From: Blog Business Summit

Below are some helpful how-to hints about online marketing:

By Teresa Valdez Klein

So How Exactly Do You Engage with Online Social Networks?
That’s a big topic. Frankly, it’s a billion dollar question and if I had all the answers to it, I’d be a billionaire.

What I do know is that your outreach has to be about more than just selling your product. You have to genuinely want to get in touch with the people that care about your company. And you have to relate to them on their terms.

I get a lot of invitations on MySpace to clubs that I would never go to. I’ve been “friended” by a lot of bands that I have no interest in listening to. That’s why I made my profile private and made it impossible for people to friend me unless they know my REAL name. I know that people are just trying to self-promote, and I do understand. But if the marketers in question had taken the time to read my profile, they would have seen that I really don’t want to listen to their Metallica rip-off band. So pay attention to people’s interests before you contact them.

Because despite the friend-gathering behavior you sometimes see on Web-based social networks, it’s important to remember that quality of relationships is a lot more important than quantity of “friends.” Especially when you’re promoting your organization.

Why is this true? Because you and the group of contacts you develop are only the starting point for the message you are trying to send. If people truly enjoy interacting with you, they will talk to their contacts about you. If they have an inkling that one of their friends might enjoy your product, they’ll be more likely to mention it if they don’t think you’re a tool for pinging them with corporate jargon that’s irrelevant to their lives.

So once you have contacted them, don’t just send them a form e-mail. Pay attention to what you, a unique individual, have in common with them, another unique individual. Don’t go into a sales spiel. Focus on making a connection.

I once explained social network marketing to Steve as being like randomly sitting down at a nightclub with a group of people who all know each other well. You have to be able to connect with them as more than just a marketer, or they’ll think of you as a pest. This happened to me in Puerto Vallarta when the owner of the Collage Nightclub sat down with my cousin and I while we were out at another club. We knew he was promoting his nightclub, but he was a cool guy and he was more interested in talking about good music and the town itself.

That’s how you have to be when you’re trying to engage with online social networks.