Trends and current events tell you that this thing called “New Social Media (NSM)” is the loudest buzz in the online ecosystem. With this, not only one’s everyday vanity and spoiled-brat rants are its daily consumers. We could see organizations and big companies slowly penetrating this powerful network. But of course, it’s not the usual three-step-pancake-mix process. It’s more like assembling and detonating a C4 bomb—one misconnection could lead to self-destruction. One of the hyped uses of new social media is marketing products and services. Even though there are a relatively few companies using NSM, we could see that they are very enthusiastic (or even very whimsical) in implementing this marketing tactic. Conceivably, NSM is really powerful a tool—well, it is just as powerful as it is harmful. Here are some ways on how to implement a marketing tactic using New Social Media.

Even though NSM is celebrity popular, treat it as a stranger. New Social Media tools cannot be taken as a whole. The plethora of these different tools exhibit individuality and uniqueness. Facebook is different from My Space as Twitter is different from Plurk. Know the tool of the trade before actually arming it for combat.

Programming Codes can only do so much—humanize it. Humanizing the internet is not an individual interest; it is a revolution. Your consumers are human and only another human can understand him or her. Make the marketing strategy conversational, light and digestible. And for Homo sapiens’ sake, do not use Boto sapiens.

Internet Marketing

How human is it?

Write, Speak and Listen. I remember my Communication III professor saying that listening is the most taken for granted communication skill. As a result, most communication efforts fail because of the failure to listen. After launching your marketing program, be sure to stop a little while and have a coffee break with your target audience. Let them praise you, let them critic you. Then, make some necessary maintenance and improvement mechanisms.

In this world of complexity, be sure to start and go back with the basics. When problems arise regarding the marketing tactic you just have launched, it is most probable that you will try to heal the wound and even take the case to an emergence situation. Although it is right to apply first-aid treatments to problems, be sure to work backwards and see what went wrong. Issue a prescription and make an investigation.

Don’t use NSM just because. Because everybody is doing it doesn’t mean that you should also do it. There are a lot of things to consider before immersing yourself to this Web 2.0 culture. A structured NSM Assessment Guide could help you decide if you need NSM, could help you choose what kinds of NSM you need and could help you know what content to generate. Think of it as a flowchart.

Marketing has reached a state wherein it could be beneficial both for the company and for the consumers. However, as you play the cards of New Social Media, you could encounter The Joker many times and, of course, poker-faced consumers and competitors ready to trick you. Reading and internalizing these 5 simple steps could give you all the Aces you want.