You must have come across the videos that has been posted on your Facebook home page. Since they were posted by your friends, your tendency is to watch the video for yourself as well. You were so amused that you decided to share it in your other social networks. Without even knowing it, you have become a contributor to the viral marketing scheme of some company online.

Viral marketing make use of social media to generate hits to their websites. This recent method of online marketing employs media materials that usually offer compulsion to recipients that encourages them to disperse the material to their social networks. One of the many favorite are funny or interesting videos that has become popularly known viral videos commonly hosted in YouTube or similar video hosting sites. At first glance they do not seem a marketing campaign at all because the videos are usually not related to the market product or services. If you can notice the the description or the URL posted with video, website links, or a footer with marketing message, you can find out the company being marketed.

It is tempting to flood your media with your viral material with the fast and high response you can get with viral marketing. But restrain yourself from engaging too much into this method because people might regard you as an over opportunist and earn you less credibility. Always remember that viral marketing still has to have some good content and for your online presence to remain veritable. Other opinions would say that a unique and fresh angle can also help in this type of web marketing as it would always draw out the interested among the population that can further an initial buzz.

The good thing about viral marketing is that most social networking sites have added features for their members in sharing social media easier and absolutely for free. The abundance of endless applications, add-ons, widgets, and other social media means have been increasing in social networks and reach a very large number of audience. It seems that the sharing of innocent social media files among networks have been harnessed properly by brilliant minds to work for their marketing campaign.

Millions of users logged in to most social sites with the intention of keeping up with their social circles, promote their own business, or just stay in touch with people they know. Getting delighted by shared media has also become one of the apparent reasons why people are signing up in social sites. Facebook allows instant posting in their shout-out boxes from test, images, links, and even videos. What you probably tagged and liked in this social site will be viewed by your friends and they will be able to view what had made you laugh or convinced about an issue or a clip.

Among the entertained audience might be a potential buyer of your product or business. The right way to use social media as a tool is to find an angle of the media material that can generate amusement to the viewers that they can pass it on to their friends right away. In this way, your social media material can reach thousands of browsers in just a few clicks on the mouse.

Alfred D. Dowell is a writer for Pop And Exhibits which offers Trade Show Pop Up and Portable Pop Up Display as well as a wide variety of other items.

The deeper I get into social media the more I love it.  Sure, 90% of all new visitors are finicky. They would rather stumble on to the next page than read what you have to say. That’s OK.

I get the same way sometimes.  It’s that rush.  You get that shot of adrenaline right before you see what Stumbleupon picks for you next! And if you experience what I just described – there are doctors out there.  Good ones.:0)

Unfortunately, a lot of marketers treat social media as a dumping ground much the same way they treat television advertising and radio ads.  They produce something, get it out to the masses, and forget about it.  Their job is done.  Why stick around?

In social media – persistence is everything.  I’m not talking about hitting a girl you like over the head so that she comes home with you.  I’m talking about joining the conversation.

5 (plus some) Must-Dos In Social Marketing

1. You Must Give To Get. If you ever want to see any sort of return from social media, you HAVE to give some to get some.  That means trolling Twitter and replying to conversations you like.  That also means digging a few stories a day that you particularly enjoyed. If you want traffic from these sources, start by participating in the community…
2. Commit A Block Of Time. Time is valuable.  Both to you and the people who follow you.  Set aside an hour a day to build friendships through social marketing.  Help promote someone else’s work.  Leave a comment on a blog post.  Buy an ebook that someone is promoting. Don’t be afraid to leave a trail.
3. Be Transparent. Be truthful and honest.  People are smarter than you think.  When you incessantly promote your own work, people will unsubscribe and unfollow pretty quick.  Remember, if something is valuable to you, chances are someone else might appreciate it.
4. Understand that the Internet is different. The web is a living, breathing thing.  It isn’t newspaper advertising; nor, is it a TV commercial.  You can’t control what your message is going to get morphed into.  It’s that simple.  So be prepared for foul language and someone saying they don’t like your product or anyone associated with it.  It happens. It sucks, but it happens.
5. Social Marketing isn’t an analytics darling. Contrary to what a lot of marketers will tell you, the true benefits of social media don’t lie in analytics.  They lie in branding and promotion.If you land on the front page of Digg, your site will get 50,000 visitors in an afternoon.  How many of those people stick around for more than 2 days?  Maybe 200. Instead, think of it as exposure.  50,000 were exposed to your message.  The second time they come across it, they might stay.  They might buy.When you walk into Macy’s and see a $350 Ralph Lauren jacket, do you immediately buy it?  No, you think about it.  You visit it again.  You check your bank account.  You ask your friends.  Then you make the purchase two weeks later.
6. Be Relevant Because if you’re not, you’re spam and we hate spam.
7. Stay consistent Building your business is all about brand recognition and for that to happen you must stay focused on your message an1d your audience.There are millions of blogs out there and it is tempting to sign up for hundreds, but it is better just to stay grounded and actively participate in only a few that way you can build a following easier because you’re focusing your efforts instead of spreading yourself out too thin. Another good idea by Seth Godin is to take into consideration the picture you use on your social media sites and what it says about you both personal and professionally.
8. Learn, Unlearn, Re- learn Learn – Spend some time up front to understand the basics. Know the technologies, the principles of communication, and the history of social media. Understand what your customers are using to solve their problems today and how your competitors are using social media to solve their problems. Un-Learn – Whenever social media makes you uncomfortable, write down what it is you “know” is making you nervous. Based on what you “learned”, consider “un-learning” or releasing this orthodoxy. You are going to have to change some of your long-held beliefs to be successful. Re-Learn – Now that you’ve identified what’s holding you back and created some holes of knowledge to fill, go out and re-learn what you’re missing. You’re obviously approaching advertising differently now, so now go do some research to see what tools and frameworks you need to apply going forward.

Social marketing will get better. It’s still too new. As more time goes by, there will be more tools that help you slice up the metrics and more services that will be launched. The fact remains, you need to interact.

You need to participate.

And there’s no better time than now to get started. Help me add to this list.  What are some must-dos for social media promotion?  You get your suggestion in this post and a link to your site!