Banking on Your Blogging

Online social networking sites have absolutely exploded in popularity with all age groups on the internet. The ease of use and navigating of these social sites has opened the door to even the technically timid. Facebook has even recently reported that baby boomers outnumber high school age users at their site. Connecting with others at various online communities has become as common as watching TV. The advent of online social marketing has helped to further boost the overall use of social sites. Currently there seems to be no limit to the growth of online social networking.

The booming popularity of these online communities was initially started by blogs. The ability to interact with others online was recognized and immediately embraced by users.
Wanting to further personalize the online experience many flocked in droves to blogs.

From this evolved blog marketing which quickly became the accepted blueprint for what was perceived to be the future of online marketing. All told blogs became the popular choice of internet users for both socializing and marketing. Then along came online social networking.

Now the question is whether blogs are in danger of fading into oblivion in the face of the growing acceptance of social network sites?

On the surface it would appear so and here are 3 reasons why:

Established Traffic at Social Network Sites

With the popularity of many social network sites it is easy to find an already established flow of traffic at the site. The need to invest time and energy to generate traffic for your site is not necessary as would be the case for individual blogs.

Site Optimization is Not Necessary

Capitalizing on the traffic you find at any social site allows you to circumvent the need for various forms of site optimization.

A social site allows you direct contact with others making it easier for you to deliver your message. Site optimization techniques such as keyword usage, quality content, and backlinks are necessary in order to increase your rank with search engines. A higher ranking is needed so that you may then gain direct contact with prospects in order to deliver your message.

In a nut shell gaining access to prospects is quicker and easier using social networking traffic.

Ease and Speed

The ease of leaving quick and casual promotional comments or posts is attractive to many marketers online. Within any of these online communities communications are generally highly unstructured and informal thus allowing promoters to speak on a more personal level with site members.

Online social networking sites no doubt have gained a tremendous following. As noted above there are some very compelling reasons for the popularity of social networks sites. Addressing the idea that blogs could fade into oblivion due to this popularity, well that’s not likely. Blogs still offer tremendous flexibility to the site owner along with the opportunity to put a personalized stamp on the site itself. This is a huge benefit that can’t be overlooked. Both these sites serve similar yet different purposes which should allow them both to coexist and flourish online for some time to come. So don’t kick your blog to the curb since it remains a uniquely effective platform for making money online!

Social networking sites are terrific online gathering locations that allow people from around the globe to meet and share their thoughts and interests. More and more businesses have come to identify these online communities as fertile grounds for marketing purposes. In fact online social marketing has even attracted many high profile offline businesses as well. For reasons such as cost efficiency, automation, and the ability to market to a global audience social networks have a rapidly growing appeal to marketers big and small.

Let’s examine 5 crucial behavioral patterns that can make or break a marketing campaign conducted on any of the social networks.

Attract vs. Attack

Social marketing is really all about just two things: being socially accepted and then capitalizing on the trust you have gain to conduct a more effective marketing campaign.

The key here is in the approach used to promote any product or service. Generally speaking a low key and more subtle approach when promoting any product or service is better received than the more traditional hard pitch methods.

It is important to first gain the acceptance of your target market before any promotional attempts are made.

Engaging & Sincere Conversation

The most natural and effective way to gain acceptance into any of these online communities is by becoming an active participant in the ongoing discussions. Your sincerity will be easily detected by other participants so tread carefully here and leave the BS at the door. In effect you are becoming ‘one of the crowd’ as you gradually gain the acceptance of the others just as would be the case in any offline social circles.

Share This ‘Content’ Freely

When the opportunity presents itself take advantage of contributing knowledge or insight you may have that will benefit other participants. This give and take will be noticed and depending upon the ‘quality’ of your input you can easily become regarded as an expert on the topic.

How well you are able to develop online relationships is in direct proportion to how effective your marketing efforts will be within these circles.

Be Real

Oh sure you may be able to bluff your way by for a short time but is it worth your effort or the time you invest? Sooner rather than later your insincerity will be detected by the others leaving you identified as a phony and an outcast. You have now wasted both yours and their time! The point here is to be genuine and if the conversation is something you have little interest in or knowledge of it’s best to either just listen or leave.

Developing online relationships is not any different than those you have offline, there must be a common interest or natural attraction. These things can’t be faked or forced!

Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

As is the case in most things, if you try to do too many things the quality of your efforts will naturally suffer. The same goes here with your involvement in too many social network sites. By overly extending yourself amongst several social network sites you will likely spread yourself too thin thereby diminishing your effectiveness at any one of them. Just select a few where you feel most comfortable allowing you to focus on building higher quality relationships and in turn better marketing results.

As we’ve discussed marketing within any of the social networking sites will first require your acceptance by the site members. This can be achieved by an active and sincere role in the discussions. Your positive contributions will be quickly noticed within these social networks allowing you to gain the acceptance you’ll need to be effective. Once you’ve been accepted the trust and loyalty of site members should follow making your marketing efforts within these online communities all the more effective!

Social network marketing has proven to be a very viable way to grow an online business. In fact it seems that many entrepreneurs rely primarily upon the social networks for marketing online. It is not uncommon to visit one of these sites and see a healthy percentage of the exchanges are targeting the solicitation of a product or service.

As recent history has shown online marketers are quick to identify growth opportunities for their businesses and social marketing has proven to be no exception.

The original intent of social networking sites were for people to gather to share ideas, interests, stay in touch, or even meet new people all on a casual basis. With this in mind it is important to identify and adhere to the proper code of behavior that is expected while participating at one of these sites. This is especially true if your intent is to conduct business since your success will be based upon building relationships with other site members.

Here are 5 things you’ll want to avoid doing that could sabotage your social marketing efforts:

Not Taking Part in Discussions

The main idea of social networks is just that to ’socialize’ with other members. You need and want to mingle to get become familiar with other participants while allowing them to become familiar with you. To not take part in online discussions and then attempt to market something is just downright rude. The result is you will be identified as nothing more than an opportunist or spammer and will rightfully be ignored.

Becoming Fully Automated

Some sites such as Twitter offer you the opportunity to program some of your comments in advance. The idea is great and is meant for people who want to interact at a certain time but will not be available. Some marketers and you know who you are, rely heavily if not exclusively on this type of automated system. Worse yet they don’t even try to interact all they do is repeatedly send sales pitches. Once again by doing this you’re destined to be ignored by others and labeled a spammer.

These are social networking sites whose intentions are for PEOPLE to interact NOT SOFTWARE!

Continually Selling

Your intent at these sites is to be building relationships with other members to gain their trust and loyalty. Eventually you can introduce different products or services but the majority of the interactions should be social in nature. If you’re constantly pitching a new product, idea, service, or opportunity NOBODY will want to associate with you.

Disruptive or Antisocial Behavior

Your conduct like everybody else at any social site should be courteous and respectful of others. You are a guest and should behave as such. Tactful and polite disagreements are acceptable but rudeness, vulgarity, harsh criticism or other like behavior should not be displayed.

Creating Fictitious Profiles

Most every site gives you the opportunity to ‘register’ your profile upon signing up and it is encouraged to do so. It’s hard to befriend or socialize with anybody when you don’t/won’t reveal your identity.

The same is true with falsifying your profile. What’s the sense? If you’re going to do that then why even bother joining? In fact people have a legitimate reason to ‘question’ your intentions if you are displaying a fake identity. If you are in business you obviously don’t intend to be so for long. That sends a real bad message!

Social network marketing can be an extremely effective and efficient way to grow your online business. and rapidly. There are many methods you can use for marketing online but few surpass the speedy results or ‘viral capabilities’ that these sites offer. It is up to you as a sincere and responsible business owner to identify and practice the proper etiquette that is expected when participating at any social site. Your ability to do so will enable you to maximize the full potential these sites have to offer for both you and your business.