Social Media Marketing – YOU are in Control

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I was lucky enough to attend this year’s Social Media Success Summit. As a certified Internet marketing VA, I have a vested interest in all things related to social networking and social media marketing. Of course I was thrilled to sit in on Gary Vaynerchuk’s presentation “How to Create a Mega Following and Mega Sales with Social Media Marketing”.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a social media guru, launching his family business, Wine Library to become a leading contender in the industry. With the help of major social media marketing tools; Facebook, Twitter and video blogging, Vaynerchuk understands the macroscopic power of Web 2.0.

With the success of his online personality at Wine Library TV (http://tv.winelibrary.com) (he attracts over 80,000 viewers) and his ability to use social media to grow his family business (he managed to increase Wine Library’s annual revenue from $4 million to well over $50 million); Vaynerchuk has caught the attention of such household names as Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien. He has also appeared on The Today Show, Nightline and Spike TV, to name a few. Not to mention, his latest book Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on your Passion landed him a $1 million book deal with HarperStudio.

How is Gary Vaynerchuk so successful? Because of his ability to use innovative methods and modern technology to build his personal brand.  The mentality and old adage “the world is in your hands” is taken literally by Vaynerchuk and has afforded him great fame and admiration among aspiring entrepreneurs and the media alike.

The mentality that has helped Vaynerchuk reach the pinnacle of success had everything to do with a strong desire to succeed and the use of every avenue available to get his name out to the public. Here are some tips I gathered from Vaynerchuk’s presentation; tips that will help you too reach success through social media marketing:

Control is in Your Hands

The so-called media ‘gate keepers’; editors and producers, no longer hold the weight they once did. We now have the power to determine our own success or failure. This can be accomplished through hard work and dedication as well as persistence attracting visitors to your website, gaining followers on Twitter and establishing fans on Facebook.

Word of Mouth is Important

Word of mouth is the best marketing method there is. This is why social media is so popular and so useful. It involves reaching out to your target audience and getting them to talk about you to their audience (and so on and so on). Your tweets and your status updates are the modern form of word of mouth marketing.

Social Networking is Your Job

Social media marketing is an excellent way to reach out to your target audience and launch yourself to success. The one secret however, is to treat social networking like your job. Take advantage of blogging software and write. Or get in front of a camcorder and create a daily video in addition to Twitter and Facebook. Use the platforms that work with you and your personality – market yourself with these tools on a daily basis.