Social Media and Social Marketing really is a new frontier on the Internet. There are so many ways you can use the major sites like Facebook, YouTube, EzineArticles, your blog, and Twitter. You are only limited to your imagination and creativity.

I continue to get a kick out of the people who say that Social Marketing is just a waste of time on the Internet. Didn’t someone once say that they could only see the need for a handful of desktop computers? We all know how that one turned out, right?

The power of the testimonial

If you want to sell a product or service, we all know that you have just got to have testimonials, right? Testimonials elicit the power of social proof. In other words, You could say your product is great, and some might believe that to be true. But many would remain skeptical, thinking that of course it is easy to say your product is great.

But when other people say your product or service is great, those statements become much more believable. Social proof is one of the most powerful forces in advertising. Why else would they put other people in ads? Especially famous people who have nothing at all to do with the product. This is the power of social proof.

Social Proof Meets Social Marketing

Now let’s take a closer look at the combination of social proof and social marketing on Twitter. For the rest of the article, click here…

It’s Christmas and I’m spending it in a beautiful 3 story cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains with Jeff, the boys and our dogs!It’s great (& necessary) to take some well-deserved time off to spend together and appreciate all the blessing we’ve created over the last years… One of the things that have helped us both is the ability to create several online businesses, so I thought a great gift for my subscribers and readers would be… The 12 Free (or Very Low Cost) Product Creation Resources of Christmas!

12. My favorite place to get ecovers, ECoverArt.com has rolled out a brand new website called http://MyEcoverMaker.com You can make beautiful Ecovers for all kinds of products and ot’s 100% free! I played with it and the service later emailed me a brand new ecover I designed.

11. I’ve been using Photoshop for many years. I purchased it (expensive!) because I couldn’t afford a designer to create the labels for my bath & beauty products so I decided I would learn it and it has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. There’s a fabulous online service that allows you to do most of the same things to create and edit graphics… http://Pixlr.com <== What a resource! Have fun creating your own “add buttons like the ones I have on this site, or editing your photos to fit your website, or add your website name to your graphics!

10. In 2010, if you’re online… you MUST learn to use video. It is simply not an option any longer… AND there are several ways to do video at low cost. You can always use your computers webcam, the video option if you have one on your phone or buy a low cost flip video at http://TheFlip.com (or google/Ebay for a slightly used one. You don’t NEED the HD version to create great video infomercials or trainings.

9. A FABULOUS resource when you’re first beginning to use video is http://CuePrompter.com I was very nervous in the beginning when using video and I would always forget 1/2 of what I wanted to say, until I found this online teleprompter. Just tape it (yes, tape it) to the cover of your laptop, where the “eye” of the camera is directly above the screen, cut and paste your copy into this website, when you’re all ready, hit F11 on your keyboard for an “extra trick” to make it even easier (you have to try it to see what I mean) but this can make you go from looking like a video newbie to an online broadcast professional.

8. Once you’ve created your video, PC users can use Windows Movie Maker which is on most PCs free. Sometimes it’s a little hidden, just look carefully in all your Programs to find it. If you’re on a Mac, you can use iMovie to do editing! It’s free.

7. Once you’ve finished your awesome video, now what?! Well, you have to get it in front of people! Upload it to your You Tube channel AND use Tube Mogul to send it to even more video sharing sites. http://YouTube.com and http://TubeMogul.com

6. To create Audios or do Teleseminars there’s http://FreeConferenceCalling.com This is a free conference call service that allows you to record what you say. If you’re the only one on the call, it won’t record, but just use your cellphone to call in and allow recording or get a friend to call in. You can do group calls and create products with this service. I’ve got a course called Teleseminars Made Easy that shows you how to use Instant Teleseminar (a paid service) which gives tips on why & how to use Teleseminars AND shows you step by step video how to use FreeConferenceCalling.com Here’s my special page for the course at a Christmas price!

5. If you have an iPhone, you must get this fantastic (and Free!) app called Dragon Dictation. It lets you dictate and gives you the text to email. Great for sending messages easily and I even experimented last week dictating my “tweets”!

4. WordPress. It’s amazing that you can get WordPress allowing you to have a website, just like this one easily and without needing to know html, that super tech-geek language that can be scary and confusing to us regular folks… Get a low cost domain name, low cost hosting like Host Gator (that is my affiliate link!) and voila! You can have a website up in the few clicks of your mouse…

3. WordPress plugins! A must have (that’s also Free!) is the WP Easy Uploader. I also love My Page Order, Backup to name a few! All you have to do is “google” those names and you’ll find them.

2. Once you have your website up… what else do you need? Well, against popular belief, simply putting up your website does not guarantee you’ll have traffic. Use services like http://EzineArticles.com http://ArticlesBase.com http://Twitter.com http://YouTube.com http://Facebook.com to send targeted traffic, people interested in what you have to offer to your site…

And the # 1 Free Resource you have to create your money-making products is… *drumroll*

1. YOU!

You creativity, your resourcefulness, your passion, drive, ability to learn AND your willingness to get out of your comfort zone and do whatever it takes…

and stop talking about what you will do and actually do it…

even when you feel the fear.

Courage is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more you have. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy 2010!