Using social media

I have started using social media with a couple of websites just to see how they can be utilised effectively. My findings are thus:

I like Facebook as a feedback platform and have used it to link with two of my sites, my new cassette conversion site (you can see the FB page here..) and a home made cake site (you can see the FB page here..). I like the idea that you can interact with customers in this way, and hope that ultimately each of these pages will build up a lot of 'likes' - that way each update reaches loads of people directly on their facebook page.
I cannot say the same for Twitter, although I think using the RSS feed is a useful tool - to be really effective, you have to be a bit of a habitual twitterer (and I am not). I tend to do promotional stuff in 'fits and starts' (I wonder about the origin of that phrase?) by which I mean I will leave it months then devote a few hours to it, and then leave it for months again. You can certainly use Twitter in this way, but if you are displaying the RSS feed somewhere on your site (which is my preferred method of utilising it), It becomes obvious that there are large gaps between tweets - which may make the site look 'unattended'.

So, I am still not really 'into' Twitter as I have not experienced it actually doing anything for me, it has not bought me clients, although one of my Twitter accounts managed to pick up followers - with my sporadic tweeting, they are hardly likely to pay much attention. I must admit that one of the reasons for integrating these social sites into semi-commercial websites, was just so it would look good - as if linking with social media somehow in itself, endorses the site. I still happen to think that this is the case, much of this type of marketing is all about creating an impression. If Twitter and Facebook actually bring in customers, then that is just a bonus.