Social Media Marketing aka SMM is one of the hottest buzz words in the world of online advertising, however what does it mean to the average Joe...probably not a lot?

I've recently started working on a project with the aim of raising thousands of pounds within a relatively short period of time. My client needs to raise this money in order to produce a  product and is trusting that social media marketing is a route to generating these funds.

The internet we use today is known to tech geeks as web 2.0. It's far removed from the internet of the past. No longer are advertisers, brands and products pushing adverts to the viewer. The viewer now has the power to voice their opinion. They can tell the brand exactly what they like, It's now a two way relationship.

Imagine reading this comment below the product that you're about to spend thousands of pounds on:

"I hate your product, it breaks all the time and it was made by a three year old child in a sweat shop, I demand you remove this product and send me my money back!"

If I was about to spend thousands of pounds on your product and I saw this it would defiantly alter my view on parting with my money in exchange for your dodgy product.

Last week I attended the Figaro Digital SEO & PPC conference at the Hospital Club, London. Martin Dinham, Director of Guava presented "Trends and Spends in Search Marketing". This survey otherwise know as the 'UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2010' represented the UK's marketing industry over the past year. To cut to the point Social Media Marketing aka SMM has:

• Increased by 35% in the past year.
• 57% of companies spend less than £5000 per year running their social networks.
  
• 65% of companies plan to increase their spend on SMM in the next year.

The main reason why companies hesitate with SMM is the inability to measure what they get out of SMM,...what is their ROI aka Return On Investment from using Social Media?

Measuring social media is tough, however there is more to Social Media Marketing than just converting your 'likes' into sales. The survey summarised why companies use social media:

1. Brand Awareness
2. Increase Traffic to their website
3. Increase the volume of leads
4. Increase volume of sales.

Brand Awareness is paramount when it comes to marketing. What do your customers think of you? What are they saying about your products? Who are they reccomending your products to? These type of questions are essential to selling your product, you have to know what people want, so you can sell them what they want!

By simply setting up a Facebook like page and Twitter account you are one step closer to your customers, you are opening up your brand, they can get a little closer to what you do, they can even become brand ambassadors helping promote and distribute your products and news!

However you need to keep them plump by feeding them a little bit at a time. We're not talking supersize, all you need to do is keep it simple, what would you like to see, read or click on if you were a fan of your brand?

Ultimately if you are a brand with no social media presence, how on earth do you expect to develop your product? Sooner or later you'll have to set up these various channels, so what are you waiting for, get off your ass and do it!

DOWNLOAD: UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2010

Written by: Tom Durston, Webjam Online Marketing Executive