Social Network Marketing: Lesson 1

Before I go into Step 1 in detail, ask yourself this question... Do I like people? If the answer is even remotely close to NO then exit this page. Why? Because the key to Social Network Marketing first and foremost is to like people and to be likeable.

So now that you are still with me after the paragraph above then great, let's proceed! Fine Laura, but what is the point to all this Social Network Marketing stuff anyway?

The answer is simple. The purpose of Social Network Marketing is to build a strong list of contacts, business partners, friends and colleagues that can take you to places you have never dreamed of before financially, emotionally and you may just learn a few things from the people you meet along the way, I know I did! Let me explain it like this, if you were at a restaurant for the very first time and when you first walked in you saw a clean, neat, organized layout, smelled delicious food and were greeted at the door by a smiling, happy, upbeat and positive hostess you would have a great first impression yes? Yes. Then you sat down and immediately your server greeted you just as the hostess did, in the same happy upbeat manner, asked you what drinks you wanted and brought those drinks back expediciously to you with no errors you would be really starting to enjoy yourself right? Right. Then after ordering the food everything came as ordered again in a timely manner, the food was amazing and your server made sure everything was great yet not coming back too often to become a nuisance, brought you your check on time and the owner popped over to your table after you were finished with your dessert to make sure you enjoyed your meal you would probably come back to that restaurant time and time again yes? Yes. Social Networking is the same thing. Only YOU are the owner, the hostess, the server and the chef.. Your business is the restaurant, you are representing your restaurant and YOU will be the reason why your customers come back time and time again. Ok you say, great analogy but what do I do first? Simple.

1. Get a professional picture taken of yourself. Pretend it's going to be a picture on your resume for the 6 figure job you want to land. Any social site you join add that great picture of yourself to it, this is your first impression, as if you were walking into an interview for the first time.

2. In a Word document write up a profile about yourself. An "About Me" page. Do not be afraid to get wordy here or to talk about your personal life. People join people not businesses. I am going to be saying this alot so you never forget it. Save that profile and make it easy on yourself to be able to copy and paste the document right into the Profile Section or the "About Me" section.

3. Start mingling. If you are using a social network like MySpace or Facebook this will not be a hard task to start. Search for people in a specific category of people you would be interested in attracting to your business. If you request their friendship in anyway please pleasant and personable.

4. Do not make your inital contact all about YOU. That's what your homepage is for. Remember? You have great profile picture and write up about yourself? Well pretend this initial contact is calling up the new job position respondin to the classfied ad. You certainly wouldn't call the company and the first thing you say is, "Hi, this is Bob Jones and I have the most amazing skills you have ever seen you wont need to interview anyone else after you meet me I am the greatest". Would you? If you've done that let me know how that's working for you. I think you would be more courteous and perhaps say "Hello, this is Bob Jones and I am calling today to inquire about the classified ad I saw in the newspaper. If that position isn't filled I would love to set up an appointment if I may so I can show you my credentials and perhaps get to know your company better."

Well it's the same thing here in the social networking arena. Only instead of asking for an interview you are asking to find out about them. It's all about THEM. "Hi there!" "How are you today?" "Wishing you a great day!" Some really easy examples of an nice non intrusive ice breaker. Send a little blurb along with your friend request and wait for them to add you. THEN you get back to them with a "Thank you for your friendship" or "Hi John, thank you for your friendship, tell me more about your business when you get a moment" Now you are showing a vested interest in THEM.

Here's a perfect example of what NOT to do in a first encounter. "Looking for a way to increase your sales? Well I just happen to have the world's greatest business in the history of internet marketing that will EXPLODE your income! Click on this link and sign up today!"

Is something terribly wrong with this picure? You bet. Not only did you sound like an advertisement, and a bad one I might add, but you didn't even have the decency to say HI! Not only will you have totally screwed up your chances of selling this person your world's greatest product since sliced bread, you have probably been deleted from that person's mind and will NEVER get the chance to redeem yourself...DONE.

Now let's just say you did contact this person in a nice and friendly manner. Let's also say you did express interest in their opportunity. Well if you are paying attention for real to them sometimes they indicate a clue that they are not happy in their current business. If you say to them after going back and forth a few times, "That's very interesting if I know anyone that is looking for that type of opportunity I will send them your way" guess what? You've just made a friend for life! If you say the above and they say, "But what about you? Wouldn't you be interested?" There is your open door #1...

Open door #1? WHAT are you talking about?!?!

Open door. They just asked you why wouldn't you be interested in MY business? You then have the "open door" to freely and openly explain to them why you are not looking for any opportunities because your business is so successful there is no reason to look elsewhere, or something along those lines. Guess what the next question is going to be? Yep....."So, what do you do?" or "Well what is it" Ahhh door number 2 just opened.

Door #2 has just opened for you to freely explain your business in detail.

Some people opt to give them a little bait at first, give them enough to make them want more, I do it and it works. Sometimes I get so carried away with myself I just tell them the whole thing. I like the one step closing, not the 2 step. One step is explain everything, answer questions, overcome objections and get the signature right then and there. The 2 step is give them everything they need to know, walk away, follow up with them in a day or so then get them to sign up. Realtors like myself know this method, as does probably every salesperson under the sun. Here's the best part, social networking requires little to no sales skill. Why? Because becoming friends is half the battle. Follow yourself up with a good business and you have a win win combination.

5. Repeat step 4 over and over. Guess what and here's the part you will hate. It's going to take some work & some time. This is Net"WORK"marketing not:

Net-OK-I-AM-GOING-TO-SIT-ON-MY-RUMP-AND-DO-NOTHING-AND-GET-PAID-FOR-IT marketing.

That's called a "Get-Rich Quick" Scheme...ever heard of that? Well they exist but they do not work because if they really did work everyone would be doing it, RIGHT?? Right.

Ok this is the end of Lesson 1.

Enjoy!