20 Excellent Articles on Social Media Marketing

Tweetable Eats: What Street Vendors Can Teach Big Business About Twitter Ann Handley has written an excellent article on how the smallest of small businesses are doing some really innovative things with Twitter marketing, and what the biggest of big businesses can learn from them.
10 Really Tangible Ways To Measure Social Media Success Most businesses know they should be using social media, but the whole thing sounds a little too touchy feely for them.

This article shows how to derive hard data and measure actual results from your social media efforts.
30+ More Ways to Create Twitter Groups One of the givens of social media is that it is all about groups. Smart marketers find their way into groups and becoming part of the culture. Once in, the job is to then build relationships by being transparent, informative and generous. In other words, build social capital.

But it is also possible to create groups. This article shows how to create groups on Twitter.
The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base If you are looking for a whole library of information on how to use Facebook, this is the place to look.
5 Things Your Social Media Expert Should Know Anyone can put "Social Media Expert" on their business cards and make big claims. But how do you really know who can help your business? This article shows you how.
The Use of Social Media to Increase Social Capital This is just an interesting article on how social capital works and how to build it.
Build Your Mailing List with Downloads The money is still in the list. Your list of people who entrust you with their email addresses in order to receive information from you, is your most valuable assett. This article has some great ideas on how to attract opt-in subscribers.
The 7 Benefits of Online Customer Service Communities A lot of talk about social media focuses on marketing. But what about customer service?

This article explores some of the experiences some companies have had from implementing customer service groups
9 keys to the perfect corporate blog What good is a blog that is simply used to disseminate the same talk you find in press releases? In other words, what good is a boring blog?

Make your blog interesting (or even fun). According to one source quoted in this article: "The purpose of using blogs and social media for businesses is to build up a community around a product or service." Don't always be spouting off your company's talking points. Engage readers and ask for their ideas as well.
10 Steps to Social Media Success This article compiles the branding and social media insights and ideas from various speakers at the recent event: "Brand Exposure: Practical Strategies in Social Media".

Among the speakers are Tara Hunt, author of The Whuffie Factor, Faris Yakob, Ian Schafer and Paul Worthington.
Spread Your Wings- Get More Retweet Action Today Having your messages retweeted is the viral component of Twitter. Not only has your tweet gone out to the people who follow you, they now go out to the followers of the person who found it compelling enough to retweet it.

Chris Brogan offers some straight forward advice on how to get more of your messages retweeted.
Brand or Be Branded I recently wrote about this article in my post, Why Personal Branding is All About Creating Content. Today it is simply a given that recruiters and H.R. specialists will Google any job candidate at some point during the hiring process. What they find, or don't find, will not only impact whether you get a job offer, it will also be a huge factor in whether you even get an interview.
Confused About Twitter? Just Be An Information Resource This is one of my own articles on this blog, and it is one of the links I most often send to people who have questions about how to use Twitter as a marketing or personal branding tool.
5 essentials for social media marketing All too often I've heard people talk about social media as if it is an easy fix for a company's marketing problems. While I do believe almost any company can gain from using these tools, they must be used strategically. Before realizing any benefit, an organization must understand how social media works and how to best use it to reach an intended audience.
15 Business Benefits of Using Twitter For those who scratch their heads and say, "But how can I help my business in just 140 characters?" this is just a very good list of how Twitter can create more traffic, attract more new clients, become a channel for learning more about your customers, etc.
This Twitter Post a Long Time in Coming This is just a great little essay on Twitter that delves into the human behavior that has made it successful and that also poses its biggest problems. It is a great read.
Giving Away Your Expertise IS Your Competitive Advantage I've already mentioned that social media is a tool, not a strategy. In most cases, the strategy is to deliver quality, free content in order to create a following. This article is another display of Joe Puzilli's insights into why giving away your ideas and information makes absolute business sense.
7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work It's hard to think of a greater treasure trove of great information than Copyblogger. This is just a great article on why list articles are so effective in gaining readers, traffic and, ultimately customers.
10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter Some really interesting information about Twitter and its impact on our world.
Casting a Digital Shadow; Your Reputation Precedes You This is another article on personal branding that shows why creating content is so essential to having an impact on the web.