Social media is a new and fresh way to market your business and the great news is it's mostly free.
To reap in the benefits you need to have a carefully thought out plan of action in order to succeed with this brilliant form of marketing. The one fundamental element of social media success is building value, you need to engage and build up solid relationships with people and the only way to do this successfully is by building value.
The best way to build value is to understand your market and what's important them and what their demands and needs are and offer advice, help, and valuable content. To market your business with this method you need to become an "expert" offering good quality post / blogs on your niche market, in time you will soon be the hunted instead of the hunter.
Results will take longer to see but once you start to build up relationships and networks you will soon see your income snowball.
You need to focus on what you want to achieve from social media, whether you just want to reach out to a new market, potential customers, strengthen existing relationships with current clients or if you just want to raise your profile with social media. It is also important to choose the right social media platform. This needs to be thought through carefully. The deciding factors need to be where your target market is and how old they are. This will help you decide which platform is the best for you.
One thing to remember with social media is build relationships, don't try to sell to people but instead offer massive value and you will soon become highly respected in your niche market.