Spread Your Message Through Social Media Marketing    

     If you use it correctly, Social Media Marketing (SMM), can help you spread your message. It is as simple as the click of a button -- or is it?  Combined with your other traditional PR and marketing programs, SMM be the key to your success.

     To ensure that SMM works for you in a positive way, you need to employ some keys to success. This week, Promotional Consultant Today is offering four guidelines to get you started on the path to successful social media marketing. Yesterday we looked at Finding The Right Sites. Today we'll examine Understanding Different Sites, today we'll review The Message.

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"A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one."

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, 1863-1947

Think In Sound Bites

     Anyone who has done any type of PR in the past -- print, TV or radio -- knows the importance of the sound bite message. The same rule holds true when doing SMM. You want your sound bite message to be original, useful, valuable, fun, problem solving and interesting. And you have to encapsulate your message in 140 characters or less. Realize that's 140 characters, not words. Therefore, your message must be succinct.

     That 140 character limit is not a random number. The fact is that 140 characters is the convention for text messages to cell phones internationally. Remember, your goal is for people to take your message and pass it along or to have it forwarded to their cell phone when your message comes out.

     You don't want the ending of your message cut off because it was too long for the cell phone to display.

     Don't think you can take your long message and split it up into two or more feeds. That's called giving a double message or a split and people get annoyed by such a tactic. Do that too often and you'll quickly lose all your followers.

     Source: Pam Lontos is president of PR/PR, a public relations firm based in Orlando, Florida. She is author of I See Your Name Everywhere." PR/PR works with established businesses as well as entrepreneurs who are just launching their company, and has placed clients in publications such as USA Today, Entrepreneur, Time, Reader's Digest and Cosmopolitan.

     NOTE: If you want to learn how to harness the power of SMM through comprehensive instruction and real-world application register to PPAI's five-part webinar series PPAI Social Media Launchpad! This series covers the ins, outs and how-tos of the web's most popular and influential social media platforms. The webinar is led by Carrie Kerpen, from the Kbuzz, a leading word of mouth marketing firm.