Confused about using social media in your network marketing business? Not sure where web 2.0 fits into your marketing plan? Disappointed in how long it takes you to get your social media marketing done? This will shed some light on how you can begin conquering social media in your business.
It’s time consuming. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating…
And at the same time, it can produce lots of traffic for free (of course you pay for it in your time).
So, what is social media?
Sites like YouTube, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Digg, etc are social sites…sites where people come together to be well…social.
I think where people get a little lost is in knowing how to use these sites in a better way for marketing without looking like a noob and heaven-forbid an over-zealous marketer!
Look, marketers are really looked down upon at a lot of social sites so you’re not gonna win over any friends if you approach it “wrong.” Don’t be surprised if you get an account or two terminated on some of these social media sites. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Let’s get down to it…
The first step is knowing that there are really two parts to social media:
- Social Networking – Interacting with people, making friends. For example making friends on Facebook and interacting on that site with your friends.
- Social Marketing – Using social media sites to syndicate your content. Think along the terms of using Digg to push out your content or using StumbleUpon to expose your content to a lot of people.
Most people fall more into one category or the other.
So you’ve got to know your purpose for being on social media sites.
Social Networking
Develop a plan and work your plan.
If you’re going to do Facebook, well you should know how many friends do you want to add a day. Are you going to do status commenting? If so, how many comments per day? Are you going to join any groups? Are you going to start discussions or post comments on people’s profile, groups pages/walls?
As you can tell, you have to make a well thought out plan and then implement it consistently. Inconsistency is what kills most people businesses.
Social Marketing
What sites are you going to use to syndicate your content? Digg? Twitter? Are you going to use bookmarking sites? Decide what sites you’re going to use and what kind of content you’re going to produce…and then do it.
What to Promote
Who are you online? What are you about? What is it that you want to be known for? Are you going to lead with your opportunity? Affiliate product? An mlm system? Or a combination of all thee above?
Yes, you can brand yourself, but branding yourself without having a well-planned out system of what you’re going to do with people once they get into your marketing funnel is useless branding and a waste of traffic.
The primary goal of every marketer should be to get people into their own marketing funnel. Period.
Read part 2: Deception Doesn’t Work or Does it?