Online Marketing - Relationships Rule OK!

Online marketing doesn't work if all you do is 'shout' about how great your products or services are, people don't like it.  After all, what do you think when you read a post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ that says 'Get our great products now ...' or 'You can do X with these products - get yours now'?

Nobody likes being 'sold at'.  The first step is to create relationships by getting into 2-way communication with the people you've connected with.  This means:

• Sharing information that is of value to them
• Being friendly
• Offering help or answering their questions
• Connecting them to other people who can help them if you can't

Once you have established this profile then you can:

• Ask for help
• Ask them to look at your business - if you use the right approach
• Provide links to your information so they can choose to check you out.

People 'buy' people so it's important to be human, but don't dump loads of trivia into your online feeds, everyone doesn't want to know what you're eating all the time or every move you make.  Occasionally a comment about what you're doing is a good way to show you're real, but the key word here is 'occasionally'!

If you're clever you can integrate what you're doing with a subtle sales message.  e.g. 'I'm really excited about our new product launch, it's taken two months to get to this stage, watch this space!'

More about managing your online marketing soon - but share your experiences here.  What do you love and hate about online marketing?

5 Critical Things You Should Know About Online Marketing

When you're setting up an online marketing system you'll need to know how to make it most effective.  These are five things you should always keep in mind in all your online marketing activities:

1. Know where your target market hangs out and make sure you engage with them there.  For instance social stuff and small businesses are more likely to be found on Facebook whilst bigger organisations are found on Linked In.  
2. Find out what your market wants and be generous with sharing your knowledge; the more you give the more you get.
3. If you're not posting nobody knows you're there, so get a regular daily system going and use a combination of knowledge sharing and interaction.
4. Know what you want to achieve and ensure that your activities are all focused on that goal.
5. Have a means of measuring your progress so you know what's working and what's not.

Setting up an online marketing system takes time, but once it's going you'll find it's very rewarding in bringing you potential customers and people who will recommend you to others.