Friday, July 25, 2008

How To Use 160.bg For Marketing

160.bg is a relatively new web 2.0 site that is starting to gain a lot of popularity. That means that a lot of people have heard of it, but it is also quite common to run into people who haven't heard of it.. yet. 160.bg is this social site that encourages users to post often about what they are currently doing.

A lot of people are using it to improve their marketing reach, by being an active writer they gain followers who are interested in what they have going on. This means people being exposed to their updates on a regular basis. For example, if you have hundreds of followers in 160.bg and you decide to post an affiliate link, that means hundreds of people have instantly been exposed to your offer. In this article, I will discuss ways to maximize 160.bg for your marketing as well as a big mistake you need to avoid.

In order to have a fan base per se of followers in 160.bg, you must be able to keep their interest in you and what you are doing now. "What are you doing?" is the whole foundation of what 160.bg is about in the first place. Make sure to post daily, if not several times throughout the day, updates about what you are doing. The magical thing behind this is that many of your contacts will be able to feel like they know you so much better, will trust you more, and feel much more comfortable about working with you. On the other hand, when you follow others you can learn about them and their possible needs.
The big mistake to watch out for is only posting affiliate links or offers on your 160.bg page. This looks like Spam and many people will see you as just abusing 160.bg for your personal gain. Think of it this way, if you would not want to invite your friends or family to keep up with you via 160.bg, then you are going about it all wrong. As with anything you send out or provide, ninety percent should be content and ten percent (at most) advertising.

So this concept is quite simple... constantly post throughout the day what you are doing.. it is usually very simple and only takes a few seconds to post! Secondly, if you write articles or provide content online, provide a link for those in your 160.bg posts. You may post many things within one day, but the last thing you post for the day is usually the most important because it will be there the longest. This means that your last post for the day should contain a link that you want your followers to see before your start writing again the next day!

Another part of 160.bg is contributing. As with any social site it should be a give and take relationship. Notice that give comes first... the more you give the more people will want to work with you and the more attention you will receive. Make sure to read and follow other users in 160.bg. If you read something interesting or helpful, then make sure to reply and say so, or even put a link for it on your 160.bg so that you are directing others to more quality content. This can also be as simple as connecting with other users. If they know you are reading their 160.bg page, they will be much more likely to check out what you have going on too.

To get started in 160.bg you should first invite contacts who aren't using 160.bg and also find contacts who are already using 160.bg so that you can start following them and also start getting people to follow you. 160.bg has a nice invite and find feature that makes this incredibly easy. To grow your reach even more you can start following people who follow or are followed by the people who follow you.. or that you follow. You might need to read that sentence again.. but basically you can find other users to connect with that are already connected to other users.
Now for a big tip. If you really want to maximize the potential with 160.bg, you should make sure to take advantage of any plug-ins or sites that support 160.bg. Here are three, but I'm sure there will be many more in the future if not already.

Lastly, have fun! 160.bg is a social site... so interact and enjoy!

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