by Antonio L. Crawford

Social network marketing is the process of advertising, promoting and selling ideas, concepts, beliefs and philosophies in a social environment. Social networks provide the economic and communal algorithm that people need to network with others, chat, share resources, and spread word-of-mouth information.

Coupled with personal benefits and a positive sales message, word-of-mouth information provides a low-cost marketing solution to help authors advertise and promote their books. Word-of-mouth is a marketing vehicle to transport ideas, reach prospects and advertise products or services to the public.

Why is this information important? If we create our own super highway, or join an existing social network – it is possible to provide the means by which others will interact with others to exchange money for merchandise.

The dynamics behind social marketing is vague to many people. Traditional executives and inexperienced infopreneurs know little about the synergy and potential growth embedded in the center of a social network. Executives hire marketing firms to penetrate and exploit the network’s infrastructure. Info-preneurs rely on publishers, and other professional consultants to design a unique marketing approach to sell more products.

It is unfortunate that most traditional marketing consultants use out of date guerilla tactics that are designed for mainstream marketing. They are unaware of the power found in social networks. Most of the marketing tactics used by the traditionalists are linear expressions and do not provide the author with a deeper-rich understanding of how to market in multi-networks. As a result, both top executives and the infopreneur receive a small percentage of what could possibly be earned.

Social Network Marketing

Dr. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman gave birth to the concept of social marketing in 1971. He believed, “Social change campaign is an organized effort conducted by one group (the change agent) which attempts to persuade others (the target adopters) to accept, modify, or abandon certain ideas, attitudes, practices or behavior.”

Social network marketing occurs when two or more people work together in a social network to achieve a common goal for the greater good.

According to wikipedia.com, an online encyclopedia, a social network is a community of nodes or individuals that are connected by one or more specific types of relationships. (NB: A node is a personal computer or terminal point in an information exchange system.)

Social relationships in an information exchange network are built on beliefs, values, ideas, self expression, friendships, or an economic exchange. The word social means people communicate ideas, share resources, and interact with friends, business associates, and family members in a group setting.

If we employ a system of learning, provide a quality product for others to form a circle around; invoke culture and economic exchange in a group setting, we create a unique universe where people socialize, create value, receive benefits, and increase their livelihood with ease.

Offline and Online Social Networks

Today, marketing in both an offline and online social network is one of the most lucrative opportunities in the literary industry. Through demographic research and psychographic analysis, companies like Fox Interactive Media (FIM) have surveyed the industry to identify consumer behavior, consumer buying patterns and consumer purchasing preferences.

Smart companies use research to create consumer profiles, establish a market niche, build a network, and distribute products in a timely manner. Smart companies design products that satisfy the desires of their niche market. Then they employ specific marketing strategies to reach their customers.

How can you tap into the unlimited resources found in a social group? How can you uncover the networks that transport information and resources through electronic channels? How can you change your linear marketing approach and deliver your marketing message in a social group? Keep reading!

Unlike the traditional brick and mortar bookstore marketing, social network marketing is heterogeneous. Put simply, heterogeneous means the networks are multifunctional and involve dissimilar marketing tactics.

These tactics include offline and online capabilities such as affiliate partnerships, paid search ads, teleconferencing, tele-seminars, discussion groups, behavioral studies, search engine optimizations (SEO), conference attendance, and social gatherings.

Other online capabilities include video streaming, website design, banner and pop-up advertising, online discussion forums, instant messaging, and sending emails advertising to subscribers.

There’s an unlimited supply of resources waiting to be discovered in a social network; one of the many benefits of employing social marketing to promote and sell info-products. Readers home-stead in their networking groups, build several relationships and freely share information.

The success of the entire network rests on the shoulders of those who do the work and hold up the net.

Infopreneurs make money by offering information products and services to others who are connected to their multi-network. In addition, they share profits with others who help them promote and sell. If you embrace and understand this philosophy you are ready to earn more.

About Antonio L. Crawford

Antonio is an author, publisher, speaker, infopreneur and book coach. He has worked in the publishing and book marketing industry for more than ten years. Antonio works with people who want to expand their ideas and turn their creativity into multiple streams of income. As CEO, Top Book Sales, Founder of National Christian Writers Conference, he has helped writers published their manuscripts using Lean and Kaizen improvement principles. Antonio is the publisher of Henrietta the Hyena; The CX Loan Solution; author of The Quest for Wealth and co author of 101 Ways to Generate Top Book Sales: A Handbook for Authors Ready to Plead Insanity. He is a contributing author in Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul.