Social Marketing is as old as business itself. As long as people have been buying and selling, there have always been social-based methods of drumming up business and getting the word out about products and services. Before the internet, social marketing typically involved things like throwing parties, making charitable donations, or encouraging word-of-mouth.

But with the advent of the internet, things are changing. We now have this thing called “social media marketing,” and every successful work-from-home business should have a strategy in place. The basic idea is the same as traditional social marketing—you’re trying to spread the word about your business without direct advertising—but all the tools are new and updated.

How to Start Social Media Marketing

The first thing you have to do is choose between the variety of social media sites that you want your company to be involved in. The list includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and many more. And in addition to these sites, there are also blogs and web forums.

Unless you have endless hours on your hands, there’s no need to sign up for all of these sites. Just choose the ones that best fit the personality of your company. Does your business lend itself to the occasional YouTube video? If so, sign up. Are you interested in spreading the word about your company via online photos? Then get a Flickr account.

At the very least, it’s a good idea to sign up for Facebook. Practically every company has a Facebook profile. If you don’t believe me, do a Google search for any company that pops into your mind, and there’s a good chance you’ll see it on Facebook.

Twitter is another big one, but it remains to be seen whether or not Twitter will be a lasting presence on the web. Plus, if you don’t have the time, energy, and creativity to update your Twitter often, it can give the impression that your business is inactive or stagnant.

Whichever services you sign up for, name your profile after your business, and be sure to post easily accessible links to your website.

How to Socially Market Your Business the Right Way

Once you start getting involved with social media marketing, you have to be careful. The most important thing is that you are genuinely interested in making connections, talking to people, and sharing information. If you come across as if you’re just marketing without caring about the social part, people won’t pay attention to you.

The best way to go about social media marketing is to approach it as true socialization. Sure, you want to draw people to your website and your business, but if everything you say and do online is obviously only in service of this end goal, people will pick up on this right away.

Rather than being in a mad rush to draw people to your site, just trust that if you put yourself out there and spread the word about your company, people will find you. That’s the beauty of social media marketing. You can be yourself. You can express the personality of yourself and your company. If what you offer is genuinely good, people will make their way to your business.