Social Media in the New Year - Tips on Setting Up Your Twitter Site

Everyone is looking toward the New Year. I've learned from experience to keep my New Year's goals simple and achievable. Foremost for my mlm and network marketing business is to have a rational mix between my action and learning plans. Taking action is paramount to success, but you really need to have time to learn and evaluate. Most mentors suggest a ratio of 90-10. But I think a start-up in the industry needs a bit more learning time. So I recommend 70-30 for the first few months and a shift to the 90-10 as you gain experience.

Setting up effectively on your social media sites is crucial for your new business. But a word of warning: be careful not to get so immersed in these sites that you don't leave time for critical marketing and other efforts. I limit myself to no more than an hour in the morning and another hour later in the day to make sure I stay in touch with my followers and friends. Now to some specifics:

I really didn't see the value of Twitter at first. The 140 character limitation to my tweets and the text of other peoples tweets impressed me as pretty dumb and useless. I was wrong.

Why Twitter? It's your billboard. It's quick and easy to join and build, and you can point it anywhere. And it's growing FAST. Alexa.com currently ranks it 14th among the top websites and I think it boasts around 7 million users. It's a perfect place to get started. Just go to Twitter.com and join up - it's free and you can set up your account easily.

Remember that your profile is key. Use your own name and brand yourself. Get a quality smiling picture of you - and keep in mind that you probably want to use the same photo throughout your social media sites. Your Twitter profile description is limited to 160 characters, so you need to keep it short, informative and focused. A key is that you can link Twitter to your other social media accounts - but be a bit careful because if you really tweet a lot and you've linked Twitter to Facebook, you can really annoy people and run the risk of being deemed a spammer. Mine is linked to Facebook, but I use Twitter carefully.

What about a background for your Twitter page? Twitter offers several free backgrounds that you can use, or you can develop a customized background. I opted for customization and used twitterbackgrounds.com - it cost me about $100 but I really liked the way they executed what I wanted - and it was easy to get them to correct the copy (if you'd like to see it, go to twitter.com/pamhemmings and note that I include the locations of all my other social media sites).

Start tweeting (remember your limit is 140 characters). Keep in mind that Twitter is a social media site, so focus on getting personal information out that shows your personality and interests - and get some humor in too. People really do enjoy laughing.

Ok. That's it for just getting started. My next blog will focus on some basic tools and building followers. Stay tuned.

And a Happy New Year to all - may we all enjoy success!

Merry Christmas to All My Network Marketing Friends

It seemed more appropriate this week to focus on wishing everyone joy, peace and prosperity than to launch into more details on my basic guide to mlm and thoroughbred network marketing. The spirit of Christmas and the joy of being with family and friends is paramount as we approach Christmas Day, and so I want to share a heartfelt wish for a very

Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends in social media - and the happiest and most peaceful holiday season to all my friends everywhere.

Social Media - Building a Presence for Your Network Marketing Business

Social Media is booming. It's likely to be THE dominant force of 21st century business marketing, with well over a billion people already present on the various sites. And it's growing by leaps and bounds. The sites are multitudinous - Facebook (ranked 2nd in Alexa global rankings with over 350 million users), You Tube (4th), Blogger (7th), My Space (12th), Twitter (14th) Wordpress (20th), LinkedIn (37th), and many, many more.

If you are building an internet-based, mlm or network marketing business, you need to establish a solid presence in as many of these sites as are appropriate for you. Of course you can't do them all at once and you need to keep in mind that 'social media' is, first and foremost, social. Facebook, for example, frowns mightily on people who attempt to sell their business opportunities directly and repeatedly - it's regarded as spamming and can cost you your facebook page. So you need to focus on developing your skills and drawing people to you to grow your business.

So where to start. A good friend of mine, Eric Williams, once described Twitter as your billboard and Facebook as the 800 lb gorilla of social media. I think that's a very apt tag for each site. And I'd recommend you start building your presence on each. And if a picture is worth a thousand words (and Facebook is great for pictures), what price a video? So add You Tube to your repertoire (what's that, you say? "I can't make a video" - nonsense. I was afraid of it too but now that I've made several, I look forward to them - and they're getting a good response too.)

And perhaps most important, consider what your hub is - because that's where you're going to be directing your traffic. And in today's world, your blog is almost certainly the best answer. Even most websites now incorporate a blog or direct visitors to their blogs. And that's where all your links will be, including your business opportunities. Each of your social media sites should link to your blog, and your blog should link back to them. Don't be afraid - you're not expected to be a Pulitzer prize-winning author. Start writing about what you know, keep it simple and try to give it some direction. But get started on a blog now. Remember the Little Engine That Could from one of my earlier blogs - 'I Think I Can, I Think I Can ... I Knew I Could!"

As you get started setting yourself up on social media, I strongly urge you to remember that a good picture of YOU and a transparent, interesting and comprehensive profile are the most important starter steps. Once you have those in place, you can start adding followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook regularly to build your lists - and build relationships with your lists. Concentrate on developing your foundation, master it - and then expand your efforts over time.

MLM and New Business Opportunity Prospecting

You're ready to start looking for mlm or other new business opportunities to promote and generate income. So what to do? Well, first think about what interests you - are you geared to the going green industry, wellness products, energy, athletic drinks, investment products - whatever it is that appeals to you, that's where you should look first. You do not want to promote products or services with which you are not comfortable. Second, consider the products and services themselves and ask yourself: Are they things that people need or want?

Start searching for companies in the field you like that offer quality products or services. For example, you can do a google search on mlm opportunities in the energy savings or going green industries and a whole bunch of stuff will come up. Select one or two companies at a time and start exploring their websites. If the companies are public, check their annual and other reports. But if they are privately held, the info available will be more limited. See if they are affiliated with the Better Business Bureau and check their rating and history. Another great source to use is alexa.com - this web information company can give you great insight into the rankings of both companies and professionals in the network marketing or other industries.

A critical aspect of any company is its leadership. So check out the profiles of their principal executives, explore their backgrounds and discover if these are executives with whom you would be proud to be affiliated. If everything comes up positive, that's fine, but if you start to come across people with questionable practices in their backgrounds, it's time for you to get lost right away. You want quality - and solvent - companies with excellent products/services and top-notch leadership to drive growth - the company's and your own.

Check out the company's policies and procedures. See what their compensation plans are and how deep the layers go. In MLM, you really want downlines that extend to no less than six, and preferably seven or eight. And be sure you understand the costs. Does the company provide you with full support and analysis of your business? Is there 24/7 technical help available? Does the company restrict and control advertising?And do they offer training and help to get you under way. Good guidance from your upline can be important to building your business. (One aside: Keep in mind that most mlm marketers still use the old belly-to-belly, chase your friends and family. So if you prefer attraction marketing or some other technique, you may find yourself in a bit of a conflict.)

But what do you do if the company you're looking at is new or you're trying to evaluate a new internet product offered by a network marketer? New companies should not be immediately discarded. You could miss a really exciting opportunity. But search the available info closely and diligently investigate the executives' experience and reputation. Their leadership will be crucial

And for the new network marketing products that come along, well be careful. Check out the individuals involved. Have they introduced other successful products? Are they reputable leaders in the industry? Scan the sales pages closely. Are the claims rational and reasonable or ridiculously promissory? Is the cost of the product clearly stated and is your purchase price refundable over a reasonable period of time? Are there hidden costs? What are their policies? Find out what kind of support and training is available. Look carefully and closely before you sign on.

Above all, take your time and do your due diligence research thoroughly. Know exactly what you are getting into and make sure it fits with your standards and within your budget. Remember that people buy from people they know, like and trust, but you do need a quality product/service to promote.

Budget Building for Your MLM, Network Marketing Business

Building your budget can be dull work for many - but this important step is too often ignored - possibly because people don't think of on-line marketing as a real business. So they don't bother to plan it out properly. And failure to budget and understand costs are likely major contributors to why over 90% of people struggle in this industry or fail and leave it altogether.

Now, I don't want to scare anyone away. But people who figure they can just dive in and make money right away, without putting in any cash and hard work, are dreaming.

Even the most basic business requires some up-front spending. Your kids' lemonade stand, for example, requires a table, chairs, lemons, a lemon squeezer, sugar, a couple of pitchers, cups or plastic glasses, a tablecloth, napkins - and, hey, maybe you want to put out a plate of cookies for them to sell too, so you need to figure out the cost of those ingredients also. Perhaps you want to use a water filter too. So, cost it out. And then you'll have an idea how much that lemonade stand needs to sell to cover its costs, hit break-even and reach profitability.

So, here you are at the start of a major change in your lifestyle and career. You're an entrepreneur in social media, mlm or network marketing. You're working on your motivation, your why, your mindset, and trying to figure out what to do next. Well, your question at this point should be: How much do I have to invest over, say, the first six months?

Maybe you've decided you have $500, $1,000, $2,000 or more to invest over the next six months. OK, let's take $2,000. That might seem like a lot to some. But it's not a lot at all, if you look realistically at the costs of establishing a traditional business.

And just to cover that basic $2,000 investment and get to break-even, you'll need to make about $340 each month

Say you've found a business opportunity that interests you and has a product/service that you think offers value to people. So you decide to join this mlm opportunity. Well, you'll probably have to pay anywhere from $30-$50 a month for the company's website. At $50, that's $300 for six months. If you use the old school belly-to-belly, contact all your friends, family and acquaintances, you'll need business cards, promotional flyers, CDs, a consultant business building kit and other stuff to hand out and leave in malls and other stores. By the time you've got everything you think you need, maybe you've spent at least another $300. And if you're promoting a product (juice drink, wellness products, cosmetics or whatever), then you're going to have to participate as a customer too, and buy the requisite items each month - a one-time annual membership (say $30-$50) and monthly orders (say $100 each month). And maybe you want to buy some basic learning books to help you get started. Well, you've pretty well used up your budget right there. And we haven't even got around to the topic of potentially very costly advertising.

And there's more. If you want to really make your presence felt in social media and network marketing, there are other things you'll probably need or want. Domain names (about $10 a pop) personal websites or professional program websites you use - most of the professional sites cost around $50 per month), customizing your Twitter and other site backgrounds and personal websites ($100 or more to get a professional to do this), affiliate programs to help you earn income, an autoresponder (around $20 per month), a link protector such as viralurl.com or listjoe.com (you can join for free, but you'll need to upgrade at a cost of about $200/yr), training courses and other specialized information ($300-$1,000), and so on.

If your dollars are tight, start with just the very basic stuff and expand your budget bit by bit as you begin to bring in some money. But do understand that you'll need to make some investment to get under way.

It's All About I CAN and I WILL

Well, I couldn't find the Little Engine that Could, so I went for the Little Red Train chugging along through the countryside. But if you remember the little engine, it was "I think I can, I think I can, I knew I could." And in social media marketing, that's what it's all about. I CAN, I CAN, AND I WILL. Your mindset is so important. And it's got to be positive at all times. There's no room for "I can't", "I don't really know how to do that", "I just don't think that's for me", and "maybe tomorrow."

I did a deal with my mentor. Every time I say "I can't," I have to put $0.25 in a jar and take him out to lunch on the proceeds next summer (when I hope he'll find time to visit beautiful Saratoga Springs). It's probably going to be at McDonalds 'cause I don't plan on having too many quarters.

So get rid of the negatives in your approach to mlm and network marketing and building your business. Work on developing a positive mindset - I CAN, I CAN, I CAN. And, guess what, YOU WILL.

It's All About You in Social Media - Your Motivation and Branding

In social media, it really is all about you - your motivation and commitment, who you are, whether you're trustworthy, and whether you have something of value to say or offer that will help others.

If your motivation in social media marketing is just about making money, you probably won't be around long. It's why you want to make money: For your kids' education, to change your lifestyle, to gain financial freedom so you can do all the things you want, and maybe to allow you to work at your real passion, which doesn't generate income. You can't survive in this business unless your motivation can keep you going - and you'll be totally discouraged if all you want is dollars. Money doesn't flow in that quickly.

It takes commitment and hard work to develop your own on-line business. To get started, you have to build your presence throughout the major elements of social media. And the first step there is to develop your profiles. Start with a professional looking picture. People want to see who YOU are, not your cute little logo, pets, family, and not even your husband, wife or partner. So get a nice smiley profile picture of yourself - just of you. That's the first - and maybe the most important - step to get your new business efforts under way on-line. I'd recommend you use the same picture throughout the various media sites - it's your identity.

And here's a useful site if your picture is too big and you need to resize it: Just go to http://resizepic.com.

Next set up your written profiles on each site. Focus on making them as complete and interesting as possible - they should describe who you are and what you're about - what you're doing in network marketing, how you can help others, the things that interest you, golf, tennis, theater, animals, movies, books, etc. People should be able to get a clear view of you, your personality and your goals. And add picture albums of your family, friends, pets, trips, and whatever else interests you to share with your new social media friends.

Remember always that people aren't interested in your business. So build your friends lists and build relationships with them - exchange ideas and thoughts, but don't hit them over the head with your opportunities. People buy from people they know, like and trust.