Should You Use Social Networking Sites to Build Buzz?

I interviewed social networking expert Paul Gillin for the September issue of my Build Book Buzz free e-zine; here's what I learned about using social networking sites to build buzz:

1. It's essentially a process for building relationships one-by-one. If you're lucky, you might get a little viral action out of it.
2. Because it's not a great method for reaching a large number of prospects quickly, it will help our businesses and organizations the most if what we're trying to do is establish our credibility as experts. For example, I will probably focus my social networking efforts on showing my expertise in a way that might generate speaking engagements rather than promoting my writing business or selling more books.
3. Good use of social networking sites and activities will have the greatest impact on businesses that have a very focused target market. That might be based on geography -- your own community, for example -- or a niche that is reachable through special interest networks.

To learn what Gillin had to say, subscribe at www.buildbookbuzz.com and use the link in the subscription confirmation e-mail to read the September 2008 issue on the archive page.

How to Get LinkedOut on LinkedIn

A professional communicator I’m connected to on LinkedIn but have never met – I accepted his link request because we share a former employer – used that service to send me a couple of messages promoting his new book. The most recent was annoying enough to use as an example of how not to leverage your social networking connections.

Here’s the text of the message:

"[Book title] is a book that provides new thinking and a practical approach to [book subject] to deliver bottom line results. Take a look at our flyer, and then go to Amazon.com (or your local bookstore) and buy it. [Book title] means business."

The flyer below the text is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. The graphics are obtuse, the text refers to the co-authors by last name only (what are they, rock stars?), the abbreviated testimonials scream at me in all caps, the purchase URL is huge and not clickable (use TinyURL, guys, to shorten these – nobody is going to type in 70 plus characters), and it looks like two disparate print ads were visually aligned into one piece.

Major ugh.

So here’s my advice to this LinkedIn promoter and anyone else who wants to use this social networking site to promote or sell products or services:

• Use the site to build relationships before hitting folks up with a sales pitch. Don’t link to me and immediately begin sending me commands to buy anything.
• Don’t abuse your network by sending multiple promotional messages.
• If you’re going to try to market something to me, tell me right up front what’s in it for me. The introductory text in this message could have told me that the information in this book will help me keep my job, get me a raise, make me more marketable, whatever. But it didn’t. So I lost interest very quickly.
• Don’t boss me around. I don’t care what you’re taught in Copywriting 101, saying to me in an e-mail “Take a look at our flyer, and then go to Amazon and buy it” just plain annoys me. You Are Not The Boss Of Me. Use your words to warm me up, not piss me off. I would respond more positively if this message were worded more like, “Because we’re connected on LinkedIn, I thought you might be interested in information about my new book (title). It’s about (subject). I promise you it will help you (benefits to me). The flyer below has more detailed information; you can purchase it quickly and easily at Amazon.com, (tinyurl). Thanks so much for your consideration.”
• Think real hard before using your network for anything this blatantly promotional.
• Instead of clubbing people over the head with commands to do something that serves your purpose, use sites like this one to establish yourself as an expert. Respond to queries on your area of expertise. Ask people how you might be able to help them reach their networking goals. If you've got info about your product or service on your profile, they'll find it and will be more inclined to consider a purchase than if you command them to.

Have you used your LinkedIn network to sell a product or service effectively? I'd love to know more.

Social Networking Sites Top Hot Digital List

With Facebook and MySpace topping AdweekMedia's Digital Hot List, social networking appears to be the hot online trend this year. Unless your target customer isn't online, you should be exploring how you can use these popular sites -- including LinkedIn -- to build buzz for your services and products. Nonprofits, in particular, have a lot to gain from these sites, which can help them identify and connect with potential volunteers and donors. Small businesses and authors can use them to build the types of relationships that lead to growth opportunities. They are hot -- and they aren't going away -- so make it a priority to learn more about them and how they can help you reach your goals.

Just remember: These sites are all about relationships. Don't use traditional marketing tactics like mass mailings to reach people on these sites. Spend time finding the people you want to get to know better and connect with each on your list one-by-one. It's time-consuming -- but so is going to a networking meeting. Your time spent getting to know people in these social networking sites -- and working to help them reach their goals -- will be productive if you approach it with a well-thought out strategy.