Unique Original Articles » The key to social networking sites is being social!

Twitter has been used by many small businesses on the internet today particularly because it is a great way to connect with other business owners in your niche and it also allows conversation with customers. A lot of us have probably heard “follow me” – in Twitter language that means they are they are a member of your community. Other social network use the term “fan” or “friend” to describe your followers. So, in order to work effectively with people, you need to make them follow you.

There are two sure fire ways of NOT getting any followers – using the default avatar and the default Twitter profile page. When Twitter users see this, they think that the owner is a bot (short for robot, not a real person), you aren’t participating in the community seriously and you are probably a new member who didn’t make the time to customize your page.

This is also the same with other social networks – customizing your page so that it is entirely your own is important. Adding an avatar is necessary. Think of it this way – your avatar is your company. You would want your company to have a professional looking web design, right? It’s the same way with social media. You need to make the time to customize your page – this gives your followers the idea that you are serious about the community and that you are genuinely interested with what they have to say. A lot of people are visual and in order for them to remember your business, the avatar will play an important part.

Not convinced? Well, how about you take a stroll along Twitter and look for major companies which are using the network. What do they have in common? How about we take it a step further and go to other social networks such as Digg, Facebook and even StumbleUpon. I’m pretty sure that by now, you realize that I was correct – you become successful with social networking, only if you are truly a part of the community. By interacting with other members, you can have members interact with you. By visiting other sites and making comments, you will have people visiting your site and making comments. That’s what web 2.0 is about.

I’m sure, you’ve heard internet marketing professionals saying that social networks don’t work – maybe for major sites, but for new sites, this is the best place to start learning about the whole new world of the cyber space. Aside from this, most internet marketers have no time to interact with the community – hence, social networking sites are only used as bookmarking sites – users get turned off by that.

That’s also the reason why sites like Digg, Newsvine and Slashdot ban self promotion – readers will decide the value of your site when you interact with them and you show them that what you have to offer is for real. You show them how good you are in your field by taking part in discussions and other social communities. Don’t expect to get traffic just because you’ve already promoted your site – that’s the important lesson that social networks are trying to teach us.
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