Home » Social Media
28 November 2007 2 Comments
MySpace. Flickr. Facebook. The plethora of social bookmarking sites. So many avenues to promote your site, so few people doing so with reserve. These are all very viable ways to promote products, services, blogs, etc., but there are a few things that you should consider when making use of a social media to market yourself.
This post isn’t meant for the veteran Social Marketer, but for those that are just now considering it’s application to your business, and need a few pointers.
- Be Nice
I think I’m going to make this the first rule on every single list I make. It really should go without saying that you should be nice to those around you. Not only will it help your SMM progress, but acting the opposite way will actually diminish it…greatly. Unless you have made a niche for yourself as the blogger with attitude, and it’s already proved successful, then you should probably be considerate of others, their opinions, and their space. - Don’t Be Selfish
A one-day-old StumbleUpon account with only stumbles to your site isn’t really going to get you anywhere. People notice that kind of thing. - Get Involved
In line with the last one, you should get involved in the community. Got a MySpace account? Make friends, join or start a group, post relevant comments on friends’ accounts. Don’t jump to self promotion just yet. - Stay Involved
And in line with the last 2. Perhaps the biggest reason I don’t make use of a MySpace account (I took the name, but haven’t set anything up) or most other Social Marketing avenues, is due to the amount of time that really should be given to the project. It’s not an absurd amount, but your social account really shouldn’t go stagnant. If you just stop stumbling for a long period of time, it’s going to take time to gain followers again. If your MySpace or Facebook account shows that you haven’t logged in for 3 months, there will be some question as to your company’s “open” status. - Stay On Topic
If you start a “professional” Flickr account to showcase your paintings, you probably don’t want to sprinkle it with pictures of Angelina Jolie and her new child. It’s not too relevant. Sure, there are times when you take a vacation and want to share a personal photo you took (not too personal mind you), and doing so may even help your perception as a “real person” and not a big bad company, but try to be conservative. - Don’t Spam
A lot of communities let you message others. This function can be used to ask for a vote on Sphinn or StumbleUpon. Use Sparingly!! You may have friends that you have grown to communicate with on a regular basis, and sending them a quick “hey vote for my story” probably doesn’t hurt anyone, but when you make no connections, and arbitrarily send “vote for my story” messages to people with whom you have never communicated, it will definitely have an adverse affect. It’s a good way to be black marked, or even banned from the community. - Beware The TOS
Finally, become aware of the official Terms of Service for your community. These were thought out and put forth for a reason. Flickr’s TOS, for example, states that you agree not to “exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Service.” This means that having an account solely for the purpose of promoting a product is against their TOS. Making yourself aware of this will help you to promote your product or service appropriately, without getting your account banned. Hint: I’ll be showing you just that with the Flickr Marketing article I’m putting together.
Hopefully this will get you on your way with Social Media Marketing. In the end, use your noggin. Things are pretty much common sense and etiquette in the online world as they are in the offline world (well…most of the time).