What is social media marketing & how we can use it ?

While I was performing some searches on Social media Marketing i cane accross a very nice question and answer on Yahoo answers. I wanted to leave everything in tact so please find full details below

Social Media Marketing is more involved than just Facebook, in my opinion. Depending on what your business is, I feel there are very different levels of ROI that can be seen. Some business models definitely work better in the social media world than others.

To effectively use Social Media, you need to dedicate resources to be active in the social communities. Facebook pages are great, and Facebook ads can work, but if you are not actively engaging with your fans, and posting updates and valuable things to your Fans, then it does not accomplish much. If you can give online coupon codes to your fans, or promote new products that will add value to your users, then it can be valuable.

Same goes for Twitter. Having a Twitter account can be a really interesting way to interact with people. Resources like TweetDeck can help you monitor your brand, and specific keywords across twitter. If you have a brand people are talking about, you can monitor it, and reach out to people, either thanking them for the mention, or responding to any negative feedback that might be out there. If you actively monitor this “Noise” about your brand, it can be a really powerful marketing tool (again, within the right industry).

I have found that this seems to be most effective in B2C markets. B2B markets are a bit tougher to utilize these sites, but it can be done, if you commit to it.

Other effective social media sites to think about are things like YouTube. Videos don’t need to be professional quality, but just be interesting or fun. Having a blog is a great way to produce valuable content and interact with your customers. There are a million other community type sites, you just have to look for them. It has become so popular, that many of these sites are forming communities around specific industries. You just have to look for your community, and be active. That is the key to Social Media.

I have also found it is hard to have an agency handle this type of marketing for you. Take it in-house, and you will have a much more real feel to your interactions, and give people insight into your company and the culture of the employees and company itself.

Long response. Sorry, but hopefully some of it is helpful for you. Good luck if you decide to go down this route.