Step 1: Identify your ideal customer profile (be very specific, this is not just a list of demographics)

Step 2: Make connection with top blog authors (this is about relationship building and can be the hardest and longest part of any social marketing project. Sending an email with a press release does not count)

Step 3: Arrange a brainstorming meeting with 2 or 3 of the top bloggers. This deepens the relationship and allows you to come up with a promotion where everyone is in tune and excited. Do not try and force your ideas on blog authors, they are not big on being bullied.

Step 4: Ensure the promotion benefits all of the blog authors. Stay deeply involved by monitoring the promotions. Ideally the promotion will be scheduled to run over a period of time where each blogger gets traffic from the others by cross promoting.

Step 5: Capture email addresses and develop an online community related to the topic. I’m making this sound easy but each project will be so different that community development will look different for each.