You might not know this, but social networking sites aren’t just for teenagers
anymore. In fact, social networking sites have evolved into something
different altogether than when they once were networks composed mainly of
teenage girls. Today, social networking sites span the spectrum of
demographic groups. While teenagers are still more apt to use them than
older people, there are now niche social networking sites, which target
people who all share some common interest, such as a skateboarding,
golfing, traveling, etc.

Now, in addition to teenagers and adults, social networks are increasingly
becoming used by another group of businesses. That’s right: many
businesses are now infiltrating social networks to advertise in some subtle
manner and then replicate their message through systems that are already
available within the social network.

The most prominent social networks are http://PeopleString.com,  http://www.myspace.com, http://facebook.com, and http://twitter.com which boasts membership bases of more than 1.06 hundred million.

That’s a big number!

If the product you are selling has a broad appeal, you may want to use MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to market your product, because you will be able to reach the largest amount of people more quickly.

To download a free ebook on how to use Twitter For Business, go to my blog here:  http://LanaRobinson.com and look through the Archives –
or click here to download it right now.

There are several different ways you can market your products and services
through social networking sites. One way is to setup a profile, purchase
what is called an adder robot, and then begin adding friends to your list on a
daily basis. The robot can add as many as 300 per day without any
problems. Depending on your goals, you may want to add a personal profile
for yourself and then talk about your business/product on your page; or you
may want to simply create a profile for your business and use that to market
your product. While you can send out bulletins advertising your products
and services using most social networking sites, most people that become
your ‘friends’ will find this offensive. If you aren’t careful, you could get
banned if enough people complain. It is probably a good idea to avoid this;
instead, post related bulletins that don’t advertise your product, but talk
about something similar. This will drive interested visitors to your page,
where they can learn more about the products / services you are selling.
Anytime you post a website in your profile, make sure it’s not your ‘affiliate’
link… make sure it’s your own domain name. We talked about forwarding
and masking domains earlier in this guide.

Once you have had some experience marketing using social networking, you
will want to consider looking at other social networking sites. One other
large site is Friendster, which you can find at the following URL:
http://www.friendster.com You will also want to look for niche networking
sites, which will afford you an opportunity to capture a more targeted
audience.

Whichever sites you decide to use, keep the following in mind: your goal
should be to develop a network of people who share a common interest and
could potentially be interested in your specific product. For this reason, it is
always a good idea to think long term (i.e. don’t do things that are going to
get you banned); instead, concentrate on building your network and
introducing them to your products and services.

Here are some tips on how to use Facebook effectively without spending more than 30 minutes a day on their site:
I’ve often said that social networking can take up your entire day, if you
allow it. You sit down at your desk in the morning, and you see several
Facebook event invites and friend requests. As you log into your account,
someone’s Facebook status update catches your eye, and before you know
it, 3 hours have passed while you’re reading and responding to social
networking messages. How can you possibly get any work done in your
business or for your clients at this rate?

Facebook doesn’t have to be a time hog. As a matter of fact, you can
actually handle most of your Facebook tasks in as little as 15 minutes per
day. Here’s what I do when I log into my account each morning (thanks for
wonderful training I’ve received from Facebook guru Mari Smith for these
great tips):

1. Update your status. This is the first section that you’ll see on your
homepage when you log into Facebook. While you can do this from
your Facebook account, I prefer to update my status in Ping.fm, as
this service will update my status in all of my social networking sites,
including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. However, if
you’re using only Facebook for social networking, then go ahead and
use the status update there.

2. Review your news feeds. This is the first tab on the right on your
home page. In this review, you’re seeking stories on which you can
share your expertise and on which you can comment. Some of your
comments may be personal in nature, but this is a great opportunity to
showcase your experience in your field and industry.

3. Review news feeds of your friends. This feature is available from
the home page as the down arrow on the far right of the home page
tabs and permits you to view the feeds of your Friends Lists. Friend
Lists allow you to create private groupings of friends based on your
personal preferences. I’ve got my lists created by industry, i.e.
Coaches, Virtual Assistants, Marketing Professionals, People to Watch,
etc. Pick one list and comment on those feeds just as you would your
own. If you have no Friends Lists, here’s how to create them: , Click
Friends at the top of any Facebook page. From the following page,
click “Make a new list” on the left. After typing in the title of your list,
you can add friends to your list by typing your friend’s name into the
“Add to List” field. You can also click “Select Multiple Friends” to the
right of the field, which will allow you to select many friends from your
entire list. After making your selections, click “Save List” to store your
changes.

4. Review status updates. Take a quick moment to breeze through the
status updates of your friends, and click on those on which you feel
compelled to comment. Many people feed their blog posts into their
status updates, so this is a great way to get out and comment on the
blogs of others without having to search out relevant blog posts. In
this case, I comment on the blog itself rather than the Facebook status
update. I usually only go through one page of these to ensure I remain
within my time constraints.

5. Acknowledge birthdays. These are listed under Events and
Birthdays on the right side of your homepage. When you click on the
birthday person’s name, you’ll be sent to their wall, where you can
write your personalized birthday greeting (make more effort that just
simply saying “Happy Birthday!”). I also take this opportunity to find
out a bit more about the friends on my list by clicking the “Info” tab on
their home page and quickly scanning their profile. This helps me start
to put names and faces together and get better acquainted with my
network of friends, And, I take this opportunity to add people to
Friends List as appropriate.

6. Review friend requests. Add friends as you see fit, or according to
any guidelines you have set for yourself. Facebook guru Mari Smith
suggests setting up a “Friending Request Policy” in which you write
down the conditions under which you’ll accept friends (i.e. picture
must be on profile, have to have other friends in common, have to
have submitted a personal note with the friend request, etc.) and to
help you in your decision-making.

7. Respond to event invitations. Your friends will be sending a myriad
of invites to various events (most of my invites are to teleclasses), so
take a few moments to scroll through those and see if any are of
interest to you, or if you have further questions about them.

8. Respond to group invitations. Most of these I ignore, but
occasionally I’ll join a private group, usually related to a program in
which I’m enrolled. Or, if it’s a group run by someone with whom I
want to connect or from whom I want to learn, I’ll accept the invite to
the group. If I have time, I’ll also visit one of the groups to see what’s
going on and respond to any messages here.

9. Add friends. Facebook does an amazing job of suggesting people I
actually know to add to my friends list in their “People You May Know”
section on my home page. If I happen to see such a suggestion, I send
out a request to add that person as a friend. When requesting to add a
friend, I ALWAYS send a personalize request, letting them know how I
know about them.

10. Review notifications. The notifications icon is on the lower
right side of your home page and lists what’s going on in your account
(friend requests accepted, notes on your wall, etc.). This is a good
prompt for you to write on someone’s wall when they accept your
friend request or to respond to posts on your own wall.

11. Eyeball your own profile. Make sure your profile appears as it
should, and take the opportunity to catch up on anything you may
have missed with your other steps.

12. Check your inbox. Many of the emails in your inbox are
duplications of event and group invites or group emails. When I look at
this, I’m seeking out any personal 1:1 emails that I might have
received from someone on my list. I’ve discovered that many people I
want to contact respond better to their Facebook emails that through
emails sent to them (or an assistant) via their website, so I often
email them through Facebook, instead.

If you devote 15 minutes per day, or at least 15 minutes 3 times a week, to
updating Facebook, you’ll begin to see results from your social networking
before you know it!

Another great way to get free advertising is by producing YouTube videos, article marketing, forum posting, etc.

via Rich Robinson and Lana Robinson GDI Wealth Training Page.