Online Marketing Wizards » social networks

The Granddaddy of Social Networks

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:26:20 +0000

This post seems to have two separate thoughts and I will bring them together at the end.

First, let’s talk about LinkedIn.

Social networking seems to be an entirely new "web 2.0" thing, but it started much earlier. LinkedIn is a great example of early social networking that broke ground for what we have today as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media.

I know lots of professionals and business owners who are on LinkedIn and it is the defacto social network for professionals. Now, LinkedIn might lack some of the social functionality that other networks provide, they are very focused on their niche and that is enough for them to have millions and millions of users, and to earn millions and millions of dollars.

Second, let’s talk about social networks

Social networking business trends have been for entrepreneurs to jump onto sites like LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook (or wherever) and use that as the base for their social networking. That’s fine. But a more recent trend is taking place where people can create their own social networks that are branded specifically for them. A good example can be found at www.socialsam.com where you can start and build your own branded social network using SocialSam’s platform. (Incidentally, this has been developed by the same guy who make 1ShoppingCart).

So, if you want to build your social network, how do you do so successfully?

This is where these two thoughts – LinkedIn and social networks – come together. Money.CNN.com published an interview with the LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman. You can read the article, entitled "LinkedIn’s Startup Story: Connecting the Business World here.

In that article, Hoffman explains his process in creating what is now a social network worth millions of dollars and, arguably, a major force in professional networking. To summarize, he gives 3 basic steps in his interview:

First, find a need that has a substantial target audience. In Hoffman’s case, it was professionals who wanted to network online. (In fact, you can see Hoffman’s own networking success earlier in his interview).

Second, grow the network to a million people. Okay, that might not be the right number for you and your niche (perhaps something smaller… perhaps something bigger?) but having a network size goal is important. You need enough to create a critical mass.

Third, build on that base with additional services. In other words: Monetize that network. Don’t try to do it too early in the game.

Although you may not use LinkedIn for your business, and you may dream of doing other kinds of things with your social media, adopting Hoffman’s basic 3-step model can help you to grow your own social network.

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Relax! You Can’t Do It All!

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:13:50 +0000

This post has been a long time coming. The reason is: I sometimes need to take a taste of my own medicine!

I’ve seen lots of numbers (big numbers) and I don’t know which ones are authoritative so I’ll say this: The internet is expanding. Quickly. And as one trend gives way to the next, new opportunities make themselves available. A few years ago, "social media" was an unheard-of term. Today, everyone is signing up for social media marketing and marketing consultants are extending their brand to include social media coaching.

Recently, I found a site that promised to help me manage my social media identities in one convenient place. I liked the idea so I signed up. They presented me with a huge list of potential social media sites – over 200 – that they would help me manage. I thought I was doing well with the accounts I had but this list was amazingly long… and although I spend my entire day working on web-related activities, I hadn’t heard of a number of these sites. So I started clicking through them to compare them.

Some seemed helpful and compelling. Others did not. Worse yet, there was a bunch of sites that claimed to be social media sites but lacked any of the characteristics that actually make a social media site (suggesting to me that they’re trying to cash in). Look, I don’t want to point any fingers at specific sites, lest they disagree with my accusation, but I will say this: The best ones… are the ones you’ve heard of and probably already have an account with.

Here is a funny YouTube video that shows a hilarious parody of the excess of social media.

Now, I don’t want to come across like I’m harshing on everything out there. But I want to give some advice to you (and to me).

Find a couple of good social media sites and stick with them. Integrate them with each other and become active on them. Don’t try to sign up with every single social media site out there because there are just too many and there seems to be more everyday. Instead, find a couple that work for you and excel at using them. For example, out of the handful of business-focused social media sites like LinkedIn, Xing, and Ecademy, I’ve chosen just one and am focusing on it. The others might be good (in fact, I like a couple of the features of the others that aren’t present in the one I’m using) but doing this will help you manage your time. I’d rather do 1 thing well than 3 things shoddily.

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Driving Leads into Your Online Marketing Funnel

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:47:50 +0000

The successful online marketer uses a variety of traditional and Web2.0 techniques to drive leads into their online marketing funnel. The funnel illustrates the process of moving a website visitor to a buying client and then on to an evangelist for your products and services. The funnel is widest at the top and must be filled with a variety of leads in order to have qualified prospects filter down through the buying stages of the funnel. Blending traditional marketing methods with some of the newer avenues can prove extremely beneficial to filling your funnel.

Traditional Online Marketing Methods:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is the process of organizing the content on your website to increase its potential relevance to specific keywords on search engines. It also involves building external links to your site and making sure they are titled correctly. The process is best done from the initial point of building the site and it may be beneficial to work with an SEO expert who is up-to-date on the current methods the search engines use for targeting keywords and assigning rankings.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): PPC is an internet marketing method which allows advertisers to bid on keyword searches and pay only when a user actually clicks on their ad. Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the largest networks which offer PPC advertising.

Link Building: Link building involves seeking out strategic partners to add links from their web sites to your web site. Strategic partners can include: trade associations, customers, suppliers, professional organizations, and others in complementary businesses. Quality links are just as important as the quantity of links. It is often easier to get a link to your site by offering a reciprocal link in return.

Web 2.0 Marketing Methods:

Social Networks: Social networks are a means of building online communities of people who share the same interests. They offer an incredible way to communicate and share information. The most popular social networking sites in the U.S. include MySpace and Facebook.

Viral Video: A viral video is a video clip that gains widespread popularity by people sharing the clip through email, instant messaging, blogs, and websites. They are often humorous in nature which makes people want to share them with friends. YouTube is commonly associated with viral videos and offers a way to host your video clips for others to see.

Pull Marketing: Pull marketing involves creating quality content, products or services that consumers want to learn more about. Rather than pushing your product on the consumer, you offer them something of value that they want to get more of. You’re pulling them to your website where you can then sell to them. Article marketing, forum posting, and blog contributions are all ways to pull people to your website.

Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, reddit, and Stumbleupon offer a method for internet users to store, organize, search, and manage their favorite web pages. Being the source of quality content that people bookmark to these sites can build a viral flow of traffic to your site.

RSS Syndication: Providing quality content on a regular basis is key to building a following of internet users. Utilizing an RSS feed allows you to publish your updated blog entries, video and audio clips, and articles in a standardized format. RSS feeds allow publishers to syndicate content quickly and automatically. Readers who want timely updates can subscribe to your feed and have their feeds from multiple sites centralized in one place.

If you’re new to internet marketing, implementing just one of these strategies can bring exponential growth to your website traffic. Those who’ve already tried one or two of the traditional approaches should work to put a Web 2.0 method into place to renew the flow of traffic to their site.

Cathy Yerges Partnering in Your Marketing Success