social media internet marketing is a area of great promise and profit possibilities and is being greatly talked about on the Internet. Especially in business crowds even becoming more prevalent into corporate America and the Fortune 500 crowd.
It is something which has been around forever. The ability of socially networking and connecting with other people has been around since the origin of humanity. It is even a fundamental driver built into our DNA that we are talkative beings.
What is new are the various mediums where this type of connecting can take place. And social media is new to the Internet within the last two years and is still in its infancy.
There are certain understood behaviors by tribes in specific sites you want to follow when playing in the social media space. Especially when you are there with secret marketing motives in mind.
Because this is a social space people hate and violently oppose blatant advertising messages which you normally see on places like TV and radio. These ad models have been dubbed “interruption marketing” because you’re watching a show or listening to a radio commentary and all of a sudden they take a break and a blatant advertisement is thrust right in your face.
The easiest way to get started with varied social media sites and blogs and social networking sites is to think about it like it’s an extension of any normal social setting you’d find yourself in. Imagine it like you’re going to a party where you don’t know anyone there.
Would you approach a stranger on the street who is a complete stranger to you and you didn’t know anything about them, would you just thrust your business card into their hand without saying a word to them?
Of course not. No sane person would do that because it will do you no good and just waste the resources you spent to create your business card and the money spent to get it printed out.
Yet I see the online equivalent of this foolishness daily when people send me a friend request with a blurb about joining their business.
Any time you talk to someone about your business you want to form a customer relationship or partnership with them and have a high probability of converting them to a paying customer of yours. That’s the main goal and everything else is pointless.
What’s the best strategy to do this with these various social media sites?
Much like you do at a party where you don’t know anyone you have to make introductions. With the social sites usually this involves making a friend request.
Normally, all you have to do is find some friends with similar interests in the business and market you’re in and click on a “friend” button.
The biggest mistake I see people making is just aimlessly sending friend requests. Like any marketing campaign you’re doing you want to target people who are like you and have an interest in your market because they will be likely to want to buy your products assuming you do a good enough job with the steps of the system to warm them up to buying your product.
No blatant sales pitches in this first friend request. All you want to do is find targeted gropus and in most sites you can do a search to find groups which are interested in your market whether it be health, fitness, or even blue jeans lovers. There are also many business groups and entrepreneurial type groups if you’re in those markets.
Go deep in a valid and relevant group on a similar topic as you are and start clicking on group members and making friend requests. The 1 thing you want to do at this point is send a friend request telling them “hey I saw you in this group and wanted to be your friend”. Obviously, you include the name of the group which they are part and you are also a part because that gives you a thing in common with them and they’ll be far more likely to become your friend by clicking yes which is the first step to being able to communicate with them.
This will give you a good start in your social media marketing quest. Once you have a few hundred friends then I’ll talk to you about the next step in this process which is sending them an introductory e-mail about yourself.