Become a Social Butterfly and Fly to New Heights in Business
The talk is everywhere. People are asking others to FaceBook them, and MySpace them. You hear it on reality television shows, at the mall, even at church, it seems everyone is connecting with others through social media. As a business professional it only makes sense to use this to your advantage. One way to do that is through link building. But there are clear cut rules to how one should go about taking a site that is for socializing and keeping up with old and new friends, and turning that into an opportunity for business.
The first rule is not to underestimate the intelligence of the one reading your article, blog, signature post, etc. It is highly recommended that alliances and friendships are established, and true connections are made before there is any talk of directing business to your site through link building in the form of an anchor link, URL, or any other method. But most people can see through a self serving person even when the only judge of character is their latest public post. People know when they are being duped. General rules of life apply here and when you add something of value without taking or redirecting, it will yield better results in the end and help with a following of people who can trust you.
The second rule is that you need to make sure you know who your audience is at all times. Consider that when you are on some sites it is geared strictly towards professionals, another is geared towards young savvy highly tech oriented twenty-somethings, and another is all ages truly socializing after a long day of work. If you aren't a warm and fuzzy type then save your link building for the professional, strictly business websites, not the site that pushes you for more pictures of your dog and the last vacation you took with the family.
Finally, remember and apply the universal laws that are relevant and true offline because they are also true online. Treat others as you would have them treat you, which means don't spam people. Don't put useless content for the sake of sneaking in some link building techniques and hope nobody realizes that's what you are doing. Don not enter without being asked to enter. If you use deceptive techniques to get someone to become directed to your site, more than likely you have lost them for life. With these rules in place, effective link building through social media is very possible.
