Have you ever gotten a friend request from someone you didn’t know?  Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are all about making ‘friends.’  But what is a friend really?  In recent time’s it has translated into a status symbol for popularity.

First of all, Facebook has a “Friends List,” and in my book, this list is a catalog of people who have raise their hand and said “YES, i would like to interact with you,”  It is not necessarily a list of your friends.

The simple Psychology behind ‘Friending’

We all have a natural desire to make friends.  When someone says “will you be my friend,” its hard to say no.  It appears rude in person.  On Facebook we don’t have eye contact but psychologically, we have a similar feeling.  We don’t want to say no and this allows Friend Farmers to use you as a number.

What is a Friend Farmer?

A Friend Farmer is a person who seeks to add as many friends as possible with no intention of engaging them on a personal level.  In most cases, the intent is to generate a list of people to blast messages via posts or messages or  send repeated friend, fan/like page, and event requests.

So what are some types of friend farmers?

“So and so has so many friends, they must be popular“

I always get a kick out of it when I see I have mutual friends with someone so I say, “how do you know ‘so and so’?” And the response is “I don’t, they just added me on Facebook.”  Friend Farmer’s rely on the kindness of humanity and request people to be their friend with no real desire to engage or interact with anyone.

“I’m an Expert: I have (this many) Facebook Friends“

In the social media realm, there are a lot of  ’experts’ around and they are staking their expertise on the fact that they have an account with a lot of friends.  How nice.  Question: If you walked in a room could you recognize most of them?  The answer is usually no, and the reason is that many experts are simply adding friends for numbers to appear more popular.

How to Spot a Friend Farmer

If the purpose of becoming friends online is to engage and interact the the easiest way to recognize a friend farmer is by how engaging they are.

First, when they update their status or post something, how many of their friends actually engage them?  My personal goal is 1 – 2%.  If I have 1000 friends, I would expect 10 to 20 interactions on my postings.  (This is in no way an industry standard, but a good indicator for me of how engaged my friends are).

Second, how often do they engage others?  For every one post, how much time does the person with tons of friends spend engaging (or commenting) on the posts of others?  If you look at someone’s page and all you see is them posting updates and they never comment, in my opinion that’s the equivalent of giving a speech or talking to yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, social networking isn’t about the you.  Its about your connections and how well you engage them.  If your intention is to grow your sphere of influence, be engaging.  Send a personal message with your request, and engage your new friends by commenting on and/or liking what they post.

If your intention is to gain as many friends as possible, remember the popular guy in high school?  Where is he now?

I recently had an intense discussion with a colleague about guerrilla marketing principles and how it applies to Guerrilla Social Media.  Though edgy and unconventional marketing tactics typically define guerrilla marketing strategies, a basic examination of guerrilla marketing boils down to two things, covert and unexpected or undetectable marketing.

A properly implemented social media marketing strategy is both covert and unexpected.  Social media is about permission based interaction.  People allow you and your business into their space.  As the business, you are sharing information, and becoming a source which builds trust with your friends, family and followers.

**JustinSMV Editors Note:   Social Media is defined as using Social Communication in media channels to build open and engaging relationships.   Just to clarify Guerrilla Marketing is not a sneaky tatic just to build trust and then sell, Guerilla Marketing is defined as an unconventional form of marketing that elvoves into being viral without the hard sell of in your face used car’s sales man. **

Did he say trust?

Trust is a psychological guerrilla marketing tactic.  Though in most cases, trust is something we foster as genuinely good and decent people, as a business owner, trust is an unsuspecting open door.

Inform, Interact, Attract

People want to do business with people that they trust above all things and social media helps generate a mystical level of trust between people who have never had face to face interaction.  Sharing your life and valuable info with people attracts them to what you have to say.  Also, saying meaningful things to them lets people know you care and solidifies the relationship.  This breaks down walls of reluctance which makes people more open to at least finding out about whatever you have to offer.

Overtly, you’ve made a friend.  Covertly, “you’re in”!

Once you’ve penetrated the walls of resistance magic really happens when someone is compelled to share you and your business with others.  Becoming known as being ‘worth knowing’ is one of the most important elements of making your business VIRAL!

So put on your camouflage, hit the field and make some friends.  You never know where that might take your business.

Business owners like the idea of fast, easy, and inexpensive (a.ka. cheap) advertising.  They also know however that traditional methods of advertising like mailers, newspaper ads, and billboards to name a few are becoming less effective and remain costly.  So in search of a new way to both advertise and get their business out there, many businesses discover a  fast, easy and cheap method of advertising online by  implementing a pay-per-click marketing strategy.

Before we talk about pros and cons, lets first consider why old school advertising doesn’t work anymore.  There is an old cliche that says people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  What that’s saying is that people are looking to connect with you and with your business on a deeper level, and throwing a mailer at them or blasting a big ad in the paper or via even email simply doesn’t get that done.  Your business doesn’t appear to care so neither do they. Trash can!

We understand that business owners would prefer not to worry about marketing and Pay-Per-Click is the perfect fire and forget strategy.  The problem is you are paying for a click, not a customer.  How often have you clicked on a site, not found what you wanted immediately and clicked the back button? Do you even click in the sponsored links at the top of Google?  The reality is Pay-per-click is an online billboard.

The Social Media Alternative

Social Media is all about relationships.  Through a little consistency and very little money if any, you build meaningful relationships with your clients.  People know you care because they talk to you interact with them and or others regularly.  Bringing relevant info into their lives, not a sales pitch.

When someone comes to your site, its like a warm call or a referral.  The person knows you and is interested in what you do.  They aren’t looking for something specific, they are probing into your business and if you have something relevant to offer and they have a need its likely they will do business with you.

So when it comes down to it, the product or service you provide effects your the strategy you decide to implement.  If you rely on return clients and customers, relationships are key.  Are you using Pay-Per-Click?  If so, how is it working for your business.  Have you considered social media?

What are your thoughts?

Your Thoughts?

Touching Base With Your Social Media Sphere

So you have all your Social Media sites and marketing methods up and running and you are doing everything by the books to try to get your business up and running.  You got the media and content down pact but don’t forget the “Social” part of your methods.

I often see alot of marketers out there that just focus on building their content up and neglecting other aspects of the Social Media marketing method.  Like our good buddy Seth Godin says “No One Cares About You” that means let go of the vanity issues of your site and blog just for a second and try to get your connections and engagement fresh.

The same method and guideline in keeping your content and backlinks fresh and added daily, the same effort you have to supply in your social engagement within your Social Media Sphere.

What is your Social Media Sphere?

Your Social Media Sphere includes:

• Blogs - Comment on other bloggers in your niche, develop that rapport in your community so you can count on them on commenting your stuff.  Thus ultimately building your exposure and authoritative presence.  Another Simple tip is to try to thank and respond to users commenting on your blog, it makes your readers feel appreciative in commenting more often.

• Social Networks (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIN, Twitter etc) – This is very important to keep your updates fresh and engagement in tact.  Nobody likes a non-social nomad on these sites.  If you are trying to engage users on these sites and you see nothing but selfish vanity updates that is a sure sign that you will be removed or ignored on these social networks.  Try engaging with people even if its to say thank you, or how are you? People will respond if you engage them and thus making people take more notice to you, get the hint?

• Video Marketing – Make sure your Video community like youtube you constantly try to engage on their as well for your subscribers and commenters.  Again nobody likes a big shot who doesn’t acknowledge fans or subscribers unless your a celebrity.  Reach out and try to comment on other Video Directors in your niche, more than likely they will look you up just from commenting.

These are all simple and common sense tips but lots of marketers don’t take these into action surprisingly.  So go out there and Engage!!

Writer Profile

Justin Williams

Justin Williams is the owner of Social Media Vision and is an avid Tech, Social Media, & Marketing enthusiast.  He is also a fully specialized financial mortgage consultant during the day.  He has been a successful event coordinator for REBarcamp Virginia Beach and loves being a geek at heart.  Justin can be found at http://card.ly/JustinWilliams

For a small business just starting out, budget is a primary concern. A big expenditure in a business’ budget is marketing.  You have to get your name, face and brand out to the masses, and using traditional advertising methods like print, TV, radio, and even new media strategies can be expensive.

Have you considered social media? I know there are a lot of questions out there about social media, how it works and why it’s a good gateway to business marketing, so here are a few reasons why I think it can be a great place to start for a small business.

1. It’s Free: When your on a budget, nothing beats free. The majority of social media outlets are free to use. Though there may be a time commitment, there is a great deal of value in the fact that marketing can be allocated elsewhere while you grow your business.

2. It’s Easy: Most social networking sites walk you step-by-step through the setup process and many even let you know how complete your profile is and what you can do to make it a more complete profile. For Blogging, WordPress has its Famous 5 Minute Install that for beginners can take longer but still very reasonable and straight forward when following instructions.

3. Unlimited Exposure: With Social Media platforms like Facebook averaging 25-30M new followers per month, the possibilities of exposing new potential customers and clients via social media eclipses rival marketing methods in the short and long term. You can’t search a TV or Billboard audience for potential connections.

4. It Builds Lasting Relationships: The sole purpose of using social media is engaging and building relationships. People want to do business with people they have a relationship with. Using social media platforms is an excellent way to build relationships that foster respect with your target audience. Lasting personal relationships, lasting business relationships!

5. SEO Power: When it comes too online presence, SEO is king. Everyone wants the Google Juice that puts them at the top of the charts. Blogging the right way can play a significant role your business’ search engine presence.

So what are you waiting for? Give FREE social media a try today. You wont regret it tomorrow and neither will your business!