The perfect platform for businesses to market their products and services online. This media realm is based on building connections and relationships with people who resonate with you. Then it can be used to market your products and services in a conversational way like we use to in times past when everyone gathered together on the front porch on Sunday afternoon to talk about their week.

Business owners everywhere are ready to figure out what their next marketing action step is. Disappointed and feeling frustrated with ineffective pages of print that only worked in the past. They want answers and need them now. With some knowledge, you too can take your enterprise and compete with the “Big Boys” or anyone else online for that matter. This is one time where “Size Doesn’t Matter.”

Time marches on and you either get going and learn new things or you miss the golden opportunity to be recognized as a go-to or expert for you profession or industry.

Don’t worry you won’t be sitting around reading about other people’s exploits or what they are eating,drinking, or doing unless you choose to. There is so much more to social media. It seems like the entire world is trying to take the plunge. Some business are touching their toes in to the waters while other dive right in. Either way I think you will find these 5 Critical Steps eye opening as well as helpful to your success. So what are the steps?

• Step 1 – Your Target Market. This is the most important steps for any marketing plan. Many business owners and entrepreneurs say anyone and everyone are their best customers. You need to be more specific. The more laser focused you become the quicker results arrive. Even if your company is well established, pinpoint who your ideal client is.
• Step 2 – Once you find that hungry crowd they will want what you have. What irritation itch or problem can you solve? What solutions do you have that they need? What pain or struggle is it that you can fix? Knowing this will guide you to the most effective way to providing answers to their burning questions.
• Step 3 – Content is important. You know your product or service best. In social marketing you have the opportunity to educate. Make people aware. Having said that you don’t just go online and push for a sale. Over the course of time people get to know you, trust you and of course choose to use you product or service.This is where you need to set aside your old ways of thinking. Friends and fans get to tell the world or anyone in their circle how great you and your company are. Word of mouth plays a vital role in your success. Social media takes it from a single handshake multiplies it many times over in an instant.
• Step 4 - Keywords can make the difference. Go to Google. Use the Keyword tool and look up the exact words that you need to use in your profile and content. It only takes a few minutes. Keep a list of these handy. If you still don’t find you have the time you can always hire an expert to do it for you.
• Step 5 - Join several social media sites Facebook, Twitter, Linked In. This is touching your toes to the water. Complete your profile, add your picture. Make sure your photo is acceptable in the business arena. Save the one of you drinking a beer for later.

This is just the beginning of what it takes to be connected to your local neighborhood and beyond. In no time you will be in the homes, offices and cell phones of your community. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Today the computer is seen by millions as the next gold rush. People are flooding to get their piece of the pie.

With a 97% failure rate in the MLM industry, a fact most don’t want to acknowledge. People are losing their money long before they start earning anything, if they ever do.

So, it makes sense that the lure of “You too can earn an extra … blah, blah, blah a month by just getting on the Internet and promoting your companies products.” is appealing to many.  Sounds all too familiar to the “all you have to do is… and you will be wealthier than you ever imagined.” that we all heard in the past.

This hype mentality has been a big part of the shady reputation that network marketing companies have brought upon themselves.

I find the basic flaw to most, if not all of MLM is that the word marketing is used, but never taught.

Most network marketers are totally untrained in the field of marketing. The most training I ever received was how to peddle what my company produced. I was taught, “if you put a mirror under their nose and it fogs up, they’re a prospect.”  The Internet sequel to this is, “If they have a computer, and are on line, they’re a prospect.”

When someone begins Internet network marketing, and still hasn’t a clue about marketing, chances are they will, in no time at all, find themselves frustrated. They may even find themselves more out of luck because, face it, to many of us, new to the Internet, we have a lot more to learn then when we were told to drag a person to a hotel meeting.

I believe that the Internet is the future for MLM. Internet network marketing. It offers people the ability to reach many more people than was ever possible , anywhere, anytime. What needs to be taught, and should have been taught in the old school, is social marketing. I don’t just mean using social sites, but learning how to be vigilant in building not just a business but relationships.

Without the focus being on, what’s in it for the person we are talking to, we are no better than the outrages MLM enthusiast, who caused friends to cross the street, to avoid being asked to another meeting.

It’s been said, “there is power in knowledge,” and most people over 40, are pretty clueless, when they first arrive on the net, They need a great deal of education to learn not just skills and techniques, but theory and etiquette to do this correctly.

I see a major need for skilled Internet gurus, to mentor and guide these often insecure Internet fledgelings with step by step instruction, in all aspects of Internet network marketing.

I could say, “it’s up to them to avail themselves to all the resources out there.” Why do I care whether they get the extra help? The main reason, is because I know what it’s like to feel hopeless and terrified when you first start using the Internet.

I thought I could just go out there and spew my product information to the millions with the sole purpose of making the big bucks. I was a stranger in a strange land, to put it mildly.

I also feel a desire to take part in sparing the Internet all the unprofessional baggage these people will be flooding the net with, until they get that it’s not always about selling.

What I’ve realized through my experience, is that it takes time and hard work to learn what you need. No matter how fast you can surf, or how easy it may seem at first, this is not a get rich over night experience. This is especially true, if you want to have your presence seen out there on the the world wide web. Even more so, if one of your goals is to be respected as a valuable resource to others.

I believe those who first invest in their own education about marketing on line, through mentors, books, seminars, tutorials, will be the ones that avoid failing. If for no other reason than to be a good resource of information. Isn’t that what ultimately makes the net such a powerful tool, people providing value for people.

This brings me to my final point. One of the qualities about the Internet that appeals to me is that with it, the individual can truly own their business. Their on line business can reflect not just their network marketing company, but who they are as a person, with all the knowledge and expertise they have gained through living.