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[S655]Social Marketing For Dummies

by Jane Robinson, Jan

Of course you do. So do I now It's something I have been learning about the hard way over the last few months. You may be struggling with it as well. I didn't even know what it was until this year.

But there's been a problem and that's been that nobody has ever showed you how to do actually do it.

Not only that but a lot of these social sites don't like you posting your website links and affiliate links all over the place so you can sometimes end up getting blocked or just not getting any traffic.

Well I found myself in the same position - I knew a little bit about social marketing, enough to be dangerous. But the problem was that although I was spending plenty of hours on these websites I just wasn't getting any traffic or sales.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MARKETING?

Some people call it social marketing, others web 2.0. , I have even heard it called new age marketing which conjures up all sorts of images, but the fact of the matter is this - you need to be using the social marketing websites to your advantage because there's tons of free traffic to be had from them. It's a huge development on the internet and ignore it at your peril!

WHO ARE THEY?

They are the big names like MySpace, Facebook and others who are not only dominating news stories now, they are starting to play a really big part in driving traffic to marketers pages online. The problem though is this...

... social sites don't like marketers! It's true! So you have to be careful when you are using them that you don't get banned or caught out. The key is to adopt this simple "4 H's" approach;

Humor
Honesty
Have fun
Help people

As long as you can inject just a little piece of humor into your social marketing profile or even just a little piece of who you really are then you will start attracting lots of friends and widening your network. That's one of the keys to this new market.

You also need to be honest throughout. There is no point uploading photos of Britney Spears or Mark Ronson pretending they're people who want to get to know you or uploading a photo for your own profile that is much more good looking than you! So be honest.

Have fun! This is one of the most exciting things about social marketing. Its great fun . Meeting new people, learning new stuff and making money from the traffic that you get from it all at the same time. not to mention that you feel part of a friendly circle. You needn't be on your own. It certainly makes that big world out there seem much smaller!

So you help people and they will help you. You add useful links and recommendations to your profiles. Point people in the right direction and answer any questions people post on your profile. Communicate with them, its fun.

BUT WHAT ARE THE SECRETS TO MASSIVE SOCIAL TRAFFIC?

Easy You need to learn how to get on these sites and how to maximize them. A word of warning though, they can become addictive!

Social Marketing is made up of many different aspects. The important thing to remember is that anyone wanting to earn money online should be prepared to invest the time and effort required to build a genuine business. Using social media should be just one part of your overall traffic-building strategy, not the entire nor the only strategy you incorporate.

I share 4 key components of social marketing below. Learning the basic principles of social marketing and how it works will go a long way in helping you with not only your marketing efforts, but your notoriety and reader retention.

Blogging is Crucial in Social Marketing

Your blog is naturally a social marketing tool. By using good posting strategies, linkbait, clip marks, utility posts, commenting, growing your audience, setting up social widgets, content exchanges or blog carnivals, and social media optimization you will have set a powerful base for your website. The building blocks of social marketing success are one of the critical components to making your online business not only visited more, but critical to your monetary success.

Using Social Sites Properly

Learning the common social site features will enable you to grasp how to use these communities to their highest potential. Creating a powerful profile is very important. Making friends on social sites is just one power networking strategy, along with having others submit respond to, and vote on your content. You also want to understand the rules for each social site so that you don't get your account banned. Tagging is another critical aspect to your social marketing, and being able to measure your marketing results.

It's a Conversation, Not a Sales Pitch

Starting conversations is a power strategy. Knowing the Golden Rules of Social Networking will enable you to get maximum views for your social networking, forum activity, and on how to find social networks in your niche. Learning Social Power Linking Strategies will enable you to drive organic traffic to your site, and will provide you with continuous streams of repeat visitors. People who are searching for information in your niche will find you because of the social marketing strategies. Social marketing does many things, it not only puts you in front of those who are in those specific social sites, but because you are creating links, regular followers will come simply because the search engines will notice all your efforts and all the organic traffic that you are creating. This in turn will help you with your search engine rankings.

A System Is Critical To Being Efficient

In order to incorporate these strategies you need a system, a guide, on how to do this effectively and a place where you can share your findings and questions with others. There are several communities where bloggers band together and where social marketing tactics of all kinds are shared and discussed in great detail.

Great free communities to get involved are MyBlogLog.com, BlogCatalog.com, and SocialAuthority.Ning.com. People interested in social marketing and better blogging tactics are working out new social marketing tactics and helping each other progress in busy communities such as these.

Article Source : Pg. 4

About Author

Both Jane Robinson & Jack Humphrey are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Jane Robinson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Online Marketing and Travel and Leisure. . Jane Robinson's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.

Jack Humphrey has sinced written about articles on various topics from Site promotion, SEO linking and RSS. Jack Humphrey is an expert in with over 10 years experience in SEO, link building, and blog marketing. For more information on gett. Jack Humphrey's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.