Thinks I find along the way
So you wanna be a thought leader? There’s no better way to make your point of view ‘searchable, findable, and knowable’ on the internet than this suite of tools. It is the simplest and most straightforward blogging workflow I can imagine and if you’ve got a better idea, I’ll be the first to admit [and use] it…
Updated 5/25/10 to include LinkedIn and YouTube. h/t Alan Petras. Lesson learned? Don’t leave YouTube off a social media workflow when you’re talking to a video guy…
Even I’m impressed by the way my new blogging workflow has increased traffic recently…
Compare this with your numbers and then comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…
Have you asked this question: Is the time I invest with social media really worth it? Whether you’re new or an old hat with social media, chances are you’ve wondered if the time commitment is really worth the return on investment (ROI).
Make no mistake about it: a true investment of time and resources is necessary to see significant social media marketing success.
But the real question is, “Just HOW MUCH time is needed to see solid success?”
This question was recently answered in the new study, 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, authored by Michael Stelzner. Based on the report findings, ROI is top of mind for most marketers using social media.
Follow the ‘via’ link to read more…
Almost every advancement in simplifying my social media toolkit comes from the simple fact that I do most of my news consumption and production with a 1Mb/s connection from a hundred year old farmhome in rural Wisconsin over a cellular modem. I simply have to be effective in order to be productive! My ‘low-bandwith’ lifestyle is actually a blessing in disquise…
Oh, that and I’m lazy so my toolkit is very efficient as well!
:-D
This is the start of a new series on how to use “good, fast, and cheap” social media technology to become a thought leader on the internet. The first step to becoming at thought leader is to realize you are an expert — no one gets to this point in their life without being great at something! Your area of expertise my only interest .0000001% of the population but if you multiply that percentage by the current world population of 6,817,500,000 I guarantee you it is interesting to someone else somewhere in world.
If you live in a small town like Algoma, WI with a population of 3,500 it’s quite possible that your area of expertise does not interest anyone else in your town or even your county. However, if you use the “good, fast, and cheap” publishing tools we have at our fingertips today, you could become a globally recognized thought leader. Let’s face it — if it weren’t for the internet you probably wouldn’t know I exist! imho, effective blogging combined with social media usage is the key to finding your audience…
So let me guide you as you take your first steps toward thought leadership on the internet. Your first assignment is to read Seth Godin’s free ebook called ‘Everyone’s an Expert’ [just click this link if you can’t see the book below]. It won’t take long — it’s only 32 pages — but the most important part of becoming a thought leader is actually believing you have thoughts that are worth sharing. May I suggest you click the ‘fullscreen’ button? Read it now. Think about it. Stay tuned for part 2 in the series…
Now, did this help you or just confuse the issue?
Better said “It’s easy, but not simple”. Jay Baer’s got some great thoughts on adding social media to your mix…
“Social media isn’t inexpensive, it’s different expensive.
In the QA portion of recent speeches, I’ve frequently been asked this is great, but doesn’t it seem like it will take a lot of time?
Yes. It. Will.
Succeeding on the social Web requires daily participation. Whether it’s brand reputation management, PR and influencer outreach, customer service and social CRM, interacting with fans on a brand community, or just creating content that builds thought leadership — it all takes time.
Fundamentally, there are no shortcuts in social media, because the entire premise is that you’re interacting with customers one on one (or one on few). That is of course more time consuming than reaching hundreds, thousands, or millions of customers at one time with a paid advertisement. How could it not be so?
The only way America is even keeping its head above the global water line is by squeezing every last drop of productivity out of all of us. Please raise your hand if you’re working fewer hours these days than you did five or ten years ago. Exactly. Unless you’re somehow on Justin Bieber’s management team, you’re probably busting your hump like never before, tethered to the world by the iWhatever. So, I recognize that you probably don’t have the time to really commit to social media, and neither does anyone on your team.” Source: Nobody Said Social Media Was Easy Continue reading “It’s not easy being social”
I’m always fond of saying that the answer is rarely either/or but both/and. Mitch Joel says the same thing here but in a slightly different way…
“Digital Marketing is not the silver bullet. Digital Marketing is not the only marketing a brand should be doing.
Branding works. Traditional mass media advertising words. Direct Marketing works. PR works. And every other niche of Marketing, Advertising and Communications still works too. It’s a matter of understanding the strategy of the brand, the marketplace of your consumer and then implementing a healthy strategy that will help you achieve your business goals and ROI. Yes, for some brands, that will mean a heavier focus on the Digital Marketing component, but it might also mean looking at your market from a different perspective. And yes, because of the growth of Internet usage and the multitude of new opportunities, Digital Marketing definitely deserves a seat at the adult table of a proper marketing mix.
Everything is “with” not “instead of.”
Some of the brands understand this so well. I’ve been in meetings where a CMO has shown me how their 30-second spot drives sales (and when they stop the TV advertising, the sales plummet) and how their Social Media activity keeps the interest and loyalty in-between and during campaigns. It’s that healthy balance that we all too often forget about. Just the other day (March 24th, 2010, to be exact), eMarketer had a news item titled, Combining the Strengths of Social and E-Mail, which stated:
“‘Even though people are spending more time using social media, they are not abandoning e-mail,’ said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection. ‘The two channels can help each other, offering the opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections.’ More than four in 10 business executives surveyed by StrongMail said integrating e-mail and social was one of their most important initiatives for 2010, just after improving e-mail performance and targeting and growing opt-in lists.”” Source: Everything Is “With” Not “Instead Of” | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
When I spoke last week at the Ashwaubenon Business Association, I was chatting with a direct mail marketer afterward and I wanted to be sure that he understood — as I hope that you understand — that I don’t advocate stopping ANY traditional marketing methods that are working for you. Just add the social media ones that make sense!
Tomorrow I’ll be speaking on ‘Practical, tactical social media’ at the monthly luncheon of the Ashwaubenon Business Association. Lunch starts at noon at the Ramada Plaza, 2750 Ramada Way, Green Bay, WI 54304 (920) 499-0631. The cost of lunch is free to members and $11.00 for non-members. It might be a nice idea to give them a call if you plan on attending…
The social media elite are gathering in Austin, TX this week for SXSW. Here’s a reminder for the rest of us…
“No matter how shy you think you are, the person next to you may be even more shy. So be the one to break the ice, and just say hello. Start up conversations with the person in line behind you, with the person walking down the hall near you. Smile and make a comment about the long, long walks between sessions or the beautiful sunshine outside that everyone is missing. I met a guy from Belgium as I walked back to my hotel yesterday and got some wonderful insight into how others perceive our country and our conferences.” Source: 10 More Tips For Enjoying SXSW – WebWorkerDaily
Me? I’m one of those guys that usually talks to strangers. It’s fun. Sometimes it’s rewarding. Last week, while stranded in Detroit, I struck up a convo with a guy named Marty who was my twin separated at birth from a business standpoint. Coincidentally, we were joined my a mutual friend who also ended up being stranded [thank God he had a pass to the Delta Sky Club and could get us in for the rest of the day!] at the Detroit airport until later that evening. Try it! It’s an interesting way to pass the time and sometime, just sometimes, it can be really rewarding. You just have to make the first move…
From my perspective, there are two main types of blog content; creation and curation…
“The idea behind curators and content curation is that there is such a flood of new content pouring through the Internet pipes these days that being aware of all of it and sorting it out in meaningful ways is simply not possible. Curators are people or organizations that do the hard work of sifting through the content within a particular topic area or “meme” and pulling out the things that seem to make most sense. This effort involves significantly more than finding and regurgitating links, though.” Source: Who are your curators? | Content curator | Digital Curator
You don’t have to ‘create’ original content in order have original blog content — you can curate content from other thought leaders for incorporation into your site. The content you aggregate from other sites [properly attributed, of course] along with your perspective is a public reflection of your brand as well! I rarely post anything without at least one quote from another thought leader — in fact, it’s usually those quotes [like the one in this post] that encourage me to weigh in on my blog in the first place. Where do you fall on this issue?
I’m a huge fan of blogging for small businesses — after all, it has worked so well for me! This question invariably comes up sooner or later…
“What the hell am I supposed to write about, I own a {insert your small business here}?
Really, who cares about your flower shop, bike shop, auto parts store, or coffee house?
Answer: Your customers certainly care.
We all know by now that consistent small business blogging can drastically improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and overall web presence. Additionally, a small business blog can increase your opportunities to interact with (and highlight) your customers and provide an additional occasion for you to share your expert knowledge.
Unfortunately, nothing stops a would be small business blogger faster than a perceived lack of time, and the frustration that comes with a lack of ideas to blog about.” Source: 9 Tips for Creating More Small Business Blogging Ideas
You’ll have to go to the source for Darren Rowse’s 9 ways. Questions? Feedback? Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to your business…Technorati Tags: blogging, small business
A couple of weeks ago, I announced that my “Social Media Academy” course would be available April 5. I’m looking for three to five beta testers to help me perfect the content. The course is very much still in it’s infancy stages, but I am looking for a few people who would like to participate in testing the course as I build it…
This course is mean to address what I feel is a huge gap in the social media space — there seems to be no shortage of strategists who are generating demand by describing the social media ‘promised land’ but they leave seminar attendees wondering how do they take the next step. My focus will be on the practical tactics and tools outlined in my series ‘Top 10 Tactics and Tools for Tightening your Tribe’. It is meant for solopreneurs, small business owners, organizational leaders or marketing professionals who want to add social media to their mix but still want to get home for supper. You know what I mean? No one has more time in their days — “how can I add social media and without adding hours”? is the thrust of the course.
In exchange for helping me beta test the course, the participants will of course get free access to the course materials as I create and publish them, as well as semi-private coaching and the opportunity to potentially earn some money by promoting the course as affiliates when I launch it. Questions? Feedback? Comment, call or contact me to get more details…
Kevin Naze, one of my favorite outdoor writers, of the Green Bay Press Gazette writes…
Dave Nolan is a family man on a mission of faith.
While part of it includes finding a new career after an 18-year stint in the automotive industry ended when General Motors decided to stop making Saturns, another component to his master plan is getting more people to look beyond the world’s values.
“My dream job would be to have a career in sync with my passions — the outdoors partnered with the Christian ministry,” Nolan said. “My goal is to be the face of an organization and build relationships with an organization that shares the same passions.” Source: De Pere’s Nolan following a new path | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
What thrills me most about this is knowing the backstory. You see, Dave is a client of e1evation, llc and a good friend to boot. I was with him when his job at Saturn was pulled out from under him and I’ve been there every step of the way as he has made his decision to follow his passion and follow God’s lead into a career in the ‘outdoors’…
Dave is using the good, fast and cheap tools I advocate to build his business. He’s still taking baby steps at Dave Nolan Outdoors, but he’s making all the right moves. Track his progress! This guy’s a thought leader who is going places and he’s partnering with e1evation, llc to make it happen…
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Let’s start here…
“Without question, blogging provides an effective way to market your business, be a valuable resource and build your personal brand online. And most folks know that, generally, the more frequently you blog, the higher your traffic. But does that mean you should follow the advice of many to create a new post every single day?
Focusing only on traffic numbers, instead of the concentrating on sharing content and building relationships will send you down the path to burnout. Here at WebWorkerDaily, we have multiple writers contributing to help keep the content fresh. But for one-person blogs, blogging daily works for some and not for others.” Source: Just How Often Should You Blog? – WebWorkerDaily
Go to the source for some good thoughts on ‘how often’ — it’s really good stuff! In the meantime, I’m heading in another direction…
I just closed out my best blogging month ever traffic-wise. What was significant to me was that I did it in a ‘short’ month with no speaking engagements. Usually, when I have a chance to speak, my traffic spikes because all the seminar attendees check out my site — it’s usually good for a couple hundred pageviews. In February, however, I did it all on my own, post by post by post. I’ve already laid out all my tactics and tools in the series “Top 10 Tactics and Tools for Tightening your Tribe” and yes, I used them all this past month. I did make two significant changes, however. #1 I redesigned my site using the ‘Thesis’ theme which promises some kind of magic SEO foo and really seems to have delivered for me. #2 I experimented with spreading my posts out throughout the day. Instead of posting 3-5 posts at 6:00 AM, I spread them out every two hours or so throughout the day. Whether it was one, or the other, or both, my traffic’s going nuts!
HubSpot gives me a grade of 96 on my site, Google tells me I have 6,076 pageviews over the past 30 days and Alexa tells me my site is ranked 484,123 in the US. Not much left to prove from my perspective and the thing that excites me most is that my success is the result of a systematic process I can teach to anyone. I usually benchmark myself against local radio station WTAQ because I like to see how I fare against ‘old’ media in my market. They have an Alexa ranking of 116,615 which is really awesome. It thrills me that I’m actually ranked higher than local social media wunderkind Dana VanDen Heuvel [a good friend to e1evation], although I’m sure that won’t last long. He’s at 520,219…
I’m certain my traffic will drop some during the upcoming month as I’ll be directing a great deal of my creative energy toward three projects I announced in February. They are the Social Media Academy — an online training class on the top tactics and tools for effective social media, The Damn Good Social Media Guide — the accompanying ebook, and last? A weekly podcast. I’m currently looking for beta testers for the Social Media course. If you’d like to save yourself the $499 fee and get all the content in a rough format for free, comment, call or contact me and let me know. As always, thanks for reading…
Start here…
“If you are a small business owner like me, then you are no stranger to the fact that learning how to master Twitter can seem a little bit like wrestling a hungry alligator. Meaning, there is a steep learning curve and if you mess up it can be deadly.
Figuratively speaking, of course!
After using Twitter for the past couple of years, and following a lot of trial and error, below are ten ways that I think you can begin to use Twitter to drive more traffic to your small business blog.” Source: Top Ten Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Small Business Blog Using Twitter
Go to the source to get the 10 ways!
Here’s an interesting find from Mitch Joel…
“About a year ago, famed Marketing professor, Ken Wong, spoke at a private dinner event. During his talk, he pushed for Marketers to really take a serious look at the many Digital Marketing opportunities, but then cautioned the Digital Marketers in the audience that there won’t ever be any kind of true groundswell unless we provide the masses with real business case studies with defined metrics that truly demonstrate success. Essentially, most businesses will not be cutting edge or bleeding edge, and they probably won’t even be fast-followers. More than likely, they’re looking for those who have walked down the path before them and would like to read and better understand the process, the challenges and the final metrics.” Source: Proving Social Media Works | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
Joel continues…
“Tod Maffin is widely respected entrepreneur, radio guy (and Podcaster) who is always highly engaged in the Digital Marketing spheres (he’s also an author and speaker). He just launched his latest project, Case Studies Online – Proven Social Media Tactics For Assured ROI, and it’s pretty amazing. The database currently stores almost 300 Social Media – Digital Marketing case studies that can be searched and viewed by demographics, specific industries, types of organizations, regions and even specific tactics. So, you can look for Social Media case studies that involved moms for the automotive industry using a Facebook Fan Page, and voila! Pushing it further, you can even refine that search criteria more.” Source: Proving Social Media Works | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
Here’s a video that explains the concept…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea-stSxKySU&feature=player_embedded
Still not using social media because you’re not sure it works? You can find casestudiesonline here. You just lost your last excuse… ;-)
Small business owners should pay heed to the opportunities presented by mobile social media as the number of smartphone users climbs…
“Small businesses stand to increase their local audience and further their market reach through geolocation platforms, which attach real-world locations to mobile phones. Here are a few ways companies can become part of the location tagging world of social media.” Source: HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready
The place to start, however, is with Google Maps which is fast becoming the ‘Yellow Pages’ of the internet. Watch this…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lviDz8fUMTE&feature=player_embedded
One thing to be aware of. Google has a STOOPID process for adding you to the map…
“First you’ll need your PIN, which should arrive in the mail within two weeks after you submit your business listing. If you have your PIN, enter it beside the appropriate listing below, then click ‘Go.'” Source: Google Local Business Center
You have to receive a pin via SNAIL MAIL. It’s the dumbest process in the entire Googlesphere but the benefits are worth the pain in the butt. imho, it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways a company can advertise their business. The information you enter about your business goes directly into the Google search engine and is immediately available to all those geeks who use Google Maps on their desktops or better yet, on their smartphones as they travel through your town…
Just because you’re a small business, doesn’t mean you can’t leverage social media — in fact, it’s quite the opposite…
“Social Media impacts every business, every brand, and in doing so, connects a network of distributed communities of influence, making the world a much smaller place in the process. Small businesses are in fact at an advantage in Social Media Marketing as they can focus on hyper-local activity that can offer immediate rewards or at the very least, the real-time feedback or lack thereof says everything about next steps.
A recent survey conducted by Citibank offers a contrary point of view, citing small business executives who believe social networks offer no benefit or promise to expanding their business. This isn’t all that uncommon however. The truth is that without knowledge or direct experience, it’s virtually impossible to envision the potential of something where they’re most likely absent as a consumer themselves.” Source: The Socialization of Small Business | Brian Solis
The article goes on to say…
“Ad-ology published its “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010″ report that revealed that among the other benefits of social media, lead generation is the biggest benefit of online networking. Other benefits ranked as follows…” Source: The Socialization of Small Business | Brian Solis
You’ll have to go to the source to get the complete ranked list. Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to your business!
When Chris Brogan speaks, I listen. This time I take issue…
“There are three main areas of practice for social media that your company (or you) should be thinking about: listening, connecting, publishing. From these three areas, you can build out your usage of the tools, thread your information networks to feed and be fed, and align your resources for execution. There are many varied strategies you can execute using these toolsets. There are many different tools you can consider employing for your efforts. But that’s the basic structure: listening, connecting, publishing.” Source: Framing Your Social Media Efforts
Why? I think publishing goes BEFORE connecting — your online brand is a big part of what people want to connect to, so I think you have to publish first [after listening of course!]. What say you?
A prospective client asked me this yesterday: “I read through it [referring to this post] and was looking for how it translates into measurable business benefits such as client satisfaction, increased inside sales, increased referrals, etc – can you point me to any of these indicators with regard to this AGCO initiative?”
As I ponder how to respond, I’m considering these words of wisdom from Mitch Joel on the topic of social media ROI…
“How do you measure success? If this were a high school cheer, it would probably end in: “R-O-I!”
Ahh, the elusive ROI is Social Media. If yesterday’s Blog post (Social Media Gurus – That Old Chestnut) didn’t provoke some thought and commentary, then trying to crack the elusive Social Media ROI will surely get your noodle boiling. Richard Binhammer (from Dell’s Social Media team) gave a private presentation yesterday and when one of the audience members asked about how Dell measures the ROI of their Social Media strategy, Binhammer responded that ROI was nothing more than an accounting term and probably has little to no place when it comes to measuring the success of any Social Media marketing initiative.
How would that make your clients, team members and supervisors feel?
Pushing Binhammer’s comments further, he also said that if you’re looking for the ROI in the campaign, you’ll probably spend too much time, budget and energy just trying to figure out what your definition of ROI is, and concluded by saying that he doesn’t think about ROI, rather he looks at the overall business objectives and if Social Media can help him meet those objectives, then that is what is ultimately the most important thing.
Let’s repeat: forget the ROI and look at the business objectives.
In looking at business through this prism, Dell has changed the way they do business and – in doing so – they have made lots of money by being engaged and using everything Social Media that is under the sun. In a more primal way, they’re focused on using Social Media to meet practical business objectives and not looking at the overall ROI. In thinking about Social Media and how it can help in overall business objectives, it does make things a lot easier to swallow.” Source: Killing ROI | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
Binnhammer’s perspective means alot as Dell is one of the few major brands that are thriving in a down economy. Coincidentally, they are ranked #2 for ‘deep brand engagement’ amongst the 100 most valuable brands as ranked by the ENGAGEMENTdb study which concludes that ‘deep brand engagement correlates with financial performance’…
Relative to AGCO, do I have data that shows that a customer purchased a new combine as a direct result of a video we posted to YouTube? Hardly. What we do see at AGCO is this: Stock has risen since the time AGCO actively engaged in social media…
“SmarTrend identified an Uptrend for AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) on October 27, 2009 at $29.61. In approximately 3 months, AGCO has returned 9.1% as of today’s recent price of $32.31.
AGCO is currently above its 50-day moving average of $31.71 and above its 200-day moving average of $29.11. Look for these moving averages to climb to confirm the company’s upward momentum.
SmarTrend will continue to scan these moving averages and a number of other proprietary indicators for any shifts in the trajectory of AGCO shares.” Source: AGCO Upward Momentum Looks to Continue (AGCO) – Comtex SmarTrend Alert
Is there any other more important measurement?
I don’t claim for one minute that AGCO’s momentum is due entirely to social media. I do claim that it has a lot to do with the social media ‘state of mind’. Snap! I went there, as my teenage son would say. What I mean is this. When business results start going south, someone within the organization will usually say ‘we need to return to the ‘blocking and tackling’ [or fundamentals or get back to basics] of our business. One of the fundamental disciplines of social media is listening to what the internet as a whole and customers in particular are saying — the most fundamental of all business fundamentals and the first thing that successful companies have historically stopped doing!
More to come…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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