Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html

How to Market on Social Networks - Effectively
By Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian (c) 2008

Online social networks, like the World Wide Web itself, are a
microcosm of a vibrant human community. If you participate on
services like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace for some time,
you'll notice the same types of people as you might on a trip
to the shopping mall or a weekend at the beach.

There is but one difference. While 'offline' you see people,
on the Web you see their personality.

Understanding this is core to your effective use of social
networks for marketing.

While others will rush into these digital fora blatantly
spewing advertising messages willy-nilly, you'll be able to
tap into their minds more intelligently. Because by following
some simple principles, you'll create an online persona that
people WANT to engage with and listen to.

Over 2 years of intensely being involved in various social media
marketing channels, I have learned some lessons you may find
useful too.

Less Is More

When you're getting started, it is natural to explore many
different services. This 'flit and fleet, dip and dabble'
approach is often necessary, because each of them vary in
significant ways from the other.

But once you find the right one(s) with the ideal mix of
audience, features and convenience to suit your personality,
stick with it instead of trying desperately to sample all the
available alternatives (there are over 1,000 of them as we go to
press, so that's practically impossible).

By honing in on your preferred social networks, you can better
carry out the important other steps of engaging your audience
and participating actively in your online community.

Engage Your Audience

Be yourself. Let your personality shine through. It is your
unique advantage over everyone else in the online social media
marketing space.

Carried away by the potential to drive more traffic or make more
sales, eager marketers often explode on the social networking
scene like a bombshell. They launch into what is the online
equivalent of a full-throated sales pitch right in the middle of
a Sunday morning sermon in church!

Won't that shock the others? Of course. And then, they'll
ignore you.

Engagement is not instant, automatic or easy. It is however
powerfully effective. Over 9 months, I have 1,000 'followers'
on Twitter. We share a relationship - even if it is at arm's
length.

Build Your Following

The conventional approach of herding audiences into closed
spaces so that you can market to them are long gone. Social
media marketing is not as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
These fish are swimming in a vast ocean. You need to reel them
in - by using powerful bait... intelligently!

The formula that works consistently is simple. Be interesting.
If what you share on social networks is useful, valuable, funny,
entertaining, new, insightful or soul-stirring, people will find
you - and stay with you.

And because control is in their hands, you have little choice in
the matter anyway. Social networks are all about 'attraction
marketing'. You attract them into your circle - and keep them
there.

Be Real

That does not mean you need to reveal every intimate detail of
your life, like what you ate for breakfast or what you watched
on TV this morning. Or even where you live, work or play.

It does mean that you should have a persona - and be true to it.
All the time.

I'm a heart surgeon. I also have a little daughter, love
reading, travel to interesting places and blog actively. All of
these aspects of my life make their way into my posts on social
networks.

Almost incidentally, I also slip in the stuff that makes my
social networking effective - like my Internet infopreneur
business and my non-profit Foundation that raises funds to help
children from poor families receive expensive, life-saving heart
surgery.

Give To Get

Many people are selfish and self-centered. And these people are
on social networks online. While you may hope and wish it were
different, in reality, they do it for what's in it for them!

To smartly leverage social media marketing, you must take
advantage of this knowledge - and give enough value to satisfy
your audience, and turn them into raving, loyal fans.

Only then do you ask for something in exchange - a visit, a
click, a sale.

When you do this consistently, you'll notice a reciprocal
benefit that grows and swells until you are swamped by a return
far in excess of anything you ever gave.

Now, It's Up To You

Will you make your social networking and marketing effective
using these simple insights?

They are deceptively simple. But when you try following these
principles, you'll discover how effective and powerful they
really are.

Another test of their impact is to try and ignore them. You'll
see how badly social networks can burn you. But then, you're
not going to try, are you? No way... You're smart!
================================================================
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is a social infopreneur and uses his
Internet marketing to fund heart surgery for under-privileged
children in India.  He blogs at Money.Power.Wisdom -
http://MoneyPowerWisdom.com - and is on Twitter (drmani),
Facebook and MySpace too.
================================================================

Copyright © 2008 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.