Social networks, are websites that people become members of in order to interact with other members who share their concerns or their interests. These sites provide various tools to their members allowing them to post their profile, manage contact lists, upload music, videos and photos. Members can get in touch with each other through instant messaging, in chat rooms, by leaving comments and through public notes. Social networking sites can thus also serve as very powerful marketing tools for your business. However, these sites have a certain etiquette of their own and you should be careful about they way you go about spreading the word about your product or service. Here are a few tips about how you could use social networking sites to promote your business.

·    People join social networks so that they can share and socialize. While they do look for advice and answers, they will resent any message that is blatantly marketing a product or creating some sales hype. If you have had some years of experience or consider yourself an expert in a field, offer your observations and advice to members who ask for it. This way you will establish a certain standing for yourself and people will also know what kind of a business you run.
·    Typically, in the virtual world, marketing has to be about educating others 80 percent of the time; once you catch their attention you can talk about your product to them 20 percent of the time. The more convinced members are that you are not on the site merely for marketing purposes, the more willing they may be to listen to you.
·    Understand the kind of problems members may be facing and think of ways in which your product or service can help them or help them better than a competitors product. If members understand that your product indeed helps them they will be more likely to send out positive vibes about your product.
·    Remember, there can be no faking on these sites. Members can very easily detect which individual or business is trying to manipulate the members into visiting their site but these eventually backfire and can create a lot of negative publicity for you.
·    Other than from business owners or CEOs, social network members also love to hear from users who have actually used the product and provide their honest opinion on the site. Rather than be flooded with marketing messages, members want to learn from the experiences of others.

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