It’s no secret that social networking sites are a great way to tap into your target market and build more traffic and sales. Twitter and Facebook have both made it possible for marketers to reach potential buyers in brand-new ways. Social marketing breaks through the barriers and decreases resistance. You’ll actually have a higher ROI with campaigns with your social media contacts than campaigns sent to the general public. Since you’ve taken the time to build trust with them, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.

Although twitter and Facebook are definitely the most popular social media sites for Internet marketing, this doesn’t mean that they are the be all and end all of social networking. LinkedIn is another high-traffic social media site that many marketers have skipped over. While it was originally billed as a social media site for traditional employers and potential employees, it has quickly become a good resource for connecting with people who are interested in specific industries.

Unlike Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn requires its users to fill out a great deal of information about their business and their experience. Users are grouped by industry and people can make connections with others that are in their field. While you won’t find a great deal of general consumers, if your niche serves a specific type of industry or the people that do business within the industry, LinkedIn can be a great way to make connections.

When you sign up for LinkedIn, you’ll insert information about your business and your experiences. You’ll be invited to connect with people from your existing e-mail address book, or you can add them manually. Once you’ve gotten your profile setup, you’ll want to head to two different sections. The two sections that are of most use Internet marketers are the “Groups” section and “Answers” section.

In “Groups”, you’ll be able to find or start a group that is based on your target market. For example if your niche is building blogs, you can start a group for blogging beginners or become part of an existing group so you can show off your expertise and get traffic back to your site. In groups you can take part in discussions or post your own articles and links. Participating in groups will help brand you as a niche expert and help you bond with your target market.

You can also show off your expertise in the “Answers” section of the site. This section allows users to ask questions and answer them. Questions can be anything from specific tutorial questions to general questions on the topic. Search for recent questions that relate to your topic or start your own questions to get some feedback from your target market. The more you participate in the answers section, the more attention your profile and your site will get.

You can make a lot of valuable connections with your target market by using LinkedIn strategically. If this isn’t currently part of your social media marketing plan, head over to http://www.LinkedIn.com to get started today.

You can add me to your LinkedIn Network by visiting my profile here and adding me as a contact, I look forward to connecting with you:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenolander

Enjoy!

Darren Olander

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Social networking is the latest and greatest in Internet marketing but if you feel like you are getting lost in the shuffle, you’re not alone. There are tons of social networking platforms out there and if you try to jump in with both feet into all of them you’re going to spend all of your time connecting without seeing any profit. No matter what your business model is, social networking is only a small part of the picture.

So how do you find a balance between ignoring social marketing completely and getting way too involved? By picking your touch points for social networking and integrating them you can be available to your target market without being totally overwhelmed with communication. The simple five step process outlined below will help you use social marketing effectively.

1. Pick how you’re going to be available.

There are several sites that contain opportunities for you to network with your market but you don’t have to join them all. Twitter and Facebook remain the most popular, but you can also find your target market in other areas. Join at least these two and then try to find something that is more niche specific – for example, a forum or group site based on your topic. Yahoo groups, Google groups and Ning all house groups and sites that are on specific topics. Look for niche specific sites on these major hubs for opportunities to connect.

2. Make your presence consistent.

Once you’ve decided where you’re going to be present, make sure your profiles are consistent across the board. Use the same photo for your social networking sites and people will be more likely to recognize your profile and connect with you when they join these sites.

3. Market your touch points.

Once you’ve established yourself and your profiles, make sure people know how to find you. Put links to your profiles on your blog, your website and in your signature file for your email account. You’ll get more connections this way.

4. Make time for networking on your touch points.

One of the keys to keeping social marketing simple is to time your posts, updates and responses. Make time each week or each day to post and make connections. You can schedule updates to coincide with new blog posts. Some of this can be automated; but make sure to find the time to visit the site manually to check to see who has befriended you and respond to other people’s updates.

5. Manage multiple accounts from one spot.

You can make social networking even easier by having a management tool to help you keep everything balanced and on board. Social-Fly.com will help you keep your social contacts in order with reminders of when you last touched base with someone and important information about them. It’s mainly if you are doing a lot of personal networking on these sites, rather than using them as broadcasting and branding platforms for your business. If you want to manage multiple platforms at once try a tool like HomePuzz.com which will integrate your Facebook, Twitter and other accounts all together.

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