Friday, December 10, 2010

Most Important Etiquettes of Social Networking

Social media, including sites like Twitter and Facebook, can help you find a perspective client and connect with people who can assist you with growing your business.



While I highly recommend you read this entire article, I thought I’d highlight some of the do’s and don’t here.

# DON’T spam. Ever – Self-explanatory, no?

# DON’T keep everything private. – Online privacy is important. It’s very important. But if you’re keeping every social interaction private, why are you even taking part in social media? Stick to emails and instant messengers and text messaging if that’s your goal, and stop making everyone else feel like your “club” is too exclusive.

#sabotage

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com
DON’T “go after” competitors. – If your competitor does something stupid, comment on it to your heart’s content. But don’t take part in social media sabotage — trying to bury their posts or news stories, trying to get them banned from social media platforms, or pretending to be an unhappy customer for example.

# DON’T create multiple handles to “gang up.” – If other people aren’t supporting your viewpoint, that should tell you something. It’s never okay to comment using multiple fake identities to try to support your own point (making it look like several people are agreeing). Not only is that idiotic, but you will get caught and exposed.

# DON’T try to incite a mob mentality. — In addition to not setting up multiple identities of your own, also avoid trying to incite a social media mob. If you blatantly go around telling everyone to comment on something with the same opinion, you’re guilty of manipulating the conversation. Share a link? Yes. Tell people what to say or encourage them to gang up? I don’t think so.

# DO think before “speaking.” – Yes, social media involves the ability to publish your thoughts instantly. But just because something pops into your head, it doesn’t mean it should be shared with the world. Think first.

# DO personalize messages and introductions. — When you first connect with someone new and they don’t already know you, go ahead and say hello. Let them know how you came across them. It’s a little less creepy and you might just make a great impression.

# DO think (and network) outside your circle. — If your social networks only involve people who agree with you, you’re living in a box. It’s silly at best.

# DON’T post questionable photos of others without their permission. — Regardless of whether or not you legally need a model release to post a certain photo, don’t post anything questionable or compromising of someone else unless you check with them first. It’s just the right thing to do. And if you don’t, remember this — karma’s a bitch. You have no idea what they have on you.

# DON’T send automated messages to new followers. — When someone follows you on Twitter, don’t use automated tools to immediately bombard them with messages (no matter how sweet you think you’re being in your not-so-personal “hello”). Remember, it’s not just you annoying them — others are doing it too.

# DO use your real name whenever possible. — At a bare minimum, use a recognizable name (such as a common pen name everyone already knows for you). When you interact anonymously, very little holds you accountable for your actions and words.
# DON’T excessively link to your own site(s). — This is another common sense one. No one cares about your site enough to want to see a link to it in every message you send out there in social media land. You’ll eventually just be viewed as a link spammer.

# DO give back. — Social media is a two-way street. Give as much as you get. Better yet, give even more!

#stalker

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com
DON’T turn into a social media stalker. – Please don’t follow people around on the social Web like a lost puppy. It really is rather creepy. Unless you’re best buds, no one wants to see you not only on Facebook and Twitter but also on all of their niche social sites ranging from crocheting to auto body repair.

# DON’T invite everyone you know to every social media tool you decide to use. — If they’re already networking with you in two or three places, that’s enough. Really. Unless the new service is completely ground-breaking, don’t nag them with invites.

Consider these rules while you are chalking out your SMM marketing plan and you can stop worrying about your efforts backfiring on you.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Influence of Social Networking on Marketing…

Needless to say that today Internet is the widely used medium to reach the target public, the web marketers keep inventing innovative ways or tactics to convert a potential customer into a regular customer of the company. Social Influence Marketing is one of the latest methods that online marketers are using to grab more and more customers and also to retain the existing ones, by motivating them time and again to purchase a particular product or service. Take a look:-



Social Influence Marketing basically means targeting the niche community in your social network. It involves using different social platforms to develop healthy relationship between you and your potential audience.

It is noticed that the target public is exposed to the advertising clutter and the consumers are bombarded with numerous advertisements. This is the stage where customers have to decide what brand of a particular product line they should go for. In such cases, word-of-mouth acts like a catalyst to woo these targets.

As a web marketer you may come across various customers who purchase your products and are happy using it. Now, out of all these satisfied customers there may be some customers who are spreading a word of appreciation for your brand, product or service.

You need to identify those few customers and use them as your key influencers to create a buzz for your product or service.

Social Media Influencers also known as the Opinion Leaders are the key people who have great ability to influence the buying habits of your potential targets.

These social media influencers can be the satisfied or unsatisfied customers who prefer to share their experience of using a product or service with their peers, family etc. You need to identify them on the basis of their behavior rather than their demography. This means that these people have an attractive social networking behavior like that of the college students, the teens etc.

It is a common tendency that before purchasing a particular product, we tend to know its reviews. These reviews help us make the decision of buying or not buying that product.

Can the Social Media Influencer really affect your sales?

* Yes, the social media influencer's can really affect your sales. It is because these people have a knack of participating in a number of conversations on various platforms like blogs, various discussion forums, direct mails, Twitter, Facebook etc.
* Personal interaction works. Social media influencer act as a marketing person for the company (in disguise) and a well wisher for the general target audience of the company.

Also, the web marketers use several tactics to retain these social media influencers. For example: - discounted rates, coupons, vouchers, free trips etc.

Therefore, to conclude we can say that personal interaction and human touch can really help you boost your sales. Thus, the use of social media influencers as a part of your social influence marketing strategy is the need of the hour.