How to get traffic to your blog through social network marketing ??

In the previous few posts I have been talking about Social network marketing and what you should do to take advantage of social media sites and to drive more traffic to your blog. Earlier have talked about how you should choose a social network site that suits your blog's need. I have discussed this in three posts-
How to choose most popular social network for your blog-#1
How to choose most popular social network for your blog-#2
How to choose most popular social network for your blog-#3

In this post I will talk about some of the steps that you should follow to get maximum from social media sites once you are complete choosing a social media site. To get maximum advantage from the social media sites you need to follow three steps-

• Create the hook
• Communicate in such a way as to make your interaction productive
• Redirect the social site users to your blog

Create the hook-
No matter what topic you cover in your blog, there are thousands of blogs and websites to compete with. So, the chances of reaping benefits from social sites are meagre unless you create the hook.Creating the hook simply means telling others how you and your blog is different from whole lot of other blogs and sites on the topic.Social sites are of little benefit unless your blog stands out of the crowd.

There are certain ways that you can make a good impression on the social media site users. Firstly create quality ,original and useful content.Remember that age old phrase- 'Content is King'.

Secondly research in your niche and find out what are the areas that has been little covered by your competitors.Just focus on those areas and congratulations you have created the hook.

Although I know creating hook for social networking sites is not that easy as it sounds but to get success in these sites you have to sound different from whole bunch of other blogs.

Communicate to make your interaction productive in social networking sites-

A productive interaction is one that makes interaction beneficial for you. For example ,if you are blogging to sell your products then a productive interaction would be one that makes other social site users to buy from you.If you are on social networking sites for traffic then a productive interaction is one that makes others to visit your site.

In one of the earlier posts in the series I have told , Social networking should be done to build trust and not essentially to build links and traffic.Just keep this thing in mind while interacting with social site users.The easiest way to do so is by giving useful advices and helping others without expecting or demanding anything in return. Social sites should essentially be used to make relations without promoting your blog or products directly.

Follow the following points while interacting with other social networking sites users-

• Say no to affiliate links in social sites. While giving affiliate links in social sites may make a few dollars for you but this way you will loose your credibility very fast.Don't use affiliate links in social sites.
• Be helpful to others and always be keen to help others in whatever manner you can. Give impartial opinions and genuine advices to users if they are seeking one from you.
• Be courteous and polite. Your words are the only weapon when you are interacting on social networking sites.People can't see your faces and can't hear your voice.So, your words are the only weapon you have. Use good ,polite and be courteous.Your words should reflect that you are courteous and friendly towards other social site users.
• Don't demand something in your first meeting (rather avoid demanding anything anytime during your interaction) .I remember an interaction with a blogger on blogcatalog when she requested a link exchange in the very first chat she had. Although I am not against link exchanges but requesting it even before we know each other well is something I can't digest.
• Don't spam social networking sites.Social sites are a potent way to build loyal readers but if you start spamming it , you would loose most of the loyal readers.Social networking sites are meant to be used not abused.

These are some well known points but very useful points that can make your interaction positive and productive.Keep these points in your back of the mind while interacting in social sites.

Redirect users to your blog-

Once you have interacted in a positive way with keeping the above points in mind, you now need to make the social sites users to visit your blog.In most of the cases you can skip this step as the social site users will visit your blog once you have interacted in right way. But in general keep these following points in your mind-

• If there is a discussion going on about a topic on which you have written a post then it would be good thing to provide the link of the post with a short description of what you have discussed in that post.
• The easiest way to get some visitors from social sites is by leaving a signature link or a link of your blog in your profile.People who are inquisitive about you would certainly visit your site.
• If you have written a post that you think would help others then it would be nice to let others know about it.

This way you can make full use of the social networking sites.Remember, social sites have big potential to drive traffic to your blog but it should be done in right way.Don't abuse the service just to make some short term benefits instead go for a long haul by interacting in a nice courteous way.Build trust through the social sites and keep everything else in back of your mind.

What are the methods that you use to get benefits from social sites.I would be happy to know your tactics and methodology of using social sites.Just comment to let me know about your methods.