Are you worried that your message is getting lost in the shuffle? Or that you're pitching your product too aggressively and losing your audience?

Branding and marketing company Millward Brown's Article "Make Friends, Don’t Pitch Them" offers advice on creating truly effective advertising on social networks.

Excerpt:

Why are social networks such a tough advertising nut to crack? The answer is simple. Most marketers are not using social networks for the purpose for which they were intended. People go to social networking sites to communicate and interact with friends. They don’t go to these sites to research potential purchases or to shop. While a few marketers realize this, far too many don’t, and continue to reach out to people in their virtual communities using heavy- handed mass-marketing techniques. The few successful advertisers also recognize something else about social networks: They are places where customer relationships can be built and strengthened, but not necessarily started from scratch.