Social Media Marketing (SMM) is Internet marketing that focuses on branding, marketing communication and interaction with your targeted market. Social media marketing fosters two way communications rather than a one way broadcast of your marketing message. SMM makes use of online venues such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, forums, Digg, Delicious and more.

Effective social media marketing makes use of multiple venues and multiple media types. Media types can include content, images, videos and audio. The goal is to engage and interact in many places and in many ways.

Social media gives people a chance to talk, ask questions, share information and opinions, learn, network, bookmark, vote, give feedback and other social activities around a given topic. It is not about direct marketing, selling or direct promotion.

Social media marketing can be used to:

1. Create a buzz: Use Twitter, blogs and videos to attract attention give attention to an event, product or service. The key is to make it fun and interesting… not salesy.
2. Build a following: Use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or other social networking to build a loyal fan base that you can reach out to. Blogging does this too.
3. Engage in conversations: Use blogging, forums and social networking. Interaction and conversation is at the heart of social media.

Social media marketing is not advertising. It is not fully controlled by the organization. It strives to interact, engage and encourage participation. It is a marketing campaign not built on control, but on honest and respect. It is about people getting to know you.

Related posts:

1. 5 Examples of Social Media Marketing Campaigns
2. 7 Ways You Can Apply Social Media Marketing to Your Business
3. Internet Marketing Using Social Media
4. Social Media Marketing
5. 5 Steps in Launching Your Social Media Marketing Campaign