Social Media Advisors

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When Promotion Turns To Prostitution

Online Consulting, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Training

Ines Hegedus-GarciaInes Hegedus-Garcia – @ines
@jb140 there’s a fine line bet prostituting your posts & getting quality readership – @chris_smth @phxreguy @tcar @jimmymackin

This was a tweet I received this morning from my friend Ines in reply to a conversation we were having this morning on Twitter about a recent post on HubSpot about 25 Marketing Stats for 2012.  The post to me seemed a little thin on content provided as it was basically just a list of statistics.  That however is not the purpose of this post.

The conversation started this morning when Chris, Jimmy, Jay, & Todd were discussing the completely annoying use of a Tweet This! link on every single stat on their post.  25 orange Tweet This! links in addition to the regular Twitter plugin seemed a little obsessive to me. My thoughts on the post were that they were only concerned about me sharing it out with others on Twitter. They could care less if I learned from the post, if I commented, or did anything else.

What is interesting though is that while the post is chock full of very interesting statistics that all of those mentioned above would love and share out on Twitter, (It’s what we all kinda do for a living, so interesting stats that back up our points are always valuable and helpful)  the conversation turned from great stats, to poor promotion of the post by pimping it out too much.

I wish I could say this is the only example I’ve seen the past few days, but there are more.  Just before following the conversation above I watched a video from Gary Vaynerchuk on how poorly the Oprah Winfrey Network was promoting through social media.  Here’s his rant:

Don’t get me wrong, social media is a great tool to promote your products and services.  I use is solely to build and market my business. But, it has to be done in moderation.  If you try using a social network for just promoting you will get nowhere.  Some may listen for a little while, but before long, you become just noise they ignore.

Crossing the Line

What is the line where you go from successful promotion to prostitution?  That’s a difficult question to answer.  I believe it varies.  Some businesses can do more promotion than others and get away with it.  Others, the slightest bit can turn off your consumers.  I think instead of trying to use a formula you need to just pay attention to your sphere.  If people are interacting with you less, your traffic is declining, and things seem to be on a downward slope, then maybe it’s time to change.

I know in my business I’ve tested this on numerous times and have found that the minute I seem to be doing more promotion of me, my business and not others everything slows.

The Magic Formula

So, what is the magic formula to promoting things effectively?  How can I get all my stats going in the right direction?  Well, the answer is actually pretty simple.  Spend more time promoting others than yourself.  People pay attention to those who help them more than those who try to sell them something.  You can build a powerful online community by simply talking more about others good things than how great you are.  In return, you are building relationships and trust with that community of followers.  Then, when you promote something of your own, you are more likely to receive better results.

In order to get results from readers and your online community you have to first give something to them.  If not, it comes across really clear that you are just out to pimp your own products/services/things and could care less about others.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.  When do you feel promotion turns to prostitution?

Social Media Speakers To See In 2012

Social Media Advisors

As a social media speaker, I had an awesome opportunity this past year to travel the country speaking at conferences and sharing stages with some of the best social media speakers in the business.

The past few days I have been working on my speaking schedule for 2012 I thought why not put together a list of people I’d like to see in 2012.  This list of speakers is comprised of some I’ve heard before and those I’ve only met online but would love to meet in person and see their presentations.

These are in no particular order:

Chris Brogan– I was fortunate enough to hear Chris speak in 2011 and also spend some time talking one on one.  He is full of great knowledge and very willing to share that openly with you.  If you see him at a conference, don’t be afraid to talk to him, he doesn’t bite, I promise.

Liz Strauss– As I affectionately call her “The Liz,” is a really smart lady.  We had her on the radio show a few times this past year and she really knows her stuff.  I’ve never met her in person, but through our online conversations, I know that whenever I do see her speaking at a conference, it will be awesome.

Jeff Turner–  Jeff simply challenges me every time I hear him speak.  He has this Steve Jobs-esque way of presenting that not only challenges you, but inspires you to try harder and do more.

Travis Robertson–  I had not known Travis before meeting him this past year while at a conference in Atlanta.  There are few people that I’ve met with as much passion as Travis while speaking.  He is also the only person I saw this past year that was able to captivate an audience for 45 minutes of speaking with one simple slide in his presentation.

C.C. Chapman–  Known to many as “The Dad Blogger,” C.C. is definitely more than that.  I’ve seen a few of his presentations online this past year and he has great information to share with people.  His new TV project looks awesome.

Chris Smith–  Chris is one of the geekiest social media speakers in the real estate industry.  He is constantly trying new things to help push the real estate industry to greater success.

Scott Stratten–  I’ve heard several of Scott’s presentations this past year via live streams/recorded videos.  He does a great job as a social media speaker of incorporating humor & knowledge together in his presentations.

Amber Naslund–  I’ve never heard Amber speak either live or from a recording online.  But, what I can tell is that she is a pretty powerful social media speaker.  The buzz alone from her keynote at Blogworld combined with my interactions on Twitter with her put her on this list for want to see social media speakers in 2012.

Gary Vaynerchuk–  I’ve watched probably two dozen of Gary’s presentations online this past year.  I love how he incorporates traditional marketing concepts with social media and then covers it with hard work to make your business successful.  He promises to one day own the Jets & I definitely believe him.

Laura Fitton AKA Pistachio–  This is one wickedly smart lady.  She founded oneforty.com which was recently purchased by HubSpot.  She shares tons of knowledge and I can imagine would deliver an amazing presentation.

Carrie Wilkerson–  She’s the Barefoot executive and does an awesome job at encouraging you to succeed.  I’ve never seen her live, but her videos definitely inpsire me and make me want to meet her face to face.

Brian Carter–  Brian is a fellow social media speaker who lives less than 20 minutes from my home and I have yet to meet face to face.  Hopefully in 2012 we will fix that.

Steve Garfield–  Video is becoming more and more important to my online business.  Steve is someone who is super knowledgeable on video and is a social media speaker who I’d love to have an hour with to just discuss video.

So, this is my list of social media speakers to see in 2012.  Did I miss someone you want to see speak in 2012?  Leave me a comment telling me who!

As 2011 Ends, Do You Still Think Twitter is Stupid?

Social Media Advisors, Twitter

Is Twitter Stupid?This past year I’ve had the honor of traveling the country as a social media speaker sharing on all types of social media topics like using Facebook for business, how to blog, video basics, and many other topics.  One of the top statements that I’ve heard this past year while traveling is some variation of this: “Twitter is stupid, I don’t get it” which normally leads into a discussion on how Twitter can be used to help your business.

Is Twitter Stupid or A Great Source of Traffic?

One of the things I usually try to point out to people is that Twitter is a great referring source of traffic to your site.  During this past year, it is responsible for 22% of referring traffic.  The only traffic referrer to beat it was Facebook at 33%.  The bounce rates as well as time on site are very similar between the two social networks.  So is Twitter stupid, or a great source of traffic?  I’d have to say the latter.

Twitter Is Stupid, Only Celebrities Are There.

This is another common complaint I hear.  Since you only hear of big name celebrities like Oprah or Justin Bieber on Twitter in the media, many thing that is the only people signing up and using the social network.  Here’s a really great visualization of Twitter adoption in the US over the past few years:

As you can see, there are many more signing up for Twitter each & every day.  In fact, over 100 million users are active each month according to Mashable.

Twitter is Stupid I Don’t Care What You Ate For Lunch

Why should someone care what you ate for lunch or what you did last night for fun.  I get it, not everyone is going to care about everything you do.  But, if you take some time listening to what others are doing, you can learn a tremendous amount of information about your sphere.  And, build some of the strongest relationships with people.  This past year I made a trip to Seattle to speak and while there some of my Twitter friends a meetup while I was in town.  Thanks to my friends Stephanie, Dale, Linda, & Debra, & Chris, I spent a wonderful evening with a great group of friends, all that I mainly communicate with just through Twitter.

So while some may not care about those types of things, I cherish the friendships I have made through Twitter over the past year.  I know more about some of my friends on Twitter from the other side of the country than friends of mine that live within 5 minutes of my home.

So Is Twitter Stupid or Valuable?

I am not going to force you to use Twitter in 2012, but as for my business, I know I will be continue to integrate Twitter into my online marketing strategy.  If you are not sure how to get started there, that is understandable.  Here’s a few great resources to get you going in the right direction:

If you want to connect with me on Twitter, you can find me @JB140

With 3 Billion Views Daily, Video Is No Longer An Option

Social Media Advisors, Video

Video, some love it, most hate it.  Why?  They don’t like the way they look on camera, or hate their voice, or some other really bad excuse.  But, with 3 billion views daily on YouTube, video is something that your business can no longer ignore.  There are simple ways to incorporate video into just about any business that is out there.

As we all know, many people consume things better when they can either hear or see it instead of just reading.  Hence why you always should try to include images to keep the consumers interest in your blog posts.  However, when you embed a video into the blog post you increase this exponentially.

As I was scanning YouTube videos, I came across this one from a real estate firm in Australia.  They do a great job explaining the importance of video in their industry:

As the saying goes, proof is in the pudding.  Both the top sales person in the state & country are using video to promote their business.  Also, they discuss spending $1,000 on a newspaper ad versus spending $500-$1,000 on a professional looking video.  Let’s look at this in detail for a moment.

The ad that you place in a newspaper runs for a limited time.  Normally only once or twice making it’s shelf life very short.  Secondly, the reach of that ad is the audience in your city that gets a newspaper.  If this was my hometown of Myrtle Beach, SC, the circulation of the paper is about 50,000 daily.  So you would be paying roughly $2 per viewer if you are lucky enough to get 1% to view your ad.  Since it is not interactive, you would then have to rely on the consumer going to a computer visiting your website, or picking up the phone to call you.  Of course this also doesn’t take into account those who are not in the market for your product right now, which would make that number dramatically less.

In comparison, if you pay a video company to design a dramatic video or create one yourself for your product/service you are offering the video can easily get thousands of views if you title & tag it properly.  The other big differences between the print ad & video is that your video doesn’t have a shelf life.  Unless you delete the video or have your account suspended, the video can live online for eternity to be found by consumers moving forward instead of just those looking on that day.  Secondly, the people viewing your video are those who are typically interested in that thing.  They have done some sort of search and landed on your video.  So, conversion should be much higher than the print ad.

So, if you have not started with video yet, now is the time to begin.  2012 is a year in which video will continue to remain a strong tool to implement into your online marketing strategy.  To help everyone get started in the right direction, I’ve created a free webinar that will take place on Monday January 9th, 2012 at 1PM EST.  Seating is limited, so register now!