Summarize:

Social media has become an essential element of marketing strategies for most businesses. For an online business it is even more important given the ability to link directly to products and deals on your site, and communicate with a large number of people quickly and effectively. Start your social media marketing campaign with Facebook and Twitter. Ensure you have a good presence and a clear page with links to your products. You will need to post regularly to keep up interest and be generally active following people and events, as well as liking things to make your store more visible. Post links to new products and special offers frequently and engage with your customers. Running promotions and contests through social media can help you to build up your register of contacts, and create a buzz about your business. It's important to have a clearly defined objective and audience for your contest, you need to know what you will get from it. You could have a sweepstakes for for those who join a mailing list, offering something for free. In turn you get contact details which you can use for targeted marketing. Before you undertake a contest you need to be fully clued up on all the relevant rules and regulations. The specific terms "contest", "sweepstakes" and "lottery" have clear definitions which you need to abide by. A contest must have a winner chosen on merit, a sweepstakes winner chosen at random, and for a lottery you must buy a ticket and pay to play. On the major social networks you can also buy advertising space to promote your business. This can be cheaper and quicker than more traditional modes of advertising. As with any online ad you need to ensure it is concise and attractive as well as bringing the customer to a good landing page on your store. Be sure you read up on all the specific rules for advertising on before you begin. Promoted tweets can increase your company's exposure, but it's important to present these well and include relevant hashtags. As with other online ads, make sure the link you include goes to a landing page with featured products clearly visible. As well as Facebook and Twitter, there are an increasingly large number of social media outlets that have a huge number of users. Develop a presence on video and photograph-based social media to highlight your products and engage with your customers. If you share a picture of a great new product on Instagram you can get it seen by a lot more people than who would otherwise happen across it. As always it's crucial that you structure your social media well and it is all connected together across the various platforms. Have an integrated social media strategy. Have clear links from all the different sites to your actual store where customers can buy the goods you have highlighted on social media. Be creative and open-minded about how you present yourself, but ensure there is a common approach that reflects your company and your brand. Use the social media icons and buttons on emails and postings to provide plenty of links and make it easy for people to reach your store. Having a prominent and well-maintained blog can be a very good way to position yourself as a major player and public voice in your area of business. Not only that, but it is a way to promote your business without paying for advertising. Don't overdo it on the plugs, but be sure to include a relevant link back to your store in each post. Remember, to get people to read the blog it needs to well-written, informative and interesting. Promote your blog through social networks, and consider it an important part of your social media marketing strategy. As well as writing your own blog, take time to connect with other bloggers. Having links between blogs will only increase the potential traffic to your site and raise your profile. Try to write guest blogs on other forums to reach out to more people, and invite others to do the same on yours.
Have a strong social media presence. Run contests or sweepstakes. Use paid ads on social media. Expand your social media presence. Write a blog.