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Social Networking And Why You Should Be Following The Crowd

By: Loc Tran

I received this question recently from one of the members of my LinkedIn group:

“Hi Loc, I am working on a marketing project and trying to reach the International Backpacker with social media – do you have experience with reaching this “moveable” audience?“ – Jasper.

Social Network Hopping

So I wanted to write today about the concept of social network hopping which is similar to bar hopping but applied to the online world.

When I’m out on the town on a Friday or Saturday night what I find is that I will rarely stay in one place all night, instead I will hop between a number of different venues because a change of scenery is fun and different people tend to frequent different venues. The excitement, magic and joy of entering a venue for the first time can be repeated several times throughout the night.

This is true also of social networking sites:

• It’s fun to be a member of several different social networking sites because each site may offer something different.
• Each social network may in turn attract a different type of audience.
• Just as in real life, you want to be where the action is and connect with like minded people.

Popular Social Networking Sites

Here is a list of popular social networking sites and the type of people you are likely to meet:

1. Twitter – mainly early adopters who are savvy with technology / social media and who are interested in connecting with like minded people i.e. “Tweetups”.
2. FaceBook – basically everyone is on FaceBook these days so it’s almost mandatory for you to be on there also, with FaceBook you have friends who you know and then if you want to connect with other like minded people you join specific interest groups, fan pages or community pages.
3. YouTube – for people who love to make and share videos.
4. Flickr – for people who love to take and share photos.
5. FourSquare – for people who are often out and about and want others to know where they are and what places they frequent most often.
6. Blogs – for people who like to write and share their thoughts and experiences in a more comprehensive way than what services like Twitter and FaceBook can offer.
7. LinkedIn – for business professionals and job hunters.

Go Where The Action Is For Your Brand

If you do a search on each of these social networking sites for your brand you will find that some networks will have more of a natural “buzz” than others, so it makes sense to follow the crowd and join in on the conversation where people are already talking about you or the things that you are interested in.

The same strategy can be applied across most social networks:

• Find the groups of people that you want to connect with.
• Join in on the conversation.
• Retweet, like, comment on what others have to say.
• Connect with those who respond.
• Ask them to do the same in return.

What Is Your Primary Call To Action?

Be sure to have a primary call to action in mind, that is, what do you want people to do?

• Do you want them to join your FaceBook page?
• Do you want them to check out your blog?
• Do you want them to join your mailing list?

Please note that it is generally frowned upon if you try to sell something to someone that you don’t have a relationship with on a social networking site although it is acceptable to promote an event via social networking without too many issues.

Also, you will find that most people are members of 3 different social networks and it’s much easier to get someone to hop from one network to another (i.e. if they follow you on Twitter, it’s likely that they will friend you on FaceBook also) than it is for them to do something that requires a great commitment such as buying your product or joining your email list.

Start Small, Build The Relationship First

So start small, once someone has connected with you on more than one social network you will have more of an opportunity to build a relationship with them and “graduate” them to another level, such as getting them to join your mailing list, etc.

So that’s pretty much it:

1. Follow the crowd.
2. Make a connection.
3. Get them to follow you back by joining you on your preferred platform.

Cheers

Loc

P.S. Got a question? Hit me up at mrlocspoc(at)gmail(dot)com.

About the Author

My name is Loc Tran and I design, develop and implement cost-effective, simple and proven sales, squeeze, social and statistics pages for small businesses in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Loc is very simply a class act. He is innovative, market focussed, highly computer literate and has the ability to integrate those skills into what a business requires. His creation of an online training platform was exceptional and his excellent project management skills kept mumerous marketing and general projects on track and budget.” – Ian Simpson, Innovation Director, MYI Freemans Ltd.

http://www.mrlocspoc.com/about-meloc-tran/

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