I posted the following question on LinkedIn about five days ago:

What’s the best strategy for creating end-user awareness of an innovative product through social networking?

Here’s the dig.  At least I think it was a dig:

Try and be a bit more simple and straightforward in your communications than you are in your questions.

Here were the thoughtful answers:

I’m very impressed with a very good new ebook out on the market, Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo. I think this is a great primer on social networking marketing.

The best strategy is the most engaging one for the end-user. Put the focus on the end-user, not your product. Put the product in their context, not your’s. Use existing networks; try not to build your own. Make your positioning both inviting and engaging; avoid ‘pushing’ your wares. Social networks reward those who integrate into the conversation, not those who muscle their way in and declare their desires. Be open to critique and know that your brand control habits will need to be curbed, otherwise you’ll create a backlash. Lastly, avoid the ‘brand speak’ because it doesn’t translate well in real conversations.

The best strategy depends on your product, target audience and available resources. Here’s a a blog post that gives some great advice on how to get started.

Begin by reading Seth Godin’s latest work, Meatball Sundae. From Amazon: Meatball Sundae is the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore. It explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts; about shorter and shorter attention spans; and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t.  It’s a remarkable book in every sense of the word.

Thanks to Seth Rosen, Thomas R. Clifford, David Crouch, and Christian Idicula for the thoughtful answers.  I’ll try to be a bit more simple and straightforward in the future.