ISBDC to Sponsor 3-Month Twitter Tour

The wonderful people over at the ISBDC (Indiana Small Business Development Center) are sponsoring a 12 part seminar series over Twitter through the state of Indiana. I am blessed to be presenting for the serminar series to support my book (Twitter Marketing for Dummies)! If you can make it out to any of the events that would be awesome! Here is the basics of what we will be talking about:

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Increasing Sales and Revenue through Twitter

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?

Building an online presence is a great first step, but how do we use that presence and use social media to make money? Using Twitter you (and your sales team) will have the ability to increase close rates and sales by building new connections and strengthening existing connections with your prospects! It doesn’t matter if you market to farmers, stay-at-home mothers, or C-Level employees, Twitter gives you the tools necessary  to connect on a deeper level with potential clients.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• The best way to design a Twitter marketing plan
• How to search and find information that will help with your sales process
• Connect with your prospects before you meet them!
• How to take online interaction to the offline environment and SELL!
• Tracking your close rates and measuring your success through social media
• 5  marketing points you can implement today!

FREE ADVICE ABOUT YOUR INTERNET WOES:

The 3-hour seminar will be followed by a 1 hour Q&A session with Internet experts designed to answer questions and address issues with regards to online initiatives.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Sales and marketing executives, small business owners and entrepreneurs

If you are interested in attending please send me an email or the associated ISBDC office! Thanks!

B2B Marketing through Social Media and Blogging

What is the one thing that comes up time and time again in our educational sessions at Brandswag? B2B use of social media. I have heard plenty of reasons why social media could not… should not.. be used to sell the B2B world.

What do many B2B companies do right now for marketing? Direct Mail? Newspaper Advertising? E-Newsletters? Many of the outbound forms of marketing still work for B2B sales but blogging (in my mind) has taken a mainstream stance when building trust and thought-leadership in a specific industry.

There are some truths to the thought that content can build trust between individuals. Many of us look at B2B marketing as fundamentally different from B2C marketing. Honestly….. (in my humble opinion) there is hardly any difference.

We are selling to people.

Business to business based companies are still selling to people. The CEO of a distribution company is still a person despite the fact he deals with companies instead of an individual.

If you are sitting at the helm in a B2B company remember to start a blog that contains content, daily interactions, client thoughts/opinions and industry news. Your purpose is to create an informational powerhouse that keeps people reading…

And involved them in your story… your brand… your legacy.

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140 Bite Sized Ideas to Help Your Business

I have been searching for books that contain leadership information and content that I can use on Twitter when it comes to sharing information about leading companies. Kevin Eikenberry, renowned author and speaker, recently sent me a Twitter book that fulfilled all my desires. The book is called #LeadershipTweet and is filled to the brim with noteworthy leadership quotes to get me through the day. (I’m not kidding… I did love the book). I thought I would write a brief review of the book while listing some of the leadership tweets he has documented over the past couple of years.

The book breaks down into 4 sections plus a short foreword by the one and only, Chris Brogan. The sections include leadership actions, thoughts, inspiration, and how we can learn from one another to become better leaders.

I wanted to list 15 of my favorite leadership tweets from the book.

1. Remarkable leaders translate vision into reality

2. People don’t resist change; they resist being changed

3. Want better ideas? Create MORE ideas

4. Strive to be a leader who learns and a learner who leads

5. Remarkable leaders have formed a habit of doing things that average leaders don’t like to do

6. Remarkable leaders are willing to make bold decisions

7. Make a choice to make a different. Make a choice to lead

8. Great listening starts with an open heart and a curious mind

9. Your belief in someone’s potential is the first step towards helping them develop it

10. Be authentic–you will be a more successful leader (and person)

11. Remarkable leaders are network builders

12. Remarkable leaders are accountable for their actions

13. Remarkable leaders communicate with others in a way that is best for the other person

14. Remarkable learders communicate powerfully through stories.

15. Resistance is energy that leaders use to move change forward.

As you can already tell… the book is packed full of great ideas for leadership for 2010! You should definitely go check out the book. Follow this link to read thoughts, ideas, and inspiration from Kevin Eikenberry and the world of Twitter!

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• Are Tweedledee and Tweedledum on Your Twitter List? (socialmediatoday.com)

My Top 20 Posts of 2009

I know.. a little egotistical right? That’s why I am splitting it down the middle! My top 10 posts from 2009 and my favorite post from the REAL geniuses of social media.

Just trying to showcase the more popular (community driven) posts from 2009. I am going to be taking the rest of the week off in the beautiful San Luis Obispo, CA to be with family. I can’t wait to hook back up in 2010! Have a restful and joyous holiday week!

My Favorite Posts of 2009

1. The Magic of Dynamic Pricing from Seth Godin
2. The Four Spheres of Social Media Strategy from Jason Falls
3. 11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger from Jay Baer
4. Sometimes, You Need To Fire a Customer by Lorraine Ball
5. So What’s Facebook Good For? from Chris Baggott
6. User Experience is Not A Check Box from Travis Smith
7. Are You An Elephant or a Butterly? from Douglas Karr
8. The Top 100 Twitter Publishing Tools and Services by Brian Solis
9. Becoming a Social Business from Shannon Paul
10. Death of the Brochure and more Verbal Masturbation by Duncan Alney

My Top Posts of 2009

1. 20 Ways to Drive Leads Through Social Media
2. Customers Are People First. Marketers Are Fundamentally Flawed.
3. 10 Ways to Build Trust with Social Media
4. When Should Business Engage in Social Media
5. Balancing Perception and Reality in Social Media
6. 10 Tips to Integrating Social Media with Marketing
7. Is Out Sourcing Social Media Okay?
8. 5 Things I Have Learned as a Generation Y Business Owner
9. The Three E’s of Social Media: Embrace Educate and Empower
10. Twitter Usage Plan for Success

A Look Back at 2009 and One Prediction

I know. I know. Everyone writes a post like this..blah blah blah.

Looking back at the last year… recanting exciting testimonials of accomplishing goals and just being generally… excited!
There is nothing wrong with “looking back at the year” posts which is why I am writing this today.

I can be a cynic and a little negative but not during the Holiday!

Speaking of accomplishing goals…

This post is actually number 500 on this blog. Crazy right? 500 posts about everything from Twitter marketing, Liberty Tax girl I almost hit with my car, music, and grammar in blog writing.

First off, thanks to everyone who reads, comments, and joins in the overall human think tank known as the Internet. I absolutely love everything about social media and the thought process behind community engagement!

I am going to be taking the next week off to be with my family and to recharge for 2010. I thought I would post the top 5 blog posts from 2009 for the next week.

Top 4 Things from 2009

• We have had a great year over at Brandswag with Brandon Coon, Amy Rowe, Stephen Coley, and Austin Wechter. Thank you to all of our wonderful clients
• I wrote Twitter Marketing for Dummies (with the help of Erik Deckers and the wonderful staff at Wiley Publishing
• Finally broke into the top 150 Ad Age Blogs… but it fluctuates all the time.
• Was humbled to be able to present at Re/Max Indiana Sales Rally, MBO Conference,  and Hoosier Hospitality Conference

We are blessed to live and be able to create content and conversation in this age of technology. Remember that. BRING IT ON 2010!

And my one prediction: Google is going to buy Twitter.

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A Philosophical Debate Over Personal Branding

I decided to move the conversation happening over on Facebook (surrounding personal branding) regarding my post on Dan Schwabel’s Personal Branding blog: From Identity to Personality. Be Remembered.

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Dave Bennett:
Dear Social Media Expert, twitterific and facebookish Kyle Lacey,

First off let me say that I respect what you’re doing in marketing, you’re pushing the edges of the field, you’re making people money, and you’re (hopefully) doing something that you love. All things I respect and root for in this world.

I have some issues, a few philosophical peccadilloes that I need to pick with you and the industry you participate in. So from one double major in philosophy to another (I think I remember you being involved in AU’s philosophy program) let me start my being acerbic and dispensing with pretense.

What you call identity and personality seem to really be pretentious self-projections. Don’t get me wrong, they might be really successful self-projections that gain favor, popularity, and a following but they are far from human dignity.

What you see as the point of self expression is external recognition. But the self is something internal and independent from what others think of you, if you are basing who you are on how to attract others, then you really are nothing at all. You’re a pretentious clone of perceived likes and dislikes, a customer service invertebrate bending to the latest marketing trends.

My issue isn’t really with customer service or with marketing, its with the collusion of these two and personal identity. When in reality your virtual representation is really the most controlled and least personal representation you can come up with. That is something I am ok with, but call it what it is: namely an advertisement, don’t continue to add to the massive amount of illiteracy out there.

What I mean is that there are many people who can read, but few who are literate, few who mean what they say and understand what is meant when they read. Don’t add to the misuse of language and self-understanding in your furthering of marketing, viral marketing, etc.

Branding myself is the biggest pretense yet, and while successful, crosses into the unethical when it associates the person solely with the symbol. As if a symbol could ever really encompass a person, especially when personal branding doesn’t really represent the person at all but the concoction of personal investment in an idea or product.

I guess what I really want to know is: when you leave an emotional response on twitter or facebook, create a following, if your emotional response is raw. If it is independent of your desire for a following. And if it isn’t then is it you or a self-projection of you? A dumbassed question really, but it begs the ethics of human dignity.

Where is human dignity in self-branding when self-branding doesn’t allow for unpopular responses? I hate the idea of selling your “self”, because what is sold isn’t “self” but what the customer wants. Call it what it is.

Basically, I’m wondering, where do these things fall into twitter and facebook marketing? How does self-branding differ from self-projection?

Me/Kyle:

Let me first state that the idea “from identity to personality” is loosely based off of a excerpt from Emotional Branding by Marc Gobe.

“Identity is descriptive. It is recognition. Personality is about character and charisma. Brand identities are unique and express a point of difference. But this is only the first step. Brand personalities, on the other hand, are special. They have a charismatic character that provokes an emotional response. American airlines has a strong identity, but Virgin airlines as personality.”

One other thing to think about in terms of my post:

The things I write about are not suppose to based in any type of philosophical nature… it would be like scientist arguing my logic using scientific reasoning. I write and discuss concepts in business communication, period.

The post you read and responded to… was merely an idea behind personal branding. I am not arguing the point of self discovery and emotional response in terms of inner angst (or beauty). I am plainly talking about the concepts of a story… the emotional stimulation a customer or client will receive when they connect with something you write or say..

I write what I think because it is reality.. it isn’t steeped in some inner personal conflict or unrealistic interpretation of identity vs personality. It is business plain and simple… I will give more soon. Thank you for your thoughts. I love debating and trying to solve issues in communication!

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What do you think? Is it worth furthering the conversation on this blog?

Twitter Announces Enhanced Business Applications

We have been waiting… and by we I mean every social media consultant on the face of the planet… for Twitter to announce business friendly applications and developments. It finally came on Monday with the announcement of the development of what is called Contributors (and other applications).

From the Twitter Blog:

“The feature we are beta testing is called ‘Contributors’ – it enables users to engage in more authentic conversations with businesses by allowing those organizations to manage multiple contributors to their account. The feature appends the contributor’s username to the tweet byline, making the business to consumer communication more personal; e.g. if @Twitter invites @Biz to tweet on its behalf, then a tweet from @Twitter would include @Biz in the byline so that users know more about the real people behind organizations.”

I like the concept but it still is not as revolutionary as it should be (in my humble opinion). I trust that Twitter has some other ideas up their sleeves in regards to businesses truly maximizing the tool. Until then we will stumble… make mistakes… add to many followers… send out the wrong message and get spammed to death by MLM’s and idiots.

Until the beta is released to bigger subset of users the opinions… will be varied.

Want more information about the Twitter beta?

• Twitter signals commercial accounts (robbiz1978.blogspot.com)
• Twitter Runs “Feature Test” For Businesses (centernetworks.com)
• Twitter Highlights Coming Contributer API (thenextweb.com)
• BREAKING: Twitter Starts Testing Features for Businesses (mashable.com)