As a gen Y kid, I was on Myspace and Facebook long before it was openly discussed as a legitimate business marketing tool.

The way that I learned it had true potential for marketing and promotion was how much exposure my music has gained from using these sites. I’ve been in close to a dozen different bands and musical projects over the years and have been able to get international exposure, sell records and promote our shows and book tours! I’m now in the process of booking an entire west coast tour almost entirely on Myspace.

If it can work for goofy teenage and 20 something musicians who know nothing about marketing (or at least think they don’t), there must be something to it.

I recently started getting friend requests from business associates and clients and I realized something. Although it may not be the best way to generate new leads for everyone, it’s definitely a GREAT way to keep in touch with current or past clients. It’s a great way to cross promote your other blogs or sites and there are definitely people I know making money on Facebook (I’m talking about you, Melanie)

Caleb

Learn the 5 Simple Steps to Turn One Hour into a Successful Marketing Plan
http://www.northbankaudio.com/teleclass/

Excellent post.

I agree with Melanie above that facebook can indeed become just another distracting and time consuming “bright shiny object” unless you develop a process to leverage the medium.

What I really love about facebook is that it provides a more intimate, conversational environment that enhances the relationship building process and boosts visibility to prospects and colleagues.

So far, it has been a worthwhile endeavour.

Our best,

Gina & Steve Bell

Attract New Business Quickly and Easily in a way that is Comfortable, Motivating and Gets Massive Results! Claim Your FREE “Personal Marketing Demystified” Audio CD Now at http://www.thenetworkingmasters.com

– Pat & Lorna Shanks
http://PatAndLorna.com

Great post! Like others who have commented before me, I use social networking as a lead generator and spend minimal time on it. I consider it yet another lead generation mechanism and part of my overall marketing strategy.

As far as the ROI I’ve received in the couple of months I’ve been using it: about 20% of my product sales have indicated they first heard about me on Facebook and two members of my 90 Day Intensive Online Business Builder Mentoring Program have come from Facebook.

I also use MySpace and use both sites as a way to repurpose my articles: 1. through MySpace blog and 2. by having an RSS feed automatically update my Facebook profile with new blog titles.

For me, the return has been more than worth the investment to date. Like Melanie, I set up the process and it’s managed by someone else.

My one caveat for those who want to try it out…like anything, don’t let it distract you from your primary goals/daily action items. You can easily become addicted.

Best wishes,

Sandra Martini
The Automatic Business Coach(tm) & Mentor

Learn 5 Simple and Easy Ways to Put Your Marketing on Autopilot at http://www.SandraMartini.com

I gotta love the skeptic in you!

Here is what I have to say about the new web 2.0 social networking.

If you do it right, it is a great ROI. If you do it wrong, well, like anything, it becomes a bright shiny object that sucks a bunch of time and energy.

First off, Facebook has now become my #2 lead source. I’ve already recouped my time investment 2 times over from product sales. Myspace.com generated a $15k client in 3 months (from time they joined my list to time of financial commitment.)

Here is my tip though.

Create a system of what you want done and outsource the “management” to someone else. I “peep in” once a day for about 10 minutes to just interact on FB without spending a bunch of time & energy on it.

That’s what makes it worth my while. =-)

Best of luck to all who try it out!

Melanie Benson Strick
Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach &
Virtual Team Building Expert

Discover 101 Ways to Triple Your Income by Outsourcing Your High Payoff Activities at http://www.successconnections.com/101ways.

I started signing up with a few social media sites early, like 2006, but didn’t do much with them. I’ve started participating more recently and see a huge advantage for 3 purposes: learning from others; making new connections; and more traffic to my sites.

Social media is a good thing!

Deb

For me this is a long term strategy and certainly not the only one. It’s part of a mix. I have noticed the conversations are better, more intimate — not that way — and are resulting in connections that can create new business, especially in the form of JVs.

I think it’s about strategy. You have to know why you’re participating and know who you want to “play” with in order to get out all this networking the appropriate results for your business.

The key, as you say, is not getting too sucked in to non-productive socializing!