While a lot of questions were posed, one topic that kept popping up and which lead to an interesting discussion from different participants is Twitter.. if it is really worth considering as a marketing channel. One participant quoted a drop off rate of about 60%.

So is Twitter really worth the time and effort? Here are key points that came up and I wish to underscore for you.

• Twitter is not a magic bullet solution for improving an online business, it is just another networking opportunity just like any other, a venue for you to meet new people.. whether those relationships become significant.. turn into business opportunities or personal relationships, is up to you and who it is you meet
• Just like any venue or opportunity to network, results may vary and that would depend largely on the people who are at that venue, or on that channel, and if they would be interested in YOU, who you are and what you have
• It is about YOU, when you get on a social networking site, people see and get to know you and what you do, if you interest them then good, if they don’t fancy you then no harm no foul, move on… again think of Twitter as simply a virtual version of real life meet ups, mixers and such
• Since Twitter is a medium to network and build relationships, then leverage on that opportunity, the chance to establish, build and maintain relationships that CAN lead to business opportunities, establish your authority and earn trust.

A lot of people have this misconception about Twitter and I think it is primarily the fault of Internet Marketers who sell information products and software that are to do with Twitter, a key part of their marketing focuses on huge income generated from Twitter. So that people are then lead to believe that Twitter is the ultimate solution to improving a business on the internet.

So, should you Twitter?

My honest answer would be, it depends on your results.. Like any marketing activity you undertake, you need to have some sort of way to gauge results of your actions, so if you are on Twitter your metrics may be things like traffic sent from Twitter, click through rate on your links, number of people following you, number of mentions of your name or number of ReTweets other people give you.. and maybe ultimately number of sales generated from people as a result of your correspondence or contact with them on Twitter

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Have you ever received any of those messages on Facebook? It can get really annoying. So here are those tips and a few links to good places to read up on Facebook Marketing.

Tip 1 – Do Not Hard Sell

Facebook Marketing is not the process of adding people to your network, then sending them messages about investing or buying something as soon as your friend request gets accepted. Moreover, if they declines, please do not ask them for referrals or names of other people that you can pester. You are annoying people instead of getting them interested in what you are promoting.

Read the line above carefully, and note that the key word there is “interested.”

If people are not interested in what you have, they will not buy. If people do not feel a need for what you have, they will not buy. If people are not interested nor have a need for what you have, neither will they ever want to refer other people to you.

Tip 2 – Content Relevant to Your Audience is Key to Getting Attention

If you are selling a product or service through Facebook, you do not get people’s attention by messaging each and every one of them asking if they want to try your product or service. Instead, create and upload useful and helpful information such as articles, video or links on your profile page that your prospects will find important to them.

The best articles are always informative articles that zero-in on a specific need, problem or situation that they encounter or are in, that needs a solution. By providing valuable content to people on your network, you not only build and sustain a relationship with them but build TRUST.

People buy brands they trust. People buy from people they trust.

Tip 3 – Be Passionate About What You Post

Many times I see Facebook profile pages that look like they were half heartedly done. It gives me the impression that the person who created them did so not because he liked it, but did because his boss told him to do it as a way of getting more leads or potential business for the company. People see through that.

Be genuine, be real. Put your passions on your Facebook profile. I think it goes without saying that, it would be an advantage if you truly love your job and love what you do, because it will show in what you are posting on your profile page. When you write about something you are passionate about you will never run out of things to write, because you will always find something interesting to say… something that other people will also find interesting.

Tip 4 – Treat Your Friends as Friends and Not Leads or Prospects

I have heard many people talk about bumping into their Facebook friends on the street or somewhere but they never say hello. Facebook friends who initiated an a friend request even! What is the point of having someone on your FB friend list if you cannot even say hi or see eye to eye in the real world. People forget that, marketing is about relationships. This often happens when some person trying to sell something simply adds people to his friends list in order to try and pitch a product or service.

Everyone hates a salesman, but everyone likes to have a friend.

Tip 5 – Grow Your Network

For any social marketing effort to work, there is one thing you would need to do consistently… and that is to grow your network continuously. Apart from that, make sure to post useful content that people on your network would enjoy and find useful.. be helpful and make time to interact with people on your network. Again, marketing is about relationships… look at a person as a person and not as a lead.

So here are a few links to pages on Facebook Marketing which I like.

Facebook Marketing by Ron Jones talks about promoting your Facebook profile and fan pages. I especially liked the part about engagement and conversation. After all, social marketing IS about engagement and conversation.

Dosh Dosh Facebook Marketing: Articles and Resources talks about using FaceBook for Brand Exposure, Traffic and Sales and presents a good number of resources as well.

There is one thing I notice about some stores or retailers… they hardly ever do big sales with big price cuts in order to get rid of merchandise.

Let us fast forward to the present day. About a week or two ago, I had a chance to talk to a boutique owner in the Bay Area who wanted to move inventory fast.

Store owners may be able to relate to this, getting stuck with items that simply do not sell, and realize that they just got to get rid of their stocks fast to make room for newer stuff that would be higher in demand and easier to sell; and move the old stuff at cost or maybe even at a small loss, but make that up from the profits you make off the newer items that you sell… that you are able to buy in the first place when you recoup that money by selling off non moving inventory. That was a mouthful wasn’t it?

The question I was asked was would Ebay be a great way to quickly move inventory. My answer, no.. at least not if you want to just quickly dump merchandise that is not selling in your store.

Ebay is a great way to sell stuff, it is a high traffic site with people visiting it with one purpose, find and buy something specific.  But here are some things to consider if you are in the situation I just described.

Fees. Yes Ebay has a few fees that you need to meet, placement fees, Payal fees and added fees that are optional if you wish to upgrade your placements on Ebay and give it better exposure. Plus if you opt to offer free shipping, that means you are paying for shipping out of your pocket. Shipping costs influence Ebay buyers.

System. Sellers have two selling options; sell by auction or by fixed rate/buy now.

When you sell by auction buyers compete amongst each other to get the item, and the problem arises when bidders do not reach the reserve price you set for the item being auctioned. Made worse if there are other sellers on Ebay who are also selling the same item you have in stock and sell at lower prices and might offer better value such as free shipping, longer money back or return policies, etc. Of course if your item is somehow unique and you have less competition on Ebay, this might be to your advantage.

Then there is the buy now option; again if you have competing sellers who have the same merchandise and are selling for less and offering additional value, they will likely get the sale and not you.

Yes Ebay is a good yet competitive platform to sell on.

One more thing about their system, it unfortunately favors sellers who have amassed a certain number of transactions and positive reviews, many of which have achieved PowerSeller status. These Powersellers are able to get more exposure of their items than the new Ebay seller, especially when Ebay’s internal search engine is used.

So what then is a better alternative to Ebay if you simply want to dispose of items quickly and without any additional costs? You have two options. First is through social networking on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Multiply and even YouTube, where you are able to push these items upon people on your network and are subscribed to your updates and get your messages. Second option is Craig’s List.

Both methods do not involve any fees and it is likely that people who are interested in the product might be local to your area and can simply drive over to where you are check out the product, pay in person and take it with them.

Again I am not saying Ebay does not work, it probably won’t work for someone who just wants to get rid of inventory quickly and recoup the money that went into it, so that you could buy newer inventory that sells better, even more critical if you are looking at very small margins or none at all.

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Follow me on Twitter and I will also follow you back… http://twitter.com/roysencio.

If you found this useful and know someone who could benefit from it, you can forward this post to them by using the form below. Or share it with your Twitter friends using the Twitter form.

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Yes it looked like the posts from this account were all about stuff being sold through multiply, fashion accessories and apparel I believe.

Annoyed, maybe because it’s past 5AM and without a wink of sleep yet, I promptly deleted the account from my contact list.

The rise in popularity of social networks has actually made it easy for individuals to connect with other people, joining online communities has made it easy for the non-techie user to create an online presence and network with other potentially like minded individuals. Networking has always been an inalienable human activity, we are a social specie and we like  to communicate, to keep in touch, to be a part of a group.. to belong. For this reason communities over the internet are segmented further into smaller groupings maybe according to interests or affiliations, somewhat like marketing psychographics that classify a target market based on lifestyles, behavior or preference. But I digress.

My point being, social networking has also become an advertising medium where one may deliver advertising messages to those who are on their network.

I think people automatically assume that when one accepts an invitation to a network, this is already taken by the inviter as consent from the invited, to allow advertising messages.

While I do believe that social networking is to a certain degree permission marketing, many people abuse this by wanton broadcast of advertising messages that may be received as spamming.

For those who are not familiar, permission marketing is the opposite to traditional, interruption marketing where ad messages are rammed through a recipients throat, permission marketing  is the delivery of advertising to a recipient who gives consent for advertising delivery. If done right, permission marketing is actually very effective because your prospects are more targeted and already might have an interest in what you may offer them later on.

Moving on, when you accept an invite from someone to join their network, it is in a way, saying yes, I am willing to receive your posts, bulletins and updates. Which is why I think to a certain degree it is permission marketing, because you allowed it by accepting.

But, permission marketing is more importantly, about building an ongoing relationship of increasing depth with customers. In the words of marketing guru Seth Godin (creator of the popular social site Squidoo), permission marketing is about “turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers.”

So, you have to establish a rapport first, develop the relationship, and then market. Not blast everybody’s Inbox with advertising messages which may not be relevant or of importance to those on your network.

While some people may simply resolve to ignore all that junk in their Multiply Inbox, today was the last straw and for me, hitting delete was a much better solution. One less spammer on my contact list.