People are so starved for companionship that they not only begin talking to strangers on the internet, they hook up with them and sometimes get married.
More and more people look to the internet for more than just information – it is their social outlet. For some, it is their only social outlet. I don’t want it to be your only one.
MySpace, one of the first social networking websites, began as a place for young people to hang out and meet other young people. It became a multimillion dollar business, and the model for the ultimate social networking website, Facebook.
Online social business is booming on the internet. Some are strictly for socializing while others are special interest websites. There are websites for business opportunity seekers and those who have an opinion of current events, as well as those who like, well, let’s just say these sites are for the more amorous adventure seekers.
There is a social networking site for every interest in the world. You’ll want to find and use a social networking site that would be good to promote your business or product.
You don’t want to go on a language site where the people will be busy trying to get you to teach them your native language instead of buying your book; unless, of course, your book is about learning a new language.
Let’s again use the relationship E-book as an example. You would want to go to sites where single people hang out to meet one another. MySpace is one. MeetUp is another.
There are many, many more. There are even free dating sites with forums, such as eHarmony. You can use these sites to create a buzz for your e-book. The trick is to not let them know that you are doing this.
Using a social networking site for marketing is usually against the terms of service for the site. You don’t want to get kicked off by going on these sites and spamming the members. Spamming is when you offer unsolicited e-mails or advertisements in forums and to individuals.
Instead of constantly getting kicked off these social sites for shamelessly promoting your book, you can work your way around this.
The first thing you want to do, however, is to create an attractive page that will showcase your product. Because you aren’t allowed to advertise your product on any social networking sites, you will have to create a page that showcases your product. You don’t mention the book, but have a link to your landing page in your profile.
You can also create a blog related to your product and link to it on some sites. While it is expressly forbidden to overtly advertise your product on the site, you can use the site to drive traffic to your landing page in an effective manner.
While you can post links in most forums, shameless self promotion will not earn you a good reputation on social networking sites.
Spam is a pretty big business, despite the fact that we shun it. People wouldn’t still be using spam if it wasn’t for the fact that it works.
Every now and then, after you had posted good, informative content you can add a link in the forums to generate interest in your product.
I’ll discuss using blogs to dominate the web in the next issue.
Make sure that you use your social page to the fullest advantage and be sure to talk about your expertise in the field of your topic.
Spoiler Alert:
Although this is frowned upon, it is not illegal. You can create as many personas as you want on the social network sites.
Many people do not post photos of themselves but avatars or some fake photo of someone else that they got off a dating or business site, you can create as many identities as you like on the social networking sites.
With these identities you all can get together in a forum and discuss the really hot e-book that you recently read. They can create quite a stir on the forums as they continue to discuss your book. You will not be in the group discussion.
It is also helpful that they do not all “live” in the same town or sign up for the site on the same day.
People in the forums tend to join in on a thread where there is an active discussion. If, for example, you are discussing the E-book on relationships, your split personalities will be discussing dating after divorce and happen to mention the book. One of them can discuss that they read it, loved it, and others can join in the discussion.
They can critique the book, but talk about other things as well. The thread will remain active.
Is this devious? Yes.
Is this done all the time? Yes.
It is called “creating a buzz.” And it’s nothing new, either.
The internet just made it a bit easier to promote things. Years ago, it took lots of money and even more outlandish behavior to promote films and books so that the public would buy them.
You can’t rely solely on this method to create a buzz, though, but it can be one way to dominate the web.
If you really want to make an impact, you can have some people join the fun at other social networking sites. You want to be sure that you post different comments. I’ve heard that there are people who go from forum to forum on the internet investigating this tactic.
If done correctly, however, you can create a stir on Twitter or any other social networking site.
If you think that this way of promotion is a little too sneaky for you, ask yourself if you would rather be chatting with strangers on a forum or using the forum to make money?
Anyone who wants to market their product on the internet should consider using social forums, because they are so popular with the public. The trick is not to be obvious about using them for this purpose.
If you can meet as many potential customers as you can, then using these sites wisely will add to the success of your product being sold.