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The following is an excerpt from Mari Smith’s chapter of  Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars (Entrepreneur Press August 2010)

Facebook is the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin. The college friends launched Facebook from their Harvard dorm room in February, 2004. For the first two years, Facebook was only available to colleges. Then, gradually, Facebook opened their doors to the general public along with opening their API up to third party application developers. The newest gold rush began!

Since 2006, Facebook has continued to increase in popularity and always seems to stay one step ahead of the competition such as LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, even Google – in terms of being the most popular site for connecting with friends, family, colleagues, etc.

I have great admiration for Mark Zuckerberg. He’s a modern day visionary – I often liken him to Bill Gates back in the 1980s.

Mark’s mission for Facebook is “to give people the power to share, and help make the world more open and connected such that world problems might be solved.”

Social networking, particularly Facebook, has completely changed the way we do business and the way we connect, build, and maintain our relationships on both a personal and professional basis.

These are my “rules” for succeeding on Facebook – you’re welcome to adopt them if they speak to you:

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By Barbara Rozgonyi (excepted from Success Secrets of The Social Media Marketing Superstars. Aug 2010 Entrepreneur Press)

At over 50 million worldwide users, LinkedIn is the place to search for, connect to and develop business online. To transform your LinkedIn profile into an always-on global networking hub, follow these 12 steps.

1. Use Keywords to Help People Find You.  Keywords are the search terms people use to find information online. The keywords people use to find you and your business might point to your profession, service, location, area of expertise or even the problems you solve. Optimize your LinkedIn profile with keywords in your headline, summary, expertise and your job title and descriptions.

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Maybe its because I am a Pisces, but I love to be in the water.  Give me a pool or hot tub any day and I am a happy guy.   That’s why  I moved  to Scottsdale AZ.

Flashing back… I remember when I was living in Chicago one day I was listening to a Tony Robbins tape.  He was taking about how he makes his work life more enjoyable by doing business calls in his hot tub.  As you can see from this photo I never forgot that :)

You may not live in a warm climate, but my guess is that you can find new ways to enhance your lifestyle and make your work time more enjoyable.

With the WI-FI and 3G connections today consider taking some of your work out in the park, to a Starbucks or some scenic spot near you.   Or maybe you have other fun ideas.  You might find that a change in environment even for a short time can bring a new perspective to your work.

I’d be curious  to hear about your lifestyle and how you make your work time more enjoyable.

What Are Affiliate Programs?

Affiliate programs are the Internet’s version of a retail company’s commission-based sales program.  Simply put, you refer a customer through your affiliate link and get a check.

The beauty is that as an affiliate you won’t physically handle products, create marketing tools, set up the sales process or collect the money. It is all handled by the affiliate manager.  You just refer a potential customer (via email, social media, website or blog promotion). Nice and simple.  It is a perfect way to start developing multiple streams of income which is essential in these economic times.

Some Points to Remember

• Promote products you truly believe in and that are relevant to your target market. Ask yourself: What other products and services do my customers need?

• Pre-sell prospects with your own testimonial. It is important that you use or a very familiar with this product and truly believe in it (For example I resell my shopping cart because I use it daily and know others need this e-commerce solution too).

• Be transparent and tell prospects you are an affiliate (The FTC mandates this)

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People purchase products and services, but they buy dreams. Products are merely the delivery vehicles for them.

In other words, consumers purchase benefits – beauty, safety, financial freedom, island vacations, homes, popularity, sex appeal, and glowing health – not features – horsepower, sleek design, house color, or size.

Savvy marketers recognize that their single most important goal is to help their customers achieve their dreams. So, they find out exactly what their target audience is searching for, articulate it, and then deliver on their promises.

Many small business owners mistakenly talk more about themselves than their prospects! In other words, the public isn’t too interested in how long you’ve been in business, whether you’re family owned and operated, or if your warehouse is large or small.

They don’t want to hear a story about you, they want to hear a story about them. They want to know how you can help them save time, make more money, find their soul mates, improve their relationships, get promoted, reduce pain, or make them laugh.

Smart marketers know that their target audiences’ desires are usually not lofty, enduring, or huge. One valuable e-course, one shirt, one painting, or one tube of lipstick aren’t likely to have significant or lasting impact on their lives – but they may for a moment or two. And that’s okay, because for that brief period of time they shared a positive experience. And even though their customers might forget about the product, they will remember the feeling.

Savvy entrepreneurs realize that they’re not the only show in town and the main reason consumers buy from one company over the other, is because they have confidence in the seller. They have confidence in their ability to solve their most pressing problems. They have confidence that they won’t be abandoned after the sale. And they have confidence in their products’ quality, value, and selection.

Yet, if you can’t talk to them about these things, you might as well hang up your hat because you’ll just waste a lot of time, money, and energy.  The good news, however, is that you can learn to communicate more effectively with your intended audience if you study the masters and practice improving your communications every day.

Adapted from Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet by Mitch Meyerson, Jay Levinson and Mary Scarborough

Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program

People talk about transparency in social media.  Since I do play a lot of music I thought I’d share a slice of it with you.
Even though I play lots of styles from rock to jazz, I picked this one because of the words.  The goal of building a business over the Internet for me is creating a lifestyle you really enjoy.  This is my arrangement of a James Taylor song called the Secret of Life. The lyrics are simple but say a lot.

For more of my music visit:
www.MitchMeyersonMusic.com (hear some songs I wrote for Mark Victor Hansen, Michael Gerber and others)

Facebook Music Fan Page

The good news is that great marketers are not born, they are made.  Marketing is a very teachable skill and one that you can easily learn with some time, practice, and dedication.  The following six key tenets should guide you in converting your prospects into customers.

Simply put, your prospects will choose to become your customers based on:

1.  Their experiences with you. Your prospects will judge your worthiness based on how you make them feel. This includes how well you communicate, your content “depth,” your website’s quality and much more. Your prospects will also be more likely to engage in “conversations” with you when you allow them to interact in ways they prefer (i.e some may resonate with a blog post while others are more engaged by video or audio content).

2. Your product or service benefits. There are two basic reasons why people purchase anything – to increase pleasure (e.g. glowing health, freedom, popularity) or decrease pain (e.g. stress, financial problems, poor health). Therefore, focus on your product or service’s most compelling benefits as you communicate with your target audience – then, make sure you deliver on your promises. Be specific.

3. Your trustworthiness and reputation. Protect your good name and do everything in your power to ensure that your customers, prospects, friends, employees, and colleagues view you as a person of value. Keep in mind that your credibility, plausibility, and truthfulness will also win you far more customers than exaggerated claims and over-the-top promises.

Great reputations are among the biggest assets businesspeople have… even though they are one of the hardest things to build and one of the quickest things to destroy.

4. The value they receive. Although most consumers are price-conscious, the vast majority do not consider price alone when making their buying decisions. Rather, they consider value: the difference between what something costs and its worth to the buyer. What does value look like in the social media world? Answer: great content, expert advice and personal connections.

5. Make transactions easy, safe, and secure. People are more likely to hand over their money when they perceive the risk as minimal. It’s best to reassure potential customers with robust guarantees, a solid privacy policy, and secure payment procedures.

6. How well you articulate their most pressing concerns. To market effectively you must get into your prospects’ heads. Listen carefully (and social media forums and blogs make this very easy) to your target audiences’ expressed opinions and feelings – particularly as they relate to your products or services – and be sure to address them directly. Research the marketplace to discover new trends and golden opportunities that you can leverage to benefit your business.