Have you noticed how social and work related activities get more and more mixed up in our increasingly digitally driven world?

Banks have Facebook accounts, insurance companies have Twitter feeds, and hotels get rated on various blog platforms. A company that has a well-maintained social network sets our mind at rest, addresses our emotions, and gives us a sense of belonging.

So, if all these companies are successfully playing with your emotions while expanding their customer base, why you don’t do the same?

Creating a social networking campaign is actually simple, but there are still a few things you should learn before you jump in at the deep end.

Initially you should decide how aggressive you want your first campaign to be. You may simply just want to sign up at any social networking platform to maintain a number of blogs with daily entries, or you might choose a more passive approach. However, before making your choice you should consider personal and business aspects as you can adjust your strategy anytime later by creating a niche or a general marketing strategy.

Niche social media websites are industry specific and attract mainly visitors within your industry but generate a high percentage of targeted potential direct marketing customers. If you are for instance a texting agency, it would make sense to sign up on a social media platform for journalists. Having discussions there with others gives your brand a voice and makes sure that the community gets to know the soul of your company.

There are a number of other strategies that you can apply, e.g. you can test your product by well-known product-comparison sites, whereby you can get, at the same time, high quality links from these websites. Maybe you want to join a discussion forum in your niche to exchange ideas and opinions with other members. In that way you can intellectually leave an impression and make a name for your company as an industry expert.

Actually, the blogosphere is a great environment to make a name for you too. Blogs can be less formal than your company's website and are ideal for current news. Use your blog to express the personality of your company or open new communication channels by writing a comment to an industry blog, which in turn links to your blog.

Facebook and Twitter are generally social media tools that allow real-time updates that even allow you to synchronize your Facebook status with your live Twitter feed. Maybe you may want to register at Digg and make links to your favorite sites, new articles and pictures as the more votes your website receives the higher the probability that you will be listed on the home page of Digg.

These examples are only a small taste of what social media can do and for more you can check out the current, most important players in the social networking world which are for instance, besides the ones already mentioned above, WordPress, Blogger, MySpace, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.

Always keep in mind that the more you interact with your target audience and impact their emotions, the higher the chances of winning new customers. Establishing a networking platform means free traffic, potential sales, and strong Internet presence.

By Daniela La Marca