Social media marketing via modern day media platforms hasn’t really changed from the old days when it was said that it wasn’t what you know, but who you know.

Social marketing – by which we mean promoting a product, service, company, or individual by websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – is all about playing the numbers game.

The internet can be likened to a giant football stadium when there’s no game being played. The place is empty. You can stand in the middle of the pitch and shout, scream, perform tricks, or just cry, and no-one is going to hear you, no matter how snazzy your clothes, or good your hair-cut.

The idea is to start filling up the stadium and the more friends you have; the more able you are to tap into networks of friends and family, then the more people will swarm into your stadium and listen what you have to say.

For many companies at the moment, they are playing major fixtures with empty stadiums, especially in terms of the key social media platforms. Try as they might, they cannot seem to get the attention they think they deserve. And there’s nothing worse than an empty stadium.

So, when it comes to social marketing, there’s nothing more crucial than creating networks of customers, potential customers and interested parties. This can be brought into full use as the stadium audience. Of course, you have to remember also that’s it not just a matter of bums on seats so to speak, but also the right kind of bums!