Social Networking

Hey Readers!

So you are out there marketing on your favorite social networking sites, but I am willing to bet money that unless you have been one of my readers for awhile and taking part in my training, you are doing it all wrong.

Now I know that for some of you this is repetitive, but the best way to learn something sometimes is to hear it over and over again...so I am going to cover the basics one more time...

So when you are out on the net and you are building your social networks, there are a couple very important things that you want to remember. One of them is that you want to be branding YOU and not your company and product.

The problem is that people who don't know you, surely don't want to get to know your product. In rare cases you may get a straggler once in awhile who decides that your product looks good, but wouldn't you rather have MORE people contacting you than one every so often?

When you are not branding yourself and are branding a product or a company, people whom you add as friends are defensive right off the bat because they KNOW that if you are coming at them AS the product that they can almost be guaranteed that you are going to try to market it to them.

Now that method used to work actually when MySpace was on top, because people could find you through searching keywords, but those days are long gone. With the sudden popularity of Facebook, you now want to make sure that you brand you so that people get to know the person behind a product.

Also, it is not good to build your reputation based on this product because what happens if the company closes down, or you decide later that it just was not right for you? Well then you would have to start all over again, and that can be heart breaking if you have a huge network...

So the #1 important thing getting started is SELF Branding.

The next important thing is not to be going to the social sites and blasting your link to your company or product to anyone with a pulse. The way that I teach people to do this, is by starting a Blog. It can be about ANYTHING that interests you. It could be about sewing, fishing, football or Stamp collecting. Your Blog is what I call your "HUB". It is a place for you to send people and meet people who have similar interests as you.

See when you are blasting your link all over hells half acre, it is like you are throwing something against the wall and hoping it sticks...when you have no adhesive to help it to do so...

Meaning, you have NO relationship with these people...and a Blog is an excellent way to create that. Heck you can even use a Blog to make a little extra money to fund your advertising. That is what I used to do...

So the #2 thing in order of importance is to start a Blog. You can get a self hosted WordPress Blog, which is what I highly recommend because of the Search Engine advantages, or you can start a free one at www.Blogger.com.

If you want a WordPress Blog, you have to set up hosting at Dreamhost first and then read my posts on WordPress and watch the Videos that I have under the "Videos" tab.

Once you have that going, then ALL of your links from all your social sites go to your Blog and NOT your marketing sites...

When you send someone directly to a marketing site, what do you think they do in most cases?

Yep...that's right they hit the back button faster than you can blink your eyes, and in that moment, you just lost that connection in most cases for good.

But if you send them to your Blog, and you are posting about your interests or hobbies then they will most likely stay and read to get to know you. And if they have a similar interest, they will even make a comment on your posts...and then off to the side, in no bodies face, you simply have a link to your marketing pages or product pages...

This lets people see that you are not just out to sell them something. You are giving them value first as well as a chance to possibly get to know you on a more intimate level, and believe it or not people still desire that even though we are all online now. We still like to connect with people.

You also want to make sure that your Blog is not one big advertisement. I have see this too and WOW is that an excuse to leave ASAP. If I see a Blog that is 40% ads or more, I just leave. I don't care how good the articles are...that is just not what I want to see personally in a Blog.

So lets recap this post:

Brand Yourself
Send people to a Blog and not a Marketing site

If you can do just these 2 things starting out, you will have more success than 99% of people out there who are trying to get exposure using Social Networking.

It takes some work because you will have to post on your Blog, but it is actually fun once you start writing about things that make you happy! You will also only attract people who you will actually have fun working with as well..so it's a win win!

Let me hear about what you have been doing...success...failures...lets hear some comments and help you make some changes...

Enjoy!