to visit your site, not try and force them to.