Method #14: Use Myspace Forums
to Sell Products
Social media has proven itself to be one of the best venues for marketing
products in a hurry. In the past, Internet marketers have held contests to see how
much they can make in one day, one week, or one month by creating a new
product and selling it through a social marketing medium.
When it comes to this type of project, there are two things to ask yourself: 1) what
type of product should you sell? And 2) what medium should you sell it in? In this
section, I will cover how to sell on Myspace forums. In the next section, we’ll
consider Twitter. Let’s start with the types of products you might want to sell on
Myspace.
What Product to Sell
You might immediately assume that you should sell one of your flagship
products, but in fact, social media sites are not always the best place to do this.
For this reason, you will want to answer this question by doing market research,
rather than simply picking a product and running with it.
One way you can approach this is to begin browsing through a variety of
Myspace member forums. Do this for various categories; and make an attempt to
gauge how large the forum following is. Are there hundreds of people who post
regularly? Thousands? What is it that they’re talking about; and what information
could they possibly need to help them in their endeavors?
Once you find a group that strikes you, begin reading up on their topic of choice;
and then participate in the forum discussions. Try to make friends and be helpful.
This will benefit you in the long run, since they are unlikely to respond well to you
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if they perceive you as a green-eyed infiltrator whose only interest is in selling
them stuff.’
After you have a feel for the forum and the topic, commission a writer through a
site like Elance to create a powerful, but brief, “how to” manual on some specific
facet of their topic. For instance, you might follow a jewelry group; and decide to
create a guide on how to purchase high quality beads online at a steep discount.
Whatever you do, make sure that this topic is something you hear about on the
forum frequently. Your goal should be to provide a product that solves a problem
that seems to be common among forum members.
Once you have this guide in hand, create a mini-site with a short copy salespage;
and a PayPal checkout button, so that you can receive payment immediately. On
the salesletter, highlight the following benefits of your guide:
• Explain how it will tangibly improve the lives of your target demographic
group (i.e. after you read my guide, you will be able to do task x twice as
fast) in general.
• Highlight the specific benefits of certain chapters (i.e. chapter 8 alone will
save you $100 per month).
Also, consider selling your guide for a very, very low price. Your goal here should
be to make the decision to purchase a no-brainer. At least initially, you shouldn’t
bludgeon your new customers with high-end products. Introduce them to your
work with something that costs around $3-7. If you do a good job with everything
else, you could easily make around $500 in a matter of days.
The final step is market your product by creating a signature that references it.
Beyond that, all you can do is post frequently; and hope that people see it and
buy.
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