If youve been selling for as long as I have, you may find, like I have, that not selling is one of the most difficult lessons you will need to learn about social media marketing. Sometimes, Im not even aware that Ive done it ” pitched the reader, that is! The key to success in using social media is to use pull marketing by providing your ideal prospect with great information that they can use now.

So how do you do that? First Step: Determine who your ideal prospect IS. A helpful exercise is to sit down and write a paragraph or two as if THEY were writing it about what they want, what their concerns are, what information they need to make a decision. Writing as if you are your prospect talking to you about their needs will give you amazing insights.

Second Step: Go to Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends). Check out the buzz for today. Pick a topic.

Once you have identified a topic, you can post something as simple as a brief comment on Facebook or Twitter. For example, Ramona S., one of our coaching club members, went to Google Trends and discovered that the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit was a hot topic that day. She posted a brief comment on her Facebook profile about it and had 10 people write her back requesting more information about it. Of those 10, 3 were real buyer leads!

A more advanced strategy is to write an article and post it to your blog and to E-Zine Articles (www.ezinearticles.com). Writing a full article or a blog entry gives you instant authority and credibility. Nothing builds a relationship with your ideal prospect faster than well-written articles with great information.

Here are a few pointers for crafting a well-written article:

The Headline

Your headline is the most important part of your article. If it isnt compelling, your article will not be read. Be sure to include your keyword so that the search engines find it. Start noticing headlines on newspapers and magazines. You may want to keep the best ones in a file to jog your thinking when you sit down to craft your own article. (Bonus Tip: The tabloids that you buy while waiting to check out at the supermarket are absolutely EXPERT at writing attention-getting headlines!)

The Body

Ideally, you will want to keep your article between 350-500 words in length. Write in a causal, conversational style. Avoid technical jargon or formal language. At least 5% of your article should be your keywords. This means that if you have a 500-word article, try to use your keyword about 25 times throughout. Keep your paragraphs no more than a few sentences. Use bullet points and subheads liberally. (Another Bonus Tip: You can outsource the transcription to www.elance.com.)

The Resource Box

To close your article, you will want to include a call to action. THIS is where you FINALLY are allowed to pitch your product. However, if you dont offer a compelling reason for them to contact you, they wont! Be sure youve included a link to your website so they are able to contact you and request additional information. Dont go through all the hard work of providing excellent information only to lose them because youve neglected to tell them how to contact you.