When people hear “Social Media Marketing”, words that first come to mind are Facebook and Twitter. However, those are only two channels that can be used in a social media marketing (SSM) strategy. Social media marketing is about 1) Engagement and 2) Building Communities. By engaging with your audience you form a tighter relationship that pays off in different ways. You might be considering new product ideas, or new features - want to know what your target market thinks? Engage them in a discussion forum, survey, contest, quiz, poll, email, blog, or coordinate an offline event. Building communities cultivates brand affinity and brand loyalty among your users. How you do that depends on your industry, business, desired results, and corporate culture. Your employees must be empowered - and trusted - to interact directly with customers. Your corporate culture must be aligned with your SMM strategy. You must know what you want to achieve with your SMM strategy. You must not follow a B2C strategy if you are a B2B company. IBM’s conclusion from their SMM learnings is Business Model + Corporate Culture + Desired Values = Social Media Marketing Success. Part 2 will feature case studies of successful SMM strategies.