[Admin]

Social Media Marketing (or SMM) has really exploded onto the Internet Marketing scene in a big way. Social media sites started out as a way for Internet users to network and share interests, but they’ve quickly evolved into media powerhouses.

Smart Internet marketers have learned how to harness the raw traffic of these sites by targeting certain groups with related offers. This is the key to effective social media marketing.

It’s very difficult to make money from mass traffic that isn’t targeted. While you can use the “throw enough mud at the wall and something will stick” approach, this method isn’t particularly effective or efficient. There are far better ways to make money with social media.

The best way to make money with social media is to use it as a way to build your reputation as an expert in a particular niche, and then capitalize on that niche specifically. To do this, you’ll use social media sites to build lists of friends who share this common interest, and then you’ll market products and service to them that are highly targeted.

Let’s say you’re working in the golf niche. You’d search the various social sites for golfers and fans of golf and add them to your friends list. Then you’d network with them, sharing articles and tips, in an attempt to build your name as an expert in this niche.

Once your name was established, you could begin asking your friends to visit your blog, forum, or website. At this new site, you’d be free to market to them in any way you saw fit, without having to conform to the rules of the original social media site.

As an expert, you could then recommend certain instructional products like eBooks, courses, or DVDs for which you’d earn a commission. You could sell your own golf guide or membership site access.

You could even offer personal coaching sessions if you wanted. This would be targeted traffic, because the friends you made were all interested in golf in the first place. This is the kind of traffic you want, because this is the type of traffic that is most likely to buy something.


Admin

[BeatleManU]

I've tried this, but I've never got it to work. Which social media are you talking about specifically? Myspace and Facebook? Or other things like Digg and Twitter?? Any tutorials on how this works would be great.

[Admin]

Hi Beatlemanu,

Really? Sorry you didn't have much success with them.

I was mainly talking about all kinds of social media sites. Yes, MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Twiiter, etc are a few. But there are also a ton more. I know "onlywire" is one of the better social media site portals that allow you to submit to several sites at one place.

I'll tell you a couple of other sites that compliment each other, is Squido, Hubpages, and Google Nulls (spell?).

Here's a good reference or short tutorial on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

There are many more out there as well if you do a search on Google.

Btw, for anyone who wants a good list of Social Media sites, here's a good one:


youtube.com
flickr.com
digg.com
metacafe.com
stumbleupon.com
technorati.com
blogmarks.com
bloglines (if used right)
scribd.com
blogcatalog.com
del.icio.us
propeller.com
twitter.com
fark.com
mister-wong.de
mybloglog.com
indianpad.com
kaboodle.com
startaid.com
i-am-bored.com
tutorialized.com
reddit.com
slashdot.org
care2.com
blinklist.com
megite.com
balatarin.com
killerstartups.com
clipmarks.com
leenks.com
activerain.com
blinkbits.com
ulinkx.com
good-tutorials.com
faves.com
nowpublic.com
newsvine.com
linuxquestions.org
stylehive.com
pixel2life.com
gather.com
ballhype.com
shoutwire.com
furl.net
dealigg.com
photoshoproadmap.com
autospies.com
swik.net
showhype.com
mixx.com
dzone.com
uvouch.com
sphinn.com
clipclip.org
lipstick.com
searchles.com
rojo.com
citeulike.org
buzzflash.com
blogmarks.net
netvouz.com
rnel.net
spotplex.com
cgtutorials.com
plime.com
wists.com
linkroll.com
ma.gnolia.com
simpy.com
bumpzee.com
corank.com
work.com
teenwag.com
pslover.com
tailrank.com
links.hubspot.com
diigo.com
spotback.com
flashperfection.com
backflip.com
spurl.net
freeiq.com
smallbusinessbrief.com
kinja.com
9rules.com
listible.com
bloggingzoom.com
connotea.org
bibsonomy.org
sk-rt.com
thoof.com
rawsugar.com
zaadz.com
wirefan.com
plugim.com
folkd.com
buddymarks.com
linkagogo.com
connectedy.com
designfloat.com
a1-webmarks.com

Plus there are many more small ones.


Mary

[aryaman2008]

Originally Posted by Admin

Social Media Marketing (or SMM) has really exploded onto the Internet Marketing scene in a big way. Social media sites started out as a way for Internet users to network and share interests, but they’ve quickly evolved into media powerhouses.

Smart Internet marketers have learned how to harness the raw traffic of these sites by targeting certain groups with related offers. This is the key to effective social media marketing.

It’s very difficult to make money from mass traffic that isn’t targeted. While you can use the “throw enough mud at the wall and something will stick” approach, this method isn’t particularly effective or efficient. There are far better ways to make money with social media.

The best way to make money with social media is to use it as a way to build your reputation as an expert in a particular niche, and then capitalize on that niche specifically. To do this, you’ll use social media sites to build lists of friends who share this common interest, and then you’ll market products and service to them that are highly targeted.

Let’s say you’re working in the golf niche. You’d search the various social sites for golfers and fans of golf and add them to your friends list. Then you’d network with them, sharing articles and tips, in an attempt to build your name as an expert in this niche.

Once your name was established, you could begin asking your friends to visit your blog, forum, or website. At this new site, you’d be free to market to them in any way you saw fit, without having to conform to the rules of the original social media site.

As an expert, you could then recommend certain instructional products like eBooks, courses, or DVDs for which you’d earn a commission. You could sell your own golf guide or membership site access.

You could even offer personal coaching sessions if you wanted. This would be targeted traffic, because the friends you made were all interested in golf in the first place. This is the kind of traffic you want, because this is the type of traffic that is most likely to buy something.


Admin

Thanks for this informative post.Yes now with this post i got some rough idea on how few people succeed while others just fade away in the internet marketing field.You are absolutely right that social media sites can be used effectively for succeeding here on internet.The personal coaching aspect is a great idea.

[bananas]

I think it would take some experimenting to find the proper way to leverage social media. But it is a great opportunity. It is completely FREE and like mentioned targeted way to market. Having experience with using Facebook on a personal level I could see groups, fans, statuses and notes (all Facebook features) as having the potential to reach a big market.

[MrsLolaCastle]

Hi Mary...this is awesome information. I've been experimenting with Twitter just to see what it does for my clients. I've seen the numbers and it works real well....You have confirmed what I'd read and seen with my own four eyes! lol! Thank you ;o

[MikeGriffith]

Thanks for the info. Twitter is my favorite. It's a gold mine if you concentrate on relationships and not just making money.

[jbolte1976]

Thanks Mary,

This is good information. As you know me and Shane have Twitter and Facebook in our traffic strategy for out blog. We'll be sure to post our results down the road

Jason

[shanec]

Thanks for this Mary,

I've seen some top Internet Marketers linking their blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and they seem to be getting good results. I think its important to get the hang of one of these Social Media sites first, before moving onto the next one. In relation to Twitter, there's a lot more involved than just following and posting updates.

[Admin]

Originally Posted by MrsLolaCastle

Hi Mary...this is awesome information. I've been experimenting with Twitter just to see what it does for my clients. I've seen the numbers and it works real well....You have confirmed what I'd read and seen with my own four eyes! lol! Thank you ;o

Hi MrsLolaCastle,

This stuff really works. If people would use some of it, they could do a lot better.

Btw, it's good to see you in this forum, and thanks!