Article Directory :: Business - General Articles Telling the Truth About Social Marketing By Robert Greenshields Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 13Mar2008 Word count: 441 Viewed: 207 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site There's a lot of conflicting advice from Internet marketing experts on how to profit from the popularity of 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 10 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 most social websites are not business-focused - indeed many members have strong negative feelings about any kind of marketing or selling - it's more like running around the golf club or the health club asking everyone to buy your products. In Kevin Hogan's book the Psychology of Persuasion, he describes the "Law of Friends", which states that someone is more likely to do what you ask if they believe you have their best interests in mind. This arguably applies even more in the rapidly changing online environment. People find it harder to know who to trust so they are looking for someone who will help them rather than sell to them. 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: Visit your chosen sites 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. Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps entrepreneurs and independent professionals to develop the right mindset and marketing strategies for higher profits. Sign up for his 7 free secrets of making your marketing more persuasive EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here More articles by Robert Greenshields

Free Report! Ten Essential Secrets Of Article Marketing ... Grab Your Free Copy Now: We respect your privacy. Need Content? Regular Top Quality Content for your Blog, Ezine or Website ... Delivered Direct, For Free! Click For Details Arts & Entertainment Automotive Business - General Computers & Technology Finance & Investment Food & Drink Health & Fitness Home & Family Internet Marketing/Online Business Legal Pets & Animals Politics & Government Reference & Education Religion & Faith Self-Improvement/Motivation Social Sports & Recreation Travel & Leisure Writing & Speaking

More business articles:

• The Benefits of Double Glazing (Louise G)
  When you look at a cross section of a wall, what do you see? Is it a single, thick slab of building material or do you see a double wall with studs set for support? Double walls provide insulated protection between you and the elements outside. The air between the walls allows the outside wall to be cold while the inside surface of the wall is comfortably at "room temperature".

• How You Can Turn Business Cards Into A Home Business (Tristan Mills)
  A new marketing idea has been developed to help assist entrepreneurs and working professionals make better use of their business card and create more exposure without having to pass it out by hand. Now it's possible for people to start a small home business and make an extra income using ordinary business cards.

• Career tip: A return to basics (Chris Makell)
  It's tough today to focus on doing a good job when there is are so many "other" challenges pulling at your attention. In these times it's helpful to just return to the basics to see us through.

• Celebrities Giving Luxury Watches as Gifts (Chandra L Coleman)
  In the world of the rich and famous, luxury watches, are easy gifts to give. It seems it has become almost customary for celebrities to gift each other high end watches at any point during their relationship, even within the first few months.

• Cardiff Capital and Accountants (Steven Magill)
  Bridgend is the biggest business hub city of Wales and also its capital. One of the indicators of how progressive a city is can be seen with the number of accountants that are present.

• How to Reaffirm Your JV Commitment (Christian Fea)
  Small business owners and entrepreneurs need to work for a bigger picture or goal. Simply going through the motions each day becomes monotonous and leads to a placid and stale work life.

• Accountant's Cardiff Help Businesses to Progress (Steven Magill)
  Cardiff as a business hub also attracted its auxiliary services. The rise of accountants in Cardiff is a testament to this. Accountants play a vital role in Cardiff as they help businesses become more efficient and effective, ensuring that they properly pay their taxes to the city on time, and pay the correct taxes.

• Client Surveys That Works Wonders (Meredith Liepelt)
  Knowing what your ideal clients expect from you is one of the best ways to ensure you keep existing clients and add happy new ones. Eliciting feedback from them is beneficial for what lies ahead. However, often you may find yourself stuck, not knowing how to write or conduct a written survey. Here are some things to remember when you conduct your next survey.

• Does Your Multi Level Marketing Product Get a Thumbs Up from Customers and Prospects? (Laura A Shapiro)
  The multi level marketing product is just one factor to consider when evaluating the right network marketing opportunity. Use these 7 questions to rate the product or service you are or want to represent.

• Learn How to Get Free Targeted Traffic From Search Engines (James Trent)
  Billions of people surf the internet every single day. Also every day, thousands of new websites are created which then begin to struggle for attention, competing against all of the sites that were already in existence. And as it turns out, those billions of web surfers tend to visit many of the same sites on a daily basis, only venturing out to new websites when they need to go to a search engine.