Personalize It To Sell!
Social networking is taking off big time with sites like Facebook and Twitter in the top five social networking sites. These sites have created new opportunities to reach people online, even market them, if you know how to do it correctly. One thing that you can be sure of is that people who get on these sites enjoy the way it helps them define their self-identities. So, marketing to anything that helps them say who they are, what groups they belong to, and what values they uphold is a great way to build your contact list, and even in some cases, promote products that will appeal to this demographic.
Look At Me!
One way that Facebook and Twitter allow you to personalize the profile is by using your real name, or in the case of Twitter, a screen name. This draws attention to who that person is and helps to boost their self-image. In the same way, if you are trying to sell cups or calendars, if you have some way that you can include a personalization to make the item more custom, you will generate more orders. Everyone likes to see their name in print!
Generate A Group Identity
On Facebook, you can set up a Facebook page for celebrities, businesses, and products. People then join these pages to become a group of fans that like the page or topic. Once you have a group of people together, it can be a great way to get a group identity together by creating interesting names for the groups, having interactive activities on occasion and creating social badges that show people as being a member of that group. This helps in promoting your group and your business as other people go to other social networking sites. They can then identify themselves by saying they’re a member of that group or using some other form of badge or button that you provide to identify themselves with pride. Even if they never go elsewhere to promote your group, the fact that they are a part of a group that you started gives you a captive audience and relaxes many of the restrictions that you have for marketing in Facebook. You can’t spam others on their profiles with your offers, but in a group, the practice may be more acceptable if it helps to facilitate group activities and uphold group standards of identity.
Social Values That Sell
If you are a non-profit organization trying to use social networking to help generate contacts and promote some of your products, you can sell through the promotion of your social values. For instance, if you are a non-profit that believes in environmental issues, you can promote specific items in your product line-up, in a post to a group wall, that shows how that item helps to save the environment. Since people wouldn’t join the group of a social conscience site without having some of the same values, it provides an excellent trigger to generate buying behavior.
