Are You Naughty or Nice?

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For session #2 of Social Media Pro — our online coaching course for using social media in your business, we’re focusing on optimizing your brand assets.

One of the many ways to do that is to create quality content and post it on the internet.

Video content is increasingly popular. And, various video hosting services have sprung up to support you in making your video content readily available.

The best known site is Google’s YouTube service. But there are others. One, which I’ve personally experienced (and, none too pleasant an experience it was, I assure you!) is Vimeo.

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In my ‘listening post’, I get an alert when certain terms are being cited on blogs. “Vimeo” is one of them. (I have my reasons!)

Why am I telling you all this? Simple. To share three (3) lessons that will ‘teach’ you how this social media stuff really works better than anything less ‘real world’ ever would.

Lesson #1: You Can’t Hide On The Internet

This is true if you’re good. But, it’s especially true if you’re bad. As in ‘bad customer experience’. Why? People talk. And the mechanisms available — online — to do their ‘talking’ is tremendous.

Check it out for yourself: http://boagworld.com/reviews/vimeo and you’ll see an example of the kind of ‘chatter’ that is waiting for any firm — even yours and mine — if we give people a good reason to want to vent.


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Lesson #2: Do NOT P ____ People Off!

In the upper left panel of the above blog, note the number of ‘RE-Tweets’ about this page. This post just went up and in less than a day there are already over 400 re-tweets!!

Now consider this . . . the average social media savvy person has a network online of their contacts. People who are facile with social media are probably pretty well connected. Some people have ‘followers’ that number into the 1,000’s of people.

In just ONE day, this rather toxic post has already been broadcast (retweeted) to a very, very significant number of people.  Probably a couple hundred thousand when you consider these socially connected types each have a network themselves! And, if the source is credible, they tend to retweet the content they receive over and over and over again. Scary, isn’t it?

Lesson #3: If You Listen, You’ll Find Stuff You Can Use

In my listening post, I spotted another related item . . . http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357254,00.asp. Seems Vimeo has a little explaining to do about how it’s doing it’s own business –– in a courtroom!

Oh, it’s a little thing, really — copyright infringements being alleged by EMI — the music industry watchdog for this kind of questionable behavior!

Copyright infringement. Interesting. Because people are claiming Vimeo’s telling them what they can or can’t publish . . . and EMI claims Vimeo is just as culpable in the way Vimeo’s handling their own affairs. Think that’s going to engender ‘goodwill’ from the Vimeo user community?  I’d say the jury is still out on that one!

Question:

Let’s suppose . . . you are the chief counsel for EMI. Would knowing about the kind of comments being made online about the firm you’re trying to build a case against be helpful to you? Would it be hurtful to Vimeo? How would you use this kind of information in court? I don’t have the answers. But they’re certainly worth noting, aren’t they?

Look, Vimeo is not a villanous firm. Ok, maybe some appear to argue they’re eccentric and artsy and all. And, yes . . . they appear to be capricious and arbitrary in how they choose to recognize and respond to violations of their ‘terms and conditions’ clause.

But here’s the lesson I want YOU to get . . . social media has made the masses connected . . . in a way we’ve never seen before!

The media that connects all those minds is a superhighway of thoughts that can either build your brand up or . . . tear it down. I say, ‘either’ because, frankly, there’s really nothing in-between. It’s all or nothing.

Now, do you see why it is so important to be listening? And, once you are . . . to respond in a timely and effective manner!

Personally, I’d be giving “thanks” to Vimeo for providing you with a ‘real world’ example of the power of social media on a business. It’s not always a ‘good’ example that teaches us so well. But, what social media is doing to Vimeo is certainly a ‘powerful’ example, isn’t it?

And please remember this — to make social media work FOR you, you must know what people are saying ABOUT you (as well as putting out your own story).

Which is an excellent segue into what we’re going to be learning about in Session #3 . . . on BLOGGING!

Next session . . . session #3 . . . “Blogging” . . . is an excellent way to make sure _YOU_ control the story about you and what you deem to be important to the people — friends and foes alike — in 2010.

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Get Found Locally!

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I predict

2010 will be the year of the search . . . the LOCAL search.

If your business isn’t leveraging the opportunities your prospects have access to on the internet, it’s a a safe bet they’re not likely to find you when they do. Tsk, Tsk.

Want to do something about that?

Try Google

Google’s “Local Business Center” to be specific.

It’s a free and easy way to help you claim some internet real estate so you can become noticed by people who are looking for what you do.

Learn more . . .

POINT:

If you’re not putting yourself (and, your business!) ‘out there’ . . . you’re only helping your competition . . . at your expense.

So check out Google’s Local Business Center and get yourself an UNfair share of the market for your wonderful services!

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The Social Media Marketing Book

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One of the many principles — but a very essential one — for using social media is to ‘optimize your brand assets’.

What’s that mean? Good question.

It means using online social media sites to post content so people can find your content and, as a result, find you, too!

Here’s a great example of this:

Dan Zarrella, a noted expert on social media is the author of this extremely good book on social media.

But my point, for this post at least, is that he’s practicing the principle of getting ‘out there’ by posting his content (in this case, video on YouTube) so you can connect with him.

Get Dan’s book. It’s awesome.

More important, get the power of this practice . . . optimizing brand assets on the internet.

It’s good for your brand awareness and . . . your bank account.

ONE MORE EXAMPLE . . .

Here’s one of the ‘related videos’ you’ll be able to view after Dan’s video.

Notice that it’s not likely to be confused with a ‘Hollywood’ production in any way.  But it’s acceptable.  It’s also effective.

Question:
Can you see yourself doing something similar to this video or Dan’s?  Really!  And what would that do for you?  ‘-)

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Social Media . . . Brave New World?

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What’s happening with social media? How does it compare with traditional media?

Check out this insightful (and, brief!) video from Marcel Lebrun, CEO of Radian6 — a cutting edge social media company:

Social media is changing the very foundations on which business is conducted.

The way you communicate and interact is changing how you and your world interact. As a result, social media is arguably the biggest change in business communication since the introduction of mass media when ‘Mad Men’ become the leaders. Now, those leaders are you and me. How cool is that!

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RSS . . . What’s It All About?

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If you’ve never understood or used ‘RSS’ . . . WATCH THIS:

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Understanding Google Analytics

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Once you have your blog or website running, you DEFINITELY want to be running Google Analytics on it.

Why?

Couple of reasons . . .

  1. it’s FREE . . . so you can’t argue that!
  2. You gain INFORMATION . . . that helps you know what is / isn’t happening on your blog or website
  3. You can better MANAGE your blog . . . afterall, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, right?

OK, so you’ve installed Google Analytics. (you did do that, right?)
Now . . . you want to make sense of the all the data it’s giving you.

How?

Watch . . . this instructional video:

Enjoy!

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Social Media and Intelligence Gathering

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I have a friend, Fred Wergeles who is a talented, educated and highly successful individual. Fred once worked at the CIA. His expertise? Intelligence Gathering.

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Knowing what’s happening in the world is key to either avoiding problems or preventing them from happening.

It’s the same with your business.

You want ‘intelligence’ about your industry, competitors, clients, your own business.

And the Internet . . . the social media that use it (not just social networks) . . . is where you’ll find that intelligence.

THE PROBLEM

There’s a lot of data on the web. Too much. That’s why it’s called ‘noise’. I call it the ‘sea of sewage’. In fact, there’s so much data that you can drown in it (how’s that for an image, eh?) before you get something useful out of it.

THE SOLUTION

Filter the noise out. Focus it into something that has meaning for you and your business.

Today, making business decisions with limited information is dangerous and likely to cost you dearly. But, having ‘intelligence’ so you can make better informed decisions . . . is smart. Very smart! For example:

An executive engaged in negotiation uncovers an obscure blog post about a competitors plant closing, giving him leverage in the negotiation process to seal a deal with the most favorable terms.

A salesperson discovers that a prospect she has been trying to crack tweets about a problem her company can address. She reaches out and puts one more qualified receptive lead into her pipeline.

A brand manager sees a comment left by a disgruntled customer blasting his customer relations experience. The brand manager responds to the post within a few minutes, engages the customer in constructive conversation and recovers the goodwill that might have been devastating to have lost forever.

An investor is evaluating an opportunity and the entrepreneurs tell a compelling story. When the investor probes further into the competition, it is clear that the entrepreneurs are unaware of several large and dangerous competitors. No Deal.

What do these events have in common?

They are making better, more informed decisions using readily available ‘intelligence’ on the Internet.

THE OTHER PROBLEM

Knowing the information is ‘Out There’ is one thing. Making sense of the mounds of data and transforming it into useful information . . . i.e. ‘intelligence’ you can use is quite another!

The days of reading the same publications and hoping you come across the information you need are as relevant as getting a ‘TripTik’ at the AAA before going on a vacation. It’s OLD SCHOOL!

Social Media is both an opportunity and a challenge

The opportunity is the quantity of information it offers, the challenge is finding the quality of information you want and can process efficiently.

In Duct Tape Marketing University’s Social Media PRO — an online / offline coaching program for using social media to drive traffic to your site and put revenues in your bank . . . one of the many tools we use to do this is . . .

FiltrBox

This is just one of several very cool tools for monitoring selective data streams across various social media on the internet. Using it you can ‘listen’ for what you need-to-know . . . and only what you need . . . information . . . intelligence . . . that makes your business decision-making better . . . and THAT . . . makes you money!

FiltrBox helps you search millions of sources, qualify results, remove duplication and delivers a ranked report to you . . . every day . . . in a very clean, ‘dashboard’ interface:

filtrbox

The old way of gathering intelligence is evolving and its time to embrace the change

Check out FiltrBox . . . it’s a new ‘cool tool’ that is making the task of managing the mounds of data the net offers . . . a realistic and, dare I say it, a fun event!

And, if you liked learning about this topic . . . you’ll LOVE our new online course from Duct Tape Marketing University: Social Media PRO.

Check it out here: Social Media PRO

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If You Build It . . . Will They Come?

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If you’re new to social media, you may feel like this poor soul . . .

“Marcus The Milkman” . . . a (mercifully brief) video by Daniel Hayek:

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Here’s the problem. Marcus has it all wrong. Well, sort of.

Social media — and social networks in particular — are grossly misunderstood and used improperly by many people in business.

When that happens, you can feel like good old Marcus here. And if that was as good as it gets, it would be a tragedy.

But, fact is, social network sites ARE productive for your business. BUT . . . you have to know how to use them effectively.

POINT:
Social Networks and social media are quite effective. So’s a B-1 Bomber. But, without a qualified pilot, it’s just a big, fat paperweight.

If you want your social networking to pay off for you and your business . . . join The Marketing Club™ . . . and learn how to earn with it!

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Looking for a Social Network?

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Social networks are everywhere.  And it seems everyone is on at least one.

At last count, you have hundreds of them to choose from.

The biggies are, of course:

  1. Facebook
  2. Myspace
  3. Twitter
  4. LinkedIn

After these, your choices become practically ridiculous.
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Regardless of which one (or, ones!) you choose, how much value you’ll realize from any social network reflects three factors:

Relevance

This reflects the value of the content you get from the SN website.  It’s perhaps why you first visited a social networking website.  It’s definitely why you’ll return, too.

Focus

This reflects the degree to which the social network website ‘screens and cleans’ the information it makes available to you.  If a social network has millions of members (and all the above sites do!) you may find that the sheer volume of information it offers you is, well . . . overwhelming.  That’s not good.  If a site offers ways to make the information meaningful and manageable, that’s what you want!

Participation

This is probably the most essential factor in whether you’re a one-time visitor or an ongoing member.  Participation means you don’t just observe others comments, posts, etc. but that you become an active member of the social network site.

POINT:

Whatever social network you choose . . . use these three factors to help you find the most productive and valuable one (or, ones!) for you and your business objectives.

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Good-bye Old Friend . . . Say Hello To My Social Network!

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Alas, it’s time to say good-bye to an old friend . . . “Forward To A Friend” to be exact.

Sending outbound email you hope will go far depends on your first-level recipients having easy ways to ‘share’ your message.  Until recently, the favorite method to do this involved offering a ‘Forward To A Friend’ option in your email.  But that is changing.  Rapidly.  Likely forever.

As this chart shows, Facebook is THE most popular option to use in this regard followed closely by Twitter:

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While it’s not exactly, “Hasta la vista, baby!”.  It’s more like, “Move over . . . there’s a new option in town that’s taking over”  I’m talking about: SWYN or “Share With Your Network”.

An increasingly attractive way to promote your email is to offer not just FTAF (Forward To A Friend) but SWYN (Share WIth Your Network) as an option in your outbound email.

It makes sense.

With the same effort that it takes to send an email on to a friend (one person) you can use the increasingly common convention to post and share any email with your ‘social network’ via links from LinkedIn, facebook, Twitter, etc.

Read more

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