Can social media sites http://www.anthonymora.com“target=”_blank”>develop business models that can generate even a fraction of the billions that Google is racking in?  To this point the answer is a resounding no.  Sites such as Facbook and Twitter are growing at an astounding rate, but are they primarily relationship sites, or will they turn into marketing and business building powerhouses?

There are those who insist that MySpace is yesterday’s news and that Facebook and Twitter are basically fads that will soon be seen, as far as marketing is concerned, as interesting but failed experiments.   According to this reasoning, these sites will remain as vehicles for social interactions, but when it comes to helping build businesses or generating ROI, they will be seen as monumental failures.

Google has more than proven its ROI capabilities.  Adwords alone is reported to generate up to 95% of its revenue stream, which is more like an ocean.  But unlike Google, which serves as a basic (if the term basic can ever be applicable when describing Google) search engine, Facbook, Twitter and other social media sites have markedly different formats and face very different marketing challenges.  Originally developed for friends and acquaintances to interact, the posting and images on social media sites can often be confrontational, controversial and at times obscene.  Therein lies the marketing problem; do companies want to take the risk of having their messages, ads and brand equity positioned next to such possible loose canons?  Does a chain that sells children’s clothing want to risk having its ad positioned next to a sexually explicit post?

Add to that the question of user’s perceptions.  How do those that utilize social media sites feel about ads?  According to studies many find them annoying and intrusive at best.  According to eMarketer, a marketing research firm, social networking revenues rose an extremely modest 4% last year.   Click through rates on Facebook and others sites are minuscule compared to those on Google.  Because of that, many companies choose to have a presence on social media sites, but only a small fraction choose to buy ads.  But in order for social media sites to thrive and come of age as business sites and marketing avenues that can compete with traditional media outlets such as TV and print publications, they need to attract advertising revenue.    To be sure many large corporations are giving social media ads a shot.  But it’s a slow build.  The very quality that makes social media sites so attractive, the free flow of content, is precisely what makes advertisers so very cautious. 

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Anthony Mora began his media career as a freelance journalist for such publications as Us, Rolling Stone and other local and national publications. He served as editor-in-chief of two Los Angeles-based entertainment and lifestyle-oriented publications, and co-founded Phillips & Mora Entertainment, a public relations and personal management company, which ventured into video and film production. In 1990, Anthony formed Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. a Los Angeles-based media relations company that specializes in media placement, image development, and media training. AMC Inc. has placed clients in: Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other local, national, and international media outlets. Anthony has been featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fox News, MSNBC, and other media. He has written three books. The most recent, \”Spin to Win,\” is a step-by-step guide on how to define goals and utilize the power of the media to achieve success in any field. Practical and user-friendly, \”Spin to Win\” can be utilized by heads of major corporations, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.
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One of the crucial factors in success of any business is the ability to market your business. This is especially true of a network marketing business where marketing is the core nature of the business. When it comes to marketing your business, you can take either of the two approaches or even choose to divide your efforts between the two methods.

Traditional Method: This is the method that has been used by millions of owners of network marketing businesses to promote their business. This includes following steps:

• Creating a database of your contacts: This means preparing a list of virtually all of your family, relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors and other acquaintances. Since these are the people you know, you have a reason to believe that they will either buy from you or become your down-liners.
• Call your contacts and market your business: Once your list is ready, you start calling each one of them and invite them to participate in a conference about your network marketing business. After the conference, you follow-up by calling them again.
• Purchase leads or Cold-calling: Once you have exhausted your database, you may ask your up-liner for advice. Your up-liner is likely to recommend that you buy leads or start making cold-calls to unknown people to promote your network marketing business.
• House-meetings and Free Samples: By this time, if you have not achieved success your mentor may say that you use traditional methods like organizing regular house meetings or distributing free samples of your products.
• Outdoor marketing: You may be advised by other knowledgeable friends in the network marketing business to resort to outdoor marketing methods, which include distributing flyers and literature in public places, and distributing business cards.
• Network marketing training: If you are still looking for customers for your business, the company and the top-liners may suggest that you are in need of an mlm training session in a distant city being organized by your network company.

New-Age Method: Traditional method has achieved a lot of success in past decades. However, changes in society have made most of these methods obsolete and anyone resorting to only this method is likely to achieve moderate success in a network marketing business. New-age methods which increase the chances of your success exponentially are:

• Stop Chasing Everyone: The first rule of new-age method of promoting your business is to stop chasing everyone indiscriminately and especially, stop harassing your friends. You may not get business and you may lose your friends too. This is also one of the reasons why people get put-off by network marketing.
• Market Yourself: People like to be associated with a person who is a pleasant personality, who is a leader and who they perceive will help them be successful. People do not care much about the products and company. They are more interested in the person. So instead of promoting your network marketing company and its products aggressively, market yourself as a person who can help fulfill your customer’s dreams.
• Use Technology to promote your business: The internet is one of the most-effective tools for your network marketing business. All successful network marketers fully understand the potential of internet and leverage it to their benefit by:

a)     Creating a content rich website that helps solves various issues and subtly promotes the product.

b)     Using Email and auto-responders as a main tool for communicating as well as following up with your potential customers.

c)     Using articles, blogs, forums, advertising and search engine optimization techniques to reach out to their clients.

d)     Using social networking websites to connect with customers as well as network marketers.

e)     Using the internet to keep you updated on the latest in network marketing businesses to keep ahead of competition.

For more information, go to http://MaryjeanAHowe.net/?t=ab11.7

Maryjean Howe is a professional internet marketer and business coach based out of Oceanside, CA. She works with people to help them start a business and continues to help them use training materials to effectively run a successful business. Maryjean has worked with people from all different backgrounds to help them start a business without any experience.
For more information, go to http://MaryjeanAHowe.net/?t=ab11.7

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