Coaches often get swept up in social media when they begine to use it in their marketing plan. By nature coaches are people that enjoy other people and conversation. So it is easy to see why coaches are attracted to social media and a marketing tool.

Commonly coaches enjoy the social media so much that they end up spending a huge amount of time on social media chatting and offering free coaching rather than using it a one tool in their entire marketing plan.

Another common mistake is that coaches tend to enjoy social media marketing so much that they rely on it as their only marketing tool.

Social media marketing is a tactic not a marketing plan

Do not place all your marketing eggs into the social media basket. Continue with all of your other coach marketing efforts and add SMM as another strategy in your marketing plan. To switch your marketing to just social media is risky and will continue to be so for some time yet.

The real bonus of social media marketing comes when you integrate it with your existing coaching business marketing. You extend your reach. You increase your appeal. You offer more without taking more time to deliver. Add social media marketing to your overall marketing plan. Make sure you define the role social media will play in you full marketing plan.

Too many tools to be effective

There are literally thousands of tools available for use with social media. Twitter alone has zillions of tools available. Many coaches get all caught up in the tools and toys and forget that the important thing is sharing knowledge, skills, and content with people who are looking for the information you have to offer.

All too often I see coaches get all caught up in who is following them and how many friends or followers they can get. They study all the tools to get more people connected to you. They get entwined in the competition for who has the most friends or followers and lose sight of the true goal which is helping others and getting more coaching clients. If you are using more than two social media tools then evaluate your use of time and determine if you have a tool problem!

I suggest you use tools that help you schedule your use of social media and those that help you locate people in your target coaching niche. If you are using more than one or two tools and you find that you know about many tools and what they do then I suggest you may want to focus on marketing your coaching business first.

If you have fallen into one of these traps don’t feel bad just correct your course and get back to growing your coaching business.

Learn how to attract clients to your coaching business now. Get Suzan’s FREE eCourse at http://www.thecoachmarketer.com. Learn to Attract dozens of clients to your coaching business “No Sales Required Client Attraction” http://www.nosellingclientattraction.com

[tags]coaching tools, get coaching clients, social media marketing, marketing coaching, suzan schmitt[/tags]

Treat your social media interactions like you would at a live party. Being on a social media site is sort of like being at a party only it is virtual. You would not walk up to a stranger at a party and introduce yourself by rolling into a sales pitch so don’t do that on social media.

Introduce yourself then find out about the other person and what you can do for them. Find out who they are and what they are interested in. When you approach someone at a party you begin by talking about what they are doing in their lives and you are looking for things or interests you may have in common. The same is true with social media.

Compelling Profiles

Take time to set up your profile on each social network that you join. Most people rush through this important area and fail to make an effective impact. Your profile is where people go to begin to get to know you.

It is important to include pertinent information about you in your profile but it is also wise to include how you help others. Remember, all people are interested in what you have to offer them so let them know what you have to offer in your profile.

Be sure to review your profile every few months on each site that you are a member of. Your information will change over time and your profile should reflect what you are doing currently. Visit all of your sites and review your profile to ensure that your profile says what you want it to say.

Bad Behavior

Social media marketing is not just about what you say your interactions with others say a lot about who you are, what you do and how you do it. Social media marketing is about building relationships so people will experience you over time. They will notice how you behave long before they buy or refer.

Always be a giver when you are marketing online. You need to be genuinely interested in how you can help and serve others. Online networking is only the first stage to building a relationship.

Never do anything online that could harm your reputation or embarrass you. Word of keyboard travels like lightening on the internet so watch what you say and do online. Always be honest and honorable in your online business. No amount of money is worth ruining your reputation. People will share their impressions and this could have a positive or negative impact on your coaching business.

You cannot put a price tag on the value of integrity and being kind to others. Be sure that you are using social media to serve others, build relationships and grow your coaching business.

Learn how to attract clients to your coaching business now. Get Suzan’s FREE eCourse at http://www.thecoachmarketer.com. Get weekly support and coaching in my mentoring program “Zee Inner Circle” at http://www.zeeinnercircle.com

[tags]coaching tools, get coaching clients, social media marketing, marketing coaching, suzan schmitt[/tags]

Blogging is a form of making money online that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. If you’re trying to make money online, blogging is a great way to do it. If you don’t know what to do in order to create a money making blog, here are some simple steps that you can take to start a stream of income online.

Blogging is one of the most popular ways to make online for several different reasons. First of all, blogs are very easy to begin. You don’t have to know any fancy HTML codes or complicated technical processes to get your blog started. With just a few simple set up steps, you’ll have your own blog that you can use to make money.

Blogs also have an advantage over other types of websites because they are updated continuously. This updating makes blogs much more valuable from the perspective of search engines. Since you update your blog each day or each week, eventually you’ll outrank other static websites on the same topic.

Blogging is also interactive. Visitors to your blog can comment on your posts and participate in the content. Overtime you can build a community on you site and build credibility within your niche. The potential for blogs are incredible!

The most important part of blogging for dollars is finding your monetization methods. Monetization is a word for adding money making elements to your website.

There are dozens of ways to monetize a site. You can add contextual advertising blocks to your website that will display ads on your website independent of your interference. You’ll earn anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars each time someone clicks on those links.

Another way to monetize your blog is to create and sell your own information product. A short report or long ebook can be sold in the margins of your blog. You can use your blog posts to promote your product and set up electronic delivery. You’ll keep 100% of the profits from your ebook, but you’ll also have to spend time and energy to get the product created.

One of the easiest and most profitable ways to make money online with your blog is through affiliate marketing. It has all of the ease of placing contextual ads on your blog with a much higher payout.

It has all of the benefits of selling an information product without actually having to create the product yourself. You can select from a wide variety of affiliate products on Clickbank.com, Paydotcom.com or CJ.com. You can even link to physical products being sold on Amazon or eBay and earn commission from their sale.

Once you’ve decided on your blog’s topic and have discovered which keywords will bring traffic to your site, you can post daily or weekly on the topic. Insert your affiliate link throughout your blog posts or use block ads in the margins of your blog layout. With insightful posts and well placed links you can expect to make money with blogging in no time at all.

Dan Higby is the author of eBiz Snap a free newsletter for online marketers of all experience levels. Fill your mind with business snap fill your pockets with profit with your own complimentary copy of eBiz Snap News Letter.

[tags]blogging, blogger, blogging for dollars, affiliate marketing[/tags]

Viral marketing is one of the most talked about forms of internet marketing. This is because it draws in so many people with the fast paced way that it works. One campaign really can take over the world when done successfully. One of the most asked questions , regarding this marketing form, is how it works. There are several answers to this question, actually. The first thing you should do to be on your way to a successful marketing campaign , is to give away something for free. It is the easiest way to get people attracted to your service or product , even if they typically would not be interested.

Because you need to draw people in , with the offer of a free product or service , the next step in viral marketing , is to choose a great product or service to give away. This is another commonly asked question. How do you choose what to give as a free bonus ? It actually is quite logical. Even if you are offering something for free, if it is something that no one would ever want, even if it is free, your campaign will not work very well. The whole point of this type of marketing , or any type of marketing , for that matter , is for you to make money.

Another commonly asked question regarding viral marketing , is why people should start a career in it. This is an understandable question , because there are so many things online claiming to make you rich instantly. The reason that so many people are choosing this style of marketing , over other possible choices , is because it works. People cannot resist something that 1. is free and 2. everyone is talking about. When you are in a position to be the one responsible for what everyone is talking about, you have no option but to make money.

Because you know that there is potential to make money with viral marketing, another commonly asked question is : how you will make money? If you are giving away products and services for free, how can you possibly make money? The way you make money with this is because you are associating yourself with the advertising of that free product or service. You send all the promotional messages , and in return , get paid for the number of people who become customers. The great thing is that, when you make a career out of it, you can associate yourself with several products and services at the same time, thus increasing your net worth. It all begins with having access to the right sources of information , at the right time , and knowing how to utilize that information , to your best advantage.

Jeff King is an internet marketer , who presently ,lives and works in sunny Southern California

http://www.realincome123.com

[tags]viral marketing , viral marketing questioons[/tags]

To be honest, the residual income is, what we all are after, because you can enjoy the fruits of the work once done several times.

Your residual income strategy can be based on many things, but in this article I write about the viral marketing business model only.

1. To Be Able To Make Residual Income You Must Be Extremely Useful To Others.

The title says, what it is all about. If you want that others will spread your message to others and be proud about it, it must be extremely useful.

Does the viral marketing business model sound too demanding? No, it is not a rocket science. You just have to plan your efforts more carefully.

2. If You Hope, That Your Article Will Be Virally Distributed To Hundreds Of Sites, You Better Plan It.

The only thing, that is needed, is that you plan you articles well to offer practical tips and tools, which you know about.

You know, the online readers are clever people. Yes, we are clever. People, who search useful information usually surf through many sites and blogs to get a picture about the quality levels they are, and they compare.

A reader can see in a second, whether you have done your homework with the article or not. It requires time and thoughts to collect content for an article and to plan the content so, that it honestly delivers useful and unique tips for the reader.

But think about your chances. If you do it properly, some authority webmaster will copy it into his own site and the chain has just started.

This chain is also the residual income chain, because now others have started to do your job! And your link is in the about the author box. Sounds good or what.

3. Your Interactive Blog And Its Comments Mean Residual Income.

The blogs are great marketing tools and fit to your viral marketing business model well. As you know, blogs are seen very personal mediums, more personal than the sites.

And in most business niches there are many quality blogs, which surfers can compare.Your blog readers are your greatest fans, so why not to write posts that give useful help and tips for the readers.

It is funny how quickly the readers react to good or bad posts. One of the best ways to meter this is the speed and the amount of the new comments.

I have a very good friend, who has a blog about online marketing and who wrotes about one new post per week. This does not sound a lot, but he does every single post so carefully that they get tens of comments from expert marketers.

Actually they meet on his blog comments section, because the feed will alarm them.This blogger has been able to create a viral marketing business model, which works with the unique and useful blog posts.

That is the only reason, why the commentators come again and again to his blog. Most of them have bookmarked the blog and this means another residual income chance in the form of high page ranks.

Viral SEO I would say. Most of his posts are so well optimized, that they have climbed to the first places in Google. More residual income chances!

As you find out, I stress the importance of a quality content. I see that as the only working way to make the viral marketing business model to work and to bring residual income to you.

When people find out that they can get benefits from your writings, there is no reason, why they would not come again.

Juhani Tontti, B.Sc., Marketing. When Your Plan Is To Make Residual Income, Make The Viral Marketing Business Model To Work For You. Visit: Residual Income

[tags]residual income,viral marketing business model,how to make money on the internet[/tags]

Video production is a complex art. We know that extracting the best out of it is not as simple and clear-cut as writing a news release, a story or a blog post.

As a natural evolution of the Internet’s ability to facilitate effective communication, sound and vision remains the backbone of successful video marketing. It is the delivery that makes the difference. You need to know what will compel your audience to interact.

A good video should convince a visitor to have a conversation with you and your products in a matter of seconds. The surfing customer must see the most at the least possible time. On landing on your page, the visitor should be presented with a few simple choices. One of them should be a video.

The top rights side or middle of the screen real estate tend to get more attention. It is like giving your guest a warm handshake, a comfy seat and a cup of coffee before you introduce yourself and the subject of discussion.

It cannot be gainsaid how important it is telling your customers what the video is all about and how long it is and if there are other related videos. Then give them the option of either sharing it or saving it for consumption later on. Usually 2 minutes should suffice. If the video is dull, 2 minutes is incredibly long. So the first 30 seconds are crucial. The pace and the visual choreography must be spot on.

Single shot, static video and screencasts are good in showing people how stuff works at best. So although effective in many ways, they are not the best in introducing yourself.

Synergize dynamic sound and vision. This should be topped up with selected catchy slogans and buzzwords. The verbal messages can be emphasized with highly relevant text and graphics. The visual experience should be in harmony with the sound but the viewer should get the message even if they turned off the sound-as is the case if you are at work and you don’t have headphones.

To shoot short messages make sure there is lots of bright light. Look directly at the camera and hold imaginary eye contact. The eyes have to be absolutely focused. Relax, don’t fidget, speak slowly, make sure you are very focused and have good arguments. Rehearse like and memorise the script. Look enthusiastic yet speak in a business-appropriate way. The great thing about video is you can keep doing it until it’s absolutely right.

Marketing loves numbers. A lot of numbers. If you make it easy for your video to be shared, chances are you will get the numbers. One factor to think about is lenngth. The numbers are not important per se. You need to determine the best type of video to make the most impact. Do you want people to subscribe, increase sales or just creating interest and brand visibility?

Whatever the case might be you then have to make a choice from different software needed to create web video. Quality is as important as the message. You must identify the demographics of the target audience and the message before you identify the channels of distribution. Different groups of people interact differently online.

As for sharing and distribution, there are incredibly a wide choice of marketing channels and sharing sites for your video these days. Whether your intention is awareness or increasing direct sales, you need to measure your success. You need to identify tools to help track the effectiveness of your video. Quality and targeted videos must be linked to quality, relevant and affordable products or services. The content on your site must support the video messages.

This will give you a reputable online presence. The video will add value to a blog or Web site. Video contests can help marketers. The best example of how a contest can give you free publicity can be drawn from Tourism Queensland’s contest that generated an estimated $70 million in publicity.

The Australian tourism officials advertised for post of “Paradise Island caretaker” on Hamilton Island in Australia’s Whitsunday Islands. Applications for the job opened in January 2008, with would-be caretakers and the winner selected in May 2009.

No formal qualifications were needed but the basic conditions were the willingness to swim, snorkel, dive and sail. The first step in securing this role was to send a 60-second video application explaining why you are the ideal person for it. In return, the successful applicant will receive a salary of 150,000 dollars for six months and get to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

After a worldwide search, Ben Southall from the UK was chosen from more than 34,000 people from around the globe who applied as Tourism Queensland’s Islands Caretaker, or what we like to call the “Best Job in the World”. Ben is still enjoying the limelight blogging his monthly itinerary.

All said and done, it is more important to develop a web video marketing strategy than to try to create viral video content.

Patrick is an expert research and travel consultant. He is currently writing about;
manchester airparks ringway,
service guarantee ,
manchester airparks
and airparks.

[tags]meet and greet,airparks, viral marketing, holidayextras, video marketing, seo,airport parking[/tags]

The potential of using social media for customer service in responding to customers’ comments and complaints has been established. It is important for companies to monitor what is being said about them online.

It can help a company to quickly turn a complaint into positive Public Relation exercise by showing other users that they deal with customer complaints fairly, effectively and quickly. If the response is done well and in public it can be a big win for a company in terms of positive Public Relation.

There are a couple of well-documented complaints that have had profound impact accelerated by the new digital technologies. If it weren’t for the Internet, these events would not be such a global hit within such a short time. I would like to highlight two recent high profile incidents.

A complainant contacted Sir Richard, the chief executive of the airline, after a flight from Mumbai to Heathrow on December 7 2008, to convey his disappointment with the food served on board the airline. In January 2009 a complaint letter was sent to Sir Richard Branson. The letter was emailed globally and is considered by many to be the world’s funniest passenger complaint letter. In his letter, the passenger said that opening the lid of the main meal was like being given a “dead hamster for Christmas”.

I quote a rib-cracking part of the letter;”Imagine being a 12-year-old boy Richard,” he wrote. “Now imagine it’s Christmas morning and you’re sat there with your final present to open. It’s a big one, and you know what it is. It’s that Goodmans stereo you picked out of the catalogue and wrote to Santa about. Only you open the present and it’s not in there. It’s your hamster, Richard. It’s your hamster in the box and it’s not breathing. That’s how I felt when I peeled back the foil.”

Paul Charles, Virgin’s Director of Corporate Communications, confirmed to the media houses that Sir Richard Branson had telephoned the author of the letter and had thanked him for his “constructive if tongue-in-cheek” email. Mr. Charles said that Virgin was sorry the passenger had not liked the in-flight meals, which he said was “award-winning food which is very popular on our Indian routes.”

The passenger, author of this amusing Virgin Atlantic complaint letter, was offered chance to act as the airline’s food tester by Sir Richard Branson. He was asked to select the food and wines for future Virgin flights. That is a surprise gift. One wonders whether a traditional letter sent through the post would have elicited this kind of reaction.

Still in the airline industry, we all know that when airlines damage or lose their passenger’s luggage, they normally don’t pay easily or if they do, they pay a pittance. A case in point is that was reported in July 2009 of a passenger, called Dave Carroll, whose 3,500 dollars-customised guitar was broken while flying with the United Airline.

He went through a year of trying to gain compensation from the airline before being flatly told “NO” by an employee only known as Ms Irlweg. He even emailed this lady and told her he intends to compose a song about the saga. The Airline buried its head in the s and ignored the email. So he took revenge.

He composed a viral piece of music and video and, to his astonishment; this Youtube video has soared to fame. The catchy tune “United Breaks Guitars” is about his guitar, which cost about 1,200 dollars to repair. It has become an instant a viral hit.

Carroll found himself appearing on U.S. breakfast shows, with his group Sons of Maxwell’s album flying off the shelves for the first time ever. And as shares of United plummeted, horrified executives quickly offered Carroll money for the repair costs and flight vouchers. He told the airline to donate the sum to charity instead. United Airlines has made a $3,000 donation to a music-education program, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which provides music education for kids.

Here is what Carroll told the BBC, ‘I asked myself: “if Michael Moore was a singer-songwriter, what would he do?” and I gathered my tools together and said I would write three songs about the airline, make videos about the airline and share them with the world.'’

Carroll says he has composed another two songs about the incident, and the next one about his dealings with customer relations personnel, Ms Irlweg in particular, will be online soon. United must be bracing itself for the onslaught, though Carroll has promised that the song will ‘not be unkind’ to the unfortunate Ms Irlweg.

Taylor Guitars, the manufacturer of the guitar in question has offered him a new guitar to use in upcoming music videos. United Airlines said they would like to the video use for training purposes to ensure all customers receive better service from the company in future. And in a twist of fate, the company has lost 10 per cent of their share valued at a massive 180 million dollar. It is not known whether this is a direct consequence of bad publicity from this incident or it is just but a bad coincidence.

He said he was amazed to get so many hits.The video has received 4.2 million viewers and attracted 20,000 comments already. He had hoped to receive a million over the course of the year.
His song has helped him financially though, it is currently the 20th best-selling track on the Itunes music sale website in Canada.

These stories confirm that the Internet has changed our world. It has changed how we interact with each other. The speed and the numbers, that can be manipulated at a whim, are enormous and cannot be ignored.The travel industry is a bit little jaded at the moment but can benefit from some marginally clever PR strategy stunts and viral ad campaigns.

Patrick is currently writing about;
manchester airparks ringway,
service guarantee ,
manchester airparks
and meet and greet.

[tags]meet and greet, airparks, airport parking, parking,holidayextras, virgin atlantic,united airline[/tags]

Conversion: it is the name of the game. You can get tons of traffic to your site, but if nobody buys, your business will not succeed.

Think of every visitor to your site as a potential customer, if not on this visit, then on the next. Do not throw away the opportunity to gather data on every visitor, thank them for visiting and invite them back, even if they did not buy. It is all useful.

Incentivize customers to bring new business

One of the smartest ways to convert a potential customer into a purchaser is to give both them and you additional value at the same time. Here is how.

Advertise on your home page and product landing pages that if your customer can bring three more sales of equal or greater value to your site, you will refund the purchase price of their order. You can also do this on a product basis; the specifics will depend on your product.

You will need a system that allows a new purchaser to enter the name of the referring customer so that you can keep track of purchases. You may want to restrict the offer to purchasers who are new to your site. Here is an example, using one of several ways to arrange the offer:

You sell gardening supplies. Customer A buys $25 worth of supplies ($10 margin to you). Customer A refers three customers to you whose purchases total $100, listing Customer A as the source. You make $40 on the sales. You return $25 to Customer A. Now it is true you have only made $15 on the four customers ($40 margin -$25 returned). However:

- It is a one-time offer so now every time Customer A returns, you will get the full margin.

- You have three new customers you would not have had otherwise who are likely to return and purchase more.

- One or more of your newly arrived customers may take advantage of your offer and send more business your way.

- You did not spend anything on marketing to acquire the 3 new customers.

- Not all customers participating in this offer will reach the quota.

Gift Certificates

Gift certificates are an excellent way to give a potential customer another way to buy your product. It is possible that someone is looking at the products on your site but feels that it is not the right time for them to purchase.

However, they may have an obligation to provide a gift for someone else. A gift certificate is an easy option and your customer may be motivated to do so partly to give the recipient the idea that your site is a good place to shop so that the gift certificate or an actual gift from your site might come back to them.

Wish List or Registry

Do you have the kind of site that lends itself to a wish list or gift registry? If so, encouraging people to sign up or simply click a button to establish their wish list has many, many advantages.

- You learn something about what people are interested in buying.

- The wish list is likely to draw the potential customer back to the site.

- The wish lister may well pass along the site information to people who may want to buy a gift for them.

Bottom line, it is all good.

The package that keeps on giving

Now that you have your customer/partner, keep the relationship alive! When you send out the package, add discount coupons and encourage your customer to share them with others

You can even use coupon cashing as a way to give back to the customer, i.e., when the coupon is used by a new customer, the coupon number is tied to the original customer’s name and generates a coupon sent to the original customer’s email.

If you sell products that are small and inexpensive, you can add samples to the shipment to encourage additional purchases.

Add a free gift to the package; it does not have to be anything big or fancy it could be as simple as a nicely printed page of tips for product use or coupons for other products that you have gathered because they are of interest to your customers.

You can probably think of even more ways to use your customer as a sales agent on your behalf and have them be delighted to participate!

Source wholesale , dropshippers, drop shipping & dropship suppliers. Browse UK wholesale by country: Wholesale Italy, USA Wholesale & American Wholesalers, Wholesale France wholesalers.

[tags]business,sales,viral marketing,wholesale,wholesalers,dropshippers,dropshipping,importers[/tags]

Wouldn’t you love your website to have tons of targeted traffic just by people talking about it?…

Everyone that is running an honest, useful, productive business wants their business to be the talk of the town. You want everyone that visits to tell someone else how great you are and send more people to visit.

Somehow, your online blog or website must capture this same virtue to gain a major edge in the fight for targeted traffic from other sources like word-of-mouth. With the high competition, this can be difficult, so word-of-mouth customers won’t be the first to come to you.

Your first job is to get found so that others know you exist. If people don’t find you in big enough numbers, then you will just wither away in the fields of dead websites.

Using a combination of the many previously mentioned techniques will get you found and start the numbers building. As these numbers of targeted web visitors grow, you want them to spread the word simply because the want to. You need to have mechanisms in place to take advantage of this phenomenon that will occur if you are a a place worth visiting.

Viral Marketing Overview

Viral Marketing is not a new thing. It is a term that came around during the boom of internet business. It was what a bunch of “gurus” started calling word-of-mouth marketing for internet businesses or products.

Simply stated, “viral marketing” or “viral advertising” is a way to spread your marketing message in a way that is self-replicating - you know - like a virus. The difference is, no one gets sick, and everyone benefits.

It quite literally turns the age-old word-of-mouth advertising into an electronic tool for spreading your marketing message without you doing anything but planting the seed.

Its goal generally lies around stirring up massive media angles by creating a unique story and that is interesting, or entertaining, or both. The nature of such stories spurs people to have to tell someone else they know about it. These type campaigns are low cost because the major share of the marketing is done by the public - voluntarily!

By adding bonuses or discounts along with whatever media you want spread, you can intensify the results dramatically. Since this marketing does rely on building a mass public response, it can be very difficult to master. I don’t recommend it as a sole means of getting traffic.

It is great for adding a real boost to your traffic when other initial means are successful, and you hit on the right angle to launch a viral stir.

Using Viral Marketing to your advantage

To get the advantage of viral marketing and the resulting viral traffic, there are two common ways to move your message forward.

One is the perpetual motion or self perpetuating method. This is when you manage to get your marketing message attached to a favorite thing of your target crowd. If your thing or message is attached to something people already like and “buzz” about - and your message is good to, then you benefit from the same perpetual buzz.

Another method is to get your message or thing injected into many networks. These are existing networks, not something you build. They can include things as simple as strong, established relationships among groups of people, or - in the online world - things like niche forums, social networking sites, video sites, articles, and press releases.

Regardless of which method is being used, if your product is worth the buzz, it must also be easily transferred from customer to customer. If you can do this, then you will reap massive traffic from your viral efforts.

Was this article helpful? If it was, then be sure to check out this free step-by-step video training at:

ThinkBigAndGrow.com

[tags]viral marketing,targeted web traffic,increase blog traffic, increase targeted website traffic[/tags]

Right now your customers are flocking to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Your competitors are also flocking there in droves to participate in the online “conversation” that is happening amongst the members of your target market although most companies have a very limited understanding of how to effectively engage their target market through these social media sites. They rush to quickly sign up with as many accounts as possible, maybe upload a picture or two and wait for the magic to happen - they wait for the people to come to them. What most companies don’t know is that there is no magic - the people won’t just show up.

“Social Engagement” is the activity of initiating or participating in the online social activities that are important to your target market. This is not to be confused with a selling or promotional activity. Although social media marketing helps attract loyal customers and keep past ones, it is done through influence and relationship building, not through the use of propaganda.

1. What is the best social media site for my company?
It important for a company to identify which social outlet is going to give them the best return on both their time and investment. Mainstream sites offer a vast audience but sometimes it’s better to target niche social outlets and be a big fish in a small pond. Posting content in topically relevant niche social sites will also help you produce thematically related back links which will help your site build authority with search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

I’m a firm believer that you should have a presence on the main stream social sites like You Tube and Facebook, but niche social sites allow you to target those people who are really passionate members of your target market - your industry influences. Truly enthusiastic members of your target market are going beyond mainstream social sites and searching out a niche online community where they can find others just like them and share related content.

These niche sites are the prime locations to identify and engage the true influences within your target market. Those members of your target market have enough passion in their industry to seek out a nursing social site are clearly going to be a great conduit for reaching other passionate members through viral marketing.

2. How Do I Effectively Participate in the Conversation?
Once you have identified your social outlets (both mainstream and niche) you need to put on your creative hat and start thinking on how you’re going to effectively take part and contribute (not control) in the existing conversations. This will require time, research and creativity.

If you find an existing conversation regarding a specific topic, write a response to that topic or research a great article and point the readers to it. Post videos that will entertain enlighten or amaze. This content is your brand’s vehicle and if done well and will be forwarded to the inboxes of many future brand evangelists and loyal customers. Besides content (both original and shared), consider adding a handy tool or resource like a “widget”or an “app”. Not only does this offer useful contribution to the online community, it also is a great way to get back links and quickly build exposure. It doesn’t have to be a big expensive widget - simply get creative and think of something simple and useful that members of your target market can share.

3. How Can I Keep My Presence Fresh and New?
Once you’ve identified your social sites, listened to the conversation taking place and offered something useful to it, you need to keep up the momentum. It’s important to keep yourself in front of these members and find ways to engage new ones. Your engagement activities will attract a lot of visitors to your online conversation - both those who have found you through a search engine and those that have been referred. And just like in sales, you’ll need to keep adding new members to your online conversation to replace the members that are leaving. Keep inviting others to join your conversation and use other forms of advertising to market your social endeavors. Promote your social groups on your company’s website, at industry events and tradeshows, in email newsletters and through other forms of advertising.

It’s important for you to post often and to continue posting at a somewhat regular pace, but not to monopolize the conversation. This means that you’re going to have to make a time commitment for a member of your staff or a social media agency to continue your social media strategy on an ongoing basis.

Utilizing these simple steps will help you engage your target market on both a personal and professional level and create life long relationships with your current and future customers.

Oliver Feakins is the President of WebTalent SEO, an Internet Marketing Company located in Lancaster, PA. Visit WebTalent SEO at http://www.webtalentseo.com.

[tags]internet marketing company, lancaster seo, search engine optimization, social media marketing[/tags]