In the old days of Internet Marketing, you could put together a static website, pay a few thousand dollars into a Google Pay Per Click campaign, and virtually be assured of gaining enough market share to get a decent return on your investment. These days, PPC campaigns not only backfire as often as they succeed, but they are no longer the best way to spend your resources. Only by leveraging the power of Social Media can you truly achieve the kind of success you desire.

It doesn’t really matter if your goal is making enough money to retire or building a financial legacy that will last generations, it all starts by leveraging the power of social media. There are five areas of social media marketing you must have to achieve the kind of success you desire:

1. Facebook. The Internet literally revolves around Facebook. It has taken over even Google in terms of the number of searches and users. Because Facebook has partnered with Bing, has launched new business page formats, and has taken more steps to ensure their supremacy, having a Facebook page is almost more important than having a website.

2. Twitter. Driving more people to your Facebook page aside, Twitter has become a powerful relationship builder that you really cannot afford to be without to achieve the kind of success you desire. Tip: Be personal. Talk directly to your clients and followers. Don’t just tweet from an anonymously corporate-feeling account.

3. The Blog. A blog is more than just leveraging the power of social media; it is the place where you can be casual and real with your clients and customers. Instead of formal and stiff, you can write the way you would speak, engage your readers in debate and conversation, and talk about anything relevant to your readers.

4. Vlogging. The blog, video style, is one of the premier ways in which you can harness the power of Social Media. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth millions – and the ROI on vlogging demonstrates the measurable power of reaching your audience in this manner. Set up a YouTube or Vimeo channel and have a chat with your audience. You’ll be amazed at the results.

5. LinkedIn. Not as powerful, but definitely the up-and-comer to watch out for, LinkedIn offers you the ability to connect with people, businesses, and others in your industry. You can have conversations, create Twitter-style posts, and market yourself with a well-developed profile. As with any Social Media tool, it only works if you actively engage it, so build connections.

How to Focus Your Marketing.

Social media is one of the newest ways to market your company on the internet. However, many site owners are just not taking advantage of social media, either because they don’t know how or they don’t realize how much their business could benefit. Don’t fall into that trap! Here are some ways you can use social media to market your business and boost your bottom line.

1. Find out which sites your target market goes to. If your target market is suburban mothers in their 30s, they may use Facebook. Conversely, if your market is teenagers, they may use Tumblr instead. Social media won’t help you at all if you don’t keep your focus on your target market.

2. Post helpful content on your websites. You can only succeed in marketing when potential visitors visit your site. By posting relevant content people are encouraged to find out more from you. Even better, they can share your link almost instantaneously with everyone on their network. You are definitely going to boost traffic by posting useful content.

3. Have a sense of integrity. That means that it is not a good idea to be spammy. Don’t collect contacts just to spam them with your product links. Not only is that incredibly rude, but put yourself in their place; how often do you respond to someone who spams you?

4. Remain focused. It is very easy to fall into anecdotal updates that have no connection to the subject you are trying to market. Save the stories about your cat and your favorite coffee for your personal social profiles.

5. Don’t go for the hard sell. Social media is not the same as some other marketing methods. People on can still be encouraged to buy things they need, but using the regular hard sell is frowned upon and makes you easily de-friended and ignored. Use a softer sell approach that focuses on value.

6. Be different. Social sites are a great place to get creative. Everything is so easy to share that anything you do that is unusual or different stands a bigger chance of being shared and talked about by a lot of people. Come up with a viral video or a contest, and watch your site visitors increase tenfold!

7. Don’t be a nuisance. You may find yourself wanting to post something every hour while you are watching whether anyone is visiting your site. Don’t do that. Keep yourself to 2 or 3 posts in a day unless you are directly responding to people. Feel free to interact and reply to others, but do not initiate so many posts that people mentally block them out.

8. Maintain branding. Do not forget to customize your media profiles so that they are consistent with your website and other promotional materials. Failing to do this can cause confusion and look shoddy.

Social media is a smart addition to any Internet marketing plan. Use these tips and you will see results.