But for online network marketing? NOT! As a matter of fact, it’s almost embarrassing to see the plethora of absolutely crappy blog posts and articles posted every day that have almost no value whatsoever. And I’m probably just adding to it by creating this whiny post. But come on! It’s a great industry, with all types of potential good posts, on everything from:

-Marketing tips
-Product advances
-Success stories
-Personal Development goodies

But instead, it seems most “network marketing” related posts are purely self serving “Click here now to make $150,000 in the next two weeks!” types of posts. Sooooo, if you know of some great, relevant, cool blogs on the subject, please provide a link in the comments. Cause Google alerts just aint working for this niche!

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The problem is, it’s easy to get your account suspended! Youtube does allow automation, and aggressive “friending,” but here’s the current limits (Thanks to TubeToolbox for providing this data check out their service, it’s really cool):

Friend Requests: Up to 660 Per Day (28 Per Hour)

Messages Sent: 360 per day (15 Per Hour)

Share Video: 576 Per Day (24 Per Hour)

Post Comment On Videos: 360 Per Day (15 Per Hour)

Subscribe To Channels: 575 Per Day (24 Per Hour)

Basically, Youtube is protecting itself from bots making too many calls to their server, and trying to weed out spammers. These limits are what they think an actual human being could reasonably accomplish in a day. So bots ARE allowed, but they have to act at about the same speed of a human, kapiche?

So if you are going to use a bot or service like TubeToolbox, make sure you adjust your settings correctly. If you are too aggressive, you can jeopardize your channel!

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According to the study by Experian Simmons Datastream:

Visitors to Twitter.com dropped 14% in 2010, yet…

Time spent Tweeting grew 18.9% in the same period. The study also found that frequency of visits increased, but duration of visits decreased.

So what do we surmise from this data? Well, the simple answer is that Twitter is still viable, and should be an important part of a social marketing strategy. Because even though less people are logging in, users are more dedicated than ever before.

But reading between the lines, we also learn that Twitter must REALLY be popular right now, as the study was based on actual visitors to the site, and didn’t include the actual usage of Twitter through third party apps like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. And let’s face it, Twitter.com itself is a lousy way to use Twitter. The vast majority of people are using third party apps to take advantage of Twitter’s functionality.

So now is a good time to re-visit your Twitter strategy, and make sure you leveraging Twitter in your marketing efforts.

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And when I was doing it (last time I did a personal social bookmark was probably 6 months ago) I had as many as 500 visitors per month to each site! Free! Crazy.

If you have never done social bookmarking before, I have a suggestion for you. Just open one account for now, at delicious.com, and install the tool on your browser. That’s it. Start using it. You can also grab a free account at the Blackbox link referenced above, and there’s a free submitter tool in there. Use that too, it helps a lot. But use Delicious, learn it, and go from there.

It’s an easy, free way to get traffic and links to your site, plus it’s pretty fun and you pick up some great ideas from other people. But then once it starts working for you, make it part of your weekly MO, so you don’t forget about it like I did! Keep going with it and you’ll get great results.

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Among the gibberish and poorly written “articles” (all giving good advice like, “provide of highest quality content to your peoples,” I found this interesting little blurb more than once: “don’t acquire me detestable…”

Sooooo, after searching to see if there was any good, current content out there, I gave up and instead am sharing my experience for those of you who are also interested in “online network marketing.” There’s good news and bad news:

1. Bad news first: there’s a LOT of junk out there on this subject!

2. Good news: it’s easy to compete! You don’t have to be a guru to succeed in this market. Just follow the advice of so many of the crappy blog posts out there: “provide of highest quality content to your peoples…”

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Pete Brand, Co-founder, Mindscape at Hanon McKendry

1. Companies that have been trying to ignore the need for social media are going to be in the minority by the end of 2011.
2. Reputation management is going to be more important than ever.
3. Websites and the social element are going to merge even further.

Jimmy Le, CEO and Founder, Social Media Dragon

1. Location-based apps — “Foursquare really dominated the scene” last year, but Le expects location-based services will continue to grow, especially Facebook Places.
2. QR codes — Le expects these codes, read by smartphone apps, will pop up more in 2011, including on business cards and promotional posters. “These codes are actually a tangible connection between the physical and digital worlds.”
3. Group buying — “Businesses are finding that they can successfully attract new and repeat customers with a deeply discounted group coupon. I think companies will start providing their own coupons.”

Sarah Lee, Director of communications, Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce

1. We will continue to see more businesses leveraging social media beyond just securing an online account, but actually engaging with their customers to gauge their feedback on products/services.
2. We will continue to see more smartphon usage, especially with integration of social media in businesses.
3. We should see more collaborations amongst different social media groups in Michigan.

Michael Yoder, Founder, LinkedUp Grand Rapids

1. More and more businesses are understanding social media is something that they need to seriously consider making a part of their company. I think that will continue in 2011 even more so.
2. Now that we’re taking social media more seriously, companies will be taking a look at what is “influence” and how do we do things that will actually get people to take action.
3. We’ll continue to see more and more social media monitoring platforms enter the marketplace.

Some great tips, and again, pointing out the need for all business small and large to adopt social media marketing, and soon!

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And this is not just true of names, but of almost any term you search anymore. For example, have you noticed how Google almost always places a Youtube video in position 5 for most search terms, hmmmm?! It’s true.

The fact is, good SEO people need to use Social Media Marketing to really get a good bang for the buck, and the reverse is true too. If you are only trying to do social marketing, you leave a lot on the table when people Google your product and you don’t show up in traditional places!

ClickZ has a great piece on it here. And if you want to save yourself a lot of hassle and time opening all those accounts, setting up ping.fm, and doing all that nasty link building etc., let us do the heavy lifting for you over at the Social Marketing Blackbox!

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9 Video Marketing Take-Aways From The Video:

1. Tell a great story

2. Must have a point.

3. Provide telling, vivid detail

4. Give them something worthy of repeating to others. Make it memorable.

5. The beginning is important! Start off strong

6. Has to be told in short, breathable segments

7. Avoid dependent clauses “actor, activist, humanitarian Brad Pitt.” Just “Brad Pitt”

8. Be conversational. Talk to them like you are talking across a table

9. Have fun!

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It has all the bells and whistles, including screen sharing, uploading PPT’s, and a variety of communication settings that allow you to show everybody who else is on, whether they can chat with each other or not, share files etc.

So, it does everything I need, but- and here’s the kicker- the price is $8.97 a month! Sweet! So, if you are looking for a way to share messages globally, instantly, and affordably, check it out, for the money I don’t think anything else even comes close.

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But did you know that 20% of people now check their e-mail on their mobile device? So all that fancy schmancy html had better be mobile-friendly, or you’re wasting your time. According to InternetRetailer.com:

“One out of every five marketing e-mails a retailer sends is opened on a mobile device, shows a new study of millions of e-mail messages from direct digital marketing firm Knotice. Users of the iPhone represented the most avid mobile e-mail readers. And mobile readers typically view their messages early in the morning or late at night, the study finds.

Knotice examined a sampling of 155.3 million e-mails sent across 12 industry segments in Q4 2010. It breaks out e-mail activity by industry and by mobile device. Of the 12 industries measured, retail had the highest percentage of mobile e-mail readers.

Numerous devices, featuring six mobile operating systems, contributed to the 20.08% of retail e-mail opened on the go. 11.99% of e-mail was opened on an iPhone. Then there’s a significant drop. 3.73% was opened on an iPad, 3.73% on a device using the Android operating system, 0.28% on a device using the Windows Mobile or Windows Phone 7 operating systems, 0.27% on a Palm, and 0.08% on a BlackBerry.”

So keep e-mailing, but remember, they’re checking it in their jammies in the morning or at night, make sure your e-mail is formatted correctly, short and to the point, and simple to read on a small screen!

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