Common Social Networking Mistakes

There are a few mistakes that people make when using social networking sites to try to get more exposure for their business. These mistakes can be minor and not amount to much, or they can be fatal and cause you to lose your business and never make contact with anyone.

Naked Profile.
If you try to use social networks by just signing up and sending bulletins and emails to people, you’re missing the point entirely. If you don’t have a profile that’s the first thing people notice. You’ve already ruined your credibility and made yourself look like a scammer. Anyone who doesn’t take the time to at least set up a simple bio page has nothing to present. Even if you add friends, what are they going to see? No one wants to do business with someone they don’t know. To them you’re like a stranger lurking in the shadows with no real identity. You also want to have a nice picture of yourself so they will see it when your activity comes up in the search engine of the site. If you don’t have a picture people see you as the default no pic blank photo and this makes you look like you’re not professional or trustworthy.

Your About Me Page is all about your business opportunity
This makes you look like you’re broke and you need someone to sign up for your opportunity because you need to pay your light bill. Your about page should be about you and who you really are. It’s not the place to promote or advertise. People want to know you, not what you do or how much money you make.

Too much hype
We already know that your business is the next best thing since buttered bread, but when you have too much hyped up claims about how your business is making you a millionaire in three days, we can see right through it. If you’re that rich why do you need to use social networks at all? You should be on a warm sunny beach somewhere enjoying your good fortune.

Sending ads in comments and friend emails.
Oh boy..that one is a big no no. When you use your friend’s comment box to post an ad or banner for your business, you’ve shot yourself in the foot. Do you honestly think they’ll sign up for your business just because you shove it down their throat?

Put a link or a banner on your profile just in case someone wants to know what you do, but the main thing you want to do is present YOURSELF as someone who is credible and has a handle on who you are as a person.

Social networking is all about making friends, being helpful, and being REAL.
People want to do business with people they can identify with and who they can get to know as a friend first and foremost.

If they want to know what you’re doing to make money online they will ASK YOU. Then you have the opportunity and the PERMISSION to tell them and they won’t feel like they’re being sold to.

Rebecca Beasley has been online for 16 + years and has written
hundreds of articles to help newbies and oldies alike.
© July 13th 2008 All rights reserved

Tags: branding, bulletins, e-mail, howto, internet, introductions, marketing, networks, profiles, social

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Beasley on November 4, 2008 at 2:39am: Janice, I'm not sure where your site is since you didn't send a link and I didn't see one in your profile either, so you'll need to enlighten me on that.

There are hundreds of places where you can start a free blog, and for a newsletter I recommend setting up an autoresponder account with a free autoresponder service like freeautobot.com until you get the hang of it.

I can also direct you to some other free resources that will help until you can afford to go all the way.

Becky; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hilary Johnson on November 5, 2008 at 9:29am: Janice,

Like Rebecca, I went to your profile to find your website, but all I see is your MySpace page, but no product information. Do you have a working website?

Internet marketing your own product is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but with effort, you can make it work. But you'll need a certain amount of skills and understanding of the language of the net. You can learn all this on your own, you can build your website on you own. But it takes a lot of time, especially if you want something that looks great, looks professional and gets noticed.

Getting noticed is the single hardest part of any web-based endeavor.

There are lots of folks out there who can do a lot of this work for you if you're willing to pay. Fees range all over ... but I suggest you start locally. Ask your friends, there's probably a "geek" among them, or they will know one you can either work with directly, or they give you some good referrals. But like anything, you have to be careful, you can get burned. Due diligence, etc.

If your items are handmade, drop me a comment on my profile page, or message me and I can give some places on the internet that are already in good position (well optimized, etc) where you may find success.

You can also try eBay. (Did I just say that?? *lol*); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lila on November 10, 2008 at 6:41am: Yes, I need you!!! I am new to all this and would appreciate your help!
Lila; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MiamiPete on November 9, 2008 at 4:54pm: Great tips and very honest....I feel the same way. It ruins great opportunities....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lila on November 10, 2008 at 6:38am: Thanks for the info. It is so easy to get carried away with the moment! Keping it simple sounds good!
Lila; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Howey Brooks on November 15, 2008 at 10:10am: Great advice and I can't wait to follow it. Thank you; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Frank Tocco on November 18, 2008 at 3:45pm: Great article. I liked it so much I added it to my blog giving you full credit of course.
Your points are right on target. Would you be so kind as to add a comment to my post with your article?
Thanks in advance.
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoringthis is the link to the post; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Frank Tocco on November 21, 2008 at 5:03pm: But Laura, is that sigfile in your last post and ad?
Frank Tocco; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Yvette on November 20, 2008 at 8:47am: Your point can't be stressed enough!

Thanks Rebecca,

Yvette; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Billy Anne Crews on November 25, 2008 at 6:48pm: Great Topic Rebecca and Well Done. I think People Can Use Social Networking Sites to add Friends to their network and who knows what can grow out of that!

Billy Anne Crews; ▶ Reply to This