Using social media is a great way to stay in touch with your audience. If you are thinking about launching a social media campaign, take a few minutes to read this article.

There are plenty of social media marketing gurus who share their tips on their blog or in their e-books. You can learn some useful things from these people but keep in mind that social media marketing is a hot topic because it is a relatively recent method of communication. A lot of business owners spend money to get tips and information they believe will be valuable and help them become number one on their markets. Before you invest your money, you should know that you can learn everything you need to know about social media marketing from free resources and by trying out methods yourself. Besides, social media marketing gurus will give you general advice that might not be relevant to your target group or to your product. You are the only person who can design a strategy adapted to your audience.

Your first step is to gather information on your audience and the way these people use social media. Social media is a very flexible method of communication and its usage vary from one age group or subculture to the next. There are different types of social media user and you need to define your typical customer in details. Get your customers to answer to surveys and find out how many hours they spend on social networks, who they are connected with and what they share. It is important that you find out how likely your customers would be to connect with a brand and what would influence their decision. Some customers will like your Facebook page to get a discount while other will do it to let their friends know they like your products. Your findings will determine the approach you need to adopt, but keep in mind that you will have to look for ways to improve your approach as time goes by.

Make your social media marketing campaign fun and original. Everyone is using social networks to promote their products and services and customers are sometimes overloaded with information. Your campaign will be successful if you manage to stand out and engage your customers directly, for instance by encouraging them to send you questions, comments or complaints. Organize some contests to get them to share their own content with you and let customers vote on the best submissions. Do not hesitate to try new methods as long as they correspond to your vision of your typical customer. And you should stay up to date with new trends so you can join the latest popular social networks and find ways to use new technologies as marketing tools before your competitors enter the market.

Are you ready to launch your social media marketing campaign? Give yourself a few weeks to explore different social networks and put together a solid strategy to reach out to your audience.