So everyone from small startups and businesses to big corporations started to search for ways to tap into this new customer and profit source, by hiring social media consultants and creating their own accounts to promote themselves and their products.

But the new social media is quite different. In this environment, people can easily discern genuine messages and persons (who really care about the others) from simple and quite selfish spam (which includes, for example, products promotion and corporate news on Twitter, Facebook and other networks, which no one cares about, judging by the followers/subscribers count).

So, what are the main reasons why a lot of big and small companies and brands fail on new social media networks?

1.       They don’t provide value to their followers.

A lot of brands just tweet about their products and give out information about events, sales, etc. The thing is, people don’t really care, whether they like your product or not. How about providing your followers with special discounts, information or events? That wouldn’t be too hard to organize and it would really surprise everyone in a positive way. Plus, a lot more people will join you because of that.

2.       They do not listen to people and the community.

When people are giving you feedback, you have to accept it, whether good or bad (companies used to pay for that in the past!). But that is not enough! You also must act upon what the community tells you. If everyone is saying that you need a certain feature in your product, you can’t just ignore them and release a new version with that feature still missing. This will make you lose credibility in front of customers, and, on the Internet, it will never be forgotten (anyone doing a quick search for reviews of your product will find those negative opinions and will think thrice before buying it).

3.       They’re not social.

You can’t be on a “Social Network” and not engage in conversations with people. That’s what it’s all about! Talk, share good and interesting information, be more open and personal, and answer everyone’s questions. If you’re getting a lot of comments or tweets and don’t’ reply, it’ll seem like you don’t care about the brand at all, which will most probably get you off the “Trusted” list of most people.

 4.       They’re not fun.

A lot of brands are having trouble with this one. Most of them are used to being serious and all business like, but that attitude backfires on them when they try getting into social media. They try to control what they say and do, but that is simply not a good decision, because people will spot it from a mile away. You’ve got to be fun, let people see something interesting, make mistakes, and do other things to show you’re genuine. If you’re scared of being more open, you shouldn’t try to become social.

 5.       They are selfish.

No one likes people who just join a community to start shouting and boasting about themselves and their products or offers. This will never work when the people make the rules and have choices. They will just turn away and never listen to you again. Don’t just try to make a quick profit, aim for long-term relationships, and provide win-win situations. It is really not that hard. If you are a software company, you could, for example, provide free copies for the first XX people that reply to you, or something similar. This will make those people happy that they are your followers and they will tell everyone about it. Even those who didn’t get the freebie will have a better opinion of you (and most of them will think “I’d better subscribe, who knows, maybe they’ll have something like this in the future”).

That’s it, reread the above points and keep them in mind for when you try to get your brand noticed and popular on social media networks.

Facebook Ads

If your website or product is tailored to a specific target audience and you can define them fairly easily then Facebook can provide a lot of eyes in a short period of time.  Search for groups and pages that attract the audience you are after and join in the conversation.  Once your comfortable click on the Ads and Pages button on the bottom left of the page and take a look at their ad network.  It’s pretty cool, once you create a campaign you start with the entire Facebook population available and as you define your target that number adjusts to the number of people that meet those requirements.  I would suggest creating a page for your product or company first and then promoting that page with the ads.  That way people can become fans and respond easily to your posts, pictures and videos and even share your coupons with their friends.

While you are on Facebook, think about signing up for a new account with the Visa Business network and get a free $75 ad credit on Yahoo.  They used to give out a $100 ad credit for Facebook but I think that promotion may have ended.  If anyone is aware of other promotions please share!

T-Shirts

This guy came up with this idea to wear whatever t-shirt people sent him for one day and blog about it for a fee based on what day of the year it is.  So January 1st for example only cost someone $1 and likewise December 31st cost someone $365.  Well, it worked and he’s booked through late 2010 now but that doesn’t prevent you and your friends from doing the same thing to promote you site and products.  If you don’t have someplace local you can find numerous companies that will print low volume runs of T-shirts and if you aren’t the artist type Google can help you there too.  Then get your friends to wear the shirts wherever your customers hang out.

Triple Your Rewards

Don’t forget the more money you save, the more you have to invest in yourself and your ideas.  When buying a product online there are three primary ways to save yourself money.

1. Entry way – if you click through to your destination from a particular site you can save money or earn rewards.  If you’re a Delta Frequent Flier start your shopping at SkymilesShopping.com and you’ll earn points towards a free trip.  If you prefer American Airlines try AAdvantageEShopping.com.  And they work with 100′s of stores you already shop at like Macy’s, Barnes and Noble and so on.  If flying isn’t your thing you can also join a free shopping network that will give you an average of 1% to 3% back in cash at those same stores.  So if you estimate a single frequent flier mile is worth 2 cents it works out to about the same value.
2. Coupons/Promotion Codes – Once you are at the actual store website, select your items and are ready to check out you are facing savings method #2.  Most stores have a place to enter a promotion or coupon code.  If you don’t have one fire up Google and enter in the name of the store and ‘coupon’ or ‘promotion code’ and you’ll be suprised how often you’ll find a working code that can save you a few dollars or provide free shipping.  You can also try the name of the specific product you want as there may be a manufacturers coupon available.  Just remember most sites only allow one code per order so use the best one you find or split up your order if it makes sense.
3. Payment Method – Finally it’s time to pay and you get one last chance to earn a little something.  Use your reward credit or debit card or look for promotions to use Google Checkout or similar services.  And while I wouldn’t recommend signing up for a new credit card for that merchant just to get a discount, if your making a large purchase and are able to pay it off it may well be worth the effort.

And remember it’s the holidays and a time of giving.  So visit your favorite websites whether it be for a company you like or a favorite charity and look for shopping links to your favorite stores.  Chances are if you click through their link they’ll either receive a few cents for the visit or a percentage of whatever you buy and it won’t cost you anything extra.

Happy Holidays and may your family be blessed with good health and happiness.

You can both market on Facebook and have a permanent page for users to visit to see what others have to say about your product or service. As the most popular and most frequently visited social network, Facebook presents the marketing community with an unrivaled media for reaching people all over the world. Facebook Ads uses this large pool of participates to advertise using pay per click. Marketers can determine which users they want to target, by age, gender, hobbies, or anything aspects that users add to their profiles. By directing your ads to a specific interest group, you should have a better return on your marketing dollar. Facebook Ads is both ease to use and inexpensive.

MySpace is creating a site of their own for pay-per-click ads called MyAds. Currently it is being beta tested, but cost will be based on the number of clicks and per 1,000 impressions models. MyAds has many of the same advantages as Facebook Ads when it comes to targeting specific demographics. As older generations turn to Facebook, MySpace is becoming more popular with the younger generation, ages 18 to 24. This is certainly an important determining factor when deciding which site is right for your business.

The final site to consider is Sponsored Diggs, a bookmarking site for the latest in news, gaming, entertainment, and other social topics. Digg is branching out to include marketing on the site, with advertisement linked to specified Digg articles. The obvious advantage is that you can match your business with current news and people specifically interested in the same subject. However, Digg does allow readers to hide ads they do not want to see, so the time you spend getting your ad posted may not reach your intended audience.