IDEA NUMBER THREE - IF YOU WANT TO START ONLINE BUSINESS

No Website Needed – Social Networking

So, what exactly is social Networking?

Social Networking is the joining together of individuals into specific groups. Probably one of the first ever social networking groups you were involved in would have been the Scouting movement (Guides too) or a local Church Group. Social Networking isn’t anything new, generation after generation have been networking for years.

With the arrival of the Internet Social Networking has taken on a whole new meaning, now we can network without even having to leave the house, it has made the world a lot smaller and if used wisely social networking can play a positive role in helping you to make money online.

Today, the Internet and the Social Networking tools available make it possible for us to meet and connect and communicate with someone on the other side of the world, just as easily as if they lived next door. 

Although social networking sites were traditionally geared towards attracting those that would like to make online friends or develop online relationships, more and more people are realizing how beneficial these kinds of sites can be for promoting their business, and the possibilities are endless. Let’s take a look at a few.

 I guess you would have had to have been living in a cave or under a rock for the last 5 years if you haven’t heard of the site called Facebook.

There are over 400 million users worldwide and it is reported that 50% of these users are active on a daily basis. Facebook allows you add friends, upload photos and videos; you just sign up for your account, log in and choose who you would like to be friends with. Just because someone wants to be your friend, you don’t have to allow them to be.

With Facebook, you are in control of your own account and who you would like to share what with. Facebook can be the ideal viral tool to promote your business, as your friends share with their friends who share with their friends. The only limitation is the 5000 friend limit. Once you hit that you’ll have to set up your own Fan Page.

With more and more apps being developed for Facebook, you can even set up your own ecommerce store for free.

Facebook also now allows members to advertise on the Facebook site. However you must be careful as usual to read their terms and conditions and abide by them.

Facebook advertising is not free, although it is a lot cheaper than other paid for advertising and if you choose your demographics carefully Facebook advertising will enable you to reach a highly targeted specific group of people.

A little birdie told me about the next site it was simply “just tweeting” away!

Twitter can be a fantastic tool for internet marketers. Once you have set up your account, just log in and create your account it is free. Using Twitter allows you to create your own personal or business brand that will help you dominate your market simply by enabling you to build a list of followers.

Twitter is reportedly one of the most user-friendly websites out there. It is practically impossible to get lost or confused when creating an account or setting up your profile.

Once you have logged in to your new twitter account take great care when creating your online bio in your profile. This is the information that people will read before they decide whether or not they would like to follow you. You only have 160 characters to describe who you are and what you do so make it a good one.

Don’t be quiet about your twitter account, get the word out. Tell everyone about your twitter page make it sound exciting; make them curious about you and what you are up to.

Put links to your twitter page in your emails, on your website and blogs when you set them up simply Ask People To Follow YOU. You’ll get a great buzz when all the little birdies go “tweet, tweet, tweet” Sign up with twitter, have a good look around at all their features, again read the rules, follow them and have fun branding yourself on twitter.

MySpace has become one of the most popular “community – socializing” sites and is one of the top ten most visited sites on the internet. People use MySpace for all sorts of reasons. Making friends, establishing their identity (branding) promoting themselves and their business.

Again with MySpace as with Twitter, take the time to think about your profile, this is your billboard / business card to the MySpace community so make it work for you. Take a look around the site, add some friends to your account, not too many too fast though or you may get banned and you don’t want that to happen. Join in the conversations going on, interact with other members, the more friends you attract the more chance you have of making sales.

LinkedIn is aimed more at the professional business people who want to connect online and has a more serious tone than Twitter or Facebook.

There are a lot of social networking sites on the internet, choose the one that suits you best and work at that one, do not try and join them all you simply won’t have the spare time to devote to keeping all your profiles up to date.

A word of caution, don’t ever post anything in Public that you don’t want others to know about you, because you really never know who is watching what you do.  

PLEASE NOTE BEFORE YOU FOLLOW ANY OF THESE IDEAS CHECK THEM AS INTERNET CHANGES VERY QUICKLY AND SOME OF THESE IDEAS MIGHT NOT WORK.