These are some very good ideas, especially the one about sending trivia and historical info about pizza to your Twitter followers.
Other businesses can expand on this idea by developing "fun facts" related to their niches.
A dry cleaner could send out tips on how to care for clothing. A day care could send out tips about raising children or keeping them healthy. A pet supply store could send out pet training tips.
Think about what your audience wants to learn or would just find interesting and use Twitter to spread the word.
Follow me on Twitter at @charbrown
http://webmarketingcoach.
Thursday
0
Excellent tips on promoting a business with Twitter
Monday
2
"Trust Agents" Case Study - 10 Ways to Differentiate With Valuable Information
I recently finished reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. It is an excellent book on the power of social media as a means for building trust and credibility.
Consider this quote:
Imagine being told by your government (through regulations and law) that you must sell exactly the same product as everyone else in his industry. You may not vary; you must disseminate the same information. You are held to the same pricing and cost structures. Everything must be the same. Now imagine that you're a marketer and are told to make your product stand out. That's what Christopher S. Penn has been doing for years at the Student Loan Network.
Penn has made his own game by delivering nonstop value with his show, The Financial Aid Podcast. People came to trust Penn, and by "people," we mean parents (who had the money), guidance teachers at schools (who told the parents where to spend), and the students themselves (who told the parents what they learned). Whereas everyone else tried to market to their prospects, Penn delivered a nonstop flood of value by showing them how to find scholarships and offering other information to help families do more with what they had. He became a trusted resource. He showed people how to save money, how to find deals, where to get the best information; and he provided extras, like music, live concerts and other things students would be happy to put in their iPods along with his show. All this helped him reach more people.
Notice how Penn approached his market. He focused on his target audiences, and what they wanted. He did not focus on what he wanted to sell to them.
In an industry that is heavily regulated and permits no way to differentiate the product, Penn set his company apart from the competition by delivering content. The content solved problems and gave information that helped students attend the colleges of their choice.
Here are some of the key factors to the Financial Aid Network's success:
- Penn focused on his audiences, not on the product he wanted to sell.
- He distinguished his three audiences (students, parents and guidance counselors) and delivered content specific to each one's needs.
- He offered information outside of the products he sold. His company does not make money when students receive scholarships or grants, but he gives them helpful information about them anyway.
- He gave information that made buying and using his products easier. He helped take away much of the confusion related to filling out loan applications.
- He positioned himself and his company as experts in the field of helping students pay for college educations.
- He willingly gave out free information, knowing some would take the information and go elsewhere, and others would use it to become customers.
- He distinguished his company by adding value and going the extra mile. He built "social capital" by creating trust before trying to sell.
- He made his podcasts fun. Not only did he use a teen-friendly medium, he also added content like music that made the more serious information consumable.
- He made their service "buzz worthy," which attracted news media and gave them massive free publicity. As a result Penn was frequently sought out for expert interviews on a whole range of topics related to college financing.
- Because he used the medium of podcasts, his information was mobile. This meant listeners could tune in while in their cars or on their skateboards. It also meant that it could be emailed from counselors to parents or others.
The real lesson here is that free information and educating customers gives a company a huge competitive advantage. Even heavily-regulated industries can focus on what information their target buyers want and need, regardless of whether that information is about specific products.
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Friday
0
Blogging For Business Presentation - March 16, 2010
I will be speaking about Social Media as a business tool on Tuesday March 16, 2010. The group is called "Arlington NetWeavers" and they meet at 11:30.
The location is: Shanghai Garden Asian Buffet, 1123 N. FIELDER Rd., PLAZA # 405 ARLINGTON, TEXAS 76012.
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Monday
0
Another Video Marketing Tip
The following Side Wiki was added to "10 Reasons You Need to Market Your Business With Videos."
in reference to: http://webmarketing-coach.com/videomarketing.pdf (view on Google Sidewiki)Let me add this to the list: A friend of mine, who has produced numerous videos for his website, goes out on a lot of sales calls.
Inevitably, the person he is talking to raises an objection or asks a question. When that happens, this business owner pulls out his I Phone and says, "I have a video for that."
He then shows the person a video from his site that gives them the answer.
He has found videos to be the very best way to help him close sales when he is out talking to future customers.
24 Tips For Personal Branding Success
- It all starts with having your own blog. How can you get your own ideas out there if you don't have an online platform to call your own?
- Be generous. Use your blog and other social media tools to shine the spotlight on others more than on yourself.
- Be an idea person. A personal brand is built on the useful content you provide to others.
- Define who your audience is. Don't try to reach everyone. Determine who your "buyer personas" are.
- Create or link to content that solves problems for your particular audience. Providing problem-solving information makes you a resource (and an expert).
- It should go without saying that you have to be good at what you do. All the personal branding in the world won't help you if you aren't a quality product.
- That said, narrow your niche to what you are already good at. Lead with your strengths.
- Know what your goal is for personal branding: A new job? Moving up in your existing career? Or are you an entrepreneur seeking new clients?
- Get known. Use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flikr and others to let people know about your blog's content.
- It bears repeating: The content you produce IS your personal brand. Can you even think about James Cameron without thinking of Avatar or Titanic? If you are not creating quality content, you are not branding yourself.
- Make friends. Social media is not simply a broadcasting tool, it is a vehicle to cultivate real friendships.
- Be a friend. How can you help, encourage, praise, or even amuse the people you meet online? Think of Twitter/Facebook/etc. as a bunch of friends gathering in a friendly pub after work.
- Practice online random acts of kindness. Do or say something nice to someone who cannot possibly help you or put money in your pocket. An easy way to do this is to spotlight a link to someone else's blog or site.
- Help others grow their number of followers/friends.
- Go offline. Can your blog's content be repackaged as an article, CD or DVD? Shocking as it may seem, not everyone you want to reach is active on social media.
- Get out there and meet your online contacts in the real world. Attend events or Tweetups. Or just arrange to meet someone in a coffee shop.
- Create content that solves problems unrelated to what you sell, but that is very important to your target audience. It isn't about you, it's about them.
- Leverage your growing brand to make contacts with VIPs. Use the power of Twitter and other social media to network your way into elite circles. If you have created good content and been generous, this will be surprisingly easy to do.
- Don't let your old content stop working for you. If an article you wrote 18 months ago is still relevant, send out tweets or Facebook updates linking to it. Make your older stuff available to a new audience.
- Hang out at other people's blogs and websites. Post thoughtful comments and link to their better articles. Don't just swoop down and post stuff on their blogs without first being a reader of what they put out.
- Grow your brand by building up other people's brands. Promote them, spread the word about how much you appreciate this person's information.
- Join or create groups on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn that relate to the brand you are building. Be an active participant in those communities.
- Don't just use social media to spread your own message. Listen. You will be amazed at how much you can learn on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
- After you listen, share what you learn with the people who follow you. It isn't just about sending out links to your own content, link to other sites more often than you do to your's.
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Sunday
0
How to Build a Social Media “Farm”
Not long ago I had a conversation with a real estate agent about how to use social media to market himself. It got me thinking about the old-school real estate marketing practice of “farming.”
The way farming works is like this: An agent will decide on a neighborhood, or subdivision to specialize in and becomes THE expert for that area.
This area is her farm. She becomes an expert on property values in this community and builds relationships with the people who live there. Over time, a certain percentage of these people put their homes up for sale (typically about 5% of the houses in a subdivision are on the market at any given time) and, if the agent has sufficiently established herself, she positions herself as the first real estate agent they think of.
I’ve never sold real estate myself, so I don’t know if farming is still a popular marketing strategy, but I do know that a lot of agents in the past have done very well for themselves using the farming system.
One of the keys of the system’s success is that it begins with the understanding that you can’t market to everyone. It forces agents to specifically define their target markets and focus their efforts on building relationships within that finite group.
I once lived in a subdivision that was one particular agent’s farm and she was apparently quite successful at it. Approximately half of all the For Sale signs that went up had her name on them.
But she really worked her farm. Every summer she hosted block parties, had a paper newsletter that kept people up to date on real estate values and interest rates. But it also had recipes and puzzles for kids to solve.
She also included free ads for garage sales in the community and got local businesses to put coupons and special offers in her newsletter. Teenagers even got to post free ads for their babysitting and lawn mowing services.
She had a recommended list of nearby businesses and kept us up to date on things to do in the area.
She knocked on every door at least once a quarter to introduce herself or reintroduce herself and hand out information about property values and taxes. I know of one instance in which she helped one homeowner fight the city when he was given an unrealistic tax assessment.
Her magnetic business cards graced most refrigerators. Every household in the subdivision received beautiful Christmas cards and calendars every year.
She also taught home buying seminars which helped her have a steady supply of prospective buyers. As a result, it was common knowledge that when she got a listing, her houses tended to move fast. A seller would have to think twice before giving his brother in law a contract to sell his houses.
I’ve long since moved away from that area, but I have to wonder if that agent is now publishing an email newsletter or writing a blog to help her cultivate her farm.
Now what does all this have to do with social media marketing?
Simply this: All successful social media marketing campaigns are a lot like farming. This agent was "social networking" long before it went online.
A lot of business people target everyone who has the means to write them a check. But effective social media marketing begins with the understanding that we can’t reach everyone, and it is a waste of time to try.
Part of my interview process when I begin working with a new client is to ask them to describe their ideal clients. I’m always amazed at how hard this question is for business people to answer.
For example, I met a chiropractor who said that anyone with a spine was his ideal client. Obviously he was partly joking, but not entirely.
If you sell a service that anyone and everyone can use and needs, you still can’t build relationships with everyone. It is far better to narrowly define a specific group of prospects with whom you can build relationships.
Your farm can be people who live in a specific community, or it can be all the out-patient medical facilities within a five zip code area. It can be female dentists in the west side of your town, or it can be high school basketball coaches.
Identify a group you can relate to, and with whom you share common interests. Is there a group you like or share common experiences with? Are you a mother of teenage girls? Then maybe other mothers of teenage girls could be your farm.
Social media makes it easy to find and join all kinds of groups. And if you can’t find a specific group, you can start your own.
For example, go on Facebook or LinkedIn and check out all the groups you can connect to.
Twitter also has a lot of groups you can join.
Or start your own group (aka “farm”).
But joining or starting a group is just the beginning. You still have to “cultivate” your farm like the agent I mentioned earlier. Create events for that group, Facebook and LinkedIn make creating events very easy.
Try to cultivate these relationships offline as well as online. Pick up the phone and make friendly calls to your followers/friends.
Be informative, be a resource. And most of all, be fun.
Over time you will find that you are turning your group into a community (and friends). These people will know your name and know what you stand for.
The lessons here are:
- Define a finite and specific target market.
- You want a group of people who are both prospects AND who share common interests with each other. Obviously, if you share these same interests yourself, all the better.
- Either find existing groups or create your own. Cultivate ways for the members of the group to network with each other. You want word of mouth going on, as it can bestow "social proof" on you and your business.
- Start a blog and/or newsletter to communicate with your group. Share problem-solving information and resources. Use these platforms to further the goals of the group.
- Find ways to make the group fun. Remember the real estate agent who added puzzles and recipes to her newsletter.
- Become an advocate for group members. If there is a cause they are passionate about or pending legislation that effects the group, you might consider letters to the editor, or helping them organize.
- Practice random acts of kindness. Remember the real estate agent who helped a homeowner fight his tax assessment and allowed teenagers to place free ads in her newsletter.
- Position yourself as THE expert in your field within your group. You don’t have to be the best C.P.A. in the world, just the best known among this group.
- Find opportunities to expand your relationships offline (meetups, tweetups, social events, etc).
And like the real estate agent who farmed my neighborhood, you will position yourself to be the first person they think of when they need your services.
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Friday
1
Build Your Social Capital With The Whuffie Bank
Ever since I read Tara Hunt's thought-provoking book, The Whuffie Factor, I have had the concept of "social capital" on the brain.
Let me explain.
Tara discovered the word "Whuffie" in Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Doctorow created a world in which the economy was not based on supply and demand, but on actions and good will.
If you did something nice for others, if you created something others valued, if you solved problems for others or if you helped someone else - you got more Whuffie.
If you were not nice, if you engaged in deceptive business practices, if you caused harm, or if you failed to deliver what you promised - you lost Whuffie.
Whuffie, in other words, was a way to measure your social capital.
Whuffie and social capital are not just pie-in-the-sky concepts, they are alive and well on social media. In the world of social media, people who help others, act generously and are just nice gain social capital.
Bloggers help other bloggers, even those who might be perceived as competitors. Twitter users "retweet" each others' messages, Facebook users "friend" each other, etc.
But how can we measure social capital?
My good friend Allen Mireles recently sent me a link telling me about a non-profit organization called The Whuffie Bank, that is an exciting application of Hunt's ideas.
The Whuffie Bank from The Whuffie Bank on Vimeo.
TechCrunch has rated the Whuffie Bank as one of the 50 most innovative startups. It gives Twitter and Facebook users a score based upon a number of factors, such as how often your Twitter messages are "retweeted" or endorsed by others.
As the Whuffie Bank's FAQ explains:
"Your whuffie score is essentially based on how relevant your messages are to the people you're connected with."
But not all such endorsements are treated alike. A retweet by someone who has a higher Whuffie score gives you a higher boost in social capital.
Another factor is that when messages containing links are retweeted, The Whuffie Bank perceives these retweets as a reflection of the value of the linked content. But when a message without a link is retweeted, the bank perceives this as reflective of the actual message.
Right now the Whuffie Bank only measures Twitter activity, but plans to support Facebook, Digg and FriendFeed soon.
Once you have built up social capital, you can donate Whuffie to others.
"You can either access his account on The Whuffie Bank and click on the "Give Whuffie" button, or do it directly from the social network you use. On Twitter, by either tweeting "WHF # @username" or retweeting a specific message, you will increase the whuffie of the person you mention."
I particularly like this idea because it might take our attention off of the number of followers or friends a social networker has. I liken it to the number of Twitter groups a user has been nominated to. Both numbers represent endorsements and demonstrate how much value others place on your content and activities.
The Whuffie Bank is a fascinating experiment that I will be watching closely.
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