A marketing revolution
is taking place that’s helping speakers
worldwide expand their online pres-
ence and connect with more prospects
and clients, leading to increased traffic
and more bookings. Social media is the
fire fueling this revolution and includes
Web sites such as FaceBook, You Tube,
MySpace, Linkedin, Plaxo—and about a
gazillion other sites just like them. Many
professional speakers have already real-
ized the potential of Social Media Mar-
keting (SMM), which uses social media
sites to reach potential customers.
Social media encompasses many
types of sites, each with a specific pur-
pose, focus and outcome. Although so-
cial media Web sites weren’t originally
created for marketing, they have be-
come an integral part of savvy online
marketing. These sites increase visitors’
awareness of you and facilitate two-
way communication between you and
potential prospects to increase your
bookings and sell more products and
services. Social media sites allow you to
create profiles to showcase your skills,
areas of expertise, experience, educa-
tion, the benefits of doing business with
you, and enable you to offer your opin-
ions and provide guidance.
You can take advantage of social
media sites for free or a nominal
fee. You don’t need to pay your
Web designer thousands of dollars
to keep them up-to-date. The best part?
Social media sites are Web-based, so
anyone can use them—even non-techies.
With SMM, you can target your de-
sired market niche with a personalized
message that appeals to those who visit
your site and invites contribution. Some
common ways of achieving this are with
authoritative information, entertain-
ment, humor or controversy. Social
media sites are a powerful way to
encourage feedback, as well as direct
more eyeballs to your sites. The result:
More bodies at your seminars, more
bookings on your calendar, and more
money in your bank account.
How Do You Do It?
You can expand your presence and in-
crease your virtual footprint on the
Internet by blogging, commenting
and posting profiles. Be sure to in-
clude links back to your Web sites in
your posts, blogs, products section,
etc., to make it easier for more peo-
ple to find you. When all those links,
including some from really big sites
such as MySpace.com, are linked to
your smaller site, your site’s search
