While spending time online, I see many glaring mistakes many people make when trying to peddle their products over the Internet. Most people are untested in the sales field, and have not learned the fine art of making a sale. In turn, their potential customer base will unsubscribe and unfriend over improperly trying to “make sales”.

Instead of focusing on the negative here, I would like to show some methods I use in everyday and social media life that have been proven to be effective for marketing.

While using Facebook, I will friend someone. Within five minutes, I receive a welcome letter, complete with a “Buy into my product line” and given their MLM website with a sales pitch before even getting a chance to know the person!

Here are some methods I have learned to become more successful in social media marketing.

REMEMBER THAT FRIENDSHIPS ARE FIRST. The most important key is that your friends are FRIENDS. The relationship should ALWAYS remain personable and not pushed for a “sale”. If you make friends, and get to know the person, the opportunity will come to share thoughts with each other.

DIVERSIFY. Join a bunch of Facebook groups of topics YOU are interested in as hobbies. Join local groups. Know your community. Do not join 75 Facebook groups about Essential Oils (or whatever your fancy is) and not have joined other groups which are completely different. Otherwise, it is not wise to “preach to the choir” – or when trying to make friends, they already know what the subject matter will be. By not being diverse in topics, you diminish your chances of making quality contacts.

LIKE THINGS. With Facebook algorithms, if you want to have your friends see your posts, you MUST be in contact with their page, their messages, and be active with that person. You do not want to be creepy and talk to the same people every single day. Simply going to friends’ pages, hitting LIKE, and commenting on posts, will reciprocate into your friends reading YOUR information.

COMMENT BACK TO YOUR AUDIENCE. When readers and friends comment on my posts, make it a point to engage in conversation. When people comment in my Business Page, many people are shocked and IMPRESSED that they received a comment from our Business. A sale can be made simply by performing quality customer service skills.

SAY HELLO. For myself, when making new Facebook friends, ALWAYS send a WELCOME message. Simply saying hello and introducing yourself is not only polite, but it establishes the fact that you are a HUMAN. Allow the other person to talk to you as if you were outside of a restaurant waiting for a table – or the person you sit next to at the DMV. Making conversation is ALWAYS cool.

DO NOT BE AFRAID OF MAKING FRIENDS. I will refer to my first tip. Make friends. Be engaging to others. When someone comments on some of your Facebook posts, it is acceptable to send a friend request.

PATIENCE. Not everyone will be into 100% of what you are into. That is perfectly ok. As you grow your Facebook identity, you will have different walks of life. You can merge your sales topics with other news, funny bits, and everything else you see from your vision. It will blend together. People may be interested on a later date as they learn from you. Just because you showed a link to them and they were not interested today does not mean in 3 months or 2 years they will not be. You may share what you have going on, but NEVER be forceful into demanding someone be interested in whatever product or service you are working for.