Like anything in life it’s just a matter of time before people start gaming the system.  Email was once great but now riddled with spammers, scams, and chain letters.   Facebook and Twitter have reached the level of popularity that underhanded businesses are taking notice.   Just like you can buy bulk email lists, companies like www.usocial.net are making money selling Facebook fans, Facebook friends, and Twitter followers. That’s right folks, for only $647, you too can have 25,000 Twitter followers. Usocial claims that the followers are targeted to your marketing niche, but I have a feeling what you are really buying are a bunch of zombie followers (fake accounts opened up with free email accounts).

Social Media Marketing is not about quantity, but rather the quality of your network. The true measure is not friend or follower accounts but rather engagement.  Simply having 20,000 fans on your Facebook page is meaningless if they are all zombies, and your marketing message is falling on dead ears. Businesses looking to market on Facebook or Twitter would be better served to have 300 quality fans or followers that actually read their posts and join the conversation.

The best method for increasing your social media network is to produce quality content. Content is still King! Here are four proven techniques for building a powerful social media marketing network:

1. Engage Your Audience by asking interesting questions. Thought provoking questions that encourage open-ended answers.
2. Share Valuable Information on your wall posts. For example share a great article or useful tips your market cares about. Blogging, tweeting, and wall posts are opportunities to position yourself as an expert in your field.
3. Show Your Lighter Side. Humor is a great way to make friends. Dale Carnegie wrote in 1936 about humor as a method for winning friends and influencing people. This still holds true today! Telling a joke or funny quip is a great way to balance your tweets, so your audience knows that you’re not just business 24/7.
4. Don’t Give a Sales Pitch. You are not selling your product on Facebook or Twitter, you’re selling yourself and building trust. No one likes to be sold, and the modern customer can smell a pitch from a mile away. Leave the selling to your website, and focus on building value on your networks.

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