"The key to creating a successful social media strategy is the relationships you build and the trust that ensues."

First off, let’s talk about what social media is. Social media represents low-cost tools that are used to combine technology and social interaction with the use of words. These tools are typically internet or mobile based. A few that you have probably heard of include Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube.

So your thinking that doesn’t sound too complicated, huh? But for many beginners it can be. With the many different forms of Social Media there are a variety of ways to communicate your message online.

The key to creating a successful social media strategy is the relationships you build and the trust that ensues. When choosing topics or information to share on social media it should not be limited to the clients site or just plain old link bait, you want to do things that have no obvious ROI, like having a conversation.  And if you’re half-decent at conversation, you know not to talk about yourself the whole time. The way to make a connection is talking about what people want to hear.  There are  many no-cost and low-cost listening tools are available to help you ‘grow bigger ears’ and then apply what you’ve learned from listening to improve your sales, your service or your future products.  Free tools: icerocket.com and blogsearch.google.com.  Fee-based tools: radian6.com and scoutlabs.com.In Short Social media success depends upon your type of audience, product, company, network and environment.  You need to know your brand, your audience, how to communicate within each specific social network or online community.  People are pretty good at detecting when someone is trying to sell them something, and if that’s how you’re using social media, people won’t engage.