If you’ve tried or considered social marketing to groups, such as those found on Yahoo, Google and any of the various other Web 2.0 sites that have the facility, then you won’t be surprised to learn that there is quite a diversity of opinion as to whether or not this is a complete and utter waste of time, or not!

On the surface, it looks like a great idea - a rabid group of devotees in your niche, all salivating to see what wonderful things you’ve got to sell them!

WRONG!

In fact, you coming in without first developing relationship, trust and some value among the congregants therein, would almost certainly be a disastrous entrance!

Instead, if you were to locate such a group as this, take the time to become a valuable contributor before even adding anything in your sig file, much less promoting a link; you might very well be rewarded with an authority aura, one that  will lead to so much more than the odd sale here and there.

Think beyond the quick hit!

~Keith

Choosing the specific web properties you’d like to implement for your social media marketing strategy can be a confusing and time-munching matter. There are literally thousands of Web 2.0 sites out there, each purporting to be exactly what you need. So, as I said in a previous post, you need to be really clear about what it is exactly you’re after. Then you have a basis for choosing dance partners!

First, you need to be pretty plugged in if you’re doing this yourself. many times people come to social marketing thinking they’ll just get themselves a Facebook or MySpace account and everyone will simply rush right over after they see they’re there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Just the fact you’re reading this is a great start, and there are many more voices that can shed light on the ever-changing landscape of social media. For me, I start my day by logging into my Google Reader and checking out the feeds of the various sources I listen to, and I have subscribed to a few! (You want to limit this to whatever number doesn’t keep you glued there all day!)

Now that you have an ongoing education in what’s hot and what’s not, you can begin to choose. Remember not only your goals and objectives, but what exactly will be the return for that investment? You can spend months building up thousands of friends and followers on some of the social networking sites, but if your goal is search engine traffic then you need to know that Google and others don’t give link credit from sites like Facebook, MySpace and others. So what is their value then? Their value lies in getting people excited enough about you that they’ll click through your profile to your website, where the fun can begin! And yes, you can gently massage them in that direction!

If your goals lie more in the direction of search engine rankings and traffic, you’ll be examining sites with a whole different set of eyes. You want sites that give live, followed links, that are very social, and that are getting lots of attention from the search powers that be. (Namely Google) These sites come and go all the time, but there are some that have lasted a while and are proving their worth to those who know how to use them, such as StumbleUpon, Digg, Tumblr and others.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing sites for your social media marketing arsenal; make sure you come to the table armed with all the knowledge you can!

Next time we’ll talk about the methods you use, and what you need to have done for you.

~Keith

Now that you’ve jumped into the deep end of social media marketing, one of the very first things you’ll notice is that’s theres a LOT of voices vying for your attention! And most of them are trying to outshout one another. If you’re going to make a dent in this medium, something has to be done!

Just getting past all the noise and developing a plan for your social marketing efforts will be the first major challenge you have to conquer. There is no one right way for everyone to crack this egg; you’ll have to choose cafeteria style which sites, programs, networks make sense for you and your projects. This can change also, as Web 2.0 moves at a speed heretofore unseen! What was here today is gone tomorrow, and it truly is a flavor of the day type of marketing.

Some may use Facebook, MySpace, Mixx, Digg and others, while others may find it more doable to focus on just a few sites. Some depend on an network of blogs, others blog comments and trackbacks. the possibilities are many, but however you decide to do it, make sure that you do it frequently. Remember all those voices vying for attention? Well, you;re one of them too, and if you’re AWOL for too long, you’ll have to regain all your lost ground and relations. This kind of marketing is hands on, in their face, and in a word, social! We want to get to know you!

Hi! The Social Marketer is a place that both myself,  Keith Thompson, and my partner at Social-Marketer.com Shelby Larson have created to both contribute and learn from all the people we can in the world of social media marketing. I have been marketing on the internet for several years now, and have been writing for many more than that. Shelby also has writing roots, having ghosted many very high-profile clients you definitely have heard of.  She is also the owner of ContentDivas.com, one of the most respected content outsourcing firms out there today.

We will share what we’ve learned both as marketers, writers and content providers, and hopefully learn from all of you as we go along this journey. We’ll both be posting here regularly, and we hope to have guest interviews posted here on our blog as well.

We will always point you in the direction of voices we feel are worth listening to, as the world of Web 2.0 and social media marketing is very fluid, and a bit akin to the wild wild west! (Black-hatted villains and all!)

We know that there are many ways to reach our goals, but our emphasis will always favor the ways that appear to be the best for the long haul. It does me little good to promote for the short term, unless there is a specific path to follow, such as a particular product launch.

Make sure to check back in often, as we will be posting new content here quite regularly!