Telling the Truth About Social Marketing

There seem to be two totally opposing views on how to succeed with social marketing

Social marketing is about growing your business through user-driven websites like youtube, facebook and digg (plus hundreds more).

Some advice says you should create a large number of different user identities on many sites and then start promoting your own sites to drive extra traffic.

The alternative view is that you should select one or two relevant sites carefully, building a personal profile on them and contributing value to the communities before even thinking about marketing anything of your own.

The problem is that both approaches can work – and perhaps the first may even show the fastest results.

But, leaving aside that it risks getting you banned by the sites, it seems a bit like joining ten different local networking groups like the Chamber of Commerce or BNI – and rushing round them all just handing out order forms rather than concentrating on building strong relationships in one or two.

And, as many members of social websites are strongly against marketing or selling – it’s more like going to the health club or the golf club and expecting everyone to buy a tv stand from you.

The Law of Friends, from Kevin Hogan’s Psychology of Persuasion, says that people will be more likely to follow your request if they believe you have their interests at heart.

This arguably applies even more in the rapidly changing online environment. It’s not easy to know who to trust so people are looking for help rather than overt selling.

The great advantage of the development of online social marketing and networking is that it gives business owners all over the world access to a much wider pool of potential contacts than just relying on local organizations.

It’s clear that this type of networking and marketing will grow in importance but that most business owners have not yet started to take advantage of it.

These are some of the keys to success with social marketing:

Define your objectives: Decide what you want e.g. contacts or information.

Be selective: Focus on your objectives, don’t get distracted.

Manage your time: Set strict time limits on how long you spend doing this each day.

Give before you expect to receive: Contribute to the communities.

Be consistent: When you have selected the sites you want to use, visit them regularly.

Social marketing is a fast developing field that’s still in its early days. Spending a little time to learn how it can help you build your business could be very rewarding.

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Robert Greenshields is a marketing coach who helps business owners develop the mindset and strategies for higher profits. Sign up for his free special report on making your marketing more persuasive at http://www.PersuasiveMarketingPower.com