Is Social Networking Working for You?

Hi Warriors,

I've been thinking a lot about the usefulness of social networking sites lately, and thought it might make for an interesting discussion.

I have personally been starting to question whether it is worth the effort to put a lot of work into sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Lets look at Facebook first...

I've seen a lot of people say Facebook is not a great place to sell, because although it has huge traffic volumes, the reality is that people go there to socialize and not to shop. This makes sense to me.

So it stands to reason that the Facebook audience is not going to be a receptive audience or, for that matter, a buying audience. They are not there in the right mindset to buy.

I have been experimenting with Facebook in one of the niche's I am working in right now. I have joined groups and added friends, and done the whole Facebook marketing thing.

Thing is, the only people I see in the groups are people who, like me, are only there to promote products that they sell.

I looked at the weight loss niche too. Almost every weight loss group in Facebook is 90% filled with other marketers pushing their weight loss tips. I see very few people with real problems, genuinely looking for solutions.

I have also found that the vast majority of people who add me as friends are - you guessed it - other marketers. It seems like these kinds of groups are filled with marketers, marketing their offers to each other. It's like a Toyota salesman trying to sell Toyota's to a Ford salesman.

Now this may work pretty well in a handful of niches, internet marketing itself being one of the few, but in my view these are the exception.

Another thing about Facebook - a lot of marketers who teach Facebook marketing suggest making fake accounts and using downloaded photos from the net as your profile photos. In my book that is plain unethical. What are your thoughts on this practice?

Is it just me, or does it seem like marketing on Facebook is going to take a monumental effort to get real results?

What has your experience been like with Facebook? Are you getting results?

I also got to thinking about Twitter...

Like Facebook, if you do a search for, for argument's sake, fish training, most of the people who show up in Twitter's search results are... (drum roll) other marketers selling books on how to train fish. :rolleyes:

How many of the people you follow and get followed by in your niche in Twitter, are actually genuinely interested in what you are posting?

Now I know that Social Networking does get you traffic, but my question to you Warriors is, how effective has it been for you? Is the traffic you generate from facebook and Twitter worth all the effort you put in in terms of building a network of followers that are BUYERS?

Sometimes I think it's better to use Facebook and Twitter as a platform to sell PLR items to the other marketers there... Now there is a huge audience for your PLR niche articles and books!

Your thoughts?