by Honora Wolfe

So today was the second day of a two part class on Social Network marketing sponsored by the Small Business Development Center of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. In my probably-very-boomerish attempts to stay up to date I attended both of these classes, hoping to gain more knowledge about what works and what doesn't for small micro-biz types like acupuncturists (see my post from about a month ago with notes from the first of these classes). So, in an attempt to begin to wrap my brain around the cyberuniverse and help others in my industry do so as well, here are a few more ramblings about what I think I understand. Please comment, forward, or share this information as you will and with whomever you like (that is, after all, the essence of internet social network reality).

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First...a couple general things that I think help keep us from online overload:
1. There are dozens of social network applications... each one different in purpose and style. Pick one or two and work at them for some time but don't try to do them all. If the first one or two don't work well, find another place to share your online thoughts...there are plenty!
2. This is no easier than any other form of marketing or connecting, but it is probably not harder either. If you enjoy the online world and hang out there all the time anyway, you should probably attempt to connect in a real way with real people via the internet.

OK..so here are some random tips for what they are worth.

1. Blogging is huge if you want to market on the internet...but it must be useful and give real value to your readers and not be spamish (i.e.,"hey,check out my thingy that you can buy that i am describing in my blog" is probably not great social networking)
2. Good places to set up a blog are WordPress.com and Blogger.com.
3. Never blogged??? go to ProBlogger for free blog tips and tutorials.
4. If you are completely clueless about all this social netowrking and blogging, start by reading Chris Brogan's blog called "If I Started Today" which is about how social networks really operate and how to penetrate the mindset.
5. Comment on other people's posts if you have something to add....OK, what am I talking about anyway??? Go to Blogger or WordPress and type in acupuncture or Chinese medicine or Fibromyalgia or some other health condition. Read a few posts and I'll give dimes to dollars that you'll have plenty to add to the conversation. That is what this is, after all, a big conversation. You can also send out Twitter "tweets" or send links to Facebook friends if you find something really cool anywhere on the internet...share the cool stuff that you find with everyone you can; that's how you get connected into the network.
6. If you start blogging, do it regularly. Comment on other folks blogs, blog at other people's websites, become a "player" out there in the blogosphere.
7. One good way to get more readers is to post "how to" blogs....you know, something like "10 tips for better digestion"... or "how to get your kids to stop having ear infections" ...that sort of thing.
11. Go to Sharethis.com and add a link at the bottom of your blogs so that people can easily send your posts to their friends on Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Digg, BrightKite, LinkedIn, or wherever.
12. Prefer face to face marketing? Go to Meetup.com and see what's happening in your area in the coming days (or hours!) that you might attend for fun or volunteering and networking. Or, create an event yourself and post it there. This can be really easy...something like "Interested in the Politics of Food (or March Madness...or whatever subject you like)? Meet me at the XYZ Bar at 5 PM tomorrow for a rousing conversation."
13. Or, if you have intellectual chops, check out BarCamp.com (or maybe it's .org???) and see what meetings are happening in your city. This is an intellectuals-who-are-passionate-and-love-face-to-face conversations with folks over beer or wine. Who knows who you might meet!? (I think this one sounds like huge fun...but don't do this if you are shy and inarticulate! ..or perhaps it would be great practice for getting yourself to be unshy and more articulate!)
14. Got photos or video of your trip to China to study medicine?? or of you working in your clinic? Share them at Flickr or YouTube. Say that these are open source and that anybody can use your photos as long as you are given attribution. More people visit YouTube and Flickr than most of all the other sites put together in the whole universe.
15. To connect with folks close to home, join Brightkite.com and create an account and a personal "wall". This is a location-based social network site which will help you find and create "friends" that live within a short distance of you. Sounds better than Facebook, doesn't it? (Facebook is only going to be "cool" for a little while longer anyway, whattaya bet?)
16. Want to do eblasts of your blogs or do you have an email list but no website? Check out DeliciousMail or MailChimp...these are, according to various Twitter opinions, much better than ConstantContact as an email blast provider.

Ok, that's getting to be enough stuff. Pick one or two of these and follow through, follow through, follow through. That's true for any and all types of marketing efforts.

Good luck out there on the spidery, sticky, ever-more-crazy-and-connected WWWland.
And, oh yeah, share this blog post with anyone you want to! Thanks for reading.

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