There's a lot more toYouTube and video marketing than most people realize. Text messaging, text email and text based websites will alway be around.
But the undeniable fact is that more and more people, espeically the busy, mobile, upscale and upwardly mobile people you probably want as your next clients......they're more likely to watch a video that read an email. Especially on a mobile phone.
The diagram to the right and the states that follow here(from something I'm reading right now) say it all.
If you're saying, "Huh......!?"then I know you're not profiting from the social networking revolution. But what if there was a way you could profit from it?
That's right. Companies like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace all started out small and as something primarily for fun. Most of them were started by young guys too. And look at what they're worth today.......millions upon millions of dollars.
How you would you like to profit from the explosion of social networking by building your own social network organization?
That's right! With Achoo.com you can start your own social network network and actually get paid for doing something you're most likely already doing anyway.
Get more information here. You can actually get a free 30 day trial and I'll help you build your network just like I'm building mine.
I've been trying to crystallize the answer to that question in my mind lately. It's of concern to me first of all ...'just because' I'm a naturally curious kind of guy. But secondly, because I'm kinda getting 'ants in my pants' to get outta the English teaching business and start using some of the skills I've developed (some more fully than others) since I've been over here in Korea.
As I've said several time before, I because aware several months ago about this field called 'social media management'. As you'll recall, "social media" refers simply to user generated content shared with other....e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkeIn, Digg,Posterous, et.al.
I read that more and more companies, from big to small, are spending money and lots of it on social media. It's spent in a variety of ways that are sometimes pretty simple and other times very sophisticated. But what I wanted to know was, "What exactly do these 'Social Media Managers' do?"
Well, how 'bout things like these?
Set up any important social media platforms you don't have yet...e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkIn and possible others.
Clean up social media sites that you have which might be perhaps kinda neglected and junky by now.
Help you with growing your follower list through selective targeting and inviting...and maintaining those relation ships through constant communication....e.g. 2 status posts/tweets a day on each of your major platforms.
Help with reputation management....e.g. monitor the 'net' to immediately catch anytime somebody says something good or bad about you/your company/your brand. And respond accordingly.
Function as a first-line of customer service(especially valuable if you have actuall products to sell)
Function as your eye on the market...e.g. monitor your industry and keep you advised of any new developments you need to be aware of.
Function as the publics eye on you.....e.g. as you become better know, people are curious about what you're doing. You might not be comfortable with the task of telling people what you're doing......you might be reluctant to toot your own horn. So let somebody do it's who's presumably better at it that you are.
As you get more successful and your goals get larger, you can use your social media/PR manager to actually generate more extensive 'content' for you....blog post, reports, make appointments, etc.
Undoubtedly there's other things that go on too but these things listed above should serve to illustrate that there's more to it than maybe you realized.
So let's go to the dance business that I know a little bit about because I've been a serious 'social dancer' for a long time.
There's no doubt that the dance business is just as competitive as anything else. There's still a lot of money to be made. But I don't see much, if any, high powered 'social media' in it.
What I do see is inward oriented....i.e. to the people who already dance. They're 'preaching to the choir. In my opinion, very few of the major players in it think as big as they could and use social media to expand their market.
Should you be thinking bigger?
Well, I don't know for sure. But ask yourself this question: "Is there anybody else out there who doesn't know how to dance but would probably like to learn?"
If you have a business of some sort, are you still trying to decide just exactly what 'social media' is and whether you should be learning something about it?
Well let me give you an interesting 'factoid' that'll maybe help you come closer to a decision:
You probably remember seeing some of those funny Super Bowl ads, in the past, that Pepsi Cola used to do, right? Did you notice that you didn't see any Pepsi commercials on last year's Super Bowl?
Wanna know why not?
The reason you didn't see any Pepsi Cola ads on the Super Bowl last year was because Pepsi decided that social media in a better bang for their buck. This year they're actually going to be doing both type of promotions..i.e. social media and Super Bowl ads. But the point is...they're spending a lot of money on social media now that they didn't used to.
If you have a business and you're not using social media...you're making a big mistake.
If you need somebody to help you get your social media campaign straightened out, give me a call because I can help. I can help you at various levels.
If you just want somebody to help you get your various sites set up correctly (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) I can do that. And nobody will even know :-) You'll still be the star of the party.
On the other hand if you think you'd benefit from
somebody taking more time (i.e. more time than you've got) to keep your profiles current,
reach out to 'follow' and invite the 'right' people who might be potential prospects for your business, or
if you need somebody to make sure that important social media traffic doesn't get lost in the pile of that other (i.e. 'not so important') stuff.....
I can do all that for you and more. Just gimme a call and we'll talk about it.
If you've got any kind of business on the web you've undoubtedly heard that Twitter can be used to your advantage. But I'll be that you're not sure exactly how or why, right?
I'd like to give you an idea 'why'....based on something I just read.
The reason Twitter can be valuable to you is that it's a way you can get a 'more real' answer about what your market is actually thinking. It's like this......
When you're presenting your business on the web you oftentimes look on Google for certain items of information to use in your posts or web copy. Yeah, Google has been a dependable source of information for a long time. And that'll always have it's place.
But you've heard of Google Instant recently, right?
Every wonder why they did that?
Well, I'm sure there was more than just one reason but I know what one of the reasons was. It was because information is a dynamic thing today. Google Instant was designed to get you closer and more quickly closer to the information you seek.....the dynamic net consciousness.
But think about this:
If all information on Google originates from people, could there be a way to get closer to the minds of people?
Yes there could. There is.....and it's Twitter.
Get Real Answers
Let’s say you have a question that you need to answer quickly. Your first instinct is to open up a search engine like Google or Yahoo and type in a few keywords. I do it all the time myself.
The only limitation of this is that you’re not asking a person. You’re asking an algorhythm to search a database and tell you what somebody inputted into it some hours, days or even years ago. It wouldn't be too smart to make important marketing decisions based on that kind of information.....i.e. "old" information", would it?
I don't think it would..and the reason is because software and computer programs, no matter how sophisticated, are no substitute for actually communicating with real people mind-to-mind. And Twitter is a collection of living, breathing, dynamic people.
If you want to know what people are thinking, all you have to do with Twitter is type the question in, wait 10 seconds, and more often than not, somebody will have an answer. You can query your immediate following or use various tools to address the greater Twittersphere based on the keywords/hashtags you choose. More times than not, you’ll get more than one answer too.
In comparison, look at it this way:
Google search results generally get less and less relevant the further you get from number one.
On the other hand every Twitter response will is a human answer to your question.
You can't get any more 'real answers' than that.
So......how well do you understand Twitter?
And do you actually use it in your business?
If you're not using Twitter to build your business (i.e. Facebook Fan Pages, mailing lists, etc.) I think you're making a big mistake. Nowadays there is a professional support person called a "Social Media Manager" who expertise is in helping you do that. Lots of businesses and professionals are starting to use them.
I'm actually doing some of that work myself and you're lucky too because right now I'm kinda in the 'learning by doing' phase. If you'd like to help me by letting me help you, gimme a shout and we'll talk about it.
Some of my readers have websites and some don't. And some of the ones that do have websites don't actually use them, or try to use them, to make money. And some of my readers probably don't have any kind of website or blog but have been thinking about it.
Well, I'm reading something about-writing-for-the-web right. Actually, that kind of writing is more correctly called "2.0 copywriting". In this piece that I'm reading, I found a very concise statement that I'd like to share with you:
In the past, webmasters and other “techies” wrote most of this content. But marketers now recognize that it really has to be done by people who specialize in writing words that sell online. That’s why Web copywriters are in such high demand.
Does that make sense to you?
It sure does to me. You're obviously on the computer right now. Just look objectively at the way stuff is written on several webpages. Next, pick up a prink publication somewhere near you and look at how stuff is written there.
See the differences?
Here's just a few differences:
Web sentences on the web are all shorter.
The paragraphs are all shorter.
There's a lot more 'white space' between the paragraphs.
You'll often see more lists
Bolded headers, topics and subtopics.
That's just a few.
And you know what?
A lot of businesses are starting to realize not only that there is a difference between traditional copywriting and Web 2.0 copywriting but also, they're going to have to do it properly or, regardless of what their content is, it won't get read!
And one more thing......
This same idea applies to emails too. If you've got a client or customer base and you're communicating with them via email......you can bet that they're getting just as many emails per day as you are. How do you know your emails are as effective as they could be?
Although every business should be using email and autoresponders to build and maintain their market there are still some Web 2.0 'do's and don'ts'.
I'm doing some Web 2.0 consulting right now. If you've got any questions about what you're doing or something you'd like to do to make your Web 2.0 writing better, let me know. I do give free advice.
Below you'll find several articles that all have something valuable to say (if you're in business). Notice that it also mentions press releases. I do them too.
I don't claim to be an expert in social marketing but I know enough to know it definitely has value in today's competitive and dynamic online environment. I just discovered www.FeedBlitz.com and it's very fascinating.
I've been spending a lot of time lately delving into this stuff so I do recognize more of the buzz-words. This tool seems to have a lot of unique combination of functionalities. I'm for sure going to be looking at it more. Maybe I'll even offer some kind of online seminar.
I do know one thing though......virtually nobody in the dance business uses social marketing and RSS feeds effectively. As the technology gets more and more sophisticated with tools like FeedBlitz the people who are the first to understand and use it stand to benefit greatly (assuming they have a product or service they can plug into it).
I'm reading a PDF now written by Howie Schwartz in which he's discussing the effect that the new Google Instant is going to have on marketing/advertising on the internet. This phrase pretty well sums it up:
"In short, long tail keywords are now being challenged by the shorter tail keywords that precede them."
I haven't given any thought to specifc examples in the salsa dancing arena but I can see that it's going to make a difference 'how you say it' now....e.g. a difference in where you'll pop up on Google Instant when certain base search terms are entered.
After you've been 'around the block' a few times on the internet you begin to develop the ability to detect the 'the real deal'. That's important too because there are entities on the net that are a lot better at making promises than fullfilling them.
I'll be the first person to admit that I'm perpetually overextended but, on the other hand, maybe that's just the way that I learn. And for that matter, it might also in some strange, metaphysical way, be my unique advantage. Maybe it'll wind up being what I actually bring 'to my market'. I dunno.
But, I do know this:
I just signed up for a program called Blog Success. Blog Success is the brainchild of Jack Humphrey and him and his team appear to have made quite a success of it. I just got through listening to his audio/video welcome tour of the back office and I gotta say I like listening to Jack talk. He comes across very 'real'.
Jack also has two or three very cool web tools to his credit including the original Utility Poster and Video Utility Poster and, more recently, the Utility Poster 3.0 which combines the functions of both of the aforementined (i.e. text and video).
They're all very good tools. I own'em myself. If you have a blog, I'd highly recommend getting that last one,....Utility Poster 3.0. Just look at it...you'll like it.
And, if you want to learn all about building a successful blog (i.e. success defined as 'a blog with a targeted, profitable and/or purposeful readership), I'd recommend Jack's program. It's only $67 a month and there is a trial, can't-go-wrong offer. So........
Thought you might like to know.
P.S. Twitter basics:
Follow
Engage
Invite
Keep your eye open for more information on my new social media management service, "TySocialMedia", where we say, "If you wanna make connections, call Ty!"
Image via Wikipedia
Recent Comments