| Like anything on the web it's just a matter of time | | | | The best method for increasing your social media |
| before people start gaming the system. Email was | | | | network is to produce quality content. Content is still |
| once great but now riddled with spammers, scams, | | | | King! Here are four proven techniques for building a |
| and chain letters. Facebook and Twitter have | | | | powerful social media marketing network: |
| reached the level of popularity that underhanded | | | | |
| businesses are taking notice. Just like you can buy | | | | 1. Engage your audience by asking interesting |
| bulk email lists, companies like Usocial are making | | | | questions. Thought provoking questions that |
| money selling Facebook fans, Facebook friends, and | | | | encourage open-ended answers. |
| Twitter followers. Usocial claims that, "For only $647, | | | | 2. Share valuable information. For example share a |
| you can have 25,000 Twitter Followers on your | | | | great article or useful tips your market cares about. |
| account." Usocial claims that the followers are | | | | Blogging, tweeting, and wall posts are opportunities |
| targeted to your marketing niche, but I have a | | | | to position yourself as an expert in your field. |
| feeling what you are really buying a bunch of zombie | | | | 3. Show your lighter side. Humor is a great way to |
| followers (fake accounts opened up with free email | | | | make friends. Dale Carnegie wrote in 1936 about |
| accounts). | | | | humor as a method for winning friends and influencing |
| Social Media Marketing is not about quantity, but | | | | people. This still holds true today! Telling a joke or |
| rather the quality of your network. The true measure | | | | funny quip is a great way to balance your tweets, so |
| is not friend or follower accounts but rather | | | | your audience knows that your not just business 24 |
| engagement. Simply having 20,000 fans on your | | | | 7. |
| Facebook page is meaning less if they are all | | | | 4. Don't give a sales Pitch. You are not selling your |
| zombies, and you marketing message is falling on | | | | product on Facebook or Twitter, your selling yourself |
| dead ears. Businesses looking to market on Facebook | | | | and building trust. No one likes to be sold, and the |
| or Twitter would be better served to have 300 | | | | modern customer can smell a pitch from a mile away. |
| quality fans or followers that actually read your posts | | | | Leave the selling to your website, and focus on |
| and join the conversation. | | | | building value on your networks. |