Social Marketing In Bite-Sized Pieces

Social Marketing In Bite-Sized Pieces 7 Ways To Connect To Those Waiting To Learn About You!

Facebook. Twitter. Digg. Hugpages...

Where in the world do these names come from and why are the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, and so many other publications writing about them?

Why is there so much attention on Social Marketing in the press and can it really be so important to our personal and business marketing?

If your head spins when you consider the myriad of online marketing possibilities facing you and you need the information in bite-sized pieces: relax! Here are seven ways to approach this "new media" which will allow you to get a strong foothold in today's Internet marketing! (And this applies if you have information products (like books, DVDs, CDs, etc) to sell or just want to establish yourself as an expert in your field.)

Why Social Marketing?

Think about this: you need to date your prospects, marry your clients, and build families with those who hire you (or purchase from you) over and over again if you are going to be successful. Letting them Know, Like, and Trust You is best accomplished through solid social networking - both the type of networking you grew up with and now the type online.

As we get less connected with others in our lives, we find that people want to be more connected online.

Clearly face-to-face handshakes, business card exchanges, and meetings at the local Chamber aren't enough (if they ever were).

What got you here won't get you there, so we constantly look for new ways to get our message across to those who want what we have - and the Internet is a pretty good way to spread the news quickly and effectively. Today, a place like Facebook builds on our need to be connected (some say connecting is part of our DNA).

With Social Marketing, you can stop "selling." People like to BUY, but they HATE to be "sold." You need to meet people where THEY are so they can know, like, trust, buy, buy again, and refer you. No selling, no screaming how great you are: let them know you and the rest will work out. THAT is the Social Marketing way.

The Explosive Growth Of Business Marketing On The Internet

It's hard to remember how new the Internet is: as recent as the mid-1990s, small businesses were just learning about the CompuServe, AOL, message boards, and email.

In the beginning of 2000, most websites were little more than static reproductions of printed brochures (basic facts with little emotional connection to a business).

By 2004, businesses began to generate leads online and broadband access throughout the US was increasing.

In 2006 Facebook started at Harvard University as an online directory, expanded to other colleges, and then opened to other people.

During 2007, Facebook changed the way it approached the Internet, opened its code to outside Applications, and it encouraged businesses to join it ASSUMING they did so in a Social Networking way.

In April, 2008, John Reese, the first Internet marketer to have a $1million sale day, wrote his entire email list asking them to "friend" his profile on Facebook and within 5 days he maxed out at the 5000 friends allowed. Then he added a Page and is taking steps to market through it.

Also in April, 2008, Facebook added its own Chat feature, allowing all friends to contact each other for instant messaging, all within the site.

People like doing business with people they like. People like people who are like themselves. Social Networking sites help people learn from and about each other.

Several Types Of Marketing To Avoid

Don't pour good money down the drain with image advertising that doesn't work for you. Here are three types of marketing to avoid:

• Teaching Frogs How To Drink Beer Marketing^TM is the wrong type of marketing for most of us. Image advertising where millions are dollars are thrown against the wall hoping some of it sticks. You remember the commercials with the frogs croaking, "Bud-wei-ser." Anheiser-Busch hoped you'd remember (when standing in front of the refrigerated case) that it WASN'T the beer with the blue label nor the beer with that Rocky Mountain chilled water: "Oh, right: I'm supposed to buy that beer with the frogs!" (Learn more about this at my site: http://www.GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com)
• Not Knowing Marketing^TM is the marketing that just about ALL restaurants use and many websites suffer with: how many times have you enjoyed a great meal, left a hefty tip, walked out, and the restaurant had NO idea who you were. They never asked. They didn't sign you up for their newsletter. And when their business slows down, how quickly can they contact you to join them for their filet special on Friday night? They can't. But don't let that happen to you!
• Shoe-Leather Marketing^TM is the old-fashioned idea that if we meet enough people face-to-face, we'll get hired as much as we want to. This was never very practical, and it's just not enough without other major marketing efforts.

But let's be clear: I don't want browsers to my websites - I only want buyers. Let the browsers waste someone else's bandwidth: I want to be sure that all my Social Marketing efforts produce effective results, so here are seven ways to tap into existing communities waiting to learn about you!

Tap Into Existing Communities To Get Work

Social Marketing (connecting people like neighbors chatting over backyard fences) can be done in many ways, but here are seven ways to get started:

• 1. Facebook. If you're not on it yet, sign up - it's free and easy to join (get a high school student to help if you have problems). And after you complete your "profile," then create a "page" about each of your topic areas. Present yourself as a member of the community and as an expert in your topic. Be sure to include links to your main website. Remember: no strong sales language - think that these are your friends and be sure to tell them what you are doing.
• 2. Blogs. WordPress is a highly optimized, open source (can you spell "free") program for blog hosting. If you already have a website, get your web host to set up WordPress directly on their server - avoid using WordPress.org (which is set up on THEIR server). Every time someone reads your blog, you want Google to give credit to YOU and your website for the activity, thus raising you in their rankings.
• 3. Websites created USING blog software. Though you won't be able to see the difference, WordPress and Moveable Type are so well optimized for search engines that many people now create their whole sites using them. For ME, I'm creating six new sites, and each will be built on WordPress.
• 4. Podcasts. Audio and video embedded in blogs is quickly becoming a great way to attract more attention. Have you noticed while searching Google that video can now actually play in the results window? Google is telling us that it likes this "rich media" because it displays video and audio blogs very high in its rankings. Video and audio editing is as simple as editing Word. You CAN do this!
• 5. Hubpages.com articles. Publish rich content to Hubpages.com and you will be rewarded when Google does its rankings. You are already ON one of the most powerful social marketing tools - use it often and wisely... there are BIG benefits for publishing articles right here!
• 6. Social Bookmarking. This is one of the most powerful and overlooked social marketing techniques - bookmarking your favorite locations and using an online bookmarking site to do it. Places like Digg.com or del.icio.us (I know... that sure looks odd). You'll be surprised when you bookmark your own online writing how high in the search engines you can go.
• 7. RSS Readers. Really Simple Syndication (as most people call it) is powerful both coming-in and going-out. Here's what I mean: people reading your blogs can subscribe to your "feed" so that every time you update your writing, they see it in their favorite RSS Reader, even without going to your site. AND, you can take feeds from one or more of your blogs and "aggregate" them to a website or blog so that those following you will quickly see your thoughts on several subjects in one location. (As an example of what I mean, look at my Facebook Page for theater to see Reviews and other related Articles gathered in one location: http://www.facebook.com/pages/StageMagazineOnlinecom/10614038853)

Is There More?

Oh, yes... much more! This is just the beginning, but if you do a great job with these seven steps, you will be rewarded in the search engines and be on your way as a Social Marketer!