Social media marketing consists of the attempt to use the social media to persuade the various consumers that one’s company, products and/or services are worthwhile.

The businesses using the social media want to sell their products or their services of course. But as the blatant advertising on the social media would, in most cases, alienate their intended audience or even get them perfectly kicked out of the particular social community they are trying to infiltrate, businesses need to use the various other methods to promote themselves.

To use the social media marketing effectively, the businesses have to be perceived as members of the social media community, willing to interact with other members and in the process promote their brand in an interactive way to the various potential customers.

The main problem with the social media marketing from a business perspective is that it can be incredibly time-consuming for the brand owners. Social media marketing campaigns are not that one-shot affairs; they need to be very carefully nurtured over a period of long time. While big businesses such as Dell, Microsoft and HP have been using the social media marketing effectively, they have the kinds of the marketing budgets that allow them to assign x number of the staffs to conduct and manage the social media marketing campaigns, resources that a lot of small businesses do not have.

Still, the social media marketing is a type of the strategic marketing that many small businesses could benefit from, if only to find out more about what their customers are thinking – and saying – about their brand and their products and all these can be gauzed in a very easy and convenient manner.

Some companies feel that having more than one profile is very much distracting. On the other hand some of the companies have endless. I believe you want to be somewhere in the middle. The Social media marketing can immensely increase the overall online visibility and one’s site traffic; there is absolutely no doubt about it. You just don’t want the social media to keep you from doing your job.

Either way you go, you always want to start with your goals for sure. Whether the purpose is to increase the sales, work on the customers’ loyalty, build your band up, or just to grow your social media leads. You need to know what your goals are to keep the focus on what tactics you are going to particularly use.

Now that you have a list of the set goals, you need to take a look at which social media is meeting your goals perfectly. Choose out of the Flickr, podcast, YouTube, blogs, or any other site you are using. Give the ones that are bringing traffic to you all of your attention and put the others on the hold. This gives you more time to focus on the ones that are working for you. And move away from the ones that may be distracting you from your goals.