Archive for General
A Commercial…
Posted by: | CommentsI recently attended a social networking seminar by a friend, Jody Underhill from Upsidedown Iceberg, and he offered me an opportunity to shoot a commercial as well as a testimonial for his company. While I’m not a stranger to speaking, I’m always a tad nervous in front of the camera, but I think it turned out pretty good.
Tell me what you think, eh? 
Twitter Rules: #FollowFriday – How Not to be a Jerk
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#FollowFriday: Don't be a Jerk
First off, you should know that I HATE rules. I’m more of a go-with-the-flow kind of gal. I don’t think rules should exist, because a lot of the “rules” are really just plain old-fashioned common sense. However, many people don’t have much common sense, don’t use their common sense effectively, or just don’t know any better because they are so new to something.
But, I’m on my Tweetdeck this morning, and I notice that some of my followers have given me #followfriday recommendations. That got me to thinking about how #followfriday got started, its original intentions, what it has morphed into, and how to make it better.
The whole thing started with a man named Micah Baldwin (@micah) back on January 17th of this year. His main objective: To let others in the Twitter community know about two friends who he was proud of. That’s all. He was just saying, “Hey, these two guys are really cool; get to know them”.
I’m sure he had no idea at the time how it would take off – literally. By the time he left work for home that day, #followfriday had taken on a life of its own, and was no longer even associated with him. Talk about viral!
However, #followfriday has now morphed into a spammer’s paradise. Instead of listing a few people they like and WHY they like them, many are simply just listing a whole bunch of people followed by the hashtag #followfriday. I’ve done it myself as well from time to time, although I do put a reason, such as “great local tweeps to follow”, etc.
So, it got me to thinking about what makes a great #followfriday recommendation, what just makes you look like a jerk, and why. Here you go:
Giving Out “Twitter Love”
Any type of marketing is about the relationship, not the numbers. It’s easier to develop relationships with 200-300 people who are actually interested in you than 20,000 or 30,ooo who you can’t even keep track of, let alone build relationships with.
Which looks better to you?
- #followfriday – @person#1, @person#2, @person#3, @person#4, @person#5….
- #followfriday – @laurastarling – a wonderful and funny lady DJ who makes me laugh.
Hmmm, I’m thinking the second one; how about you?
But, how do I #followfriday all my friends?
Simple answer: You don’t (or more specifically, you can’t). Throwing me in with a whole bunch of other people in a stream followed by a hashtag and no explanation why you like me does not make me feel special. It makes me feel like you’re just trying to spam my followers to get people to follow you. When you recommend someone for #ff, it should be for a specific reason and that person should feel special that you recommended them.
I fell into the trap of trying to acknowledge everyone I liked, and my Twitter stream on Fridays was just one big *ss #followfriday stream of @(person), and retweeting those who #followfriday’d me. As a matter of fact, at the time of this post, even though I’ve tried very diligently to change the manner in which I #FF others, the main tag on my name is STILL “followfriday”. I’ve been a JERK about #followfridays!
There is no “magic number” about how many people you can recommend on #FF before you’re considered a spammer or a jerk, but try to keep it as minimal as possible, and you should do just fine. Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you recommend 200 people for #followfriday, many people in the twitterverse can’t even follow that many people in a single day, so why bother? Just recommend people you really want other people to follow and don’t be a (jerk).
Here’s a video of Micah speaking with CNN about #followfriday.
Now, there are ways to actually use the #followfriday benefit to your advantage:
Either by searching your own friend stream or going directly to search.twitter.com, you can find interesting people to follow. This was very helpful to me in the beginning. I found quite a few really cool and knowledgeable individuals to follow.
Have a new business contact who is on Twitter? Take a look at their Twitter stream (you want to make sure you have a legitimate reason for recommending them, after all) and if you like what they’re talking about, recommend them. It’d probably look something like this:
- #followfriday – @(person123) – new biz contact, like what he’s (or she’s) about. take a look for yourself.
Most people are not going to blindly follow anyone else; they’re going to take a look at the person’s profile first. However, you just helped your business contact get a little bit more exposure to their profile, and perhaps in turn to their website and company, than they would have had before your recommendation, which may help endear them to you (but that’s not why you recommend them; you recommend because you want others to follow them).
If the above post brought you value, please comment and (most importantly) share. Comments welcome.
Have a nice weekend.
Trashing Your Competition
Posted by: | CommentsIn three simple words: Don’t Do It.
Seems like a common sense thing to say, but having been in sales, and coming into a consulting field that is already competitive, I have seen opportunities where I could have scored an account simply by saying something negative about someone else. Now, I wasn’t raised that way, so I don’t do it, but let me tell something, dear readers: It will come back to bite you in the (tush) if you go that route.
I’m going to link you to the original article I read this morning by a Facebook friend, Bob Burg. I had the pleasure of sitting next to him on a flight home from Atlanta when I was returning from an internet marketing conference. He’s a good man, great speaker, and all-around cool dude!
“Kind Words Regarding The Competition”
Bob Burg is co-author of the international bestseller, “The Go-Giver” and author of “Endless Referrals.” You can read his blog posts at BobBurg.com/blog.
Why Your Business Needs a Blog
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Why Your Business Needs a Blog
Of course, in this day and age practically everybody is familiar with the concept of blogging and it’s hardly surprising considering that there are more than 100,000 blogs created each and every day.
Regardless of how familiar or unfamiliar you are with the concept of blogging, you need to understand why this tremendously powerful resource can help your business.
What Is a Blog?
Essentially, “blog” is short for “weblog” and in many ways it could be compared to an online diary. Each time you add a new entry, it appears at the top of the page.
Old entries, or posts as they’re usually called, can be archived and organized in such a way that they can be accessed either by date or by topic.
Generally speaking, there will be a section at the bottom of each post where visitors can leave a comment where they can make their views known. Unlike web sites which are for the most part professional and formal in appearance, blogs on the other hand take on a more informal approach. As such, blogs are usually not only conversational, but they’re easy to read.
For those who are somewhat unfamiliar with blogs, simply reading them is a great place to start. For example, you could visit a site such as technorati.com where you’ll find hundreds of blogs covering a broad range of topics.
In fact, the Internet is full of blogs which cover virtually every topic imaginable, although you’ll tend to find that business blogs fall into one of three categories:
- Marketing blogs – specifically designed for building traffic and sales.
- Customer Service blogs – designed for the benefit of your customers.
- Public Relations blogs – designed to influence the way in which the public perceives you.
Of course, there will be certain occasions where a blog could fall into all three of the above-mentioned categories but even so, you will still have to focus on one main type.
Who Is Your Intended Audience?
One of the best things about blogging is that you are able to reach an online audience which is both knowledgeable and eager, and this of course can be a tremendous benefit to your business.
According to the author of BlogWild, Andy Wibbels, people who read blogs tend to be grouped into one of four categories:
- 50% of readers are over the age of 30
- 75% of readers earn more than $65,000.00 per year
- The average reader is knowledgeable due to the amount of time they spend online
- Readers for the most part consider the writers to be experts
These are people who frequently rely on blogs to get all the latest news and find out all about the latest “must have” products.
How to Get Started With Blogging?
One of the most highly recommended options, and one which is 100% free, is the well known blogging platform made available by Google known as Blogger.com, or Wordpress.com.
Once you’ve signed up with the site, you’ll need to:
- Choose a name – this name will be displayed on your blogs
- Click on the “Create your Blog Now” button
- Choose a title (this can be changed at a later date).
- Choose a URL (choose wisely, as this cannot be changed later)
- Choose a template or theme for your blog.
Once you have completed these five steps, you will be ready to start posting to your blog.
What On Earth Should You Write About?
This is essentially why blogging is so great; there are no fixed rules. However, the following can help you get off to a good start:
- Provide clarity regarding what you do and/or what you sell
- Always offer unique content, at least twice every week
- Your blog should mirror your personality, because if readers feel they share a connection with you, they are more likely to return
- Any information you provide should be presented informally, and yet still appear to be professional
- Always provide your readers with information that is useful and timely.
- Make sure you cater to those who are in a hurry so they can find the information they’re looking for in as short a time as possible
- Make testimonials from past and existing clients available to your readers
Promoting Your Blog
Unlike in the past, it is now quite easy for you to promote your blog. Thanks to the arrival of numerous social networking websites, you can now ensure that all your friends and other connections are notified whenever you add a new post to your blog.
Here are a few tips to get you started with the task of spreading the word:
- You should add your blog feed to your Facebook profile so that each time you make a new post, your friends and contacts are notified.
- You could also consider integrating your feed into your Linkedln profile in order to ensure each new post appears on the front page of your bio.
- You should also make sure that you twitter your followers every time you submit a new post to your blog.
- Whenever possible include a link to your blog on your website if they are separate.
- Last, but not least, your email signature should always contain a link to your blog.
Rather Than Wait, Just Get Out and Do It!
Of course, it only stands to reason that it’s going to take you a little while to learn all there is to know regarding blogging. However, you need to bear in mind that it is certainly far from as difficult as some would like you to believe.
Interestingly enough, I advise approximately 97 percent of my clients to start a blog in order to promote their business. The bottom line is; there is simply no better way for you to connect with potential customers, and to provide valuable information at no cost to the blogger.
The time to start blogging is right now!
