One of the biggest questions about social media marketing I get from clients is “How in the world do I even begin?” Many are fairly comfortable with the Internet and how to find information they need online, but when it comes to marketing in a social media world they are at a loss. Many of my clients admit that their teenage children could probably do a better job of marketing their business online than they could.

But what some business owners may not realize is that social media is not your typical marketing campaign. Whereas in the past you may have developed advertising graphics and worked with one or two individuals to get your campaign message out to newspapers, magazines and television, social media marketing is much more of a hands-on effort.

What this means is that it is no longer a one-way interaction with your potential customers. In other words, you won’t be able to just develop a “message” and throw it out to the wind, hoping that new customers will take the bate and drop by your store.

Instead, social media is about developing relationships, networking with potential customers, and marketing by communicating interest and need. Here is a good real-world analogy of how this works. My friend Paula decided a few years ago that she wanted to start a business of her own. She had been working for others all her life but now she wanted something she could call her own. After settling on a business that capitalized on her sewing skills, Paula had a few fliers made, and some business cards. She then started booking herself at craft fairs and other public events in her Chicago suburban neighborhoods.

At each event Paula handed out fliers and spoke to people passing by. She dropped business cards with customers who purchased items from her so they could call her in the future for more items. Her business cards also included a link to a website she designed herself; it doesn’t have the look and feel of a Fortune 500 site, but it provides information about her products and photos of other items she has for sale.

What Paula was doing was starting her social networking process. In addition to letting her friends and family know about her new business, she started advertising products and skills socially through public events.

Essentially that is all social media marketing is! The only difference – social media marketing is virtual, and your targets are world-wide! This can be a both a blessing, and a curse. It is a blessing in that instead of the 100k or more market that Paula can reach in one of the Chicago suburbs, with social media marketing she can, literally, reach a global market of tens of billions of people! The curse, however – filtering out those who have absolutely no interest in her products so she can reach those who do.

So now that you have a handle on what social media marketing is, how should you begin marketing your small business over the Internet using social media tools? I’ll have more details on that in my next blog, which will include a recommendation for social media tools that will get your business jump-started on the Internet, and which will form the foundation for other social media efforts in the future.