Social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon have become hot and are getting hotter all the time. Both online and offline businesses are jumping into social marketing – and for a good reason. It works. To push past your competition, you’ll want to continually build relationships and stay ever-present in the marketplace. Social media can help you to accomplish this. And, it’s fun.

Thankfully, there are simple and effective ways to use these social Web 2.0 sites. I’ll share some of those tips with you now.

Quick Tip #1: Twitter Is Golden

Many people are using twitter as a way to connect with colleagues, family, friends, and customers. If you haven’t tried Twitter, now may be the time to set up an account and see what it’s all about. Twitter is a “micro blogging” platform where you can write (in 140 characters or less) anything you’d like. You can update people about your day, share resources, send a link to your websites, etc. – anything that you feel your followers will find useful or interesting.

When you’re a member of twitter you “follow” people and they will “follow” you.

This just means that when you log in to your twitter account you will see the messages posted by those who you’re following. Likewise, the people who have decided to follow you will see your messages.

Ex. Sally follows Paul. So, when Sally logs into her Twitter account, she can see Paul’s updates on her screen along with all of the other people she’s following.

Assuming you’re using Twitter for marketing and making money, the people you follow and those who follow you should be highly targeted. They log in because they are interested in what you and others have to say. Since there are only 140 characters allowed per “tweet” (twitter post), you’ll want to encourage your followers to follow your link for more information on what you are referring to.

If you use this social media site in the correct way you’ll gain loyal followers which leads to targeted traffic and then some very targeted customers. Some have even found Twitter traffic to be more targeted than PPC and article marketing, both which have been deemed proven methods of internet marketing.

Quick Tip #2: Facebook for Friends

Facebook is a social media site that actually started out as a way for college friends to keep in contact. Soon enough high school students signed on, now it is being used for business as well. It seems that everyone you run into today has a Facebook page. As of this writing, Facebook has over 200,000,000 active users. That’s a whole lot of potential traffic.

Just like you have followers on Twitter, you have friends on Facebook and that’s where the power of Facebook lies.

You can update your status, link to your website, and leave comments on your friends’ Facebook pages. Again, this creates a great community feeling and also very targeted traffic since people will get to know you and become interested in your opinions and suggestions before clicking through a link to your website.

Quick Tip #3: Digg Your Way to the Top

Digg is a very interesting way to receive traffic, and it is currently adored by Google. The basic idea is that when you enjoy or really “dig” an article, you “Digg” it. If other people are interested they will Digg it as well (by clicking the “Digg” button that appears). The more Diggs a web page gets, the higher the rankings and exposure tends to be.

You can Digg your own articles and pages on your site as long as you are careful. Digg has banned users for spamming or being too self promotional. However, if you use the true social aspect of it by making friends, digging their articles, and digging great articles you find online you can easily drive targeted traffic to your own submissions as well.

Quick Tip #4: Linked In for Business.

Linked In may be classified as an “unusual” social media site as compared to Twitter, Facebook or Digg. While those sites tend to promote finding old friends and making new ones while networking socially, Linked In is geared to the world of business networking. Using it will help you network within your chosen niche for suggestions, support and help. It will also allow you to search other niches and help you find targeted prospects as well.

Linked In is similar to Facebook in the fact that you will be given a Linked In “page” where you can post information about your business and the reason you are there. You can add business websites, blog addresses and anything else related to your business. As of this writing over 40 million professionals regularly use Linked In. Just think of how many people you may be able to reach out to in regards to your business, Linked In is definitely a great social site for all business owners become a member of.

Social sites put an exciting spin on website promotion and marketing. Not only are you getting fantastic exposure to your online business, but it’s great to feel as if you are a part of a community, and it’s a whole lot of fun.