Thinks I find along the way
Now, there are two possible responses to this diagram. ‘Duh!’ and ‘huh?’. If you’re a ‘duh’, then more power to you. If you’re a ‘huh?’ then comment, call or contact me and I’ll net it out for you. Social media integration is an important part of building your brand and I can help…
This post from Darren Rowse has me thinking about myself and the people in my trusted network…
“I recently was chatting with a new blogger and they made the comment that after 3 weeks of blogging that they’d run out of things to write about. They had written 10 posts so far but felt that they’d nothing else to share of value on the topic.
What surprised me about their comments was that the blogger was actually a seasoned pro in their niche. They were new to blogging about their topic but they’d been working in their industry for 25 years and were seen as an expert in their field…. yet they didn’t feel like they had anything to say about the topic!
I dug a little deeper and it turned out that the reason for their issue was not that they didn’t have much to write about – but that they were taking for granted the level of knowledge that they actually had. Much of what they’d learned over the years was now so basic to them that they didn’t realise how valuable it was for someone at a lower level of expertise.” Source: What Are You Taking For Granted That Might Be Useful to Others?
Are you one of those that doesn’t appreciate the fact that she’s an expert? Well — you’re wrong! You don’t get to this point in life without having gained expertise at something. Your expertise might only be interesting to 100 people on the planet, but by blogging, you’ll find them. Or more likely they’ll find you…
Having taught classes before on ‘finding your gift’, the one thing I’ve learned is that the more you exercise your ‘gift’, the more it feels like breathing. In other words, it becomes so natural that it’s just a part of you. And who would be interested in little old you?
Well? Your wrong. You’re an expert and your point of view is interesting to other people who aren’t as far along their path. Or who are. Or who are ahead of you. Here’s a dirty little secret; there are no experts. The body of knowledge is expanding so fast that no one can master it all. Your point of view is a valuable part of the puzzle but no one will ever know it unless you make your point of view public; searchable, findable and knowable!
How do you get started? I’ve researched all the tools and I haven’t found anything easier or more powerful than Posterous and the Posterous bookmarklet. Your expertise can turn you into a thought leader if you’ll only publish and promote your work! Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to your business if I didn’t make myself clear…
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What’s this?
“Nielsen recently released a new report that officially documents what many of us already know, just never substantiated through data. According to a study published at the end of January 2010, Nielsen observed the online social activity of consumers around the world and discovered an 82% increase in time spent on social networking sites in December 2009. On average, users spent more than five and a half hours on popular networks such as Facebook and Twitter in December 2009. In December 2008, users clocked just over three hours on social networking sites.” Source: Time Spent on Social Networks up 82% Around the World
Uh oh! If I leverage social media outposts to expand my brand into social media I may actually generate some leads…
;-)
Your online presence, that is…
“If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you have multiple online profiles scattered across various services, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, and Twitter. And one problem you may face is pulling all of this information together to build a single online identity — be it for personal use, or to create a professional online profile. Flavors.me is a new site launching today that looks to make this as simple as possible, and it does so with flying colors. After a three month long private beta, the site has just launched to the public.” Source: Flavors.me: A Dead Simple Way To Pull Your Online Presences Into One Place
I tried flavors.me. It’s cute. My take? It’s primarily geared toward casual online users that what a kind of internet ‘business card’ that puts all your online properties in one place…
If you’re really serious about getting it together on the internet, there are two tools that I recommend you use; Retaggr and Google profiles…
Retaggr has been around longer than Google profiles and I started using it over a year ago. Retaggr, which identifies itself as the ‘definitive online profile’ allows you to add your user name to any of the hundreds of social media tools they have inventoried. The result will be a nice profile like this that brings together all the stuff you’re doing online — they even give you a way to include the profile in your email signature!
More recently, Google has begun to offer a similar type of service. While it does not offer some of the bells and whistles that Retaggr [like widgets and gadgets, etc.] it does have the advantage of being smack on the Google backbone…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f2ywgldeiY&feature=player_embedded
Fortunately/unfortunately, we’ve read this book before and Google wins in the end — at least for the next 5 years or so. So, if you’re going to pick one or the other, check out Google profiles if you’re serious about putting together a social media dashboard for people you are hoping will find you…
OK, I’m officially pissed. I’ve been a massive Citrix advocate influencing dozens, if not hundreds, for over 5 years since GoToMeeting first came on the scene and I discovered I could deliver high-quality online meetings for a year for the price of one month of WebEx…
Recently, I evaluated GoToTraining and was getting ready to utilize it for my new ‘Social Media Academy’ training program. I was stunned when I saw Citrix’s new pricing model…
GoToWebinar used to seat 1000 people for the flat rate of $99 per month. Now the price is $499. WTH? In a down economy, Citrix is sticking it to their customers with a 500% increase. If you want to train 200 people in GoToTraining it will set you back $349. Only GoToMeeting has held the line on pricing at $49 [although I know a secret that will get you a $39 monthly rate — you’ll have to get me offline for that one!]…
Citrix, it’s bad enough that your reseller program sucks, but this is an over the top stoopid move — you’re no longer on my recommended list of products [Wall Street take note!]…
I think author Lewis Howes is a little over the top here in his praise for LinkedIn, but I still think he’s worth quoting…
“LinkedIn is the most powerful social networking site to help you grow your business. It makes Twitter, Facebook and YouTube seem like social networking sites for kids.If you want to hang with the big players—a place where connections are made, leads are generated, and deals go down—then you need to spend more of your time on LinkedIn.
Although other sites have their purpose in the business world and many people utilize multiple social networking sites, LinkedIn is still the number-one place to market your business.” Source: Top 5 Ways to Market Your Business With LinkedIn | Social Media Examiner
His recommendations?
Me personally? I think that Facebook has stolen LinkedIn’s lunch money. What I mean by that is that 5 years ago, LinkedIn was the serious tool for business social networkers and Facebook was the place where you spied on your kids. LinkedIn lost its popularity to Facebook which continues to gain momentum in the business space. I consider LinkedIn to still be one of the ‘big 3′ social media tools, but it’s a distant 3rd to Facebook and Twitter. Exception? LinkedIn continues to succeed in some business communities like Northeast Wisconsin where we are traditionally slow to adopt and slow to let go so it cannot be overlooked as part of a comprehensive social media campaign. If you want to get started with LinkedIn, you can’t go wrong by following Lewis Howes’ advice. If you can’t figure out what he’s talking about, contact me…
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!
Let’s start with some good stuff from Loic LeMeur, founder of Seesmic and social media expert…
“Tomorrow I am giving a talk at Stanford University with Robert Scoble and MC Hammer on how social software changes marketing so I thought like sharing a few points here and had to chose a title inspired from Scoble’s Corporate Weblog Manifesto in 2003, just for fun. The talk should be online on YouTube next week watch this space or my Twitter I will post it. I also have a simpler version in French. ” Source: Loic Le Meur Blog: The Corporate Social Networking Manifesto
Next? Some worthwhile thoughts on improving the Facebook experience…
“The sheer number of friends I have, in the real world and on the internet, who use Facebook ultimately led me to capitulate and start using it a little. I’m not a huge fan by any means, but I will admit that I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to.” Source: How to Vastly Improve Your Facebook Experience with Filters and Lists | Newsome.Org
Next, how Twitter can save your life…
“It’s safe to say that the majority of the world thinks Twitter is a waste of time. Yes, Twitter is a darling of the New York Times and frequents front pages of mainstream media. But Twitter gets coverage not because the intelligentsia loves Twitter, but because the intelligentsia hates feeling like it’s falling behind.
This post is for all the people who think Twitter is stupid but wish they didn’t.” Source: Twitter can save your life | Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist
Here’s a Darren Rowse video on how bloggers should use twitter…
“In this video I interview Darren Rowse, founder of the popular blogs Problogger.net and Twitip (a blog dedicated to Twitter).
Darren also authored the best selling book Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.
In this video Darren shares why Problogger took off and his great tips on how bloggers should use Twitter.” Source: How Bloggers Should Use Twitter (a Darren Rowse Interview) | Social Media Examiner
Follow the source link for the video. Finally, a list of blogging resources to follow…
…from Wisconsin social media guru [no, that’s not an oxymoron!] Dana VanDen Heuvel…
“Social media is an umbrella term for online technologies that connect people through networking, according to Dana VanDen Heuvel, founder and president of the Marketing Savant Group, Green Bay.” Source: Social media connects organizations, customers | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
He goes on to say…
“”The value of social media is that it connects customers to us or to each other. It’s not just a list of Web sites or things to download,” VanDen Heuvel said. “It’s about meeting people in their medium. That is really what social media is designed to help you do.”
Businesses should care about social media, because it has changed people’s expectations of what organizations do online as compared with five years ago, he said. Also, three out of four Americans use some form of social technology: blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter), social networking (Facebook), sharing videos and others.” Source: Social media connects organizations, customers | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
He goes on to talk about offering unique value through your social media outposts and such practical things as how often your should update Facebook pages, etc. Follow the link to read the rest of article — it’s really good stuff…
btw, Dana’s a great speaker and I owe a lot to him in terms of my growth and development in social media over the past year. Do take the opportunity to see him speak if you ever get the chance — you can see his schedule here. When you want to talk tactics and tools for IMPLEMENTING Dana’s strategies, however, comment, call or contact me! I’ll help you put Dana’s strategies into practice…
;-)
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…
Here are a couple of things to think about this weekend in the social media space…
“Whom do we increasingly trust less? Us.
It’s a finding that strikes at the foundation of many a social-media marketing philosophy: Tapping into peer-to-peer networks is a way for marketers to tell authentic, credible stories to consumers whose confidence in corporate CEOs, news outlets, government officials and industry analysts has taken a beating. But according to Edelman’s latest Trust Barometer, the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped by almost half, from 45% to 25%, since 2008. ” Source: Social Media: Consumers Trust Their Friends Less – Advertising Age – News
Some things to avoid…
“Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of social media, and I’m reminded of where we were in the mid-90s with the advent of the web. I lived and worked through Web 1.0, and am feeling a sense of déjà vu as we play out the same routines with Web 2.0 and beyond: social media is getting the same basic adoption patterns, the same reactions and overreactions. It’s just different tools and terminology. We have a long way to go before everyone and their cousin uses social networks more than they email, or tweets more than they call, but nobody can deny the way we communicate has once again been changed forever.” Source: 10 Things to Avoid In Social Media – WebWorkerDaily
If those two didn’t discourage you, here are some thoughts on getting social…
“Nowadays everyone wants social in their sites and applications. It’s become a basic requirement in consumer web software and is slowly infiltrating the enterprise as well. So what’s a designer to do when confronted with the requirements to “add social”? Designing social interfaces is more than just slapping on Twitter-like or Facebook-like features onto your site. Not all features are created equal and sometimes a little bit can go a long way. It’s important to consider your audience, your product—what your users will be rallying around and why they would want to become engaged with it and each other, and that you can approach this in a systematic way, a little bit at a time.” Source: 5 Steps to Building Social Experiences – Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design
Finally, some thoughts on Google Buzz…
“If you still haven’t made up your mind yet about Buzz, here are some useful tips for customizing and automating the service so that it can work with your other social networks. We’ll also look at some ways to share messages and links via Buzz with specific groups, which could make it a useful tool for the workplace.” Source: Google Buzz Tips and Tricks – WebWorkerDaily
My jury on Buzz is still out. You?
If I were a news media journalist what social media tools would I use to make my job easier? I attended a social media panel this morning hosted by news media journalists moving into the social media space and it made me think a lot about what tools I would use if I were in their shoes. Here’s what comes to mind…
First of all, I’d act like an editor and treat the millions of content creators on the internet as my personal little cub reporters. I’d harvest their content and build my stories using the following tools:
When it came to sharing the stuff I’d found, I’d use Shareaholic and some combination of the following tools to promote my reporting:
btw, I cheated on the first line — there are really nine tools in this post, but Google Reader + Google Alerts + Feedly all act as one unit to deliver a ‘virtual newspaper’ or magazine jam packed with valuable source content. Socialmention and Tweetmeme are good for ‘taking the pulse’ of a topic. The other tools depend on what type of tools are use for promoting content that’s been posted online. It kind of assumes the media outlet has a YouTube channel, etc., but that may be a pretty big assumption. Personally, I think the combination of Shareaholic + Posterous is the killer combination for promotion. Learn these two tools and you’ll be able to grab content FROM anywhere and post it TO anywhere so easily that you’ll be able add all those additional posting responsibilities without breaking a sweat!
If this list seems daunting or the post has you scratching your head, comment, call or contact and I’ll break it down for you. Happy deadlines!
Yesterday I said goodbye to the iPhone and along with it, Apple as well. While I was working on the AGCO social media project, my good friend and partner on the project David Sauter of Envano had been kind enough to let me use an iPhone [I think he was secretly trying to bring me back into the Apple fold] until he hired a new account manager and yesterday my love/hate relationship with the iPhone — and Apple — came to an end when I returned the phone to Envano. It takes a lot of Apple to lose the love of a fanboi like me, but at the end of the day, to paraphrase the great Ronald Reagan “I didn’t leave Apple, Apple left me…
It wasn’t so much dissatisfaction with the iPhone that brought me to this point — it actually had much more to do with the iPad announcement. As Alex Payne lamented…
“”The iPad leaves me with the feeling that Apple’s interests and values going forward are deeply divergent from my own. The future of personal computing that the iPad shows us is both seductive and dystopian. It’s not a future I want to bring into my home.”” Source: Alex Payne on the iPad | Smarterware
…and start flirting with Twitter!
“A new study published today by Pew Internet finds that teens and young adults are blogging less and using social networking sites more, with the prominent exception of Twitter.
Pew’s Report surveyed 2,253 American adults and 800 U.S. teens to get a reading of how they use the internet, which gadgets they own, and which social media tools they use the most.” Source: Teens Just Don’t Blog or Tweet [STATS]
Go to the source for the rest of the article. Some of the data will surprise you…
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?
It has been awhile since I wrote about tactic #8; using branded mail…
Today I’m going to talk about the third pillar of the e1evation system; promoting your online brand and reputation through the leveraging of homebases and outposts. Pillars 1 and 2 are ‘finding your passion’ and ‘publishing’. Once you’re publishing and you’ve found your voice, it’s time to promote your content through the use of social media outposts. Chris Brogan starts us off here…
“Social networks are great places to meet new people, to build new business relationships, and to learn about information from non-traditional sources. But another great way to use social networking sites is as an outpost. What do I mean by this? It turns out that people getting to know you on social networks might also find your content for the first time, and/or something you post to those networks might bring you an opportunity that wouldn’t immediately come to you in other ways. ” Source: Using Outposts in Your Media Strategy
I first noticed the power of leveraging social media outposts during my ‘reign’ as one of the top political bloggers in Wisconsin. I noticed during that time that if I would cross-post to Facebook or some other social media tool, that the post would get more traffic. Although this idea seemed original to me, I found that other great minds like Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse were already heading down this path… Continue reading “Tactic #9: Leverage the ‘homebases and outposts’ strategy”
Hubspot reports that “Blogging Businesses Experience 126% Higher Lead Growth Than Non-Blogging Businesses”. They ask the question…
“Is blogging also associated with leads?
The answer is yes. A study of 2,300 HubSpot customers revealed that businesses that blog witness their monthly leads rise by 126% more than those who don’t.” Source: Blogging Businesses Experience 126% Higher Lead Growth Than Non-Blogging Businesses
“We compared leads last month with leads two months ago for 6 consecutive months, and the result shows that blogging businesses, whether or not they use the HubSpot platform, experience a 165% lead growth, a much larger increase than that of non-blogging businesses, which experience a 73% lead growth.
As the HubSpot team compiles more studies on the power of blogging, we also realize that blogging is not a panacea. Other factors such as a clean landing page, strong keywords, and active presence on social media sites collectively contribute to leads attraction–just remember that blogging will be an indispensable element in a successful online marketing strategy.” Source: Blogging Businesses Experience 126% Higher Lead Growth Than Non-Blogging Businesses
Hear, hear! I firmly believe in the power of blogging for small businesses and other organizations and I have seen that power demonstrated again and again in my own business. Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to yours — business, that is…
Jobs vs. Obama in the ultimate ‘reality distortion field’ knockdown. Who won? The results may surprise you…
“Two events dominated discussion last week: the unveiling of Apple’s iPad and President Obama’s State of the Union address. Leading up to last Wednesday, many wondered if Apple’s event would overshadow Obama’s. On social media, that was certainly the case.
Monitoring Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs and the rest, social media analysts at Viralheat found over half a million mentions of the two happenings. Those mentions were overwhelmingly related to Apple’s new tablet computer.
As the infographic explains, however, even if Apple had the buzz, Obama brought the honey. Generally, 42% of Apple’s mentions were positive and 46% were indifferent, whereas 65% of his mentions approved of Obama’s address and only 19% were indifferent.” Source: The Slate Walloped the State in Social Media – apple ipad – Gizmodo
Go to the source to read the analysis…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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