There's a lot of conflicting advice from Internet marketing
experts on how to profit from the popularity of social
marketing.
Social marketing is about growing your business through
user-driven websites like youtube, facebook and digg (plus
hundreds more).
Some advice says you should create a large number of
different user identities on many sites and then start
promoting your own sites to drive extra traffic.
The alternative view is that you should select one or two
relevant sites carefully, building a personal profile on
them and contributing value to the communities before even
thinking about marketing anything of your own.
The problem is that both approaches can work - and perhaps
the first may even show the fastest results.
But, leaving aside that it risks getting you banned by the
sites, it seems a bit like joining 10 different local
networking groups like the Chamber of Commerce or BNI - and
rushing round them all just handing out order forms rather
than concentrating on building strong relationships in one
or two.
And, as most social websites are not business-focused -
indeed many members have strong negative feelings about any
kind of marketing or selling - it's more like running
around the golf club or the health club asking everyone to
buy your products.
In Kevin Hogan's book the Psychology of Persuasion, he
describes the "Law of Friends", which states that someone
is more likely to do what you ask if they believe you have
their best interests in mind.
This arguably applies even more in the rapidly changing
online environment. People find it harder to know who to
trust so they are looking for someone who will help them
rather than sell to them.
The great advantage of the development of online social
marketing and networking is that it gives business owners
all over the world access to a much wider pool of potential
contacts than just relying on local organizations.
It's clear that this type of networking and marketing will
grow in importance but that most business owners have not
yet started to take advantage of it.
These are some of the keys to success with social marketing:
Define your objectives: Decide what you want e.g. contacts
or information.
Be selective: Focus on your objectives, don't get
distracted.
Manage your time: Set strict time limits on how long you
spend doing this each day.
Give before you expect to receive: Contribute to the
communities.
Be consistent: Visit your chosen sites regularly.
Social marketing is a fast developing field that's still in
its early days. Spending a little time to learn how it can
help you build your business could be very rewarding.
----------------------------------------------------
Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps
entrepreneurs and independent professionals to develop the
right mindset and marketing strategies for higher profits.
Sign up for his 7 free secrets of making your marketing
more effective at http://www.PersuasiveMarketingPower.com
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