Social Media Marketing Strategies

Here is a great read for those of you who either have yet to join the social bookmarks bandwagon or want to understand the social media phenomenon.

Based on WebProNews article about the SMX Social Media conference in New York City, the relevancy of social media in today's online marketing efforts and initiatives is now becoming a necessity in reaching out to your audience and expanding your brand marketing initiatives (not to mention your knowledge about technology!!). Strategic advancements and methods are now more evident in generating value for your company, your business, your product, your services, and most importantly, yourself. Here is what they had to say about these strategies:

1) Fish Where the Fish Are
2) Promote Yourself, Not Your Product
3) Get Experience in Social Media before Marketing
4) Don't Rush Your Social Media Link bait
5) Big Companies Should Create Social Marketing Strategies
6) Give Them What They Are Looking For
7) Watch for the Woahs of Social Media Marketing
8) Don't Dilute the Quality of Your LinkedIn Network
9) Be Careful with Social Media News Sites
10) Play Safe with Wikipedia

The individual articles themselves provide some great insight, but what I really got out of these strategies is what I would coin "cautious progression." To progress cautiously in such marketing mediums, one must be aware of the possibilities and risks, and also to have the necessary knowledge and intellectual ammunition to be able to understand and comprehend the practical applications that these mediums can provide. Sure, social media is a phenomenon that is literally changing the way we conduct marketing and business. Where some have the basketballs to jump in and get fully wet, others have been reluctant to be wet that fast, and becomes the turtle in a Bugs Bunny cartoon race. I can understand the notion of taking baby steps in using technology, and I can see that from someone who has more wisdom in life to just dive into something that they may feel is risky. And in using social mediums as a collective, I can understand and value that timidity and/or hesitancy.

Maybe because I am a Gen-Xer that I embrace the possibilities as I take along the risks, especially when it comes to strategic marketing and business development using online methods. These possibilities and risks plainly exists, for example, in Second Life communities, and more businesses, both big and small, are using this platform as a medium to primarily make a name for themselves in addition to generating revenue. Knowing that there will be forms of risks out in such media is a great thing to have, but it's also great to know and be familiar with that can get you in a bad situation. How to shield yourself, your brand, and your business from being caught in something that you may not be able to get out of is part of doing business, especially when it comes to online marketing.