Posts Tagged ‘social marketing’

If you have decided to jump on the bandwagon and join thousand of people using social marketing as a tool to grow their business, then you are on the right track. Social marketing has proven to be effective and sustainable in influencing the target market to buy your products and services. One of the most utilized strategies is by tapping on social marketing sites that are popping up everywhere. Of course it is necessary to choose only those that are reliable and good for your ecommerce business. Among the most popular social marketing sites today are:

Flickr:
It is perhaps the best online photo sharing site in the world. It allows you to showcase photos to friends, family and even to those you do not know. Launched 5 years ago, it now has more than 3 billion photos stored. It is a great site to promote your business. There is also PhotoBucket

YouTube:
This video social marketing site works wonders for any business. With YouTube, we can share videos for everyone to see. By uploading some videos, you will have people comment and share ideas on your page, which is a great way to understand your target market.

Twitter:
Twitter is a site which enables  Micro Blogging of 140. It has become one of the most popular ways to communicate  with the outside world, whether that be personal of business. There are something like 8 Million Tweets every day. Twitter can be easily used for business and it is a simple process to get an account up and running.

Others to note

• Metacafe: It is the number 2 site for video social marketing. You can upload and share videos about your products and services so people will know who you are and what you have to offer.

• Digg: In this website, you will find everything you need- from articles, blogs, insights, etc. If you like to improve your marketing and sales, then you need to get started with Digg. This is especially helpful for those who are new to social marketing.

• MySpace: With the music and video now part of its package, MySpace has definitely become one of the top social marketing sites in the world. It has high exposure to most countries in the West and East. Asia is also quite into MySpace too. With so many people joining MySpace, it will be easier to find your target market here.

Social media sites are indeed very helpful in getting you on track with your business goals. In so many ways, they allow you to stay connected to your target customers through photo and video sharing, blogging, commenting, and many more. The important thing with social marketing is you need to be able to keep up with the demand. People feed you with information- they tell you what they want and what they do not want, and in return, they expect you to be able to address their concerns. As a good social marketer, you have to be ready for any challenges that come your way when you use these social marketing tools.

As any good social marketer knows, being prepared for anything is vital to the success of your business. If you can do this, if you can apply the techniques involved in the social marketing process, then go ahead and tell the whole world about your business. You will find that it is probably one of the best things you have ever done.

What if you could reach a few million people, improve customer support, tap into an incredible wealth of customer satisfaction data, protect and enhance your brand, and obtain some positive coverage, all for under $500? But wait, there’s more! Sounds like a late-night infomercial, but in fact, a minimal investment (mostly time) can help you establish a highly visible and rewarding social media outpost on Twitter.

If you’re trying to figure out how social media can be integrated into your corporate communications strategy, follow this simple program. Don’t hire expensive consultants, don’t spend millions of dollars on viral marketing programs, and don’t wait to be shown proven ROI for social media initiatives. Just roll up your sleeves, get on Twitter, be genuine, and actually respond to and assist consumers.

Of course there are other social networks and opportunities to use social media in your corporate communications initiatives, and Twitter hosts a relatively small audience, perhaps two million people. But online, two million people who are extremely well-versed in the use of social media tools can be a very influential audience. Their comments on your company, its willingness to engage with customers, and the quality of its customer support not only reach a potentially much larger audience, but once published, are on the web almost forever to be retrieved via a search on your company name. If those comments are negative, wouldn’t you like the opportunity to respond? And if they’re positive, wouldn’t you like to know that as well?

I’m sure you’ve heard it said hundreds of times, that there’s an online conversation going on about your company. And as much as this is a metaphorical conversation, it is also, in many social networks, forums and chat rooms, an actual conversation in which real people are sharing their experiences with your company.

I was inspired to write this piece as I watched this morning as a well known vehicle rental company come under attack on Twitter. A Twitter user with more than 1500 “friends” commented on a bad experience involving the company. Perhaps feeling that the company didn’t care about his plight, he invited other Twitter users to share their negative experiences with the company, and thus was born a groundswell of negativity. The company in question had no clear presence on Twitter, and did not get involved in the conversation. Here are a few of the comments:

“horrendous service…fails on many levels…poorly maintained trucks too.”“I’m going to need a moving truck soon…maybe I should try another company this time around”“abysmal customer service”“I have had way too many problems with them – bad equipment, oversold equipment, etc.”To get an idea whether your company is being talked about on Twitter, go to http://www.search.twitter.com, and enter your company name. You will be able to scan, in chronological order, user comments about your company. Whether these are largely negative, positive or neutral, each is an opportunity for you to weigh in, which is perfectly legitimate to do on Twitter. And you would be remiss not to.

It’s difficult for me to say that they “should” have been on Twitter, but I have to ask, why not? One company after another has been in the news as they have established a presence on Twitter and started engaging one-on-one with consumers. I am not exaggerating when I say the cost of being on Twitter is under $500. Twitter membership, even for corporations, is free, but I was allowing $500 to pay for the time to have someone in corporate communications sign up, create a simple graphics backdrop for the page, complete the very brief profile, and begin the conversation.

It’s not that hard to do. I recently wrote on my blog about the Seven Rules for Establishing a Corporate Presence on Twitter. These are very simple guidelines for branding your Twitter account and making it clear to consumers that it is an authorized company communications vehicle.There are no barriers to Twitter entry. As I said, it costs nothing, and you do not need to create any content, but you do need to identify one or more company spokespeople who can be online periodically to respond to consumer inquiries, questions and concerns. Home Depot’s account is staffed by Sarah, a PR person who has agreed to “moonlight” on Twitter to respond to customer comments and issues. Comcast’s account is staffed by its “digital care” group, and jetBlue’s is managed by the company’s corporate communications team. Surely there are one or two people in your company who are social media savvy, and connected either to your communications or customer support organizations, who can spend 30-60 minutes a day engaging with consumers, solving problems, and improving the company’s reputation. Not doing so doesn’t seem very smart.

 

There are many ways on how to use social media in your internet marketing plan. Social media is the process in which the components of social activity, technology, and other elements are compiled for a specific purpose. If you have an internet marketing plan, social media can be an integration of many different components in order to accomplish the task of creating interest in you, your products, and even the services that you offer.
Many internet marketers grasp the concept of social media and find that they are more successful than they ever could have imagined as a result of doing so. Now, I will share with you how to use social media in your internet marketing plan. There are a number of online social media types that you can harness for the purpose and intent of your own marketing endeavors.
The world of the web gives us forums, blogs, groups, social networking websites, podcasts, video blogs, and more! All of these can be utilized by the individual that is seeking to put a competitive edge on their internet marketing techniques. Something as simple as an instant message, a comment on a website discussion page, or even an email can be used to market the goods and services that you have available for the online consumer.
Implementing websites such as MySpace can prove to be quite powerful when it comes to using social media for internet marketing. You can create a group on this website that focuses on your expertise in your field, add

It really breaks down the truth behind all the parties that you as a fitness marketer are invited to and how you use those parties to meet key people in your specific niche or any complimentary niche.
Perry Belcher is a very cool and intelligent guy who at times uses some choice words to describe social networking but his content is outstanding.
Watch this no B.S. fitness marketing technique to explode your personal training business using social media tricks.

http://www.briandevlin.com/2009/04/social-media-for-fitness-professionals/

Now that you understand social media for marketing purposes, let’s look at your action steps needed to really promote yourself and meet key people.

1) Start a Fitness Facebook Page
Facebook is a fascinating social phenomena as well as an amazing social networking tool to blow up your personal training business. Its new, it’s a novelty and reaches a targeted audience. Make your page interactive, keeping your fans and potential clients engaged and wanting more.
Set yourself up a local personal training page. Use one of your main keywords in the URL.
A picture says a thousand words so choose an image that accurately brands you.
Start searching local people who have similar interests and ask them to be friends.
Offer them free fitness advice or post fitness videos and workout tips daily on your page.
Your list of friends will grow rapidly and you can set yourself apart very quickly as an expert in your local community.
Remember…What’s in it for them? Not you. Yours will come in time. Help first, reap later.
I will now quote the bible. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25
2) Create a Fitness Gravatar
On http://Gravatar.com, users can register an account based on their email address, and upload an avatar image to be associated with the account. Gravatar plugins are available for popular blogging software, such as my WordPress blog. When the user posts a comment on such a blog that requires an e-mail address, the blogging software checks whether that e-mail address has an associated avatar at Gravatar. If so, the Gravatar is shown along with the comment.
When you leave a comment on my blog, you leave a little footprint with your name on it. This footprint can drive a boatload of people toward your site because they want to see what you are all about. I have driven TONS of traffic back to my site by commenting on other blogs. The only reason it works is because I use the NO B.S gravatar image that I have chosen to represent all that I stand for. People want to know who the heck this No B.S guy is.
I have actually converted sales from my gravatar image many times. Look at all the successful fitness professionals out there. They ALL have Gravatars and they all leave blog comments.
Remember to choose or create an image or photo that SCREAMS your core identity. This is important.
3) Create A Fitness Twitter Page
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).
This is like getting 100 free leads per day. If you looked at my twitter page I have over 2,000 leads and I don’t ever do anything but send a tweet from my Blackberry between personal training sessions.
It takes 30 seconds for potentially 100′s to 1000′s of people to visit your site.
If you do just 6 twitter posts a day you can increase traffic to your website or your phone by over 100 hits.
Imagine if you locally started twittering with potential customers answering their fitness questions and inviting them to meet you for a free consult.
You have no idea how powerful this tool can be until you actually take some time and create a page.
Don’t be a lazy bones. The recession is in your head. Money is everywhere but you actually have to work for it…
4) Submit a Fitness Press Release
A news release, or press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. Some popular press release sites include EzineArticles, PRWeb and Isnare.
The more you get your name and your personal training business on the internet, the easier its going to be for potential clients to find you.
It is so easy to get insane public recognition when you are recognized as an expert by the local media. One simple way is to get picked up by your local news paper.
Find out who to contact for health press releases. Submit at least one per week for a few weeks via email with a friendly follow up email asking if there is anything they need help with as far as expert advice or information is concerned.
Tell them you are more than happy to contribute and are available anytime for interviews as well.
Just plant the seed.
Don’t be a pest, but be consistent. Don’t take no for an answer.
Make a list of 10 social media contacts in your city and start making regular email communication and phone calls to these organizations.
Sooner than later you WILL be a local celebrity.
The key to success is to be known, to be regarded and to be available.
If you offer these 3 components to your local social environment you will be flooded with business while others are packing up shop and changing careers.
Success takes effort!

Allow me to introduce my friend Jordan Kasteler also known as Utah SEO Pro. His background is in organic search engine optimization, which has been doing professionally for 4 years now, and has stayed pretty focused on that and has’t delved much into paid search at all. But as of late, he told me he has been playing a lot lately in social media and there are quite a few things he has learned. He also told me that there were quite a few things historically done he wishes he could erase. He doesn’t want to look like an idiot, especially to the SMOs, but what he wants to do is save a few headaches for people getting into social media. Today I am going to take what Jordan has taught me and I’m going to focus primarily on Digg because, it seems to be the most complex social media site out there due to its sophisticated algorithm. I am going to write his exact words, of course with his permission. So everything below will be straight from Jordan, which is some great insights on Social Marketing.

Mistake #1: Abusing self-promotion

For the past year and a half to two years I’ve had social media accounts but I never used them. If I did ever use them it was just to submit some of my own blog posts or my company’s blog posts too.

Let me note that self-promotion isn’t bad all the time. If you’ve established an authoritative status in a community or are a power-user then you are more likely to get away with it if you do so sparingly. Nobody likes a self-promoter or person who is greedy. It is essential to contribute to other people and help them promote their stories. Karma comes full-circle when it comes to social networking.

Mistake #2: Not understanding the scope of the site or the community in its entirety

I’ve heard a lot of social media experts suggesting to take a look at the site and community before you register to understand what it’s about. That advice is half the battle but before you can really understand what it’s about you have to observe, participate, and test significantly. My mistake was not knowing that the one community perceives things differently than other communities.

For example, Digg.com hates SEOs. I learned this by my low response on SEO articles submitted. Good thing I was currently operating under the name “jordankasteler” instead of “UtahSEOpro”. This could have been bad had I started participating with the name “UtahSEOpro” and then realized, after much wasted time and effort, that none of my stuff will ever get promoted because nobody likes me.

Another example happened lately on Mixx.com. I submitted one of my own articles to a group on Mixx that had a rule strictly against self-promotion. Needless to say that didn’t go over well.

Moral of the story here is know the community, know the rules, know that goes hot and what doesn’t, know who’s hot and who’s not and imitate them.

Another tip is to seek out niche communities that aren’t as big as say Reddit, Digg, Delicious, or StumbleUpon. There are niche sites like sphinn.com for Internet marketers, Sk-rt.com for woman, and Hugg.com for nature lovers. Relevant content in niche communities can drive more traffic and links than broader communities sometimes.

Mistake #3: Not having goals When I very first started using Digg used it almost as a bookmarking service.

At the time, I probably didn’t even know the difference between Digg and Delicious. When I found a site I liked, I submitted it to Digg not considering or caring if the community would like it or not or if it was news worthy. What a horrible waste, I now have 70+ submissions and only a small percentage of them are actual quality content that I’ve submitted with intentions of promoting news worthy or remarkable article, video, or image.

Start by creating goals for every piece you submit. Your goals should be to promote everything you submit and do so with pride. If you submit low-quality content then you’re a low-quality contributor and the community will recognize it quickly. Don’t just submit and forget. Use a tool like Digg Alerter to watch your submitted content. If someone comments on a post then respond back to them whether the comment was positive or negative. The key here is to engage with the community and try to start a conversation. Comments are a good quality indicator of a post so this is an important part detail. If you don’t have a good response for the comment at least vote it up or down depending on the quality of the comment.

Mistake #4: Choosing quantity over quality when it comes to friends

Initial thinking of a newbie would be the more friends the better, right? WRONG! I’m not sure if this is recent with Digg’s new algorithm change or what but what I’ve found out is that the more friend you have the higher the threshold is for a story to go popular. My mistake was adding too many friends and not monitoring if they were voting for my content or not. After decreasing my friend count on Digg from nearly 500 friends to about 65 friends I’ve seen the threshold drop dramatically. For most social media sites you want to keep your friends very relevant to your interests and make sure that they are active users. Having non-active users, people who don’t appreciate your submissions, and people who don’t help you promote your submitted content is useless. I’ll go back to Karma here, if you’re not being active and helping others yourself then don’t expect your friends to do the same.

A wise thing is to constantly monitor your friend activity and trim down friends who aren’t beneficial to your success or not. This isn’t to hurt anyone’s feelings but if they aren’t going to play they need to get off the field.

Mistake #5: Not using RSS

I hate RSS when it comes to reading my news so I’ve stayed clear from it but I discovered that RSS is my best friend for social media. There are a couple reasons why. The first reason is if you’re contributing a lot of content, especially news worthy items, then timing is everything. It’s wise to subscribe to news sites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com so you can catch hot stories as soon as they are posted.

The second reason is that you can subscribe to what your friends are posting so you can help them promote their content without having to go to each profile and check up on them daily. It’s a huge timesaver and an easy way to keep tabs on your friend’s activity.

*BONUS Mistake* Not considering submission timing

There are certain times in each community where there are more eyes on the site or certain categories than others. Knowing those times and submitting during them is important. Generally, most people surf social sites in the morning or around lunch time during their break at work. It’s a good time to submit around then to capture people’s attention. It can make the different of whether your story goes popular or not.

If you’re up at 3:00 a.m. and you see a hot story pop up on your RSS reader from CNN then it’s probably not wise to save that until lunch-time the next day to submit because then you run the risk of someone else submitting it first. So be wise and use common sense.

Summary

Hopefully learning from my mistakes will help you avoid them in the future. I like to teach people the correct way of doing things based on my experience and hopefully you can take what you’ve learned and do the same.

Social Media Marketing is a modified term of conventional Product and Service Marketing. Social marketing is not about advertising, at least not advertising on its own. It is the art of getting others to talk about your brand or products. Social marketing is the future so learning to get it right is very important.
It’s about finding your customers where they are. Social marketing is not simply buying a banner ad campaign that runs on a social network. It uses marketing techniques to generate discussion and promote information, attitudes, values and behaviors. The benefits of marketing in this way are far too numerous to ignore.
One of the benefits of embracing Social Media Marketing campaigns is Traffic from the Social Network. Traffic is great for any website where the business model is based on site session numbers, page views, advertising impressions and CPC metrics.
As with any form of internet marketing, your campaign needs to be really well thought out, and you must spend a fair amount of time on planning strategy and creating exceptional content. This is followed by promoting and monitoring and tracking the results closely. Take your time and consider your campaign setup carefully, but be sure to get out and participate in this Internet Marketing strategy. Social Marketing is critical to the Internet Marketing Mix.
Many marketers are unsure of how to approach marketing in the social networks or even if they should approach it. The primary aim of social marketing by its original definition is social good, while in commercial marketing the aim is primarily financial.
When compiling your Social Media Network Strategy always keep in mind your customer base and what they want. Do they participate in the social networks online and is this something they would like to see your business involved with. If the answer is yes you might want to start by adding a Blog to your website.
If your employees are into the social networking scene ask them to add articles to the Blog. Always remember to add the company logo, name and any other identifying features to the background.
Once you have that in place you could consider joining one or more of the social networking sites. Choose carefully because there are many out there with some being just a waste of your time. Facebook and MySpace are two of the more popular ones. After joining you can start a group or become a member of a group whose primary interest is your type of business, product or service.
This is a good starting point and once you begin to understand how Social Media Networking operates you can expand your involvement to other areas of interest. Remember Social Networking is the new wave and ignoring it as a strategy to add to your marketing mix could be devastating to your enterprise.
Social marketing is just a smart idea. It’s not just a slogan, public service announcement, or one-time communication or mass media campaign. Social marketing is a powerful tool that can improve an individual’s, a group’s, or a society’s welfare. Social marketing is a relatively new, often misunderstood form of online marketing that is reaping huge rewards for website owners who incorporate it into their marketing plan.

What is Social Media, according to Google:

These are the results for “define social media”..(these definitions may vary with time)

You’ll notice, as you read through each definition, that you’re receiving explanations by examples.Social Media not new, it’s a buzz term by marketers. It has existed for numerous years.In fact, the first email ever sent, the first website ever created, the microblogging tools we use, commenting, and every other form of interaction with people on a global scale or in your backyard by way of the internet, has been by the use of what is referred to as Social Media today.What is Social Media, according to Wikipedia:Social media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.What is Social Media, according to other ndividuals:

You say, “Certainly the well known authors have provided clear definitions.”

Let’s take a look:

Robert Scoble says, “Compare it to what’s come before.”

Chris Heuer says, “Social Media is redefining how we relate to each other as humans and how we as humans relate to the organizations that serve us. While it is commonly represented by blogs, podcasts, vlogs, wikis, user generated content and social networks, it is not about those specific things as much as it is about what happens around and because of those things.”

Mark Dykeman says, “Social media are the means for any person to:  publish digital creative content; provide and obtain real-time feedback via on-line discussions, commentary, and evaluations; and incorporate changes or corrections to the original content.”What is Social Media Really?Social Media is a verb. An action term. Not a noun.”Media” is and always has been the singular form of “Medium” which means storage and transmission tools used to store and deliver information or data.

Add the word “Social” and it means you & I interacting, communicating, exchanging information..SOCIALIZING.

That being said, the simple and understandable definition of Social Media is..(drumroll please)

“The use of internet platforms and tools which enable interaction and communication between users.”

Social media marketing is the very effective tool for marketing your products. There is no other alternative marketing strategy for social media marketing. Hence social media marketing is indispensable for any online business. Social media marketing needs a different approach when compared to the other online marketing strategies. For a social media marketing campaign to be successful, it is very much important to understand the tactics that work better. This article is all about the effective social media marketing tips. 1. Creating unique profiles in Social NetworksSocial networking sites like myspace and facebook have great importance in business promotion. This part of social media marketing can get lots of traffic to your website along with building credibility among people worldwide. The social networks are now crowded with the online marketers and hence it is important to highlight your profile in the crowd. Though there are lots of customization options available in the social networking sites itself, it is always good to get some professional help for advanced customization. These social media marketing professionals will be able to provide you will very unique profiles which will get noticed by the social media crowd immediately.2. Don’t try to sell anything in the Social NetworksMany social media marketers just advertise their products through their social media profiles. This is a wrong move. Social networks are for connecting to people and not for advertising the products, Hence your main motive in the social networks should be to connect to as many people as possible. The traffic to your website and the credibility to your services/ products will eventually increase as your networks grow.3. Don’t leave any social media profiles unattendedActive participation is a basic necessity of any social media marketing campaign. Just creating some profiles in a handful of social media sites doesn’t do any good. You should post some content to the social media profiles frequently and make them look lively. Always remember the fact that Google crawls the profiles that are frequently updated. Moreover, the visitors of your profile will love to see many updates. You should also involve in activities like participating in polls, posting in forums, making comments and connecting with the people of similar interest. Social Media marketing is a time consuming process and for the moment of truth it is really worth the time you spend. If you don’t have enough time for social media marketing in your tight schedule, there are professional social media marketers who are ready to help you. To the added advantage, these professional social media marketers can analyze your website and create the best marketing strategy. By paying them a nominal fee, you can just sit back and relax, watching your network grow along with the web traffic and business.

Here we go again!
Another year and another great possibility! With the election of Obama to the presidency, there is Hope and all are looking for a great future.
But I am sitting here thinking of all the folks in social Media that are going to be frustrated again in their social Media marketing efforts. wondering why they are not getting the traction or friends that they thought they should. And the main reason is that they continue to make the same mistakes in Social Media as last year.
Are YOU going to do that- I sure hope not. You may not have the power of a Robert Scoble, or the personality of a Gary Vanyerchuck, or the mind of a Chris Brogan, or the networking focus of a Mari Smith or Coach Deb micek. Or even the amazing writing talent of a Scott Monty.
At least not yet.
But you CAN accelerate your Social Media Success this year by avoiding these top 10 mistakes made by people in Social media in 2009.
Ok…what are they?
1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.
You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, without CONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson. Or Timothy Carter. NOT going to happen. That is why that you MSUT create a Presence on the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it’s efforts. It is the saem with your Social Media marketing.
2) Focusing too much on being heard.
LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.
Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start the conversation will come.
3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.
Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value. Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give New Possibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will be shunned and labeled as such.
If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?
GIVE = Gain Influence Very Easily. Give FIRST – and you will never come in Second.
4) Not Joining groups.
Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to a ton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons: 1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) I CONNECT with the folks in the group.
Groups are a “secret weapon” that you should use on as many social sites as you can. They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.
5) Not attending Events.
Events ROCK. And you should be attending at leat 1 event a week to do 2 things: 1) Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.
Events are what i call the “Hidden University” of social Media. You can learn a LOT and grow a lot from events.
Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And see if you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every event that i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do the same.
6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.
Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call “Surprising Value.” This is the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person that discovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Put more Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value in your Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Media table.
Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.
7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.
There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. You need 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondary sites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of- is up to you. My ‘Big 7″ are facebook, twitter, youtube, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, and WordPress- along with mashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.
Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more’ but have automated those through ping.fm and other social software.
Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same with myspace, or friendster. Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR “Big 7.” And then automate the rest. Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.
Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. But focusing too much on that in social media- is , well…not cool. People do not mind knowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE first with it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your produst.
What do I see daily? Urls and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wish that would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great content rich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST’and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.
Hmmm….that just might be an idea worth considering.
9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.
Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes. Ask Brian Solis. Ask Dave Taylor. Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value and Connection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan once had 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone. Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So did Monty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.
There is GREATNESS inside of you-and there is NO BETTER place than Social Media to unleash it upon the world. You ARE Somebody- and always have been. YOU are a Social Media Rockstar- in training!
10) Not Branding Yourself Strong Enough.
Branding is a tool that we all use in Social Media. It is WHO YOU ARE- and what people remember about you. It could be a phrase-”Just Do It (TM)”- or a slogan- “”We’ve Got You Covered.” Or even a questions- “Can You Hear me Now?” or just a Name-”Trump.”
You need to get a slogan or phrase that you can start wrapping in your messages. You need to get an image that speaks what you want the public to see and know. And you need to decide -what is the ONE THING I want people to think of FIRST- when they think of me and my company? THAT is the start of a good brand build. Do not be just another face in the web 2.0 world. Set yourself apart and above the fray with a brand that rocks. We teach what is called “Connection Branding” and we have saying:
“Do NOT just be known or remembered- become UNFORGETTABLE.” ™
THAT is what you need to do!
These are the top 10 mistakes people will make in Social Media in 2009. Yes, i Know there are others- but these are the ones that i see as the most prevalent in Social Media marketing.
blessings..doug firebaugh

Conversation.
Yep- that is what the core focus is in Social Media.
Ok- let’s get REAL. If Social Media marketing is about conversation, then should there not be words that fit in to what the culture of social media is all about? Should not you paint a picture with your words? Should your words not elicit feelings and emotions?
Of course they should.
Words are a marketer’s tool box. Here are 11 you need
1) “YOU.”
There is nothing more powerful to a person reading a message or conversation that has the word YOU in it, over and over. Many people have an “I” mentality, and in social media, you are not the deal. The other person or side of the conversation is.
There are 2 forms of conversation in social media::
a) “Contribution” and b) “Distribution.”
” Contribution conversations” contribute to the whole, and add Value to the conversation. “Distribution conversation” distributes the message/agenda you want- and has little inclusion of someone else. Contribution words use YOU many times. Distribution words use “I” or ‘Me” many times. Use the word YOU and become a Contribution Agent in social media, not a distribution rookie.
2) “A Person’s Name.”
Duh. There is nothing more beautiful to a person than their name. This is a given. I am surprised how many tweets, notes, and messages i get and also read that do not say the person’s name. Use their name at least once in every communication and message as it adds to the conversation.
And also, a person will retain almost 70% more of what a message says, if their name is within the first 3 words. Chris Brogan is a master at this. I have seen and studied him, and every time he tweets or sends a message- ususally the name is the first word.
Smart. VERY smart. we all should follow that lead.
3) “Connection.”
This word is an indication that you want to connect and start a relationship of some kind and create an ongoing conversation. Many folks use the phrase “get together” or “meet up” or “network.” Thise words are good- but CONNECT has a power within the word.
Electricity us usable when you connect to it. Same thing as a battery in a car which powers the car. And idea is only powerful when you CONNECT to it. The Power is in the Connection-when 2 things come together. It is the same in new relationships- it is all about CONNECTION.
4) “Tribes.’
This is an interesting word. Seth Godin has a cool book called “Tribes.” I suggest that you read it. But as far as a word for the social media arena, it is a word that helps define that you are within the culture and understand the community aspects of what social media is about.
In tribes around the world, it is all about community and belonging to that community. It is the same in social media. Recently I described the community we are building within a project as an “empowered tribe” and some people got it- and well’others did not.
Make sure if they do not understand the concept of tribes, then you explain it.
5) “Transparent.”
In social media, being REAL is critical. And part of being REAL is being open and transparent. I love it when I read statements like “full disclosure” and people are disclosing that they have an interest or are on some board of a company they are talking about. THAT is so rocking hot. It shows that they are being transparent and nothing to hide and telling the truth.
And that is what social media is about in many respects- TRUTH about you- and what you are and do. THAT is transparency. Use that word when talking about the truth. Just being “transparent” – that says a lot in one word about you.
6) “Strategy.”
Social media without a strategy for it, is like building a house without a blueprint. You need to develop, plan, start, and execute a strategy for your social media success. We call it a “Social Media Path.” What PATH do you plan on developing for your business, and how will that fit into your current model of business? What will be your Primary social media Platform, and what will be your secondary platforms?
PATH stands for “Purpose- Actions-Tracking-How.” what is your PURPOSE for integrating social media into your business? Marketing? Prospecting? Client communication? Customer service? What ACTIONS will it take? Videos? Blogs? Podcasts? Social Networking? What TRACKING system will you use to keep the platforms at maximum pace? And HOW are you going to Execute the Actions? Through employees? Through outsourcing? Through a combination?
Strategy is a word that you just talk about. You need one. And so do others that you know as well.
7) “Branding.”
This word has been around for a while. But you still need it in your focus and communication. Branding is a word that you need to utilize not only in your messages, but your focus as well.
YOU are the Brand is a popular way to discuss social media marketplace image making. But that is not totally true. The PERCEPTION of you is the brand you are building- good or not so good. So make sure that if you use this word in social media this year, you realize that PERCEPTION Rules in Branding.
Brand yourself in the marketplace. But make sure that you focus on the VIEW and FEELINGS people have of you and experience when they think of you—and what you do- and not just some catchy slogan or icon.
8 “Trust.”
You need to be an Agent of Trust. Chris Brogan has a book coming out called “Trust Agents.” Should be a rocking hot book. What about you? Are you an Agent of Trust? Just like a Real Estate Agent markets real estate, you market Trust in all you do. That is the real estate of the heart.
I like to get that word out there quickly-as i believe that people i do not know, that is on their mind. “Can I trust this guy?” And I usually message something like, “Our company helps build leaders and businesses through concepts and ideas that people can trust and feel good about.”
THAT is using the word Trust- to build trust.
9) “Family.”
Some people use “network.” Some use “team.” Some use the word “community.” Some use the word “friends.” I like the word “Family.” it is personal, powerful, and paints a picture of what social media really is building- a family that can help, be there for each other, educate, equip, and empower for greater good.
One thing that I do- and again- just an idea’I welcome everyone on facebook or twitter or youtube or any other social connection with “Welcome to the family!” This says so much more than “thanks for following me” or “appreciate the connection.” We ARE family- and I hope and pray it stays that way.
10) “Value.”
It ia ALL about Value. It is all about the VALUE that YOU bring to the table. It is all about the VALUE of your conversations and contributions.
And it is ALL about the VALUE that you help others see within themselves. Edify. Encourage. Empower. And become a “Carrier of Value” to everyone you meet in social media and GIVE some Value to them.
11) “GIVE.”
This is the MOST important word. GIVE. Why? In social media, it is not the same ol business methodology. It is Biblical- if you will. “Give first- and what you give- you reap.” Giving is the culture of social Media. Why do you think that people give so much rocking hot info on their blogs?
Giving is a Power. It is something that not only is part of the evolving culture of social media, but also the CATALYST of much of what social media has already become. if you are a marketer, New Marketing can be almost threatening to you as it flys in the face of traditional marketing- or does it?
No- not really. It is simply marketing that puts PEOPLE FIRST- not profits. It put RELATIONSHIPS FIRST- not results. And it puts GIVING FIRST- not grabbing for their checkbook.
These are the 11 Critical words that I believe should be included in 2009 in your :
1) Social Media Philosophy.
2) Social Media Conversations.
3) Social Media Marketing Actions.
4) Social Media Core.
If you do, your Success should be rapid in social media marketing.
blessings…doug firebaugh