People have socialized together for a very long time. Mostly, we have used telephones and face to face contact to interact with others. Printed media, such as newspapers, as well as radio and television have also been used for information. Now, people are turning towards the internet for business and social purposes through blogs, getting news, and even buying products. Society is becoming increasingly dependent on the computer as our way to interact with other human beings, as well as gathering information and advertising.

Internet users love the freedome of speech, information and expression they get from the internet and specifcally social media. Businesses are recognizing that social media and social media marketing offer unique and exciting opportunities to engage users. Social media sites like Digg allow users to broadcast and syndicate content from blogs or websites throughout the world. One of biggest differences between traditional media and online media is the speed at which information can be posted and made available. Another key difference is that once content is published, it is immediately available for comment and feedback, something that was difficult and time consuming to do with traditional media. Social media makes it easy for interesting articles to be shared and rated, thus effectivly voting on the content. The more interest, the more traffic generated.

However, marketing and advertising online has become cutthroat competitive. Large companies now utilize the internet to sell more, faster. Many people are running at-home businesses to generate income. Internet businesses can sell all over the world. Competition is fierce, and Google has released new guidelines for marketing on their site.

?Word of mouth? advertising has been around forever, and has always been effective. We simply share our opinions on recent buys with our friends in every day conversation, or through written media. Now, ?word of mouth? advertising is amazingly effective, since information travels lightning quick over the internet, and reaches many more people than a simple conversation would. According to Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing, a staggering 51% of blog content has become a force to sell and advertise products.

Recently while a product called Traffic Android was released that automates the time consuming sign up and submission process to social media sites. Is this the first of I’m sure many such helpful tools that will enter the market Social Media grow rapidly rather than detracting from it.

One of the benefits of Web 2.0 has been to allow webmasters to distribute content and information rapidly. The integration of social media with social networking is yet another important step in the rapid distribution and syndication of content. Smart tools that integrate Twitter feeds with Facebook news feeds allow for the instantaneous distribution of content through social media. Thus allowing users to post links and short content blurbs for syndication throughout a user’s friend network.

Social marketing is a new thing and an important thing for any business that relies on the web to reach people and engage users. With the next generation fo search and syndication technologies, the role of social media marketing is sure to grow. Many companies are developing social media marketing strategies now so they won’t be left behind.

Justin Harrison is an internationally recognised Internet Marketing expert and entrepreneur who has built up multiple 7 figure online business and consults to some of leading online brands including Amazon, BBC, AIG and many others.

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