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With the insane popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking site, any leader or organization needs to utilize social marketing!

With social marketing, you can target three kinds of people within your own network.

Friends. These are people who are already aware of who you are, what you represent, and what you are about. They can sometimes know inside out and are interested with your whereabouts. Sometimes, though, too much familiarity can be a barrier to them taking you and your ideas seriously. In fact, it is very easy for friends and family to shoot down your good ideas.

Fans. Fans could also be friends and family who believe in what you do and what you are working for. They know your strengths and your pursuits. You can rely on these fans to help you get the word out about your message and advocacies.

Acquaintances. These are people who know you through work and the friends of friends. Mark Granovetter, an American sociologist published a paper entitled “The Strength of Weak Ties” back in 1973. Long before the birth of social networking sites, Mark Granovetter said that social networks, through the “weak ties” of acquaintances are best suited for referring people for work and other career-related pursuits. Don’t be afraid to approach people to help you promote your product or service. You see it happen in Facebook and Twitter all the time!

Strangers. Strangers don’t have anything to do with you. At least not yet. But they are potential customers and fans. If you target what they need and want, they could become your fans and friends.

So how can you implement your social marketing efforts?

Word-of-mouth. You need to create an awesome experience, a really great message or service that people would willingly share. There’s so much crap in customer service and products all over the world now, that when an organization WOWs customers and strangers, they cannot help but share it with others!

Make it easy to share. If you’re operating a website, make sure that it’s easy for people to share. Prepare flyers and handouts for people, or get testimonials that people could easily share online and offline.

Maximize the power of networks. Do you have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +, do something and maximize all these online platforms!  It takes time to really master these online platforms. In fact, this month and next month, I’m going to be spending time on Twitter and learn how to use it for what it’s worth.

Some tips on using Twitter for social marketing

Here’s what I’m doing with Twitter so far.

I installed Tweetdeck, a nifty tool that helps me manage my social media presence.

I do send out at least 6 tweets daily, which include:

1 Tweet linking to an old blog post I’ve written before.
1 Tweet of a leadership or entrepreneurship quote.
1 Tweet linking to a new blog post written within the week
1 Retweet of an interesting article from other leadership blogs and websites.
1 Reply to a Twitter-mate’s Tweet or tip
1 Tweet to a free resource page

And of course, I still respond to messages and replies to my tweets and messages.

What have you been doing that’s helping your social marketing efforts?