It's hard to ignore the benefits of Social Media Marketing (SMM) today.

In short, SMM allows your business to create tailored message to your online target market in the attempt to engage them in genuine, direct communication. best forms of SMM create two-way conversation - gone are the days of force feeding customers what you think they want, successful businesses are now tailoring their messages to based on what the market has to say.

Create a plan ... and stick to it!

With so many forms of social media - Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, LinkedIn, Youtube, blogs, just to name a few - it's important to have a clear plan that ties these resources together. Many businesses risk diluting or even confusing their message in today's complex and fast-paced online environment.

So many social campaigns fail because people don't make the commitment necessary to succeed. Often business owners will sign up to a whole host of services and then find it simply too difficult to maintain, leading them to fall behind and simply give up on the process, saying they just don't have the time.

Start small

Build your own blog. Commit to posting one article a month - it doesn't have to be a huge quantity, just consistent. Blogs are still the best way of driving traffic to your site. The search engines love them.

The "snowball" effect

Your digital media strategy should clearly set out how you are going to integrate services over time. Then make the commitment and stick to it.

Attempt to use only the social media platforms you are comfortable using. Obvious choices include Facebook profile / Facebook connect, LinkedIn profile, Twitter Integration.

Commit to two relevant posts per week driving traffic back to your blog or relevant promotion. Do not simply send spam messages over Twitter - it does you more harm than good.

When it comes to social media, you need to be open and honest about the way you communicate.

Don't give up. Constantly monitor your Google Analytics to see how you are improving. Keep an eye on your competitors and what they are doing but stick to the game plan you have decided to implement. Listen to your website visitors and tailor your information to best promote your products and services.