I talk with so many would-be internet marketers who simply put their 'stuff' out there and wait for the flood of traffic to find them. While I have a website/blog and free offer and blog and tweet and post regularly, I've found that the very best way to connect with folks online (in other words, the best way to find paying customers / referrals in any social media platform) is the same way we used to do it offline - with a twist. If you wait for the traffic to find you randomly (or to respond to your awesomely unique tweet or post) and to mindlessly stroll down your sales funnel and make a buying decision, you may be waiting a long time!
Seems to me that its much better to build relationship with folks one person at a time, the same way you would if you went to a block party or business luncheon or something. There is SO MUCH noise out there, folks get used to filtering out just about all posted calls for interaction. I find the very best response comes when I'm willing to reach out individually... for instance, sending a
PM on Facebook, or mentioning someone by username on Twitter and starting a conversation (NOT simply sending them my links!).
Seems we have lost sight of that personal engagement thing...
In fact, there are tons of "programs" out there offering ways to market "to the masses" (for a fee of course). Just buy this program and reach ten million people!!! What a waste of money! And even more sad, what a waste of peoples' hopes!
I model and teach my team how to engage one-on-one, how to build relationship - and thereby build solid relationships with their own team. This way we not only get fantastic numbers of people joining our team, but we also realize fantastic staying power. And after all, that's what we all say we want :-)