I’ll give you the slow method and a quicker method because both work and one…isn’t quite free. The first thing that you need to know is that your business will not take off and grow without you growing too! What you put into yourself will come out in your work as you brand yourself and that is what people will be buying, more than a product or service. They will be buying how you sell, how your message comes across, and how they feel about you.

        So I know that you’re wondering what social networks you must absolutely be on today. If you are a business owner, you need to be on Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, Wordpress or Typepad (paid), Myspace, and Facebook. If you are simply an individual wanting to become famous or known, you need to be on the websites that you are most comfortable with, but get started with Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Hi5, Orkut, and Blogger.

        Now let’s talk about what you will be doing on these websites, why, and how to automate this process of branding yourself. First decide whether you will be using your name or a nickname for your profiles on each of the websites. I recommend using your name with a slight variation so that people will trust you. I mean, would you trust newfrankenstein66 or ashleywatts? Most people are aware that it is easier to manipulate your image through digital media than it is in person, so you want to use every opportunity you get to put your best foot forward.

        After you have set up your profiles complete with links back to your blog you need to start your search for people that are interested in keywords related to your niche. There are a variety of services that help you automated the process of finding and adding friends. A few of them are listed in later sections of the book, but do not focus on which tool is newest or which tool is better (by other’s standards) pick one that will work for you and use it. A word of wisdom, you don’t want to just be adding friends without building relationships…consider how you can start meaningful dialogues with your audience about topics they care about (within your niche).

Quick Newbie Moment… What is a niche? A niche is a certain segment of the population where you intend to concentrate your efforts. For example. You have decided, for whatever reason, that you want to sell health related products. You've done your research and have discovered that a good number of the people in this world are sick in some way. So selling health related products would be a general niche. That should clear things up for you.

        People will find you and add you as a friend as they start to see your content everywhere. They have to you as the source of the solution to their problem, source of news about the things they love or source of entertainment (edutainment is best). If you have a product that solves a problem bring more to the table than just the product, talk about into the struggle that existed before your product was created. Educate your prospects and remind your prospects about how your product will make their lives easier.

        Here’s a good point too on building a better mouse trap. If you give out a free series of trainings on how to make a quilt step-by-step by hand, as well as tips on where to get the best quilting supplies, you would have no problem selling a product like a quilting machine to those quilting enthusiasts that you just educated on the older and slower way of doing things.

        So your branding yourself through your content creation and posting it regularly on your 5-6 social networks, how time consuming to post your updates all day. You want to have a life away from the computer. Well besides employing your I-phone or Blackberry in order to escape the office, you need to employ tools like Ping.fm so that you can send status updates to all your websites at once, and tools like TrafficGeyser (best) or Tubemogul (good).

        Did I mention your blog? Your blog needs to contain your brainiest work. That means everything that you post needs to be spectacular. Good content is everywhere. There are millions of blogs out there and although you might be the only blogger skilled in social media marketing in your niche, your prospect will not stand for boring stuff! It’s good to ask your readers to share the post they just read in addition to asking them questions about the content you have just provided, but how about making it spectacular and telling them a desired result that they will get when they share it. People buy for emotional reasons and you are selling them on sharing your content.

        And yes, you can write all your blog entries on Sunday evening and have them automatically posted at set times with services like Postlater (paid). You also have the option with Wordpress blogs of scheduling when you would like your content posted. If you are using another service that does not have this option: write out your posts one day, save the drafts and then spend a couple of minutes in morning sending out your posts.

        Another thing with blogging, you want to be guilty by association. Search for bloggers within your niche on Technorati and connect with them. If your are selling a product, look for bloggers that talk about products like yours and give an article or two about your product to make your life easier. You will also commonly see marketers sending popular bloggers their products to get them to talk about them; this is not a bad technique…just be prepared to send out a lot of product in order to get the desired results.

        Here’s another cool thing to do with your blog. People love to have the latest news about something, and for some reason there is a thrill around “re-tweeting” (reposting another person’s update on your Twitter page). Wordpress allows for you to add a retweet plugin to your blog. So when you have a compiled a number of your posts, polished them up and made a special report out of them or created some other virtual product. Send a thank you email to all those that have commented on your blog along with your new virtual product attached. Then encourage them to share your product, tweet about it, and of course provide them with the tools to do so. Your goal is to always generate buzz around your content, so always make it overly entertaining, a little unconventional or out right controversial, and/or interactive.

        You can also instantly brand yourself by association. If you know there are well known people within your niche that your prospects will know or even just well known people. Give them some free stuff to review and ask them for feedback explaining that you value their opinion. Like with submitting articles to bloggers this process might take some time, but the results are instant if you have someone like Lance Armstrong mention you or your product. Then use their comments on your sales page, in the intro of your book, on your blog etc.

        It’s also a good thing to keep in mind, they’re talking about you. Yes, they. Who are they? You don’t know. Maybe fans, maybe competitors, and maybe haters. Don’t be shy, do a search for your name on Twitter and you will find that when you release spectacular content or when you create an interesting blog post people talk about it. Spammers and scammers are ratted out, and mediocre content producers don’t get talked about that much unless they really under-deliver.

        Another simple technique that you can use is collaboration. Collaborate with someone with a big list of subscribers, sphere of influence, or authority in your marketplace. Team up with them to make a product that you know their subscribers will love. You see this going on a lot in the Internet Marketing guru world, the new kid on the block hooks up with some key players (super affiliates in most cases) and splits profits with them in return for a little promoting. Now, you’re not just mentioned you’re recommended by well known person.

        You may have several web profiles that describe your product and services as the best in the industry, but it doesn’t mean anything in a world when marketers outsource their testimonial writing to freelancers. It doesn’t mean much at all when marketers pose with other peoples stuff and borrowed cash. Most of your prospects are not stupid, selling with hype brands you poorly. Video testimonials and the word-of-mouse spreading around about you matter. The bottom line is you are who they say you are.

FOCUS To gain expert status in the eyes of your prospects in the shortest amount of time.

ACTION STEPS

1) Depending on your purpose set up your platform for promoting your brand.

2) Begin interacting and releasing content on your networks.

3) Decide on your strategic position: solution provider, news provider, entertainment provider, or edutainment provider.

4) Employ Ping.fm and TrafficGeyer or TubeMogul to leverage the power of technology and save time.

5) Connect with other bloggers in the blogosphere.

6) Pimp out your blog with all the latest social media sharing plug ins, especially “Tweet This”.

7) Collaborate with authority figures on projects that would interest both your lists.

8) Make it easy for your customers to give you testimonials and keep providing good content.

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