Introduction

When a person or business wants to start an online marketing campaign, the most important part of this campaign is the use of social media sites. Services such as Facebook and Twitter are just what you need for virtually immediate dissemination of information at its widest and farthest coverage. Sites such as these enable people to speak in real time through chatting, commenting, and generally conversing, producing opportunities for instantaneous feedback and return on investment. Most of these sites don't charge premiums, helping businesses and individuals with limited budgets to do a lot with little financial investment.

Some businesses are so enthralled with the opportunity that they plunge into the experience without much planning. This is where many businesses and individuals make the biggest mistakes. Before diving in, it's necessary to take a step back to develop a strategy that can help drive the biggest return on investment. Even though the sites are typically free, the time invested in learning about these sites, developing a community, and nurturing relationships can add up to significant amounts. If you're spending time, you're spending money, whether you realize it. However, by taking the necessary steps and asking the right questions before starting the journey into social media marketing, the overall cost of being online can become little to none.

Look at Facebook. At the time of this writing, this social media site is closing in on 700 million users ...

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