If you aren’t using social sites such as MySpace, Digg, and Yahoo! Answers to tap into new audiences and promote your product, service, or website, you are cheating yourself out of near infinite traffic potential.  Social sites, from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to social bookmarking sites such as Yahoo! Buzz, Digg, and Deli.cio.us, to question and answer communities like Yahoo! Answers and Wiki Answers are gold mines for targeting prospective customers.  Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of each type of social site.

Social Media Sites

Social media sites enable you to target people who have already expressed an interest in your product or service.

Marketing Tips:

Join groups relating to your market niche, post links to interesting sites on the Web (including your own), and post polls surveying readers about their interests.

Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking sites allow users to share their Bookmarks/Favorites with their friends by voting on stories they like.

Marketing Tips:

“Digg” and “buzz up” articles you post on the Web. Make friends on social bookmarking sites so that other users will see the articles you “like.” This can help make an article go viral.

Question and Answer Communities

In question and answer sites, users ask and answer questions submitted by other members of the community.

Marketing Tips: Answer questions relating to your product, service, or industry. Provide valuable information and helpful advice, then include a link to your website as a reference. Be sure to focus on answering the question and providing value, rather than just promoting your site.