Internet Marketing Bible by Anonymous - HTML preview

Chapter 5:

Unleashing the Power of Social Networking

Synopsis

Social networking is the phenomenon that defined the whole of the last decade and it is still going strong. Most people of the world who access the Internet regularly are on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn or the assorted social networking websites that are popularly used in the world. Chances are that you are present on these networks as well.

Marketers have rightfully understood the amazing business potential of these domains. They have realized how they can tap into these and create a whole band of dedicated followers for their business.

Here we take a look at the best social networking websites we have and how they can be used to further our Internet marketing desires.

Unleashing the Power of Social Networking

If you have read thus far, you will have understood one important thing about the Internet marketing world. In one word, that is change. The Internet marketing world knows how to change at every instant. It intricately analyzes what the people are clamoring for, and then it gives it to them. It understands market trends consistently, and it tries to find out what really builds public interest.

Right now, it would not be wrong to say that the world belongs to social networking. This is at least true in the urban parts of the world where the Internet has proliferated like wildfire. Almost everyone— from the fifth grader to the corporate business owner—is talking about being on one or the other social network. They are found hobnobbing with each other here, and the world has become  suddenly much smaller because of the presence of these social networking websites.

That is quite true! People who weren’t in close contact until, say, 10 years ago are now suddenly bosom buddies because they are sharing their  likes  and  dislikes  on  a  social  networking  portal.  The  line between the employee and the employer has also suddenly thinned because both of them may be playing Farmville on Facebook when they are not working. It is also possible that a student might be giving advice to a teacher about something that they are an expert in, again through a social networking website.

If this is not a revolutionary change, then what is?

And, if such major changes are happening in the Internet world, then can the Internet marketing domain be left far behind? Definitely not! Internet marketing gurus has long understood the great potential of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, WAYN, Hi5, Orkut and others and they have not only made profiles for themselves here, but they have built entire communities of people who are interested in their products.

Businesses are going on all the while over these social networking websites. Sometimes these are happening surreptitiously without the rest of the group not coming to know what is going on, while sometimes the promotion is quite public with everyone in the group understanding that there is something afoot. People know that they are being marketed to on these social networking websites, but still their lure is too strong to give them a miss.

Benefits of Social Networking

So, why are these social networking sites such a big hit in the Internet marketing world today? Here are the reasons.

1. The first—and probably the most important reason—is the attraction of the phenomenon of social networking in today’s world. Almost everyone is socially linking with everyone else they know, and even with a lot other people that they do not know. The best thing is the fun factor that is involved here. When they are linking with someone, they are not thinking of anything more than some casual communication. Adding to the fun experience are the various activities that are present on these websites, like Facebook with its various applications. That is the reason people crowd here. They want to stay in touch with their friends and have fun with them. The social networking sites right now have become the virtual equivalent of hanging out with friends. Marketers can definitely take advantage of this mindset. Since these people will crowd here for the fun factor, why not market something to them while they are at it? It works… a lot of people find out about something and then decide to look at it more closely.
2. Social networking websites are a great place for viral marketing as well. Viral marketing is when people recommend a product or service to their group of friends. They may do it with the sole intention of telling about something useful to their friend and not have any marketing intention in mind. Haven’t we done it often too? When we read a good book, we recommend it to others. In doing so, we do not earn anything, but it is our human nature to share things we like. That is exactly what the Internet marketers are looking for here. The potential is immense. If there is a good product circulating in a social group, then it will be spoken about quite fast and the product can really catch on. Experts believe that viral marketing is the best form of marketing right now because a friend’s recommendation can mean more to people than anything else.
3. The other big advantage of social networking is that niche groups can be built very fast. Most of these have search engines of their own where you can find people through relevant keywords. You can find out what these people are interested in, and if your product or service is related to the things they are interested in, then you could add them to your group or community, or you could link with them in any other way that the social networking website allows you to do. Once that is established, you have a good chance of informing people about your product more and interesting them in it. There is a strong likelihood that these people will be interested in what you are trying to sell them.
4. Social networking also helps in building better traffic over the Internet. You can connect with people who will already have groups of their own. So, when you are connecting with a person, you are actually building a possibility of connecting with their entire group. In business, numbers definitely matter. If you are making your product visible to a large number of people, you are easily increasing your possibility of generating sales.
5. A very essential benefit—though it may not apply to everyone— is that it helps in increasing the chances of reaching your local target market. If you are trying to sell a product in a particular local area, then local marketing becomes important to you. Social networking helps because you can connect with people of the local area, which increases the chances of their visiting a local shop and trying to pick up the product or service that you are trying to promote.

Top 5 Social Networking Places

If you are looking for building your brand and your business itself through social networking, then you should consider the following important places to promote your products in.

1. Facebook – This is quite easily the most popular social networking website right now, with a huge global outreach. There are millions of people from all over the world connecting continuously through Facebook. If you are looking at a place where you can find the highest number of people to connect with, and possibilities to connect with their friends as well, then Facebook is the place that you should consider. At the same time, it really helps that people who visit Facebook come there with an open mind. Their intention is to have fun. In fact, some of the applications on Facebook like Farmville, Social City and Mafia Wars have become immensely popular. When people come with an open mind like that, there are chances that they will be more receptive to what you have to tell them.

2. MySpace – MySpace’s popularity has dwindled over the years, especially due to stiff competition from Facebook, but still it is a force to reckon with. The best part in MySpace is that you can easily find people of a particular interest. If you are trying to promote a product here, then things become easier for you due to this feature. Today, MySpace is still quite big among US citizens but it is practically absent from most other parts of the world… that is something you have to keep in mind as well.

3. Twitter – Twitter is kind of a microblog in which several people can post updated comments at any time. This was a very new concept of networking at that time and hasn’t been duplicated yet. You can say short things on Twitter that you want your people to know. These are known as tweets. You can post your own tweets as well as read other people’s tweets. If you like someone, you can follow them. If you stop liking someone, you can unfollow them. This is great for your business. If someone  is impressed with what you are trying to sell them, then they can follow you to let you know more about them.

4. Flickr – Flickr is different because it is a photo sharing website. It was again a pioneering concept when it was launched—the concept of being able to share pictures was something new—and though it has been imitated a lot, Flickr still remains the original one. Flickr helps you to make your account on the website and then you can load your photos. You could post photos of your products as a means of promotion. If people like your pictures, they will connect with you. You can impress them with your product images and then they will want to know more about you.

5. Digg – Digg is another relatively new concept that has really caught on. With Digg, you can post your own content which is usually some news article or some media. When people like it, they can digg it, which allows them to post their comments on the content or give a rating for it. The content with the largest number of diggs gets the most popular and is viewed by a large number of people. If you think about it, this is a wonderful way to bring your product out into the open.

Apart from these, here are some other really popular and effective social networking places where you can put your content on. These are places where people can find your content, and interact with it in several ways, thus enhancing your business in several ways.

6. StumbleUpon

7. FriendFeed

8. Del.icio.us

9. Diigo

10. eKudos

11. BlogMarks

12. LiveJournal

13. Bebo

14. BlinkList

15. Evernote

16. Google Buzz

17. Google Reader

18. JumpTags

19. Ning

20. Newsvine

21. Netvouz

22. NetVibes

23. N4G

24. Mixx

25. MyLinkVault

26. Mister Wong

27. Ping.fm

28. Plurk

29. PrintFriendly

30. Slash Dot

31. Squidoo

32. Twittley

33. Buzz Up!

34. TechMeme

35. AOL’s Propeller

Try popularizing your content on all of these places if you can. You will be building an amazing viewer base for your articles and you will be really able to reach out to your niche crowd.