Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow you to do more than just push ads at your customers, they let you connect with them in a meaningful way. Imagine for a second that you could send a friendly representative out to a public place to talk to your customers on an individual level. If you sent that rep to Times Square in New York City, and told them to talk to as many of your customers as they possibly could, how many people people do you think they’d reach in one day? 100? 200? Chances are they’d encounter a lot of people that just didn’t care about your product. They would also run into a lot of people who just weren’t interested in talking to a stranger.  If you sat that same rep down, and armed them with a Twitter account, and a Facebook account, you’d wind up with completely different results.

People might not want to talk to strangers, or company reps in a public place, but on the internet it’s a totally different story. Facebook, and Twitter users want you to talk to them on a personal level. People use social media to connect with other people in a direct way, and you can use that to your advantage.

Facebook gives you a lot of options for community building when you set up a page for your company. You can post things to your wall, reply to customers’ comments, and start full on discussions about your products and services. To really connect with your customers, you have to do all of these things. Talk about your product, talk about other products in your niche, and answer customers’ questions. The most important thing you can do on Facebook, or any social network for that matter, is talk to your visitors.

Twitter offers equally powerful tools for talking to your customers. Twitter users can @reply or direct message one another. If you’re on Twitter, and one of your customers does either, be sure to answer them. Don’t just give them an answer copied directly from a press release or other corporate literature, really answer them in a personal way. Likewise, look for Twitter users talking about your product, and message them if they have any questions. By being proactive, and messaging upset customers before they message you, you can improve your public image significantly.

Twitter and Facebook each let you connect directly to your customers on their level. Dom’t pass up that opportunity. When you’re talking to someone one on one on a social networking site, it’s not just a one on one conversation – other users see it, and ultimately, that can do great things for your reputation.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter can be great ways to get more traffic to your site, and more attention to your product. These sites are only effective as marketing tools if you’re using them the right way. If not, they can actually do more harm than good. Let’s take a look at some of the things you shouldn’t do on a social networking site.

First, and possibly the most important, you shouldn’t let automated software have full control over your social networking accounts. People come to social networking sites to be social, not to read a bunch of automated messages generated by a piece of software. Don’t get me wrong, you can have a piece of software that posts your blog entries to Facebook or Twitter if you’d like, but make sure to include some messages hand crafted by an actual human being.

Speaking of actual human beings, remember, your followers, fans, and friends are actual people. If they ask you a question, don’t ignore them. It’s vital that you respond to every question or comment a follower, fan, or friend makes. If people feel like you’re not willing to interact with them, their perception of your social networking account, and by proxy your entire company, changes. They see you as unresponsive, and maybe a little unyielding. It’s not a good image to put forth to your customers.

Don’t make your Facebook page or Twitter account a giant ad for your products or services. Think about it, when you’re watching TV, do you get excited when the commercials come on? Probably not. It’s more likely that you use those commercials to go get a snack, or a drink. If you have a DVR, you probably just skip right on through them. People will ignore your Facebook page, or Twitter account the same way you ignore commercials if they’re just a giant ad for your company. Make sure to include real content that h olds some value for your visitors.run

Be sure to keep your Facebook page or Twitter account feeling natural. If people don’t feel like there’s a person they can interact with, and engage in conversation running the accounts, they won’t follow, fan, or friend you. Avoid these slip ups, and you’ll be sure to see positive results from your social marketing efforts.