| With the exponential growth of the information age | | | | to sell yourself. When using video content, be sure to |
| coupled with the recent economic landscape, it seems | | | | label it with tags so that it is searchable. |
| that marketing methodology is a whole new playing | | | | When relationship building (this should be the |
| field - but this, in a way, is a myth. "Social media is just | | | | cornerstone of your social network marketing), seek |
| a new way to do old business. The tools have | | | | mutually-symbiotic relationships with like-minded people. |
| changed, but the need for knowing your audience, | | | | Facebook makes this possible with their network |
| having an end goal, testing theories, and acting on | | | | system, while MySpace offers an advanced "browse" |
| lessons learned remains the same." (Danielle Brigida, | | | | feature. The point is that social network technology |
| 2008). Perhaps, the flow of marketing has changed | | | | allows anyone, especially marketers, the tools to tailor |
| from outbound to inbound, but the basic tenets of | | | | their stream of inbound marketing to the right audience |
| branding yourself by gaining exposure to your target | | | | the majority of the time. |
| market are largely similar. The first step is to know | | | | Track referrals, friends, successes and failures; pay |
| your goals; without clearly defined goals, you will have | | | | attention to traffic spikes and dips. While the majority |
| no way of measuring your results. Furthermore, | | | | of internet marketers do not test the efficacy of their |
| without specific goals you may not even create or | | | | efforts, measurement and observation can make all |
| implement the best possible way to achieve those | | | | the difference between a low-cost marketing success |
| goals. After clearly identifying your goals, be certain | | | | and a costly marketing flop. Interestingly enough, |
| you know your audience and how they can be | | | | measuring the success of others' efforts in marketing |
| reached. Different social networking forums have | | | | can behoove you as well. For example, if you find a |
| different characteristics, such as:o Facebook has over | | | | video online that is relevant to your content and you |
| 60 million users, among which the fastest growing | | | | can see that it is been viewed many times, respond to |
| demographic is 25+o MySpace has more than 110 | | | | it. You can post a written response or a video |
| million users, comprising 1 in 4 Americans of voting | | | | response, depending on the site you're using; while |
| age.o With MySpace your profile can remain public to | | | | video posts with few views are rarely found, by |
| all, and you can target potential friends by geography, | | | | posting a video response to a highly-viewed video, |
| demography and socio-economic characteristics.o | | | | yours will be visible every time the other is found - it is |
| Obtain full support from management | | | | called piggybacking. |
| Be out there and create profiles wherever you can. | | | | High Traffic Drivers (Highest referrers) o |
| Make your web presence as large as possible, and | | | | If you'd like to have a community page on any of the |
| offer content that is interesting and useful. If you use | | | | social networks, but don't know where to start or don't |
| articles as content, make sure that they too are | | | | have the time to manage it, consider this. izmocars |
| sufficiently optimized to be read by the search engines. | | | | Rainmaker program provides these services, including |
| Once you have had success with content in one | | | | the measuring, monitoring and management of social |
| place, spread that content to other places in the social | | | | media activities. Some dealers have a lot of success |
| media network. After you have established a | | | | with this strategy, while others have found that is not |
| substantial amount of useful or entertaining content, | | | | an effective for them as a traffic driver but it does |
| people will visit your site for itself rather than finding its | | | | help with Search Engine Optimization. Talk to your |
| content on other sites. Remember to promote yourself | | | | Strategic Account Manager and ask him or her if this |
| or your site in your content, but discreetly enough so | | | | strategy makes sense for you. |
| that the content is not overshadowed by your efforts | | | | |