Internet marketing for beginner blog 3

 The Power of Social Networking 

If you have read thus far, you will have understood one important thing about the Internet marketing 

world. In one word, that is change. The Internet marketing world knows how to change at every instant. 

It intricately analyzes what the people are clamoring for, and then it gives it to them. It understands 

market trends consistently, and it tries to find out what really builds public interest.

Right now, it would not be wrong to say that the world belongs to social networking. This is at least true 

in the urban parts of the world where the Internet has proliferated like wildfire. Almost everyone—from 

the fifth grader to the corporate business owner—is talking about being on one or the other social 

network. They are found hobnobbing with each other here, and the world has become suddenly much 

smaller because of the presence of these social networking websites.

That is quite true! People who weren’t in close contact until, say, 10 years ago are now suddenly bosom 

buddies because they are sharing their likes and dislikes on a social networking portal. The line between 

the employee and the employer has also suddenly thinned because both of them may be playing 

Farmville on Facebook when they are not working. It is also possible that a student might be giving 

advice to a teacher about something that they are an expert in, again through a social networking 

website.

If this is not a revolutionary change, then what is?

And, if such major changes are happening in the Internet world, then can the Internet marketing domain 

be left far behind? Definitely not! Internet marketing gurus has long understood the great potential of 

websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, WAYN, Hi5, Orkut and others and they have not 

only made profiles for themselves here, but they have built entire communities of people who are 

interested in their products. 

Businesses are going on all the while over these social networking websites. Sometimes these are 

happening surreptitiously without the rest of the group not coming to know what is going on, while 

sometimes the promotion is quite public with everyone in the group understanding that there is 

something afoot. People know that they are being marketed to on these social networking websites, but 

still their lure is too strong to give them a miss.Benefits of Social Networking

So, why are these social networking sites such a big hit in the Internet marketing world today? Here are

the reasons.

1. The first—and probably the most important reason—is the attraction of the phenomenon of social

networking in today’s world. Almost everyone is socially linking with everyone else they know, and even

with a lot other people that they do not know. The best thing is the fun factor that is involved here.

When they are linking with someone, they are not thinking of anything more than some casual

communication. Adding to the fun experience are the various activities that are present on these

websites, like Facebook with its various applications. That is the reason people crowd here. They want to

stay in touch with their friends and have fun with them. The social networking sites right now have

become the virtual equivalent of hanging out with friends. Marketers can definitely take advantage of

this mindset. Since these people will crowd here for the fun factor, why not market something to them

while they are at it? It works… a lot of people find out about something and then decide to look at it

more closely.

2. Social networking websites are a great place for viral marketing as well. Viral marketing is when

people recommend a product or service to their group of friends. They may do it with the sole intention

of telling about something useful to their friend and not have any marketing intention in mind. Haven’t

we done it often too? When we read a good book, we recommend it to others. In doing so, we do not

earn anything, but it is our human nature to share things we like. That is exactly what the Internet

marketers are looking for here. The potential is immense. If there is a good product circulating in a social

group, then it will be spoken about quite fast and the product can really catch on. Experts believe that

viral marketing is the best form of marketing right now because a friend’s recommendation can mean

more to people than anything else.

3. The other big advantage of social networking is that niche groups can be built very fast. Most of these

have search engines of their own where you can find people through relevant keywords. You can find

out what these people are interested in, and if your product or service is related to the things they are

interested in, then you could add them to your group or community, or you could link with them in any

other way that the social networking website allows you to do. Once that is established, you have a

good chance of informing people about your product more and interesting them in it. There is a strong

likelihood that these people will be interested in what you are trying to sell them.

4. Social networking also helps in building better traffic over the Internet. You can connect with people

who will already have groups of their own. So, when you are connecting with a person, you are actually

building a possibility of connecting with their entire group. In business, numbers definitely matter. If you

are making your product visible to a large number of people, you are easily increasing your possibility of

generating sales.

5. A very essential benefit—though it may not apply to everyone—is that it helps in increasing the

chances of reaching your local target market. If you are trying to sell a product in a particular local area,

then local marketing becomes important to you. Social networking helps because you can connect with people of the local area, which increases the chances of their visiting a local shop and trying to pick up

the product or service that you are trying to promote.

Top 5 Social Networking Places

If you are looking for building your brand and your business itself through social networking, then you

should consider the following important places to promote your products in.

1. Facebook – This is quite easily the most popular social networking website right now, with a huge

global outreach. There are millions of people from all over the world connecting continuously through

Facebook. If you are looking at a place where you can find the highest number of people to connect

with, and possibilities to connect with their friends as well, then Facebook is the place that you should

consider. At the same time, it really helps that people who visit Facebook come there with an open

mind. Their intention is to have fun. In fact, some of the applications on Facebook like Farmville, Social

City and Mafia Wars have become immensely popular. When people come with an open mind like that,

there are chances that they will be more receptive to what you have to tell them.

2. Twitter – Twitter is kind of a microblog in which several people can post updated comments at any

time. This was a very new concept of networking at that time and hasn’t been duplicated yet. You can

say short things on Twitter that you want your people to know. These are known as tweets. You can

post your own tweets as well as read other people’s tweets. If you like someone, you can follow them. If

you stop liking someone, you can unfollow them. This is great for your business. If someone is impressed

with what you are trying to sell them, then they can follow you to let you know more about them.

3. Google Plus - Having the integrated social services of Google Profiles and Google Buzz while at the

same time introducing new services such as Circle, Hangouts and Sparks it hopes to create the desired

impact on the internet user at large. As this facility is also extended to mobile devices the reach of this

tool is quite infinite. To date the response has been nothing short of phenomenal.

4. Pinterest - Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage

theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other

pinboards for images, "re-pin" images to their own pinboards, or "like" photos. Pinterest has taken off

massively over the past year and is here to stay as one of the big players.

5. Digg – Digg is another relatively new concept that has really caught on. With Digg, you can post your

own content which is usually some news article or some media. When people like it, they can digg it,

which allows them to post their comments on the content or give a rating for it. The content with the

largest number of diggs gets the most popular and is viewed by a large number of people. If you think

about it, this is a wonderful way to bring your product out into the open.

Apart from these, here are some other really popular and effective social networking places where you

can put your content on. These are places where people can find your content, and interact with it in

several ways, thus enhancing your business in several ways.

6. StumbleUpon

7. FriendFeed

8. Del.icio.us

9. Diigo

10. eKudos

11. BlogMarks

12. LiveJournal

13. Bebo

14. BlinkList

15. Evernote

16. Google Buzz

17. Google Reader

18. JumpTags

19. Ning

20. Newsvine

21. Netvouz

22. NetVibes

23. N4G

24. Mixx

25. MyLinkVault

26. Mister Wong

27. Ping.fm

28. Plurk

29. PrintFriendly

30. Slash Dot.

31. Squidoo

32. Twittley

33. Buzz Up!

34. TechMeme

35. Linkedin

Try popularizing your content on all of these places if you can. You will be building an amazing viewer

base for your articles and you will be really able to reach out to your niche crowd.

Getting Customers and Retaining Business

Throughout its existence, the world of Internet marketing has been reinforced by the various changes

that have occurred in it. In recent times, the changes have been immensely positive. As the popularity of

this type of marketing grows, marketers find that there are more and more ways in which they can

enhance their business prospects.

Internet marketers have now realized that the most profound way in which they can lure customers is

by making themselves popular all over the Internet, leaving no scope for ambiguity at all. People must

get to know their business closely; this is the way they can direct more business to themselves. Right

now, Internet marketers are trying to increase their sales by giving people all kinds of information about

their products and services. To help them, the Internet has provided them with various resources so that

they can get in touch with their client base in a much better manner.

We have been seeing over the last few chapters how people can get in close touch with their

prospective market by using different methods, ranging from articles to videos to social networking

methods. Marketers use all of these methods and more to get their customers.

But, apart from merely obtaining customers, it is very important to retain them. This is all the more

important in the Internet marketing world where every customer is considered to be special and is

treasured. Also, since Internet marketers do not expect a constant flow of customers all the time, they

bank upon repeat businesses. There are lot of instances in which there is upselling of products and

services by the same business to the same customers, and also where products of affiliate partners are

promoted to customers so that they can be kept within the loop for more business later on.

All this is because of the Internet marketer’s tendency to build a customer base. With the means of

various resources such as autoresponders and wonderful aftersales services, etc., Internet marketers

always try to retain their customers. This is what helps them subsist in this highly competitive world.

To understand this better, let us look at a few new-age theories that Internet marketers keep at the core

of their businesses.

“Customers should come to the sellers, not the other way round.”

If you have been fed on the old-age strategies of marketing, then you will find it very difficult to digest it.

In olden days, reaching out to customers meant cold-calling or door-to-door sales or advertising into their living rooms through television sets and newspapers, regardless of whether they wanted such

intrusions or not.

Naturally, this kind of advertising was abhorred. People did not like being sold to, and most businesses

found it very difficult to rise above the level of mediocrity.

Today, the concept of marketing has undergone a volte-face. The reason behind this is that now

marketers do not go out to the customers; the customers come to them. The Internet has made it

possible. Internet marketers will now submit an article to a directory or write a blog post or submit a

video or post a comment on a social networking website. In none of these ways are the people

advertising their product or service blatantly. There is no intrusion of any sort. No one’s privacy is

invaded.

People who are looking for information will automatically find all these contents. They will search using

a keyword and they will find these things in the search engine results, where they will visit.

So, in effect, the seller hasn’t called upon the customer in any manner directly, but the customer has

come to the seller. This is a very dignified manner of advertising, and the results are better too. If people

come looking for a product, they are more likely to buy it. There is no feeling of being sold to; hence,

even the customer feels dignified about making the purchase.

“Customers should get the best value.”

This is the mantra of every Internet marketer right now. Every marketer is making it an important point

on their agenda to give their customers the best they can. This has become all the more important in the

wake of all the competition that prevails on the Internet. Just look for any random product—such as

leather boots, for instance—and you are sure to find hundreds of options. What is it that will make a

customer come to you then?

There are many ways to do that, and we have already discussed many of the promotional methods that

can work for you in this time and age, but the most important thing is still the most traditional belief—

“If you give customers a good value for their money, then they will come knocking at your door more

than once.”

This is what modern Internet marketers have definitely understood right now. They have understood

that they should stretch their limits so that they can give their customers the best they can. They are

using high quality products, and the most important thing is that they are spending on the creativity

factor to make new things so that they can entice the attention of the fickle-minded customer of today.

So, this is one thing that you have to remember throughout your Internet marketing life. You have to

remember to give people their money’s worth and possibly give them more than that. It will always pay

off in the world of Internet marketing.

“An Ounce of Support Is Worth a Ton of Business.”

Another very important theory that Internet marketers abide by in present times is that they need to

provide the best level of aftersales service and other kinds of support to their customers. They need to

be with their customers whenever they need them, even after the sale has been done.

This is definitely much more important in the world of Internet marketing because the customer cannot

actually see the product before they buy it. They do not know of the small things that might be

associated with the product and because of that they may find things a bit difficult when they buy the

product and try to use it. At such times, it is important to guarantee them an aftersales support.

Customers are slowly coming out of their inhibitions and are beginning to buy more and more products

online, but they require the assurance that they will be given good support.

When the support is good, it becomes easier for an Internet marketer to upsell. If they have any other

product in the future, they can try to interest their customer in that product as well. However, if the

aftersales support after the first product has been shoddy, then it is quite unlikely that the customer

would want to use them for a second time round.

There are many ways in which such support can be provided to the customers, even without physical

presence. A lot of Internet marketers are significantly investing in autoresponder software applications.

These are automated messages that are sent to a customer’s email address. These automated messages

could have any kind of content, and they can be planned in such a way that particular queries attract

particular kinds of responses. By using autoresponders, customers get the impression that there is

someone looking after their needs.

“Give Them a Chance to Say Something.”

With the way Internet marketing is going, there is another very special thought that marketers have

begun to believe. This is the idea of letting the customers speak out their mind. In earlier days,

marketers were quite skeptical about what their customers might say about them. But this is definitely

not the case today. Today, customers are given the chance to speak out their mind. In fact, there are

few online businesses that will ask customers to give their valuable feedback once they have made their

purchase.

There are many ways to let customers speak out their mind. Two of the biggest online stores in the

world today—Amazon

(http://www.amazon.com/) and eBay (http://www.ebay.com/)--actually have

options where buyers can post their comments about the product and the quality of service that they

dealt with. These reviews become a revelation for other people who are contemplating on buying the

same product.

You will find the same mentality in several of the Internet marketing websites that we spoke about. Each

of these places can be considered as a mecca for Internet marketers because this is where they can get

into the very groove of their customer base and ask them what they need. Their reviews can certainly

help them beef up the popularity of their own business and they can enhance the scope of their

business.Internet marketers have to be wary about the nature of their businesses and what they are promoting.

The legality of the product has to be ensured. As it is mandatory by law to give all information they can

about their products, this becomes something that’s essential to do as well.

“Customers Can Bring More Customers.”

This is a very important belief of the current generation. Internet marketers believe to the hilt that once

they have a steady group of customers, then they will be able to bring more customers.

Once again, this has its roots in the concept of viral marketing. When someone over the Internet likes

something, they are so much more likely to recommend it to their friends than if they were liking it in

the offline world. For example, when someone likes a video, it is just a matter of a couple of clicks to

share that video with a whole social networking group that they are part of. There are so many times

that people like things on YouTube and then with just a few clicks share that entire video through their

Facebook profile.

There are many more aspects to this. It is possible that someone who likes a product that they have

used—even in the offline world—will write a review about it, or post something about it on the

Facebook wall or tweet about it. By doing all these things, the posters may be acting on their enthusiasm

of liking something, but unknown to them, they are acting as mouthpieces for the product itself.

This is what Internet marketers rely on. They know that their products can be taken to greater shores by

the customers that they get. Hence, they try to bowl their customers over with great quality and service,

and then these customers carry their name forward. With minimal advertising, and advertising that

sustains, Internet marketers can really keep their business going, and focus on growing it all the time.