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Guest post by: Gihan Perera Become an Author

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What would you do if you had to use social media every day, but weren't allowed to do any marketing?

In other words, no boasting about your new book, no promoting events (even free events), no publishing testimonials from happy clients, no affiliate links to other people's products, nothing that even hints of marketing or self-promotion.

What would you do? Well ... Perhaps you would go to Facebook and comment on somebody's photo.

Or answer somebody's question in a LinkedIn group.

Or comment on somebody's blog post, explaining how it was useful to you.

Or publish a blog post, sharing an answer to a question some audience member recently asked you.

Or re-tweet somebody else's link to a useful article.

Or write an Amazon.com book review for a book you read recently.

Or participate in a Google+ conversation about something that interests you.

Or "Like" or "+1" a Web page or blog post you enjoyed reading.

Or go to iTunes or the Android Market to give a five-star rating for an app you use every day.

Or publicly thank somebody who helped you recently.

Or add a positive comment to a YouTube video that made you smile, laugh, cry or think differently.

What's the point of all this? When you forget about "marketing", you focus on sharing your expertise.

When you share your expertise, you're more engaging.

When you're more engaging, you build real connections.

When you build connections, people want to spread the word about you.

When they spread the word, you build your reputation.

When you build your reputation, you become an authority.

And when you're an authority, the marketing happens automatically.

Social media marketing is about being social, not about marketing.

You don't have to give up ALL your marketing. Just to be clear: I'm not saying you must never promote or advertise; just don't make it the main purpose of using social media platforms. If you want a rule of thumb: Make at least 80% of your activity non-promotional, and at most 20% (preferably less) promotional.

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