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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Dec
30
Real Social Media Success in 2010
Filed Under Blogging, Facebook, Outside the Box, Personal Development and Success
As the year and the decade draw to an end, success is a topic on most people’s minds.In 1,000 True Fans, Kevin Kelly develops a marketing paradigm for artists of all types, including musicians.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version.
Focus on connecting with people. Convert 1,000 lesser fans into true fans, which is all you need to earn a living.
In First, organize 1,000, Seth Godin generalizes the model and applies it to politics and business, “1,000 people voting as a bloc can change local politics forever. 1,000 people willing to try a new restaurant you find for them gives you the ability to make an entrepreneur successful and change the landscape of your town.”
Again, the focus is on connecting with people, “You don’t find customers for your products. You find products for your customers.”
Connecting with People through Social Media
What I really love about social media, in particular, blogging and social networking sites such as Facebook, is the facility with which they enable me to connect with people.
I can write an article or post a link that sparks a public conversation. Some remarks can then lead to private discussions via direct messages, email or telephone. If I help somebody or solve a problem, I now have a true fan.
Why 1,000 True Fans?
Don’t attach importance to one thousand. 1,000 is a round number, chosen arbitrarily, to take the number of fans or customers needed to earn a good living — which is fairly abstract — and make it more concrete.
Unfortunately, the emphasis on 1,000 true fans might lead us to “see the forest for the trees” but to lose sight of each individual tree. However, each individual we touch is, somewhat paradoxically, as important as the overall group.
Impact the life of even one true fan, and you have achieved a measure of success.
Real Social Media Success
The changes made possible by technology and social media in the ways we communicate and conduct business have been phenomenal. How glorious it would be if we could witness corresponding improvements in the human condition.
Sadly, the opposite is true. Technology and social media are used for evil as well as good, and our world and its peoples continue to have little respite from their fear, pain and suffering.
Our world is made up of individuals. We, as individuals, must seek ways to bridge our differences, to heal our conflicts, and to ameliorate our Planet Earth. We, as individuals, must connect with other individuals, through our businesses and otherwise, and help them improve their lives.It would be super if, in our businesses, we could look beyond the bottom line and use social media to make the globe not only smaller, but kinder, saner and safer as well.
That would be real social media success.
May we all achieve success in 2010. Have a happy new year!
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Tags: critical success factors, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Seth Godin, Social Media, Success Strategies
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Great thoughts as usual, Larry. Now, to put them into practice, that’s the key.
Morgan Mandel
morganmandel.blogspot.com
All the best for the New Year Larry — keep up the great work in 2010, you are an inspiration to many. All the best.
Count me in, Larry, as a True Fan . . . of you and Social Media and the opportunity to create the Better World in which we reach success by helping people, rather than stepping over or on top of them.
One of the major reasons that I, personally — as a university marketing lecturer, have been drawn to the socialization of the Web is because of the potential we now have of really putting the Golden Rule into practice: to treat people the way we want to be treated and NOT do unto them as we would NOT have done unto us.
@Morgan @Catherine @Shari I’ve met many wonderful people on the web including the three of you. I look forward to getting to know you better in the year to come.
Somehow, it’s similar to my thinking about social media too. It’s not really important how many fans or friends you make using social media, but how many true fans you can make.
These true fans are the real deal we are after.
I know my view is somewhat different from Larry’s, but I think the end result is what we’re both after.
Happy New Year to you Larry, and thanks for enlightening me towards social media, something I don’t really know about five months ago.
Stopping by to say Happy and Healthy 2010 to you and your family. God bless us all.
Well said Larry. Social media is about being social. It is about building and nurturing relationships. It is about sharing what is good and helping your community. Through loving our community we build trust.
Amen. Have a great year!
@Delson @Ish @Richard @Hillel All the best to you!
It is a well known fact that people do business with people they know, like, and trust……social media is the current vehicle that drives our ability to expand our reach far beyond what was possible even a few years ago. There was a time when the biggest fans of your business were limited to those who lived right around the corner, now we can reach people around the world. Adding value to a person’s day will open the door, being transparent may make them a fan, if they learn to trust and like you, in time they will be a true fan.
Well said and I was touched by the message. Love the quote: “You don’t find customers for your products. You find products for your customers.” I always enjoy your postings and wish you a healthy and productive new year.
Good Luck in 2010!! and thanks for all your messages…
Tony
Hi Larry,
You’ve got my vote! World Peace through Social Media! If anyone can do it you can. Thanks for sharing your unique insight with all of us. There’s a lot to think about and utilize in the coming months.
Deb
Larry, great information as always. I was intrigued by the fact that you give out your telephone number. But I can’t remember if I saw it on your blog here, or if it’s on your Facebook page? What has been your most frequent way of connecting with contacts more in-depth? Just curious.
Have a great new year, this is my first time to this site and have found some useful stuff, keep up the great work!
Thanks for this post. I’ve only been blogging five months. I’ve decided to try and make money on-line. I haven’t decided if I want to do so through my blog or through freelance writing.
Of course, I’ve chosen a niche which is relatively small and not many advertisements. But the people are loyal and supportive. Anyway not directly related to your post, but something I’ve been thinking about.
Have a great new year, it’s my first time visiting you and have found some useful stuff.
This is the first time that I’ve heard of the “1,000 True Fans” concept. I guess it will be a challenge at first because there are a lot of people in social media sites connecting with you just because they want to increase the number of their friends or followers. If you can find those true fans, then you’re almost set. You gave a great example in using restaurants.
@Steve I’m big on using the telephone.
@Everybody Wishing you real success in 2010.
[…] for FREE. 100+ leads per day!Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginAs we begin 2010, I wish you real success, both online and off, in the year […]
Really enjoyed this post Larry. I have been truly amazed since jumping in on Twitter the number of amazing people I have met and connected with. What is remarkable are that some are geographically close to me and others are around the globe - but thanks to a social network like Twitter I have come to know them, exchanged ideas, and laughed together.
I love your concept of the “true fan”. Thanks for sharing your ideas and keep up the great work on the blog - really enjoying it!
Well said Larry. Social media is about being social. It is about building and nurturing relationships.
[…] LARRY BRAUNER […]
An enjoyable and an inspiring (am i the only one who consider this as such?) post indeed! true fans, most of the time are indeed heartwarming. and in this case here, they are also important to our financial stability.
Thanks Larry!
Lovely. You are spot on Larry, thanks for sharing! Too many people forget the true purpose of social media.