By Gail Martin

I’ve talked with a lot of small business owners and solo professionals who either aren’t sure why (or whether) they should be on social media, and with others who have set up accounts and aren’t sure what to do next. Social media, of course, refers to online communities such as Facebook, and MySpace, sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr and specialized sites like Shelfari. It also includes blogs and Twitter, the popular “micro blog.”

Social media may be a new tool, but it works best when some basic marketing principles apply. First of all, social media will only work effectively when it’s part of a plan. Secondly, for social media to work, you have to understand who your audience is, where they are congregating and what message will resonate to move them to action. And thirdly, you need to have a good idea of what any tool actually does in order to use it effectively.

Get a Plan
Many companies fail to market effectively because they don’t have a marketing plan that’s based on their business plan goals. A surprising number of solo professionals don’t even have a business plan! As they say, failing to plan is really planning to fail. This is true for social media as with any type of communication. Marketing is only as good as its foundation, and if you aren’t clear on your business goals (“make more money” is not a business plan-level goal), then your marketing will be imprecise, your message will be muddled and your results will be unimpressive (but how would you know if you have no plan by which to measure them?).

Social media works best when it is part of an overall marketing plan. It should be targeted to a specific segment of your target audience, and its message should reinforce and extend your overall marketing themes. Social media is a great way to deepen relationships with existing clients and prospects and to reach a whole new group of potential prospects whom you might never have otherwise had the chance to meet. It can also help you create and sustain a two-way dialogue and drive traffic to your other sites.

You should know what you hope to gain from using a marketing tool, whether you’re using social media, traditional advertising, PR or direct mail. You should have a budget for time and money and some quantifiable idea of return. Your marketing actions should be linked directly to the business plan goal advanced by that action to keep you grounded in return-on-investment. Your plan should make it possible for you to assess your results and decide whether or not to continue investing resources in a specific marketing action, including social media.

Know Your Audience
Social media success requires that you understand your audience, their needs, their culture and the language that moves them. Different social media sites have very different primary audiences, who go to those sites for differing reasons.

For example, Facebook is primarily a social site, where business takes on a more conversational, low-key approach. Meeting new people on Facebook is easy and encouraged, and it’s ok to approach total strangers and invite them to become “friends” on the basis of shared interests or people you know in common. On the other hand, LinkedIn is a power networking site with very strict rules about who you should invite or accept into your network (only people you actually know in real life) and with penalties for breaking the rules.

You will probably find many people on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but they will react differently depending on where you approach them. This isn’t so different from realizing that a business person may act differently at the office than when you encounter them after hours in a local pub.

To use social media successfully, it’s important to know the rules for each community you join and watch how others interact before plunging into the action. Then adapt your approach for that community, making your site more social and casual on one site and all-business somewhere else. This also affects how much you share about what you’re doing and your personal life. Facebook tends to encourage showing more personality and even quirkiness, along with some insight into the person behind the suit. LinkedIn, on the other hand (using these two as polar examples), sticks to business.

You’ll need to adapt your message for the particular site as well. Continuing with the examples of Facebook and LinkedIn, on Facebook, invitations abound to attend teleseminars, online groups and other real or virtual events. On LinkedIn, it’s up to the individual to find the groups and choose to join, and invitations to events tend to be more low-key and restricted to the one-line “what are you doing” box.

Understand the Tool
Facebook and MySpace are a lot like meeting people at a cocktail party, where conversation can range from serious to frivolous. LinkedIn is like a business networking luncheon. Your blog is like a short personal conversation about a given topic, while Twitter is more like a quick comment. Each of these social media tools (and the other sites like them) have their own strengths and weaknesses.

For example, Twitter can be great for asking for immediate feedback on a topic. I tweeted while I was live on a radio interview to ask my followers to call in, and got people calling on the studio line while we were on air because of it! Facebook and MySpace are great for sharing information and interacting with people in more than one way-by posting photos or video, integrating the RSS feed from your blog or podcast, creating and running your own discussion group, and having a relaxed, personal conversation about your area of interest. LinkedIn is fantastic for making connections to the friends of your (real) friends. YouTube and Flickr focus on sharing interesting visuals, while bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious or StumbleUpon are like a global bulletin board where people can post links to articles or content they found interesting, useful or just truly bizarre.

There is no one perfect social media site, just as there is no universal power tool. Sometimes you need a hammer and sometimes you need a saw. That’s why it’s so important to really understand the pros and cons of the social media sites you’re considering. You’ll avoid making embarrassing mistakes, be able to connect better with other users and get better results from your investment of time.

Social media isn’t a short cut or a miracle cure. It requires a learning curve to understand how it works and which sites are best for you. Used correctly, it can be a powerful part of your marketing plan that can connect you with people around the world-including new prospects for your business.

Gail Z. Martin owns DreamSpinner Communications and helps companies and solo professionals in the U.S. and Canada save money and get results through exceptional writing and marketing. Gail has an MBA in marketing and over 20 years of corporate and non-profit experience at senior executive levels. Gail hosts the Shared Dreams Marketing Podcast and the Shared Dreams Become Reality group on Facebook. She is also the author of The Summoner, The Blood King and Dark Haven fantasy adventure novels in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series. Her newest non-fiction book is The Thrifty Author’s Guide to Launching Your Book. Find her online at http://www.GailMartinMarketing.com and on Twitter at GailMartinPR.

Gail is also the author of the Solopreneur Survival Guide home study course and suite of products for start-up and small businesses, coaches, consultants and speaker/authors. http://www.SolopreneurSurvivalGuide.com