It is fair to say that creating a successful social media campaign is not easy or are we just technophobes? The concept of networking and relationship based activity is almost as old as the hills. For most the problems start with the pace of change and the time to learn it yet alone do it successfully. The tools are evolving all the time and in pretty exciting ways. Many of which are free such as Facebook.com, Linkedin.com and Twitter.com have proved themselves useful as social network services as has Wordpress.com, Typepad.com and Tumblr.com for publishing all the way to Hootsuite.com, Ping.fm and Tweetdeck.com for message management and even Gist.com for Social CRM (Client Relationship Management). Have I lost you yet? No, good.

So what can we do to make it work for us? Here are some ideas to consider before you get too deep in the techie stuff:

1. Develop a simple digital marketing strategy and identify target market profiles you hope to attract.

2. Create micro promotional campaigns that have a limited shelf life that are packed full of benefits to the target audience. Then rotate campaigns to keep it fresh.

3. Understand the nature of the selected social media services and limit yourself to the ones most commonly used by the target audience per micro campaign (no more than four at any one time).

4. Provide Clear and Relevant “calls to action” in your promotions or posts and keep the message simple.

5. Be invitational in your communication style and allow people to contribute to your agenda.

6. Commit at least six hours per week to your social media activity.

7. Be patient, it takes time to see a return on investment from your social media efforts but it’s worth it.

8. If budget allows seek professional support to aid you in the basic initial setup and establish a sound foundation and design quality.