Can you REALLY be successful at social media marketing in just 4 steps?

The answer is YES… Yes you can!

I know, I know… sounds like another bold claim made by some social media marketing guy that doesn’t even live in the real world.

(I’ll have you know that I really AM of this world!

Although it may be a bold claim, I’m going to prove it to you in this series of articles and show you exactly how to be successful in social media marketing WITHOUT the need to have thousands upon thousands of “friends” or “followers”, WITHOUT alienating your friends with worthless promotions, and WITHOUT being annoying.

The Social Media Marketing Formula That WORKS:

I developed a formula for social media success based on my experience with my own efforts and with helping my clients build their social media empires.  Now before going any further, you should know that the bulk of my work has been in Facebook.  The concepts will still work across other social media networks, but I chose Facebook because, #1: it’s by far the biggest #2: it’s by far the most profitable (there are lots of studies and tests that prove this, but I’m way too lazy to go reference them now… so, you have to just believe me LOL) and #3: I think it’s the most “social” of all.

You should also know that I’ve done some pretty cool things on Facebook, like: I launched a brand new product (never seen before) using ONLY my Facebook network and in less than 2 weeks generated $33,561 dollars in sales. This was a digital product so it was pretty much all profit.Oh and I did this with ZERO affiliates, ZERO JV partners, and ZERO ads (NO Facebook ads, NO Google Ads, NO ads at all).

I helped a client of mine in the Real Estate niche use Facebook to fill a $7,000 per person live event.  In the end, out of the 120 seats, 14 of them came through Facebook.  This same client also has a $25,000 per year Mastermind Group and using my Facebook strategies, we put 4 people into this group, again using ONLY Facebook.

So with that said… let me share with you what I call, the 4-Step Social Media Marketing Formula:

It’s called CSCP and it’s a 4-step formula. And today I will share with you Step #1. The first “C” in the formula is COMMENT and the reality is, this should only take about 10-15 minutes of your time.

See in a social media environment, the key word there is “social”, yet too many people forget about the one crucial aspect of being “social”. And that is INTERACTION. If all you are and all you do is one-way communications (like say, email marketing for example) then you’re missing the point completely.  I see a lot of marketers from the “Internet Marketing” world make this grave mistake.

They use Facebook as if it were email… and that’s just not how it gets done.

So what you have to do is open up a 2-way conversation with the folks on your friend’s list.  Go out on your newsfeed (BOTH ”Top News” and “Most Recent” feeds) and see what topics are coming up and look at what topics you can comment on.  Better yet, do some searches on your topic of choice or your area of expertise, and find the posts that people are making and INTERACT with them.

Go to their posts and simply… comment.

BUT… don’t make it a self-serving comment… people hate that!  And definitely don’t go in there adding a ton of links to your ebook sales letter. Very tacky.

What you want to do is contribute… add to the discussion, show your expertise.  There will come a time where you can share your ebook sales letter page, but just not yet.  First you need to establish a bond and then you can sell.

Without bonding, nothing happens.

Now, in case you don’t know how to go out and search for topics your friends are talking about, let me give you a quick picture tutorial:

Step #1:

Go to the search bar in your Facebook account and type in your primary keyword. In the example pictured below, I’ve chosen the “Real Estate Investing” keyword because I do a lot of work in that niche…

Step #2:

As you’re typing your main keyword, Facebook will start bringing up some search results it thinks are relevant to what you’re typing.  Ignore those, and scroll all the way down until you see an option that says: “See more results for <keyword phrase>” I’ve posted a picture below so you can see what you will click on:

Step #3:

Once you click on the “See more results” option, you will be taken to a page that looks like the image below… on the main side will be all the search results Facebook has for the keyword phrase you entered, but look to the left… and you’ll see an option to only view “Posts by Friends”. You want to go ahead and click on that option. Below is an image to show you where you want to click:

Step #4:

When you click on the “Posts by Friends” option, you will now have all the status updates, posts, and links that your friends have posted on the particular subject you have expertise in!  Below is an example of what the listings will look like:

As you can see from the picture above, Facebook will now present you with every single post or status your friends have posted as it relates to your search term, which should be a keyword that relates to your niche or your expertise.

From this point, all you do is go in and COMMENT on the posts.  And like I said before, be social.  Give information and be informative.  Don’t make it self-serving!!

That Was Step #1 Of Social Media Marketing Success In 4 Steps!

Remember, step 1 of my formula is COMMENT and as long as you’re in there commenting and having an open dialogue with your friends, that’s all that matters.  The technique I just showed you in this article will enhance that, so I recommend you use it daily.  And like I said before, this should take you no more than 10-20 minutes of your time.

Next week I’ll go into detail on the second part of my CSCP formula.

Now, if you’ve enjoyed this article, do me a favor and comment on it below, share it with those you know, and finally tell me you liked it!! I’ve got serious self-esteem issues so would love to hear your thoughts!!! =)

Talk soon,

Fernando Cruz
Friend me up on Facebook here: http://www.Facebook.com/FernandoCruz
http://www.CruzAlexander.com

P.S. Here’s a tip… always include a PS in everything you write online!! Now I’m sure you’ve heard that tip before, but if you haven’t, USE IT and if you have heard this before, again, USE IT… And if you’re already using it, read the second P.S. for another tip…

P.S. #2 Did you know there’s an equivalent to the “P.S.” in social media marketing??  I’m not going to reveal it here but I will reveal it in next week’s article… see you then! And be prepared for even more social media marketing strategies! =)