The key to social media is realising that it is built around relationships. The purpose behind the social media movement is to encourage communication between people. The people you find in these online communities are not looking for one-way communication; they want to engage with others.

If you look at traditional leisure marine marketing, it’s generally one-way communication: “read about my service”, “visit my website”, “view my listings”.

Social media is different: people expect to take part in the conversation. This creates opportunity for all of us, and that’s where the benefit lies. There’s no doubt about it, social media takes more of our time. You have to commit to consistently contributing to many, concurrent conversations. But the upside is, as you converse with people, you cultivate meaningful relationships. And that’s where the business comes from.

For that reason, I encourage Ryzers to get on Skype, Yugma, Twitter, TweetDeck, Mr. Tweet, Socialtoo, Twitwall and Aardvark. Other social networks it would be good to join include, LinkedIn, Briz, MerchantCircle, Teamcircle, Plaxo, and Xing. Of course, I would be amiss if I did not also encourage you to join Squidoo.com. That is one fabulous site.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
707-709-8605
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