Let’s first discuss what social media actually is. Any website that gives information but also allows for a conversation to take place is social media. This can include obvious choices like Facebook and Twitter, but it also includes blogs, Youtube.com and sites like Pinterest, Wikis and social media sharing sites. But, know that any time you can interact with the writer and others, it’s social media.

Now that we know what social media is, you can probably already think of many ways to build links through social media. For example, you can create social media profiles, and participate on different discussion boards. These are obvious ways to create inbound links to your internet real-estate, but with social media you can do so much more.

It might help to keep in mind that link building is about more than gaining a link to your site; it’s also about getting someone new to recognize your website and answer your call to action. When you realize that the link is just a natural result of your imperative to spread the word about your website, blog and business, you’ll get better at link building.

Here are some innovative ways to earn links back to your site:

Blog posts – Instead of the typical blog post where you just focus on your niche, why not create a post that mentions an industry “expert” that happens to be popular. Keep it positive (though a little controversy will help), but don’t call them out – rather call yourself out using their post as your guide. Link to the post you are discussing, and you might find yourself in a cross-post conversation with a mover and a shaker.

Be interviewed – If there is someone who is popular that services your niche, and who does regular interviews via a podcast, vlog, or internet radio, try to get on the guest list. You will have to pitch yourself in a way that speaks to the interviewer and offers a win-win-win for you, interviewer and the audience. Once the interview has aired, be sure to answer any comments it generates. And if it does not generate comments, make a comment yourself to get it started.

Create visually appealing infographics – If you’re not graphically inclined, hire a graphic artist to create an infographic for you that has potential to become viral. People love to share infographics. You can share them on Pinterest and Facebook, and post on your blog. Remember to ask people to share it, and to answer all comments that come from it.

Do surveys and research – Use your social media to conduct research using surveys to your audience. Ask them to share the survey with others. Then using the results, start a discussion on your various social media accounts about the results. You can post one surprising result at a time to open for discussion, thus creating a situation where one survey gives you many things to talk about. (Note: Create an infographic with the results.)

One of the gravest mistakes you can make when using social media to build links to your website, products and/or services, is to forget who your target audience is. It won’t help you to have random links to your site drawing in massive traffic that is irrelevant. Always remember your audience. Every product, service, blog post, article and action should keep them in mind. If you do that, you’ll be very successful with building links through social media.