Four simple steps to dominating the social space. No matter where your prospects look, all roads lead them back to you!
Social sites are almost always very delicate ecologies. Too many people are teaching Social Media Marketing the wrong way, and if it doesn't stop, it's going to ruin it for everyone.
The same "herd" phenomenon that can make these sites so profitable can also make them turn on you in a second if you're not careful. Upset the balance, and you could be ignored, shunned, or even banned.
Have you ever been at a social gathering where some pushy guy starts telling you about some pyramid scheme or hustle he wants to cut you in on?
You're like "Come on, guy! I'm just here to have a good time!"
Well lots of marketers are stumbling around the social spaces just like "that guy". You don't want to be "that guy" because nobody even likes "that guy" much less being interested in buying anything from him.
That's why today, with the help of StomperNet Faculty Don Crowther, we're going to lay out a proper Social Marketing strategy that you can copy and use yourself, right away.
Not only does he have his own considerable experience to call upon, but he's been working closely with some amazing social marketing success stories for over a year now, as creator and conductor of StomperNet's Smarts Social Marketing Club.
I think that puts him in a unique position to clarify what's working in Social Media, and how you can maximize your social footprint without stepping on any toes in the process.
Phase 1: Create
One benefit of social media is the incredible amount of real estate that's available for free. You will run out of content before you run out of possible places to publish it.
But it does take a little bit of work to stake your claim in these diverse territories. That's why you need to spend some time creating profiles and accounts in the major social spaces, as well as any smaller ones that match your niche.
As they say about the lotto, you can't win if you don't play.
Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn - no matter what your niche market, these are places where millions of visitors hang out. All you need to do to participate is register.
Creat a blog. Create content for it. Create articles and publish them to free article directories. Create HubPages and Squidoo Lenses about your topic of choice.
All of these activities are investments in online Real Estate. The more you own, the more traffic you'll get.
Phase 2: Control
Through the magic of Web 2.0, you can manage some spectacular things when it comes to distribution. By connecting up all your social services and profiles, you can control the flow of traffic between your properties.
When you have multiple high-traffic web pages under your control, and you can simultaneously publish to all of them, the results are identical to mailing a prospect email list.
You can also control the ways people encounter you online. For example, you can provide nothing but free content on the social sites, which link back to your personal blog. On your blog, you can control the conversation, because you pick the topic. Commenters can reply, but you control the dialog.
From your blog, readers can join your newsletter. From the newsletter, you can lead them into your sales process, but here's the cool part... You can also lead them around to your other social properties.
You ever get an email from me that says "Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AndyJenkins"? Yeah. :)
Some of you reading this very report are on my email list, follow me on twitter, and get my blog feed in your newsreader. And you're informed the very second I have anything to share with you, in multiple formats that are convenient to how YOU want to hear from me. I control the messaging, but YOU control the method of delivery. So it's in my best interest to have as many ways to reach you as possible.
Phase 3: Converse
The wonderful thing about social media is that it allows people to talk to each other and share things that enrich each other's online experiences. For business owners, that's great, because it's word of mouth - except you can track it and respond to it.
Obviously, on a site you already control (like your blog), this is easy. People will come right up to you and tell you exactly what they think of you. But this is the internet, so you KNOW people will talk about you elsewhere, too.
So spy on them. Yes, spy on them. It's easy.
Set up Google Alerts for your name, your company name, your products, your category keywords, etc. Use "comprehensive" as the option, and any time you're mentioned on a webpage, news site, or blog that Google spiders, you'll know. Google will send you an email, or you can get an RSS feed. Neat, huh?
You can also set up a Twitter search using the same info above. Plus, you can add any hashtags you may be using on Twitter as well.
What's cool about Twitter searches is that you can get an RSS feed of them, and plop it right in your newsreader for instant updates whenever anyone utters your very name.
And let's not forget forums, other folks' blogs, discussion groups and interest groups on the social sites. Join, participate, converse.
There's a marketing adage that says if you want to persuade someone, you need to enter the conversation they're already having in their own head.
Well in Web 2.0, that in-the-head conversation is actually all over the web for you to jump in and if not participate, at least research. Your prospects are telling each other what they think and feel, and it's all there in front of you.
And once you know what they think, how they feel, and how to reach them, you can...
Phase 4: Convert!
The heart of conversion is in convincing the other party that they can trust you. To gain that trust, they need to feel that they know you. And it certainly helps if they like you, too.
When you maintain a wide social presence, people find you, and may dig deeper. Since you've connected all your stuff together, it's easy for them to do.
And as they do, they can sort of pick up on what you're all about. They come to KNOW you. And if you're not promoting things where you shouldn't, if you're providing value and being a good netizen, people will like you.
And if you carefully monitor conversations about you, and respond well to positive and negative alike, people will see they can trust you.
That's how you gain the power and influence it takes to send a tiny email and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales or commissions.
But there's one last little miracle of Social Media Marketing left to reveal. It's a little thing called "virality". I said before that social media was like word-of-mouth.
That's true, but it's also part of the permanent record of the internet. So any conversation online can act as though they printed out a flier for you and pasted it up on a busy street.
You get exposure well beyond the initial participants in the conversation. Forum posts and blog comments can remain in the serps for years and continue to bring in referrals even after the original posters have long moved on.
That's it for this "Cheat Sheet" but don't worry. There will be many more to come, so stay tuned.
But before I wrap this up and send you on your merry way to go forth and profit with Social Media Marketing, I have one last "C" word to round out the whole set.
Create, Control, Converse, Convert...
Now go conquer!
Until Next Time,
Keep Stomping
~Andy Jenkins
P.S. The main suggestions I made in the report above come directly from Don Crowther's article, "How to Knock A Marketing Campaign Out Of The Park" where he uses Social Media as part of a specific kind of "Fast Cash" strategy.
In fact, all of "The Net Effect" Volume 1, Issue 6 is about getting "Fast Cash" and Don isn't the only StomperNet faculty with an idea or two.
Over a dozen exclusive articles from our expert faculty cover a multitude of different ways to quickly scrape up some capital on the web. You can see the full contents of Volume 1, Issue 6 and get instant access here by visiting http://trcb.me/snblog.
Andy Jenkins is CEO of Stompernet. This article first appeared on the StomperNet blog. Reprinted with permission of StomperNet LLC.
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