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Stop All Your Social Media Marketing Right Now

Guest post by: Gihan Perera

Article Overview: What would you do if you had to use social media every day, but weren't allowed to do any marketing? Social media marketing is about being social, not about marketing. You don't have to give up ALL your promotion or advertising; just don't make it the main purpose of using social media platforms. If you want a rule of thumb: Make at least 80% of your activity non-promotional, and at most 20% (preferably less) promotional.

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Stop All Your Social Media Marketing Right Now

What would you do if you had to use social media every day, but weren't allowed to do any marketing?

In other words, no boasting about your new book, no promoting events (even free events), no publishing testimonials from happy clients, no affiliate links to other people's products, nothing that even hints of marketing or self-promotion.

What would you do? Well ... Perhaps you would go to Facebook and comment on somebody's photo.

Or answer somebody's question in a LinkedIn group.

Or comment on somebody's blog post, explaining how it was useful to you.

Or publish a blog post, sharing an answer to a question some audience member recently asked you.

Or re-tweet somebody else's link to a useful article.

Or write an Amazon.com book review for a book you read recently.

Or participate in a Google+ conversation about something that interests you.

Or "Like" or "+1" a Web page or blog post you enjoyed reading.

Or go to iTunes or the Android Market to give a five-star rating for an app you use every day.

Or publicly thank somebody who helped you recently.

Or add a positive comment to a YouTube video that made you smile, laugh, cry or think differently.

What's the point of all this? When you forget about "marketing", you focus on sharing your expertise.

When you share your expertise, you're more engaging.

When you're more engaging, you build real connections.

When you build connections, people want to spread the word about you.

When they spread the word, you build your reputation.

When you build your reputation, you become an authority.

And when you're an authority, the marketing happens automatically.

Social media marketing is about being social, not about marketing.

You don't have to give up ALL your marketing. Just to be clear: I'm not saying you must never promote or advertise; just don't make it the main purpose of using social media platforms. If you want a rule of thumb: Make at least 80% of your activity non-promotional, and at most 20% (preferably less) promotional.

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Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Gihan Perera > Stop All Your Social Media Marketing Right Now >
Article Tags: internet marketing, social media

About the Author: Gihan Perera
RSS for Gihan's articles - Visit Gihan's website

I'm an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, thought leaders and other business professionals. Business owners often ask me what to do about the Internet. They know it's important, they know it's affecting their business, but they don't know how - and they don't know what to do about it. I'm an author, speaker, trainer and consultant. Since 1997, I've worked with leading thought leaders, change agents and entrepreneurs, helping them reach more people and leverage their expertise, on and off the Internet.

Click here to visit Gihan's website
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Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Hi, Online Marketing would be a great title, and having sub categories would make it even better, there would plenty of categories to choose from, Social Media, SEO, Article Marketing and yes even Affiliate Marketing to name just a few, great looking site btw Jeff, take care, Carol
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Just as an update, Evan has extended the poll's expiration date and says he'd like to see at least 25 "yes" votes before implementing the new category. Moreover, it would probably be called "Online Marketing" instead of Social Media Marketing".
Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? - Hi Everyone, 2009 is a new year and I'd like to create a new forum category to jazz things up! In the past, there's been some interest voiced about adding a "Social Media Marketing", "Online Marketing", "Internet Marketing" or "Online Promotion" category. I'll implement [u:1g2tv6tf]ONE[/u:1g2tv6tf] of those new categories, but can someone first tell me what the difference would be between the existing "Marketing" section and one of those new options mentioned above? Thanks


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