Social media is becoming a hot topic today because of its potential as a means of driving traffic to websites. But the success of social media marketing requires a great deal of effort. That said, I'll provide these 10 hot tips to leverage your social media marketing arsenal!

1. Social media marketing requires effort, commitment, and consistency. So before starting your own social media campaign, be sure you have all the available resources to outsource the whole thing. Make a plan, follow a schedule, prepare the tools needed to implement the plan, and start the process.
2. In social media, content is very important! Write compelling and well optimized blog posts which will get people talking. If you can't write, pay someone who can. Hire a virtual assistant who has the necessary skills to implement your plan such as writing. A well written article will create a lot of engagement to your website and will make them find out more about you and the services you offer.
3. Testimonials are very powerful! And the best way to do this is by creating video testimonials from happy customers, who are willing to share their great experiences in working with you. The videos don't need to be long, it just need to be genuine. Upload the videos to Youtube, Vimeo, and other video sharing sites and embed the code into your website.
4. Linkedin is a very powerful social media platform in getting to know professionals and other people around the event space around the globe. Join groups on Linkedin and start building engagements. Show up, connect, share, and post useful and informative advice. Word of caution- you need to be in the right fish tank, so go where your prospect clients are more likely to be swimming!
5. Write articles which are keyword optimized and post to your blog so they can be searchable on Google. Circulate them onto several social bookmarking sites such as Reddit, Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, Diggo, and other profiles where you have presence like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.
6. Encourage people that you meet at trainings, seminars, or networking to link up with you online. Build a business relationship. Remember to never spam them with your stuff at the first meet- that's the kiss of death. Hence, give it time!
7. People like to connect to a real person rather than a faceless corporate entity. Thus, you need to be genuine and transparent to gain people's TRUST- which is very essential in building your likeability and credibility. One way to do this is by revealing something more personal about you that is interesting. For example, you have passion for traveling, or you do scuba diving, or perhaps compose songs. Why not let people know about it?
8. Demonstrate your skills and expertise by providing access to some of your resources and materials. It may sound counter intuitive but the truth of the matter is that the more you share, the more your name gets known!
9. Always go for quality rather than quantity. You don't need thousands of friends on Facebook, connections on Linkedin, or followers on Twitter. The most important thing is to link to the right people. Develop relevant connections and find advocates who can talk positively about you to other people.
10. Make use of Social Plug-ins, Widgest, Buttons (e.g. Comment box, Facebook Like Button) and place them on your websites or on your blog because this leverages social proof. Rather than listening to the marketing messages alone, customers rely more on the opinions of the majority before making a choice!