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Now that social media has entered the forefront of awareness among most online business one perplexing question remains…

How can we produce awareness that will produce a positive return on investment for time and/or money spent in social media?

In other words … How can we produce a positive cash flow by utilizing the seemingly limitless prospect base that is having millions of conversations about millions of things every day?

For the past 2 years me and my staff here at the SEO20/20 labs have ignored all else and honed in on the answer to this perplexing question. Though we have been producing measurable ROI using social media for years, we were perplexed on how to create a formula so the process could be effectively taught to others.

The answer to this question is as varied as all the business models in existence but one common thread rings through loud and clear… We had to find the elements of online social media that do not change and then utilize that knowledge to produce an effective action plan. This was the beginning of a chain of events that has led to the answer to this perplexing question.

My next flurry of emails will be an attempt to pass this knowledge on to you in an actionable format.

The following statements are statements of fact that we have discovered through rigorous testing, observing and implementing over the past two years…

Statement 1: The level of success in social media (as determined by ROI) is directly proportional to the speed at which you gain trust among your audience, the social nature of your products/services, and the nature of your social network traffic conversion funnel (sales funnel). Don’t confuse a social network traffic conversion funnel with traditional Internet marketing tactics.

Statement 2: Primarily using social network systems as a way to garner incoming links (link love) as a method to increase rankings in search engines is a short-lived strategy. We have evidence that Google is paying attention to the level of “community” and “friendship” and “voting” that occurs within accounts that list your website link. It is easy to spot footprints left behind by social media black/grey hat tactics. If you want to destroy your social media presence and your search engine visibility then feel free to attempt using social networks as a link building exercise.

Statement 3: Social media networks (forums, blogs, micro-blogs, social networks, etc.) sole reason for existence is to allow two-way communication. They thrive on it and would die without it. You must engage people within each network you participate in or your efforts in these networks will be small to none. Social bookmarking for the purpose of increasing awareness is not enough. You must also increase awareness of yourself (a representative of your brand) within the communities that you place your bookmarks, content and other engaging material.

Statement 4: All content must be educational, enlightening or entertaining. If content falters from any of these 3 elements then you will go nowhere in social media.

Statement 5: If you are what is considered an Internet marketer (or online marketing professional) you have to unlearn everything you have learned. Success in social media is determined by your ability to interact with your target audience in an educational, enlightening, or entertaining way (the 3 E’s of social media engagement), not by how crafty you can be in shouting your business message.

Statement 6: There is a specific law of engagement in social media networks that you must adhere to or you will get ripped to shreds. I will cover this in detail as we move this series along.

Statement 7: Sales resulting from social media interaction are directly proportional to the level of trust that you are able to achieve from your audience. Trust is never gained through promotion of any sort. Return on time and investment comes indirectly through branding, search engine visibility and from those seeking more information about the persona who is engaging in the social media space to see what they (or their business has to offer). They will find your “buy now” button without you shoving it in their face if engaged appropriately.

Statement 8: The act of empowering communities in social media also has a positive effect on search engine visibility that removes focus from traditional SEO and places it firmly on community driven content delivery. SEO becomes automated through Crowdsourcing (Jeff Howe). The rules of SEO have changed in a dramatic way. The focus on traditional (technical) SEO is melding together with what I call social rankings or “The New SEO”. Focus on community trust which leads to crowdsourcing which leads to a dramatic increase in search engine visibility across all major search engines.

Statement 9: There are 2 main elements in social media engagement that leads to branding and ROI:

  1. The ability to gain trust (by educating, enlightening or entertaining) which will lead people off network to your blog (recommended) or website. Your blog (or website) must continue the trend (educate, enlighten, entertain) … a continuation of trust.
  2. The ability of your blog (or website) to call visitors to action. Generally an opt-in form to get a white paper, free report or other information that is of high interest to your target audience but is entirely up to the imagination so long as trust is maintained and your audience is educated, enlightened or entertained throughout the process.

Statement 10: You must listen to your target audience to determine their needs before engaging them. Chris Brogan (and many others) recently drove this point home in a recent Twebinar. Others such as Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Groundswell have paved the way for business to become aware of the social phenomenon.

There is much more to cover in this series (more coming soon) and many more people to cite and credit. I am positive I am missing some statements from the 10 above. These are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. Feel free to add to these statements, this could make for an interesting discussion.

Learn how to apply Social Media and SEO 2.0 to your business click here.

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