Posted in Social Media Community, Viral Marketing, innovation, social media, social media marketing, social media mission, twitter
6 comments
15/06 2009

What You Can Learn From Tony Robbins About Twitter

I was browsing Twitter this morning (I know. It sounds stimulating doesn’t it?) and happened across Tony Robbins Twitter profile. If you have no idea of who Tony Robbins is… go check out his website. He is an extremely influential speaker and thought leader in the world of personal development. I was surprised to find that Tony Robbins very rarely used Twitter for communication.. only the broadcasting of messages.

Some may say that Mr. Robbins is accomplishing communication by using social media tools to spread a message… unfortunately he is not. Communication is a two way street and unfortunately, one-way messages rarely harness the power of social media.

What if Tony were to take 30 minutes a week to respond to his fans and supporters? What if Tony were to utilize the some 750,000 people following him on Twitter? He is probably accomplishing some type of thought leadership and a hint of viral marketing by continuing to use Twitter in this manner… but the roads that could be forged if he did more than just USED the tool… endless.

What can you learn from Tony Robbins about Twitter? Move from automation to emotion. You can automate anything in the world but it takes the human quality out of the process. Take some time and add personal c0mmunication into your Twitter strategy. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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Posted in Social Media Community, social media, social media marketing, social networking
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4/06 2009

Using Social Media As A Sales Tool

I have been debating (with myself) recently about the concept of using social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIN, Blogs, and Twitter as sales tools. A recurring picture keeps popping into my mind of a kettle warming on a stove waiting to boil over.. at just the right time.

Selling in social media can be directly related to the concept of the “slow boil.” You are producing content and creating relationships in the online environment that is slowly building your reputation as a thought leader. Your readers and your fans will be constantly involved in the conversation and trusting your advice when it comes to a specific topic or problem.

What happens when they reach a pain point? What happens when they realize they need your guidance and support?

I would venture to guess that it is going to be much easier to sell a prospect when they trust your opinion even before you walk in the door.

What do you think? Is social media a viable sales tool?

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Posted in Public Relations, Viral Marketing, Week With Whuffie, social media, social media marketing
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2/06 2009

Week With Whuffie and Negative Feedback

Continuing our dive into the world of Whuffie we are going to talk about the concept of negative feedback.

Many companies fail to adopt a social media strategy for their business because of a fear of negative feedback. I have been preaching continuously about ridding yourself and your company of that fear… because it is going to happen anyway. It is a vital part to marketing in the social media realm: reputation management.

In the book it talks about how to combat negative feedback in order to increase your social capital (or whuffie):

“The way you respond to negative feedback is as important for building whuffie as your response to positive feedback. In face, an open and nonconfrontational response to negative feeback can be even more beneficial for building whuffie than multiple responses to positive feedback. In every critic there is an opportunity to create a strong advocate for your company.” (pg. 89)

The one sentence to take away from the above excerpt (and I am going to repeat it again) is this: In every critic there is an opportunity to create a strong advocate for your company.

It is extremely important to remember that more often than not a critic is just looking for a response. They are wanting to understand reason for a specific action that brought along their negativity. Respond in kind and remember to be conscious of thier motives.

Never take negative feedback personally. Learn from your mistakes and become a better and stronger company for the future.

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Posted in Advertising, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, microblogging, social media, social media marketing, social networking, twitter
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1/06 2009

Twitter More Important than LinkedIN for Business

I love polling. Sometimes you take it for what it’s worth… and sometimes it blows you away. I stumbled across a post by ReadWriteWeb about a polling completed on LinkedIN asking their members What is the most important new platform for brands to master?
 and the results?
librand1
Talk about an interesting development? Facebook even beat out the famous business networking site for social media brand development! What is even more interesting is that small business owners made up 76% of the votes (out of a total of 3,600).

What does this mean for marketing and social media?

Business owners are starting to take notice of the growing trend in the social media world and the ability for businesses to use networks to drive revenue. The influence of the social Internet age is growing exponentially.

My question to all the business owners and marketing directors is this… What are you going to do with this information? Is it time to take the dive and joining the Twitter or Facebook community?

Is your brand going to be hurt if you do not join the masses?

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Posted in Social Media Community, social media, social media marketing, social networking, twitter
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30/05 2009

Is Your Boss Wet-Behind-The-Ears?

I have been really enjoying NPR recently while I am sitting in the office and they have a show on Saturday mornings that is all about the origin of words and phrases. On the show they talked about the phrase: Wet-Behind-the-Ears.

We all have some idea of what the phrase means.. we have probably been called that on numerous occasions. The original orignin from the Phrase Finder:

Origin: The ‘wetness’ is supposed to be from just being born. Ie. you still have the fluid from your mothers womb behind your ears.

The idea of the phrase is that if you are “wet-behind-the-ears”.. you are a beginner.. or a novice..

Many business owners are wet-behind-the-ears when it comes to social media and using it for their marketing purposes.. it is a given across the board. The question is this.. how do you go into a company and convince a business owner to use a tool that YOU KNOW will be huge in the future of marketing?

Show them the art of listening. Give them case studies of companies like Zappos, Comcast, and Dell. Talk to them about the value of collaboration across multiple levels of customer interaction.

It is about listening and then applying what you HEAR to your business model.

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Posted in Social Media Community, Social Strategy, social media, social media marketing
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29/05 2009

The White House Might Understand Social Media

I was listening to NPR while driving home from work and the reporter was talking about the government and the new open information website that the Obama administration has launched called the Open Government Initiative. The basics of the site is an open protal of government information and a communication platform for citizens to give opinions on current policies.

Personally… I did not vote for Obama but I am giving him more and more credit throughout the first 100 days he has been in office. It is a brilliant move to elect a Chief Information Officer for the country. Now there is a huge difference between a move and an actual event happening. I would like to see the open portal start showing information that was not readily available to the public on a scale and has been unsurpassed in recent years.

The critics of the portal say that there is not enough information being stored on the site and information is key to the portal actually… working.

Needless to see.. I applaud the administration for taking the step forward into the world of content generation, information, and social communication in the online environment.

After all… Obama did win the Generation Y vote…and social media was a huge part of that process

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Posted in Social Strategy, small business, social media, social media marketing, social networking
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28/05 2009

Why Businesses Fail in Social Media

Do you want to know the most important step in implementing a social media strategy for your business? The first step?

Listening and then responding.

What most businesses fail to realize (those who just jump in to social media without a plan) is that the social media sphere would rather be listened to before the communication begins.

The consumer is now in control of the conversation. We are in control of how we respond, interact, and praise/degrade every brand underneath the sun.

Businesses who jump into the conversation and broadcast a message but fail to interact are failing miserably at the art of marketing within social media. It is important to realize the potential of what David Armano calls micro-interactions where you the brand are responding only after you have listened to what your customers are communicating.

Remember to always listen before speaking… respond when necessary and add a little flavor into the mix. Get to know the people you are interacting with.. only then will you realize the full potential of viral growth through social media.

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Posted in social media, social media marketing, social media mission, social networking
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27/05 2009

Getting True Value Out of Social Media

My company, Brandswag, had the pleasure of sponsoring an event that brought Jason Falls to town for a speaking engagement. I really enjoyed listening and meeting Jason for the first time and I will do it again in a heartbeat. Jason talked about the importance of offline networking being a worthy counterpart to social media. I couldn’t agree more.

If I were asked to divulged what I thought was the most worthwhile asset in social media… it would be the relationships forged in the offline environment. As a small business owner you will never understand the true potential of Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIN unless you make the effort to meet your connections offline as well as online.

Next time you are on your network… set up a meeting.

You will not regret it.

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Posted in Micro-Blogging, Reputation Management, Social Media Community, Social Media Expert, productivity, relationship, small business, social media marketing, social media mission
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22/05 2009

Sometimes You Should Just Walk Away and Simplify

It is important to understand when to walk away.

There has been times in my short career (3 years) where I have needed to walk away from my desk, from Twitter, from Facebook, from website design and graphic design… to just step away and re-evaluate where I was headed and where I wanted to go. We all work as hard as we can to get ahead in life and yet the best thing we can do sometimes… is to walk away.

The communication and technology worlds are creating an explosive.. fast paced world. Everyone is trying to stay on top of the trends and trying to pull ahead. I want to encourage everyone to slow down and look internally before deciding how to communicate with the external market. Sometimes you need to simplify before you maximize.

I recorded this video last year when Brandswag was still working out of  my apartment. Ahhh the days of a start-up. It talks about simplifying your life in order to reconnect with why you started your business or job in the first place.

Please ignore the spray can in the back.. behind my head.

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Posted in Social Media Community, Social Media Expert, blogging, small business, social media, social media marketing, social media mission
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20/05 2009

10 Reasons You Should Not Be On Social Media

I have been researching, reading, and listening for awhile now to the small business world in regards to social media and blogging. There are plenty of business owners and professionals in the world who accept social media as a new form of communications… and plenty who do not.

I decided to write a small guide for business owners to gauge whether or not they should be in social media.

10 Reasons You Should Not Be on Social Media As a Business


1. You would rather not change your business model of communication. You are content with direct mail and email marketing. You are right, they will be around in 5 years.

2. The only computer you have in your office is the black and green screen MAC.

3. You purchased a dial-up modem to “save money.”

4. You are still struggling with the reply and forward functions in e-mail.

5.  You are convinced that the only people using social media are college kids and pot smokers.

6.  You feel that the newspaper is still a valuable form of advertising.

7. You designed your logo in powerpoint or publisher and all brochures were designed in the same programs.

8. When asked about time commitment you whine about an extra 30 mins a day to grow your business.

9.  Your website was designed pre-2005 and has not been updated.

10. You find that building “trust” in a marketplace is a waste of time.

If you fit any of the following criteria… do me a favor and stay off social media.

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