What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is the act of attracting customers via social networks. Social networks (like Facebook and Twitter) are web communities where consumers share content and engage with friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Content includes family photos, videos, stories and more. Information that is shared includes names, ages, relationships, schools attended, places lived, current location, hobbies, musical tastes, and many other types of demographic and personal details. Read these great social media marketing tips [Source: CyberKnol Magazine].

Using Facebook and Twitter to extend your business reach

Face it, Facebook and Twitter have been around for years and are a part of everyone's lives. There are over 800 million people of Facebook alone.

Consumers who choose to participate in social networks are by choice an engaged, captive audience. They offer up details about their personal demographics, relationships and interests. This creates a marketable database like non other. Your business presence on a social media network has become the norm. Your competitors are there. Are you?

On social media networks, opportunities to purchase affordable ad space is plentiful and puts you in the same competitive space as many larger companies. You set your budget for your Ads. This means that your ads will show a set number of times per day until you receive the number of clicks you paid for. So if you selected to pay for 5 clicks at $1 per click, then your ad will display 5 times to an audience of social network participants who told you that they were interested in what you had to offer and shared with you that they are the age group you are targeting in the location where your business resides. Can it get any easier that that?

6 important social media marketing considerations