5 Social Networking Tips For The Internet Marketer

Social networking has become a vital internet marketing resource.  With the number of social networking sites continuing to grow, it will continue to be a critical factor in marketing online. 

Some of the largest corporations in the world are now devoting a large portion of their advertising budgets to social networking.  You’d be hard pressed to find a corporation that takes its marketing serious not on Facebook or Twitter.  With competition so stiff, it is critical that internet marketers have a sound social networking strategy.

Although no social networking strategy can be considered full-proof, there are some very basic tips that can be used to maximize results:

1. Create a profile complete with picture and bio.  Like the old saying goes, “you never get a 2^nd chance to make a 1^st impression.”  Fair or unfair, people form an immediate opinion of you or your business as a result of your profile.  Incomplete profiles without pictures don’t get nearly the response of those with a picture and bio.  Remember you’re on a social networking site, so people want to see who you are and what you’re about.  With that in mind, avoid using logos or celebrity pictures on your profile.  Use a real picture of yourself (preferably smiling or doing something you love).  Letting people see the real you projects trust and genuineness.

2. Join groups that pertain to your online niche or business.  This is an area a lot of internet marketers neglect when joining social networking sites.  Social networking sites often have very large communities of people who share common interests.  Joining a group of like-minded people who share your passions is a great way to network and get noticed. 

3. Don’t spam friends and/or groups.  This is easily the biggest mistake internet marketers make when joining a social network.  Some online marketers have barely been a member a few minutes before they are sending mass messages to all who have accepted their friend requests.  Nothing turns off a fellow social networker more than getting spam from an overzealous internet marketer every few hours.  Taking the time to build a relationship with friends on a social network is much more affective than immediately going at them with a sales pitch. 

4. Avoid commentary on social issues.  When you’re active on a social network, it may be hard to avoid joining in on discussions about politics, race, religion, sex, etc., but it should be avoided at all costs.  As an internet marketer your goal is growing your online business and building online wealth, not expressing your opinion on hot-button topics.  Check out any large company’s social network profile on Facebook or Twitter and you won’t find any commentary on politics, religion or other highly charged subjects.  They don’t want to offend any group and they want everyone to feel as if they are welcome, and so should you. 

5. Be sincere.  Social networking for business purposes is all about building and gaining trust.  Being dishonest or misleading people can have dire consequences.  The last thing an online marketer needs is an unfavorable reputation amongst a large community of internet savvy people.  The Internet is a powerful vehicle and can be used to not only build credibility, but also to destroy it.  

Social networking is an outstanding source of free web traffic, but it must be used responsibly by internet marketers.  It can be a tricky form of online promotion, but keeping the above tips in mind should help avoid some of the major pitfalls of social network marketing.

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A Simple Guide For Deciding On An Online Niche

Niche marketing has become a very popular buzz phrase in the world of internet marketing.  Deciding on an online niche may sound simple enough, but many people struggle when it comes to choosing an online niche.

However, there are a few simple guidelines that will make deciding on a niche a little easier.

Make sure your niche has adequate demand.  When deciding on a niche, choosing a product or service that people want or need is critical.  Products or services that solve a problem, educate or inform, make people look and/or feel better, and that make people's lives easier are ideal.  You don’t want a niche that is saturated, but at the same time, there must be enough demand for your product or service to be profitable.

Make sure your niche is not too broad.  At the very heart of niche marketing is breaking down larger more popular niches into smaller less competitive niches.  Finding smaller niches not only reduces competition, it decreases advertising costs and provides internet marketers with more targeted traffic.  For example, you might be interested in building a sports website (either selling products or providing information).  Obviously, sports is a hugely popular niche, but if you take sports and drill it down to fantasy sports or get even more specific with say a head-to-head fantasy sports niche, you will find a lot less competition in search engines and more targeted traffic to your website.

Thoroughly research keywords.  This is often the area where most people get it wrong in niche marketing.  Before deciding on a niche, a thorough examination of the associated keywords should be done.  Targeting keywords is a delicate process that often makes or breaks a website.  Ideally, less competitive keywords that still generate a steady amount of searches should be targeted.  Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a very useful tool in researching keywords. 

When done right, niche marketing can be a highly successful online business.  It reduces competition, lowers marketing costs and more effectively targets a desired customer base. 

As you can see, the formula is fairly simple, but careful consideration of the 3 previously covered steps will save aspiring niche marketers a lot of heartache and pain.

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