Social media usage is growing at an unbelievable rate every month and there seems to be no foreseeable end to that trend.  With that, comes ever growing opportunities to promote your business and “get the word out” in ways that haven’t been available to us in the past.  If done properly using these various sites can be an effective tool to promote, and grow, your business.  But, before you move too quickly, there are a few things you should know.  At the very foundation of Social Media, in general, is the understanding that people become a part of these sites with a purpose… and that purpose is NOT to buy anything.  The join to connect with old friends, meet new ones, find a lost love, keep up with family members and stay in touch with the people of their choosing.

There will be those who offer a valid service/product and are simply using this new medium to spread the word, and there are others that are doing nothing more than trying to flood you with a new stream of SPAM.  I’m really just trying to address those that fall into the former category and are using the medium for valid purposes.  Although this list is not intended to be an all-inclusive listing of things that will remove you from their “chosen” group(s), it will give you some of the more “deadly mistakes” that can be made as you move into Social Media Marketing.

1. Spamming

This is, in my opinion, one of the worst mistakes that you can make on Social Media sites. People can get very irritated if you are continually throwing your opportunity in their face with every message you are posting. DO NOT SPAM your friends or followers on these sites. If you do this, your account will be shut down.  Even though you are there to market your business, you’ve got to be careful.

2. Taking Instead Of Giving

You want to give to the Social Media community. This is a place that you want to share funny-videos, great quotes, pictures of you and your family, videos that provide value, good clean jokes, and anything else that you find interesting.

3. Not Building Relationships

When you are on Social Media sites, one of the most IMPORTANT things you need to focus on is BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. You must do this because people want to do business with people they Know, Like and Trust.

You need to follow up with the people that requested you as a friend. Find out a little bit about them. What kinds of things that they like to do, if they are married, have children, what they do for a living. All of these things will become extremely important to you later on in the relationship. Once you find out what kinds of things that they are into, it will be that much easier to approach them later on with a business opportunity.

4. Not Participating In Groups

On Facebook they have a great community of groups that you can join. Participate in the groups on whatever Niche that you are targeting in your Marketing business.

The key to this is to actually be a part of the group. Post feedback to others that may have questions. Create a new topic of discussion. Offer tips and advice.

5. Not Utilizing a Blog

You should be directing all of your friends or followers to your BLOG! This is your own personal piece of real estate on the Internet. Your blog is much like your house; you want to invite your friends over to your house for a party.

This is where you will be introducing your friends or followers to your business opportunities. You should have several places on your Blog to capture their contact information.

If you can avoid making these 5 deadly mistakes, you WILL have success in your Social Media Marketing.

Good luck with your Social Media Marketing!

Make it a great day!

Roger Best

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.