Social Desire

How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers

I mentioned in my last post how you can use Twitter to get new customers simply by answering questions. But, if you don’t know how to find tweople who are asking questions then this simple way of getting new Customers won’t be that simple.

So, without further ado I will explain how to use Twitter Search to increase followers and potential customers.

How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers and Potential Customers

*You want to find people who are talking about or asking questions about your Niche. For this example we will use DVD Players…. as if you run a DVD Player Business.*

• Go to Twitter Search and enter "DVD-Players" into the box (without the quotes around it). Press enter. It will look something like:
  
  
  
• Read through the Realtime results for dvd-players and see if there is anybody asking questions that you can answer. Or, perhaps just have a conversation with one of the tweople. Remember that Twitter is not about one side talks, but instead it Twitter should be a conversation.
  
  
• Here are some examples of some of the tweets the tweople left and possible replies you could leave in response to them. This will give you an idea of how to have a conversation with them. And also how to use Twitter Search to answer questions and as part of the customer service end of your business.
  

Examples of How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers

• Below is a really cool tweet. Yes, there isn’t a question to answer, but I bet you could come up with something cute that would make you stand out. Something that will cause @ladybugbows to follow you. How about this???
  
  
  
  Reply with something cute to get their attention like, "A family that has their own DVD Players Stays Together".
  
  
  
• Here is a really great chance to make a person from Twitter into a customer….
  
  
  Offer a Coupon Code:
  
  
  
• Straight forward questions need straight forward answers.
  
  
  Just as if you were handling customer service at your place of business, answer questions via phone calls or emails… Twitter can be a medium that you can handle customer service as well. Answer questions where you can and become known as a Specialist in your field.
  
  
  
• If you know something that others don’t know share your knowledge. This tweeter’s DVD Player lost his power cord due to a hungry pet….. he needs help. Can you help?
  
  
  But, what if you knew something that could help? Offer the tip or suggestions…. you might even get a sale from it.
  

And that is pretty much it. See how easy that is and yet Twitter Search can be super powerful way to not only increase your Twitter Followers, but to increase your Customers.

Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media for Small Business, Social Networking, Tips and Tutorials, Twitter, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | No Comments »

How to Find New Customers on Twitter - Answer Questions

If you are not joining in on the conversation you are missing out on tons of Business. I’m not just saying this as a possibliltiy….. I am saying this as total FACT!!

Whether you like it or not….. people, your potential customers, are talking. They might be asking questions online even. And, if you aren’t answering their questions…. you can count on someone else answering their question.

How to Find New Customers on Twitter by Answering Questions

Imagine this…..

Someone on Twitter says, "HELP!! My printer won’t work. I’ve tried everything… can anyone help me?!"

If your business is in the Printer niche maybe you could help. Tweeting an answer not only can get you a sale, but maybe something even better…. a life long customer that trusts and respects you.

So, you need to respond to this Twitter cry for help. Simply, @ this person and say something to the effect of, "I work with printers all day…. How can I help you and make your life easier?"

She will no doubtingly respond back to you and with the correct answer you will have earned the respect and trust from a potential customer. And you have also just experienced your first Customer Service Twitter Conversation.

And, had YOU not helped this potential customer…. some other printer person most doubtingly would have.

Even if she doesn’t purchase anything right away from you I can almost guarantee she will follow you back on Twitter because you were a huge help. This is almost has good as an immediate sale. How? You have her ears for anything you tweet on Twitter. Plus, you have already earned her trust and respect. Now you most certainly have her attention.

Well, you are probably thinking, "Well, that is great and I will start doing that!! But, how do I use Twitter Search to know if someone on Twitter is talking about my area of expertise?"

Great question!!

How to find Questions Being Asked on Twitter

• You should go to Twitter Search and enter the word or words that you would like to know when people are talking about them. In regards to the above example it was the word Printer.
• Once you enter the word Printer and Press Enter all the recent conversations mentioning the word Printer are there.
• Reply to the ones with questions you can answer. And, even if they are not asking a question maybe you can hold a conversation with them. Create some relationships.
• You can even subscribe to this feed on Twitter Search. You can easily stay up to date on your topic by check your feeds how ever often you would like.

***Note - Replying to Tweople about questions about your area of interest should not be mistaken for a chance for you to pitch to them. Do not force a bunch a links on them unless it is absolutely necessary to help them. A big Sales Pitch is NOT what this is about here. What I am trying to show you how to do is answer questions honestly and sincerely via Twitter. Gain the person’s trust and respect. Make a relationship. If a sale comes from it…. great. Even if you don’t get one… if you are honest and sincere you will probably at the very least have a new follower.

Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media for Small Business, Twitter, Web 2.0 Basics | 4 Comments »

Building a Brand through Social Media - IM Spring Break

If you wanted to know how to use Build a Brand Using Social Media then this session was the one to attend. Jeff Quipp, Brian Chappell and Li Evans were an amazing combo…. Together they were the perfect mixture of How-to, tips, suggestions, visuals….. absolutely all the facts needed to give you a good start in Branding.

Jeff Quipp discussed the How-to’s of branding by going into great detail on what Social Media can do for Branding. Brian Chapell added his thoughts and tips on monitoring your brand and Li Evans finished off this amazing session on Building a Brand with video and photo sharing.

All three speakers made sure to cover everything from the most basic to more complex. They gave us the social media recipe to whip up the best branding dish for any company…. large or small.

Here how it all went down…

First up was Jeff Quipp

Define Your Brand - How do you want your Brand to stand out?

Many Businesses often wonder what Social Media can do for them. Jeff did a really great job at explaining this in great detail.

Social Media Helps….

1. Create awareness of the Brand
2. Communicate the Company’s / Product’s Key Messages
3. Instill trust in the brand
4. Naturally propagate the crafted message(s)

He goes on to explain the 3 Steps to Branding via Social Media

1. List the Key Messages
2. Determine the best content formats to convey your messages (video, audio, text)
3. Craft the content - Must support the key messages you wish to convey…. at least for branding purposes.
   
   Some ways to do this….
   • "just in time" blogging
   • make the news- do something sensational!
   • resource/educational posts
   • the message must reflect positively on the company!!!
4. Determine the best Social Media to Employ
5. Test the Content
   • If the Key is in getting others to carry the chosen messages forward…. test it first (if its not news)
     • StumbleUpon Ads
6. Refine content and retest
• Using the solicited feedback, refine the content. Retest, again soliciting feedback.
7. Network to Promote
   • Get involved in the chosen social media
   • start befriending others and promoting their GOOD content
   • Be sure to promote good content!!!
   • Seek out key influencers and particularly support their stuff.

Brian Chappell was up next

Brian immediately reminds us that "You have to make sure you know your target audience…. otherwise you are wasting your time. Social Media is not a salt shaker. You can’t apply social media marketing tactic onto regular strategies to see success. Social media can not be an after thought…. has to be thought of at the core of marketing initiatives."

You need to be creative…. there is no cookie cutter approach to Social Media.

Brian urges us to extend our brand off of our site…. secure names elsewhere so no one tarnishes our brand. He suggests Streko’s site CheckUserNames.com as a good place to do this.

Must Monitor & Interact in Real time

Social Monitoring Benefits:

• Product Development
• Customer Service
• SEO / Marketing Initiatives
• Monitor your Competition

Don’t forget about SEO

Empower your customers - Let them build the ad, create your idea and implement new product offerings.

Next up was Li Evans

Building a brand through Social Media - Through Video & Photo Sharing

I love that Li went into using Video & Photo Sharing to build a brand through Social Media. For someone like me who is very visual I can understand the importance of branding this way.

Li starts with, "So you have serps and links….now what? How do you get people to remember you?"

Branding is essential. Even your avatar is important. Li reminds us that our avatar is who we are…this is how people relate to us.

Tips

• Make sure your avatar is your brand.
• Make sure your pictures are saying things about your brand
• Start your own group and encourage people to share their pictures / videos and join the group.
• Extend your brand and talk to the people that are part of the group.
• Bring influence of the brand into the picture.
• Don’t forget the Tags!!
• Keep your marketing consistent - ex. icon / logo on videos and photos
• Brand your Channels - w/ consistent colors
• No matter how small your company Branding Matters!!
• Don’t forget about branding even in Local.
• Optimizing is fundamental
• Research where your audience is.

**YouTube - YouTube beats Yahoo for searches. That’s pretty cool. And, it shows us how important videos can be in Search.**

Li ends with saying that “Branding and Being Social Is Key”

So, as you can see it was another amazing session at IM Spring Break. Follow the Branding Recipe that Jeff Quipp, Brian Chappell and Li Evans suggested and I have no doubt you will be off to a great start with using Social Media for Branding purposes.

Posted in Conferences, SEM, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, StumbleUpon, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0 | 2 Comments »

Leveraging Social News and Bookmarking at IM Spring Break

This session was amazing. It reminded me a lot like a baseball line-up. Before you start thinking that I totally lost my mind let me explain a bit why I say this.

First up to speak was Neal Rodriguez. And, speak he did!!

In baseball the first player in the line-up is generally a person that is fast. A player that has a great potential to steal bases. He gets the rest of the line-up motivated and ready to play their hearts out. And, this is what I feel Neal did during this session. He motivated the audience and got them ready for the rest of the game.

Seriously, he could have been talking about cleaning the lint out of my laptop keys and I would have listened intently to everything he said. He had me wanting to stand up and cheer with excitement just by listening to his passion and watching him talk about something he felt strongly about.

Social Media in the Grind ‘09

Neal explains how Social News is directory that’s unbelievable. Social News are the stories that make you go "WTF!"

Unbelievable is part of the ingredients to the entire recipe. Stories need to be compelling and controversial.

Assault the reader!!

Make your reader say, "Hell Yeah!"

To Do that:

• Do your homework - Study sites that make the front page frequently. * Di66.net *
• Reciprocity - Help your fellow socialites. The Key to any relationship. * Source - DiggStatistics.com *

Neal reminds us that "The More you do the better your will get at it."

In baseball the middle of a line-up has the power hitters. These are the baseball players that have a great chance of getting a home run. These are the players you can count on for giving you what you came to the baseball park to see. In this case that is David Snyder and Todd Malicoat.

David Snyder spoke about "How not to utilize Social News and Bookmarking"

He reminds us that the keyword is "Social". Social News & Bookmarking exist as a place to center conversations and sharing around content. And, the end user is the most important part of this process.

How Social News and Bookmarking can be used by marketers….

• Not an end means, but a tool to increase visibility of content, and conversation around content.
• You get what you give from Social Media

DON’T

• Hire people for pushes where you pay based on the outcome
• "Push" content without first thinking about the community
• Approach social bookmarking as a business looking to engage.

The next power hitter up to bat was Todd Mailicoat

He spoke about "How to sell social media marketing for in house SEO’s"

• Show a Competitor
  • fear
  • uncertainty
  • doubt
  • greed
    
• Show the Stats
  • digg
  • delicious
  • reddit
  • stumble
  • buzz propeller
    
• Introduce the Concept - The plan
  
• Show the Value
  • Explain the Value of the links
    • theme value
    • power source
    • outbound links
    • unique linking domains
    • placement
    • age
      
  • Explain why link baiting and viral marketing
    • global link popularity
    • sometimes anchor text (based on title)
    • Better Rankings
    • Links competitors can’t get
• Close the Concept
  
  
• Add the Bonus - lots of traffic and branding
  • such as premium content

So, as you can see this entire session was amazing….. it kept me on my toes wanting to start the wave.. All three speakers hit the ball out of the park and kept the audience happy and cheering for more. No doubt in my mind…. A Win!!

Posted in Conferences, SEM, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0 | 2 Comments »

Didn’t attend IM Spring Break? 23 Reasons You Should Have.

After spending four days in Florida with the IM Spring Break crowd and attending the conference & enjoying the parties at night It didn’t take me long to realize that this is hands down the best conference I have ever attended. And, from reading others tweets I come to the realization that this conference is a "must attend". In case that wasn’t enough to get you to realize you should be totally bummed you decided not to attend the IM Spring Break Conference here are a ton more reasons you should Kick your own Ass for not attending IM Spring Break.

• Small conference….. big knowledge. I know small isn’t always, the best description of something wonderful. But, trust me on this one. What I think made this conference so amazing was the small size. I had a chance to sit down with practically everybody and have a nice conversation. At no time did I feel rushed to hurry a conversation so that I could find the next one to talk to. There was plenty of time to get to everybody.
  
• Intimate Conversations - Due to the small size of the Conference I was able to have some wonderful intimate conversations with not only Industry Leaders, but the awesome guys running the whole show. That has never happened to me…. but on the first day I shared lunch with Loren Baker and his beautiful wife, Janna.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Best of the Best in our Industry speaking on Search, Social and Internet Marketing - Loren, Dave and Jordan made sure to get some of the best in our industry speaking on the panels…. making sure we were learning everything from the most knowledgeable in the field.
  
  
• The Q & A’s after with amazingly awesome top secret info….. seriously, TOP SECRET. Only people that were there have the benefit of hearing the information. And, even if something wasn’t covered in the Q & A’s there was plenty of time for conversations with the speakers later. If you are beginning to the get the feeling of kicking your desk for not attending…. I can understand.
  
  
• The food, the YUMMY food. And, I am not talking simple meals. I’m talking about meals that knock your socks off by simply looking at the colorful presentation. Loren, Dave and Jordan spared nothing to make sure we ate like Kings and Queens.
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Open Bar - The attendees of IM Spring Break were offered Open Bar every night. Do I really need to say anything else about this? I’ll just repeat it….. Open Bar EVERY Night.
  
  
  
• The pool - A Gorgeous pool that many of us got to enjoy….. whether we wanted to jump in or not. Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to personally thank Streko for my shoes just finally drying.
  
  
  
  
  
• Poker Games - Yes, we even had poker. And, even though there were some winners and some losers from the looks of everyone participating we enjoyed ourselves either way. I even managed to spend some money during Poker just watching… Not sure how that happened.
  
  
  
• Arm Wrestling Neil Patel - At what other event could I have a chance to kick one of the Speakers Ass’s in Arm Wrestling. I doubt anywhere else. But, at IM Spring Break I was offered the chance to do just that. I took Neil up on the offer to arm wrestle and I fought really hard to beat him. Unfortunately, I totally got my ass kicked. I’m pretty scrappy, but he must be freakishly strong for his small size. He also took $20.00 from me from losing.
  
  
• Beautiful Friendships - While at IM Spring Break I was fortunate enough to build beautiful friendships that I have no doubt that will last a lifetime.
  
  
  
  
• Free Chiropractor on Call - We can all totally use a good back massage from time to time. And, there were plenty to go around at IM Spring Break….. thank you Chiropractor Mike.
  
  
  
  
  
• Killer DJ - At the indoor BBQ Party there was some awesome music during the open bar and dinner. I mean, I’m talking killer music. Thanks to Steve Plunkett for giving up his yummy dinner to make sure to keep us totally happy until the live band started. Proof the music rocked is in the pics my friend…
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Lots of Dancing - Steve had the music playing for 2 hours until the live band started. Giving us 2 hours extra to dance…. and dance they did!!
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Live Band - Yes…. Loren, Dave and Jordan spared absolutely no expense to make sure the attendees of the conference were kept happy and entertained the entire time. They hired a live band to get people out on the dance floor. But, it turns out they were just the opening band for a rock band MUCH larger….
  
  
• SEO Rock Band - This might come as a total surprise to you, but many of the leaders in our wonderful Industry are also musically gifted. Our very own David Szetela and Jeff Quipp surprised all of us by announcing that they were going to get on stage and entertain us with The SEO Rock Band. And, they were good. No, I’m lying….. they were freakin awesome!! Like, I’m talking about lighter waiving and girls screaming kind of awesome. But, that wasn’t the end of it….Loren Baker and Tony Adam got on stage with them and were just as amazing making up their own SEO lyrics to popular songs. It was so much fun. Still not over…. I got more. Brasco from WebMaster Radio sang La Bamba perfectly. I mean, perfectly. Steve Plunkett did some singing as well… as did Aaron Chronister’s beautiful fiance, Jenny. It was an amazing night with some of the best fun I have ever had. Many of us want to know when the SEO Rock Band’s CD will be coming out…. it truly would be a must buy!!
  
  
  
  
  … and the lead singer even had his groupies:
  
  
• Neil Patel made me Breakfast - I’m assuming that Neil was feeling bad for hurting my ego the night before in arm wresting, but whatever the reason he made me a toasted bagel, went out of his way to find the exact type of cream cheese I wanted and spread it on my bagel. Thanks, Neil…. it was an awesome bagel.
  
  
• Drinking being part of a session - The wonderful Tony Adam brought out beers for everybody during his IM Business session. He was going through his 9 Steps to get people excited about what you are doing. And, as he pointed out sometimes you just need to "take a break and knock one back!!" I agree, Tony.
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Milk & Cookies - Thanks to Allyson Fergison, aka SEOaly we all were able to enjoy her homemade cookies. Allyson was the very lucky winner of the free pass to IM Spring Break. She was so excited to have won she apparently didn’t know what to do with her pent up energy that she decided to bake like a mad woman. And, a mad woman she was….. she came to the conference with 600 freshly back chocolate chip cookies. Could you imagine this happening at a huge conference? No, I don’t think so. I’m telling you… small intimate conferences is where it is at!!
  
  
  
  
• Rock’n Keynotes - We got to hear some of the best keynotes I have ever heard. The keynotes were from Chris Winfield, Neil Patel and Rae Hoffman. Really, really great stuff…. all three were totally passionate and equally motivating. The best combination.
  
  
  
• Sushi baby - I will have to admit…. I have never had sushi. I have always been afraid to try it because of the fact it is raw fish. But, upon being pushed to try it…. try it I did. Oh My God…. it was so good!! I am now sushi’s biggest fan.
  
  
• Bacon Explosion - At the IM Spring Break BBQ Party the food continued to be just as impressive as any of the other meals that the gentlemen of IM Spring Break provided for us. This meal had a BBQ flare. But, the highlight of the meal had got to have been the Bacon Explosion. This dish was thought up by Aaron Chronister and loved by everyone I spoke to that night. I can’t even describe the taste to you…. just trust me when I say it is like no other. And, you have got to experience it for yourself. Yep, just another reason you should be kicking your own Ass for not going to IM Spring Break.
  
  
  
  
• Appearing on Webmaster Radio - Webmaster Radio was at the conference the entire time and many of the attendees of IM Spring Break appeared on Webmaster Radio being interviewed. Even I was one of the lucky ones. It was so much fun!! I felt like a superstar.
  
  
  
• Weight loss - Apparently the more you eat the more weight you lose. It probably has something to do with the fact that you can eat healthy even at a conference.
  

Okay, you still don’t believe me that this was the conference of the year??? Don’t take my word for it…. check out what Alysson Fergison had to say about it. Her tweet totally sums up my entire post…

Just to let you know….. IM Broadcast has other conferences coming up in the future. They mentioned doing one in the next few months in California and another Scary SEO in October… this time in Atlantic City. So, keep an eye out for the next IM Broadcast Conference and sign up. Otherwise…. you are totally missing out on the best Marketing, SEO, and Social Media Conference out there!!

Thank you to those who allowed me to use the wonderful photographs they took during IM Spring Break. Most of the photos on this page came from either Janna and Loren Baker at the IM Spring Break Facebook Fan Page, Rafael Montilla and Dana Lookadoo’s Flickr Page. So, make sure to check out their photo pages so you can check out the rest of the IM Spring Break pictures.

Posted in Conferences, Parties, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0 | 11 Comments »

Creating Content for Social Media Session - IM Spring Break

The first session of IM Spring Break on Social Media day was "Creating Content for Social Media – How to create the content and make it stick". Kenny Hyder, Greg Finn and Brent Csutoras were on this sessions panel and what a Rock’n job they did. It was an awesome session!!

First up was Ken of PositionTech. He started with "Content is King. And, if your content sucks it won’t go anywhere." And, moved on to explaining that it takes more than just ideas. Your content needs to be compelling. To show this Ken compared the two sites Watch it Shred with Will it Blend. Both of these sites have a very similar type of viral content…. Watch it Shred has videos of many different items that they put through a large shredder to see if it will shred. Will it Blend puts many different types of items into a blender to see if they will blend. They both started their YouTube accounts around the same time, but Watch it Shred has 3,553 subscribers while Will it Blend has 178,164 subscribers. Why such a huge difference? Because of the question, "Will it Blend". And, this question causes the viewer to wonder…. will it in fact blend? See, questions need answers. Viewers watch to find out…. will it blend. The question is compelling.

Kenny offers some tips….

Tips to make your content sticky

• Think about what has done well.
• Be compelling - how can I intrigue my readers?
• Think about your audience

Next up was Brent Csutoras

Brent starts off talking about how Businesses often wonder how social media pertains to them. What should I write about…. how is my product going to work in social? How am I going to participate?

But, Brent assures us it doesn’t have to be the most extreme thing. Social Media can apply to anything.

For a company to come up with things to write about he suggests….

Step back & Identify your:

• Social Goals - What do you ultimately want? Do you want more links? More traffic, etc..
• Desired Keywords - what do you want to be known for? What do you want people searching for when they find you?
• Related Keywords - loosely related terms.

Once that is done the Research begins.

Research social sites for what has worked for others or failed for others, Check competitors and see what they are doing, and Check Search Engines.

Some tips that Brent suggested were…

Tips

• Involve your staff - memos. Keep all informed of plans.
• Current events - watch them and use them. People love what’s going on right now.
• Avoid "10" - Top 10 gets old fast.
• Don’t accept crap and don’t push crap either. Throw it in the trash.

Next up Gregg Finn of 10e20 who spoke about Tactics for Creating content.

Gregg starts talking about content and what makes for bad, good, great and pants crappingly awesome content. Yes, I did say, "pants crappingly awesome" content. You are dying to know what that means huh? This is how Gregg defines it…

Pants Crappingly Awesome Content

• Content that stands out
• Readers Can’t stop reading it
• Takes serious man hours to create
• Extremely well written
• Great looking
• Immediately vote and IM friends about it.

Gregg then goes into some detail about the Do’s & Don’ts of Creating Content…

Do’s

• Be comprehensive. Make sure your content is inclusive.
• Be consumable - Make it so the reader doesn’t have to read every word for them to understand it.
• Be Relevant - Make sure your message is on point, content "fits" on your site.
• Be Niche - Quality targeted content is better than average general content.
• Be Thorough - Make sure all spelling / grammar is on point. Take the time to do it right.
• Be Supportive - Provide detailed media, link to sources when necessary.
• Be Attractive - Take the time to use well designed images.

Don’t

• Don’t be overly linkbaity - Users can see when you are trying too hard.
• Don’t be sloppy - Check with others on spelling & grammar.
• Don’t be greedy - Keeps ads minimal & make sure pop-ups are non existent

So, as you can see the "Creating Content for Social Media" session was a huge success. The speakers rocked. And, the information I got out of it was amazing. Wait until you hear about the other sessions…. the rest of the Social Media Sessions at IM Spring Break were just as good as this one!!

Posted in Conferences, SEM, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

Chris Winfield Rocked the IM Spring Break Opening Keynote

It is Day 1 of IM Spring Break here in beautiful Deerfield Beach, Florida. And, Dave Snyder, Loren Baker and Jordan Kasteler have an entertaining and educational day planned out for us. Day 1 of IM Spring Break is dedicated to Social Media…. which I am totally excited about.

First off was Chris Winfield’s Keynote. Chris is the President and Co-Founder of 10e20. His Keynote was absolutely the perfect way to open up Day 1 of IM Spring Break. Chris spoke about Social Media in Business brilliantly…. I love how passionate and excited it was to speak about it…. Totally motivating. It was awesome to hear him speak.

Chris began his keynote by announcing that Social Media Marketing in Business is way more than just Facebook and Twitter.

Social Media is one big conversation.

Now, this is when Chris gets into the true nitty gritty of Social Media Marketing in Business. He begins talking about the question that many of us as Social Media Marketers have heard asked hundreds of times….

Why would a Business Want to get involved in Social Media?

A business should get involved in Social Media for a number of reasons. Such as,

• achieve recognition with a wider audience
• create/ improve reputation
• enhance credibility
• attract evangelists
• public relations
• link attraction
• traffic

Ok, so now we know why businesses should get involved in Social Media. But then what? What types of Social Media should Businesses get involved in?

No worries… Chris covered that as well. And, in great detail.

Types of Social Media Businesses should get involved in

1. Blogs
2. MicroBlogs (Twitter)
3. Social Networking
   • Myspace
   • Facebook - Facebook Ads & Facebook Pages
   • Niche Social Networks
4. Online Videos (YouTube)
5. Forums & Groups
6. Photo Sharing - (flickr & photobucket)
7. Yahoo Answers
8. Online Review
9. Wiki’s
10. Social News and Bookmarking Sites

Even after going into great detail on all of that Chris then went into making sure people know who you / your business are.

Let people know where you are

• Have your social links in your email signature
• Include your social networks on mailing lists
• On the business web site make sure you have links to where people can locate you online…. your other social networks / profiles.

Chris then goes into how to build up a network of people online.

How to build up a network of people

• Check their website - many websites list where you can find them on other social networks.
• Go to digg & other social sites’ profile page and see if they list their other social networks there
• on social sites there is usually a way to direct message them
• go to conferences and talk to them and find out how to connect with them.

Chris finishes his keynote by reminding us that, "Social Media is opportunity for you!!!"

Posted in Conferences, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking | 3 Comments »

Spring is in the Air…. Can you spell Spring Break??

I’ve been kind of out of the loop for a few months. I’ve been dealing with some family issues and lowered my social media work load a bit so I could deal with the issues. Things are beginning to get easier and I am beginning to be able to find some breathing room. Winter was difficult and long, but happily Spring is on its way and I totally can’t wait for it to arrive.

Spring brings new hope for me and also brings warmer weather, beautiful flowers, leaves on the trees, fresh air and the sounds of children playing outside. April brings May flowers. But, there is something else that April will bring to the Search and Internet Marketing community… A conference that is one of the most talked about, anticipated and affordable conferences in Search. Not sure what I’m referring to??? Well, let me spell it out for you….

I - Internet Marketing - Three days of Internet Marketing focused education and networking in beautiful Florida. Sounds good to me.

M - Money - This Search Conference is only $370, but is packed with 3 days of awesome sessions and great parties. At this cost it’s a steal!!

S - Social Media and SEO Days. A day will be spent on each. And the Speakers on those days Rock. Speakers include Kenny Hyder, Greg Finn, Brent Csutoras, Reg Saddler, Todd Mailcoat, Neal Rodriguez, Li Evans, Jeff Quipp, Brian Chappell, Carolyn Shelby, Wil Reynolds, Rhea Drysdale, Steve Plunkett and Rae Hoffman. Day 1 Moderator - Jordan Kasteler and Day 2 Moderator – Loren Baker. I told you they rocked, didn’t I?!

P - Poker Tournament - There is a Poker Tournament on the first night. You never know how that will turn out, but you know it will be a good time!!

R - Rhea Drysdale - She will be speaking during SEO day and I’m totally looking forward to this. Not just because I’m hoping that she will appear as SheRa, but also because I was lucky enough to meet Rhea a few months back and I think she’s wonderful, but have yet to hear her speak. So, I can’t wait for that.

I - Information - You can count on learning plenty of new and useful information from the speakers who happen to be some of the best-of-the-best in our industry.

N - Networking - Oh, Yeah!! This conference will have tons of chances to network with the speakers, monitors and other colleagues in our field. This conference is small, only a few hundred attendees, that makes the chances you will be able to spend some time with the speakers quite likely.

G - Goals - They have two main Goals with their events. 1. be the best value in Internet Marketing conferences and events; 2. to provide the best education and networking mix available in an Internet Marketing conference. Sounds great to me.

B - Beerlympics - Okay, I’ll admit it….. I have no idea what this actually is, but I’m dying to find out. I have no doubt that the Beerlympics will be one of the highlights of the entire event.

R - Rae Hoffman - I have yet to have heard Rae Hoffman speak nor have I been fortunate enough to meet her at any other conference. But, I love her blog and I’m hoping to get to meet her at this event. Not only is she speaking at this conference she is also doing the Keynote on day 3.

E - Entire Event - Hello?! Have you not been paying attention?? Check out what I mentioned thus far….. This event ROCKS!!

A - Affiliate Marketing Day - Affiliate Marketing Day is day 3 of this conference and it is sure to be a great day of sessions!! Check out the speakers…. Michael Streko, Aaron Chronister, Rae Hoffman, Frank Watson, Brandy Eddings, David Szetela, Chris Hart , Pamela Lund and Tony Adam. Moderator – David Snyder

C - Community - Many of the attendees are part of the online communities that you frequent on a daily basis. This is your chance to network with these members face-to-face. And, meet other members of the community that you have yet got a chance to get to know online. This is a great way to build up your friends in the online community…. by meeting them face-to-face.

K - Keynotes - 3 Amazing Keynotes by impressive members of the Search and Internet Marketing Community.

• Day 1- Chris Winfield
• Day 2 - Neil Patel
• Day 3 - Rae Hoffman will be giving the NDA Keynote

I-M S-P-R-I-N-G B-R-E-A-K

So, if you haven’t figured it out already….. I am talking about the IM Spring Break Conference coming up next Month. It takes place from April 2-4 in beautiful Boca Raton, Florida. Like I mentioned earlier the cost is so reasonable at $370 for the entire 3 day conference. And, if you use the code SEO when booking the hotel it will only cost you $119.00 per night. Totally an awesome price.

Check out the IM Spring Break Sessions….. they sound wonderful, don’t they?!

So what are you waiting for? Go buy your tickets now for IM Spring Break!! Hope to see you there.

Posted in Conferences, Parties, SEM, SEO, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Sphinn, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0 | 7 Comments »

My review of Jonathan Field’s new book, “Career Renegade”.

I have been a huge fan of Jonathan Fields as a blogger for a while now…. his posts are motivating, inspirational while still being informative. He speaks lovingly of his beautiful daughter and his wonderful wife. Without having yet met Jonathan I know he is a great person. When he asked me to review his book, Career Renegade, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And, I have to say… I was not disappointed.

Jonathan’s first chapter blew me away. I knew he was a lawyer before he was a blogger… and I knew he was into Yoga too. But, what I didn’t realize is that all the adventures Jonathan had been on before he landed where he is today.

He begins his book explaining how he was once a very stressed out lawyer… working way too many hours and missing his family. And, like many people who work way too many hours and live a very stressed out life…. he got very sick. This was Jonathan’s wake up call. This is when he began a quest for something more. Not more money…. more life.

Jonathan did get there and he is loving life. And, in his book Career Renegade he shows you the steps to take to get there too.

Some people don’t know what their passion is. They’ve worked so hard professionally that they can’t even think about what it is they love doing. Jonathan understands that and even has a section of questions to answer to help you determine what it is you will love doing on a daily basis. For many, this part is simple…. for others it might be a little more difficult. But, he lays the questions out beautifully….with a bit of thought this section should be no problem.

Throughout the book you will see motivating true life stories from some amazing business professionals…. people who have left powerful full-time jobs to do something they love. People like, Brian Clark of Copy Blogger, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, Liz Strauss of Succesful-Blog, Anita Campbell of SmalBizTrends, Leo Babauta of ZenHabits, and many others. True stories of their travels…. each coming up successful. I found the stories to be very motivating and an exciting part of the book.

I love Jonathan’s Gap theory. He shows you how to look for gaps or limitations in things…. the gaps are where your niche should be. This is where there is a need for something such as a product or service. Jonathan says,

"Sometimes those gaps are in the way gear is being provided; other times, they revolve around limitations in selections; and sometimes, you’ll even find a gap where either no product yet exists or what does exist can be greatly improved upon. Exploiting these gaps and bundling them with service or community often provides fertile ground for economic opportunity…."

He doesn’t stop there. He takes you right from discovering your niche to what you should do next. From prototypes to business plans to market research all the way to marketing your company and your product. He explains every process from beginning to end… at no part did I feel that the reader was left to figure it out themselves. He gives you the tools, the resources and the confidence to do it. He motivates you to want to get started right away.

He even takes you through the steps of gaining knowledge, building a following and gaining authority. In great detail Jonathan explains many methods of Social Media activities that will create the buzz needed to get the word out about your product. He shows you that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to do this… through certain social media activities you will be able to spread the word without spending a ton of money. He talks about social media activities such as:

• Blogging
• Guest posts on popular blogs
• microblogging
• social networking
• social bookmarking

Jonathan goes into quite a bit of detail on each and offers tons of websites, books and other resources so that you can get all the information you need to have great success.

He also understands how difficult it can be sometimes to get your inner circle to understand why you are doing this. Because Jonathan has gone through this himself he knows that sometimes people will question your reasoning behind making a major change like this. Changing careers can be scary for all involved and Jonathan gets that. In this book he goes through 4 steps to help this process be easier for you. He calls it "Prepare Your Pitch" and he helps you do just that. He goes into great detail with the following steps…

• Identifying the problem
• Point to research and examples
• Present your Solution
• Anticipate and respond to objections

Career Renegade is a must read. It is chock full of amazing information for anyone unhappy in their career. If you are looking for the steps needed to make the change to something you love then this book is for you!! His detail to everything is perfect and he writes it in such a way that is easy to read even for someone that doesn’t have much business and computer experience.

This is what a good book looks like after I read it. Not too pretty, huh?! But, proof that I loved it!!

Buy a copy of Career Renegade today…. you won’t be disappointed!!

Posted in Reviews, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | 3 Comments »

Using Twitter to find Hot Deals

Christmas Season is about ready to come to a close. You have already missed the cut-off to purchase items online and to receive them at your door before Christmas. In a couple of days you will be cleaning up wrapping paper, returning unwanted items and planning your New Years Resolutions.

But, I wanted to talk about things I learned from shopping at Twitter.

• You get honest opinions. No need for reviews…. just ask your followers any kind of product questions and they will respond honestly. I asked about Moon Sand. My daughter was bugging me about it and I had no idea what is was and whether it was something I should get her. So, I asked my Tweeps:
  
  
  And, my Tweeps told me honestly how they felt.
  
  
  
  Who needs to search for reviews and testimonials on websites when you have pure Word of Mouth or I suppose I should say “Word of Tweets”.
  
  
  
• Find Awesome Deals - I previously wrote a post about using Twitter as a Sales Channel. And, it totally is!! You can subscribe to @Woot and @AmazonDeals and get notified of their daily deals. eCommerce sites and businesses are beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter as a Sales Channel. You can follow these businesses on Twitter and cash in on the sweet deals.
  
  
  
• Retweets - The Power of Retweets!! You can find some truly amazing deals just by listening to the retweets of the items that your tweeps thought were hot deals. That is exactly how I found my father’s Holiday Gift. Mark Hayward, who ironically wrote about the value of retweets, had posted a retweet about The Flip that Andy Beal had originally sent out. Even though I follow Andy Beal I had missed his original Tweet, so I am very thankful that Mark sent out this retweet….
  
  
  
  I own a Flip Ultra Series and love my Flip. It is what I use to create my video posts. My father was so impressed with my videos that he asked to borrow my Flip. Well, thanks to Mark’s retweet I purchased my father a Flip for the Holidays. Check it out…
  
  
  
  And, then I announced my purchase….
  
  
  
  … and then the power of Twitter began. Check it out!!
  
  
  
  I told Carolyn Shelby that I loved my Flip and she landed up purchasing one too. Wowzer!!
  
  
  
• Using Twitter Search to Find Amazing Deals - I’m not sure many people are aware of the power of Twitter Search yet. It is a fantastic tool when used correctly. Here is a super quick tutorial. Let’s say you wanted to see if you can find a Nintendo DS for your son on Sale. Go to Twitter Advanced Search and enter the following information. Enter the word "Nintendo DS" (without quotes) into the "exact phrase" box. And, enter "sale" (without quotes) into the "Any of these Words" box.
  
  
  Click on Search. The results you should get should point you to sites and information on how to get the Nintendo DS on Sale in Real Time.
  
  

And there ya go. Twitter helped me big time this year with Holiday Shopping. I know it is too late to use my fabulous methods to pick up sales this Holiday Season. But, use these tips all year long to pick up Rock’n deals for you and your loved ones.

I wish you and your loved ones the Happiest of Holidays and a Wonderful 2009!!

Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Tips and Tutorials, Twitter, Videos, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | 10 Comments »