Social Media – The Future of Internet Marketing?

Dec 15, 2009 by admin

By Jimmy Krug.

Last week I had the privilege of speaking with a few Social Media Business Consultants.  When I started online during the mid-90’s, I built my own mailing list by visiting and participating in discussion forums.  Back then, there were only a handful of larger discussion boards.  Melvin Powers, a famed mail order expert from the 60′s and 70′s, had one of the first.  Within a short period of time, Bill Myer’s Product Development board and Anthony Blake’s Marketing Forum became two of the most popular boards in the business and marketing niche.

Discussion forums were an excellent way to meet people, answer questions and develop a mailing list of people who were interested in your products and services.  There was a time investment involved, of course, like anything else.  Eventually, it seemed as though everyone and their brother were developing discussion boards!  I had one myself between 1999 and 2001.

Over a decade later, discussion forums still exist, but the trend is now leading heavily toward Social Media.  Sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter became the twenty-first century versions of the original discussion forum model.  As a result, many of the discussion boards of old don’t have the type of traffic they did a decade ago.

Does this mean discussion forums are dying?  I seriously doubt that they’ll become completely extinct.  But the true is – Twitter and Facebook are the new “heavyweights” on the scene when it comes to the preference of the masses.  Now, before I say another thing, I have a confession to make.  I hate twitter.  I think twitter is one of the most ridiculous pastimes in existence today.

Why someone would care that I had Chinese food from Wang Fung’s for dinner and was just getting ready to walk the dog is beyond me?

So why am I suddenly on the topic of social media?  I had the opportunity to talk with several Social Media experts over the past month.  Companies are now paying a lot of money to discover what’s working and what isn’t.  This goes beyond the numbers of followers – which everyone and their brother seems to be coveting within Social Media circles.  What good is having 20,000 followers on paper if less than 1% is actually reading what you’re posting?

Like anything else, sheer numbers do not pay the bills.  Only bank deposits do!

There are plenty of businesses in the offline world located in densely populated areas with continuous streams to traffic passing by every day.  If traffic alone were the key, none of these companies or businesses would ever close their doors and go out of business.  And yet, we see it happen all the time.

The rules of business don’t change just because you plug the online world into the equation.  It all works the same way.

And so, after a year of testing, this is the advice I received from the Social Media Experts – the same advice several companies paid thousands of dollars for.

Twitter: The microblog platform performed at its best when plugged into a 3 step process.  For instance, most people are trying to funnel “followers” from Twitter to a sales letter page.  That would be considered a 2 step process.

Instead, use Twitter to funnel readers to a blog.  Then, connect the blog to a direct marketing sales letter/page.  Remember, in today’s fever pitch “buy now” economy, the lack of trust is greater than ever before.  Trust has to be earned more often than not.  The blog gives the person the option of “trying before they buy.”  If your free content is good, the perceived value of your pay content will be increased.

People are becoming more cautious about pulling the trigger… so put them at ease.

Both consultants I spoke with told me the 3 step process blew the 2 step process out of the water as far as results go in every instance except one.  The 2 step process was more successful when linking to downloadable coupons.

Digg It: You’ve gotta love the name if nothing else!  I was surprised to hear that Digg It is being used so successfully by a variety of companies to get their news stories out!  Signing up for Digg It is easy and only takes a few moments.  Once your article or story is listed, readers can give it the thumbs up “Digging it,” or a thumbs down – essentially burying it.  Like Twitter, Digg It can be linked to your Facebook account.  That means articles submitted to Digg It can appear on your “Wall” for Facebook friends/followers to read.  Also, Facebook posts can be linked to Twitter – creating a three way linking system.  The idea is, one article can now receive exposure on all of the big social networking platforms.  And, of course, all of this information is indexed or spidered by Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, etc.

Facebook: Facebook members, if all gathered together in the same geographical location, would represent the 4^th largest country in the world as of this writing.  The number shall only increase in the months to come.  Facebook allows you connect with friends, families, business associates and every type of niche group under the sun.  Designed with the “newbie” in mind, Facebook allows you to upload and share music, video, pictures and information of every imaginable type.  Your “Wall” is the basic equivalent of an interactive blog in which you can communicate with others.  Blogs, Twitter accounts – both can be connected to your Facebook account.  In other words, when you create a blog entry, you’re also creating an automated Facebook entry.  The same goes for Twitter.  Facebook entries can flow through to your Twitter account.  Of all the social networking tools on the planet, Facebook seems to be generating the best results for both companies and individual entrepreneurs.

What Does All This Mean To You?

Social media is a popular tool connecting people at a record pace.  Before proceeding, it would be wise to have a blueprint or a plan already in place.  If not, the potential of burning hundreds (if not thousands) of hours with little to no results will be a likely outcome.  Social Media isn’t magic.  Common sense and a keen business sense still apply.  The fact that most people have neither will ultimately work to your advantage.  Sad to say, but true nonetheless.

If you do not want to invest the time as part of your daily routine, there are other options.  In my case, I’ve been approached by a social media consultant who already has a large following and would like to sell my products and services.

If you have a friend who lives and breathes Facebook and Twitter, consider setting up an affiliate account at Paydotcom.com and chart their progress.  I already ran a personal test in this area and had sales within the hour!

In my case, leveraging time is worth having other people on “my team” as opposed to doing everything myself.  I’ve been there.  Christmas Day 1999 was spent getting a book order reprinted.  It stunk.  Technically, it was the evening that followed Christmas Day.  It still stunk.

There is no such thing as a right and wrong way to make money online as far as the tools and the vehicles you choose to deliver your message.  Video is great, but you don’t need video to sell.  If you can’t write but feel comfortable with Video, than video is obviously a better choice for you.  People make money using both – but that doesn’t make you HAVE TO have both for your particular business.  Are you following what I’m saying?  If a particular tool is working “a little bit” for you, it would be better trying to refine what you’re doing with that than to drop it and try something totally new.

All you need are a couple of tools working properly to make money.  Here in Florida, I don’t advertise at all.  I’m already a part of large Network and I secure clients the old fashioned way.  A company contacts me and tells me “so and so” sent them. Can you imagine that sort of thing still works?

Create a simple plan that you can grasp and follow day in and day out.  Within three months, if you stick with it, you should see some sort of results.  Refine your plan and check again in three more months to see where you’re at.  Without purposing to adhere to some kind of plan, you’re going to be all over the place and your online experience will be more exhausting that it will be rewarding.

I think that’s as good a place as any to put the bookmark in.

Take care and we’ll see you again – next month

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Online Mentor Magazine – December 2009