The Truth About List Social Network Sites And why your business may need them! If you were to do a Google search for a list of social network sites, you would find various results to look at.
Google likes pages that have the Top 10 or some other number in the title. This way, they can catch your attention and get you to click on the link.
The thing is, as I did my own search, Google gave me results anywhere from a Top 10 to one that had 105 leading social networks. To this, I say “ouch” or “really you have to be kidding me”! I might scan the top 40 or 105, but I will never be involved with many social network sites. There are not enough hours in the day to be actively involved, and in reality, is it even not a good use of your time if there was?
I admit there are many different ways you can market on social media sites for traffic. These include free and paid and free groups and fan pages. Having your own group can boost your authority which you can leverage by having members oversee the activities. Go on Quora from time to time and learn what questions people ask in your niche and leverage it.
However, how many of us have our own group? Let’s do this. I will write this article on the truth about list social network sites and why your business may need them. Then you can decide to what level you want to take it.
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I remember social network sites as far back as 1998, but they were called discussion groups or forums. One of the best times was the Warrior Forum. It had members talking about Internet marketing and making money online. It was very niche-oriented in that you did not have people talking about cooking or exercising, or dating and so forth.
You came to discuss and learn about Internet marketing and making money online. I’m not sure exactly when social networking sites started. For most of us, Facebook was our first venture into social media, followed by Twitter. This began big time, probably around 2008-2010, even though Facebook and Twitter were started before them.
Facebook and Twitter For Money
Here is the problem today using Facebook and Twitter for making money. Most of us get friends and followers from people we know and requests from people who know someone we know. This is kind of like the problem of making a list and calling people to join your MLM. Unless you catch someone at the right time, this really only results in people avoiding our phone calls. We become known as the person trying to get us into something we are not interested in.
Social media done this way does not work, and it results in people wasting time hoping someone will see their post and click on it and then join their program or buy their product.
A Better Way
To make social networking or social media work for your business, you have to separate your personal life from your business. You do that with your career or job, so why not do it with your online business! I see a real benefit to this beyond just the business benefits you will get.
Social media is one of the biggest time wasters in terms of business marketing. More people hang out on social sites pretending they are working. In reality, they are not working but killing time, having fun and hoping they get a business benefit. If you are willing to separate personal social media from business social media, your business may very well benefit!
Facebook Marketing
I am constantly amazed at how big Facebook has become. With over 1.3 billion members, they are easily the largest social networking site. This is where you want to be, right? Maybe?
1. Business page. You can set up a Facebook business page and use it as a website if your business does not have one. I have heard that over 50% of businesses do not have a website yet. Papa Mike’s restaurant in Bella Vista, Ar. uses his Facebook page as his website. His friends go to it for updates on specials and see what is going on at Papa Mikes’s.
2. Group. Start your own Facebook group could be a workable solution to social media marketing as well. This gives you the chance to reach a group of people at one time.
3. PPC ads. Facebook ads are the way to go if you can afford them. You buy the ads and are billed when someone clicks on your ad. This can be very targeted advertising and eliminates the need to spend any time being social. With all of the features and benefits, Facebook provides this form of pay-per-click advertising that has become more popular than Google Adwords.
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Twitter and Who Else?
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and hundreds if not thousands more social sites are there if you want them. In my viewpoint, this is overkill and almost impossible to do unless you have a full-time marketer working for you.
Use Quora and Yahoo Answers to see what is trending. If you blog as I do, this is a good way to tap in on these sites giving you more to write about. The questions that are being asked on Quora and Yahoo answers are just a few that you can tap into.
The truth is, if you have a business, you need to use some social sites. Your potential customers are using them. It is up to you to decide how to use them. Paid advertising can work and is less time-consuming. Monitoring your social sites is a must if you want to interact with your friends and followers. Do this as often as time allows and reap the benefits!
final thoughts
I suggest that you spend most of your time with a community that can help you build a business. A group is there to give you all the answers and show you when you are going wrong.
The best community to join after thorough research is the one that I am a part of and will be there to give you one-on-one coaching to help you take your business to the next level.
If you need help on how to get started with affiliate marketing, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, personal private assistance, my personal help, and much more.
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I find it really difficult to get my head around social media – for sure, I would never want to start preaching my wares to my friends, that is a big no no for me!
Just like you say, there are far too many social media outlets today and I really don’t have a clue where to start. There is no way I want to join up to a bunch of them, as I just don’t have the time to be sat posting all day to a load of sites, it would drive me insane. Can you suggest the top social media site I should 1st concentrate on?
Your concept is not in line on what I do here at Wealthy Affiliate. I do not ask anyone to join my business. I find out what they need and I post articles on ways that can help them, and social media is where everyone hangs out. So the right approach is to find people and help them.
You right about time, you need a lot of time to deal with social media if social media is new to you. what about the ones who have a large following and they need help with a particular service of the product. business, on the whole, is not about selling but telling. you get down the pack and your \business would explode.
i would start with three. Google plus, facebook fan page, and Twitter. Hope that helps.
PS: Giving value to your audience or followers is key to building a successful business.
Thanks for your article on social network sites. It’s interesting to see the influence that sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have had on “Spreading the word”. Nothing like such a vehicle to promote a message. Now that you provide some insight into how these sites work, it makes it easier to navigate them; they’re so many, that It’s not easy to know where’s what half the time.Thanks again.
Hugo, you know what it is? i have a friend who lives on social media and she had a great following and gives lots of value to her audience. She never had a business before.
She got involved with Wealthy Affiliate and in a few months, she was able to walk away from her full-time job. Is that normal and did she know that was going to happen? No!
So you have to speak to everyone. And those who are already involved with social media, they would find success with their business much faster. Hope that this story would shed some light. Thank you for the comment.
I think the idea of separating your personal life and your business makes a lot of sense. Most of my friends and family wouldn’t even be interested in what I am marketing. It is better to create a social site geared toward my niche market. This way I am interacting with people who are walking in the same direction as I am, meaning they will be more likely to visit my site and even possibly make a purchase.
Wendy, keep in mind that people will attach themselves to something that has value and can help them. if you focus on your business and build it the right way, people would gravitate to your success. YThatbis the reason why MLM would not work for the newcomers.
Is good to work with the like-minded individual and I am all for that, but my focus is on the person who has no idea where to begin when they come into my business. It gives me great pleasure to take them through the training to making money online. Thank you for the comment and your insight. Talk to you soon.
Thank you, David! I have been considering ways to present myself as a business on facebook and think I will create a business page based on your suggestions. Who knows, maybe I’ll create a group as well for the folks I’ve done work for. Honestlty, I never was quite sure how to distinguish these things on facebook, and you post cleared my confusion. As far as Pinterest and Instagram, that will have to wait, but I will check back if I ever get that far. Thanks again!
You are welcome Nathan and thank you for the comment and insight. Glad that this post brought some clarification on the different type of social networks and their functions.
all these can work very well but one should remember that it should never replace content marketing with low competitive long-tail keywords.
Social Networks are tools. Like every tool, you can say if it’s good or bad depending on how you use them! The big risk is the one you underlined: wasting time instead of working. Sometimes in the network is needed to make it move but it’s important to have goals, in my opinion.
It’s like going to the supermarket: if you don’t have clear in mind what you need, you exit with a lot of things that you don’t even need. The same in social Networks: if you watch them without a precise goal, you’ll waste a lot of time, pretending you are doing something useful. Having clear the goals and stay focused on business is necessary not to waste time! Thanks for your article!
Miche you are so right by saying whether Social networks are either good or bad, but keep in mind that is where most people hang out today. And yes, one can easily get side track.
I Have a few social networks expertise and they build a full-time income on just that. I am not saying that I would not spend more time there, but creating content and video marketing is my first priority. Thank you for your insight and for leaving me a comment. wish you all the best with your business.
I really liked your article and especially all the tips that you provide. I have never thought of using Quora and Yahoo answers to get inspirations on what to blog about. That is a neat idea! And it would be a great alternative to paid advertising, especially when someone is just starting out and has not been able to monetize their website yet.
I do agree that social media is a big part of an online business. I am trying my hand on Pinterest right now. I did some research and people are saying that Pinterest is more like a “visual search engine”. What do you think? Am I doing the right thing or should I concentrate on Facebook, since there are a lot more users/members?
Hey Denis, one of my Mentor from Wealthy affiliate told me that idea a few months ago and ever since I am having more engagements on my website. So yes, Quora and Yahoo answers work well with content ideas.
What social media you have may work for some and may not for others. It depends on your following and how you interact with them. Linkedin is where my following interact with me the most so I spent more time there.
Focus on one social network at a time and continue to build your following on a daily basis. And I always say to my Team, never put social media marketing before content marketing, email marketing, and video marketing. And never leave out product reviews. Hope that helps.