Social marketing is all the buzz these days. Really does it deserve all the attention?

Yes! It is a cost effective kick butt way to grow your business. It is a fabulous way to build relationships. What is business always built on? Relationships. It also allows you get your message out to masses for free. Can it get much better than that?

So we know that using social media to market is powerful but we must cover what NOT to do. Bear with me on this first basic no no.

1- Do not Puke your message out in a spammy fashion.

We have all seen this. This is the person who posts a comment in any place they can. Usually it has nothing to do with the article, video, or person where it is posted. Then it blatantly says go to my site to make a million bucks tomorrow. I am still surprised when I see people still trying this. It is annoying. It is rude. It does not work.

2- Do not start marketing until you know who your target audience is. This simple step will save you a ton of time. Targeting everyone is the same as the old school techniques MLM and Network Marketing businesses taught for years: tell everyone with a pulse about your business. The truth is everyone with a pulse is not right for your business!

In Social Media you will get much better results if you target an audience who is looking for what you have. Most social sites have a search button that makes this task easy. Use is to target specific groups that want what you have and watch your results take off!

3- Avoid meaningless content.

Once you know your target audience it is vital that you talk about what they want to hear. Cover issues that will solve their problems. It might involve a little research to determine what the issues are. But, the time it takes you to figure this out will be well spent.

After you determine what your target market's questions are it is time to answer them. If you do not know the answers do not attempt to answer them. This is when the opportunity arises for you to learn the answers through training and reading courses. If you want to give value you must become more valuable. Do this on a daily basis! There is no shortcut to this when you in the relationship business. Position yourself like a leader, act like a leader and advance your knowledge like a leader and you will become a leader!

4- Not taking the time to connect with people one on one.

In social marketing it is important to leverage your time. This can be done very easily with all the tools available to you. But, never forget people buy from people they know like and trust! If you have a prospect that asks a question on Facebook or Twitter take a second to answer it. If you have a resource that can answer it point them in that direction. Again position yourself as that leader.

You can tell pretty quickly what the prospect is like by their question. If they seem like a negative or needy prospect don't waste your time. But, if they seem genuine and curious it might be a very valuable few moments for you to connect with them!

If you avoid these four mistakes you will see instant results in your social media marketing. Keep it real in everything you do. Remember you are dealing with people. Treat those people with respect and integrity. Go the extra mile in your efforts and you will become one of the 3% who achieve massive success in this industry.