Now, we are no Twitterholics and we will not be able to update it all the time, but we are going to make a real effort and have some fun with this and post as often as we can.

To those of you interested in our other social marketing activities you can also follow us on StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Facebook and TheMarker Cafe.

The social statement here is not to be taken lightly.
At a time when information is so easily available, where time is so short and where relationships seem to be ever more liquid, the value of strong trusting and lasting social ties of any kind is rising.

Just as the purpose of a strong search engine is to deliver relevant search results, a good social network tries to provide an effective platform for building and developing social ties. Social ties or relationships of any kind.

In terms of social marketing, there is no fudging. You need to become part of the community. You need to do more for others and hope that you get paid back when the time comes. Unlike many other form of online marketing (and we are numbers freaks) there are no hard and fast rules here. We can only look at the basics of the Law of Reciprocity and look at how we operate in the social web.

Social Exchange – We do for others and expect (assumption) that when the time comes they will do the same for you. Giving and receiving favors.

Everybody Goes Home in A Limousine – We want to feel good after any exchange and so does the partner. A successful relationship is a rewarding relationship.

Your Actions Value is Not Yours to Determine – actions don’t accumulate and 1 + 1 is not 2. What others perceive the value to be is the actual value.

Be Nice and Considerate – It’s a simple principle. Be considerate to the actions and requests of others. Respond to members of the community. Don’t demand reciprocity from others. Sometimes you will get less then what you expect and other times more then what you expect.

Value over Time – You do for others and the actions are often small but they accumulate over time and through courtesy, honesty and respect your relationships in the community blossom.

Reciprocity can be Positive or Negative – Doing harmful things to others will be returned and revenge is a terrible thing. So go back to the Be Nice principal.

Know where to find online customers – You need to know how to locate your customers online, and the first step is to know who these people are. Based on that understanding build a short list of key words to help you find them on a search engine; words could include products and service, geographic locations, special events and daily activities. You can start looking for them in the blogsphere and blog search engines, sites like Google’s blogs search, blogpulse, digg, technorati and Feedster. Once you found them, develop a bookmark library that includes the top locations that match your search.

Know what is important to your online customers – Regularily visit these bookmarked sites and find out what the discussions are about. Most of these are blogs and for each post there will be comments. The high volume comment posts are important; they mean a live discussion is taking place. Read the archives as well. Find out who the main bloggers are, their stories and onlne personalities. Do you have something to add, contribute to these discussions? Can you talk to these people?

Look at the online community – Blogs are usually part of a related niche and form circles or networks. Find out who are the members of the community and extend outwards from each of the blogs you visit. The best way is to start with the blogroll on these sites. Find other people and groups who more closely match the type of person you are looking for.

Contact them online – Contact the members of the community you feel has the most to do with the product and services you wish to offer. Make sure that you have somthing worth while to say when you contact them. Email them and be polite and honest, don’t hide the purpose of your email. Remember that your customers (especially bloggers) are wary of sales pitches, be straight forward. Transparency in your communications is an essential component of a sustainable online relationship.

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