View this cartoon and others by David Horsey

Joel Comm is one of the world’s leading experts on web-based, money-making strategies. He is author of the New York Times bestsellers, The AdSense Code and Twitter Power.

Today he is releasing his new book KaChing: How To Run and Online Business That Pays And Pays.

Click here to get a copy and find out all the cool bonuses he has in store for you!

Here is a terrific audio interview I did recently with Joel Comm…

Three Biggest Mistakes Business Owners Make With Social Media

For more Social Media Superstar interviews and posts click the top social media tab.

The following post is excerpted from YouTube Expert, Julie Perry’s chapter in Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars.

Scoring lots of video views on YouTube is only useful to you if you can get your audience to take an action step once they’re on your channel and enjoying your videos. So how can you increase the chances they’ll make their way over to your main website, blog, or other online content?

1. Insert your website domain into your videos using video editing software. Remember that the sharing mechanisms on YouTube might lead to your video being embedded elsewhere online, such as in a forum or on someone else’s blog. Since those off-site viewers won’t have immediate access to your YouTube channel or a video’s title and description, you want to be sure your main website domain appears at the beginning, middle, and end of your video. Consider adding it via a watermark so it’s always visible (just don’t obstruct the view). You can always outsource such video editing tasks, or take a stab at using the free video editing software that should have come installed on your computer: Windows Movie Maker for PCs or iMovie for Macs. More expensive video editing programs are also available, such as Pinnacle, Final Cut, and Premiere.

2. Get your website domain into your videos using the YouTube Annotations tool. If you don’t have time or money to delve into video editing, your domain can be added to the beginning, middle, and end of your videos using YouTube Annotations—a way to add interactive commentary onto your videos from within the YouTube interface (and without having to use any video editing software of your own). Add such annotations after your video is uploaded. You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear. You can even create a live link from an annotation to another YouTube video, channel, or search result. Annotations will also show up on YouTube videos embedded elsewhere, off of the YouTube site.

3. Ask and You Shall Receive. As I mentioned earlier, it never hurts to ask your audience to do what you want them to do. My “Ask and You Shall Receive” rule goes beyond simply flashing your website domain on the screen. Say it out loud several times, and for goodness sake, tell us what all we’ll find when we get there. “Visit my website at www.xyz.com because I’ll give you (more information, a free report, a downloadable coupon).” Or just drop hints to tempt us to go there.

4. Hyperlink your website URL as the first item in your video description. Why first, you ask? So it will always be visible, even if visitors don’t click on the “more info” link on the description that accompanies it. You also want to signal to prospects that this video wasn’t made by some hobbyist, but by a professional with a full online presence.

5. Treat the description area of your YouTube channel like it’s a mini sales letter. Start by telling your audience about you and your level of expertise within your niche area. Be sure to also discuss some of the benefits people will gain if they venture over to your main website. Don’t forget your URL, not only in the spot YouTube designates for you to do so, but also in your channel description.

6. Bribery often works. Within your video offer something free, include a cliffhanger, or hold a contest. For viewers to take advantage of your offer or have their curiosity satisfied make them head over to your main website. Meanwhile, think of ways to offer extra value to your audience, and they’ll become loyal fans who promote your videos for you.

7. Call-To-Action Overlay ads. These are semi-transparent pop-up overlays that link viewers to any third-party website you choose. For example, you could run an overlay on your own video inviting YouTube viewers to click and sail right through to the corresponding website you’re promoting. This is incredibly handy for generating engaged, well-targeted traffic to your website.

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:

1. Always be yourself.

I often talk about a concept I created called “ABM” which stands for many things, including: Always Be Me, Always Be Mindful and Always Be Marketing. Two words that are frequently used in the social media world are “authentic” and “transparent.” To me, when you apply ABM, you’ll always do the right thing anyway.

By being mindful – realizing you never know who might be observing your updates, posts and photos on Facebook, for example – you can be in full control of how you build your reputation and perception among your strategically chosen Facebook friends.

The part about “always be marketing” essentially means every time you show up online or offline, even if you’re having a conversation with one person while all your followers/fan/subscribers observe, you are still marketing yourself.

There is a widespread fear when it comes to using social networks, and that is PRIVACY. Just how much personal information should you reveal about yourself? Here’s the thing – you get to choose. Sure, the lines are blurred between our personal and professional lives, but you still get to maintain a private life.Fortunately, of all the social networks, Facebook has the most granular privacy settings.

2. Stay Focused

We live in an attention-based world now more than ever. Social networking has accelerated the amount of information available and the demands for our attention. People often just have a nanosecond to see you go by and decide whether you’re a fit for their network or not.

Across all social networks, it’s important to display total clarity in what you do, who you help and how you help them in your bio. Be careful of overdoing the links on your Facebook profile – I recommend just showing your website/blog along with a link to your Twitter profile, YouTube channel and LinkedIn profile, as appropriate.

On your Facebook personal profile and on your fan page, there is a small field under your photo that I call your “mini bio.” Here, you can fill out a succinct sentence or two and possibly include a call to action and a link such as I have in the screenshot to the left.

3. Have an abundance mindset.

I truly believe there’s enough for everyone and there’s no such thing as competition, particularly when in a service-based business. And, essentially, even if you sell a commodity/widgets, you’re still selling them with a degree of service.

4. To be an authority, you must be an author (writer/publisher of content).

Facebook gives us tremendous opportunity to publish a wide variety of content types, from photos, videos, links, notes, comments and more. By regularly updating your Status (ideally once per day at minimum), you can literally deliberately manage how you’re perceived among your network. In other words, everything you post should be with strategic intent. The more content you produce, the more authority and credibility you will command. In fact, author Gary Vaynerchuk talks about how every business should get into the content business!

5. Be generous. Give your best stuff away.

If you’re passionate about your topic, you’ll never run out of content. By giving your best stuff away for free in your Status update and imported blog posts, for example, your network will think that if you’re this knowledgeable and generous with your free stuff your paid stuff must be awesome!

6. Lead by example.

Stay informed – look for ways to stay just one step ahead of others in your industry and lead with a sense of confidence and grace. It’s not a race, per se, but you do want to demonstrate you’re on top of your game, knowledgeable… and that you’re human and still have a life! In other words, you don’t really need to try and appear like you’re online 24/7 – it’s important to set up realistic expectations among your friends and fans.

7. If content is king, connection is queen.

For some time, my motto has been “Relationships first, business second.” Since social networking has become so popular, we’ve shifted the way we do business… both online and offline. Consumers expect companies to be more approachable, human, engaging. Content does matter for sure, though it’s often the connection and conversation around that content that really brings it to life.

When the marketers move in, the members move out.” So the secret, therefore, that has certainly worked very well for me is to be a member! Of course, you’re a strategically-thinking member!

8. Implement “Radical Strategic Visibility.”

I created the concept of radical strategic visibility in 2007 and it’s worked extremely well for me, my clients and students. Essentially, you are seen by all the right people, in all the right places, at all the right times. People come up to you and say, “I keep seeing you everywhere.” And you reply with, “Great!! My marketing is working!”

While it’s vital to your business to have a vibrant presence on Facebook with an attractive and active Fan Page, you need to also have a presence on other popular social networks such as Twitter and YouTube. And then there is a whole range of ancillary sites that affect your presence on WordPress blogs, for example, like Gravatar.com, MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog.com and Google Friend Connect.

9. Take imperfect action and be patient.

Facebook can be overwhelming to really grasp and optimize for measurable business results. My advice is to get set up with a Facebook Fan Page and begin to add content. It’s not realistic to expect you’ll have a ton of fans right away – unless of course you have a large mailing list and can easily blast out to them and have a surge of fans. In any case, go for it and remember Facebook is just one piece of your marketing pie.

10. Have an objective, strategy and means of measurement.

Let’s say your initial objective is to get your first 1000 fans on your Fan Page. But even then, you should have an additional objective as to what you want those fans to DO. Perhaps you’re simply building community for now, so you want the fans to keep coming back and interacting. Or, maybe you want them to opt in to your email list to access a free gift. Strategies for adding fans could be broadcasting to your existing email list, writing blog posts, purchasing Facebook social ads, launching a campaign of tweets and more. And to measure, simple counting the number of fans is easy.

Dubbed “the Pied Piper of the Online World” by FastCompany.com, Mari Smith is an in-demand Social Media Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Consultant. She has a strong background in the world of relationships and Internet technology, and has been a passionate leader in social media since 2007. Mari is also President and co-founder of the International Social Media Association – an organization dedicated to best practices, quality education, and social media certification programs. Connect with Mari at www.marismith.com

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.

2. Upload a Flattering Profile Photo that Matches Your Image
Worth at least 1,000 (maybe 100,000) words), a LinkedIn profile picture conveys your business image to the world. Are you casual, relaxed, authoritative, intellectual?

3. Write a Catchy Headline that Grabs Attention
Your headline describes who you are and what you do. This isn’t necessarily the title on your business card. Sort of a personal tagline, your headline stands out when people see your profile.

4. Summarize Your Talents into Sound Bites
The summary section is the place to make your personal brand statement. Given that attention is shrinking down into text-message and tweet-size sound bites, it’s important to be concise, informative and engaging. Use bullets to make your main points.

5. Cover Every Position for Maximum Exposure
Expand your connection potential by listing all relevant former companies and positions. Break up your current experience into categories like speaker, consultant and author to broaden your skill set. Then, people can recommend you for each individual position.

6. Route Traffic to Three Destinations
In addition to a place for your twitter ID, LinkedIn lets you list three websites. Consider including your company website, a link to your Facebook page and another to a landing page that collects database information. Use the URL or, better yet, a phrase that describes the site.

7. Hail Alma Mater to Connect with Other Alumni
Listing schools you attended pulls in connections from students and alumni. Even with decades of distance in graduation years, a common alma mater opens the door to a shared experience in LinkedIn alumni groups.

8. Spice It Up with Specialties and Interests
Like a dash of spice to adds flavor, your specialties and interests lists spark up your profile with keywords and tangents that set off your personality.

9. Make it 100% complete Complete profiles rank higher in searches and let you make the most of LinkedIn’s profile opportunities. Is yours 100% complete? If not, see what you need to do to fill in the gaps.

10. Add Applications for Personalization and Promotion
Applications update and round out your profile with presentations, blog posts, free articles, travel plans, book reviews and events. You can also use applications to collaborate and share files.

11. Promote Events and Invite Guests
LinkedIn’s event center lets you create, RSVP and comment on events. Event creators can invite contacts, edit details, see who’s interested and monitor comments. Events show up on search engines inside and outside of LinkedIn.

12. Upgrade Your Account and Get More Features
A basic, free personal LinkedIn account gets you started. Investing in an upgraded personal or business account improves functionality, reach, access and customer service. To see the options, check your account settings.

LinkedIn:
Barbara Rozgonyi

Mitch Meyerson

Social bookmarking sites are sometimes called content “aggregators”. Internet marketers see them as places where users “store” their favorite website links and share them with others. Although many Internet users “bookmark” interesting website links in their browser lists, more and more people are using social bookmarking sites to help them keep track of interesting websites and to learn which ones their friends like.

How Do Social Bookmarking Sites Work?

By design, social bookmarking sites aggregate content submitted from multiple sources and display the most popular on their home pages. Many of these sites actually “read” like online magazines. You find an interesting site, add it to your bookmarks, and give it an appropriate “tag”.

Begin Sidebar A tag is like a category, and a single article could be given dozens of different tags. A story about Star Wars would be tagged “film,” “science fiction,” “george lucas,” “robots,” and so on. End Sidebar Most social bookmarking sites allow members to vote for their favorite links. The website links that receive the most votes receive greater visibility and appear at or near the tops of the first result pages for tag searches.

The Difference Between Social Networking and Social Bookmarking

People use social networking to interact with others and make business connections. The major purpose of social networking is to make contacts and interact. Social bookmarking, however, is all about information sharing. Social bookmarking sites are specific sub-categories of social networking and social media sites. Users share links, add stories, vote, tag content, and participate in discussions about specific content. Unlike most other forms of social media, social bookmarking is not about developing and sharing original content; it’s almost exclusively about discussion or reviewing content that exists elsewhere online, including articles from newspaper and magazine sites, blog posts, and the like.

Social bookmarking sites are about sharing content, but do not overlook the fact they can be useful networking too! Get “influencers” to notice you and they will be more inclined to make a connection. After you decide whom you’d like to “befriend” on these sites, you should vote for and comment on their articles, interact with them, and promote their best content. These sites are an excellent electronic way of doing favors for people.

Top 4 Social Bookmarking Sites

Every niche, subject or, audience type is likely to have one or more social bookmarking site catering to them. You should, however, start somewhere at the top of the chain. Although there are many sites we could list among the ‘top’ social bookmarking sites, I suggest you begin with these first.

Digg.com – Currently the most popular of all the social bookmarking sites in terms of delivering raw traffic, although the site’s popularity means it is currently very difficult to garner much attention if you are new to the site.

Delicious.com – One of the older social bookmarking sites, it is the site most used as a bookmarking tool rather than for social voting or news aggregation.

Reddit.com – Much like Digg.com this site is used as both a source of news and as a traffic generator. Unlike Digg, however, it still is possible for new users to make their stories “popular” on merit. StumbleUpon.com – With StumbleUpon (also called “SU”), it is relatively easy to get traffic. This site is also the easiest to use. A browser toolbar makes submitting links and voting very straight forward.

Mixx.com – Mixx is vying to be just like Digg when it grows up, but has a long way to go. If you want to get your fit in the door for the next big thing in social bookmarking, however, Mixx is definitely one to watch.

The preceding was excerpted from Chris Garrett’s Social Bookmarking chapter in Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars (July 2010 Entrepreneur Press)

The following excerpt is by author and blogger, Andy Wibbels from the upcoming book, Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars (Entrepreneur Press July 2010).

Nobody Has Time to See How Awesome You Are

We’re all occupied living our ‘busy lifestyles’ created for us so we fit into nice little consumer groups. We pack our days working jobs we don’t like to buy things we don’t want; to impress people we don’t like.

From the time we get up to the time we hit the pillow, we are surrounded by thousands of carefully crafted corporate marketing messages. Waking life has become a relentless deluge of brands and slogans and logos, all trying to convince us that we are awful people if we don’t buy something.

Then we go online.

The white noise increases even more in the online realm. Pop-ups, auto-play videos, spam blogs, spam tweets, and spam profiles crowd the screen, vying for our attention. The fake and the faux, the concocted and calculated, the dried-up and the watered down… cold messages masquerading as warm caring quickly turn us off.

But sometimes, something or someone breaks through.

When we see something memorable – something hot with the heat of passion or provocation or simply something unplanned – we’re jogged out of the rat race. We sit up. We pay attention. We feel like real people again.

We’re relieved that there is a breathing flesh-and-blood person on the other end of this series of tubes we call the Internet. Things seem a bit calmer.

When someone clicks through to your website, you have a scant 50 milliseconds to make that impression. If you don’t immediately pipe up and say: Hi! I’m Me and I Help You Do A, B & C you’re doomed.  Someone else more interesting and more exciting is one click away.

You can’t just be loud and throw a bunch of pop-ups and expect success. You have to have a real personality.  Even more important you have to say This is why I’m different. You have to convey that in a matter of milliseconds whenever someone views your blog or profile or website.

To pop out of the crowd you have to be one-of-a-kind. You have to know exactly who you are, what you stand for and who you serve – and do it with creativity and excellence.

This style and enthusiasm that infuses everything you say and do is your creative edge and makes you unforgettable.

So how do you start to stand out? You get a little nutty or provocative. Case in point? My adventure with The Secret movie.

The Secret Skeptic

The Secret was a crock of shit and we all know it. Engrossing pacing and hypnotic rhythm, but still tripe. The Secret was a direct-to-video movie about the ‘law of attraction’ saying that all you have to do to live your dreams is think happy thoughts and clap for Tinkerbell to come back to life. Sure, the idea of attraction is valuable (I’ll point you to the late Thomas Leonard’s The 28 Laws of Attraction, which is much more practical), but in The Secret, nearly every example was about acquiring material goods and wealth. The video was initially released online and went viral, making a few people a ton of money.

I gave in and watched The Secret and found it pretty appalling and, like any good blogger, took to my blog to write a nice candid screed calling it out. Sure, visualize success, stay positive but they forgot the suffix: and then you get off your butt and start working. Because I’d written a blog post with the title ‘The Secret Movie’ I was ranked very high in Google for people searching for information about the movie. My blog post stayed out there for a few months and got lots of comments from people saying ‘Right on!’ or ‘Go to hell!’

Soon, The Secret popped up in DVD format and that’s when Oprah got involved. Oprah featured The Secret and several of its stars on her show in a couple episodes. All over the world, the DVD and a companion book were flying off the shelves. Thousands of people searched online for ‘the secret movie’ and came to my blog post, and read an honest contrary opinion.

I got featured on the radio as ‘The Secret Skeptic’ calling in to morning shows to give a little more context to the Law of Attraction and how it fits into an early 1900s religious movement.

My skepticism and counterpoint to a popular trend helped me build my newsletter, raised my blog’s profile and increase my business. All because I was honest, authentic, passionate, and provocative.

As you integrate social media tools into your business you must must must stand out from the crowd. And one great way to do it is to be provocative.

By Keith Ferrazzi, Author of Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back and Tahl Raz

(excerpted from Success Secrets of The Social Media Marketing Superstars, Entrepreneur Press July 2010)

In today’s virtual world, you don’t need a Twitter strategy or a Facebook strategy or even a Google strategy. You need a Relationship Strategy that leverages all aspects of social media.

Relationships: they are the ultimate source of advantage, the new heavyweight champion of the marketing ring. Social media, however, is the champ’s head trainer. There’s never been a better tool for relationship building. Social media allows for two-way conversations with an entire market, a reality that would have made the innovative Madison Avenue ad men in the 1950s fall off their Eames sofas.

But you shouldn’t try approaching social media without a deep understanding of the relationship-centric reality of Web 2.0 – the reality of the ever-increasing importance of foundational mindsets like generosity, transparency, and candor. If you rush or go in without information, what you’ll get is an all-too-common experience nicely captured by Google’s Analytics Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik:

Social media [can be] like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done, there is surprise it’s not better.”

Luckily, through knowledge, practice and commitment, social media can be exciting, engaging, pleasurable and successful for any business.

Smart innovators are learning that the model is no longer CRM (Customer Relationship Management) but rather CMR (Customer Managed Relationships).

The sales and marketing funnel isn’t linear and it’s not a funnel. It’s more like concentric circles of awareness, interaction, engagement, participation, conversation, affinity, awareness, community, and trust. A funnel would imply passive consumption, but that’s no longer how things work. Today’s consumer behavior has changed to active participation. I post a question to my Facebook page, asking what people think about the Kindle, then double check it against comments on Amazon, and follow those comments to someone’s Twitter account…and on and on.

A brand is no longer what the company says it is. It’s what their customers say it is. Companies still need to influence their brand, though. How do you do that? Not by interrupting your customers with brand-making promises, delivered as advertisements. You influence a brand by encouraging people associated with that brand – forging direct relationships, relationships built on action and experience and…CARING. That’s right, your next sales seminar is likely to be more Oprah than your traditional hard-charging Joe Salesguy.

To be meaningful, or memorable, these relationships must engage, enable, and empower. Memorable is an action, specifically a one-to-one action, and so really it is an interaction. Which brings us back to the beginning: Today’s consumer influence is built on a platform of one-to-one relationships.

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By Denise Wakeman

When it comes to creating content, there’s a subset of four elements you want to pay attention to, and those are the four E’s: Educate, Entertain, Engage, and Enrich.

People go online for two reasons.  One: to find solutions to their problems, and two: to be entertained.  So you want to keep your content tightly focused on educating your reader about the subject of your expertise.   If you can educate with humor, you’re way ahead of the game. Let’s take each element and clarify how you can use it.

Educate. This element is straightforward. You teach, explain, or spell out how to do something. You’re providing information and knowledge. Write up case studies of successful clients or do Q&A posts, answering your readers’ burning questions about your topic.

Entertain. Being entertaining is an art and some are more successful at it than others. Humor can be entertaining when done well, and telling stories is a powerful way to entertain. Multi-media lends itself to entertainment. Use video (either create your own or find something appropriate on YouTube and comment on why it’s relevant) or audio to mix up the delivery of your content. Tying current events or celebrity gossip into your message can also be entertaining as long as it’s in alignment with your core message.

Engage. How do you motivate your visitor to go from passive reader to engaged reader? Ask provocative questions, post polls and encourage comments on your posts. When your readers click a link to comment, take a poll or request your free report, they’re no longer passive but actively engaged with you. It brings them one step closer to becoming a client or customer.

Enrich. This is about delivering something a little bit more than your reader can find everywhere else on the Web by including history, quotes from literature, or information from other authorities. Go deeper to really add something that’s going to wow your readers. Essentially, you want to make your reader’s life better in some way by helping them to save time or money, or by helping them to be happier, healthier, or wealthier.

If you can weave one or more of these elements – Educate, Entertain, Engage and Enrich — into a blog post, you’re going to have a powerful and compelling blog.

Denise Wakeman is an Online Marketing Advisor and Founder of The Blog Squad. You can learn more about business blogging on Build a Better Blog. For more information on the author visit: Denise Wakeman

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you”.  Dale Carnegie

Even though social media sites make it much easier to develop connections – a cornerstone principle for all sound marketing systems – cyberspace “followers” are not the same as cyberspace “friends.”

If your ultimate goal is to use social media marketing sites to grow your business, then it’s imperative that you turn followers into real friends – and that requires a genuine connection.

No matter how tempting it is, don’t do the opposite and mistake illusion for reality. Go the extra mile and do what’s necessary to strengthen, not weaken, the “human bond.”

How Do You Turn Strangers Into True Friends and Fans?

First realize this is not an event but a committed process of building relationships and rapport with your targeted audience… one which helps them to know, like and trust you.  When done correctly, it provides the opportunity for online business owners to achieve their ultimate objective of acquiring and retaining loyal and profitable customers.

For some of you, the conversion “journey” will be a straight and speedy highway directly to a sale … but the vast majority must be prepared to take a slower, more methodical route.

In order to achieve this, you’ll need to create an online environment that makes your audience feel welcomed in a warm and sincere way and makes it easy to take action.

It’s similar to inviting people to your homes. I’m sure that most of you greet your guests at the door with a broad smile, handshake or hug; offer them something to drink or eat; suggest they sit in the most comfortable chair; etc.

You don’t bombard them with stories about how great you are; ask them to lend you money or borrow their car or leave them on their own to wander aimlessly around your house.  This may seem like a far-fetched illustration, but hopefully, you get the idea.

Here are just some of the ways you can transform your followers into genuine friends…

• Acknowledge personal details – “ping” them on their birthdays, ask about their families and share stories about your own, offer to help them with a personal problem, etc.
• Discover the topics your followers are passionate about and mention or discuss them in your online conversations
• Provide them with warm introductions to likeminded friends and colleagues
• “Re-tweet” their “tweets” (when appropriate)
• Comment on their Facebook status
• Mention them in your blog posts and link back to their sites.

Once again, social media marketers who have with the right mindset, recognize that it’s not about numbers – it’s about people. And if you help enough of them get what they want, you’ll get what you want as well.

And remember that once you start developing your list of true fans, treat them like gold as they will not only continue to buy from you but will refer others as well.

————-

Parts of this post were adapted from Mitch Meyerson’s Chapter in Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars (Entreprenuer Press August 2010).    Sign up for our email updates so you don’t miss excerpts from the other Superstars in this collection.

If you found this helpful I hope you will retweet or share with your friends and colleagues.