In Social Media Marketing -Words are powerful.

Even more than we realize.

There are 7 words that are CRUCIAL to making your social media marketing efforts successful, whether you own’a traditional business, a home business, or work for a business.

And many do not even know them let alone use them.

They can change your social media marketing to a powerful force in your branding efforts and beyond.

Sooooo….

What are they?

1) FREE.

Many folks in social media like free gifts. They like free content. They like free podcasts. They like free videos. They like free content.

So you need to start using the word FREE in your tweets, vids, posts, podcasts and blogs. WHAT is free? That is for you to decide, but it can be an ebook, a report, an mp3, a CD, a DVD, or anything that the people will find of value to their life.

“Here is a FREE mp3 that i recorded last night and thought you might enjoy. Hope you like it and let me know what your thoughts are as i am looking to improve it. Thanks!”

2) GIVE.

This is a biggie. It is CRUCIAL that you GIVR and use the word GIVE in your communications. It is called a “trigger word.” This is a word that triggers psychologically in the brain to create some kind of emotion or feeling. GIVE is a powerful concept in social media marketing.

Especially what you are giving away is FREE.

“I am giving away today a FREE ebook that will help you in your Success efforts. I want you to have it as I know you will like it. Here is the link for it and let me know how you enjoy it as always looking for ways to improve. Thanks!”

3) TRUST.

This is another huge one as we build bridges of trust with people and their friends. Use the word trust in what you do.  Use the word trust in posts, mp3s, videos, and any other communication. Put it FRONT and CENTER and let people know that is your focus. You are looking to be trusted and you sare looking to trust back.

“My goal is to build trust with people before they ever do any business with me as that is critical. Integrity is the foundation of trust and that is how i operate and always will.”

4) VALUE.

People will do more for Value than you think. And people are smarter than you think. They KNOW value and what is NOT Value. Your focus in social media marketing is to provide VALUE in your communication and use the word in all you do. Your FOCUS should be VALUE and a lot of it.

What people talk about is Value. What people are seeking is Value. What people are DEMANDING is Value and you must be the Value Freak in what you do in social media.

“And my goal is to create such an amazing Value in this video that you will watch it over and over and learn something new each time you watch it. All I ask is you let people know what you have discovered in this video and share it with others.”

5) LOVE.

Love is a strong word that people do not use enough. i know i know. I can hear it now-”Doug is getting hairy fairy.” LOL  Nope. Just telling you the truth. if you believe in something string enough- you need to let people know that you love it. if you are convinced that your product is the best that exists on the planet-let them knwo you love it. if you are sure that the relationships you are building in social media are powerful and life changing, let people know that you love that part about social media. if you are a home business professional and LOVE what you do- shout it out and rock the world with it.

Love is a powerful life changing word and when you use it- EYES ARE DRAWN TOWARDS IT- instinctively.

“I LOVE this mp3/video/ebook/report/post even if I did do it. It has a LOT of great content on it that can change lives. I want you to have it as a gift and i look forward to talking to you about it as I know you will love it too. I love giving things away for free-hope you like it!”

6) SECRET.

Everyone likes a good secret that cannot be kept. And if you are any marketing effort, you need to let peo;ple know that you know a secret that they do not. Why? Fear of loss. Curiosity builder. Wanting to be a part of the in the know crowd. Hope of gain. and ther are other reasons as well. But when you use the word SECRET- BAM! Every one’s heads turn-and they are thinking- “Tell me pleasssee!” And we have used it for years as that truly does set you apart form the masses…

IF and ONLY IF you have a secret that no one else has about your endeavor, Success, leadership, social media marketing, home business success, or internet marketing, or anything else that you are working. Be unique and one of a kind. OWN the Secret-don’t just repeat it. Old news is still old news. Get creative and let the secrets flow.

“I have discovered a secret about skin care that ia amazing and wanted to give it to you. Here is a link to a  video that will tell you the secret of looking 10 years younger in little or no time. And all I ask is that you share it with other you know as it will help them too as well. Here is the secret link….”

7) THEIR NAME.

Enough said.

Their name is music to their ears. It is honey to their soul. It is sugar in their tea. I ALWAYS use the persons name or nickname in communication in the very first couple of words.

It is an EYE MAGNET.

It attracts their eyes to move towards their name and then you are guaranteed that your communication will be at least scanned. Use their name at the end too. I call it “bookending.” It works and lets them know that you appreciate who they are.

These are the 7 most powerful words that you can use in social media. of course there are more.

What other words can you suggest in your social media marketing?

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Herring

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Surfing through YouTube last night, I wanted to see what people were creating content about “social media” recently, and I stumbled upon this masterpiece that I had to share with you. It truly captures the fundamental shift that social media has had on the way we communicate.

I contend it’s IMPOSSIBLE after watching this to still be of “the world is flat” mentality when thinking social media is a fad. Have you seen this video? What are your thoughts about the social media revolution?

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“Build it and They will Come!”

NOT.

Connection is the Nuclear Core of Social Media. But you MUST make an effort for that to happen.

Whether you have a social media home business, traditional bricks and mortar business, or an online business, you must get into the social trenches and connect and converse. It is that simple and that plain.

It is ALL about Connecting and creating a Magnetic Conversation.

But why are people NOT doing that?

Maybe they do not know this powerful 5 Step “Avalanche Process” for getting New Customers and KEEPING them.

You MUST connect with the social media culture. It is what marketing is about in social media. Some people think that this is anti-social media and they think they can broadcast their message and people will come.

Build it and they will come!

Don’t think so. Not in social media. You do not build ‘IT” but build relationships that can become doorways and then become customers.

Connect –> Conversation–> Value –> Doorway–> Customer.

Let’s take a quick look:

1) CONNECT.

This is where it starts. On Twitter.On facebook. On LinkedIn.On Youtube. On Orkut. On every other niche site there is that matters.

CONNECT.

Here’s a little tip:

Connect to those who are looking FOR YOU.

They will find you if you are visible, and accessible to connect to.

2) CONVERSATION.

Then the conversation starts. Talk about THEM and where they want to go. talk about what they want to talk about. Study their profile, pictures and videos. You can learn a LOT just by paying attention.

Then make sure that you STAY IN TOUCH and LISTEN when they are communicating. If you do, they will want to stay connected to you.

3) VALUE.

This is where you bring in the Magnet to Pull them towards your message. Show them Value in their life. Show them how your message can help expand, Increase, Enlarge and Improve their life. Do it through Tips and how to’s in videos and blog posts and podcasts. And yes, tweets and twips. Show them how you can make their life easier, or show them how to do something they want to learn. Show them how to BE or DO something. if you can increase their dreams, you can get them as a customer.

The More Value people perceive you have the more likely they will walk through the “Doorway”.

4) DOORWAY.

This is the Doorway to Conversion. You MUST convert prospects into customers if you are going to have any kind of business. That is simple to do.

Give them an offer they cannot say “No” to. That is the secret. GIVE first and then make it so compelling they cannot say “No.”  We do it all the time. we just ran a social media special on our training products and it blew the roof off our shipping department. It has been a FLOOD of new customers and new orders.

All we did was give them an offer that they could not say NO to.

The SECRET is the first word:

GIVE.

Give away something they MUST HAVE. They will get it.

5) CUSTOMER.

Here is where they purchase your message, products, or webinar or event. This is the BEGINNING- not the end.

Here you must start building the relationship even more.

GIVE MORE than they expected. Throw something in for free they were not expecting. Give them a free download or ebook. Let them see a Private video collection.

ENCOURAGE MORE. Make sure that you send a note of encouragement and stay in touch with them.

THANKS MORE. Make sure they know you are thankful for their business and connection. We send out free downloads all the time to say thanks. And some people paid $$$ for in the past. Thank them in everything you do and they will come back for more.

Get your Customers ADDICTED to your  Value, Message and Emotions. They will become more than a customer. They will become a loud speaker for you and tell everyone you know you ate the BEST at what you do

And that is what you want to happen in your home business or traditional business in social media marketing.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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I’ve been using Twitter since January of 2008 and have really come to love the community of people I’ve met and connected with. It has also been a tremendous place to do business, see and be seen by the world. It’s been amazing to watch over this time that nearly 15,000 people read what I tweet. It’s been an organic growth of followers. I’m truly blessed to have one person reading my tweets…let alone thousands of people.

Lately, I’ve been contemplating the number of people that I follow. Since I often tried to follow everyone back that followed me, I noticed over the last 6 months, my DM inbox was more and more filled with SPAM and my tweet stream was so clogged, that I couldn’t keep up and more importantly, I’d lose/miss tweets in the mass of thousands and thousands of tweets from people’s tweets that I’d want to see. An increasing number of tweets would be purely marketing only type tweets. I was missing the tweets that were VALUABLE to me!

What to do…what to do?

Then two weeks ago, I by chance caught in my tweetstream that Chris Pirillo wrote he just used UnFollowAll to clean up his Twitter account. It was free and would delete EVERYONE that you followed on Twitter. I FOUND what I’d been looking for…a fresh start without having to take the time to weed out the spammers, the marketers, etc.

Later that evening my follow account was wiped clean. It was back to zero. And to be honest, a bit freeing from the tweet noise.

Then I slowly started adding back my associates, friends, peers from the Seattle Social Media Club, people related to my niche and generally anyone I know, enjoy reading tweets from as well in the last 2 years.

It wasn’t long thereafter that I got called a “Twitter snob” by more than one person for not following everyone who followed me. Well ya know what? I don’t care what people think is the right way for me to use my Twitter account. But then again, these are the same people who swooned over a certain flash-in-the-pan social media guru who made some quick money making webinars & JV’ing with other “industry names” about the right way to use social media…who has since deleted his account. They’re also the same people who use software to artificially add followers.

I’ve been using Twitter to share what I’m passionate about like fitness and workouts like P90X from Beachbody and most everything in social media. I also share a lot of what I read and definitely share what I believe would be useful information for people who follow me. Twitter is an extension of my life but my life does not revolve around Twitter. Like this month I’ve hardly been tweeting due to a house remodel and soon to be moving experience. Twitter is one piece of the social media puzzle I use to build my business from home. But that’s just me…we all use Twitter for different reasons.

As I was writing this post this morning, I get an email from none other than Joel Comm who had just wrote on his blog that he just purged his Twitter account too. Joel was one of my early “friends” on Twitter. He provided value and often was funny in his tweets. A good guy you should be following: @JoelComm. As I was reading it, one of the things he wrote was:

Just as Twitter is a dynamic site that evolves and changes as it grows, how we use Twitter must also remain fluid.

Let me be clear about one thing.

Twitter is here for the long haul, and it is more important than ever for businesses to be using the service. It’s even more important for them to use it in a way that builds relationships and enhances brands.

I agree with that because without Twitter, there would be no way I would have ever connected with many of the people I have on Twitter because we live in different parts of the country and the world. It has radically shifted the way people communicate and even do business online. It’s dynamic…ever changing…and a powerful tool to develop personal brand and multiply your social networking influence. But there is yet to be a “perfect way” to use Twitter…and until there is, I’ll continue to follow my instincts and do what is natural for me.

And I’m at peace with my decision to delete everyone.

What are your thoughts on why I deleted who I followed on Twitter and why people like Chris Pirillo and Joel Comm did the same thing?

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CONNECTION is the Secret!

The base of Social Media Marketing is about Conversation.

No Doubt. But the platform the base is hosted on I believe is CONNECTION. Conversation does not happen without Connection, and without a reaching out on someones part.

Connection is the START of where it all happens in Social Media.

First comes the Catalyst, then the Connection, then the Conversation. Whether it is tweets on twitter, friends on facebook, and users on youtube – it still starts with Connection in the Social zone.

Are you Connecting on a regular basis? And if you are, how are you doing it?

Connection, according to the dictionary, is “when 2 things come together and meet.”

Cool.

That works as far as social media. Connecting with folks that you have something in common with is all part of the social media marketing process. But if you think about it, there are different types or levels of Connection, and social media really demands a higher level of connection in marketing.

All Marketing is, (no matter if you are a traditional marketer, or a home based marketer, or an online marketer,) is the process of exposing your message or product to a prospect in some way. Yes, tht is a simple definition, but within it, you must CONNECT your message with someone. There must be a CATALYST to make it happen, like an advertisement, phone call, squeeze page, or an article online. But something MUST start the process of marketing.

Here is the process : Catalyst- Attention- Connection- Conversation- Collaboration.

Hence, the 4 levels of Connection in social media.

1) Attention.

This is the weakest form of Connection in socialville. No matter whether it is on LinkedIn, or Facebook, it is the weakest. This form of Connection many people make the mistake of thinking they have Connected here and immediately start bombarding folks with marketing messages. That is a HUGE no no. Attention means that you have Connected their eyes, mind, or curiosity with something, but it is NOT enough to start the marketing process effectively. Yes, you can start here, but rarely does it prove to be effective. This Connection is only where someone NOTICES you message.

2 Connection.

This is where a person in the marketing process, is hooked” by something in your message or offer. It could be a phrase, video, free giveaway, download, image, or color. But SOMETHING has not only gotten their attention, but has Connected their mind to a further look. the psychology of this is to switch in their curiosity, and desire for more information. They have “plugged in” enough to Connect to your message and consider it.

3) Conversation.

This is the third level of Connection, This is where the Conversation has moved beyond curiosity, and now has elevated to communication. They may want to know more about the message or product. They may want to know more about you.  They may want to know more about the benefits and value of the product. But Conversation does take place and can take place many times over the course of time before you move to the 4th level of Connection.

4) Collaboration.

This is where you both agree that you will Collaborate in some way and is some fashion to work together. This may come in the form of a sale or purchase, an appointment, a referral, a new person in your business, a new customer, or even a partnership or Joint venture. Collaboration is something rhat has many possibilities.

The ultimate goal is marketing is to make something happen that creates a win/win situation for both the marketer and customer.  And these 4 levels of Connection can create a LOT of profit if you are consistent and relentless.  Many marketers never get past the Attention stage as they are more interested in RESULTS then a Relationship. They have it backwards. Relationship is a much better catalyzer of Results. Since you have taken the time to Connect on a higher level, they have learned to TRUST you, and trust more of what you suggest or say.

Do nto make that mistake in social media marketing. Take it to the highest level every time, and see your results increase dramatically in your social media marketing zone.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Image via Wikipedia

Social networking on Facebook for business is a really hot topic.

There seems to be a near limitless myriad of ways on Facebook to build brand exposure and sales for home business and small business entrepreneurs. From creating games & applications, to developing groups and fan pages. That doesn’t even cover being able to advertise on Facebook too based on targeted demographics.

So many people struggle with understanding why and HOW being on Facebook can be beneficial to building business whether they’re a brick & mortar business, network marketer, a restaurant or bar, affiliate marketer, eBay’er…and what is possible through this whole “social networking thing on Facebook”.

I went through my old bookmarks and wanted to be able to share with you some cool Facebook stuff I found when I was first looking for Facebook how-to’s, articles and blog posts that I benefitted from checking out when I first started using Facebook for business.

Inside Facebook – a great blog that is all about Facebook.

Facebook’s Ads Page where all the reasons are given by Facebook as to why advertising your business on Facebook will benefit your small business branding.

Five Ways Small Business Can Benefit from Social Media/Networking Sites

Networking: Use Facebook as a Marketing Tool This is a fantastic article on Lifehacker on utilizing self-promotion to take social networking to a professional networking level.

How to Create a Successful Facebook Group

Top Five Viral Facebook Techniques Some great tips on using giveaways, referrals and a couple of other apps. Allfacebook.com is a great site BTW.

Entrepreneurs Need Both Facebook and LinkedIn

How to Use Facebook Status for Marketing Purposes Eye opening piece for people to understand the value of status updates on Facebook.

Social Networks Find Ways to Monetize User Data

Top Ten Ways to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business for Free

Facebook, a Marketer’s Friend A great piece in the Wall Street Journal that follows a small business owner and using Facebook for business.

Related articles by Zemanta

• To friend, or not to friend: That is the workplace question (seattlepi.com)
• There Is Revenue in Social Media (myventurepad.com)
• WTF Is This Article Doing On Facebook? (techcrunch.com)
• Facebook sued over social networking patent (macworld.com)
• You are a trust agent (myventurepad.com)

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I know.

Comparing THE 10 Commandments to Social Media could be considered a bit of a stretch as I am a HUGE fan of THE 10 Commandments from the Good Book.

But WHAT IF- you could take a look at Social Media marketing and say,“Ok, if there WERE 10 Commandments, what would they be?” And let’s get creative here, and see what we can come up with that would make sense to the masses. Now again, this is PURELY an exercise of social media creativity along with some heavy duty research, but lets see what we can come up with.

Our team has been researching the past 5 months over 250 popular social sites, which also included news and personal blog sites, such as mashable.com, chrisbrogan.com, socialmediatoday.com, jasonfalls.com, scoblelizer.com, marketingprofs.com, hubspot.com, problogger.net, copyblogger.com, whyfacebook.com, conversationagent.com, techcrunch.com, joelcomm.com, jackhumphries.com, doshdosh.com , socialmedian.com, Briansolis.com, socialmediaclub.com, and many other sites that are too numerous to list here. We wanted to see what each were saying about Social Media. We have looked at the posts they have that were applicable, (most of them I have read before) and compared each post with commonalities of all of the rest of the posts on all the other sites.

We found some interesting things.

There were HUGE commonalities in a lot of the posts. We kept spreadsheets to see the common threads as far as word count, phrase usage, idea focus, tactic suggestions, applications mentioned, news items, story lines,  new software, Social focus, among many other factors. We even looked at the keywords used on all the sites and what posts were showing up on the search engines, and what posts were most linked to. (We had help of course from a lot of folks for this project.)

Then we listened to what seemed like endless podcasts, and took notes on the talking points, as well as watched endless videos explaining social media, and put that data in the spreadsheets as well.

Then we looked at what was contained on the social sites themselves, like  twitter.com, facebook, blogger.com, wordpress.com, myspace.com, LinkedIN.com, Activerain.com, stumbleupon.com, as well as many other social sites. We compared the trainings on social media with what we found on a lot of these other blogs, podcasts, and videos. Then we looked at the Search Engines (Google, yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com) It was really eye opening as there were some things that I saw that I was not aware of that people were writing about.

Then we put it all together and looked at the summary of the research, and saw a pattern that was quite evident in the data. We saw that there were what we call the 10 “Commandments,” “Focuses,” or “Concepts” that absolutely ran across the whole social media spectrum in some format or way-constant-and continuous by just about everyone that we researched. This gave us a starting platform that we felt was accurate-and scalable- to write from, with these  ”Commandments.”

What are Commandments? They are not “suggestions.” These are MUST DOs in order to obtain a result or a position in the social media zone that you desire. In Social Media, most people want to create certain results in their efforts that can either be profitable, brand-able, or just enjoyable. These 10 things that we found in our research will help guide you and direct you to a stronger and more powerful social media experience or even more powerful results in your marketing.

NOTE: Social Media is NOT limited to the following 10 Concepts. But these are the 10 things that after researching, showed up stronger and more often in our data than any other concepts, ideas, or “Commandments” we found. These are what were talked about the most, focused on the most, and agreed on the most as critical for social media success for the average person.

Here they are:

1) Thou Shalt know that Social Media is not just about CONNECTION – but the Connection Network.

In Social Media, it is said to be all about CONNECTION- but in Social Media Marketing, it is more about what is CONNECTED to that Connection.

It is called the Social Network. And that Network has proven to be Golden with many respects. This Social Network can open up doors and introductions for marketers, bloggers, and social participants to a vast group of people that were never available to them before. But of course, the quality of the Network is a factor as well.

It IS about CONNECTION- but more also about the Social Network the person you are connecting to has behind them. Consider every Social Connection a potential doorway. It’s what lies behind the door that makes Social Media work. The True Value for Marketing is what lies behind that door.

That is what drives the enormous numbers behind Social Media- the Second Layer of Connection that exists with people.

2) Thou shalt know that Conversation is the platform that all social media rests upon.

Whether it is called “Cafe Conversations,” or “Capsule Conversations,” Conversations are critical in Social Media. And that includes Talking AND Listening. You talk to folks in many ways, including blogging, tweets, writing on walls, personal videos, direct messages, joining in a conversation on a micro blog like tumblr, as well as social email and “audio utterz.”

But you LISTEN as well. You do this with tools that are available with many Social sites. You can listen to twitter with “twitter search.” You can search what people are talking about with many applications, including Twhirl and Tweetdeck. You can also use social search engines as well to Listen to what is being said. And you can also hire great companies that do that for you, like Radian6. But Conversation is about BOTH Talking and Listening. You MUST know what is being said out in the social sphere.

And here is a tip: Make the person GLAD THEY TALKED WITH YOU. Make them the star of your conversation- not your ego. There are way too many one sided conversations out in Social Media. Keep the conversation focused on who you are ‘talking” to and encourage them, as well as guide them to larger possibilities.

Change the Size of their Conversations and you will change their life.

3) Thou Shalt know that VALUE is the Magnet in Social media, and reigns supremely.

Value is King in Social Media. But not just average Value or expected Value. I am talking about Unexpected Surprising Value. Value that is so much that people talk about it and virally market it like crazy. This is how a new “buzz” starts. By creating a Huge Value with a blog post, free giveaways, new ideas, new software applications, discovery of little known information , news stories, and “how to’s” and the list is almost endless of the Value you can bring.

The amount of Value you bring to Social Media will always equal the amount of Impact you have with people. And that Impact either moves people TOWARDS you, or keeps them where they are. Either they become your friend and “follow you,” or they do not see any reason to. That is up to the Value they perceive in what you send out as your message and intentions.

4) Thou Shalt Know the Three R’s of Social Media.

Social Media is pretty simple. It is mainly about 3 things:

Reaching Out. This is critical to Reach Out  to people and let them know you want to Connect and befriend them.

Relationships. Once you have Reached Out, you start building a Relationship of Trust and Value.

Respect. Respect in Social Media is earned, not just given. And you earn that Respect with consistent and powerful content with Value, great conversations that move folks, Integrity and ethics above all, encouraging others, offering solutions, and helping people to larger and more powerful possibilities in their life and business.

5) Thou Shalt BRAND Your Message, Product, and Yourself Consistently, Visibly, and Uniquely.

Everyone talks Branding as that is a must to do in Social Media. But here is where it can get tricky. You brand multiple things all at once. YOU are the brand- sort of. The first thing you need to brand is your Image and who you are, and you do this with a picture or avatar of yourself that shows who you are on your profile. This can also include a corporate logo for a company as well. Chris Brogan has branded a picture of who he is on his blog. The second thing you need to brand is your Message. This is what you want to become known for, and people think about when they think of you. Scott Monty has branded Ford Motors as part of his brand effectively and powerfully. The third thing you want to brand is your product and what Value it has that makes it UNIQUE and One of a kind. The product can be information that you market, actual products that are shipped out, services like consulting or accounting, or any other type of product that you have to market that people will see a need for.

All a Brand is, is Image + Message + Impact + Consistent Visibility = Perception.

Your Image is what people SEE in their minds, Message is what people HEAR in their memory, Impact is what people FEEL in their hearts, and Visibility is what reminds people that you are there. Perception then becomes your Brand.

And here is what we have taught for nearly 20 years: Branding is not about just being remembered, or becoming known. It is about becoming totally UNFORGETTABLE. THAT is a powerful brand.

6) Thou shalt Expand your Experience Through Social Site Applications.

Applications are developed softare and are what Social Sites have available that make your experience more fun, useful, and productive. The most applications are generally found on the most active sites and usually are free. Twtter has over 150 applications, facebook has hundreds of applications, as well as many other Social sites out there. Many applications are very useful and written by outside people for the Social sites.

Learn what applications are available on each site that you are a part of, and choose the ones that you believe will work for you the best and increase your exposure, conversations, and productivity.

7) Thou Shalt GIVE freely, and be willing to Lose Control of your Information.

Giving is what Social Media is all about. Many folks are talking about ‘Influence” and what it takes to create it in Social Media. That one is simple: GIVE.

GIVE stands for “Gain Influence Very Easily.” And when you give, and then give some more, the power of Influence that develops is amazing.

And losing control of your information is part of it as well. Most folks want to CONTROL their information, their marketing strategies, as well as their results. That is part of traditional marketing. But what if you could blend traditional with the non-traditional? Let some of your information go. Give it away freely and let it be virally marketed by others. Give a free ebook away. Give a free mp3 away. Give a free product away. Give a free download away. Give some of your best content away free. Control the rest. See what happens with both sides of the equation- controlled and Social Media. You will like what you find in the Social Media side.

The New Marketing Stars of tomorrow in Social Media will not come from those who are great marketers, but from those who have a LOT of people marketing FOR THEM- without asking them to. Would that be called Marketing Nirvana? That would be close to it. Be willing to Lose Control, and Gain a Massive Advantage.

#8 Thou Shalt Build Relationships that are based on a Platform of TRUST.

Relationships are the building blocks of Social Media. Trust is the Concrete. You must build powerful relationships with people to market to them. But a wall that is built with bricks and no concrete will fall with the first strong wind.

Build TRUST and do it everyday. Be honest. Be a person of integrity. Be a person that people can feel good about and know you are there to help enlarge their life. Be a Leader that people are willing to follow. And build Trust in your message, actions, conversations, branding, videos, blog posts, and any other form of exposure that you take in Social Media.

The Rule of TRUST: Relationships are the tiles for the platform of Social Media. Trust is the glue.

9) Thou Shalt become Tribal, and enroll in groups, attend events, and empower the Community.

There is a reason it is called SOCIAL Media. being part of what is called a “tribe” or community is what Social Media is about. This is one of the CORE powers of web 2.0

Connecting, Relating, Reaching, and Conversations are ALL a part of building a Community in Social Media, as well as “Niche sites’ that can be that much more tribal. What you have in common with people helps build the Community.

What you bring to the table to grow that community is GOLD.

10) Thou Shalt Have a Host Mentality with a Permission Focus.

In Social Media, it is much like a party you hold in your living room. I did a post on that a while back called “Social Media is your Living Room.” If you were in your living room, you would be playing HOST and inviting people in, talking with them, being social, making recommendations and giving advice, showing photographs off or watching videos, and introducing the crowd to each other. That is much what Social Media is about- HOSTING.

With a small twist. You need to ASK PERMISSION to give them advice and make recommendations, as well as introduce them to the others in your living room. That is not hard to do. And if you have permission to do this, it is much easier to get them Comfortable with you, Connected with you, holding a Conversation with you, if it feels like your Living Room.

Play the Host, and ask Permission. That is being Powerful and Polite at the same time.

These are the 10 Commandments for Social Media Marketing. Yes, there are more than these, but these are what came up with the hard data we had, and formed the basis of this post, to help you improve and understand more Social Media and Social Media Marketing.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Over the last 4 years, I have been quietly observing a lot of different folks in social media, from Chris Brogan, to Robert Scoble, Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Mari Smith, Shama Hyder,
and the list is almost endless. How they operate. what they say and do.
And of course there are hundreds more that could be listed.

But I have learned an immense amount of good stuff from each. It is like going back to University.

I have found though that psychology plays a HUGE part in the social
media marketing world. It plays a bigger part them most people realize
due to the newness of social media and the power behind it’s
capabilities.

There are what I call “Tier One” social media rock stars, (The term used by everyone today)  and the “Tier two” participants. These 2 “social media zones” are interesting to observe from a marketing process, and also from a human standpoint.

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Over the last 3.5 years, I also have been studying the Psychology of
Social media and why people are into it, what their goals and reasons
are, what they are looking for, and many other focuses just for myself,
as being a marketer.

I found some interesting things during this.

Today, I want to quickly go over what I call the “7 Psychological A’s of Social Media”
and the different needs that are a part of this growing social venue.
It is what I have observed, and consistently found as part of this
awesome new online world.

Ok …what are they? What are people LOOKING for in Social Media from a psychology standpoint?

1) To be Acknowledged.

I have observed that the first thing most people want and need are
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. They want to be acknowledged that they are now on the
social media scene, and simply, ‘Hey I am here!” There hand is raised
and they simply want to be noticed and felt welcome. No one does this
better than Chris Brogan,
who really is a prince and powerhouse in the social media zone. He
acknowledges EVERYONE- as busy as he is. That is why folks really love
this guy. He is REAL In social media marketing, and being REAL is one
of the 7 anchors of social media-some call it AUTHENTIC.

Simply letting people know that they are welcome and acknowledged
makes a HUGE difference to people that are new in social media. Take
the time to acknowledge…it will bless the other person immensely.

2) To Gain Attention.

People once acknowledged, desire some form of attention-as simple as responding to a follow on twitter , or a post on a blog, or friends on Facebook.
Simple. To the point. But when attention is given to someone beyond
“hello”, it really does make a lot of potential conversation down the
road. And if you are a marketer, conversation is critical in the social
media zone.

Conversation rules. So does acknowledging folks new to the party.

3) To Be Approved Of.

People LOVE to be approved of-especially when they have put
themselves out in a world they know nothing about, and trying to
contribute to the conversation. A simple “Thank you for the message” or
a “great share!” will go a long ways to drawing that person into your
sphere of influence and world.

Most people have not so good self images, and we can help them in social media
by approving, encouraging, and letting them know that we not only
approve of them, but “thumbs up” to their efforts in the contribution
to the conversation. Darren Rowse is
really good at this on his blog. He will simply mention some one’s
efforts on his blog, and that shows the person that they are on the
right track, and keep up the good work. Again, this is critical to
marketing online today if you are going to be a social media marketer.

Approve of what your prospects are doing and saying. Build the relationship.

4) To Be Appreciated.

People in social media love appreciation. Who in this world does
not? We all do! There are those rare individuals though that give an
immense appreciation to the party. Take Zna Trainer.She
has got to be one of the most appreciation showing people I know out in
the social world. She takes the time to let people know that they are
appreciated for their work, and for their tweets, and for their
facebook notes, and again the list is long what she does.

The same thing with Carrie Wilkerson.She
is a breath of fresh air when it comes to letting people know she
appreciates people’s efforts. She is a rare person, like Zna, and both
bring an immense value to social media, not only in their
ideas, writings and posts and tweets, but just who they are.

Appreciation also must go to prospects as well. Let them know you
appreciate their social media efforts and also them as a person. This
is what being REAL is about.

5) To Be Acclaimed.

People love to see their name in lights- and there are 2 different ways that can happen.

a) Being answered or featured in a conversation.
b) Being retweeted, featured, or talked about in a conversation.

Acclamation is important to people that are getting their brand out
in social media. Being acclaimed-even slightly says, “GREAT JOB!” and
“KEEP IT UP!” Who does not love that type of acclaim? And again, there
is no one better who acclaims others than Mari Smith.She
really puts people in the spotlight-even unknowns, for a job well done.
She is so good at it, as well as being the facebook maven!

That is why she has been blessed with success, along with so many
others. Psychologically, people love acclaim, and when that happens,
they have a tendency to also acclaim the acclaimer! (Is that a word?)
Find good stuff and share it. Good posts on blogs. Good notes on
Facebook. Good tweets on twitter. Good writings in journals. Good articles found in directories. Good attempts at sharing. All these are critical in the big plan of social media.

6) To Feel Assured.

People today in social media want to be Assured that they are doing
the right thing, being the right person, and taking the right actions.
As simple as this seems, people need it. In this social media zone,
assuring people that they belong, they are needed, and they are
growing, is another critical factor. It may or may not mean much to the
person that doing the assuring, but in marketing, it is one of the most
critical factors in the process. Assuring people that you are going to
be there for them if they do business with you, that customer service
is there for them and you will be there for whatever reason-if they
have a challenge.

Now THAT is reassuring the prospect of a good decision and good move. Brian Clark,
“copyblogger” fame is GREAT at reassuring his readers. He does it
often, and does it well. “You can do this,” is a simple but yet
profound message in all his posts. THAT is also a reflection of the
character that he and so many others share in the social media zone.

People also want to know that they are relevant and needed. Assure
people that what they are doing, writing, saying, or sharing is helping
you. Go out on a limb and say it. “Great job and thank you for sharing
this blog post- it really helped me.”

Goes a long way.

7) To Be A Part Of.

People in the social media zone want to feel a PART OF something
that is happening and bigger than they are. Marketing to these folks on
social media is simple.

Include them.
Invite them.
Impose upon them.
Engage them.

They not only will be feeling a part of something, but also wanting
to contribute to the whole that will help everyone. Yes, I know there
are exceptions, as there are everywhere else. There are always those
slimey types that try and break the system.

But you be the person that people want to be around and connected to
because they like how they feel about themselves when they are
connected to you and your company. When they read your stuff. When they
are on one of your  sites. When they see you constantly bringing Value
to the conversation.

Make people feel a part of what YOU are doing, and they will spread
the word-and quickly. isn’t that what marketing is all about? Not just
people talking about you-but people talking FOR YOU?

These are the 7 A’s in the Psychology Social Media Marketing Zone. Hopefully this helps explains some things that impact your efforts in your social media marketing.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Doug Firebaugh has just released a new eBook on the revolution of doing business at home through social networking also known as social media marketing. This eBook is the precursor to the long awaited social networking project Doug and I will be leading that changes the game on using attraction marketing or PPC search engine marketing as the main thrust of building an online home business! In the meantime, read on…

Social Media Marketing-Brand New FREE eBook from Doug Firebaugh-”The New Rules of Home Business”

Business is business-whether traditional or non-traditional. Here is a Free eBook explaining the Transformation occurring because of Social Media.

We all are looking for SUCCESS in many ways and in many forms.

Whether you have a traditional business, profession, or a non-traditional like a home business- it does not matter. Social Media is profoundly impacting the work process and dynamics in the marketplace.

I wanted to give you a gift that will help explain how Social Media and web 2.0 are changing the dynamics of business-in and out of the home-and how to take advantage of that.

This eBook is Free and I hope and pray that it is a blessing to you in all that you do. It does not matter if you have a home business or not- this eBook will open your eyes to the social media transformation that is occurring today in a very unique way.

Here is the download link:

The New Rules of Home Business

Let me know what you think!

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

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