In traditional marketing, we know that we need to cultivate relationships with the market and this is achieved in a number of ways – you’ll see plenty about this in previous posts so I won’t go into detail on that issue now.  In internet marketing, relationships have been spoken about at length, but so far, no one has really captured the essence of what this means and how to achieve it.  That is, until Perry Belcher who talks extensively about this subject.

The key lessons are:

• use social media to make friends
• increase your social media circle to include not only the 3 main venues (Facebook, Twitter and You Tube) but also secondary venues such as Squidoo, MySpace, LinkedIn and hundreds more
• use your social media accounts for just that: social interaction
• never hard sell from a social media account
• drive traffic to other selling venues in a low key manner
• then make an offer they can’t refuse

Makes a lot of sense to me.  In fact, it’s really similar to the old networking concept where you pick up useful business contacts / customers from your involvement in both social and business organizations.

The trouble with the old way was that it takes a lot of time and effort. And what if you’re not really good with people?  What if you look funny, sound funny or simply lack social graces.  Didn’t matter how good your product or service was, you’d find it difficult to monetize those activities.

The advantage of social media is that you can take the time to present who you are on the inside, rather than having people judge who you look like on the outside.  You can connect with people – a lot more people – a lot quicker.  And, you can keep that connection within boundaries that protect your privacy while allowing a certain amount of intimacy.

In other words, you might happily share with people what you had for breakfast, but you might not want to share the fact that you’re having a really bad hair day, or you just lost your temper with your nearest and dearest.

So, while people feel that they ‘know’ you and can form a trust relationship with you, eventually resulting in sales, they don’t necessarily need to know too many personal details.  As Belcher points out, it’s  the same situation as it is with celebrities.  You know all kinds of things about them, and see candid pictures of them at the grocery store or on vacation, all of which adds up to a feeling of familiarity and ‘knowing’ without knowing information that would compromise their privacy.  And as he also points out, once we’re on social media, each of us is a belebrity to those who follow us.

It doesn’t take long to build a relationship this way and once that’s built, a low key referral to your monetization venue will be accepted rather than viewed with suspicion.  That’s when you have the opportunity to really begin making money – even though you’ve been marketing from your very first tweet.

Whose writing seems so natural, so effortless that it moves the reader beyond being aware of the act of reading and into a state of experiencing what they are reading.

Does it come naturally?  Does it take talent?  Does it take years of practice?  I think it’s a combination of a natural or learned understanding of psychology together with an overwhelming heart desire to communicate.

When you think about it, the world as we know it has been profoundly affected by the written word.  Think about these very obvious examples:

1. The Bible
2. Martin Luther’s edicts
3. Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream…”
4. The constitution (of whichever free country you may call home)

From pictograms then cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia to the few characters of text messages and tweets, ideas are communicated in words. Those ideas take on a life of their own when acted upon.

The sword, on the other hand, is much more difficult to wield. It’s impact can be devastating and seemingly more powerful than the word at the time of its wielding… but its effect eventually dies.  Wars are fought, battles won, boundaries change, people die and forget.  But philosophies communicated by words change thinking, actions, nations and eventually the world as we know it.

Look at communism for instance. Initially a philosophy, then a state ‘religion’ and now, an obviously failed social ‘experiment’.  While the ‘sword’ enforced it, the ‘word’ overthrew it.

Which is why we should never underestimate the power of our words, especially our written words, to influence, persuade and motivate.

That seemingly effortless writing I spoke of at the beginning of this article comes only as a result of passion channeled through carefully chosen words that are precise, powerful and perfect to convey very specific meaning and emotion.  Master that art, that science and you have a weapon more powerful than any other ever invented by man.

If you’d like to test this for yourself here’s an exercise you can try:

Pick a subject. Preferably a controversial subject.  Now write 2 short articles about it.  Write one as if your the protagonist for the subject and the other as if you’re against it.  Put yourself in each role.  Imagine yourself feeling completely convinced of the righteousness of your stance in each case.  Argue your case.  Convince your readers that you are right and make them feel as you do.

Then, read your articles. Note how they move you.  Note how your own opinions are changed as you move from one viewpoint to the other as you seek to justify it.

I remember doing a similar exercise in high school.  The subject was a hobo being moved from their cardboard shack on a city street.  I’ll never forget the impact that exercise had on my thinking or how it opened my eyes to the power of words.