What I’m talking about here is those Web 2.0. sites (or social media sites, as some like to call them.) The way to make them work for your business ALL THE TIME is by asking yourself only 2 questions.

1. When you see a Web 2.0 website, ask yourself: How can I use this in my business?

Instead of writing fluff here, I’m going to write you an example. Once I saw someone mention a website called Odigo. This site is about converting your blog into a podcast! That means you can convert each of your blog posts into a podcast using a natural voice. Well, if you were a typical blogger you should say: this is cool, let’s try it. If you’re a true ass-kicking internet marketer you should ask yourself: How can I use Odigo in my business? Of course, for more exposure (after producting the podcasts you can submit them to directories) and all that. But this is too obvious.

Let’s try another website. For this purpose I’ll go to the web 2.0. directory and randomly choose one. OK, let’s choose tinychat If you came to this website from the perspective of an ordinary surfer you may say: “Well, nice stuff, I maybe need this sometimes.” But if you came and asked yourself the question as a business owner then suddenly you’ll see lots of opportunities. If you have a userbase, probably most of them don’t use mIRC. Getting in touch through Skype is good idea but takes a time. But how about using this quick chat service for a text conference! You might also want to introduce the scarcity factor and limit the number of members who can join.

But this is not enough. There’s one more crucial step you need to take below.

2. Implement your idea as you go

If you ever heard of Eben Pagan (the authority behind the dating industry on the internet, also known as David DeAngelo) and read some of his material you’ll know that he teaches what is known as ’speed of implementation.’ There was research done with salespeople in which the scientists tried to determine what are the commonalities the most successful ones had. They found that almost all successful salespeople implement an idea as soon as it comes to their mind instead of consulting with their family, friends and so on. After all, how would you know if an idea works unless you test it?

Well, once you did step 1 (the idea generation step) you need to make this crucial step. Try it right away. Let’s use the previous two examples. Once you found about Odigo, try and convert 10 of your blog posts into podcasts, find some podcast directories and submit your podcasts to them. That’s a good start (you might want to do this multiple times for better tests.) But this “speed of implementation” approach sets you apart from your competition. What if you found that your idea WORKS? You just found another thing you can do for bigger traffic!

Or the second example. What if you found that TinyChat works perfectly in having better relationships and satisfaction with your active newsletter subscribers?

You’ll never know unless you test. Challenge what you know by testing it. The first thing I recommend you test is Google Friend Connect on Blogger.

If you have any other idea of how to improve this process of taking advantage of social media for your business leave it in the comment section below.

Originally posted 2009-03-09 09:13:28. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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