How to Put it All Together

Find Trust in New Friends!

When that happens people will gladly step out of the social channel into your sales funnel if they truly believe you are going to help them out. There is NO WAY to cheat trust and win! When traditional marketing people recognize that real involvement is a requirement, marketing in the social sphere will make more sense and truly help brand recognition. Yes, it takes more time and planning but the reward opportunity is only limited by your own imagination. At this point the transition from social to sales lies totally in your follower’s mind. There is no push or sense of urgency, it is a natural progression that stems from your online social persona.

Sooner Or Later…Better Sooner

It is not a question of “if” it is a question of “when” your business will engage social networks. If you look at Twitter you can see names like CNN News, Google, Tony Robbins etc. Additionally, when you get close to your marketplace you may learn things that cause you to re-engineer your sales process because of what the people are saying or asking for. It is how the master minds create pinpointed solutions that are irresistible offers.

Social Networking Thoughts to Ponder

Baby Boomers Love Social Networking

Although Facebook was created for kids by a kid (Harvard undergrad student Mark Zuckerberg, 26 years old in 2011), parents are connecting with old high school friends, flames, and even teachers. Currently 33% of internet users have memberships in social networks. This is an increase of 8% from 2005 as reported by Pew Internet & American Life Project.

A few people I talked to in my age group had some very telling information for me.

  1. James, 44 embraced social networks early in 2008 because he feels mobile again. After a horrific car accident that left him confined to a wheelchair the rest of his life, social networking gives him his legs back again. From making videos at YouTube to mingling with old friends on Facebook life is great for James.
  2. After suffering from a stroke in 2004, Rudy, 55 decided to hook up with old buddies in a few popular networks. As a retired internet marketing professional he loves sharing his love for college football with network friends.
  3. Joy, 44 is happily married with 4 lovely children—2 boys and 2 girls. After the kids hit their teens life has been challenging for her. Joy shares social space online with many other women that share raising teens as a common interest. As woman love to talk, conversations often go into careers, romance, and other interesting topics.

Social Networking Growth Facts

  • “The last six months have been a turning point in terms of people going from not seeing a reason for social networking to fully embracing it,” says Lance Ulanoff, editor of PCMag.com.
  • Currently, 16.5 million adults ages 55 and older engage in social networking
  • 25% of Adults 18 -25 are involved in social media- AND GROWING
  • Are search engines using the voting side of social networks to help determine rankings?
  • Facebook is seeing the most growth among users age 30 and older
  • AARP.org unveiled its social networking platform

Create an Approach

You want to join a network and be received with opened arms.

The only two investments we have are time and money. Both are precious and limited. How can we put all this together and make sense out of it? It’s simply TOO HUGE to get your head around. Well, there is an approach to the social side of the internet that can help your business—it’s called a social network plan. What is a plan and how does it work? More than anything it is a change in thinking from the highest levels. Instead of sitting in a bush waiting for your competition to walk right by you, embrace business social marketing. When you join a social network it is your Find out How Easy it is to gain a strong Social Presenceweb property as long as you abide by the rules. It should be looked it that way and each part of a predefined, themed network grid that speaks to your business mantra in some way.

5 Steps To Prospect Your Network

  1. Learn the Mood- Look around and see the flow. What are people saying, what is the content of videos are playing?
  2. Information Collection- Based on step 1 you should collect information that is relevant to what they like. Sometimes you can post things if you are not sure and ask new friends what they think about it.
  3. Comment Contribution- On other blogs, forums etc post your helpful comments—you are leaving a signature every time you post. Make comments helpful, educational and thought provoking
  4. Relationship Building- talk to people that show interest in your comments. Answer questions pointed at you that put the asker in the right direction
  5. Expand- Explore each network for other users that share common interests. Invite them to join your network. Find relevant groups—join them. Get to now the other members—invite them to join your network. When people join your network, talk to them; tell them you appreciate their involvement.

The above steps are perpetual—-consequent growth is relative to the time and effort put into the above steps. Don’t be so concerned about what you know, think about what they (Your new friends and followers) know. As long as you are cultivating good meaningful content people you connect with can quickly butterfly. Now you know the important steps lead to building trustworthy relationship with your audience.

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