By now, I’m sure you’ve heard all about how social media makes a fine companion for your online marketing strategy. It is a topic that has been beaten to death, so let’s not waste space reiterating that. Instead, let’s take a look at how you can leverage the social web to create content that compels your audience to share.

Make Your Content Shareable

Sure, it sounds simple enough, but how shareable is your content? If you want it to travel, it needs to be overwhelmingly easy and convenient. Sharing is a big part of social media and its success. This channel not only made sharing a breeze, but the trendy thing to do. It is a trend that can benefit any marketer with a web presence, but you have to put yourself in position to benefit.

Making your content easily shareable is as simple as including Facebook and Twitter buttons in your email campaigns. If you have a blog, bundle up Digg and Delicious buttons next to your blog posts. While forward-to-a-friend has always been useful, that extra step can take your message that much further.

Get the Conversation Going

Sprinkling social media buttons and icons in your newsletter is great, but you know what’s even more effective? Convincing your users to actually put them to use. Let your subscribers know you want them to join the conversation on Twitter. Give your blog readers an invitation to join your group on LinkedIn. Here you need to create a dynamite call to action that grabs their attention and explains why they should connect with you on a particular network or share your content.

If you want them to take a specific action, you have to be specific. Don’t expect the buttons to do all the work.

Integrate Your Marketing Channels

Having an integrated marketing strategy is becoming more important as consumers continue to move across multiple channels. Wherever your audience is interacting is where you need to be. Why leave your special offers or timely updates chained in the email domain when they can be making an even greater impact in your social communities? Maybe the blog post that got so many readers talking can generate even more chatter via email. An integrated marketing strategy will increase your exposure and give your message that extended mileage it needs to maximize its potential. Yes, you heard it here first: email marketing is fabulous.

Be Human in Your Communications

Maintaining a human tone in your communications can be more difficult than it sounds. We spend so much time trying to appease search engines and crunching numbers that it’s often easy to forget that we’re actually catering to people. Unless you have a robot or piece of software doing your copywriting, your tone should always come off as friendly, personal and approachable. From the email arena to the online communities, this is what the social era of marketing is all about.