Network Business

Recently I held a call about the biggest myths of marketing on Facebook. One myth I mentioned I see discouraging small business owners is that “Facebook alone will get you clients and customers.” This would be great if it was true of course.

Do people get clients and customers as a result of being on Facebook? Absolutely. But slapping up a profile and expecting the money to roll in is not going to happen. You might be surprised how many people end up discouraged because they’ve been on Facebook for a while and aren’t getting results. This is usually because they don’t understand how Facebook fits into their overall marketing picture.

It’s about consumers consuming what it is you are putting out there-which essentially, is content. You are gradually and steadily building momentum through relationships, word of mouth and the “know, like and trust” factor-which leads to traffic, to subscribers and eventually to sales.

Facebook is excellent for establishing expertise and credibility, for exposing your brand, boosting your visibility in front of your target market and even for market research-finding out what people need and want so that you can then go create and package those solutions for them.

Honestly, there is no faster way to create brand recognition and credibility and quickly connect to hundreds of thousands of people who are looking for what it is you offer.

So what should be one of your biggest goals? Traffic. Before you even get on Facebook, you must have a website or blog to drive people to first. You need to be able to continue to build those relationships outside of Facebook. And the best way to do that is to have a way to get people on your email list.

People don’t buy from you right off of Facebook. They also don’t buy from you the first time they visit your website, right? You have to build up that trust. But Facebook is amazing for strengthening that familiarity and credibility and for driving people to your site so they can get to know even more about what it is that you do.

The next time you get frustrated with Facebook or social media results in general, remember that there is no such thing as overnight success. But stick with it and the seeds you plant now will result in business rewards before you know it.

Social media has come to play an incredibly important role in the marketing campaigns of a variety of different businesses. Here are 8 rules of social media optimization that you must follow to ensure that you maximize the results of your social media marketing campaign.

1. Increase Your Website’s Linkability

The problem with a lot of websites is that they are static. Their content remains the same and nothing on the site is updated on a regular basis. Increasing the linkability of your site is one of the first and most important steps of social media optimization and SEO. The easiest way to get started with this is by adding a blog to your site and updating it regularly.

2. Develop a Clear Social Media Optimization Strategy

All marketing campaigns have a strategy behind them and SMO is no different. Define your objectives and set goals that will help you reach your desired outcome, whether that is credibility, a boost in reputation, site traffic, or increased conversions. One of the biggest mistakes that many companies make is not approaching SMO with clear goals or a strategy.

3. Stay Fresh

Don’t be afraid to be different in social media. The social media landscape is constantly morphing and the companies that dare to be unique are the ones that end up with the most successful SMO campaigns and getting national PR. Keep up with all the new tools and products that pop up to stay on top of your game.

4. Make It Easy for Readers to Tag and Bookmark

When you add features like the “add to del.icio.us” and the “Retweet” buttons to your content, it serves as a direct reminder for people to share your content. Many bloggers receive a 100% increase in retweets when they add the button. When a lot of people tweet or Digg your content, you get a lot of social proofing. Nonetheless, you don’t necessarily have to make it easier for people to tag and bookmark since great content will be shared no matter what.

5. Help People for Nothing in Return (Yet)

To put it simply, in social media, you have to give value to get value. You can pass along links that would help someone resolve an issue or give them advice if they need it. Eventually, people will come to see you as a source of information. This will lead them to link to your site or tag it as being an authoritative site in your niche, gradually boosting your reputation and improving your search engine ranking.

6. Participate Fully in the Community

Participation is the core of social media. Social media is a two-way street. You must create awareness of your brand and spread your message by participating in social media outlets on a regular basis. Your reputation and message will spread faster and further if you actively participate.

7. Know Your Target Audience

In order to make content and market ideas that are compelling to your target audience, you have to know them well. You have to realize that you can’t appeal to everyone. That’s why it’s important to know who your main audience is so you can tweak your messages to appeal to them. In order to learn who your audience is, you have to become a member of the community yourself.

8. Be authentic

Social media users are becoming more and more skilled at spotting fakers so to avoid being shunned and prevent damage from being done to your reputation, be authentic in your interactions.