Tag: thoughts

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I was drawn in by the title of this compelling YouTube video. It’s a thoughtful piece on why it may not be as easy as you’d like to introduce new strategies…

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Just in case you missed Dan Zarella’s awesome webinar yesterday, you can hear the recorded content here…

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via lifehacker.com

You can follow the ‘via’ link above if you’re interested in gaining efficiencies through Google Reader…

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It’s always easier to just buy an ad.  There are people that will take your money and use it to produce a commercial, tv spot or print ad.  People will see your ad and a few of them may even come into your store if your ad has a good call to action or a coupon.  There is a problem with that strategy.  There’s an easier way that takes more work.  How can something be easier and take more work?

It’s more work to…

…gather contact information for all of your current clients or members.

…communicate with them about things other than your organization, store or “sale of the century”.

…talk to individuals instead of buying an ad for the masses.

But it’s easier to…

…get information of your current clients than to get information from strangers.

…talk about what’s important to their lives if you’re listening  on their terms (Facebook or Twitter come to mind).

…talk to individuals and get a response than to buy an ad and get the attention of the masses.

As with all things worth while it’s easier in the long run if you do more work in the beginning.

Stop throwing money at the masses and start talking to individuals.

via andytraub.com

Nice post by Andy Traub. For me, it’s like Guy Kawasaki says ““If you have more Money than brains, you should focus on Outbound Marketing. If you have more Brains than money, you should focus on Inbound Marketing.” [Just in case you’re not sure, ads are outbound, social media is inbound.] One of the things I love about social media marketing is that it takes more time than money! All of us are working hard in the current economy but imho, the smart ones are channeling that effort into inbound marketing in the form of social media. Questions? Feedback?

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Air Force New Media Manual http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/doc_player.swf?doc=afd-090406-036-091104120241-phpapp02&stripped_title=air-force-new-media-manual&userName=DepartmentofDefense

View more documents from Department of Defense

Just in case you haven’t seen this before, it’s one of the best examples of a social media policy manual I’ve ever seen. Have something as good or better?

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I’ve heard it all before… “my company just needs a good website to get my product out. Trust me they will come”… or another good one, “I have a facebook profile and now I can send out product updates and people will just get them.” Er, no. For years Business to Business companies have been trying to match the success, and sometime failures, of traditional media that Business to Consumer companies have had. Then the internet seemed to even the playing field. Only problem was, B2B companies didn’t have the budgets B2C companies had to market that cool website. Plus, the market for their products is much smaller. When I mean smaller, I mean I know a few companies that only have about a dozen or so potential customers. You could technically buy a dozen donuts and email each prospect one. As long as it’s not jelly filled, because that could get messy.

So back to facebook.com and can it work for B2B? The answer is yes. But it does come with a few caveats. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will work without a sound marketing strategy. Also, one of the main reason’s any tactic will fail is lack of follow through. Let’s face it, nobody has any time to do any marketing things during our busy work day right? Wrong. How may of us check our facebook account as often as we check our email? Lots, ok, we also check on our farms, but that’s totally different. So just by checking your facebook account, you have time to add a update that can make your business more relevent to prospects and current customers. So I have written five steps that can help any B2B company get more out of facebook.

via macdesign13.wordpress.com

I’m so glad I know Kiar Olson and I love his perspective on this topic — you can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’d like to read his ‘5 step’ program…

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In case it’s not obvious by now, I’m very passionate about ‘enabling’ technology – technology that enables people to go beyond themselves and accomplish great things. My favorites sites are sites like Lifehacker, Mashable, Stepcase Lifehack, etc. – you get the point! I read the geeky stuff looking for good, fast and cheap tools so that my clients don’t have to – I keep my fingers on the pulse of what’s happening technology and productivity-wise for you…

Because I’m out there on the cutting edge, I see a lot of great stuff come and go and each year it seems there’s ONE BIG THING I discover that changes the way I work forever. Last year for example, it was ‘mastering’ WordPress – that one thing had a fundamental impact on my business and my life, in fact, most of my business now revolves around WordPress in one way or another. Well, if someone asked me what is the coolest tool or technology I’ve mastered in the past five or ten years, my answer, without a doubt would be rss feeds and readers. RSS? Yes, RSS! Continue reading “Tactic #2: ‘Listen’ to the internet…” →

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It’s always interesting to go back and see where you were a year or so ago thoughtwise and what you may have learned since then. My ‘old post promoter’ randomly brings up old posts and this one, looking back on 2009 is very interesting to me. In it we find the genesis of what I now call the ‘e1evation workflow’ which now consists of 10.5 tools — many of which have stood the test of time since 2009. The mainstays of this process have been working for me for over 18 months now and continue to produce consistent results across a wide variety of industry verticals. What follows is the original post…

Image representing FriendFeed as depicted in C...
Image via CrunchBase

LOL! Here I sit looking back over the past decade, thinking that it seems like only yesterday that we were sitting in fear of Y2K. Now I’m making a living using tools that for the most part didn’t exist back then. It’s a wonderful [tech] life, eh?!

Wrapping up 2009, here’s the list of my favorite social media tools, organized according to their position and role within the e1evation system. This may look like a simple list but it took over a year to develop and that’s not because I’m a slow learner — it’s because I use rigorous filters for inclusion in my social media toolkit. I also am constantly using Einstein’s Razor [“Things must be as simple as possible but no simpler.”] to keep the toolset small. With that intro, here they are…

Perception

  • Google Reader
  • Feedly
  • iTunes [for sme podcasts, silly!]

Publishing

  • Posterous
  • ScribeFire
  • Shareaholic
  • FriendFeed
  • Facebook Page [along with key applications]
  • WordPress

Propagation

  • Facebook Page
  • Twitter [along with Hootsuite]
  • LinkedIn
  • Feedblitz
  • Tumblr

Preferences [other favorites tools]

  • Delicious
  • Evernote
  • Instapaper
  • Scribd
  • SlideShare
  • YouTube

Effectively using these tools together has elevated my business blog to #474,040 in the United States and #1,612,683 in the world in just 6 months according to Alexa. Imagine what you could do if you added one of these tools to your toolkit every month or so next year!

Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page. And, have a great 2010!

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via mashable.com

Me? For years I’ve been creating a virtual newspaper from my own trusted sources in Google Reader. If you’re interested in learning how, consider signing up for my free Google Reader ‘Rockstar’ class…

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDtphTOHUu4&feature=player_embedded
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I love it when I find a quote to support my preconceived notions because if I say it, it’s just opinion, but if an ‘expert’ says it, well, it must be true. In this case a designer talks about web design…

“This one will probably get me into trouble.

I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades and I’m not supposed to say this stuff. After all, it’s my job to make miracles. To wave my magic design wand and make a business look stronger, smarter, and more powerful than it really is.

Before I start dodging rotten tomatoes, though, I’m going to go ahead and say it out loud.

It’s a smart business move to have a well-designed website.

But good design — even great design — won’t solve all your business problems. Not even close.” Source: The Myth of Beautiful Website Design | Copyblogger

Although I do design websites, I think of myself less as a web designer than I do a social media technologist. In my methodology, a blog enabled website is a homebase or hub for a social media publishing network. My goal in design is simply to have the site load fast, connect to social media outposts and not be so ugly that a user won’t roll around on the floor clawing her eyes out. That’s it. As Pamela says in the quoted article “Don’t expect miracles from your graphic design. It’s definitely a valuable part of creating your business’s image, but it’s not a substitute for a sound marketing strategy.”

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How_to_be_a_google_reader_rock

 

This is not an old post promotion! I will be doing a ‘brown bag’ lunch and learn at noon CST Friday, March 18, 2011 on how to use Google Reader like a Rockstar… 

Despite what you may have heard, RSS is not dead. In fact, I remain convinced that knowing how to proactively manage RSS feeds is the single most important step you can take to turning the information tide in your favor. During the one hour session, I’ll be going over the attached mindmap in greater detail, showing you how to use Google Reader to create your own ‘virtual newspaper’ from sources that you trust to make the news you need to track come to you. This session will be limited the the first 15 people who sign up below — the tickets are free, so don’t be afraid to click ‘buy a ticket’!

Act now to take control over your information! :-D

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Social Media Landscape
Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

“Social media is free.  Social media is easy.  Just hop on twitter and start tweetin’!” Hmmm… how many times have we heard that? I have honestly heard social media consultants at networking events state during their 60 second pitch “social media is free, come talk to me if you want to do free marketing!”  Ouch, not the case folks.

Several business leaders have asked me lately for tips on finding a good business or social media consultant. Many have been confused by the blog posts that seem to only complain versus helping business decision makers find someone who can really help them.

I actually did a few Google searches and found very little in regard to helpful tips and skills to look for.  What I did find was numerous posts complaining about social media consultants, gurus and how to spot a bad one.  I have to admit I too have posted a few blog posts that are on the humorous side of this topic while trying to offer helpful tips at the same time.

I wanted to provide some helpful tips when hiring a consultant.  Note, what is a good consultant for Tom doesn’t mean it will be so for Betty and Jane.  Consultants, just as mentors and coaches should be selected based on personal fit with your business goals, life cycle, culture, gaps etc. The most important thing is that you do your research and talk to a few.  Don’t go with the first one you meet.

via socialmediatoday.com

I’m one of those social media consultants. You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article and then give me a call and rake me over the coals!

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…from the social media rock star event…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYHLZzXDe9c&feature=player_embedded
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiCn6y6JU8o
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John Jantsch
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John Jantsch recently wrote on the topic of “Profiting from other people’s content”. He says…

“Don’t be alarmed by that title — I’m not talking about stealing content for gain, I’m talking about adding the filtering and aggregating of content to your content consumption, creation and sharing routine.

Pretty much everyone has bought into the idea that they need to produce lots of valuable content in order to build the trust and search engine eyes of today’s online prospect. One way to supplement your content strategy while still providing lots of value, is to get good at finding and filtering other people’s content that your prospects and customers will find useful as well. (Done right, the other people will thank you for giving a wider audience to their content).

It should go without saying that giving credit to the original source and full attribution to the author when appropriate is a must.” Source: Profiting From Other People’s Content | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

John talks about his “consumption, creation and sharing routine” — my mantra is ‘listen, publish, promote’ which is a little more elegant in my book but we’re both trying to say the same thing and use an alliteration in the process. If I were John, I might go for ‘consume, create, communicate‘ — in fact, I might start using that instead. Either way, the point is that gathering good content effectively and commenting on it is a great way to build your personal brand. I’ve been using this strategy for years — most recently, I amped it up by using Posterous [another tool that John advocates] and saving more content directly to my blog instead of shared bookmarks as I used to do. Here are the results:

I think the results are really quite good for an ‘army of one’, don’t you? I do all my ‘creation and communication’ as a result of my daily ‘consumption’ — because my system is easy to implement and use, I work it frequently. I call quoting other sites ‘curation’ and my rare original thoughts ‘creation’. The curation works to draw people to my creation. Does it work? You betcha [you’re reading this, aren’t you?]. The average person drawn into my blog through effective communication reads 3.3 pages and spends 2:52 minutes on the site, while only 4.75% ‘bounce’ to another site. Over 71% are new visitors…

Jantsch goes on to give three tactical implementations of his ‘profiting from content’ suggestion. They are…

“Make yourself a better resource

Creating a habit of filtering content related to your industry, products, competitors and customers will make you better at what you do, allow you to keep up with trends and give you data to help you build deeper relationships with customers.

Share content to draw attention

Pointing out useful resources and good finds is a great way to build your social media and blog followings. Consistently sharing relevant links and sharing them on Twitter is a strategy that many find helps them be seen as follow worthy. Creating a once a week blog post roundup of good stuff is a great way to add content and keep readers engaged.

Filter personalized content

A more advanced strategy is to use your filter skills to create your own industry research briefs. If you specialize in several market niches you can create laser specific new pages and email newsletter roundups that feature the best of what you find each week. You can even use RSS technology to deliver dynamically changing web content password protected for your best clients.” Source: Profiting From Other People’s Content | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Clearly, John and I share a lot of the same ‘common sense’. He goes on to list 10 different resources [you can follow the link] you can use as tools to find other people’s content. One of them — Kurrently — is one I’ll have to add to my toolkit. For me, however, this is where we part ways. My paradigm is “Google Reader is the answer. Now what is the question?“.

I use Google Reader like a tactical nuke. It’s the one tool I use to manage the ‘rest of the internet’ and I use it like a virtual newspaper or better yet, news bureau, where I manage hundreds of little newsbots that do my news aggregation for me. I have 5 great ways to get relevant content into Google Reader and they include most of John’s 10 tools — it’s just that in my book, Google Reader is the one tool that rules them all. It really is the driver in my ‘e1evation workflow’ outlined below. Either you get it and you can use it or I can help you implement it but the point is that if you have a brand and you want to build it online, we can help…

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…through our partnership with AGCO around ‘socializing’ — using social media to cover — trade shows. Here are some interesting thoughts from Kipp Bodnar on the topic…

“Almost every B2B company invests part of its marketing budget in trade shows. It is one tried and true method of lead generation. The problem with trade shows is that they aren’t cheap, and they are a big line item on the marketing budget. So if your company is making the investment, then it should do everything it can to squeeze out every last drop of value. This need for value, combined with cut travel budgets across all industries, means that the solution to this problem is social media.” Source: 5 Ways To Make Your B2B Trade Show Social | Social Media B2B

Go to the source for the rest of the article. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me…

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As a father of 6, parental analogies are always close at hand for me. It’s why I sometimes say that clients are like children in that when you see them take the things you teach them and they make it their own and excel, you can’t help but burst with pride. Recently, the AGCO blog was included in the agriculture feed at Alltop, the internet’s best source for news aggregation, becoming the only Farm Equipment manufacturer to do so…

AGCO’s success should rightly be credited to Jamy Johnson, a budding online community manager and social media practitioner who took the time to embrace the ‘e1evation workflow’ and make it her own. Last month, their blog had over 10,000 visits and it’s rapidly becoming a key factor in lifting the corporate website to new heights in search and traffic rankings as well…

Kudos to Jamy’s manager Sue Otten who had the courage to embrace social media in the ag space before ag social media was cool! If Jamy and Sue can rise to the top using “good, fast, and cheap” social media tools for agriculture, imagine what you can do in your industry!

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