Social Networking Success: Increase Your Sales by Turning Friends into Customers – Part 1

Social Networks can actually be an integral part of your online success if you know how to use them. Did you read my post on Making More Friends on MySpace? By creatively making the most of sites like MySpace and my own social network for women, I have been able to increase my web sales in more ways than one. Now I’m not going to waste time telling you why it is so important for you to be active on social networks, because so many people have already made that point, and made it quite well. Even I have written my share of guides on MySpace marketing and Social Networking. These spaces provide some of the best free internet marketing opportunities that you are ever going to find online, so it is worth your time and money to figure out how to use them correctly.

Let me begin by saying that successful social networkers always enter a new community with a purpose. They are not there to simply add friends or survey the scene. They are looking to covert clicks into cash, which is why each and every single one of them has a strategy. When I send out messages to friends I always make sales and I will tell you why. It has nothing to do with luck or coincidence. You have to have a social networking plan and that plan always originates from a brainstorming session in front of your notebook, not your computer. You need to write down where you want to go, how you are going to set up shop, and what you plan on doing to turn friends into readers and customers.

Your plan should be in the form of a Social Networking Checklist with the first task being to figure out which social networks have the target audience, you want to tap into. Don’t drive yourself crazy joining every new group that comes along. I personally have joined a collection of both big and small social networks, in addition to my own, because you will find the big ones have tons of people but the smaller niche-specific ones tend to have more quality readers. Create a list of your core social networks, and of course keep a few extras of personal interest, but focus on your core.

When you step onto any Social Networking Scene understand that the first thing people want to see is your personality, not your sales pitch. Web entrepreneurs are constantly being bombarded with sales pitches, sob stories, and personal requests. Don’t think yours is going to come off any differently than the rest. Most people can spot these generic emails from a mile away and they do away with them quicker than you think. Truth be told, I know of several people who send me tons of emails every week, all of which I do not open. These Webpreneurs have no clue how unsuccessful this approach actually is! Do you know if you spent your time sending out a few good posts than one generic sales pitch that you might actually make a new contact or sell to an interested customer? I’m sure this is not news to you, but it is probably a new strategy you are not implementing while desperately trying to figure out why you haven’t made one sale.

Personality is the key. How do you present your personality? It all starts with your profile page. Have an eye-catchy, professional picture. The best picture you can find because pictures truly are worth a thousand words. Post images of your products, put up your personal story, customer testimonies, and video too. If you have an RSS box use it. Plug in your blog RSS feed so that people can see what you are writing about. Unless you are promoting your song or group, don’t waste your page by filling it with music tracks or welcome glitter graphics. I am always coming across web entrepreneurs who say they aren’t getting enough traffic to their site and yet they aren’t doing anything on their page to redirect their traffic. They have no banners, no blog posts, no product images, nothing. Not one thing.

Figure out what you want to put on your page and add those things to your list. Moreover, be sure to work on the best way to present these things on your page. Another big mistake many people make is to just throw everything on their page and hope for the best. In the game of business, hoping is not an option. If you want more views for your blog, post your RSS or repost some of your best blog posts onto your network blog and remember to include a link back to your blog. If you want people to know about this great new product you have, that should be the first thing they see when they come to your page. Figure out what you want people to see and do when they get to your page and make that the focus. For those of you who read my guides regularly, you know I say this stuff all the time because the strategy doesn’t change. All you need to do is tweak it a bit to work with every unique situation.

Read Part 2:
Social Networking Success: Increase Your Sales by Turning Friends into Customers – Part 2

Posted by: LHenry creator of the SistaSense eBussines Blog, a series of Web Business Howto Guides, BBWO Network for Professional Black Women and the Web Newbie Know How Coaching Program.