Social network marketing is one of the latest in a series of additional avenues available to Internet marketers that can increase their visibility online. Although it seems to be mostly ‘social’ chattering, there is a real potential to promote business on social networks. The concept of ‘networking’ has the perfect atmosphere in this new medium and in fact ‘social’ can translate to ‘professional’ quite nicely.
Some feel that there are other technologies that have a much more focused, more conducive to business environment specifically because it is such a ‘free-for-all’ atmosphere on social networks. If you want to have a focus group or a meeting, there is Skype conference, there are applications like Go to Meeting, or other ways to have a private VoIP web conference room.
Maybe an idea is to meet your friend Charlies’ Aunt Emma on a social network and begin chatting. Then at some point you have a discreet* conversation where you tell her about the glories of having your own home business. If she is interested maybe you invite her to a web conference or group chat to explain the details.
*Discreet – one of the main precepts of ‘networking’ is ‘to know and be known without having an (obvious) agenda’. Don’t insult people by ‘selling’ the first few times you meet them. If you push or rush you may very likely lose a friend and an opportunity. If you take your time and build a relationship it’s much better in both respects.
Creating a casual, natural environment in which to build relationships is conducive to promoting friendships as well as business opportunities. You can find stats that tell you for example a job recruiter is much more likely to consider a candidate who they have met; or who they have an introduction to than just an anonymous person on a message board. Well it is the same thing with trusting someone in a business opportunity. It is very natural to collaborate with someone you know online more so than just some ad that is pushed into their face.
Social network marketing can be a great benefit to many different situations as well as to online business. Again, it can be a natural environment where people can share information. They can promote their various causes and interests to others. Obviously they can reach millions of people online that they probably would not have access to offline.
If we widen our circle of ‘friends’ we are then going to be exposed to more networks of friends and families. It is a really great opportunity if done right. Much like the ‘old-school’ online forums, we are able to communicate with others publically. We can therefore reach a large audience.
If applicable the conversation can become private with the use of instant (chat) and private (text) messaging if you wish to go into more depth and answer specific questions. Instant communications is a great benefit to conducting business. It has none of the difficulties that tedious phone calls, voice mail messages, and email present.
