Mar
1
Social Media One Bite at a Time
Filed Under Facebook, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Twitter | 14 Comments
Short Version of My Story
Today I tell some of my own story and share some of my own social media strategy.
This article is about an idea that was planted in my head and how I nurtured that idea. The article is slightly longer than usual, so please hang in there with me.
Creative problem solving has been a forte since my teenage years as a math whiz and chess champion.
Once I started working, I was able to apply my problem solving abilities and help companies to improve their business processes and to get a better handle on many different types of business and scientific data.
Thirty years into my career I learned about the social media and Web 2.0 revolution from Time Magazine’s December 2006 cover story, Time’s Person of the Year: You. I saw that while I could no longer be one of the earliest adopters of social media, it wasn’t at all too late to position myself at the forefront of an enormous trend.
I had previously experienced and benefited to a small degree from online social networking and social networking sites such as Ryze and Direct Matches, but the Time Magazine article opened my eyes to a world of possibilities bigger than I had imagined. I made a decision in January 2007 after reading the Time article to master social media and to see where that mastery would lead me.
Online Social Networking
Rather than master all social media concurrently, I elected to focus on social networking and to develop a first version of my online social networking strategy. These early conclusions I based on my observations at MySpace, Direct Matches and Yuwie, social networking sites that I have since largely abandoned.
By September 2007 I was contemplating my next step.
Blogging and Search Engine Optimization
At MySpace and Yuwie I experimented with blogging. The next step for me was to start an independent blog, and I chose Wordpress.org as my blogging platform in connection with my web hosting at Go Daddy.
Before launching my Online Social Networking blog I spent a couple of months reading about blogging and SEO and a short time conducting keyword research. The time I had invested reading and researching paid off, because it got me started on the right foot. Keyword research had joined online social networking to become an important area of competence.
I began blogging in November 2007 and devoted a year to learning how to write, promote and optimize my online publication. By October 2008 I no longer viewed myself as a novice at blogging.
At present Online Social Networking has more than 350 Feedburner subscribers, receives more than 2,000 search visits per month, and is ranked in the top 100,000 websites by Alexa.
Ning Social Networking Sites and Twitter
First Ning social networks and then Twitter captured my attention. These two social media platforms are very powerful and are both growing rapidly in popularity.
Just as I had done with online social networking strategy, search engine optimization and blogging, I set out to master Ning and then Twitter, writing articles on each that have since been read many times and featured by top new sites.
I created two Ning social networking sites:
- Outside the Box is a companion site to my blog where members can network with each other, present their own ideas and brand themselves. Outside the Box has 265 members.
- Let’s Follow Each Other is a companion site to Twitter where members can network, make new friends and share ideas. They can also promote themselves and their other social networking sites. After only three days Lets’ Follow Each Other already has its first 146 members.
My @larrybrauner profile on Twitter has more than 20,000 followers, and thousands of Twitter members have explored my blog.
“One Bite at a Time” Works
The key to my progress is internal motivation coupled with focus.
Rather than go off in many directions and spread myself too thin, I apply the 80/20 Rule taking a bite at a time out of the social media giant. This strategy has worked well for me and can work for others.
What’s my next bite?
Stay tuned, but Facebook is at the top of my social marketing list, and along the way, I’m building my personal brand, helping a few clients, and looking for more clients.
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Feb
23
Social Media Targeting for People and Businesses
Filed Under Best of 2009, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Targeting | 13 Comments
Marketing is often as important to people as it is to businesses.
People seeking jobs, marriage partners or buyers for their personal property all need to target and reach out to their respective markets.
Social Media is Very Accessible
Old media such as TV, radio, print, mail — and even online advertising — tend to be very costly and are used most effectively by big corporations and by savvy direct marketers.
However, the new media such as blogging, video, online social networking and social bookmarking cost little or nothing to use and are as accessible to people and small businesses as they are to big corporations and direct marketers.
Ineffective Use of Social Media
The low out-of-pocket cost of the new media entices people and businesses to waste time and energy by using social media marketing more haphazardly and less rigorously than they would use more expensive old media marketing channels.
Many marketers further compound the problem by bringing to social media old media advertising and prospecting paradigms rather than a new media attracting, socializing and educating paradigms.
Marketers need to learn how to focus their social media efforts by applying rigorous standards and analytics to new media marketing campaigns.
Reaching the Right Audience
One way to focus your social media effort is through targeting. Simply put, targeting means reaching the right people, the people who can benefit from you, your product or your service.
Market segmentation is a form of targeting research that studies the characteristics and desires of different population segments. I refer you to Linda P. Morton, an authority on market segmentation, and her Strategic Market Segmentation blog. Linda discusses many aspects of targeting, marketing and marketing research.
I assume for now that you know — at least approximately — whom you wish to target, and that you want to be able to tackle the how part of the problem.
Competitive Intelligence
Professional marketers, especially direct marketers, study what their competition is — and is not — doing in great detail. They may also try to understand why the competition is doing what it does, and if a campaign is used over and over, they’ll will assume that the campaign is profitable.
Watch your competitors and you’ll learn how they position themselves, what they write about, what keywords they optimize, where they bookmark their content, what tags they use, and much more.
Competitive intelligence applies equally to old and new media marketing.
Top Targeting Strategies
Here are my favorite targeting strategies:
- Develop good content that is context sensitive, communicates who you are, what you do and how you might be different — all without reading like a sales letter.
- Do keyword research, so that while you write for people, you can also help the search engines, as much of your traffic will come from search engines, especially form Google.
- Fish where the fish are. Choose social networking sites that you believe attract the people you are looking to attract. If you find your competitors there, that can be a good thing. It indicates that your target audience is also there. Hopefully your content positions you in a way that you’ll stand out from the competition or address a need that they do not.
- Cast a wide net. Don’t prejudge too much. Err on the side of targeting too inclusively rather than too exclusively. Participate on a variety of sites and expose as many people as possible to both you and your message. If you know me, you know that I pursue this strategy on Twitter, LinkedIn and Ning social networks.
- Let people decide for themselves how relevant your content is and whether or not you might be able to help them. That’s an key element of both attraction and social marketing.
- Don’t spread yourself too thin. Read The 80/20 Rule and Social Media. Cast a wide net but not too wide.
- Get personal. Even if you’re a business, people will want to relate to you as a person. In social media you are an integral part of your brand.
- Experiment and be ready to adapt and make changes as you go. Marketers know that they’re not likely to get it right the first time, so consider everything you do to be a work in progress.
- Establish an ongoing social media presence. Be persistent. Timing is extremely important. Even if somebody is the right person, the time might be wrong for him or her. You will make a sale if you’re there when the time is right.
- Use old media to supplement and complement your new media. Just because you use social media, you need not abandon any old media marketing that’s working for you.
- Seek help if you don’t have all the expertise or writing skills you need to succeed. That help might include advice, project management or outsourcing.
This list is not intended to be complete. However, it should give you plenty of food for thought.
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Jul
27
Small vs. Large Social Networking Sites
Filed Under Best of 2008, LinkedIn, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Outside the Box, SPAM, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 15 Comments
Even people who don’t go online and don’t understand social networking have heard of MySpace or Facebook, names that might conjure up fears of predators or identity theft.
However, that’s not my point.
My point is that MySpace and Facebook are so much talked about that they have pretty much become household names, and serious business networkers have or ought to have a presence at MySpace, Facebook and Linked In — and at other major social networking sites.
Many of the important online networking sites are listed for your convenience:
- Mashable’s Catalog of 350+ Social Networking Sites
- 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On
- Wikipedia’s List of Social Networking Websites
There are also industry specific sites. For example if your business is real estate related, consider joining ActiveRain Real Estate Network and Wanna Network, if you don’t already belong.
To find business networking sites specific to any industry, try plugging the industry name and the words “networking sites” into your favorite search engine.
But wait, the story doesn’t end here.
Smaller and newer business networking sites also deserve to be included in your online portfolio. After all, less can be more.
When Diane Hochman Zigs, I Zag
Diane Hochman, the founder and director of My Private Classroom for Marketers, often instructs, “Don’t Follow the Flock”. When others are zigging, you zag.
Diane is a Web 2.0 social media rock star. Many people follow her every move. They go where she goes. They do what she does. They zig when she zigs, and they zag when she zags.
People like Diane Hochman and Mike Dillard have their own flocks. Since I don’t want to follow the flock, nor live in somebody’s shadow, when Diane and Mike zig, I zag.
When they’re hanging at Facebook and Twitter, I’m chillin’ at one of the newer smaller sites such as Sta.rtUp.biz, a site that caters to small business entrepreneurs, or Natural Networkers, a social networking site for proponents of attraction marketing.
I might also be list building at Direct Matches or schmoozing at Yuwie, since they are not.
I think you get the general idea. It fits in with my online social networking strategy and my personal branding strategy. It’s common sense. I have plenty of room to maneuver.
You too might be best off charting a different course than your competition or industry leaders.
Choosing Business Networking Sites
There are many possible criteria for choosing business sites. However, at the end of the day it’s largely a matter of trial and error.
Nevertheless, let me share a few of my considerations with you. Perhaps I’ll share more in a future blog post.
Some social networking sites are funded by membership fees, some by advertising, and some by a combination of the two. I mainly prefer advertising supported sites. I’m not typically reaching out to a very elite crowd.
I do admit, I was a paid Executive Member at Direct Matches for three years. I highly valued the package of services they provided, and I appreciated Bill Weber’s personal touch. You can join Direct Matches for free.
I don’t pay to use any social networking sites at the present time. All the networking sites I use are either ad supported or offer free memberships that I find suitable.
Some networking sites make it easier to connect than others. I like to reach out to a large audience and prefer sites that make it easy for me to do that.
I like to be able to browse and add friends or contacts by demographic characteristics or by geographic location. When sites offer that option, it’s great. When they don’t, I look to a site’s groups or clubs to find people in my target market.
I recommend that you explore Ning social networking sites. While they do not support demographic browsing, but they are nevetheless very useful for business networking.
Short Lived Networking Feature
Some new social networking sites let me send mail to all my contacts or to all members of groups to which I belong. I love this capability and use it effectively without abusing or spamming.
I like to let lots of people know about my new blog posts. If I didn’t have a blog, I’d send links to useful information and thereby build my relationship with fellow members.
Unfortunately, as a networking site grows, spammers inevitably move in and ruin it for everybody. It’s impossible to keep a step ahead of them, so all sites eventually limit or eliminate this wonderful feature.
Don’t Let Spammers Ruin Your Day
I don’t like spammers and wish they’d stick with safelists or classified ads, but I don’t let them ruin my day, nor do I let them dissuade me from using any particular social networking site.
If I can cope with tailgaters and drivers who cut me off on the highway, I can surely cope with spammers.
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Jun
22
Critical Success Factors
Filed Under Best of 2008, Outside the Box, Personal Development and Success | 7 Comments
This post is somewhat longer than usual. Sorry for that, but I put a lot of work into it. I hope you like it.
Last Wednesday during my regular bi-weekly business mentoring tele-conference I revealed several powerful business success secrets.
While I was specifically addressing entrepreneurs, small business owners and sales professionals, these principles apply to all people and to all areas of our lives, not only business success.
Have you noticed? The year 2008 is half over.
Near the end of 2007 I posted Personal Development: 10 Simple Success Strategies to “help turbo charge your personal development in the New Year”. This may be worth re-reading if some of your goals and objectives have lost much of their earlier inertia.
Commitment
What are you committed to?
Mike Hernacki in The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want wrote:
“In order to accomplish something, you must know what you want and be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it.”
It sounds too simple, doesn’t it? However, it is your intention and commitment that set The Law of Attraction into motion on your behalf.
Want proof?
Reflect back on your most important accomplishments, such as raising a child, getting a college degree, running a marathon, starting a business, or developing an Internet presence, and you’ll agree that your commitment to your success was absolute.
It wasn’t that you felt obligated. Rather you felt that the goal was extremely important to you, and that you would deal with any obstacle that might arise — without knowing in advance exactly what would be demanded of you on your way to success.
Without total commitment The Law of Attraction would have probably delivered an obstacle that you would not have been willing to handle, and you would have failed.
This success secret is so important that I’ve read Mike Hernacki’s timeless book about a dozen times over the past decade.
Acquiring New Skills
I am commited to ongoing personal development and acquisition of new knowledge and skills. I read mind expanding books, blogs and e-books.
Your objective may require the mastery of new skills – or it may not. Your willingness to do what it takes is what really matters. If new skills are required, then you must be ready and willing to learn them.
Working Hard
You may be required to apply a great amount of effort. When I wanted to run the New York Marathon in 1984, strenuous preparation was absolutely necessary. In 1985 that was still true but to a lesser extent, since I had maintained a high level of fitness in the interim.
Tenacity and Persistence
Let’s bring this home.
You want to develop a presence at one of your favorite social networking sites – or you want to write a blog – or you want to build an Internet presence. These objectives usually require a high degree of tenacity.
So often people abandon online social networking, blogging or social media optimization without realizing their objectives. They weren’t willing to persist. Perhaps their belief system was weak.
I have been social networking online for many years. I have continuously posted to this blog for nearly eight months.
Why?
I know what I want, and I’m willing to persist until I achieve it.
Belief
As I stated in Personal Development: The Law of Belief, “Our motivation and how we act is determined by our underlying beliefs.
“If we don’t believe that something is possible, we won’t even try to make it happen. Please listen to a conference call I recorded on 8/22/07 that illustrates this concept.”
A healthy belief system is critical to success in business and life.
Treat Your Business Like a Business
Production
Showing up counts for something, but it doesn’t count for enough.
Success in business and life depends on producing value either directly or indirectly through people you influence.
If you have a job and don’t produce, you won’t get very far, and sooner or later you won’t have a job.
If you have a business and don’t produce, you won’t have money in the bank.
If you don’t come through for people, you won’t have their friendship.
You must make a positive contribution in order to be successful.
One way to ensure that you’re productive is to set daily or weekly goals or benchmarks.
For example, let’s suppose you’re in sales. You need to make six product sales per month to meet your business objectives. In order to make six sales, you need to make 15 presentations. To get 15 appointments, you’ll need to speak to 60 people.
You work about 20 days per month. On average you will have to speak to three people per day in order to speak to 60 per month.
Your benchmark or goal becomes three a day. If you focus on 3+ per day with consistency, you will likely make your six product sales per month.
You’ve succeeded at breaking down your abstract monthly goal into concrete daily actions.
Diversification
Big corporations employ a wide variety of media and messages to bring their product to market. They advertise on television, radio, in print and through direct mail. They experiment with many versions of their ad copy.
You cannot do everything a giant company can do, but why not learn from their example?
If you use half a dozen methods to reach out to your potential clients, you’ll enjoy these benefits:
- You’ll achieve success with some approaches, even if others fail.
- You’ll attract a wider variety of clients than using a single method.
- You’ll be able to see which methods perform better relative to each other, so that you can refine your marketing plan.
- You’ll lower your overall risk through diversification.
Here are some of my favorite marketing channels:
- Online social networking at social networking sites
- Offline business networking at a business networking group such as Network Plus, facilitated by Ted Fattoross, the group’s founder
- My Online Social Networking blog that you’re reading right now coupled with keyword research and search engine optimization
- Social media sites and social bookmarking sites
- Classified advertising in small weekly newspapers
Over time you’ll develop your own favorite marketing channels if you haven’t already done so.
Tracking and Analysis
If you want to make informed business decisions, you must track your results and analyze your data. If you can’t do it yourself, then you must get an expert to do it for you or show you how to do it.
Tracking and analysis are not something optional.
Let me ask you, would you even consider driving your car with your eyes shut?
You can’t afford to run your business with your eyes shut or even partially covered.
Cost per Acquisition
One of the most basic marketing measurements is cost per acquisition, the amount that you’re spending on average to complete a sale using each marketing method. Simply put, it’s the total spend divided by the total number of sales.
It is important to consider your staff costs including your own time, not just the out-of-pocket expenditures for design and media.
Cost per acquisition is an excellent way to compare marketing channels, but there is one very important caveat. Customers from one marketing channel may be more valuable than from another. Therefore marketers must take into account customer long term value, the other side of the equation.
Customer Long Term Value
Customer long term value can be difficult to calculate, but it is generally approximated as the income you expect to earn from a customer over a 12 to 24 month period. If your business is on the risky side, lean towards 12 months. If it is very stable, then 24 months may be appropriate.
To be successful, cost per acquisition cannot exceed customer long term value. It ought to be less.
Trend Data
You can also track your performance or the performance of your staff. Trending performance data and marketing data over time will help you see the bigger picture.
Masterminding and Mentoring
As stated in my post Even Mentors Need Mentors, “I learn from reading many books, e-books and blogs, and from speaking frequently with friends and mentors. Having mentors has greatly shortened my learning curve.”
Masterminding with your peers and seeking out mentors will help you as much or more than any other single strategy mentioned in this article.
Please feel free to comment and share those strategies that have made the biggest difference in your business and personal endeavors.
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Jan
9
F-O-R-M
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy | 1 Comment
Years ago I learned the acronym F-O-R-M standing for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Money. Talk about these four things and you’ll quickly learn what a person needs and how you might be able to help him or her.
I suggest that you use this formula in your online dialogs but with one important caution.
You cannot discuss money before you and your friend develop adequate mutual trust, since money can at times be a very sensitive topic.
Be aware that three areas of discussion that often lead to conflict are politics, religion and sexual orientation. Unless your agenda encompasses one or more of these topics, you will be prudent to leave them out of your conversations.
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Jan
8
Tell Your Story
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy | 2 Comments
Do you want to draw people to you? The right people?
Then why clutter your social networking pages with high bandwidth graphics and auto-playing videos?
These may be a form of self-expression, but they slow your page’s download and do little to showcase you as a person.
Consider cutting down on your high-bandwidth low-content stuff. Instead write a meaningful story or provide important information about yourself.
What would you like me to know about you? Use your profile page to tell me.
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Jan
2
Comments, Messages, Bulletins and Blogs
Filed Under Blogging, Networking and Marketing Strategy | 5 Comments
Most social networking sites provide several ways to communicate, and depending on circumstances, one way may be more suitable than another.
Let’s discuss and compare the most common communication forms:
- Comments, guestbook entries or testimonials
- Private messages
- Bulletins or notices
- Blogs or web logs
Comments tend to be overused by most networkers. They are popular because they aren’t intrusive, they’re public, and because they link back to the poster’s page.
Comments have several drawbacks to consider:
- They aren’t suitable for personal messages which might embarass the recipient.
- They aren’t suitable for commercial messages. Comment spam is a major annoyance on networking sites.
- They can easily go unnoticed or unread if the recipient doesn’t require comment pre-approval.
Comments are great for gaining exposure and for creating back links to your page. They are also good for giving kudos.
Private messages tend to be underused by most networkers. Perhaps they’re afraid to intrude. Perhaps they’re using comments for some good reason and go on to use them for all their correspondence. Or perhaps they’re just going along with the rest of the herd.
Private messages ought to be used every time you desire direct communication. Messages will get opened and read. Do not use private messages for spam. If you have a commercial message, get explicit or implicit approval to send it.
Bulletins are useful when you have a very large number of friends or contacts. Theoretically, they allow you to reach out to all of them with one post. Unfortunately bulletins easily scroll out of view before they can be viewed, and unlike private messages, recipients can easily ignore them.
A possible solution is to use your blog to supplement your bulletins and other communications.
Spam is tolerated more in bulletins than in comments or private messages, but you should neverthelsss avoid it. Put unsolicited commercial messages in your blog, if anywhere.
Your blog is a public forum for your ideas and a place for public dialog, and your blog brands you in the mind of your readers.
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