The First Rule of Social Marketing (Social Marketing Fundamentals)

Dave Thomas wrote a great guest post yesterday that looked at where social media fits in your marketing plans. Of course, knowing where to start is half the battle.

So, where do you start?

By following this one simple rule: Social is people.

While there are specific “tips and tricks” to keep in mind about each new social network you use to market your business, the key point is that you’re looking to connect with people, not just sell your wares. People spend time in online social networks for a variety of reasons. But we can summarize those reasons down to just these few:

1. Staying in touch with friends
2. Staying in touch with family
3. Staying in touch with business associates

Keeping those three separate matters. Because you’ve got to understand where your business falls in the social spectrum.

According to research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, adults 50 and older cite “staying in touch with family” as their top reason for using social networks. Adults under 50 cite “staying in touch with friends.” Surprisingly, neither group says a big reason is “keeping up with products or services that I use now and again (or even every day, for that matter).” In fact, very few people use social networks to find new friends, find out what celebrities are doing or even find people to sleep with, er… date.

Again, people—your potential customers—aren’t looking to find new relationships using social networks. They’re looking to deepen the relationships they already have. So it’s rare that you’re going to find new customers using social networks, unless your existing customers tell their friends about you.

Now, how is that going to happen?

Don’t worry. We’ll touch on that in our next post.

For now, you need to come to grips with the notion that most people on most social networks aren’t there to connect with you. Yes, you can use social networks to market your brand. But you won’t do it successfully if your approach suggests it’s all about you. It’s not. As with most marketing in the modern world, it’s all about your customers.

Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

Technorati Tags: social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy, strategy