Social media marketing is quite the buzz term nowadays for professionals and businesses using online media to build consumer awareness. It is consistently the #1 question we’ve been getting at Appleton Creative. Online sources such as blogs, articles, and discussion forums recommend that clients use social media communities for outreach. We agree, you can effectively use a social media application on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or a bookmarking site if your goal is to connect with new people.

With so many social networking sites available and so much marketing buzz, where do you begin? Give some consideration to the type of social networking community that has the most potential customers before you design your marketing plan. At Appleton, we work with you to think of innovative ways to interact with interested members of a social network, so you can establish new relationships. Your efforts may result in an increased client base and revenue source.

Here are 3 suggestions from the Appleton Social Media Team that can help you reach out to potential customers on a variety of social media websites:

*Create new social networking connections with professionals, companies, and organizations in your specific industry. Take the first step and join their list of fans or contacts, and hopefully they will return the favor. If they do, you have more contacts listed in your social network.

*Identify other organizations and individuals you can reach out to on social networking sites like LinkedIn and review and respond to their published information. These new contacts may be outside of the defined target market for your company or organization. One example is to join a literacy group in the Facebook community if you are in the publishing business. You can talk up your publishing services with your new contacts.

*Search for special interest forums. We also see the social networking craze includes more people flocking to niche websites to regularly participate in user forums. Join a forum if you have something meaningful to contribute or if you believe you will generate good contacts for your business.

There are infinite ways to use social websites to generate consumer awareness and we’re excited to be a resource. Let Appleton Creative help you develop a marketing campaign using social media outlets according to clearly defined objectives.