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Social Networking for Targeted Traffic
By odie | September 11, 2008
Social networking has become a very big deal in the world of Internet Marketing. As always, the marketers go where their targeted audience is hanging out, and today, no matter what niche you are in, you can bet that there is a social networking site where that target market can be found.
Social networking comes in a variety of flavors, including a couple of old stand-bys, such as Forum Marketing. Because social networking already is such a big thing on the Internet, and because we are not likely to do away with it at anytime, it is important that you learn to utilize it effectively for your marketing purposes.
Here are some different ways that you can make social networking work for you, in terms of driving targeted traffic to your site.
Forum Marketing: Forum marketing is an outstanding way to drive targeted traffic over and over again to your site. However, it only works if you use it the right way. The first step is to find forums that fit in nicely with your niche.
The second step it to make sure that it isn’t a spam forum. You want a true, active community to participate in; otherwise, it is just a waste of time. If there is nothing but spam there, nobody is really reading anything that anyone else posted.
The third step is to make sure that no advertising is allowed in posts, but that leaving a signature with your posts is allowed. The signature should allow you to link to your website.
Again, forum marketing only works if you do it right, and this starts by selecting the right forums – the ones where your target market is gathering. It also involves becoming a true part of that community. If you aren’t a part of the community, it gets pretty obvious that you are there for the sole purpose of dropping your signature file.
Social Networking Sites: When we say social networking sites, most people instantly think of FaceBook and MySpace. These are indeed the two biggest social networking sites, and you should definitely learn how to utilize them for your business.
However, you should not rule out those small social networking sites that nobody has ever heard of either. These are social networking sites that are topic specific, and they are more powerful than any other social networking site out there. Why? Because your target market is hanging out in one of those targeted social networking sites…that’s why.
For instance, at the little known social networking site called Life Knot, you can join networks that have members that share your interests – specifically. Life Knot is located at http://www.lifeknot.com. You can find an extensive list of social networking sites, complete with the topics of those sites through Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites.
It is vitally important that you utilize these networks in a responsible way. Think of it like forum marketing…you can’t just show up and start advertising. You have to become a real part of the community.
Again, take advantage of those large social networks, but don’t discount those networks that are smaller and more niche targeted, as those are the ones that will get you the most targeted traffic overall.
Social Bookmarking Sites: Social bookmarking sites are great for boosting your Google page rank, but do they really work for driving targeted traffic to your site? They only really work if you learn to utilize them correctly – by building networks.
In the grand scheme of things, social bookmarking sites operate much like social networking sites. The difference is that you participate in these networks by bookmarking sites of interest.
One thing that many people don’t get about social bookmarking is that you are looked down upon if you only bookmark your own sites. You should be bookmarking other sites more than you bookmark your own. Otherwise, your popularity within the network suffers, and some social bookmarking sites will ban you if all you are doing is bookmarking your own sites. This has been known to happen at the popular site, StumbleUpon, if you bookmark your own sites or pages too much.
As with any other type of social networking site, make sure that you set up a profile, and build your network from other members who fit into your target market, based on what you read in their profiles, and the bookmarks that they already have.
Blogging: Blogging works in numerous ways for getting targeted traffic. First, getting traffic to a blog is easier than getting traffic to a website. Bringing repeat traffic back is also easier, and getting listed in the search engines is easier. Every business owner should have a blog.
First, there is your own blog, which should be linked to your website. Many business owners have a blog, and no website, which also works well, depending on your niche. You can advertise your blog by listing it with all of the blog and RSS directories, and by joining social networking sites that are designed for bloggers, such as Blog Catalog, at http://www.blogcatalog.com.
Next, utilize other people’s blogs within your niche. Make sure that you leave comments, and that those comments are related to the post that you are commenting on. You can usually leave a link to your website or blog as well, which brings traffic from that blog to your own site.
Finally, get bloggers to blog about you. You can purchase reviews from bloggers, and you can select bloggers in your niche. You can find these bloggers on your own, or use a service such as Review Me at http://www.reviewme.com.
Yahoo Answers: Yahoo Answers, at http://answers.yahoo.com is a great way to get targeted traffic. Sign up for an account, set up a profile, and then search for questions that are related to your topic. Answer those questions and then drop your link there as well.
Not only will the person asking the question visit, but when others have a question, before they just ask the question, they will do a search to see if that question has been asked before – and they will also be visiting your site. Make your answers informative and detailed, in an effort to get voted as the best answer as this gets you more exposure.
Video: Video is very big on the Internet, and this is something that you should definitely start utilizing. Many people avoid video for marketing purposes simply because they don’t understand how to fully use the video sites to their advantage – they figure it’s a waste of time and that their video would just get lost among the millions of videos already on the site.
When you think about using video, think about article marketing. There are far more articles on the Internet than there are videos – and probably always will be – but article marketing is still incredibly effective. Keep in mind that with video – or article marketing or anything else – you aren’t trying to get the whole of cyberspace to your website…just your target market, and to do that, you simply have to weed them out.
When you create a video, obviously, your website URL should be on the screen at all times. The video should also relate to your site. This could be a funny video or an informational video – as long as it relates to your site. If it doesn’t relate, it may get viewed millions of times, depending on how interesting it is, but will get few if any clicks to your site.
When you upload your video, really think about the keywords, or tags, that you will use for the video. At the video sites, such as YouTube.com and Google Video, make sure that you set up a profile. When people like your video, and it relates to their interests, they will almost always click on your profile to see other videos that you have made, and if you have a website listed, they will often click through to that site. This is targeted traffic!
Article Marketing: In most cases, article marketing is not considered to be a part of social networking, but that has slowly been changing recently. Now, many article directories allow members of the site to leave comments on articles, which in turn actually bring the article marketing effort closer to the idea of social networking.
Furthermore, article marketing could be termed as a form of social networking because authors are allowed to set up a profile, complete with picture at many of the directories. People can read your articles and find out more about you, which helps to build credibility.
In terms of using article marketing to drive targeted traffic to your site, the idea would be to write an article that is targeted to your ideal audience, and to ensure that the headline will capture the attention of your desired audience. Of course, you will use your author’s resource box to further target the traffic that comes to your site. One of the perks of article marketing is that it doesn’t take up a great deal of your time, it’s viral, and it’s free.
Squidoo: Squidoo is a mixture of a social networking site and a blogging network. It is free to join, and its power should not be underestimated. First, Google loves Squidoo, just as they love EzineArticles.com. This benefits you.
Next, Squidoo really is a community. You can get like lens owners to link to your Squidoo lens. You can comment on other people’s lenses as well, which gives you a link back to your lens. Naturally, you will use your own lens to talk about your topic, and link it back to your website or blog.
Twitter: More marketers are starting to see the power of Twitter. Twitter is more of an updating network than anything else, where you can write a short line letting your followers know what you are up to – in 140 characters or less. This works great when you build a following of your target market. When you update your blog or release a new product, you can send a tweet out to your followers, and drive them to it with a link.
Overall, social networking really does work. The only problem with social networking, from a marketer’s perspective, is that being active within those networks is time consuming. This is especially true when you are networking in numerous places.
One way around this is to limit the number of social networks that you participate in, only giving your time and attention to those that are the most productive. Another option, if you can afford it, is to pay others to participate in these social networks on your beha
Topics: Traffic, Social Networking |
One Response to “Social Networking for Targeted Traffic”
Comments
September 18th, 2008 at 6:17 am
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