Internet Social Network Marketing

Ramona wrote in an asked, “I’d like more information on social network marketing. How do you use social networks to drive people to your website?”

I’m going to answer this question over the next 2 articles, because this is a complicated question. In this article I specifically answer:

• How I’ve successfully driven visitors from social networks, to my site
• How to create a successful newsletter
• Tons of tips on social network tricks

In the next article, I’ll talk about:

• Search engine optimizing your articles
• Common blogging mistakes
• Viral blogging

Social Network Marketing

I think most people fail at marketing through social networks because:

• The obvious tactics don’t work anymore
• They don’t know how to use the social networking site
• They don’t know how to automate posting to social networks
• They don’t have interesting content on their websites
• They ignore less crowded sites

Use Blog Forums to Drive Traffic to Your Site

Most people ignore less crowded areas, such as blog forums. Blog forums provide you with the opportunity to contribute answers to specific questions.

When I first started writing my blog, I didn’t know what to write about. So I went to a site called Technorati, that categorizes all the blogs on the internet. I knew I wanted to write on technology, psychology and health. So, I followed this procedure:

• Looked up which blogs get the most traffic on those topics on Technorati
• Go to Technorati, click on the blog search option and type in my topic i.e.. Dieting
• I read the questions that people posted in those forums
• I then wrote articles that answered those questions
• I returned to the forum, posted a brief answer and provided a link to the article

Most of my traffic, to this day, comes from this process. Is it time consuming? Yes, but I guarantee it will work!

I do pretty much the same thing on You Tube. If a popular You Tubber, posts a “Question of the Day”, that I can contribute to, I post a video response that points to my website.

Forum Mistakes

Most people who try to promote themselves on forums fail because they act like advertisements. They either:

• Post comments that don’t have anything to do with the question
• Post a message like “I have the answer to that at www.junksite.com”
• Post an ad that doesn’t have anything to do with the question
• Only post answers when they can provide a link to their site

What you Should Do on Forums

• Post comments without linking to your site
• Post comments related to the question
• Provide a simple answer and point to the full answer on your site
• Give your real opinion, even if it’s negative
• Never post an ad type comment
• Provide a link to your blog if you are given the opportunity

Marketing Your Website on Twitter

Ask yourself, would you go to a networking event and scream at the top of your lungs, “My Widgets are on Sale?” That is exactly what people do on Twitter, and then wonder why they don’t get results.

I wrote an article on How to Get More Twitter Followers, but since then I’ve found a better way to attract people on Twitter. It is very hard to attract people to your website through Twitter, without tricks, because:

• Your Tweet will only remain on the screen for a few seconds
• Many of the most popular people on Twitter, constantly Tweet, and obscure your Tweets
• Most people don’t even read most of the comments
• You can’t direct message someone unless they follow you

Twitter Tricks

Your goal on Twitter is to get involved in small niche areas there. In your right sidebar in Twitter, click on Trending. The most talked about topics on Twitter will then pop up. You can search for Trends in multiple states and countries here.

• Often a hot topic will have a hash tag attached to it. A hash tag looks like this #. If you have something to ad on this topic, write a Tweet and include that topic with the hash tag. Here is an example, using the hash tag topic for dieting #DIETING.
• I lost 69 lbs in 5 months here is how http://bit.ly/b3vN0d #DIETING

You may not recognize the web address in that Tweet? You can shorten the length of you website addresses at bit.ly. People do this on Twitter to conserve space. Just follow these steps to shorten your web page address:

• Copy the address of the page you want to link to
• Go to bit.ly
• Paste the full address into the box labeled “Shorten with bit.ly”
• Click the Shorten Button
• Copy the shortened address that is created and post it on Twitter

Search for Questions on Twitter

Since my blog is dedicated to answering questions, I know what questions people ask on Twitter. If I want people to know about my diet page, I search for those questions on Twitter. It’s often best to surround your search phrase with quotes “ “.

Then after I swim through a sea of marketing Tweet’s I find real question’s that I can provide real answers to. Just drift your mouse over the question on Twitter and the word Reply pops up. Click Reply and send your answer. They will appreciate it and will maybe re-Tweet it for you.

A Few More Tip’s on Twitter

• Make sure you use your own photo on Twitter
• Make or download an original background for your page, not the default
• Get nice backgrounds at twitterbackgroundsgallery.com
• Don’t post marketing messages on Twitter
• Be respectful and helpful

Marketing Your Website on Facebook

I have found Facebook to be a terrible place to market yourself, but I’ve had a little success. Again I used a tool that most people ignore. People go to Facebook to:

• Gossip
• Display pictures
• Chat
• Play games

I’ve only found one way to get people to go to your website through Facebook. And, no they won’t even go if you post interesting articles on your blog!

The only way to drive traffic is to create a Facebook Group. I show you how to set one up in this article How to Create a Facebook Group. If you pick an interesting movement for people to follow, they will often abandon Facebook and go to your website.

Sorry, that’s all I have on Facebook? If you have any tips, leave them in the comment section below.

Marketing Your Website through Newsletters

Every time I make a new newsletter, I get a 15 – 20% jump in web traffic for the next 4 – 5 days. I wrote an article on How to Set Up Email Newsletters. You also want to follow these tips:

• Spend time making an attractive newsletter
• List all of your most popular recent posts with a brief description
• Make the newsletter informational and not a giant marketing ad
• If your newsletter is an ad, make it beautiful
• Here are Great Email Newsletters
• Make newsletters that are highly targeted to the different types of readers you have

Marketing Your Website through YouTube

40% of my website traffic comes from the video’s and forum questions I post on You Tube! Here I just follow the same rules I follow when I write comments on web site forums.

• Go to popular YouTube video vloggers
• See if I can make a comment or video based on their video or QOTD
• QOTD stands for Question of the Day (Many Vlogger’s have them)
• Place my web address on screen a few times, during the video

I wrote an article on How to Video Blog. Even though I personally don’t follow those rules, I really should. You can see my video’s all over this site.

More Social Network Marketing Tips

• If you are using WordPress to blog, sign up for a ping.fm account
• Here is an article on How to Post to Multiple Sites with Ping.fm
• Here is an article on How to Post to Multiple Video Sites with TubeMogul
• Write about stuff that excites you

That’s All Folk’s

If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comment section below. Next time I’ll explain the anatomy of a Search Engine Optimized Blog Article.

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