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How I Got 2198 Facebook Friends With NO Profile

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This is the first of a 5-part series about social media marketing using Facebook by guest blogger, Alexander Alaric .

One of the reasons people use Facebook for networking, especially for business, is because it is a protected environment.

Unfortunately, many new users get caught by the Facebook spam Nazis and get their accounts shut down. These guys mean well but unfortunately sometimes the “baby gets thrown out with the bathwater”.

Even seasoned Facebook users have had their accounts disabled and banned. Robert Scobleizer (a long-time and experienced Facebook user) wrote about how his account got shut down here. He later got it reinstated but why make yourself go through the hassle.

So, let's start out with some of the Facebook basics and avoid having your account shut down. Because after the effort it takes to build up 500, 1000, or more friends you want to protect your account and the time that you've put in. [Read more…]

Is Twitter Just Twaddle?

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As part of my social media marketing efforts for 2008, I signed up for a Twitter account on January 1st and have so far posted only 15 updates, most of which have been completely inane.

For example, who the heck really wants to know that I was “up way too early… again” or that I was “force-feeding the cat with a medical milkshake…“?

Mine haven't been quite as inane however as Chris Pirillo's “I farted” twit last night — which is silly enough to be funny… almost.

But I guess I'm missing the point.

Fortunately, Maki over at Dosh Dosh has written a blog post titled “17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners” that confirms my problem with Twitter and spells things out about how to use it wisely.

In her preamble, she talks about the problem with Twitter, and says “What really matters is how it impacts your online habits and daily life. For many, Twitter is a distraction…” and “It saps your attention and pulls your focus away from other tasks.“.

No kidding. You get in there and start reading Twit after Twit and next thing you know, you've twittered away an hour of your time. It boggles my mind to see some who are supposedly following 2, 3 and 4 THOUSAND other Twitter–ers? How the heck is that even possible?

Presuming you can avoid falling into the pit of distraction, Maki lists 17 good ways to use Twitter for getting feedback, personal branding, setting up meetings and more.

OK, so maybe I'll give it another try. In the meantime, let me know what you think…

Are you using Twitter? Has it been an effective marketing tool for you, or like me, do you find it more of a distraction?

[tags]twitter,marketing,blogging[/tags]

Reconsidering the Value of Social Marketing

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Over the last few months, I've been very tempted to kill both my MySpace and Facebook accounts.

I was sick of responding to the seemingly endless ‘friend requests', mostly from internet marketers whose idea of friendship was to spam the heck out of my account with sales messages. I wasn't particularly keen to waste my time reading the ‘let's get together, baby' messages or viewing scantily clad women. Duh.

Overall, I just wasn't seeing the value of these social networking sites — but to be fair, I wasn't really actively participating to make them work to my advantage, either.

The video I watched this morning has me reconsidering the value of using social media sites as a marketing tool, however.

The 50 minute video “Social Marketing – There Are No Secrets” video by Don Crowther is the latest one in StomperNet's “Going Natural” series, which are some of the best quality production videos I've seen in the Internet marketing arena — not to mention entertaining and informative.

Don got my attention right from the start of the video by saying, “Forget SEO!“, a statement about search engine optimization that echoes the opinion I've always held and shared with my readers.

He also explains how you can still get ‘first mover advantage‘ if you start using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and social bookmarking sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon now — and estimates that the window of opportunity on this marketing channel will start to close within the next 12 to 18 months.

The video shows how the Stompernet boys managed to claim the first 8 PAGES on Google (yes, pages, not listings) through social media marketing.

OK, that opened my eyes to the possibilities of using Web 2.0 (a.k.a. social networking, social marketing, social media) sites to build traffic and sales for your online business.

Don also shows results from research studies that demonstrates how traffic from social networking sites is actually more valuable than traffic we might get from ppc and other marketing techniques. Nice…

I think it's a worthwhile view and have posted the video below for you to view. Access to the other StomperNet videos is available through the playlist on video player. The Stompernet boys are also giving away a free 33-page social marketing strategy guide called “SMARTS”.

Watch it… you might find yourself reconsidering or adopting the social media marketing strategy it you do. 🙂

[tags]social marketing,stompernet,don crowther,brad fallon,andy jenkins[/tags]

What’s the Point to Technorati Tags?

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In a comment made on the Technorati Tagging Made Simple post, Jim Hutchinson asked, “What's the point of using Technorati tags in your blog?”

If you are using Movable Type, WordPress, TypePad, Blogware, Radio to blog and are publishing RSS or Atom feeds, Technorati will read your categories as tags and your posts will be automatically included without tagging.

Tagging individual posts just gives you a chance for more exposure.

Technorati's tag pages get indexed on Google and quite frequently appear high in the search results. If your blog is listed on a tag page, anyone searching Google is more likely to find your blog.

For example, I searched Google for ‘iphone' and the fourth listing that came up was iPhone: Blogs, Photos, Videos and more on Technorati which leads to Technorati's QuickView page that shows the most recent blog posts that are either tagged iPhone or include the word iPhone in the post.

On that page, you will also see videos and photos. The videos come from YouTube and the pictures from Flickr and have all been tagged with the word ‘iPhone' – presenting yet another opportunity for exposure, traffic and more sales!

If you'd like more information about Technorati tagging, please visit the Technorati Support page.

[tags]Technorati tagging, iphone, tags, blogging, website promotion, internet marketing[/tags]

10 Reasons to Start a Discussion Forum

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Riches, fame, glory … OK, that's perhaps exaggerating somewhat, but running a successful forum can certainly make you very popular and bulk out the wallet considerably.

Here are the ten best reasons to start your own discussion forum:

  1. Meet People – Do you love to garden, do wood-working or build model airplanes? Visit a forum on any niche topic and you'll meet others who are also interested in that topic.
  2. Share and Learn – Help others by sharing your knowledge and learn from those with new and different experience.
  3. Increase Branding – Repeated posting is a great way to get your name out there.
  4. Enhance Credibility – Become known as an ‘expert' by providing thoughtful answers and suggestions to questions posed on the forum.
  5. Boost Traffic – As you become more widely known as an expert, your name and URL will be mentioned elsewhere on the web, which then brings more visitors to your site.
  6. Improve Site Ranking – More visitors means better page rankings at Google and higher search engine listings at all the major search engines – which in turn means MORE traffic still!
  7. Create Information Database – Any product or service sold generates a set of commonly asked questions. Post answers on your forum and then send people directly to the specific answer on your site. Having them go to your site will also help boost your page rank and bring in still MORE visitors!
  8. Reduce Workload – Regular forum participants will answer questions that others have posted, thereby reducing your workload.
  9. Gather Information and Feedback – Need new ideas for products? Post your own questions to find out what your forum visitors most want and need – then use that information to:
  10. Promote Products – Display ads for products related to your forum visitors' interests at the top and bottom of every page. Ads can be for your own products or for merchants with whom you are affiliated. Post new messages when you have a new product that your visitors will be interested in.

Those are just the obvious reasons – I'm sure you'll discover many more benefits when you become master of your own forum.

Start Your Own Forum Today

How to Start a Discussion Forum ToolkitIf you want to start your own forum, you may have questions like:

  • Which software should I use?
  • Would it be better to utilize an off-the-shelf forum service?
  • How much will I need to pay (or can it be done for free)?
  • Even once established, how should I go about promoting and driving traffic to my new discussion board?
  • How should I moderate or control my forum?
  • What ground rules should I set?
  • Can this really turn into a worthwhile or profitable tool for me?

Get your questions answered by Michael Green, owner of the world's biggest Internet marketing forum.

Michael has created the web's first ever eGuide tutorial which shows you precisely how to establish your very own online Discussion FORUM. Discover everything you need to know in order to create and draw visitors to your very own FORUM today at How to Start Your Own Forum or Discussion Board Over 82 sources of FREE forum software included.

YOU are Person of the Year for 2006

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Congratulations! TIME Magazine named “YOU” Person of the Year for 2006. Why? According to the December 2006 issue of the magazine, “In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter.”

Jeremy Palmer and I also identified user-generated content as one of the most significant growth areas in 2006 during our GotoWebinar “Affiliate Marketing in 2007: The Outlook” call last week.

Also significant was the growth in API's for affiliate marketers such as Amazon.com Webservices, the eBay Developer Program and Commission Junction's free Web Services for Publishers and Advertisers.

Are you using the tools, contributing more to the webscape and branding yourself as a source of great information within your market? If you feel like you could do more in that regard and you missed the call, not to worry. Although the call won't be posted, we'll have much more information to help you build your affiliate marketing] business in the next few months. That's a Hint. 🙂

Can You Really Get Free Traffic from YouTube?

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The November 2006 issue of Affiliate Classroom magazine is all about viral marketing.

More specifically, they dive into viral VIDEO marketing.

To find out whether you can really get traffic from YouTube and other video services, read this month's issue – which is free as always and available for you to download immediately.

Click here for Affiliate Classroom's November 2006 edition.

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