From your own home you can greet more people than a nominee on the election trail. At the same time you are dealing and connecting with like minded people. It is the connection that keeps giving. This is viral marketing at its best. The web has created a way to transmit information and create a message that has a high probability of being passed along again and again. The potential is enormous since exponential growth is the goal of any business, and social marketing is the breeding ground for it. Leveraging the media is what I like to call it. Anyone can do it with some creativity and desire.

Social marketing and viral marketing is based on common human behavior, which is to socialize. Communicating with like minded people is what social marketing encourages. This form of social entertainment has a unique spin; it unleashes a message about a company, products, or a service in a way that eliminates customer resistance. You form a bond with the viewer with minimum effort. This is the American way, a bigger and better mouse trap. Basically, this is the soft side of advertising and marketing. There is no pressure and hard selling seen on the videos, just a real desire to educate and inform.

This will become a large part of mainstream marketing. This is not the hit them on the head and tell them what to buy. Social marketing brings people that share the same interest together. You are imparting knowledge about your business in a way that focuses on their need. Remember buying a lot of times is to fill a need and solve a problem, by being exposed to a product you see the benefits.

Exposure on the web to a topic is many times more powerful than an ad in a publication. The influence of traditional media over consumer choices is waning. Consumers get opinions and advice on topics and products from online research. Forrester research’s 2004 study showed that over 60 percent of consumers trust recommendations found online. Communications is what draws the consumer to the World Wide Web. Social marketing can give individuals with small companies the clout of major brands.

To learn more about web marketing follow the columns and watch for some great interviews with companies who have experience great success with online marketing.