Social marketing is different to general marketing. With general marketing, you are promoting a brand, an image, a product or a company. When it comes to social marketing, you are really promoting yourself.
If your not promoting yourself, you should be. Social marketing, as I have mentioned in previous articles, is about being social. Products cannot be social. Socializing is a human interaction and as such becomes a one-on-one or one-to-many event.
The biggest mistake that many novices make when socializing on many of the social websites is that they are trying to promote their website, blog, or products. In effect, they are trying to hard. All that is necessary is self promotion. You become your own brand.
Over time, people associate you with your website and eventually with your product. Overtime, by promoting yourself you will be promoting your everything that surrounds you. If you take a look at some of the bigger names in blogging, particularly when it comes to marketing, they promote themselves, their blogs and products are taken along for the ride.
A good example is Andy Beal and his site, Marketing Pilgrim. Throw in his new product Trackur and there are three images to consider. However, most ploggers have heard of Andy Beal. Some will associate Marketing Pilgrim with his name, fewer still will associate Trackur with him.
However, over time the three become as one. Andy has developed a good reputation over a long period of time. His name is trusted. Because of that, his sites, and now his products, gain the benefit of that trust.
Social marketing can go along way to developing a similar ‘trust’. You become the product and where ever possible, you promote yourself. As your reputation grows, so to does your website – this is where you can be ‘found’. Obviously, unless your products are crap, they will gain the same ‘trust’ factor. With social marketing, you should consider yourself the product first.
