If you could recommend one thing to someone new to social media marketing what would it be?

To anybody new to social media I would highly recommend that they be honest and positive.
Reputation should be a priority and it can be destroyed if you are caught in a lie.
Everybody has a bad day once in awhile but (constant) negativity can drive away opportunity.

Setting aside time to focus on your message(s). It's so easy to get caught up in many possibilities and you don't realize how fast a few hours can disappear. Also, participating or contributing to topics that are of interest to you. It definitely comes across if you are passionate about something.

Try to connect as often as you can being not online for even a day could lose potential client.

To those who are new to Social Media Marketing my advice is Be YourSelf! I give this advice because online marketing is synonymous with social media networking which is synonymous with personal branding, and when You are the brand Called, You - who You are or is perceived to be, makes the difference between gaining or losing a SUPERfan.
Namaste

Peace+LOVE

Hello All. I'm new to the group. I say get very focused on your target group and find out what brands they are following so you can get to them that way. It has worked wonders for me. To be every more specific, I have had great success when I use ads on Facebook targeting another thought leader (women leaders) following. Hope that helps.

Hello Women on the Web,
I am newbie here introducing myself, I would like to get acquainted with others while I learn my way around. I hope to participate as much as possible, thank you all for reading my note.

Perception is reality. If you come across desperate you will not attract the right people or clients.

I've actually seen people saying they were an expert then tweeting "If only someone would hire me"- Bad idea

I talk with so many would-be internet marketers who simply put their 'stuff' out there and wait for the flood of traffic to find them. While I have a website/blog and free offer and blog and tweet and post regularly, I've found that the very best way to connect with folks online (in other words, the best way to find paying customers / referrals in any social media platform) is the same way we used to do it offline - with a twist. If you wait for the traffic to find you randomly (or to respond to your awesomely unique tweet or post) and to mindlessly stroll down your sales funnel and make a buying decision, you may be waiting a long time!

Seems to me that its much better to build relationship with folks one person at a time, the same way you would if you went to a block party or business luncheon or something. There is SO MUCH noise out there, folks get used to filtering out just about all posted calls for interaction. I find the very best response comes when I'm willing to reach out individually... for instance, sending a PM on Facebook, or mentioning someone by username on Twitter and starting a conversation (NOT simply sending them my links!).

Seems we have lost sight of that personal engagement thing...

In fact, there are tons of "programs" out there offering ways to market "to the masses" (for a fee of course). Just buy this program and reach ten million people!!! What a waste of money! And even more sad, what a waste of peoples' hopes!

I model and teach my team how to engage one-on-one, how to build relationship - and thereby build solid relationships with their own team. This way we not only get fantastic numbers of people joining our team, but we also realize fantastic staying power. And after all, that's what we all say we want :-)