As you read this, people are logging online. Many people in fact. Many of whom you will never meet. You will never get to shake their hands or share a hug with any of them.
Imagine that scenario from a marketer’s perspective. Your goal, hence your livelihood, depends on connecting with those online strangers. Questions is, how in the world can that be done and done effectively? Increasingly, one answer is social media.
Just as the name implies, social media revolves around the idea that people can build a relationship of sorts with others, who they have not physically met and probably never will, by bridging their solidarity with shared interests. If you are a marketer, it is imperative you harness these opportunities to some degree. In order to do this, it would be wise to begin your marketing endeavor by reading Jessica Want’s post at iMedia Connection. As an information architect at the New York City interactive marketing agency Flightpath, she provides some insightful perspectives on how to go about making social media work for your intended purposes.
It may seem simply silly to state this but I bet some folks out there fail to relate this pretty important component of social media, relate to the audience! There is no way any marketing venture will result in satisfactory results if no attempts are made first to understand the audience, what they are like, how to they see things, how do they feel about particular issues. Basically, this is the equivalent of electronically walking in the audience’s shows. Taking the time to do this sort of activity will likely provide solid dividends down the line. 
Unless full faith can be had in independently owned online spaces, it would be helpful to own your own parcel of online real estate to use as the launching pad for any interactive social marketing campaign. The form of this space can take on a plethora of forms, depending on many factors such as your target audience or financial considerations. Whatever form the space takes on, it’s success will be restricted if it isn’t easy! Remember the old adage, “Keep it simple, stupid!” Well, it is very apt in this type of situation. Don’t build a marketing effort through social media where users have to go through cumbersome registrations, perform security checks, sell their favorite pair of jeans or go download a hefty file that will take occupy a nice chunk of their hard disk. These are not easy. They are not generally fun; at least I am making a guess the majority of people would not be smiling after all of these tasks.
To be clear, this is not an exhaustive list of tips on creating social media that is actually useable. Rather, it is meant to bring attention to the topic and highlight a couple of what I think are the most important points presented by Ms. Want. I encourage you to read more at her post. What do you know; I am being social and utilizing media doing it! It is funny how things work out that way.
iProgress 