Part 3 Building Your Social Media Platform

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.

Bill Gates

Social media sites come and go. When I wrote the first edition of Book Yourself Solid, Ryze was one of the most popular business networking sites on the Internet. When writing this second edition, Twitter had about 50 million monthly visits and Ryze was wrecked and will not rise again. So, it's important to understand the principles that support successful social networking and personal platform building (how well you're known). To do this, I'm going to give you an overview of the big three—Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If you understand what makes someone popular on any of these sites, you can transfer and apply that understanding to any other social media site so you can play to your heart's delight. I'm also going to give you a great primer on online video and how to use it to build your online platform, earn credibility, and ultimately get clients. I think online video is a social media platform in and of itself and it's just going to get more popular as it gets easier and easier for the non-techie to shoot, edit, and upload video.

Like all relationship and platform development, when it comes to social media or online social networking, you must be willing to make a long-term commitment to the cause. And, contrary to some expert advice, you should not outsource your social media marketing to an assistant or outside firm. Sure, get help with the ...

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