Social Media - a New Perspective

Hello there - I know its been a while since my last (first) post, but I had to do some research. Now if you're like me and trying to get ahead in this world, you're probably tired of all this stuff out there that promises to show you the holy grail. It tells you that in order to build your business, you have to brand yourself. It goes on by telling you exactly how to do that, for a fee. Here's what I have found out:

1. Brand yourself - create a website (of course you're doing this through a link that someone has provided you so they get a commission on the fees you pay).
2. Build a list - Sign up for an e-mail ad responder to capture the e-mails of the people who visit your website so you can inundate them at a later time with the same types of e-mails that got you going on the merry-go-round (again through a link you got so they get a commission from your monthly subscription fee).
   
3. Generate traffic - if you haven't been promised traffic from the "free" advertising that your sponsor will do for you, you'll have to sign up for pay for click advertising.
4. Sell either your sponsor's products (information) or your own once someone is on your site. You'll be convinced how much easier it is to sell their's though, again so they get a commission of your sales of their product!
   

I think you get the gist of it. What I have found is that there are a few people out there who got onto this thing a few years back and have built up a pretty good thing through a lot of hard work and some really gullible people. Now they're telling everybody else how they too can make 40K per month by doing what they did - for a fee. Don't get me wrong, I think these guys are pretty smart. They've analyzed the numbers and are doing a good job of getting their slice of the pie. The thing is, that pie is getting stale very quickly.

So here's where I have a real problem with all this costly (sorry - free) advice out there. A little aside here - Ferengi rule of Acquisition #? : Free advice is never cheap! The basic principle behind all this is that people will follow you and buy from you not because of your product, but because they have built up a relationship with you! Does this sound like a load of CRAP to anyone else? How are you going to have a relationship with 50,000 people??!! When you go shopping, do you shop at the store because you know the owner of the company? If your neighbor Bill is selling you a garden hose for $50 that looks like it cost $.50 and some guy named John (who you don't know) is selling you one for $10 that looks like he could get $75 for, which one are you going to buy? Obviously, the one with the better quality - regardless of whether you know John or not!

That is how you end up building a relationship with someone. HELP THEM! Deal with them in a fair and honest manner! Chances are if I sell you a product you are pleased with, you will buy a second product from me further down the line. You have had a positive experience with me and are willing to continue that relationship. If I have a good relationship with you and sell you a lemon, you'll probably recind that relationship.

So you see here, it's not a matter of one or the other - its both! You have to have a good product to build a good relationship - then you have to keep it with consistency!

So how does all this fit in with this Social Media craze out there? Well, everybody is telling you to get 50,000 followers on Twitter and your sales will explode. While that's true, it's not for the reason you're thinking. The way it works is this:

If you have 100 followers and 2% buy your product, you will have 2 sales.
If you have 50,000 and 2% - you will have 1,000 sales.
The percentage remains the same, but the sales exploded. What you don't see though is that you have 49,000 dissatisfied followers. If your product isn't good, you also have a large percentage of that 1,000 that will be dissatisfied as well.

I would rather sell a good product to 40 - 50% of a smaller group of people than a bad product to 2% of a larger group of people.

BTW, what exactly is the product being sold? I know you have your product that you're hoping to sell, but do you? Or do you end up selling the product the sponsor wants you to sell? How many e-books and websites and ad responders do you need to have? How many money making secrets DVD's do you need to have? Have you watched any of them?

This is why I disagree with the current trend of peddling information that seems to have engulfed the internet. If you can get 50,000 followers that's great. Make sure that if you do though, when you do try and sell them something, that you are doing so HONESTLY! If you don't, you'll lose them just like that. You know the saying - "what have you done for me lately?" You're only as popular as your last good deed.

If you can find a product that will truly help someone, Social Media can be your best tool for spreading the news. If you don't have such a product though, it can bury you just as easily!

Hugzzz,
Steve :-)