As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, social media has become extremely popular in recent years.
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube are growing faster than any other type of social communication.
Social media is a huge untapped source of leads, prospects and business partners for YOUR business and best of all, it’s FREE.
So, to profit from the social media craze, you’ll need to know exactly how to monetize this latest untapped source of potential business partners.
This is exactly what I am going to cover today. I want to show you exactly what you need to do to get results with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace.
However, before I get into the specifics of how you should use each of the sites mentioned above, I would like to point out one thing. The ultimate purpose of every social networking website is relationship building. This is the only purpose you should be motivated by when you join a group on Facebook or send a Tweet.
Relationship building is an essential ingredient to a successful internet marketing business and the sooner you understand this concept the better.
Let us begin!
My space
Just a year ago, MySpace was the largest and fastest growing community on the Internet with more than 240 million registered users. Today MySpace has lost its popularity among users but it has not lost it among search engines.
To this day, MySpace is one of the first sources Google turns to when it needs information. What this means is that you can use it to your advantage by creating different MySpace profiles to drive more search engine traffic for your particular business/opportunity.
Don’t get me wrong here, it doesn’t mean you should just use it for that. You still have the opportunity to socialize on MySpace quite effectively, but right now, the main benefit of MySpace in my opinion is the SEO juice you can squeeze out of it.
Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that allows its users to send and read updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts up to 140 characters in length, displayed on a user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them, also known as followers.
Twitter is an amazing social network, which really qualifies for the expression “social media craze”. If you don’t know what I mean, just get over four thousand followers, like I did, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. My Twitter home page is pure insanity and socializing on Twitter without a client is no longer an option.
What makes Twitter unique though, aside from the 140 character limit, is the ability to drive massive viral traffic to your website.
Twitter is the easiest tool to drive traffic, especially if you are running a blog or newsletter, it has incredible viral power potential.
If you’ve ever heard the expression “Word of Mouth Marketing” and didn’t know what it means, then Twitter explains it very well. Imagine if your Tweet with a link to your site went viral. Imagine that the tweet is retweeted about 300 times. Imagine if each of those ReTweets only generated 3-4 clicks at a time, how much traffic would you get?
That’s right, A LOT!
Youtube
YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, Google bought YouTube for US$1.65 billion and it now operates as a subsidiary of Google.
YouTube, being the largest video sharing network online, is a great place to do some video marketing. But why is Video Marketing so important? Why is it so crucial that you do it? Yes that’s how it is! Building a relationship.
Can you think of a better way to establish a relationship with a complete stranger? What can be more powerful when it comes to building trust with another person on the internet than a video? What could have more impact on that person than seeing you move, hearing you talk, and hearing your thoughts come out of your mouth instead of reading them on their 15-inch laptop screen?
If you can think of a better way to do it (besides a live webcam chat of course) than please be my guest and reveal it to me, because to this day, I haven’t come across anything better than Video Marketing. .
A Harvard University student originally founded Facebook with a couple of his roommates to create a virtual community exclusively for Harvard University attendees. Website membership was initially limited but later expanded to other colleagues until Facebook was made available to anyone over the age of 13.
Right now, Facebook is one of the largest social communities with over 200 million active users. However, what makes it different from MySpace, Twitter and YouTube? Why is it so essential to your social media domination plan?
Well, personally, I can’t answer that question with a specific benefit. Facebook is simply a great place to build STRONG, BULLETPROOF, ROCK SOLID relationships. I have yet to find a community where people are more open and ready to socialize with complete strangers all over the planet.
For me, Facebook is like another big family. I truly admire and respect each of my Facebook friends. It’s very easy to meet people and connect with them on Facebook. It is very easy to get lost in endless chats and conversations there.
I have a lot of my friends, just leading another life there! It’s so easy to fall in love with Facebook and it definitely leaves other social networks behind when it comes to building a strong and lasting relationship with a complete stranger.
Having shared this information with you, I just want to point out once again that your primary goal on any social networking site and in every social community should be to build relationships first while driving traffic and generating leads second.