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Guest post by: Greg Gaskill Become an Author

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Social networking is a growing trend that is popular among everyone from pre-teen music fans to senators and CEOs. Once thought of as fleeting pastime, social networking has become intrinsically ingrained in today’s society and is now considered an essential component in many marketing and communication plans.

While social networking websites provide a ready audience and ample opportunities for connecting with others, who you are actually communicating with is of the utmost importance. Your target audience will depend largely on the information that you are trying to convey and your purpose for using social networking as part of your overall communication efforts.

The first question to ask yourself is who is your audience? Are you using social networking to introduce your product or service to a broad audience and to increase brand awareness? Do you work in a small industry where networking with peers and keeping each other updated on innovations and advancements would be advantageous?

Determining your target audience is key to any marketing or brand awareness campaign, and social networking websites are no exception. Determine who you want to reach through social networking by considering the factors you are looking for in your audience. What are the basic demographics of your prospective client base? Who are the industry leaders and peers with which you would like to connect? Which industries or positions are your prospective contacts in?

Cultivate your list of contacts with care to ensure that you are actually reaching your target audience, and not just wasting your time sending updates and posting bulletins that are not conducive to your growth or meeting your goals. Once you have established a contact base, continue to grow that base by seeking out additional possible contacts, posting regularly and reminding your established contacts to refer others to you.

What and how often you post will play an important part in retaining the interest of your contact list and drawing in new contacts on a regular basis. For example, posting an update or bulletin once per month, or posting irrelevant information that is not of interest to your audience, is the surest way of losing their interest, and likely losing them from your list of contacts.

It is essential that you keep your audience engaged with regular, informative updates, whether that is industry news to share with your peers, or new products to introduce to your potential client base. Before you undertake a social networking campaign, create a communication plan that includes a long list of possible news topics, updates, engaging information and interesting posts that you can draw from regularly.

All too often, business owners and professionals enter the world of social networking on a whim and without a cohesive communication plan established to take full advantage of the multitude of industry networking and marketing opportunities social networking has to offer. Establish your social networking plan prior to setting up your profile and increasing your list of friends and contacts to ensure your readiness and prepare for success.

Like any business plan, communication plan or marketing campaign, social networking requires an established, well-organized plan of action in order for you to achieve optimal results and use this marketing and networking medium to its fullest potential.

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