Here are some of the most common misconceptions about social networks and how they may be used by businesses.
1. My business is not the right type to benefit from social media marketing.
Many entrepreneurs have said the same thing – today, however, businesses ranging from auto mechanics to soft drink brands derive significant amounts of revenue from social networking, and the trend is on the rise.
2. Social Networks are only used by younger people.
While it’s true that the premier social networking site, Facebook, was originally exclusively for college students, for some years Facebook has been open for anyone to join. In fact, recent research shows that most users are now 35 and up, reflecting the demographics of the developed world.
3. Setting up social network marketing will be expensive.
This is a common misunderstanding. On a social network, you aren’t building a complete, functioning ecommerce site – you’re simply creating a presence – a “personality” which reflects who you are as a business. The tricky part, naturally, is in getting this right – which is where expert help can make the critical difference.
4. Maintenance of social networking pages will be time consuming and complex.
You won’t need to issue a 10 page exhaustive update of all your activities on a daily basis, but you will need to provide some updates to maintain interest. Guide the conversation and create excitement and buzz by choosing topics wisely.
5. A social networking presence is only useful for selling products.
Social networks have now become one of the most powerful and valuable sources of feedback from customers – unfortunately, nothing spreads faster than bad news in today’s networked world. Customers may not tell you about dissatisfaction on your own website or email, but they may well talk about it on Facebook. Keeping your ear to the ground is essential in today’s competitive market.
6. Blogs have no impact on business – there are simply too many bloggers online.
While it’s true that there is a large and ever-increasing number of bloggers out there, it’s still possible for a blog to have a positive impact on your business. Experts can help you choose the correct choice of subject matter and frequency of updates to ensure your blog features high in the search results for a given topic.
7. Monitoring social networks for “buzz” or “hot topics” will not make any significant difference to business.
In today’s wired world, employing a professional business partner to carry out “buzz monitoring” can be business critical. A large computer company recently found out through buzz monitoring on Facebook that there was a significant fault with one of their newest products – this early alert enabled them to replace the faulty goods and alter their manufacturing process before any further damage was done.
8. It doesn’t matter which social network I choose – they are all the same.
Choosing the correct social network to join could be the difference between success and failure. While Facebook works for many, other businesses might find the business-orientated “LinkedIn” more appropriate. A purely technology company might consider a presence in the avatar-based Second Life. There is little purpose in promoting your business in the wrong arena, which is where experts can help.
9. It’s all just a fad – social networking will soon be replaced by a new trend – why bother to get involved?
Social networking’s popularity has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. Not only this, it has changed the paradigm of how consumers and producers interact into a multi-dimensioned communal experience. Social networking is not going to go away – it’s more likely to replace the internet as we know it.
10. My business will not benefit from social networking.
To many internet users today, a business without a social networking presence simply doesn’t exist in some important senses. This trend is only likely to increase as time goes on. A business which ignores this phenomenon is liable to be seen as a dinosaur.
In conclusion, it should be clear that social networking can benefit almost any business type – but correct execution is critical, which is where expert internet marketing consultants can help.
Guest post written by Daniel Offer. He is the Director of Athena IT Limited, his firm operates a Facebook chat emoticons project called Emoinstaller. It is a freeware product that enables users to add Facebook emoticons with ease to their Facebook account. Users have access to more than 900 Facebook smileys once Emoinstaller is installed.
Posted in Social Networking
This post was inspired by a thread on one of the internet marketing forums I moderate. People are arguing about the legitimacy of a certain program and the owner of it. There are some people calling it a scam and others defending it. However, one thing that stood out to me is that some of the people defending it are doing so based on the argument of how “nice” the owner apparently is even though they haven’t actually joined or have any real inside knowledge about it. If you ask me that’s about the worst way you could possibly make a business decision.
If you really think about it for a minute you will see that it is in the best interest of any scammer or shady business person to be nice and come off as a great person. That’s how they get you to trust them and ultimately give them your money or time, or whatever they are after. If they walked up to you and said, “Hi my name is John Doe, I am a total asshole and nothing but a scammer” — you wouldn’t be stupid enough to join their program or send them your money.
Instead they come off as very nice, helpful, legitimate and having your best interests in mind. Therefore, you trust them and defend them when someone calls them out for doing something shady or for flat out being a scam artist. That’s how they lure people in and give them a sense of security. They want you to think they are the greatest person in the world.
I’m not saying the particular internet marketer and program being discussed in the forum thread that inspired me to write this is a scam. I don’t know because I haven’t looked into it other than what is being said there. My point is simply that overall you should never get into a business, program, opportunity, or anything else just because the owner or someone else high up in the organization is a nice person.
Do plenty of research and get real information from people who have nothing to gain by giving it to you. Always make a truly informed decision before spending any money or time on any sort of internet marketing product or business opportunity. And don’t defend something unless you have actually joined and know firsthand what you are talking about. A nice owner doesn’t make something legit.
Posted in Internet Marketing, online business
When you are new to internet marketing then you will usually be called a “newbie” by the more experienced marketers. It’s not a bad thing it’s just the way it is. And if you are a newbie then I am sure you know that you have a lot to learn about online marketing and there’s a long journey ahead of you. As you begin your quest to learn how to make money online, you will find an incredible amount of information and resources. Some of it will be very beneficial to you but a large amount of it will be completely useless crap.
To help you start in the right direction toward success, I am going to give you a few pieces of internet marketing advice in this post that every newbie should read.
The first major piece of advice I can give you is to watch out for scams. There are plenty of very helpful and totally legitimate internet marketers out there but there are also a lot of scammers who are just waiting for a newbie to fall into their traps. As a general rule, if something sounds way too good to be true then it probably is, so don’t fall for the hype. You aren’t going to get rich in a month with little or no work, so run far away from anything that promises you will. Always do plenty of research on something or someone before sending any money.
The second piece of advice I have for you is that you need to be prepared to be very committed to your internet business and ready for a lot of work. Yes, internet marketing can be a lot of fun and you can make a lot of money doing it without breaking your back or enduring the corporate grind. However, that does not mean that you don’t have to work hard or put in a lot of time and dedication to it. You will have to work hard if you want to become a successful internet marketer. It’s going to be a while before you can sip mai tais on the beach while the money keeps rolling into your account. That is a fact!
The third thing you should remember is that you need a plan. This might be the most important of the three. Taking the plunge to become an internet marketer is a huge step in itself but trying to build a successful online business without any sort of plan is a bad idea. Your plan should be filled with short term goals as well as long term goals, and how you will achieve them. It can be modified as needed along the way but sticking to it as closely as you can will yield the best results.
Okay, now you have 3 very important pieces of internet marketing advice to remember. As a newbie it is very easy to fall for scams, not be committed enough, and forget about a plan. Don’t make those mistakes! Your online business will become successful if you follow this advice and stick with it even when things get tough.
Posted in Internet Marketing, online business
For the few of you who haven’t already noticed, the king of internet marketing, Grizzly Brears, is back in full force! After several months of not posting on any of his main make money online blogs and a couple years since any real regular updates, plus getting one very popular blog deleted recently, he now has 3 blogs he has been writing on the past month or so.
* Grizzly Brears – His newest one that contains all the old posts from his highly popular “Make Money Online for Beginners” blog that was recently deleted. There’s a ton of great information here already and I am sure more will be added over time.
* Internet Marketing Lessons – Another new one that I know will grow to become an incredible resource.
* Make Money Online with Griz – This is one of his older blogs but he has finally started updating it again.
I know a lot about internet business and SEO but he puts me to shame. I’ve learned more about internet marketing, blogging, search engine optimization, and making money online from him than I have from everyone else combined in the almost 8 years I have been an online marketer.
He has been truly missed by me and many others. Let’s hope he sticks around this time!
Dedicated to your success,
Trent Brownrigg
Posted in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Make Money Online, online business, SEO
When you are first getting started with internet marketing, it’s very easy to make mistakes that end up turning into some bad habits. Many of these happen as a result of trying to cut corners or take the easy way out. It’s impossible for me to list or discuss every mistake many new internet marketers make but here are three that you should be sure to avoid.
1) Not Understanding Your Customers
Before starting an internet business, launching a website, blog, or creating a product it is essential that you understand who your target market is and what their wants and needs are. If you dive in head first without doing the necessary research then you are setting yourself up for failure from the start. Instead, take the time to do some market research and learn everything you can about your potential customers. If you know who you’re marketing to you will be able to create and promote the right products or services to them correctly.
2) Selling Products, Not Solutions
For a product to be successful the customer needs to see the value in it. In other words, your products/services need to solve a problem the customer has as efficiently as possible. If your product doesn’t really offer the customer a solution to a problem, or answers to their questions, then your product won’t seem nearly as valuable to the customer as it otherwise would. The more valuable your product is in your customers’ eyes, the more sales you will make. It’s that simple!
3) Wasting Your Customers Time
When dealing with your customers it’s important to be upfront about who you are, what your internet business is all about, and what you are offering. If you waste time dancing around the facts, costs, purpose of your product, or anything else — Your potential customers will not stick around for long. Be clear about everything from the start and you will be a lot more successful in the long run. Stay away from hype and false promises. You might lose the customers who like to fall for that stuff but in the long run it will be much better for your internet marketing business.
As you can see, these three common internet marketing mistakes revolve around mishandling the customer or the product. If you make a real effort to understand your customers and their needs, you will be on the fast track to online business success.
Posted in Internet Marketing
