The popularity of social networking sites is growing in leaps and bounds. Where as in years past the average person would first turn to search engines for information they needed, this is no longer the case. They now turn to a multitude of social networking sites. On these sites they can find the information they are looking for and interact with other people at the same time.

These networks are being used successfully by people from many different areas of our society. Doctors, lawyers, restaurant owners, specialty store owners and musicians are just a few. These networks are no longer reserved for teenagers and young adults. If you explore any of these sites you can see for yourself. The people that land on your profile are there for a reason. They are looking for what you have to offer. If they identify with and like your profile (which can and should include audio, pictures, text and video... in various combinations), you will soon be contacted via email or phone.

Become the hunted instead of the "hunt-ee".

The process of chasing friends, family and co-workers and invoking the "three foot rule" are all now things of the past. Dealing with rude and obnoxious strangers who hang up on you will also be a distant memory. The process of trying to grow your business will no longer seem like such an arduous task because your interactions with people will be much more productive and enjoyable. Rejection is still part of the picture (it will just be less harsh and hopefully less frequent) because lets face it, not everybody is going to purchase what you have to offer. Your downline will start to grow because you will be viewed as a leader and someone they can trust.

I am sure many people made money using these old and tired techniques. The problem is most people have seen these before and they don't really work anymore. People run for the hills when you say you would like them to attend a meeting, watch a video or simply read some literature. The rejection and fear of the rejection is what keeps many newcomers from succeeding. Social marketing techniques bring interested people to the newcomer and they will start to experience some success.

As we all know, residual income is the goal of all networking businesses. In order to achieve this a couple of things need to be in order. First of all, the product or service must be useful for consumers. The second thing is you must be able to grow your customer base. The methods to be used for growing your customer base must be simple, honest and duplicable. If your downline sees success from the methods you show them, your residual income will continue to build.

It's time to change your networking activities!

Success in your network marketing business will begin to manifest once you become involved with Social Marketing and start having prospects hunting you down. The next couple of years will offer valuable benefits to the home business owners who start using Web 2.0 techniques.