Profitable Niches

Using Social Sites for Business

Most people have heard of sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. These are social community sites where people of like interests can connect with each other. This can be a gold mine for your business or it can be a disaster. The key is to learn how to use them to your advantage.

You must remember that people generally congregate in these sites for fun and to gather information and to network. They are not there to buy. A successful internet marketer will join these sites to create a following and to brand themselves as being a good and trusted source of information on a particular niche.

You are there to gain the trust and friendship of your potential customers. To let them get to know you. You should treat these sites as if they were a party and use the same etiquette you would use if you were face to face with a new acquaintance. Do not be the jerk of the party who can only talk about themselves, their products or selling. We all have met that type of obnoxious house guest. We avoid them like the plague.

Be entertaining and engaging. Provide good quality information that is helpful. Be real. Why do you think reality tv is so big right now? People want to feel connected. Be approachable. If you are fun to be around you will attract followers.

Fill out your profile with a killer bio. Be creative and authoritative. Let them know what business you are in and a link to your blog or website or both. That is the only place you should really try to sell yourself. Use the same picture in all of the social sites so you can brand yourself. Do not make the mistake of using your company logo. It MUST be a picture of you. The smilier the better.

Most people belong to more than one social community. If you start popping up in all of them associated with your niche you will very soon gain expert status among your followers if you give them quality info and are entertaining. Let them know that they can follow you on all of the sites by telling them how to find you on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedin, YouTube etc. Join niche groups and contribute or start one of your own.

Finding followers who are most likely to like you. You do this by searching your niche within the social sites. You already know you have something in common with them. Request to be added to their friends list or subscribe to their feed. 9 times out of 10 they will follow suit and add you to their lists too.

It is okay every now and then to say” I just did a new post on my blog about (whatever). Check it out if you are interested.” and leave it at that. Just don’t be too self promotional.

The process of gathering potential customers on social sites is as follows:

• Like me

• Know me

• Trust me

• Pay me

Report content to them instead of trying to create it all yourself. Find controversial but non-offensive topics to cause interaction. Don’t be spammy, or pushy.

If you follow these basic rules you will eventually start getting JV offers from people who see you as an expert or celebrity within your niche. No need to source out ways of making money yourself once you are branded.

So use social websites wisely and you will reap the benefits. In the next lesson I will show you how to manage all of the social sites from one application. This will drastically save you time while making it seem like you are very active.

Action for today: Get out there and be social.