Social media Internet marketing is a cheap and often effective way to reach people without spending anything but time. If you join a forum that is for online friends, they do not like it if ads are part of the forum post you leave. They may be discussing diabetes, but they do not want to be inundated with ads for the diabetic pump in a sensitive topic discussion group.
The smart thing to do is advertise clothing on a fashion discussion forum. Advertise paint on a decorating discussion group forum. Do not go where your product would be of no use. Network and get to know people before telling them you are only there to advertise. This might be met with resentment.
One woman on Facebook is extremely popular. She writes excellent tutorials on website coding and how to learn it. People value her writing. No one ever resents it when she advertises her own books for sale. She is much admired and I’m sure her type of social media ads are fine.
She is an example of the right way to use social marketing as a tool. There are many places to reach out to people this way. Tweeting can get you a lot of followers if you are interesting. It will become profitable if you market a product or invite them to your online store.
There are scammers using social networking though. Take the dating sites for example. Not all, but many hire writers to create profiles and pretend to be men or women looking to hook up. When a lonely person thinks he or she has met someone, he or she will take out a paid membership to continue contact with this imaginary person. This type of scammer takes more than money. Using emotions to earn money is cold and heartless.
While people may find many useful tips on products by going on Facebook and Twitter, they will only get hurt by thinking there is someone who is interested in them; but when they take out a membership, the person disappears. This is a cruel and hurtful way to advertise a dating site.
Be cautious about products advertised online unless you know the person selling them. The product might be a name brand but you have no way of being sure it will be delivered. Use Paypal and accept social media Internet marketing cautiously. Most are good, but definitely not all.