Social media sites are the latest tools that are being used by marketers for advertising their brand and building clientèle. Since social media is still a relatively new concept, people still have a chance to establish a name for themselves on these sites.

Popular social media sites include Facebook, Twitter and Google+. In addition to marketing on these sites, try creating a blog to which you can direct fans and followers. Having a personal blog allows you to go into greater detail about products and services being promoted than you could on other social media sites.

Here are some guidelines for optimizing social media marketing and presence:

1. Take the time to develop an effective marketing strategy before beginning. There are numerous social media sites and tools at your disposal, so determine the ones that will work the best for business.

2. Become familiar with the various marketing opportunities available on the various social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter. Creating and updating a page for people to “like” is an effective marketing method on Facebook. Status updates to the page are a great way to grab fans’ attention while keeping them informed. Twitter differs from Facebook in that it only allows the user to post brief updates, or “tweets,” for whoever follows the page. However, this site is the perfect place for posting brief but interesting information and creative, fun updates about the products for sale. Since tweeting is the only marketing outlet on Twitter, make sure that any tweets will intrigue and entertain your followers, while keeping them up-to-date.

3. Any good marketing campaign should include advertisements on as many social media platforms as possible. You can usually purchase ad space on sites such as Facebook and MySpace for relatively low cost. These sites are similar in advertising functionality to Google’s AdSense, i.e., the ads you place on these sites will be displayed on pages that feature keywords related to that product or service.

4. Make it a point to update any social media pages often. The people who use social networks are accustomed to frequent updates. The less that is posted, the more likely it is that the page will get lost among the numerous other pages on these sites.

5. Post updates and advertisements that are brief and to the point. Most users will just gloss over an update if it’s a block of text. By employing short, attention-grabbing messages and updates, advertising is not only much more likely to be read, but will also stick in the minds of fans and followers.

6. Draw people to your company’s social media page by offering special promotions and other incentives. A Facebook page that not only has quality content but also offers attractive discounts will keep users coming back for more. To garner even more attention, place deadlines on the discounts and incentives offered. This creates a sense of urgency in your followers, motivating them to pay closer attention to the page’s updates and posts.

7. There is no way to trick or force social media users to “like” a brand. The only way to develop a true following of users who truly like a brand is by offering great products and outstanding services. By consistently advertising quality products and services, the business is sure to gain true fans. Along these same lines, under-promising and over-delivering is a great method for impressing followers.

8. Even though communication via social media sites has changed over the years, this is no excuse to be anything but professional when marketing your business. You must not share personal information on the company’s page, nor should you engage in conversations that are best kept private. Create a separate profile page for personal use, to ensure that the marketing page remains classy and drama-free.