With all the different social media sites, it can be hard to choose which you should use. Do I use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, a combination, or all of them? There are even others, but I’ll just talk about these for now.

You need to know what you want out of a social media site and then determine which ones will be able to fulfill your objective. You’ll have to know who your target audience is or who you want it to be and go from there.

Let’s start with Facebook. According to the Best Practice Guide, they suggest 5 principles to go by:

• Build a strategy that is social by design – In everything you do, keep in mind that this is a social site. Every part of your marketing should be built around the social aspect.
• Create an authentic brand voice – Always be who you are. Don’t try to paint a false image of your brand.
• Make it interactive – A major part of Facebook is interacting with others. Be sure the communication on your page isn’t one-sided.
• Nurture your relationships – Just like in the real world, building relationships are important. It takes time. Put in some effort.
• Keep learning – There are tools on Facebook that will help you learn about the things that your fans find most interesting.

Twitter is a brand of social media for posting very short updates, comments, or thoughts. Here are a few tips for using Twitter for marketing.

• Allow your CEO to engage in the Twitter updates – Since these updates or comments are very short, the CEO can manage it. He/She is always meeting with people and has interesting opinions
• Keep in touch with bloggers – Following someone on Twitter is very simple. This is an easier way of connecting with people than calling or e-mailing them. Who makes phone calls anymore?
• Monitor your company/brand on Twitter – There is a way to monitor conversations about your company. Twitter has a search engine that lets you do this.
• Announce specials, deals, or sales – Announcing specials on Twitter means getting your message out instantly to a very large audience, and who doesn’t like a sale?

Part 2 will talk about the other brands of social media like LinkedIn and YouTube. Stay tuned!

What have been your successes with Facebook and Twitter? Share your stories below!