Social Media Marketing – How to be Ahead of the Pack, Fast!

April 27, 2011 - Last Modified: January 17, 2019 by Mavis Nong

Are you using social media marketing? Everywhere you turn today, you hear about social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so on.

Everyone and their grandma are on Facebook. This is really a great way to keep family and friends connected all over the world.

Social media has gotten very big, and it can have a huge impact on your business.

If you’re not using social media marketing to grow your business, then you’re really missing out on a massive opportunity to create success.

Social media is so powerful as it offers free word of mouth advertising. Even big companies are using these sites to promote their brand and stay connected to their customers. They send their customers to their social media pages or profiles – the new world of advertising!

So, if these big fortune 500 companies are taking advantage of social media marketing, what are you still waiting for?

I want you to stop believing the hype that social media is time-consuming and it doesn’t work. If you are serious about growing your business, then read on…

Social Media Marketing – How to Get it Right!

Keeping up with a fast-paced industry becomes very challenging when you are trying to do too much. One of the best tips I can give you is not to dilute your efforts.

Stick to ONE social media site to start with and become a pro. Whether that be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or any other depends on your line of business and your niche. Here’s a little hint:

Facebook is the social network
LinkedIn is the professional network
Twitter is the news/information network

The secret to becoming a leader in your niche is in the way you build your social tribe.

Social Media Marketing – Be Ahead of the Pack, Fast!

Step # 1: The fastest way to stardom on any social media platform is to get to know it inside and out. So how do you do that? Easy -you subscribe to top popular blogs and read them like clockwork. The easiest way to do this is via RSS feeds.

To find the leading blogs in your niche, visit this guide.

Step # 2: Apply what you learn by reading these blogs and implement the rest of the tips in this blog post. Start to lead by example.

Step # 3: Engage your readers by actively asking them for their opinion and by sharing valuable tips to help them build their business. But remember, only ever give them the sweet packaging (not the actual sweet itself), this is reserved for the sale 😉

Status updates can be automated or semi-automated to help you save time and hassles. Some of the best tools to use for this are:

Please understand that there are dozens of tools to give you similar and maybe even better functionality. We could argue all day long about which tool is better than the rest, but after listening to several social media pros and testing them myself, I recommend any of the above.

It is far more important to get started with a tool than to procrastinate forever, don’t you think?

Social Media Marketing – Dos and Don’ts of Status Updates

Status updates are the be and all of your social media marketing campaigns. If done wrong, they can kill your reputation and credibility faster than you dare to think. If done right, they can elevate you above 99% of the social media users on any platform.

This is the golden rule that will lay eggs. Ready to hear it?…

80/20

If you are familiar with Paretos’ Law, you probably already know what’s coming. Here’s the thing: too many people complicate just about everything they do. Social media marketing is easy if you implement the tips I’ve given you here. It is even easier if you start to apply the 80/20 rule for all of your status updates.

What this boils down to is this:

1. For every status update you do about yourself, your business, your products, and your services, you should do four status updates about other people in your industry. Or to simplify the math for you, do 2 updates about you and 8 about other people’s products and services.

The more you are in tune with your followers’ and customers’ needs, the better you can cater to them with the messages you use.

2. You should also always throw in some personal tidbits about you, but nothing that can negatively affect how potential customers think about you. For example: Don’t be tempted to post those drunken pictures from last Saturday night on your Facebook page.

Neither should you publish negative, slandering comments about others. Instead, you want to empower your friends and followers with positive messages and helpful tips and tricks. It’s the fastest way to social media stardom.

Key Takeaway

Still don’t believe that social media marketing can help you to put your name and business out there? Why don’t you give it a try and experience the power of social media yourself?

As for me, I practice what I preach… Remember I said Stick to ONE social media site and become good at it. I’m using Facebook to promote my blog and to grow my business.

I have found that Facebook is one of the best and most popular social media sites to use to promote and expand your business, and I’m happy to share with you how I command attention and drive blog traffic using Facebook.

I hope you to make it to my blog to check this out 🙂

Your Turn Now:

How are you using social media?
What’s your favourite social media site and why?
What strategy do you use for status updates?
What’s your favourite social media tool?

To Your Success,

About Mavis Nong

Follow @MavisNong

Mavis Nong is the creator and author of the Attraction Marketing blog which focuses on the fundamental and cutting-edge strategies that you can implement right away to grow your business.

{ 50 Responses }

Tanisha says:

new way to market is online and if your not online your missing out the new evolution is happening and people must get o board
Charlene says:

I had to admit that, before, I wasn't really aware on how social media marketing would help boost my site's traffic. That was then. Right now, I have to say that social networking websites are indeed a great way of increasing your followers or even increase your leads. In my experience, at first, I never thought that in a day, about 50% of my visitors were added to my current. It was a good hit actually. Great article by the way! Thanks for a good share!
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  You're welcome, Charlene. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your experience with social media marketing. Way to go! :) Much continued success to you, Mavis
Heather C Stephens says:

Hi Mavis, Out of the park, awesome post! I think that one of the greatest things about social media is that using your common sense and treating people in your circle of influence like friends will always be effective. You wouldn't bombard your friends with add after spammy add. You wouldn't tag your friends relentlessly with your opportunity links either. Following the 80/20 rule is excellent advice, Mavis that will work on any social media site. Great job my friend and congratulations on your great guest post! Heather
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much for your kind words and encouragement, Heather! :). You're right, it's all about treating our online friends with respect. I appreciate your visit and input, my friend. All the best, Mavis
Chelsea Thomas says:

Hey Mavis!Great stuff you have here. I love what you said about the status updates. I always tell my clients to keep it personable and not to over do it with the self promotion or the business ads. More importantly share news about others. Other people have great products and serivces. By posting about them you have the potential to develop great synergy within the social media marketing world.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much for stopping by and for your comment, Chelsea. I couldn't agree with you more - it's important to share other people's stuff. All the best, Mavis
- Kimsea says:
  
  Well done Chelsea, I did some join of what you said but not all of these. The make me more interested about social media market. Anyway, thanks for sharing this useful tips Mavis
Marcus Baker says:

It is really important to target your niche carefully within social media. Having a whole lot of people as your friends, most of whom don't really care what your business is about is a waste of time. Too many people are purely obsessed with numbers. Quality followed by quantity is the key. Awesome tips for anybody wanting to maximise Social Media the right way Mavis. Thank you. ~Marcus
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  So true, Marcus. It's all about the quality of friends and followers you have. I appreciate your visit and input. All the best, Mavis
Dr. Bob Clarke says:

Hi again Mavis,Another stellar post. My biggest takeaway from this -- one thing at a time, baby!It is SO tempting to go off and try to make your presence felt on FB, Twitter, Linkedin and (fill in the blank). Especially for people like me who are building their business part time, this is a recipe for mediocrity.It's far better to have a major presence on one platform than a minor presence on several, don't you think? :-)Thanks for the reminder, Mavis.... now I'm off to Facebook to work on my presence!
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much for your kind words, Dr Clarke. Very true, one social site at a time, if you really want to build a strong presence. I appreciate your visit here and comment. See you on Facebook! :) All the best, Mavis
William Tha Great says:

Just as I thought, totally brillant stuff here Mavis. I like the 80/20 rule. I'm going to start abiding by that rule and see where it takes me! I'm trying to learn everything I can about social media while I'm young, because I know it's the future. ( :God bless, William Veasley
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much, William. Absolutely - social media is the future! All the best, Mavis
Radu Dascalul says:

Hi Mavis, Super post!I love it because it's very well documented and you apply what you teach(I can see that everyday in the groups we frequent).I'm using facebook to promote my blog &grow my business.I prefer this social media site from all the others because it fits with my personality ,it's a great place to connect with like minded people and always a great source of imformation.In addition,it's perfect to grow a mlm business and build strong relationships.Since I use it, things changed a lot in my biz. Good point with the 80/20 rule.I use to share many pieces of content of my fellow marketers so it's acomplished. As for the tools I use Social Oomph:) Thank you for sharing this! Have a great day, Radu
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much, Radu. You're right, I practice what I preach :) Great to hear that you're having success with Facebook. I love it too. You're welcome. Have a great day too! All the best, Mavis
John says:

Hi Mavis, I am using this strategy for twitter, it is really effective!! Now looking forward to use this strategy for facebook. I didn't used any tool for social media till date. Thanks for sharing social media tool John
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  You're welcome, John. Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment. All the best, Mavis
Ayden says:

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter... The holy trinity? ;)
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  LOL! :D
ZK says:

Nice thing about your post is you mentioned ...# How to do it # Benefits of doing it # Drawback of it.So you complete the whole circle by mentioning every point.My one point to you ... as you described about RSS and Google Search Blog, you should also mention these tips for twitter and facebook.I hope you did not reserve these points for sale ... lollzz :)
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Glad to hear that you liked my post, ZK. The other tips are for next time ;) Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. All the best, Mavis
Tessa says:

Great article Mavis. Really, helps lot for Social Media newbies. Your, article shares valid points to grew up the trade fast. Thanks for sharing these nice points.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  You're welcome, Tessa. Glad you found this helpful :) Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. All the best, Mavis
chandan says:

Nice post on social media. My favorite social media site is twitter. I use tweetdeck for monitoring twitter status. Social media marketing strategy is one of the best online marketing strategy. Most of company use social media like Facebook, twitter for branding and reputation purpose.
- ZK says:
  
  Along with branding and reputation they also wants to have close relation with their clients.This is the most easiest and smart way to do ... more helpful than FREE TOLL FREE NUMBERS.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much, Chandan. As I mentioned, it's all about finding what's working well for you and stick with it. Facebook is my goldmine :) I appreciate your visit and comment. All the best, Mavis
Loveish Kalsi says:

I always believe that Social Media is the key to success in modern day business. No matter if you run an online business or offline if you will promote it on social media you will get great success.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Agreed, Loveish. It's the modern-day advertising method :) Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. All the best, Mavis
  - AJ Clarke says:
    
    It's true. Social Media is the modern-day advertising method and clearly it's highly effective. All the large companies don't just have a marketing team but they also have a social media team. It's such a big part of any industry and it can really make or break you.
    - Mavis Nong says:
      
      Absolutely, AJ. Free advertising for all! Thanks for the visit and comment. All the best, Mavis
doug_eike says:

Initially, I was guilty of trying to do too much on too many social-media sites at once. Now, I've focused on a couple of them, and my results have improved. Thanks for the tips!
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  There you go, Doug. You'll see significant results when you just f-o-c-u-s on a couple or so :) Thanks for coming by and for sharing your experience. All the best, Mavis
Steve says:

Mavis,Great post. Social Media undoubtedly works. There is SO much that can be done with it though, so a plan is necessary.Using 80/20 to make sure you do the things that work and cast aside what doesn't is really a wonderful method of finding out what really works for you.Great article and explanation! Rock on!Steve
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much, Steve. It's all about putting a plan in place and following it daily if you want to see any results. I appreciate your visit and encouragement. All the best, Mavis
Elias Shams says:

Great post Mavis. Thx! It’s no brainer to see that social media is here to stay for good. Given vast variety of the existing channels to choose and stick with, it’s time for such a hot space to enter into a new category. There is a need for a portal to provide a quick and intelligent decision for both the consumer and the enterprise about their online connections. A Platform to Help us to Distinguish Our Quality vs. Quantity Friends, Fans, Followers, and Companies Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Flickr and others have been doing a decent job of providing additional marketing exposure and even in some cases, additional revenue. However, as more and more social networking sites pop up, how do you manage your brand across all these channels? Maybe more importantly, which one of these sites should you select as the one that will help you best reach your target audience? The proliferation of the social media avenues is becoming overwhelming. This glut of information reminds me of the early 90’s when WWW was adopted broadly by the general public. Every company rushed to have a presence, to the point it became literally impossible to find the right information on the Web. That’s when a better generation of search engines – at first the Yahoo! and then Google – entered the market and helped us find the most relevant information by just typing simple keywords in their search box. If you had asked before Google launched, if there was a need for another search engine – most would have said no, we already have those…. Then came Web 1.0 & 2.0 – Youtube, Flickr, myspace, Facebook, Twitter and countless others have turned everyday people into content producers, influencers and experts. We basically tripled down on the information overload How do you know which channels to select for deploying your social media strategy? How do you know which one is the right channel to let your fans and followers to find you, your products, and services? Most importantly, who is Joe Smith that is recommending that person, that company, that product? I hope my awesomize.me can accomplish such a mission. The site is not another social networking platform. Yet the portal to all your existing social media channels. The platform helps you, your fans, your potential clients to make an intelligent decision as to which company to connect to or follow via which social media channels and why? It’s free! Elias CEO & Founder awesomize.me
Nishadha says:

social media marketing is a great way to promote your content and get the word out. And I especially liked your point about becoming a power user in one social media site. Then it is easy to use those connections to find success in other social networks
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  That's very true, Nishadha. Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment. All the best, Mavis
Andrew Bailey says:

Excellent article Mavis, full of authority and real advice that people can take and do something good with. "Stick to ONE social media site to start with and become a pro" - that's great advice, it could even be a #quote on a twitter stream :-)
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much, Andy. Great idea, I'm blasting it on Twitter! :) I appreciate your visit and comment. All the best, Mavis
Dennis Edell says:

Great job Mavis, a SMM article I understand and can actually work from...I thought it was a myth. lol Stick to ONE social media site to start with and become a pro....like many others this is where I seriously screwed up so long ago. Signing up for them all as soon as I read it, then doing nothing; most don't even have profiles filled in past my name and location. I'm slowly rectifying that, starting with twitter, which i recently started over as well, and moving forward from there.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks a bunch, Dennis! Glad to hear that you found this helpful :) All the best with social media marketing! Mavis
Gera says:

Hi Mavis, Excellent post and of course being in social networking is a way of social media marketing for bloggers ;) I'd like to explore niche sites that can be a good way to expand frontiers means BlogEngage, Serpd, etc - Forums too. And also not only the big know ones, you can add like e.g. Stumbleupon. You know that in terms of traffic, Stumbleupon surpassed Facebook - interesting, isn’t it? The 80/20 rule is a must, but not everybody use it - wrong practices. Cheers, Gera
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks very much for stopping by and for your kind words, Gera. I couldn't agree with your more - social networking is very important for bloggers. I also take advantage of the niche social bookmarking sites - great for generating exposure and traffic. All the best, Mavis
A. Tatum Jr says:

I wish I had good advice like this when I first started. I still find it surprising regardless of what business someone may be in how they over-look the importance of the internet and social media. Great tips as all Mavis.
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Same here, A. Tatum Jr. Social media is huge right now. Thanks for coming by and for your comment. All the best, Mavis
Ryan Biddulph says:

Hi Mavis, Awesome post and I dig that social media ratio. The more you give the more you get. Make the RT and FB share button your best friends. The more you give by leaving value-packed comments and sharing other's blog posts the more others do the same for you. The concept is so simple. Thanks for sharing Mavis! RB
- Mavis Nong says:
  
  Thanks a bunch, Ryan. It is a simple concept indeed - you must first give if you want to receive. I appreciate your visit and comment. All the best, Mavis

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