The Best Way To Market With Social Media?
OK, there were SO many great ideas here… it wasn’t easy to choose. I wound up choosing THREE winners, instead of just one. Winners below will get a full set of my “business training” products, and are invited to one of my live programs as my guest (total value: around $10,000). Thank you VERY much to everyone for your contributions. I’m going to re-write this post, and tune it up to make it a great resource for others who want to learn how to get started with Social Media…
WINNERS:
Alex Taylor: Great creative use of the “Ultimate Scenario” technique, the story… and just plain fun to read!
Laura Roeder: Wonderful step-by-step primer for getting started and marketing with Social Media. Nice work!
Kevin DaSilva: Nice primer for using and COMBINING Social Media tools to promote and market!
Thanks again for contributing!
(If you’re reading this now and have more ideas to contribute below, feel free… it will help others.)
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What’s the BEST way to market with Social Media?
To celebrate my first month on Twitter (reaching 4,000 followers in first 30 days), and my first month blogging consistently, I’d like to see if we can use the “Power Of The MasterMind” to learn together.
Here’s what I’m going to do:
I’m going to GIVE AWAY a set of all of my business training programs, plus a ticket to one of my live business trainings (the value of this package is about $10,000) – to the person who posts the BEST entry teaching how to market with Social Media… in the comments below.
The idea here is to generate a fantastic resource that EVERYONE can use. I would love it if I could direct people to read this post and the comments long into the future – to get a good “Social Marketing Primer.”
As “Brain Food” I’ll list some questions you might want to answer in your “entry” below…
- What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
- What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
- How should I get started with Social Media?
- What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
- What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
- What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
- How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
- Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
- Where can a person find other great online resources that cover marketing with Social Media?
Now, this fun little project is going to draw quite a few entries. No question. In order to keep things INTERESTING, I’m going to set a few quick rules…
>The Rules:
1) You must write something INTERESTING. No one-liners that say “get on twitter” or “friend me.” I’m not even going to APPROVE comment entries that aren’t thoughtful, valuable, and interesting.
2) No “negative marketing” or “name trading” suggestions (or other “hustles”). In other words, don’t recommend that someone create a YouTube video titled “Eben Pagan Sucks?!” – and then optimize the SEO value of the page. Lame.
3) I’m going to choose the winner. I’m judge, jury, and all-powerful arbiter of this contest. I realize that we could really have some fun and let everyone vote on the entries, but this is more about collaborating to create massive value FAST. I’ll choose the winner by the end of the week (in other words, start writing NOW). I’ll also Tweet the name of the winner on Twitter, of course!
So get to it, and post a comment below teaching your best Social Media marketing insights and strategies. You just might win ten thousand bucks worth of my best business training stuff!
[Follow me free on Twitter here: Twitter.com/EbenPagan]
Eben Pagan's Blog 
I think the best way to utilize social media like Twitter is to be genuinely interested in the thoughts, comments etc. of the people who follow you instead of trying to just generate “interesting” content to get people’s attention. It comes off as fake and disingenuous If you just post your own thoughts, activities, links to your products, websites etc., and people don’t feel the personal connection to you or your brand and will probably lose interest in following you.
Eben,
You did mention no one liners but I like the K.I.S.S notion: social media is like an engine and the community makes the engine going. The more valuable stuff you put in, the more value you’ll get out of it.
I can sum up marketing on social media in two words…Be Yourself. There are so many social networking sites out there, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, Naymz, Ecademy just to name a few. Get a profile on them all. (Hire a VA to do it, I happen to know a great one!)
Pick your favorite 3 that you are willing to invest your time in. Create a strategy on how you are going to use those sites to leverage your business but don’t sell! Nobody wants to be sold.
Eben, to answer your questions:
* What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
Social media is the new way to network. Using various community sites, blogs
forums and so on, you can leverage yourself as an expert, as someone to do business with, and as someone to be friends with. Why does it matter? In this day and age of convenience, higher prices, and time constraints, networking online makes sense. More and more businesses are turning to social media to gain attention and grow their business. Jump on the bandwagon before it leaves you in the dust!
* What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
Relationships. With social media it’s all about relationships. It’s not about puking on your prospect. People do business with people they know, like and trust. Social media is the way to generate that. Sure it’s another way to get your message out to the masses, but if they don’t care about you, they won’t care about your message either.
* How should I get started with Social Media?
Sign up with the various websites. Study them. Figure out which ones are best for your personality and your industry. Get a good profile up. Be careful though…each website is different and your profile has to be just a bit different too.
* What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
I think that’s more a matter of opinion but let me give it a shot:
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Ecademy, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Friendster, Plaxo, Bebo
* What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website? Run a contest. Make them friend you, follow you etc. to join the contest. Then start providing good content so they will continue to follow you and tell their friends.
* What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
Being myself. I have turned many Twitter relationships into new clients because we connected. They like me. They trust me. They want me to help them with their business.
* How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
Internet marketers are best for this. Using their list they can promote their products, seminars etc. to generate big bucks.
* Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
Not in an internet marketer sort of way. I’m just starting to dabble in that arena. I can tell you, I have 9 clients from Twitter, 1 from Facebook and several in the pipeline. I also have found a personal mentor who is helping me to take my business to the next level and become the ultimate VA.
* Where can a person find other great online resources that cover marketing with Social Media?
Google it. Jason Alba has two great books for Facebook and LinkedIn. Warren Whitlock has a great handbook for Twitter. I’m sure there are more out there. Mari Smith is another Facebook expert.
Great idea Eben and I can’t wait to read the other answers.
Social media to me is the equivalent to a 7x24x365 social gathering of similar minded people. Just like a live event, some people listen while others talk. Some are quiet and stay in a corner while others make themselves known with fireworks.
It’s different from communications in the past because never before could you really get so many people to weigh in on a concept, thought, or statement so quickly and veraciously. It forces you to think about what you want to say before you say it because it will be locked into the search engines cache in minutes or less and stay there forever.
The easiest way to get started in social media is to jump in with both feet. Go visit different social media outlets and start messing around. Make friends, enemies, and everything in between. The beauty and horror in it all is you can be anonymous. You can have a persona. It allows you to be who you want to be or who you wish you could be and it doesn’t matter.
Just by watching the biggest crowd getters tend to be off the chain entertainment, controversy, or connecting with or being announced by a guru. It’s a social network so it works the same way as if you were in High School.
People tend to find a social group that they connect with and begin “friending”. Sometimes that social reach begins to blur toward the outer reaches of the friend circle (Because it is like a circle and not a square) but there isn’t a real way you could keep track of all the posts of everyone anyway.
You asked about turning a big list of followers into money. Well, by doing what you’re doing gets people interested (A Giveaway), following you, it creates buzz. That’s how it starts. The same can be done in smaller groups but you have to remember that it will work only to a lot smaller degree.
A great example or case study will be to watch this thread. It will be evidence that social media works the way it’s supposed to. The people you appeal to will be paying attention and the people you don’t won’t ever know what’s going on. Like I said, it’s a regression back to high school.
People tend to have a curiosity to look into other people’s lives and social media is a way to do it. It’s reality TV in micro-blogs, blogs, and videos and everyone get’s to vote on it in some way. It allows the people to express what they like and get more of it.
An example of that is StubleUpon. It’s one of my favorites. I get to see what I like and find places I’ve never seen before. I’ve come across more resources that way then if I was just “searching” google.
My 2cents while I sip my beer.
The key to success with social media–and I’ve built my business on it since 1995–is to interact with others the way you’d like to be interacted with. Call it the Golden Rule of Cyberspace–it’s not so different from the Golden Rule of every major religion.
This means…
* Provide lots of helpful and useful information, especially when asking questions
* Say thank-you when people help you (but DON’T fill your public profiles with endless thank-you notes, especially on Twitter)
* Look for opportunities to connect others who should know each other, even if you don’t directly benefit
* Remember that it’s a conversation, not an e-blast
* Pitch subtly and relevantly (is that a word? It is now)
* It’s about relationships, not about numbers
As for which social media to participate on… Four musts would be Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, and (gasp! how retro!) Yahoogroups. Yeah, Yahoogroups lacks all the interface niceties of Facebook, Plaxo, etc., but it has hundreds of thousands of tightly niched communities, and I’m living proof that it’s quite possible to market there.
For myself, I also have benefited from participating on CollectiveX, LinkedIn, and Plaxo, mostly by joining groups.
I have been using social media marketing for over a decade, and writing about it all the way back to 1991. Most of my books cover the basic concepts, and I recently completed an e-book specifically covering the Web 2.0 sites–which I throw in as a bonus with either of my Grassroots Marketing books. And relationship marketing can exist outside of social media, or even the Web–I write about that in detail in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First.
Shel Horowitz, marketing strategist and copywriter
http://www.frugalmarketing.com
Social Media is a vehicle that allows for mass two-way communication via the internet. It matters because people place a greater value on the opinions of their peers than from corporate blogs or websites. What’s different about social media is that allows for immediate feedback and interaction among it’s users. The best way to start using social media is by joining sites and adding value to the discussion first, having fun, and showing some personality. The biggest mistake I see internet marketers make is to try to promote themselves right away. Some of the best social media sites available are Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupon, Gather, Technorati, Squidoo, and My Space.
The best way to create a swarm of followers is to use humor and/or to provide exceptional value to the point that people can’t wait for your next post. The most effective technique that I have used to grow social media is to recommend quality products and services that I have used to my peers in the areas of internet marketing, personal development, and health. In other words, my technique is to be so resourceful that people will approach me about what I do. Also, when I tell my peers what I do, they will regard me as the “go to” guy in my niche and they will have no objections to my marketing messages.
People can turn a large list of followers into money recommending affiliate products where they can receive a commission, or by recommending their own products and services whether it be an info-product or coaching services.
I recommend that people study Rich Schefren at strategicprofits.com, and Jack Humphrey at jackhumphrey.com to get information on how to effectively market using social media.
In my opinion too many online marketers fail to understand some basic rules of social media. Only think about it: social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter weren’t built for people to sell their stuff, they were built for people to communicate with each other, they were built for people who want find single-minded people, so they could share their knowledge with other.
I think that a lot of online marketers are getting way too aggressive… Simply put – In the world of social media they became “aggressive online salesmen”
There are so many annoying people out there who fail to understand that you can’t send out your “product recommendation” via Facebook to a person you only knew for 5 minutes… Or what about the people on Twitter who’re sending out 10~15 tweets every two minutes and at the end of every tweet there’s a link to their sales page… That’s just insane.
People who are using these aggressive strategies should stop for a second and they should seriously think about what are they doing or even better they should try to think like the person who is receiving their marketing message.
Finally, I think that the biggest difference between social media and other forms of communication is that it is even harder to gain trust and once you’ll screw up, it will be pretty difficult to re-gain the trust you’ve lost. A lot of marketers don’t understand that people buy from someone they trust…
Don’t market, socialize. That’s why it’s called Social Media. It’s all about getting to know each other. No one trusts someone who responds to one post and then is never seen again, or worse, is constantly trying to get you to click on their links.
In the non-marking world, people actually want to talk to each other, get to know each other and help each other out. If you want people to listen to you, you need to listen to them first. Find out who they are.
Get to know them and they will listen to you.
Instead of posting links to your products, ask simple questions in hopes of getting a response. Depending on where you are the questions may change, but the thing is that you need to engage people and talk to them about what interests them. If people want to know more about you they can find your link. Most Social media sites have the option to put a URL in your personal profile.
I’m not saying you should never use your URL in a post, but it should be done rarely. Continue the conversation in your own blog or forum and market your stuff there. Anyone who is committed enough to join you is ready for stronger marketing techniques.
When people are just getting to know they can be very nervous. Who is this person? Can I trust them? Will they like me? Can I talk to them about the things I care about? Only after these questions can all be answered positively will the person be ready to become a loyal follower. Any hint that you might not be sincere, and they will be gone forever.
We’ve all heard this in many forms, but I think Guy Kawasaki sums it up most eloquently…
Make meaning, not money.
There are 3 ways to make meaning:
1.) Increase the quality of life
2.) Right a wrong
3.) Prevent the end of something good.
The coolest thing about being a part of the marketing community is we’re all helping each other figure out more and better ways to manifest meaning.
Thanks Eben, et al, for all the meaning you contribute!
-Mike
* What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
Social Media is a way to stay in direct communication with friends, family, prospects, customers, etc… And do so instantly. But the fact is that we can not only be seen by them as in email, but anyone that follows “your people” will see “your messages” too…
Ever heard of “Viral Marketing”? Social Media gives us a Avenue like we have never had before…
* What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
The essence of “Social Media” thats different would have to be seeing the “Face behind the business” (I know you Eben could have said that much more eloquently but I am just flowing here)…
Its being able to “See, Feel And Understand” someone’s & their personality, unlike an email message because of the fact that we are not just reading some text, but we are looking at their pics, likes, hobbies, etc…
Instead of seeing some email that took hours to script we are seeing the person for “WHO THEY REALLY ARE”…
Up until now you have only seen or heard from Eben in most likely a “training environment” but now you will be able to see what he is doing at all times and get to know him “As a Real Person”…
And will this make you More Likely To Buy From Him In The Future? ABSOLUTELY Thats the essence of Social Media!
* How should I get started with Social Media?
1st you want to study how things are done in the “Social Media World”. Observe, Research & Study (basically do your Research as you would any other Marketing Avenue)…
Then realize that “ITS NOT QUANTITY, ITS QUALITY”!
DO NOT go out there and “friend everyone you see up”. Make sure to build your list with people who actually care about what you have to say and that you care what they have to say…
BUT AND THIS IS A BIG “”BUT””…
GET STARTED YESTERDAY! I also slacked on getting “Myself” out there but now I am hitting the pavement running and there is no looking back…
Pay attention to the links you click on, sites you visit, things you find funny, etc…
Because if you like it and see others enjoying it also then most likely its because… THATS WHAT WORKS!
* What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Technorati, Flickr, Digg, Squidoo, HubPages, Plaxo, LinkedIn
* What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
C’mon now… Anyone who is on your blog Eben should know this since you are the Master on the topic…
1. “Moving The Freeline” by “Provide Value for Free” and let people see who you are…
2. “Join The Community”…
* finding the Top Blogs in your “niche” and leave valuable comments
* Find “groups” in your market that are in FaceBook, MySpace, etc & become apart of the community and add/become a “VALUABLE ADDITION”
* Do exactly what EBEN is doing with this blog… Create a blog, fill it with valuable content and tell people about it and direct people to it in comments or forums (“”when they ask for it””…)
* What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
Using “Content Sharing Sites” (Squidoo, Hubpages, etc…) and then Bookmarking them with Digg, StumbleUpon, etc… “Google Domination ALL DAY LONG”
Using Videos on YouTube (make sure 1st thing in your description is a link that starts with “http://” which makes it “clickable”
And linking them all together and back to the “MONEY SITE” (landing page, squeeze page, video page,etc..) Create 1 big “Linking/Friends/Prospects Communication Network”
* How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
Again this is all about what Eben teaches in all his stuff about “Moving The Freeline”
For anyone that has been unfortunate and is just being introduced to Eben then here’s a quick summary…
Figure out what you “BEST” technique/golden nugget is, that works every single time and that, until now, you have kept to yourself… And give it away fr FREE! Yes for FREE!
You do this for a few reasons like Reciprocity, Results In Advance which will ultimately Build Your Brand, Build You As AN Expert, Widen Your Audience, etc…
But what I like to do is give away a technique that can “obviously” work every time “ALL DAY LONG, away for FREE, but that would “Kill It” if you had someone show you how to “Really Take Advantage of It”… “Step-by-Step”…
Also, I try to give away techniques that will not only provide “Results IN Advance” but that will actually produce enough “Revenue” that it will pay for whatever I try to sell them from there…
* Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
I am just starting to “Build My Personal Brand” using “Social Media” so I don’t have the results yet, but I would suggest that if your are in a Niche your are PASSIONATE about then instead of building a “Company Brand” instead build your “Personal Brand”… Why? Because if you build you as the brand then you can carry that “Brand” into different markets and start generating “Multiple Revenue Streams” without having to start over…
With that said I would be happy to post back here with my results in a few weeks!
But as for using “Content Sharing Sites” like Squidoo, I was able to rank for “VERY VERY COMPETITIVE KEYWORDS” on the FRONT PAGE OF GOOGLE within 3 hours and have done it over and over again…
I also experience the same results with “Video Sites”…
Nowadays there is NO reason to spend all your money on ADWORDS because by “BUILDING YOU AS THE BRAND” using SOCIAL MEDIA you can “KILL IT” for FREE and make more money that will with stand the test of time.
* Where can a person find other great online resources that cover marketing with Social Media?
Honestly, there are some great resources out there but I am a firm believer in TAKING ACTION. So STOP WASTING TIME AND GET OUT THERE AND OPEN YOUR ACCOUNTS NOW… YESTERDAY!
However, here are some resources that will make your Social Media Marketing A WHOLE LOT EASIER…
Onlywire.com will bookmark any “link” (obviously every blog, blog posts, social media/profile page, every video on YouTube, etc…) to 17 bookmarking sites with 1 click
RoboForm.com will allow you to create “Multiple Profiles” (create 1 for each niche) and which you tell it what you want your User Id to be, your password, your email, etc…
Then you when you go to open accounts on all of these sites you hit 1 button and KaBLAMO its filled and for you in 1 click…
Finally, you want to download the “FLOCK WEB BROWSER” …
Made by Mozilla (Creators of Firefox) and it was completely designed for “Social Media Marketers” (maybe not just marketers but especially us anyway)…
It is a normal web browser that has a “Sidebar” that is signed in to all your Social Media Sites, Blogs, etc… Its lets you post “posts” to your blog, view Videos in the toolbar and so much more…
This tool alone is such a “GOLDEN NUGGET” it will make your life much much easier….
I hope this helps,
Kevin Da Silva
P.S. Eben would you like my address now? Just Playing!
While I would love to get my hand on every “Training Course, Call, Seminar, etc.” you have ever released more than anything in the world… I am just glad to be able to communicate with you on a more personal note (SEE COMMENT BELOW) and everyone else in here and at the same time hopefully add value as I mentioned before…
COMMENT BELOW::: do you see the power of Social Media?… Where else could I talk to Eben like this and it will only make me more if a follower of his…
The best way to market with Social Media is to Stop Marketing with Social Media!
Social Media is about interacting with and engaging with interesting people. Be Social! The instant you start actively marketing, you have already failed. Most of the techniques that work via email, phone calls or any other medium DO NOT work here.
* Don’t randomly follow people, follow people who seem interesting to you, even if that means they just showed an interest in you
* Once you find interesting people, promote their content. This makes you more valuable and makes you more authoritative and respected
* Engage in conversation whenever possible. This spreads your influence, grows your network, and helps people to remember who you are
* Never automate the process. This is not your mailing list. Auto-responder techniques will instantly mark you as a spammer
* Remember that this is Social. Anything that would be rude in a face-to-face interaction is probably rude here
Everyone knows that marketers are all over the Social Media space. Remember that you have probably come late to the game. Twitter, for example, has been around for well over a year. They are looking for you, to point you out and to block you. They will definitely tell their friends about you, so make sure you don’t give anyone a reason to speak ill of you.
What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
My definition of Social Media is a medium wherein producers and consumers are able to interact with each in a mutually beneficial social environment; consumers are able to interact with each other and compare product knowledge and experiences; competition may be studied and researched and market research may be conducted – all through Social Mediums such as the Internet, cell phones, Blackberry’s, iPhones etc.
What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
The “essence” of Social Media for a producer of a product is the dynamic of being able to participate in or observe consumers in a virtual social environment, thereby being able to assess the product strengths, weaknesses and success in the marketplace – for the consumer, the “essence” of Social Media is the opportunity to share their views, experiences and advice among their peers, colleagues, friends and family. Social Media provides an illusion of added value when it is combined with a product. For example, if I buy a product such as a handy kitchen gadget that allows me to prepare food in a certain manner, by being able to access a social network where others discuss their experience with the same device, I perceive added value regarding the product and a greater trust in the production company or creator of the product.
How should I get started with Social Media?
Researching the top Social Media platforms and working out where my niche would best be show-cased.
What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Friendster, hi5, Orkut, Perfspot, Yahoo360, Zorpia, Netlog, (Twitter)
What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
Consistent, interest updates using multimedia modes – videos, twits, podcasts, photos, live broadcasts, blog updates etc.
What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
Creating the social platform and then broadcasting to the above-mentioned social media websites. Creating a “buzz” about a certain person or product and conducting polls/discussions thereof – most important is to keep them on your own personal social platform discuss you and your products! Using Joint Venture partners to come onto the stage with you.
How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
Utilizing Joint Venture partners only adds to the potential of profit and list extension.
Doing a 24-hour live broadcast to launch a product and donating some of the profits to charity, create a huge “buzz” on all of the top ten social sites regarding a product launch a few months or weeks or days before the actual launch, using video-blogging.
Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
Recently, my hubby and I orchestrated a 24 hour live broadcast with Dov Baron for the Oxfam Charity and to launch his product “Resonating Riches.” We did not utilize any JVs as we wanted to guage Dov’s potentional based on what he had produced through his live workshops in Vancouver.
During the 24 hour live broadcast using U-stream, we made $5,000 in sales for Resonating Riches and more than $2,000 dollars was donated to Oxfam. Although small success, we consider this a fine example of what can be achieved with only a few days preparation.
Where can a person find other great online resources that cover marketing with Social Media?
http://www.toptenreviews.com, amazon.com, eben pagan’s blog (!), Frank Kern, Andy Jenkins, Rich Scheffren, my hubbie, Vally Haeck!!, GuruDAQ, Jay Abraham, Ken Evoy, Brad Fallon etc.
First, forget the word ‘marketing,’ at least for now. Social media marketing cannot be considered marketing the same way buying ad space or cold-calling to sell a product can – and if you approach it as such, the results will be disastrous.
Second, think of social media as an extension of your general (including offline) brand management and customer service strategy. In other words, don’t pull a Comcast, using social media to put out the fire that’s already left your reputation in ruins.
That being said, maintaining an online presence is a necessity in today’s increasingly online world. When news and opinions fly around the globe at the speed of light, you not only need to know what is being said about you but you also need to actively participate. How do you do that?
1. Check out the online reputation monitoring tools available, evaluate each of them based on your needs, and then start using at least one. At the same time, put a plan in place: what will you do if something does actually happen?
2. Figure out which social media sites you will start with. There are a lot of sites out there, and each requires a time-consuming commitment. Concentrate on delivering quality information and feedback on a few that you can handle, rather than spreading yourself too thin on all of them. As your company grows, you can re-evaluate the social mediums out there and consider expanding your online presence. As to which ones you choose to begin with, that will depend on you and your company – although a blog is almost always the first place you should start.
3. Participate participate participate! Interact as you would personally, while still maintaining professionalism and decorum. If you are new to a site, make sure to do some research as to the etiquette specific to that site, but other than that, here are some pointers for making the best out of your online relationships: Network individually with people – answer their questions, and ask them questions of your own. Pass on interesting information whether or not it has to do with your business, give kudos where it’s due, and never hesitate to take responsibility. You are trying to build trust, rather then sell a specific product. Can you promote yourself at the same time? -Of course. Just do it tastefully, so as not to risk losing trust from your followers.
4. Finally, to leverage the most out of all your chosen social mediums, weave them together. Post links on your blog to your twitter account, your LinkedIn profile, and any other profiles you have. Tweet links to your new blog post (including a brief description) on Twitter and post updates on other networks. You get the idea.
Of course, the best thing is to learn as much as you can about the process along the way. Google the concepts and keywords above, read blogs from your competition and other businesses, follow links from those blogs, read Twitter, and so on. As you do so you will be better able to decide what you want to achieve online, and how best to achieve that. Just remember to always view what you are doing from the ‘other side’ – if you personally were following a brand you wanted to trust in, how would you want that brand to interact with you online?
Imagine this:
A boy is walking down the beach…
… it’s early morning… the sun is cresting over the ocean.
The air is cool, but the warm wind bristles across his face.
He notices a seagull enjoying its morning breakfast in the distance…
A smile emerges. 🙂
… then,
**DING**
His iPhone alerts him of a new message.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the slick piece of hardware.
Within a few seconds and a couple strokes of the keypad…
He communicates with 10,000 people.
On the beach…
In the morning…
Alone… (with no wires)
He just communicated with his 10,000 followers at the ring of a cell phone via Twitter.
=============================
You see, social media is… YOU and me!
Consumers of media ARE the new media. They create it. They control it.
I remember hearing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer say the following in regards to advertising in the future:
“It’s going to be harder and harder to tease apart what’s communications and what’s media because if I say I’m watching a golf match and at the same time I see Tiger Woods’ golf ball, I take my clicker, it points at it, it figures that it is a Nike Elite, it says ‘Do you want to order a dozen balls for you and your friends?’. Advertising, commerce, community, and content all kind of blend.”
Social media is the emerging of another dimension to what is commonly referred to as LIFE.
Many refer to it has a community. However, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, puts it this way:
“Communities already exist. Instead, think about how you can help that community do what it wants to do.”
The statistics are amazing when it comes to the new “Web 2.0” and social media. However, more importantly are the communities and personal tones of communication.
Being yourself when it comes to Social Media is key. Without it, you become a “commercial”.
(( Yes, the type of commercial people fast forward on their DVR’s and TiVo’s. ))
Don’t be that commercial. Don’t be “that guy”.
Instead, just be yourself. A person people can relate to. A person people can get to know, like and trust. (And do business with).
In regards to how to get started with Social Media…
I suggest creating your “story”. The one only YOU can tell. The story that makes you who YOU are in this world of ours.
This story will contain your successes and failures. Your times of honor and your times of embarrassment.
Your story will be the catalyst to what people will identify with. What people will relate with. Ultimately, it will be what people are drawn to.
Once you’ve created your story… it’s time to bring it to the world.
I suggest creating the following:
– Facebook account.
– MySpace account.
– Twitter account.
– YouTube account.
– iStream account.
– Squidoo account.
– Hubpage account.
– WordPress Blog (or any blog)
This should get you started.
In regards to growing a “swarm” of followers to a social media site…
I’d suggest utilizing the human psychology to it fullest extent. Meaning, tapping into the core influence each of us has within us.
For example, I remember reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Outliers) where he describes his own theory on what is called the “diffusion model”.
(( Frank Kern also talks about something similar in Mass Control. ))
Basically, while we all think we are able to exercise freedom of choice and make our own decisions… the fact remains that we’re all influenced by experts and leaders, or commonly referred to as “thought leaders” and/or “gurus”.
As marketers we like to think of ourselves as different, but yet we find ourselves on THIS blog… studying a successful “guru”. (AKA – Eben Pagan)
So, with that in mind… structure your social media efforts in the direction of an expert or leader. Position your “brand” so that you categorized as a LEADER and/or expert.
THAT will create a “swarm” of followers.
Also, it is vitally important to offer your message/story in all available modalities.
For example:
– Create WRITTEN material
– Create AUDIO material
– Create VIDEO material
– Create PHYSICAL material
Each person is different and absorbs information unique to them. Allow them an opportunity to consume your material however they choose and as often as they choose.
Finally, turning your efforts into money also comes with a price. You may lose some, and you will win some. However, don’t be a perfectionist and pretend like you will please everyone… YOU WON’T. It’s the nature of the beast.
ASK FOR THE ORDER. Always end your message with a call to action. Allow the consumer to take advantage of your material. Again, allow them an opportunity to consume your material by asking for the order.
-Ron Reed
P.S. — If you enjoyed this material, please feel free to follow me on Twitter under… suffix101
The best social media for me is twitter and myyearbook. But the problem with myyearbook.com, it needs more updates on its features.
Social media is a reflection of life. Just like going out with a group of people, if you want to be invited back, you have to show up, you have to contribute to the collective whole, and you have to be a decent person.
And you have to be authentic. You can’t fake it. If you claim to be an expert, you’re going to have to back it up with meaningful posts that actually say something no one else has said.
The reason social media matters is that people have found a way to connect again. It seemed as though the internet was developing into a way to leave everyone disconnected and isolated, but then, social media emerged to bring everyone back together.
If you are just starting out, try these 3 first:
Linked In for connecting professionally. You can find old co-workers and recommend people that you have worked with in the past that didn’t suck. Linked In also has professional groups that act as informal message boards.
Facebook for connecting to old friends and co-workers that you were somewhat chummy with. You can see pictures of people’s kids, and see what they are up to now. You can reach out to people that you don’t know well enough to have their personal email address, but you liked them enough to say hello now and then. You can also connect with people that share your interests, and get to know them on a more personal level than Linked In.
Twitter is harder to define, but can be used for many different purposes. You can keep up with friends and family, to see what they are doing during their days. You can also connect with experts to gain information related to their businesses. For example, a blogger might post interesting news articles every day that are relevant to a topic of interest to you.
There are other cool things you can do with Twitter. You can peer into an otherwise closed circle of friends by reading their updates and piecing together the conversation. It’s like reading people’s instant messages. It feels like spying but somehow its not.
And my favorite part of twitter, is just to know what a typical day is like for someone who is living a life that I aspire to live. Whether that is someone you admire personally or professionally, its very cool.
Start there, take it all in for a short while, and learn each sites societal rules. Contribute. Add to the experience. Be authentic. If you provide real content, the followers will come, and then you can monetize. Monetizing for internet marketers can include generating buzz for product launches, getting traffic to your site, promoting affiliate products, and joint ventures.
Forget marketing – CONNECT! We have lost our collective interpersonal and business minds because we have forgotten the beauty of communication, connection, and emotional intimacy.
If Twitter, or Facebook, or any of the other so-called social marketing sites are approached in the old business model of “here’s my stuff, why don’t you buy it”, then the results are limited, and the joy goes out of it, and eventually one falls away from Twitter, from Facebook, from moving forward.
If, however, people are approached as the unique, interesting, sometimes maddening creatures we all can be and sometimes are, then wow! We’re just communicating, connecting, and helping each other grow. And there is NOTHING like the power of helping one another.
THAT is the beauty of sites like this.
The CHALLENGE is that it is a paradigm shift. You have two different ideologies coming together: the old ideology of being good to one another and helping each other, which then helps everyone; and the new technology of computers and social sites. It is very like an 80-year-old and a 20-year-old trying to communicate! Here’s the proof that it can be done: Facebook, Twitter, and so on. But we must not forget that what makes it work is that intangible aspect of caring. If caring is missing, these sites becomes just one more piece of cyberspace and email clutter.
And they’re worth a heck of a lot more than that!
***To Your Life!***
Lori
***27 Minutes in The Life of a Twitter Maestro***
At 8 a.m. John signs into his Twitter account. He sees that his followers have grown in number by 97 while he slept. John also sees that 31 replies have been made to his Tweets during the night.
This is the power of TweetLater (http://www.tweetlater.com/) – a completely free service that allows John to publish pre-written Tweets at any time he chooses. While sub-standard Twitter users go to sleep for 8 hours and achieve nothing, John has a series of finely-tuned Tweets sent out through the night on his behalf.
And so John wakes up to dozens of new friends each morning.
Next, John launches his brand new product; he’s been working on its sales letter for weeks, and today’s the big day.
But John isn’t nervous.
His sales letter is going to convert like crazy, and he knows this even before the first visitor arrives.
This is the power of Twitter Tracking.
Those innocent Tweets that John runs throughout the night via TweetLater have been more than just “staying in touch” with his followers. They’ve been a test.
John realises that a Tweet is simply a headline – it’s short; it’s attention-seeking; it’s fighting to be heard amongst a million other Tweets; and Tweets with links in them have calls-to-action.
John has been using TweetLater to strategically distribute 3 Tweets each night for 2 weeks, each one of them a tweaked version of the previous day’s best performer. Each Tweet links to the same page, but each Tweet also has a unique tracking URL, and so each morning John can see, at a glimpse, which of his 3 Tweets has generated the most clicks.
And today John can insert his best performing Tweet (headline) proudly at the top of his sales letter, knowing that it’s already tested and proven, knowing that he’s already 3 weeks ahead of his competitor, who will have to blindly guess at where to start.
While the first dozen sales come in from his Twitter-Optimised sales letter, John decides to catch up with his closest friends on Twitter. This used to be a tough task; John follows back anyone who follows him, because he knows that this will maximise the viral nature of Twitter and allow him to reach the most people in the least time.
But now John is following 8,795 people, and finding Tweets from Goldilocks (Frank Kern), and that guy who likes ape documentaries (Eben Pagan) is proving tough.
Not anymore, though.
Now John uses TweetDeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com/) – a completely free desktop application that offers unprecedented customisation of his Twitter account. With TweetDeck, John can put Eben Pagan and Frank Kern into their very own self-contained group. This means that even on days when the 8,795 people John follows Tweet their little heads off, Frank and Eben’s Tweets sit proudly and clearly in their own window, meaning John will never again miss any vital surfing updates or any breaking news in the world of apes.
So John does just that – he checks in on his buddies using TweetDeck.
And one of John’s buddies reminds him of a product he’s been meaning to put together, but John has never been sure that the idea is a winner. John’s buddy tells him to survey his list and see what they say, and John hopes he remembers to get around to it.
But then John remembers that he has 9,635 followers on Twitter, and that he can reach out to them at a second’s notice.
And so he Tweets: “Been thinking about putting together a course on how to turn lead into gold using your oven & a toothbrush. Something you’d like to learn?”
8 minutes later and John has 39 replies, all of them keen, and the product looks like it will be a winner.
This is the power of having 9,635 Twitter followers, which John managed to acquire in only 7 weeks; he achieved this largely thanks to the Twitter Search function.
Twice a day John types a handful of his best keyword phrases into the Twitter Search box. This instantly allows him to find people who have recently sent a Tweet with that same keyword phrase in it.
Now John can go through the results and selectively follow anyone who might be interested in him or his products – and John’s found that 56% of the people he follows follow him back, so this simple task grows his own followers too. And once in a while John will stumble upon a competitor in his market, and the competitor will have many thousands of followers. Now John has instant and legitimate access to his competitor’s fans, followers, prospects, and customers.
And he can follow each of them with a mouse click.
So far this morning John has connected with 117 new prospects. He’s launched his new Twitter-Optimised sales page. He’s sold 17 copies of a $197 product. He’s caught up with his buddies. He’s surveyed his followers on his new product and received dozens of valuable responses that will shape the product into a massive success. He’s followed 209 of his main competitor’s best leads and had 57 of them already follow him back.
It’s 8:27 a.m. – John’s been “at work” for less than half an hour.
This is the power of Twitter.
The rub is in what you’re asking for.. ‘marketing’ with social networks. There’s some modicum of marketing value by simply participating. The key element is perception of competence – which is sales, plain and simple. World spins on confidence far more than competence. Convincing your followers of the later is money in the bank.
Sell without selling is the trick. Share content of value with the ultimate objective of exchanging even more value that becomes contingent on a tangible monetary exchange.
No mater what resources you choose, it’s fundamentally the same methodology.
If you want to be successful with social media you have to two things:
Active
Interesting
If you are not active, people loose interest and forget about you. If you are not interesting, they won’t read more than one or two things you write.
Now if you can offer value while being active and interesting, well now you have a license to print money.
People follow people in social media because they want to learn something. Teach someone something valuable, and they will follow you for a long time.
[…] just posted in the comments of Eben Pagan’s blog about what is Social Media and how to get started using it. Be sure to read his post and […]
Hi Eben,
I’m not going to participate the match, I’m just commenting on the post. Actually not the post per se, but the comments! I’m getting lots of quality ideas and I like it.
Good luck with you guys commenting here, and you Eben, and thanks.
– Hooman
Here’s your social media mantra: “people do business with those that they know, like and trust”.
Social media is a forum for spreading your message and getting people to know, like and trust you. Nothing more and nothing less. I cringe a bit when I see people promising the “secret gold” in twitter, facebook, or whatever the flavor of the day is. There’s nothing inherently magical about these spaces. They are just more platforms for building your community (or “tribe” as Seth Godin says) of people who know, like, and trust you. You want to be in many places just to get your message in front of people, but to build a thriving community takes ongoing interaction.
While it’s true that each social networking website has its own subtleties of “correct” usage, they are currently more or less all the same. (And there are plenty of people who break the established etiquette “rules” and are still wildly successful.) Here’s the basic rundown on how to use any social media site:
1. Sign up and create a robust, interesting, engaging profile. Put a friendly photo of yourself up. Describe yourself and your business in a way that makes people interested in learning more about you. Have fun with this, social media is a generally casual space where people love to see the real you shine through. Do NOT be afraid to promote your business/products in your profile. You should absolutly link to your website(s) with a brief description. But always keep in mind that with social media you are selling YOU, not your business. Once people get to know you they will move to that next step of doing business with you.
• Use the site’s feature to search your email address book for people you know. Every site has this in one form or another. This will be the base of your community, the people you already know.
• Use your existing friends as a base to find more friends. This is where the etiquette starts to change a little from site to site. To cover the (current) big 3:
– on twitter it’s fine to follow anyone
– on facebook most people only follow those they have some kind of relationship with, if you are friending someone you know but they don’t know you (for example you read their blog) send a message introducing yourself
– on linkedin people generally only connect with people where both parties know each other
Again, it’s worth mentioning that many people DON’T follow these general rules. But if you have no clue what you’re doing just start by following those guidelines.
2. Start creating content and geting a feel for the space. What content means varies from site to site, but you can think of this way: try to make your presence on that site feel like a living, breathing thing. On facebook that can mean adding photos and videos, joining groups and fan pages and participating in the discussion.
• If you aren’t sure what to “do” on social media sites, promoting other people never fails. Link to the blog post you’re currently reading. Tweet about the awesome call you just listened to. Ask a pro you admire a public question. Leave a fantastic testimonial on linkedin.
• Start listening for the conversations around your brand, your field, and your customer base. Set up RSS feeds for searches in twitter search and google blog search as a starting point.
3. After you’ve developed a great online personal brand you want to work on getting your numbers up. Some people say that numbers don’t matter, which I think is total BS. If you have 100 followers on twitter, 100 people might see your message and get to know you. I you have 10,000 followers, 10,000 people might see your message and get to know you. Which is better? However it’s important NOT to focus on your numbers too early, you need to develop enough content to make people interested in being your friend. The only way to get a “feel” for how each space operates is to be an active user. Give yourself at least a month to develop your presence and figure out the space before you start an all out campaign to increase your numbers.
As far as how to get those numbers up, as I see it there are two core ways:
• Cross promote with yourself: This is a VERY simple, very core strategy that is too often overlooked. It’s important that all your social media “outposts” link to your main website, and each other. Does your email signature contain your social networking profiles? Do you always send out your twitter link in every newsletter?
• Cross promote with others. Again, this is nothing novel it’s marketing 101. When your name gets in front of a huge audience, some of those people are going to check you out. Always be thinking about how you can make this happen. On facebook its painfully easy, just post on the wall or comment on the posted item of someone with a ton of followers. I’ll tell you a quick story about how I got my biggest jump in twitter followers: my client Heroes actress Brea Grant conducted a live ustream interview which I was also live on. (It was really fun, you can see it here: http://breagrant.com/blog/where-to-see-me/11/i-think-this-will-work/) During the interview I made sure that everyone knew my twitter name (@lkr) and I plugged my website at the end.
(A little buyer beware here: social media is totally TRANSPARENT. That means you cannot go around posting an identical comment on 50 people’s facebook walls, everyone can see exactly what you’re up to! Always be on your best behavior, and don’t think you can sneak anything. You can’t.)
4. Monetize. This is the part that most people way overthink. The classic marketing strategy of creating your funnel still applies. A common one is social media > freebie > opt-in list > small sale > bigger sale. Just like any online marketing, you are usually not going to sell a $5,000 consulting contract on your first interaction with someone. But I can also tell you that I have high-paying clients that I have met on twitter. As I stated in the first item, social media is the forum where people develop a level of trust in you, which leads them to buy from you. So PLEASE use social media to tell people what is going on. Tell them about your latest sale, your latest seminar, what you are up to in your business. However, it’s generally not appropriate to do a sales pitch there. Use it to pique their interest, then lead them into your sales funnel whatever that is for you.
One last thing – you have NO OWNERSHIP of your account and “friend list” on any of the social media sites. If you haven’t noticed, twitter has no revenue model. I LOVE twitter, but I don’t have a lot of faith that they will be around tomorrow. That’s why it’s vitally important to funnel your audience from social media into a space that YOU own like your email list or blog. Do not let your content live on social media alone, always channel people to your online (or offline) spaces.
Laura Roeder
http://twitter.com/lkr
http://www.roederstudios.com
Social media is the next step in the evolution of the internet. This is important because it closes more gaps between individuals, eliminating the old hurdles such as distance, cost of communication, age, gender, stereotyping. The internet is slowly bringing many of these barriers down.
Whether or not this is good or bad may be argued, but in the eyes of an internet marketer (such as you and me), there is much good because of this. Social media establishes a means of communication unlike anything else. And the reason it differs so much is because of the personal level is introduces. Through social media, you meet *individuals*, not companies, not groups, but specific people. People socialize best by meeting individually, not by reading a statement another person wrote, or by listening to a recording made. Social media is all about getting closer to specific individuals. This allows a closer relationship, trust is endowed, many opportunities arise.
To get started with social media, there are many options. You can set up a Twitter account, the one-line version of blogging. You can go a longer route, set up the oldest version of what could be considered social media, a blog. Create a Facebook account and find contacts. Whichever way you choose, the key is to initiate a connection point.
– If it’s a blog, it should be one that has a very open invitation for comments, it should link to other blogs or other social media sites you are using.
– If it’s Twitter, find other contacts. Find people whose tweets you are interested in, follow them, then find who they’re following. Eventually people will start following you, as well.
– If it’s Facebook, search for people who are like-minded. If you’re specifically wanting individuals knowledgeable in your market, search for the authorities for your market. You’ll find a lot of people use Facebook – you should find many.
The key is to use more than just one social media source. And it’s good to try getting into as many as possible, not just for the benefits of social media marketing, but also to establish your name in each of these sites. If you’re a big name in internet marketing, especially, as other people will take advantage of using a well-known name in social media if you don’t do it first.
To get a good idea of what social media sites to hit, here are some of the major ones:
– Facebook.com
– Twitter.com
– MySpace.com
– LinkedIn.com
– YouTube.com
– Blogger.com
– WordPress.com
– Friendster.com
– Classmates.com
– LiveJournal.com
– Flickr.com
– Flixster.com
– StumbleUpon.com
Keep in mind, some of these are very specific to market types. You will not use Flixster in the same way you would use Classmates.com, but for internet marketing, they all have their uses. From a marketing perspective, the key to using social media is to select the appropriate one for YOUR MARKET. There are plenty of social networking sites, you can find many more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
And this is the best way to get a good amount of followers for any one particular website. Use the social media site in the way it was designed. To get a spike in followers, viral marketing is key. To get a gradual growth, you must establish yourself as an authority figure for something specific within your market. For example, for YouTube, for viral marketing, you would need to create something that has immediate attention capture ability, something that viewers would want to pass on. For the gradual growth of followers, be consistent. Put quality videos out that handle questions for that market, and do it consistently.
Realize that to get a good number of followers, you can’t be limited to just one social media network. If you use Twitter, link to your Twitter page from your blog (Eben Pagan is a fan of this technique), from Facebook, from MySpace, from YouTube. Put your YouTube video posts in your blog, put them on your Facebook account. The key is cross-linking social networking sites. This is one of the most effective ways to grow your business online.
Now in order to turn this into a money-making machine, the marketing must be done in the same way you gain followers – by using the social networking site as it was designed. If you put up raw sales copy on Twitter, you will likely have a lot of people unfollowing you. That is abusing the system. For Twitter, talk about how you’re excited about your new endeavor, and the landmark accomplishments you complete as you finish them. If your excitement is genuine, it can be contagious. If you have anything to share related to your progress that is linkable, post it! When you finish, share it as though you are sharing it with your FRIENDS, not with your market’s customer-base. This can also be done on Facebook, MySpace, and even YouTube. Use YouTube to make a video log of your progress. Post the videos on your blog.
To cross-link different social media sites, keep your eyes out for relevant “widget” apps, or “plugins”. In this way you can have your last tweet on Twitter show up as your status on Facebook (Twitter plugin: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543), or have a blog entry appear on your Facebook page (using Mirror Blog: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=19519711192).
To see how effective social marketing can be, look at any of the major internet marketers. Jeff Walker used Twitter to follow his PLF 2.1 launch and answered questions about it on Twitter (a nice tie in with use of social proof) (http://twitter.com/JeffWalker). Frank Kern uses his blog heavily for his product launches, and uses the comments section for social marketing nicely (http://masscontrolsite.com/blog/).
Keep in mind this is only for the internet marketing market – these techniques can be used for ANY market to make contact with individuals, and communicate directly with them.
Other resources to help your social media marketing:
– Flock: The Social Web Browser – makes it easier to have the major social networking sites quick and handy (http://flock.com/)
– Delicious – Been around, but a quick way to see what people are looking at (http://delicious.com/)
– Technorati – Essentially a bookmarking site for blogs (http://technorati.com/)
– Digg – Still one of the internet authorities – shows sites that are socially approved, or “dugg” (http://digg.com/)
– Reddit – Similar to Digg, another social networking biggie (http://reddit.com/)
– OnlyWire – Sends links of your choice to several well-known bookmarking sites and social networking sites (http://onlywire.com/)
– Ning – A free online service to create your own social website (http://ning.com/)
– Squidoo – A very powerful site to connect to several different sites/resources, either personal or business, using “lenses” (http://squidoo.com/)
Social media marketing is still growing. Learn to use it in the way it’s intended, and you can have social marketing grow your business in a huge way, as well as connect directly with many people involved and interested in your market.
The call it social media..It’s no secret that the internet has unlimited opportunities for your business to generate a serious amount of profit.
It you have no idea what social media is or how to use it for your business then I will teach you my personal formula that guarantees success.
If you are not a technology expert or have a large budget then I will show you simple inexpensive strategies strategies that will be tremendous assets to your business.
Social media, in short, is a way of communicating through blogs,voice and video. Now more than ever, technology has caught up with the 21st century and a whole new revolution of communication is happening right NOW. The business leaders of today will soon be using social media to connect powerful messages on the internet.
Additionally, companies can develop relationships with their audience in days instead of weeks. No other media on the planet can provide real-time ratings, comments, descriptions and feedback to improve your business results.
Now, to create a social media campaign is a lot easier than you think. The nuts and bolts your strategy will revolve around have three building blocks.
1)Video Marketing: Training videos,coaching,consulting,vlogging and tutorials.
2)Audio: Podcasting,tele-seminars,and audio books.
3)Content: Blogs, articles,press-releases,content sharing sites and bookmarking sites.
For starters, you can organize a successful campaign with the proper tools. If you have webcam of video you are half way there. If not, consider getting this http://www.theflip.com. It’s a cheap investment. To create audio media you will simply need a little condenser mic to record on the computer. My recommendation will be a blue microphone that you can conveniently take take wherever you want to record.
Next, Its time to convert your media using special software to edit and convert your files. Such as imovie or windows movie maker. For audio use audacity (it’s free)
Finally, it’s time to distribute your content, audio and videos to top social media websites.
Here are the top 10 social media sites;
1)Youtube.com
2)Twitter.com
3)Facebook.com
4)Linkedin.com
5)Wordpress.org
6)Apple.com/itunes/podcast
7)Digg.com
8)Squidoo.com
9)Hubpages.com
10) Stumbleupon.com
As you can see, many of these sites are the top internet companies in the world. And this is only the beginning.
Now I’m going to give you a wide range of resources that will help you automate your business on autopilot using aggregation tools.
The first resource that will really impact the way you distribute your videos is called tubemogul.com This website will distribute and turbocharge your videos to dozens of websites with one mouse click. You will also have access to view real-time statistics to measure results.
Another aggregation tool that is specifically for you social networking websites is Ping.fm. This powerful, free service is used to automatically post updates to over 30 social networking websites at once.
Now that your in control of how to position yourself. It’s time to talk about getting traffic forever and creating a “swarm” of members that follow your social media footprints wherever you are.
Friend, the key here is transparency. Being honest, sincere and open to your customers is the single most powerful way to create a huge following. Everyone loves a business they can trust. More importantly, more marketers are discovering the secret to long term success is friendship. Once you turn a stranger into a friend; this friend will become your customer.
As you know, the internet is very viral in nature and there are highly effective techniques you can use to grow your business from humble beginnings to a overnight powerhouse.
The bottom line is to deliver value and your customers will find you. Once again, DELIVER value if you ever want to make money from social media the first thing you must provide on your social media websites are value!
Provide valuable wisdom,advise,tips,content and techniques for your customers to use immediately. There is know money in knowledge. Only if you can apply it.
Once you offer true value.It’s time for your call to action. Simply tell your customers what you want then to do next. If you have twitter followers, provide a link to a video on how to use twitter. Create face book tutorials for face book friends only. Give away free additional videos on top media sharing websites. Each call to action should take your customer by the hand through your sales funnel.
Consider creating a flow chart on bubbl.us and create different conversion strategies. Carefully test each funnel. For example, Customer stumbles upon your video then leads them to your landing page. You collect their opt-in and immediately directs them to your blog with news and updates about your business. Next, your sales process begins with email auto-responders that will direct them to your twitter page.
Let’s take a closer look at one of the greatest social media campaigns in our history. The 2008 election. In particular lets pull behind the curtains and see how how president elect Barack Obama used social media for his campaign.
The online campaign manager was no other that Chris Hughes (face book co-founder) Chris designed a new social community of Obama supporters. Each member would have access to a community forums. Members also had promotional tools such as viral widgets,printable flyers and badges to put on profiles that would link to my.barackobama.com
Many applications, local groups, and fundraising donations were being combined with widgets integrated with refer a friend E-mail marketing features to grow this website in record breaking numbers. Blogging and media sharing websites exploded with web traffic.
Text messaging notifications were in place for all debates. Enormous twitter followers (over 150,000) were leveraged to take the most important call to action any one could ask for.
Their vote.
So friends, social media is what everyone is raging about. You can make a small fortune using these same exact systems, tools and strategies in your marketing campaign as well. The best thing about social media is how incredibly cheap you can do all this stuff.
Additionally, here are some free resources you can use for your social media campaign…
http://www.widgetbox.com/ to create your own viral widgets
http://www.webs.com/ to create a own website
http://www.ning.com to create your own social networking website
http://friendfeed.com/ to share your feed with your followers
http://www.phpbb.com/ to create your own forum of community members
http://www.onlywire.com/ to share your websites with this all in one bookmarking tool
http://www.squidoo.com to share your content
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this post. I certainly had a good time sharing this information with you. Talk soon
-R
(NEW) twitter.com/richard_hart
They call it social media..It’s no secret that the internet has unlimited opportunities for your business to generate a serious amount of profit.
It you have no idea what social media is or how to use it for your business then I will teach you my personal formula that guarantees success.
If you are not a technology expert or have a large budget then I will show you simple inexpensive strategies strategies that will be tremendous assets to your business.
Social media, in short, is a way of communicating through blogs,voice and video. Now more than ever, technology has caught up with the 21st century and a whole new revolution of communication is happening right NOW. The business leaders of today will soon be using social media to connect powerful messages on the internet.
Additionally, companies can develop relationships with their audience in days instead of weeks. No other media on the planet can provide real-time ratings, comments, descriptions and feedback to improve your business results.
Now, to create a social media campaign is a lot easier than you think. The nuts and bolts your strategy will revolve around have three building blocks.
1)Video Marketing: Training videos,coaching,consulting,vlogging and tutorials.
2)Audio: Podcasting,tele-seminars,and audio books.
3)Content: Blogs, articles,press-releases,content sharing sites and bookmarking sites.
For starters, you can organize a successful campaign with the proper tools. If you have webcam of video you are half way there. If not, consider getting this http://www.theflip.com. It’s a cheap investment. To create audio media you will simply need a little condenser mic to record on the computer. My recommendation will be a blue microphone that you can conveniently take take wherever you want to record.
Next, Its time to convert your media using special software to edit and convert your files. Such as imovie or windows movie maker. For audio use audacity (it’s free)
Finally, it’s time to distribute your content, audio and videos to top social media websites.
Here are the top 10 social media sites;
1)Youtube.com
2)Twitter.com
3)Facebook.com
4)Linkedin.com
5)Wordpress.org
6)Apple.com/itunes/podcast
7)Digg.com
8)Squidoo.com
9)Hubpages.com
10) Stumbleupon.com
As you can see, many of these sites are the top internet companies in the world. And this is only the beginning.
Now I’m going to give you a wide range of resources that will help you automate your business on autopilot using aggregation tools.
The first resource that will really impact the way you distribute your videos is called tubemogul.com This website will distribute and turbocharge your videos to dozens of websites with one mouse click. You will also have access to view real-time statistics to measure results.
Another aggregation tool that is specifically for you social networking websites is Ping.fm. This powerful, free service is used to automatically post updates to over 30 social networking websites at once.
Now that your in control of how to position yourself. It’s time to talk about getting traffic forever and creating a “swarm” of members that follow your social media footprints wherever you are.
Friend, the key here is transparency. Being honest, sincere and open to your customers is the single most powerful way to create a huge following. Everyone loves a business they can trust. More importantly, more marketers are discovering the secret to long term success is friendship. Once you turn a stranger into a friend; this friend will become your customer.
As you know, the internet is very viral in nature and there are highly effective techniques you can use to grow your business from humble beginnings to a overnight powerhouse.
The bottom line is to deliver value and your customers will find you. Once again, DELIVER value if you ever want to make money from social media the first thing you must provide on your social media websites are value!
Provide valuable wisdom,advise,tips,content and techniques for your customers to use immediately. There is know money in knowledge. Only if you can apply it.
Once you offer true value.It’s time for your call to action. Simply tell your customers what you want then to do next. If you have twitter followers, provide a link to a video on how to use twitter. Create face book tutorials for face book friends only. Give away free additional videos on top media sharing websites. Each call to action should take your customer by the hand through your sales funnel.
Consider creating a flow chart on bubbl.us and create different conversion strategies. Carefully test each funnel. For example, Customer stumbles upon your video then leads them to your landing page. You collect their opt-in and immediately directs them to your blog with news and updates about your business. Next, your sales process begins with email auto-responders that will direct them to your twitter page.
Let’s take a closer look at one of the greatest social media campaigns in our history. The 2008 election. In particular lets pull behind the curtains and see how how president elect Barack Obama used social media for his campaign.
The online campaign manager was no other that Chris Hughes (face book co-founder) Chris designed a new social community of Obama supporters. Each member would have access to a community forums. Members also had promotional tools such as viral widgets,printable flyers and badges to put on profiles that would link to my.barackobama.com
Many applications, local groups, and fundraising donations were being combined with widgets integrated with refer a friend E-mail marketing features to grow this website in record breaking numbers. Blogging and media sharing websites exploded with web traffic.
Text messaging notifications were in place for all debates. Enormous twitter followers (over 150,000) were leveraged to take the most important call to action any one could ask for.
Their vote.
So friends, social media is what everyone is raging about. You can make a small fortune using these same exact systems, tools and strategies in your marketing campaign as well. The best thing about social media is how incredibly cheap you can do all this stuff.
Additionally, here are some free resources you can use for your social media campaign…
http://www.widgetbox.com/ to create your own viral widgets
http://www.webs.com/ to create a own website
http://www.ning.com to create your own social networking website
http://friendfeed.com/ to share your feed with your followers
http://www.phpbb.com/ to create your own forum of community members
http://www.onlywire.com/ to share your websites with this all in one bookmarking tool
http://www.squidoo.com to share your content
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this post. I certainly had a good time sharing this information with you. Talk soon
-R
(NEW) twitter.com/richard_hart
Hey Eben,
Excellent information as usual, and so much good advice in the discussion already!
There seems to be a general confusion about what exactly Social Media is, and how it differs from Social Networking. These two terms are often used interchangeably.
From my understanding, “Social Media” defines the technology which allows easy creation, distribution, sharing, and possibly discussion of; words, pictures, audio, and video (“the media types.”)
“Social Networking” on the other hand is about forming, and strengthening connections with others, often by using the same technology platforms of Social Media.
In essence “Social Media Marketing” is a strategic use of both Social Media, and Social Networking platforms to generate qualified interest, a following (and/or community), and sales.
Let’s examine this blog post. It is words.. Social Media. Those of us who have chosen to join in the conversation are now Networking, as are those who link to, or share, or subscribe to the RSS. Some of us consume the Social Media, while others Socially Network with it.
On a higher level several posters, and especially Eben are leveraging all of the above for Marketing. Eben asked about the most effective technique to grow your business using Social Media. This very blog post and discussion could quite possibly be one of the most effective strategies I’ve seen. Let me explain, it very smartly does the following:
– Generates buzz by giving something away of great value.
– Encourages invested interaction, and networking
– Creates content (more media) in the process (some of the best tips from an intelligent community of marketers.)
– The content will help Google rankings, and web traffic.
– The content can later be implemented, taught, packaged, and sold.
Getting started with Social Media depends upon what your strengths, passions, and resources are. It should also be noted that to do it properly requires time and commitment. If you have the money then hiring a web guy to guide you through the process would be the efficient solution.
You may wish to ask yourself:
– Am I the expert or a hub of information?
– What am I an expert in, or knowledgeable on, that I can produce media about?
– Am I prepared to put the time in to creating media content, whether written, audio, or video?
– Am I prepared to Network, and build connections with people through several online channels?
If you enjoy writing, and are good at it then start with blogging, which is the easiest platform in my opinion. Blogger.com is the number 1 blogging platform, and WordPress.com is excellent also. For the more technically minded buy a domain at godaddy.com, and then setup your own hosted wordpress blog. Download at wordpress.org.
You may try experimenting with various types of media. If you have a good speaking voice, podcasting might be your starting point. Though a little more technical ability is required. Otherwise, you may come across best through video.
In addition to building your personal brand through your own media, you need to Network. Using services such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn. Again, as has already been stated choosing where to start may depend upon your profession and area of expertise. For corporate engineering consulting I’ve used LinkedIn in the past with success, in the Telecommunications market. Otherwise perhaps a community site for your specific niche.
Facebook is the fastest growing of the big boys, and will most likely be the number 1 social networking site in the near future. The top 10 in regards to unique worldwide visitors for November 2008 (from techcrunch.com) are:
1. Blogger (222 million)
2. Facebook (200 million)
3. MySpace (126 million)
4. Wordpress (114 million)
5. Windows Live Spaces (87 million)
6. Yahoo Geocities (69 million)
7. Flickr (64 million)
8. hi5 (58 million)
9. Orkut (46 million)
10. Six Apart (46 million)
These sites are not necessarily the best sites for you to network on though. Twitter for example as mentioned in this discussion is touted as being hugely valuable by many people. I am just building my following on it, and also have chosen to follow some very interesting individuals.
Will twitter be around a long time without a revenue model? Yes, undoubtedly! Most likely to be acquired by a company such as Google, where eyeballs go Google follows!
With regards to growing followers, my method so far most likely will not apply to anyone here. I was on television, so most people added me to Myspace upon googling me. Since then I have learnt that placing your social networking links on your website, and as someone here mentioned having a web of linked profiles does help. That is how my facebook following grew.
Generally you should network by making add requests to other experts in your field. Collaborating with them, or just joining in their discussion will provide exposure for you within your niche to all of their followers. People generally follow, or subscribe to multiple “gurus.” Be VERY careful not to spam other people’s profiles, groups, blogs, or other discussions thought!
Only 2 weeks in this field myself I have generated little money thus far. I re-launched my website using a Social Media strategy exactly 2 weeks ago, and am developing products and services. Having said that here is my case study for increasing traffic, and making some sales:
Changing from static pages to blog based content with a total of only 19 articles I was able to increase my Alexa ranking from roughly 2million to 530k in just 2 weeks. A newsletter mailing to my list helped raise this number to just over 300k until it levelled out. From google analytics I can see great improvements in search traffic, reduced bounce rates, and time on site.
So far I have made $374.95 in sales of an affiliate product, my commission $187.48.
You could say this was made by accident as I wrote no sales copy, and promoted no products or services in the newsletter. While I know that is nothing to brag about, I did learn something. I learnt that writing product reviews work far better than banner adverts for converting traffic to sales. I had one small post recommending 3 ebooks, each with affiliate links. That is what generated the sales.
Two very slick banner adverts for other affiliate products made no sales, and I have since removed one in favour of a link to my own RSS feed. Banner adverts no longer work (unless you have a high traffic site I imagine), or at least are not as effective as they once were. We are so used to them we tune them out like we do with television commercials. Sure one could argue that we are subconsciously primed to make a purchasing decision when we see the brand again, but I don’t necessarily see that effect as much with banner adverts. They also lose the personal conversational feel that makes Social Media and Social Networking great.
The main challenge with Social Media is how to be visible in the static. My best suggestion is to develop yourself as a valuable resource. Either an expert or someone who reviews, and provides information to filter out the noise.
Social Media is about communicating, networking, providing valuable information, and getting involved in the discussions. It provides the opportunity of networking with people in both numbers, and level of detail never before possible. At the end of the day people buy from people they like, and find value in. Just as with regular bricks and mortar businesses.
Traditional internet marketing I think lost the human element, and as someone said here Social Media is “transparent” so the best advice is to join in the conversations, get involved, show people who you are and what you are about. Add in some of the best elements of marketing, such as moving the free line (thanks Eben) and you’re set.
Here’s one final tip. If possible address all types of media, even the pictures on your site in the future will appear in regular search results. That is if Google sticks to their plans of shifting to Universal Search results, rather than separate results for Web, Images, Maps, News, etc.
So while I agree with Ron Reed in his comment about using all types of media “modalities”, I think that it’s less significant that people learn differently, and more important from an SEO perspective.. and will be more so in the future.
“In embracing the diversity of human beings we will find a sure way to true happiness,” Malcolm Gladwell when talking about lessons learned from Howard Moskowitz when testing foods to meet consumer preferences.
This statement somehow describes the value of Social Media Marketing to me.
Good luck everyone.. and thanks for reading,
Justin.
My favourite social media tool at the moment is LinkedIn Groups because I’ve used it to increase my opt-in rates by about 500% over the past couple of weeks and at no cost.
Now I do use Google AdWords but I just don’t have the budget to keep using it at least until I can get a decent conversion to $ rate and I’d love to be doing YouTube videos but I’m not ready for that yet and to be honest I’m not sure if having my face on camera at this stage would be good for conversions. I’m thinking at this stage no, it’s probably not good for conversions because I’m not an “expert” in my chosen niche yet, I don’t have the proof factor and I don’t have the stunning good looks of someone like Andrea Albright nor could I afford to pay someone like that to make videos for me.
Keep in mind I’m still a noob so some of this might be old hat to you but it’s been a very significant breakthrough for me.
Here is why I like LinkedIn Groups so much…
1. LinkedIn Groups produces qualified leads because I know that basically everyone who has a LinkedIn account is a working professional and therefore they all have some sort of income.
2. It’s effective, I’ve tested Goolge AdWords, SumbleUpon and LinkedIn and I’ve found that LinkedIn has a much better opt-in rate for my current budget and target niche, about 10 times better than StumbleUpon and at least twice as good as Google (although if I increased my monthly budget which I can’t afford to at the moment I think the results would be different).
3. It’s accessible, whilst MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter are great, they are banned from some corporate networks which eliminates a large number of potential prospects, LinkedIn is seen as a professional network so it doesn’t get blocked.
4. It’s easy, with a few clicks of a button you can have your blog content listed on LinkedIn and directly sent to thousands of potential prospects’ inboxes. Basically you just need to sign up to LinkedIn and then join as many groups as possible relating to your niche. Unlike MySpace or Facebook you can use this method with a minimal profile and you don’t have to spend all of your time acquiring lots of friends, you could do this with no friends in fact. Unlike StumbleUpon you don’t have to get other people to stumble your post or spend hours in front of the computer stumbling other people’s sites in order to earn enough “credits” to promote your own site.
5. Provides authority, your blog content appears in everyone’s inboxes as a news item.
6. It’s free, while I still think that Google AdWords is the best marketing tool my budget is limited at the moment so considering the results I’ve been getting LinkedIn Groups is a very good alternative.
7. It’s easy to stand out, most people use LinkedIn Groups to blatantly promote themselves and their services, there is not many people there who actually make an effort to dish out good quality content so it’s easy for your stuff to stand out if you aim to provide value and move the free line.
Here is a list of the tools that I’ve relied on to set this system up.
1. WordPress blog (WordPressDirect).
2. Commet HTML editor – for landing pages (GuruMsaterMind).
3. Eben’s Microsoft Word eBook templates – for creating my free eBook for opt-ins(GuruMasterMind).
4. Profollow autoresponder / email marketing system.
5. LinkedIn account.
Here is what I do…
1. Once I’ve put together a blog post that I believe is of high value I go to my LinkedIn account and click on the “Submit a new article” button.
2. I then specify which group I want to post the article to and the URL for my blog post. N.B. I’m constantly looking for and joining groups that are relevant to my niche so now I have at least two dozen groups that I am a member of, each group varies in size from 1,000 to 100,000 members. Also each group that I join requires that I receive a digest of all posts to that group as an email received daily or weekly. The beauty of this is that your URL appears in everyone’s inbox as a “Most Read News” article. The email is not seen as being sent by you but by the group owner.
3. LinkedIn saves the details of my submited artcile so I can just simply go back and resubmit the article to any other relevant groups.
4. At the end of my blog posts I always include a P.S. with a link to a landing page where people can opt in and receive a my free eBook.
That’s pretty much it, free and easy, all you have to do is focus on producing good content.
Now there’s more to it like testing keywords with Google AdWords etc but for the most part I now have a pretty good system for getting consistent leads trickling in each and every day so I can focus on increasing my conversion rates. N.B. I’m only just getting started and this is phase 1 of a 3 phase strategy but I’m optimistic that once I’m done with phase 3 that I’ll have a pretty amazing lead generating / money generating / list building system.
A few more tips…
1. LinkedIn advertising is a poor way to drive traffic because they charge per impression not per click and unlike Google AdWords your ad is not context or keyword sensitive so it just appears randomly. I have tested and got no results for the same ad that I used in Google to get a 20% click through rate.
2. LinkedIn is a great way to get raving fans, testimonials and other experts interested in what you are doing, which can then be used to further increase conversion rates.
3. I have tested this method againts several of my accounts including MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc and have found based on my Google Analytics results that LinkedIn clearly outperforms all others. N.B. I have not set up any of my own groups, just joined other people’s groups.
P.S. If Web 2.0 “Social Media” is about user created content then does that mean that Web 3.0 should be called “Robo Media” considering the rise of systems that now generate content for you? Just a thought 🙂
Social media is amplifying your voice and your mission across the globe by simply taking your offline world and experiences into the online world and understanding that if you want to truly become a ‘powerful person’ you must empower others.
Social media is for people who understand that living their dream is about moving in sync with their own reality. Think of your “ultimate lifestyle” (personal and professional) as being like a completed puzzle and if you want your picture to look like the picture on the box, sometimes you have to go farther than your local community to fill in the missing pieces. That is where social media comes into play.
Your ideas, your causes that you are passionate about and your purpose in this life is much greater you. Your vision is limited because you have limited yourself. If you want to go from dreaming to doing and impact people in scale you can get it done more effectively when you have people who are connecting with you from the east and the west, the developing world and the developed world and whose values and interests align with yours.
If you decide to enter the world of social media, do so at your own curiosity and fascination and no real expectations otherwise you will not “get it”. Realize that those who have a presence in the online world are merely reflecting the real experiences that they have built in the offline world. Once you have learned to do this and be driven purely by your internal compass it is then that you will begin to see that everything and everyone, in both the virtual world AND the real one, are tools and not obtacles to your success.
Social media is amplifying your voice and your mission across the globe by simply taking your offline world and experiences into the online world and understanding that if you want to truly become a ‘powerful person’ you must empower others. It doesn’t matter if you are introverted or extroverted and you don’t need to sign up for multiple sites. Just pick one that appeals to you and log in weekly and post one or two things, whether it is a hello message to the group or just to say what new and interesting things you are working on. It doesn’t have to be too personal nor does it have to be business like. There really are no rules. The important thing is too brand yourself by staying engaged in your community and allowing them to get a feel for the type of persron you are and things that interest you. That is what motivates other to connect and send friend requests to you. They identify with the types of things you are interested in. It should not feel overwhelming or intimidating to you.
Social media is for people who understand that living their dream is about moving in sync with their own reality. Think of your “ultimate lifestyle” (personal and professional) as being like a completed puzzle and if you want your picture to look like the picture on the box, sometimes you have to go farther than your local community to fill in the missing pieces. That is where social media comes into play.
Your ideas, your causes that you are passionate about and your purpose in this life is much greater you. Your vision (even if you don’t realize it yet) is limited because you have limited yourself. If you want to go from dreaming to doing and impact people in scale you can get it done more effectively when you have people who are connecting with you from the east and the west, the developing world and the developed world and whose values and interests align with yours.
If you decide to enter the world of social media, do so at your own curiosity and fascination and no real expectations otherwise you will not “get it”. Realize that those who have a presence in the online world are merely reflecting the real experiences that they have built in the offline world. Once you have learned to do this and be driven purely by your internal compass it is then that you will begin to see that everything and everyone, in both the virtual world AND the real one, are tools and not obtacles to your success.
And if you are concerned that you don’t know anybody or you don’t know how to get started then register on http://www.twitter.com and look for me @teenbizcoach I will help you 🙂 and introduce you to the community. It would be my honor.
I don’t think I can be as lengthy or in-depth as these really excellent responses, Eben, so I’ll just drop in my two cents.
As Zig Ziglar has been saying for many years, “If you help enough other people get what they want, they’ll bend over backwards to help you get what you want.” I don’t think there’s a BETTER description of the power of social media.
Every successful person I know has a deep desire to HELP people — both through his or her own business, as well as through giving back to society. I’m sure you and everybody reading this feels the same way. Before tools like Twitter, blogs, FaceBook, and other social networking technologies that person was limited in reach. We just weren’t able to reach as many people as we want to touch and improve lives.
The leverage power of social media is mind-boggling. Good ideas fly around the world in the matter of minutes. People willing to share value become overnight superstars. People willing to learn how to learn these tools generate incredible influence and power to do good. That’s the upside.
Of course, people can also learn to leverage these tools to do bad. There’s always a downside.
The fact is people don’t do business with corporations. They do business with people. Corporations don’t help people (even if their brand is on the letterhead or the sponsorship). People help people. If someone really wants to make a difference in the world today, my advice is to get on FaceBook…LinkedIn…Twitter…YouTube…Flickr…all of them. Dive in headfirst. Learn this stuff. Share your best stuff. Share your best self. Do it sincerely and it’ll come back to you in spades.
Think of the impact a guy like Zig Ziglar has had on people’s lives. Imagine the impact he would have had if he came along now?
Great discussion, Eben.
Steve
There is no easy or best way, there is only the way of individuation. People are programmable, and so is success, but what real success is is being able to live with what you’ve done to be successful once it is all over. Our own unconscious keeps us often in the dark, but when it surfaces it surrounds our ego and our thoughts with a velocity near the speed of light. That is why we need to process things carefully in a social sense. Just look at history and how things play out. Just when we think everyone is OK with our actions, the one thing we did quietly and discreetly surfaces on YouTube. Make sure that you can live with what you’ve done when it comes to the light of day in an unexpected way. Otherwise, don’t do it. That is a lasting mantra of long-term success on planet earth.
We must build success carefully and redefine our motives. I say, “Feed those who need food, help those who need help, and build enduring homes filled with love for everyone.”
Aloha,
Don Eads
http://tonyrobbinsibb.ning.com/
International Basket Brigade
Hi Eben, all.
I’m not going to add ‘the top’ 10 social media sites and answer the other questions at this stage simply because there are some excellent posts here already answering just that, and to list anything would be to add my preference, rather than any real value.
Instead, I will sum up my concept of how to use social media in the context of making money:
DO market to people
DO sell, sell, sell
DO socialise
DON’T try to get something for nothing… you will insult your target audience.
My humble opinion
Jose Gonzalez
🙂
Hi Eben, I don’t normally participate in these contest things, but I would certainly like to win that prize! I know how you like the big picture, so I kept it high level. Hope you like it.
What is Social Media & Why It Matters
—————————————————-
Social media is any form of media online that allows dialogue between both the business owner and their target market. Instead of Web 1.0 where people could not contribute to an article or post comments, Web 2.0 allows people to discuss and share their ideas on a level platform. It’s made transparency a whole lot more important.
It matters nowadays because there are millions of people using it. People are beginning to spend more time on Facebook, than the whole world is spending on Google. In addition, many of the world’s most popular sites are all social networking sites – think Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Orkut and LinkedIn. Contrasted with traditional media which is expensive, poorly targeted, rarely engaging and old-hat, social media is a trend which is here to stay.
If you can take advantage of being an early mover into this, you can build a long-term asset which you’ll be able to use time and again.
How to Market using Social Media.
———————————————–
Before diving straight in, I think it’s important to understand the culture which drives this method. Many people who fail at social media often “don’t get it”.
Social media marketing works through creating *valuable relationships*. In other words you need to provide value to recieve value from the network you build. You need to be yourself, and make sure that you are consistent on each social medium that you use to connect with people. The goal is to build relationships and trust so that when these people come accross your offer, they believe it.
Two Keys: Value & Relationships
——————————————–
I know Eben likes this question – and I think it is important when using social media. What is value? It’s what your target market needs. You have to provide value for your market to seek you out and establish a connection with you. Also, providing value acts with the law of reciprocity – people will feel they owe you due to the massive value you provide.
Relationships are the other key to social media. You need to develop relationships with your target market over time. Not only will this build an emotional connection with your network, this will build trust. While the emotional connection speeds up people’s decision making and removes logic from the equation, trust will help people to believe your offer and make the purchase.
Don’t Sell At Every Opportunity
——————————————-
While the end goal is to drive more sales or leads, selling without developing proper relationships will alienate your business from your audience.
Goals for Social Media Marketing
——————————————-
In order for social media marketing to work for your business you do need an ultimate strategy to go about achieving your goals. If not, it is very easy to become misguided and caught up in the midst of being social. While being social is what social media is all about, you need to keep focussed on your goals.
* Build Awareness of Your Offering
Are you communicating the value of your offering? Is your offering not apparent or are you too pushy?
* Develop Relationships & Trust
When people visit your website, are you helping them to subscribe to your blog? Are you getting them to follow you on twitter? Are you trying to build an email list? This is a key goal and every business owner should aim for this.
* Establish Yourself as an Authority
This is also a big one which is pivotal in knowledge based markets. You do this with DYD, by providing the most successful tips and ideas, in order for people to see you as an authority and want to learn more about the ideas you pose.
* Encourage Purchases
Once you have people’s trust and you have communicated your value to them, you can then present your offer to them. Transparency is a big key. If you’re not open with your audience, and you don’t set expectations right, people will discard you afterward.
* Share & Nurture Relationships
You can share the relationships you have made with other close, trusted friends. Perhaps, you Eben, might make one of these posts hit the main section of your blog so you can share great relationships in your network. Also, using tools such as twitter, blog comments and Facebook, you can sustain and nurture the relationships you have built over time.
* Build a Powerful Marketing Asset
As your network builds, your asset grows in power and value. You don’t just use this asset once, you can use it again and again and again to build value for your business.
Mediums for Social Media Marketing
————————————————
Here are a bunch of the most popular sites that you can use to build relationships with users on.
Social Networking sites
– Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Hi5 and Last.fm.
Video Sharing Sites
– Youtube, TubeMogul
Wiki Sites
– WikiHow, Hubpages, Squidoo
Blogging
– Using WordPress, moveable type and other things.
Forums
– Timely and costly but most are setup to use Vbulletin. Can work well if managed/built right.
Friend Feeds
– Microblogging with Twitter, Friend Feed Feed, Facebook Status
How to Grow a Swarm of Followers
————————————————-
I think it’s important to focus. You need to decide which social media sites you will use to build relationships on. Blogs are probably the best solution, as they’re a lot easier to monetise in the long term, and you’re building an asset which you own, wholly.
You really need to follow Yaro Starak’s program on Blogging, as it is, hands down, the best course available on the topic. Check it out here: http://www.blogmastermind.com/ (disclosure: I used to work with Yaro)
1. Create valuable content
2. Build Relationships with Other Blogs in Your Market by sharing articles or initiatives
3. Ensure You have a clear call to action for your desired goal – be it for subscriptions, email opt-ins, website comments, or purchases.
Over just a few short years, Yaro has used blogging with social media marketing to build a list of over 50,000 followers via RSS, Email Subscriptions, Twitter and Forum members. This is why he consistently makes $10-20K a month worth of passive income. Probably more now.
I am a complete newbie to internet marketing and social media. I think someone was looking out for me the day I did an “eenie-meanie-minie-mo” to try to decide whose IM product to buy and I ended up with Jeff Walker’s PLF2.1. That was 7 weeks and 3 days ago. At that time I didn’t know the difference between social media and a social disease. I had to google every concept out of Jeff’s mouth as it was all completely new to me. It took repeated attempts at googling “paperclip” before I realized what I really wanted was “pay-per-click” — that is the honest truth. After 2 weeks and 3 days of learning about how I could use Social Media to my benefit (amoung other things), I launched my first product. All of that was $129,968.95 ago. So Eben, although I may not be up there with the heavy hitters who have also answered your call, I know I can offer a unique prospective that few others will have; that is one of complete naivety! My insight comes both from someone using social media to learn about business, while at the same time, using it to grow my business. I am a dog trainer, so my niche is much smaller than those of you in internet marketing. Here is what I have found to be effective in using SM in the past 7 weeks and 3 days while I have been climbing my very steep learning curve.
Number one: good content. If you can’t create it, then report it, because both are of equal value to me as a reader, but don’t try to pull someone else’s brilliance off as your own. Your sincerity, or lack thereof, will be discovered and when it happens, the disclosure will be either your springboard to success or your black-hole to obscurity. Next, don’t waste people’s time. The internet offers so many options for all of us, that I am unlikely to give you a second glance if you are using SM for no other reason than self-promotion and trying to turn a quick buck by stretching your truths or reporting only yesterday’s, very dated news. Your lack of integrity will be discovered and I will leave. So when using SM you can’t be wasting space, regardless of how big your name is, you must be giving, and your generosity must be obvious to the benefactor, or you will appear as nothing more than a sleazy, snake-oil salesman. I love the way some top internet marketers launch their products by giving away, for free, quality information that I can use and profited by, without giving them a nickel. No I can’t purchase everyone’s products, but when I have time to further my education, I will go to person that gave me valuable content before I was in a position to invest with them.
So here is what I have been up to: I have one (it’s a start) Squidoo page and am following people like you on Twitter, but I have been relying more on three other aspects of SM right now to do my cyber-socializing. My preferred three are: my wordpress blog, a YouTube and a Facebook account. I am not saying I don’t see the value in the others venues, it is just that there is so much for the newbie to do in 7 weeks and 3 days, so I am trying to come out-of-the-blocks with more of a narrow focus as I am learning. It will be interesting to see where my vision is directed one year from now.
I have had an YouTube account for 14 months. Again focusing on good quality content that I think will be valuable to those in my field (if you have a pet be sure to view my clip “The Journey” on my YouTube site). In return for my sincerity I now have 764 subscribers and my videos have between 3,000 – 68,000 views. During my first year on YouTube, I didn’t once asked viewers to take action on anything. It was just me exposing myself so-to-speak:). Recently I put up a video promoting a product, but even that promotional clip was loaded with great educational content for viewers. I am careful that YouTube and my other SM sites are focused on sharing, even if I slide in a mention of a link to a new product. Reciprocity, as one person commented, I even love the sound of the word.
Social media intertwining. I bet there is a more officious word for that, but I don’t know what it is. You can start this with one friend on Facebook. Go through their list of friends and pick 3 that you recognize as sharing the same passion as you, and invite them to be your friends. Make this a daily habit and you will grow your list of friends but they won’t just be a mass, they will be a mass of people with similar interests. I did the same thing on Twitter although found few dog trainers, so I turned to my newest interest, internet marketing. I went to see who people like Jeff Walker or Eben Pagan followed and now I follow those people too. I haven’t tweeted yet, still working on my whistle:) but yet I am learning a lot by just following.
Increase your Facebook coverage by making an effort to sign in with something that either: exposes your humanity (“giving the day to my kids today”), inspires someone to take action (just wrapping up my blog post), educates (post some great content you just came across) or entertains. I think humor could be the most underrated key to overall SM success, it is magnetic and so worthwhile, people need to laugh, it keeps us young. You don’t have to be funny, just quote someone that is (funny). I know I am overstating the obvious but, signing in on FB gives you a presence on everyone’s page that is a friend of yours. If what you wrote inspires someone to comment on your wall you have opened up yet another SM stream as new people what to be-friend you to see what people are writing on your wall. I think it is important though, if you want to keep a conversation going with masses that when you sign in, make sure you do more than report the status of your fried eggs that morning. Let it be thought provoking, uplifting or action prompting while divulging bits of who you are or what you value. Keep it fresh by giving me (the reader) variety. Some commenting on your kids shows your vulnerability, but too much makes me not want to read. So mix up your intentions with your sign-ins without them being contrived or manipulative.
Good comments on people’s FB video clips is also useful, as it not only increases your visibility but it is also an opportunity to add a positive prospective or advise that can help people improve technique or somehow enhance what you have seen in their video. Even if it is a video of a family picnic, writing something like “hey you obviously enjoy time with your family, ever gone to Ledgerock where all kids ride free at the park on Wednesdays” Once I have commented on someone’s video I will sometimes blog about that comment and tell my blog readers “if you are on Facebook, make me a friend and I may write on your wall as well.”
Blogging is also completely new to me. I don’t use my blog as a place to whine about life. My goal has been to educate, entertain or inspire. If what I write doesn’t meet one of these criterions it isn’t worth posting. On days when I do post I am getting 1,000 – 1300 views per day and with now 21 posts, I have 223 comments. I am not only writing, but where appropriate I am posting pictures, video clips to help enhance my message for that day. So lets say someone on Facebook wants me to comment on their dog training video. I ask permission to use their clip on my blog. Then I use a screen capture video to create a tool that helps not only the person in the video but anyone coming to my blog. In this new SC video I have given good dog training tips but I encourage my audience to watch the clip first with the sound turned off in order for them to enhance their eye as a trainer. Once they have viewed the silent clip they can play it once again listening to my comments to see if they were able to pick up the dog training nuances that I did. So it becomes an education tool for not just one but for many, once again adding content to share.
I have also use screen capture to answer questions on my blog. I collect questions from my newsletter, facebook or blog and throw them on a power point presentation then using the screen capture video answer them as the day’s blog post. For me this is faster than typing out answers, plus it once again adds the humanity factor, having myself appear on my own blog. I can’t get to all of the questions but I do make an attempt. I find it frustrating reading someone’s blog that ignores all incoming questions from their readers. To me it comes across as disrespectful and condescending.
When I read other people’s blogs I ask myself the question; why am I doing this? By me reading your blog, have you contributed to my day in a positive way? Did I bookmark your blog so I can return later? If so why. Whatever you wrote in your blog, you achieved a goal that I would like to achieve, you motivated me to return. Did I stop reading part way through a post and leave with no intention of returning? If so why? I want to learn from my own actions. Clearly, closing out of your blog means I did not find what I was reading compelling. Why? I would summarize it in two words: content & sincerity, I am looking for both. If you can keep me reading then I want to emulate what you have done because it was effective. Honestly, any blogs I have exited from without thought of returning, I did either because of my perceived disingenuous nature of the writing or the content was lacking. Either way, if you lost me as a reader, I will be sure to examine why, because there is a lesson in that for me as well, as I strive to provide a blog of value to my readers.
I believe all of this has helped me to best use social media to my advantage, as I play the role of both student and teacher, the process is win-win for everyone. Today is my first day reading your blog Eben (I did bookmark it btw), I only came here after the fraudulent Eben-ator out there sent me a fictitious Twitter notice about you. Funny how life works, to me goes the spoils! I have read all replies to your social media question, and although you want to make your own decision and there is a lot of great content in these answers, (Alex Taylor’s was a huge help to me as a neophyte ) however my vote for the most helpful resource goes to either John Hinds or one from Laura Roeder – – I will take some of her advise here and plug my own social media sites in my signature line. Thanks for listening!
Susan Garrett
Say Yes Dog Training
http://www.clickerdogs.com
http://www.susangarrett.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/clickerdogs
http://twitter.com/susangarrett
[…] I just entered Eben Pagan’s contest to describe social media marketing. There are some brilliant responses and I added my two cents which you can find here: https://ebenpagan.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/best-way-to-market-with-social-media/#comment-263 […]
What I accidentally discovered was someething that Eben can relate to. In an attempt to train one of my downline distributors without having to physically get in a car and drive six hours to show her how to locate the exact acupuncture points on her body (where the product is supposed to be used), I decided to get a camcorder (using airmiles of course), record a video of me teaching how to locate the points, and put it on You Tube (which wasn’t as fast as it sounds because I didn’t know how to convert my video until I figured out I had to buy a program for that).
After I posted the video (and she thanked me tremendously for my efforts), I discovered that within two weeks or so, over 300 people from around the world had watched (and learned) from that video. Aha! I thought to myself!
I quickly re-edited the video to include the URL of my website and the created a whole set of training videos and put them up as well.
Sure enough, I began getting complete strangers opting into my website and even thanking me personally for the helpful videos and newsletter (the latter which they thought I was writing to them individually – gotto like autoresponsders!). Have I optimized the SEO? no, I’m still learning, but I do know that thousands of people from around the world have seen them and I’ve given some REAL value to people.
Move the free line Eben always says.
I help people who email me with questions even though they are not in my downline. It’s about making a difference.
My reward? Suddenly one day, a prominent upline leader from my company calle me out of the blue (you know, one of the guys that actually appears on the company videos) asking me what my story is and how I got all these new distributors from Thailand in my downline. Although that group ended up having difficulties with customs and they are no longer with me, it really emphasized to me what a difference using Social Media including You Tube can do for my business.
What’s happening is that I’m the “trainer” for my company and everyone sees me as the expert (thanks to Mike Dillard and Magnetic sponsoring). My new upline sponsor is a leader and on the advisory board of the company and has hinted that the company is looking for lead trainers in the near future and would I be interested?
Cool or cool?
Social Media rocks!
By the way, I was the first “trainer” on You Tube for my company and others have since followed suit. Smart move.
Dr. Karen
we are reaching a point where advertising and marketing in the traditional sense is inefficient and uneccessary, and this is good.
Advertising and marketing is uneccessary for both the consumer and the producer because as a producer, you will have to charge more for your product because of the money your will need to spend on advertising, marketing and selling to even get people to KNOW that your product EXHISTS.
As a consumer, you do not want to waste your valuable attention, willpower, time and energy looking at advertisments, reading sales copy or hearing a sales pitch that haslittle or no relevancy to you at that point in your life.
With social media, this is all changing.
As a consumer, instead of finding out what is available to you through advertisments, you are now able to find out the products and services that are valuable to you BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS OF PEOPLE YOU ALREADY KNOW AND TRUST AND WHO ARE VERY SIMILAR TO YOU.
As a producer, instead of having to waste time, money and energy on marketing, advertising and selling, you now just have to FOCUS ON MAKING THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE AS VALUABLE AS POSSIBLE AND LETTING SOCIAL MEDIA DO THE REST.
You can see how social media is such an intense game changer.
We are reaching a period where advertisements, marketing and selling are just simply ineffective and uneccessary. If you have a product or service that is worth buying, people will find out about it and buy it based on social recommendations, as well as modeling and imitating their friends.
If you are a consumer, if you are interested in improving in a certain area, or getting more power or sharing love, all you have to do is become more connected through social media and ask your friends for recommendations or model or imitate the friends you admire by buying the products and services that they are buying and that they recommend.
If social media develops to it’s full potential, we will be able to instantly get recommendations from our friends and instantly find out how people who are very similar to us and who are in similar situations in life are behaving and what their recommendations are for the activities that they engage in and with the products and services that they are using.
It is truly a remarkable age that we are entering and it is great because we are getting to the point where the barriers between every human brain are dissapearing at a faster and faster rate. Soon and ideally, we will get to a point where the human mind can commmunicate as quickly, efficiently and easily as possible with every other human mind that it wishes to and who is also willing and able to communicate in the same way. This also includes the ability to observe the behavior of that individual instantly and easily. SOcial media is a prime example of this rapid change and it is going to transform human interaction as we know it.
I hope I have contributed a unique piece to this puzzle and I hope you share my vision of this future and can help the world to accelerate this process, which, in the end, will lead to a much higher standard of living for all of us.
Thanks and sincerely,
Broderick Boyd
Hi Eben – great topic!
I primarily use FaceBook and Twitter…i blog sporadically (resolution to do better)
My fave is Twitter (as you KNOW) and here is a brief video I made for followers about that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mIqivzVH3A
Also – I believe (like others have said above) that it’s social networking that marketers can benefit from…but not as effective (in my opinion) if your end goal is primarily marketing.
I’ve used it for:
Connection building
Network weaving
Social proof PUBLIC in a big way
Name dropping
Content sharing
and
BRAND building
but the most HUGE component is that it helps with VIRTUAL rapport and mega-visibility…also accessibility to folks you might not otherwise be exposed to (and vice versa)
So connections and brand are primary to my uses…but I can also trace 6 figures directly to my 5 months on twitter.
I don’t want to be considered for your contest…I already have some product and am coming to your MARCH event! wahoo…but wanted to chime in for future readers!
My self-made RULES for Twitter/Social Media use??
5 C’s
1) be a ‘character’ and HAVE character
2) be consistent (sporadic isn’t reliable in the eyes of the audience)
3) be conversational – don’t be the one ‘shouting at the party to no one in particular’
4) provide content…what do you know, what can you share, how can you provide value to others?
5) CONNECT others with no apparent benefit to yourself…be a connector…a net weaver…this is the most powerful way to be meaningful to others
Thanks for letting me share!
Carrie Wilkerson
The Barefoot Executive
http://TwitterBarefoot.com
Social Media is about interacting with others that share the same interest. Giving people value and actually communicating is the key. If you sell something, give your followers something for free whether it is information, a product, your time whatever. Listen and carefully read what people are saying and respond to their comments with genuine interest and concern. Share what you know with others, you will actually learn more by doing so even if you think you know everything about a specific subject. If you can connect with others they will follow and respect you.
Short and simple.
Berri Rannells
If the future of advertising and marketing is about being useful (see: http://www.zeusjones.com/ and http://www.slideshare.net/paulisakson/whats-next-in-marketing-advertising-318143/v1) then to my mind the first useful thing you can do in marketing is position yourself/your brand and/or your client’s brand in the audiences shoes. At minimum realize that no one has the time to Google everything. We need to be more useful than that.
With regards to your personal brand and social media marketing, make people’s lives easier. Collect your links in one place. Share that place. It doesn’t matter where your stuff is, simply link to it.
We started http://www.extendr.com to help ourselves do this and our friends demanded we do the same for them. Now, anyone can get and account. Stop by if you like. Let us know what you think by signing up or not. We are mindful of our analytics. 🙂 Or drop us a line.
My page here: http://joseph.extendr.com
Let’s talk about…
Moving The “Social Media Freeline” ™…
What is a “Social Media Freeline” ™?
Let me explain…
For awhile now I have been creating a product that revolves around “Moving the Freeline” (I am not trying to plug it so I won’t put a URL unless Eben asks for it), since Eben taught me this, I feel that I owe him and will give back “right here, right now”..
As you probably heard Eben talk about before we need to think like our customers.
If you’re like me, this can be difficult (trying to shutoff your mind and turn on an imaginary customers mind a.k.a avatar).
So instead I use a technique where instead of “shutting off my mind”…
I SHUT OFF MY EXPERTISE”!
We have to realize that just because we spend all of out free time studying and researching a market, that most of our prospects, clients, customers… DO NOT!
So something “simple, educational and fun” can be worth passing along and be good enough for a “Social Media Freeline”™ (I am “coining this phrase “Right here Right now”).
Even though it might seem like “kindergarten” type stuff to you… To them its “College Material”.
Think back to when you were 1st entering in to your market and remember all those “AHA’s” you had that got you pumped as hell. Because I have a little secret…
If you pass out enough “Aha’s” to your “Social Media Buddies” then you are going to win and you will instantly become those people’s “Guru”. Yes You, I Promise.
Let me give you an example…
When I was first learning about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) I learned a neat little trick. The trick was putting this tag in front of any web address… “link:” when doing a “search” in any “search engine”, and then the results were made up of, every webpage on the internet with a link pointing to that site that I searched (a.k.a “backlinks”).
So you search for your “Keyword”, up pop the Top 10 results, you copy & paste the web addresses for, lets say, the Top 3 results for that keyword into Word or Notepad and then do a search for each one with that tag in front of the web address… “ link:www.topsite.com “
And BLAMMO you have every link that is making that page rank high in the search engines (“pagerank” is completely made of from “backlinks”).
And if you put “site:” then it will tell you every page “Within” that site.
Great Technique’s for SEO COMPTETION RESEARCH.
QUICK TIP: Yahoo is a lot more accurate than Google. And sometime you will get more results using “ links: “ (with an “s”)… This if for those of you that never seen this before.
Now this is not some amazing trick, it only takes seconds to explain and seconds to do, but I was like a “kid on Christmas morning” when I learned this…
And this is the type of stuff you can tell you can use as “Social Media Freelines” to tel your Social Media Buddies about 24/7.
And there is no rule that says it has to be your content. I plan on “sharing the love” by sending people to other sites. I am just now starting to build my “Personal Brand” but Eben can totally expect a “serious amount of links” from my blog to his.
Quick Tip:: When you do want to share a good Video, Article, Blog Post or whatever (we’ll call them “thingy things”)…
Instead of giving a “Direct URL” to the “thingy thing”, I would instead write a post about that “Thingy thing” with a link to the “thingy thing”.
Why?
Because when you leave a “link” pointing to another “popular blog”, most likely this will create a “trackback” (when Blog A posts a link to “Blog B Post” then Blog B will automatically leave a link in the comment section with a link pointing back Blog A (a.k.a Trackback) This is a feature that most have “enabled” so it works)
Ok so let me wrap this up here…
What does “Social Media Advertising” mean to me?
That I can finally be myself and get back to “caring about people”, instead of having to train on how to manipulate and try doing “schemery”. Honestly, a bigger course I am working on is all about “DOING WHAT YOU LOVE”.
As long as you have your “heart in the right place”, are doing what you are passionate about and do things because you truly care about your prospects/clients/customers (which should now be your FRIENDS)…
“If you Do It From Here On In Then For The 09’ You Will Win!…
BE HAPPY BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE, “REALLY” CARE ABOUT YOUR PEOPLE, BUILD A COMMUNITY & BE APART OF YOUR OWN COMMUNITY (STOP using automated email responders… ONLY!)
Thank All,
Kevin DaSilva
P.S. And don’t forget what I said in my last post, go to MySpace, Facebook, etc. and find all the groups relating to your niche and BECOME PART OF THE COMMUNITY. Pass out some “Social Media Freelines” and you will be on your way my friend. I’ll see you at the top!
P.P.S. Sorry if this is too long but I love helping people out and I just keep on going.
Whats up Eben & Pepe’s from Eben’s world…
Hey Eben I left a comment and for some reason instead of my name it says “elitemarketer”. I think I created a wordpress account with that login a while ago but why it cam up I dunno? But I did leave my real name in the comments section.
Just wanted to clear that up in case I win… Either way I was glad to participate Hey is there a 2nd and 3rd place? lol
Thanks for the Opp
Kevin DaSilva
Eben,
Let’s get going: time is money and the quick implementors usually win. Just noticed your post this morning. So here I am.
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John’s guide to Social Media and Web2.0 and why it matters a lot for your business.
What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
Social Media, also referred to as Web 2.0, are hundreds of online platforms, where Internet users meet, share ideas, pictures, poems, reviews, opinions, videos, songs, …, everything. Want some examples: StumbleUpon.com, Facebook.com, Youtube.com, Twitter, Del.icio.us, Propeller, furl and so forth. It’s called user generated content. It two way communication. From people for people and its driven by individuals. It’s not regulated and restricted by corporations like TV or print media.
Do you already guess why this could (and is) important for your business?
The benefit is twofold:
(1) At first you can tap into the “market’s mind” and find out what people are talking about, what’s hot, what works for them, and what doesn’t.
For example: If you notice a certain group complaining about X and saying, “I’d pay a fortune, if I could find a solution for this problem.” Then you might be on the first step of discovering a potential goldmine. Of course you need to dig a bit deeper, but social media lets you get in touch with your market. People are writing about your market and they will write about you as well as about your competitors. Therefore, Web2.0 is an awesome market research and espionage tool. But it’s also a place where you can participate in that communication. You can go as far as ask people what they want.
(2) Secondly, social media gives you tons of cool, free tools that you can use for spreading your ideas and name, for building good will. Because it is so important I say it right here,
“Never spam people. Never blatantly promote your products!”
That won’t work in the long haul. You might be able to make a couple of quick bucks, but you won’t get rid of the bad taste of it for a long time. Don’t do it!
For example just recently someone tried to misuse twitter by opening new accounts and impersonating well known marketers. They’d write 1 message with a link to a sales page and followed as many people as possible before the account got disabled trying to promote this one web page. What a waste of time.
If you do it right, you will get known as someone who cares, gives advice, has informative web pages, and simply helps people. Such a vibe vibrates on Web2.0 and your kudos will spread.
So how can you use Web2.0 for spreading your word?
There are 3 kind of sites out there, each type highlights certain features:
** bookmarking and voting (e.g. del.icio.us, digg, propeller.com, …)
** communicating (facebook.com, orkut.com, …)
** upload content (video sharing Youtube, but also blogs like blogger.com, wordpress.com, also squidoo.com and hubpages.com)
A central characteristic of those Web2.0 sites is, they are self regulated. There are certain things (illegal, profanity) you cannot do, but in general they are run by the crowd and the crowd determines what’s hot and what’s not.
To some extent functions overlap, but that’s not so important. important is that you use them all (more about this later, and a little disclaimer.)
How to get started with Social Media?
The first thing I suggest to get you started with social media is put up a blog on your own domain. That will be your central point. Your prime location where you publish all sorts of content that serve the needs and desires of your target market. Install one of the many social bookmarking plugins like from shareit.com and ask your readers to share your content with their friends and colleagues, if they liked it.
Besides that: Even when we are talking about social media here, you should not forget to build your email list. Do both!
From now on let’s assume that you have your blog and know your niche.
Easiest way to get started is to sign up for socialmarker.com, which will be a big time safer for you. It basically allows you to submit your latest blog post to multiple social media platforms at once. Check it out.
Before you can submit your links, you also need to sign up with each and every service you want to use. Let me talk about the monster sites.
What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
If I only had to name 10 sites, I’d start out with exploring those:
Twitter.com
Youtube.com
Digg.com
Friendfeed.com
StumbleUpon.com
Facbook.com
Squidoo.com
Propeller.com
Del.icio.us
High authority blogs in your niche.
There are many, many more and there is not a correct answer. It depends on your particular target market and other factors, you’ll need to watch out and measure results. Try new networks and drop ineffective ones.
Social media can be a big time waster, but it doesn’t have to be and should not be. You need to adopt a plan and procedures for your engagement to leverage it.
Once you have setup your account, added a picture, and filled out your profile you basically can start submitting your links via socialmarker.com .
But watch out. Also submit valuable resources for your target audience from other websites. Not only yours. Your own content shouldn’t be more than 15%-50% (depends on the platform). Don’t be afraid of “promoting” a competitor’s website, if the content is really good and valuable.
What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
Now that you have basic accounts on multiple platforms it’s time to make friends. You do this by joining the conversation, by answering questions, giving tips, by providing valuable free content. That way you are building your reputation and by giving away your best content for free, you are building the best reputation that you can build.
You enter the dialog with the individuals in your marketplace and you do it as real person not as corporation.
Gently ask them to follow you, because you have more great stuff in store for them for free. (But ask them, because most people will require that call to action in order to click the subscribe, follow, join, make friend button, …)
Stay on topic and help them.
Getting involved requires more time so I suggest that you do research on what platforms you want to start with to build your contacts. Where are the people from your market hanging out mostly? And never forget: quality is more important than quantity.
What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
One of the hottest Web2.0 tools right now and for the month to come is certainly online video, but anything multi-modal works great.
Some people like to read, some like to listen, some like to watch and listen. It also gets your personality across and boost your credibility, because people can experience more of you as a real person.
As a matter of fact online video sites, notably Youtube get the majority of web traffic and it’s growing. Not only that you can and should use video on your site as multimedia content, you can also use it to attract prospects from the video sites to you.
But it doesn’t end there. Since video is very popular in general it also will increase your ranking in the search engines, if you submit your videos to several video sites. For example with the free service at tubemogul.com.
How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
The key point is you need to be cool to those people all the time and provide them with excellent value so that they become your “friends”. How you gonna do that?
You rise above the noise and go the extra mile by giving them your best advice for free, by getting the results they want before they even buy your products. Providing excellent value is the key. Those people are giving you their attention, their time. Always honor and respect that.
And of course when it comes to selling your products, don’t sell them. Help them decide they want your products, instead of convincing them.
Last but not least use all sorts of media to get your points across. Audio, video, blog comments, even teleseminars, and email to communicate. That makes the relationship become strong, because you’re not a nerd behind a keyboard anymore, but a real likable person.
This works so well because people like and trust friends as well as authorities (like your medical doctor.) With that multi-modal social media approach you become both: their friend and an authority.
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As others are contributing great content here too I just call it finished for now.
Yours
John
Just wanted to put another post to say that I’m very impressed with all the information people have contributed here. There’s a lot of great material here, and anyone who wasn’t exactly sure what Social Media Marketing was before should have a very good idea now.
The one other thing I’ll say that others have touched on in their posts – if you really want to connect, to make that magic one-to-one link with another individual, you need to be YOURSELF. Be honest. You can try being a character, play a role of some kind – but if you fake yourself, especially in social media – people tend to know.
I think people don’t realize the intuition built into the human mind, how readily people can read honesty. And not always on purpose. But when you’re really, truly honest with a person, when you’re yourself, they’ll “feel” it. And if you’re not, they won’t, or they’ll say that it just doesn’t “feel right”. The Turing Test is a good demonstration of this innate ability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
While marketing through black hat means and spam-style methods can be effective sometimes, if you want a true following using social media, you must be true to yourself, to your market. By exposing who you are, it’s allowing yourself to be vulnerable in other people’s eyes. This is taking a step forward in trust, and by doing this, you can have that trust reciprocated.
When this happens, people will trust you more, they’ll see you as being someone they feel comfortable with, and if you happen to want to recommend a particular item or product that you’ve spent time working on – they will be far more inclined to consider it than someone who just read your sales page after being enticed from your AdWords ad.
THIS is the power of social media.
And thanks Eben, for the chance to let us all share a little with each other on this topic. It’s been enlightening for me.
Eric
My post, from John Zehr, was approved. Please delete it, as I believe it contains inaccurate information.
* What is Social Media, anyway… and why does it matter?
Social media is about society and being human in an inhuman world. We all want to connect with others that share a similar story, a common passion, so that we feel that we are not alone. Media allows us the tools to pursue that connection, whether with the written word, videos or audio. It matters because we matter. My thoughts may be just an opinion to some but to others it may change their life and allow them to have smile, something they may not have done in a really long time.
* What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
The essence is the core of the self. Personal expression, to be able to share something of interest to the rest of the world in a way that only we can do. The essence is you or you inc.
* How should I get started with Social Media?
Research a few of the social media sites utilized by friends and colleagues, since you already have a connection and common interests, my guess is that they have selected social sites that may as well work for you. See http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/04/social-media-marketing-beginners-guide.html
* What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
Depends on your interest or what you consider to be top 10, most traffic, most popular, most useful what? A few sure bets to check out are linkedin, facebook, twitter, youtube, flickr, digg, orkut, squidoo, hubpages…
* What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
Great question but first I would ask what is the purpose? Are you selling a product or service, entertaining or educating? Depending on your purpose, attracting the right customer or ‘groupie’ may require different tactics. If I was selling, I would deliver relevant free content to entice the customer, move the free line, as you would say. If I was making a stand on a particular subject or announcing an idea, I would draw folks from other relevant sites that have a similar interest and produce content that that could not be ignored. Be interesting, be different, get out of the web box.
* What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media? Video, hands down! People love to see you move, talk and walk, they feel like they are there in the room with you and there is nothing closer to having a real life experience, other than having a real life experience with the presenter.
* How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
First it spells success if you have a huge list following from your media efforts. This tells us that people are interested and they want more, so ask them what they want, that way you can build and deliver a custom tailored product that people are already asking to buy. Expand upon this with a continuity offering that will deliver more specific lessons or products each month while generating reoccurring revenues.
* Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
I am building my momentum and learning all I can in this ever changing world of social mediaism. I should have some relevant indicators for you in a few months. Currently working on production of a new project. Ever heard of this weirdo surfer dude in Cali, Frank Kearn? Not sure if he is the real deal, but man he has got some serious case studies and if his numbers are even close to what he claims, then there is every reason he should be putting that to good use, like building clean drinking water facilities or teaching kids to be entrepreneurs or…..
* Where can a person find other great online resources that cover marketing with Social Media?
The most frustrating aspect of research is weeding through all the hype. The best resources I have found are expert social media sites through twitter users and google’s blog search. I also like gurudaq.com to research marketing gurus as well as Tamar’s techipedia.com site. See the post http://www.techipedia.com/2009/internet-marketing-posts-2008/
Thanks Eben, I hope you enjoy this comment as much as I did writing it. Till next time, all the best, Jayson
Intentionally Create Your Life
Eben,
First off, I would just like to Thank You and let you know I won’t have a voice tomorrow… lol
And I can tell you that anything that comes from me that is of any value, is a direct result of “Your Teachings”.
I literally go over your training “OVER & OVER AGAIN”, so much so that my family and friends “think I AM Nuts” because they see me watching the same training every time they come over, see me and its always you on the screen.
I have even taken every conference call, video, report (I record myself reading it) and more that I have from you, I “render” it as an MP3 and plug it into my iPhone and ipods so when I am out of the house, walking, running, working out, or at the store with my girl I have the headphones on and I am still training.
And I also grab every book, training and report you mention from your mentors (which is another thing most will not do) when explaining where you uncovered those “stepping stones” from other teachers which you then expanded and tweaked to make it the most useful to all of us!
And I have to say its about time I had some new training.
Honestly, I would also like to say thanks for being so generous and making it 3 winners instead of 1 because the other comments were so great I feel that I probably wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Its for this reason I tell everyone on my blog and will continue to tell everyone I talk to that you are the the Most Brilliant Marketer, Person & Teacher I have ever had the pleasure to study under…
And as for the “live event”… Tell Me When, Tell Me Where & I AM There!
Again way to generous and everyone here needs to be “Digg’in” this to show Eben some love for just being a “Overdeliver” in all he does for us…
Thanks Again
Kevin DaSilva
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*What is Social Media and Why does it matter?
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Social Media is a global wave of change that redefines how we communicate, how we educate, entertain and inform ourselves, and how we express the need for community that our modern lifestyles have tended to destroy.
It is focused around certain types of websites that encourage user generated content and sharing of resources and information. It’s a set of tools and platforms that make it easy for people to come together to share, and collaborate collectively
Declining Response To Traditional Advertising
Traditional channels of mass communication such as Television, Radio and Newspapers, are rapidly becoming obsolete. In the past these were the most effective places for a business to advertise their products or services.
Now content creation has shifted into the hands of ordinary people. 1/3 or the top 20 trafficked websites on Alexa and are social media sites. Ordinary people are spending more and more time on social media sites and less time consuming conventional media
This means that every business will be faced with a declining response to its traditional methods of advertising. In order to compete and stay ahead of the competition its essential to have an effective social media presence and to adjust your marketing according to this new paradigm.
Reputation Management
The second reason social media is so important is Reputation Management. If someone criticizes your product or service you at least have a means of rectifying the damage quickly, Social media means that news both good and bad travels very quickly.
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What’s the “essence” of Social Media, that’s different from other forms of media and communication in the past?
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Social Media is basically a user generated , interactive, multiway media creation and distribution network that forms communities and tribes in a virtual environment. Conventional media is usually a one way communication that tends to keep people isolated from each other.
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*How should I get started with Social Media?
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Pick Two Of The Top Social Networking platforms
These sites will become your home base. Your social media empire will radiate out from there, you need two because you want to link things together.
I would suggest Twitter or Facebook and a WordPress Blog.
Twitter and Facebook are both extremely viral, they have a global reach and are still growing extremely rapidly. A WordPress blog on your own domain looks more professional, is SEO optimized and you can customize it with Plugins that can link your social media profiles together. It gives you both Social and Google Juice.
Build Your Profile
A good photo graph is essential and a well thought out Bio or introduction to who you are and what specializations and value you are offering. On Twitter you only get 160 characters to do this. On Facebook you can add a little more detail. 67% of people choose to follow someone based on what they write in their BIO so make it count.
Get Quality Training
Now find several experienced operators on your chosen site and read everything you can that they have written. You want to get started the right way and build a targeted responsive network not a random list of people who don’t have a clue who you are.
Understand The Etiquette
Facebook and Twitter both have their own etiquette, and also strict guidelines about what you can and can’t do. On Facebook you stand to get booted if you don’t know some of the unwritten rules. Check out http://www.thefacebookguide.com/free for a free 60 page ebook that will help you get started in the right way.
For Twitter check out Dan Hollings – http://www.twittinsecrets.com/ a great free Twitter resource for all those who want to use twitter for marketing their business.
Build Your Blog and Create Quality Content
After you have Twitter and Facebook you need to get a http://www.wordpress.org blog and link it up to your Twitter and Facebook profiles. All your marketing and list building should be done from here, not on Twitter or Facebook.
Don’t Go For The Hard Sell
Its much more effective to educate and inform your customers than to go for the hard sell. Position yourself as an expert in your field and adopt a service attitude to your growing online community. Be interested rather than interesting.
Focus on Building Relationships
The key to social media is relationships and relationships are built through engaging in conversations. No one wants to hear how great you are all the time. Blatant self promotion is the quickest way to damage your reputation.
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*What are the top 10 Social Media websites?
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This really depends how old you are, What part of the world you live in, what business you are in and what products and services you intend to sell online. You need to use the social networking sites that are used by your particular target market and to find that out you need to do a bit of research. For example if your target market live in South America and speak Spanish, Hi5 or Sonico would be your choice.
Social Juice And Google Juice
You need a combination of sites that provide both Social Juice and Google Juice . You need Social Networking Sites to build your core fan base, find JV Partners and business contacts . You need Content sites that provide valuable resources and information. Your content sites can then link back to your money sites and optin pages for your list building.
My Own Personal Top 10 for an English Speaking, broadband using audience who live in Europe,North America and Australia is as follows.
Social Networking – Social Juice
http://www.facebook.com – The most viral webiste in the world – strict rules and regulations need to be followed
http://www.twitter.com – The most exciting multipurpose marketing tool ever invented, its HOT
http://www.myspace.com – younger age group – tends to be spammy, great if you are a Musician or Celebrity
http://www.linkedin.com/ – For professional contacts and business people – seems to be on the decline
http://friendfeed.com/ – Aggregate your social media profiles here
Content Placement Sites – Google Juice
http://www.squidoo.com/ – Seth Godin’s brainchild – create content lenses
http://hubpages.com/ – similar to squidoo
http://www.ezinearticles.com- loved by google – original content only
http://www.youtube.com/ Essential to have your video content here as its owned by google and is now the second biggest search engine in the world
http://www.ustream.tv/ The best place to broadcast live to the world and interact with your following
https://www.blogger.com/ The Free blog service that is owned by Google
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*What’s the best way to grow a “swarm” or a crowd of followers on a particular Social Media website?
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The best way to grow a crowd or swarm of followers on any particular social media site is to find someone who already has a large crowd or swarm around them and start building a relationship with them. If you consistently add value to the existing community you will soon get noticed. This strategy needs to be done tactfully and with sincerity. When an existing leader or influencer recommends you or starts to follow you, you automatically get lifted up a level and your following will increase accordingly. At a certain point you will discover that you have your own swarm around you.
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What’s the most effective technique you’ve used to grow your business using Social Media?
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The most effective technique I have used to grow my business using social media is to always look at its as a long term investment. By focusing on serving others and helping people get what they want all my own needs have been met. My personal following has grown and I have attracted powerful JV partners.
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How can someone turn a big list of followers in to MONEY using Social Media?
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I am assuming you have a product or service to sell, and you have built a targeted list of followers, i.e. you know the internal demographics and you know that they will be interested in what you have to sell
Spend several months building a relationship with your followers, that they actually know who you are and respond when you communicate to them.
Keep track of the sub-niches and demographics within your following. Get to know on a personal level the Influencers, Connectors and Mavens who will be attracted to you.
Turn your product launch into an event and generate buzz around it. Build in Scarcity and Exclusivity, so you can justify the price you are charging. Start building a Facebook group around the problem that your product solves. Educate its members and position your product as the obvious choice.
Build a viral component into your launch, use tools like viral friend generator and offer bonuses to get people to share with their friends. This kind of ethical bribing can give you a much greater reach. Encourage people to spread the word through competitions, blogging, re-tweeting, share buttons,
” Tagging” the top influencers on a Facebook Note or Video can have massive ripple effects into your friends extended networks.
By the time you launch everyone will be presold and you will have the necessary feedback to tailor your product accordingly. Over deliver on your product or service and collect appropriate testimonials.
Never sell poor quality products or services, you want to continue to make money with your followers into the future and you should value your reputation above everything else
Cultivate a core group of evangelists who love you and your product, help them to be successful and they will shout about you from the rooftops.
Take out insurance, get your followers onto your own autoresponder list. Facebook connect and Google connect will be the real game changers in the future, email marketing could well be a thing of the past. Keep up to date on the trends and be one of the early adopters
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Can you describe a “case study” with details, numbers, and references – about how you’ve made money with Social Media?
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My Initial entry into social Media Marketing was as an affiliate. An example of a recent campaign I strategized was for a the Social Traffic book launch, written by Simon U Ford, using Twitter in combination with Facebook Groups and Notes.
We leveraged a small circle of influencers and built a targeted group of 1300 high quality people in 8 days on Facebook, The book launch for Social Traffic was restricted to 1000 copies and we sold out in 48 hours. I picked up a nice affiliate commission for my work but more importantly further enhanced my status as an expert which helped me greatly when I came to launch my own book.
My book release saw a flood of consulting contracts heading my way and a business partnership with someone who has access to the email marketing lists of some of the top Internet Marketers, Personal Development Consultants and Business Coaches in the world. The value of these contacts far outstrips the modest amount of money I made from selling my book which to date is $2500.
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Online Resources For Marketing With Social Media
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Howie Swartz- http://www.conversationdomination.com/ – The Sherman Tank of Social Media Marketing, Howie doesn’t just want the number one spot on google, he wants the first 10 pages. If you want to learn aggressive social marketing tactics that get real results then Howie might be your man – Some people might not like his online ethics as he has none. For him marketing is all out war and he intends to be the winner
Ed Dale – http://www.tubbynerd.com/ one of the few Interent Marketers who truly embraces social media and has built a huge loyal following
Stompernet – Smarts Course with Don Crowther http://stompernetpresents.com/SMARTS/ some of the best social media training available
Chris Lang – Social Bookmarking Expert – http://www.keywebdata.com also an expert in Google connect – meticulous tracking and backed up by numbers
Jack Humpries – http://www.authorityblackbook.com/ must read for getting your wordpress blog optimized and other great social media tips. http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/
Darren Rowse – http://www.problogger.net and http://www.twitip.com blogging expert and now making a great twitter resource
Simon U ford -http://www.eventslisted.com/socialtraffic/ Social Traffic is the insiders guide to social media marketing in a new media landscape.
Mari Smith – http://www.whyfacebook.com – Relationship and buzz marketing expert, specializing in Facebook and Twitter
Nancy Marmolejo – http://www.viviavisibility.com – Pr Expert- great Facebook tips and Twitter advice on her blog.
Ian David Chapman – http://www.thefacebookguide.com/free – Facebook strategist
Dan Hollings – http://www.twittinsecrets.com/ extremely comprehensive resource for Twitter
Sherman Hu – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shermanlive half hour huddle tips on wordpress blogging and podcasting and ustreaming. Sherman totally rocks
Gary Vaynerchuck – http://garyvaynerchuk.com/ – you either love him or hate him but he has a huge following of vayniacs and is a person who spends 12 hours a day answering emails – He is an expert at building a huge following of raving Fans
Seth Godin – founder of tribes – http://www.sethsblog.com one of my marketing heroes
Must Read Books
Malcolm Gladwell – The Tipping Point, Outliers
Mark Earls – Herd
Seth Godin – Tribes and all his other great books
Thanks for a great competition Eben and thanks to all the other entries, I have picked up a lot of some good tips and advice and will be checking out some of the other experts who participated in this thread. @iandavidchapman
Hi Eben,
You gave me quite a start to my day today! Thank you so much for the chance to experience more of your incredible training.
I’d like to echo everything that Kevin has already said above.
Your ideas and the way you teach them have made more impact on me than anything else I’ve come across. I was a member of your first “Wake Up Productive” class, and it was a fantastic experience going through the lessons with you. And as someone just a few months into my Internet marketing journey, I have to say that the “Making Money As A Modern Guru” program was profound. It’s completely changed the way I’m creating some of my early products.
I can’t wait to experience more of your training. I know how valuable it will be, and how much of a difference it will make to my life and my business.
Best wishes,
Alex Taylor.
As one of the top social media authorities and the only whitehat social bookmarking expert let me suggest one thing:
Find one site, yes ONE SITE. Be it a networking site like Facebook, or a bookmarking site like Digg and settle on one site. Just one.
Use it to the best of your ability. Learn everything you can about it. Buy an info product from a master. Not one of those Internet marketers that suddenly know everything about social media. Get something from one of use that has been in the trenches since the beginning.
Like Mari Smith on Facebook. Follow Scoble on Twitter. Like Andy Beard on Blog marketing. Me on Digg. These are the real experts. They have been there since it started.
But find one network you like, that you enjoy using. Social marketing is not about being everywhere. Social marketing is about what you enjoy doing socially on the web. Use it everyday, participate highly and be REAL. I have friended many of the so called internet marketers on many networks and you know what I got?
NOTHING, not even friended back. Mari Smith, Andy Beard, Scoble, they answer emails, they talk to people because they are people just like you. Try friending them and see. Ask them questions, they will help you. Do you know how many unanswered emails I have from Internet marketers? You can guess. Try emailing me, watch what happens.
You have allot to learn about social marketing Eban…..
[MY COMMENT: Chris, I can’t help myself. I have to answer you. I’m compelled. FORCED, you might say. Your last line is right out of a comedy movie. Chris schools Eben, and in the process spells my name incorrectly AND uses the word “allot”… lol. Nice slam, my friend! Maybe BOTH of us have allot to learn about social marketing?]
One other thought: Social marketing is about helping people, real people.
It is not a sales platform. Social networking and even social bookmarking sites like Digg are about making contacts. I have gone from a nobody to a highly recognized expert thru social marketing.
If you think you can sell product on these networks thru Internet marketing principles you are very wrong. It will work fine for Eban Pagan, he has a rep that is already well established. We will buy anything he sells.
You, a new social user have to do what we do. Be a real person and above all be approachable and real. List your phone number above all in your profiles and pick up the phone when people call. It is not easy and is very time consuming. I spend more time on the phone than anything else.
What has social marketing brought me? I spoke for the first time before a live audience at David Carleton’s social media event in San Diego.
I am being interviewed by John Assraf of “The Secret” fame tomorrow.
I have been ranked as one of the Top Ten Social Marketers on Twitter with Scobel, Dr. Mani and ProBlogger.
All these connections came from my participation on Facebook and being a real person that answers his own phone calls.
Do the same and you will be successful in social marketing. Spend you time trying to sell product, even sig files are hated on at social sites, any of the old Internet marketing principles and you will be labeled as totally commercial and ignored.
Be real to real people, that is my best advice and settle on one site and participate highly.
Chris Lang
Eben
Thanks for organizing the brainstorm and summariizing the contributions in a great reference resource. You really epitomize the concept, which I think you pioneered of giving your best stuff away upfront for free.
Regards
Eben,
Question on ‘Behind the scenes of a $20mil biz video’…
Did your business fund itself? Were you able to grow to the next stage using profits generated from your online sales or did you have to go get outside capital?
Thanks for the great info and inspiration.
Mike Scully