It doesn’t matter if you’re an Internet marketer who creates his own products or an affiliate marketer promoting other people’s products – social marketing is a very important part of the profit puzzle.

Social networking has many perks – it’s free, it lets you connect with prospective customers, and it’s easy to use. You don’t need to be on it 24/7 for it to work, but you do need to understand the best way to use it.

Sign up to the best social networks that everyone’s using at the time. This changes on a yearly basis. Some social networks last longer than others. Right now, you want to have a Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and Pinterest account. Tumblr is also popular among the younger generations.

Don’t get so set in your ways that you’re reluctant to leave MySpace when everyone else has already jumped ship. You want to have a presence on the trendiest social networking sites because that’s where your customers will be.

Set a schedule that gets you in the habit of participating on the social sites. There are two types of people who use social networks the wrong way. The first are those who create an account, make one post and then never return.

Or, if they return, it’s sporadically – like once every 6 months when they finally realize they set up an account and then forgot about it. This makes people forget about you, and the goal is to create a loyal following.

The second type of participant gets so consumed with social networking sites that they don’t get any real work done. They’re on Facebook 24/7, and then they realize they didn’t create any posts for their blog or research and review any products. It’s an affiliate failure either way.

Set up a schedule for your social networking that teaches you how to get involved, without becoming an addict. Use an online or offline egg timer if you want – but make sure you get on them frequently and get off them when the time is up.

Balance your business with personal promotions. As an affiliate, you may have the desire to sell, sell, sell because you want to increase your commissions. But by just selling and not sharing anything about you, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

People buy from those they know and trust. Sending link after link out about products isn’t personalizing your efforts. It’s polarizing more than anything. So do a little mix when you’re on the social networking sites.

Follow the right people so they’ll follow you back. Don’t demand it, either – that looks desperate. Just start interacting with people in the same niche so that you start reciprocating the sharing of each other’s content – and so people following them begin following you, too when they see you’re a like-minded individual.