These days, a social media strategy is vital to the success of any company who wants to stay on the cutting edge while they grow their list of contacts. This differs from traditional, direct email marketing because it thrives on the involvement of your followers.

The latest social networking trends—such as the success achieved by the viral videos produced and disseminated throughout the Internet by Old Spice—prove that marketers these days have to learn to let go of the wheel when it comes to controlling their brand’s message. This isn’t something that sits well with many “old school” marketers, which is the reason for the conspicuous absence of many corporate titans in business social networking.

Don’t let this happen to your company. Social media can be used to promote your brand and increase your list of contacts exponentially. Here are a few quick tips on how to do just that.

• Get your customers involved. Don’t just market to them. Involve them. Ask for their feedback, and when they give it, listen. Customers want to feel empowered; they don't want companies to preach to them.
• Don’t be afraid to be basic. In other words, not everyone can come up with a genius marketing campaign that will translate to a million YouTube hits. But the map to success has many roads.
• Think outside the box. There are very few hard and fast rules in social media strategy—for the most part, it’s wide open for experimentation. Try new approaches, and be aware that as long as you refrain from controversy or shock value, failure is just something that precipitates great success.