38 posts categorized "Social Media"

May 23, 2012

Want To Extend Your Reach? Don't Hire A Babysitter!

        Reach-Out-Hand
I assume that most of you who read my blog or subscribe to my newsletter are those who have something to say or sell, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. We’re all trying to be seen or heard and that’s increasingly complicated in a noisy world. 

Wouldn’t you agree?

The problem is that to be successful in the market today, you must possess two strategic assets: a compelling product and a meaningful platform. 

Platform is key. 

Most of us know it and it’s why we spend time networking, developing social media, writing emails and blogs, speaking, trying to connect with potential customers, etc. 

But here’s the issue, simply being on Facebook or Twitter, simply writing a book or newsletter, simply opening the doors of your business… doesn’t matter (unless others know about you and follow). 

That’s why I am excited about a new book from my good friend Michael Hyatt, one of the top bloggers in the world and Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers.  It’s called Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. It’s a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the waters so that you can do what works in order to be seen and heard. 

Special: To celebrate the launch of the book this week, Michael is giving away $375.98 worth of free Platform bonus content for those who purchase the book between May 21 and May 25. Complete details are available at http://michaelhyatt.com/platform

As I was chatting with Mike he mentioned something that really stood out to me about building a platform. He said… 

“Accept Personal Responsibility - If you’re thinking of hiring a babysitter for your platform, think again. It is critical that you be 100% committed and the driving force behind its creation and growth. Think about it. Does anyone know your mission, product or service better than you do? Is anyone more passionate about it than you are? Does anyone have as much skin in the game as you do? Expertise, passion, and, frankly, the fate of your career will drive you to create something greater than anything a hired-out marketing team could imagine.” 

Basically he’s saying don’t phone it in and try to pass it off to someone else. If you want to be heard, you have to speak up and be the driver. 

In my years of being an author and speaker I have found that to be very true. Yes, you need to hire a great team and utilize great resources but don’t expect someone else to do all of the work that you too must be active in doing. 

If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse. 

I have two three copies of the book to give away - all you have to do is hit the retweet button and make a comment to this post.  

Platform3

December 07, 2011

Do you really want to bet your business on Facebook?

Facebook-info-bubble
Today's article (Facebook: Zynga's #1 Frenemie) prompted this blog post. 

While Zynga stands as a multi-billion dollar example of the dangers of platform squatting, many of you might be doing in a smaller but still deadly way.  Examples: you don't have a website anymore, you build a big Facebook Page following instead.  You don't build a web property to sell your products (see this a lot now in books), you rely on Facebook instead - thinking, "everyone is here, why not build it into their stream?  You base your real estate, insurance or home repair sales on your Page, leaving your older properties abandoned to wither.

Startups from Color to Spotify bet-the-farm on a long and cozy relationship with Facebook - who could turn all of them off with the flip of a switch.  Retailers, small business owners and even public figures are all provisioning the Facebook closed platform (emphasis on closed) to reduce costs and presumably fish where the fish are hooked.  

But here's the rub: Facebook will eventually have to eat their babies to grow into their valuation. Still private, Zuckerberg gets to report vanity numbers only, playing with Eric Ries calls "success theatre" with it's investors and employees.  Time spent, number of active users, etc., all dominate the Facebook story.  That will change quickly when they go public and New York analysts descend on them to question their revenue-valuation multiple.  If the social-bubble breaks (and it's being poked right now in the cases of LinkedIn and Groupon), who knows what Facebook's leadership team will resort to?

Look at Google, seven years post-IPO. Steve Jobs can testify: You can't trust a company that's on fire to triple their top line quickly.  Thus andriod.  Now, Google+ is tied to employee compensation and the sacred search algorithm, protected for users, is now biased to reward websites that include +, Places or Circles. Anyone in the valley will warn to avoid getting close to them early, because big and hungry companies "may accidently kill you." 

Back to Facebook.  If you are using a Page to market your products or services, it's pretty clunky to say the least.  You can't conduct giveaways or polls, lest they shut down your account (which is based on your personal account, which also goes away).  The apps they require you to use require too many steps and in our privacy-centric world, result in less conversion.  So now, you lose all the web-innovations that power super sites like Zappos, Amazon, etc.  

At Yahoo, I've seen this first hand.  When I joined, we had dozens of dotcom partners in areas where eventually we decided to 'get into their space' to justify our lofty valuation.  We were, by 2004, competitors with everyone who made money.  Facebook will be the same.  

I understand the business logic of being in the app business, making your ultimate bet on Apple. As a mature company, they aren't likely to flip a swtich and get into the app development game, killing all the Fred-In-the-Sheds to make a few more bucks.  But, Facebook is likely doing skunkworkss right now to build their own social games, daily deals redux, publicity services, banking and loan services, mobile devices and for all we now VOIP telco services.  If you currently make money via them, exclusively, you want want to diversify your business web outreach.  What if they turn on a pay-for service for Page owners who want to have ANY links to purchase or generate leads?  

Consider what happens when you rely on Google, yet somehow are in their business development plans.  When they tweak their search formulas, big changes happen to your business. What if they tweak search to devalue links to Facebook pages, like they've toyed with in the case of Wikipedia and Flickr? Ask LA startup Mahalo, where they had to layoff employees after a regular Google update.  First they were a human-search company, then after the Google thrashing of their business, they settled into a video-help resrouce.  They didn't have an option.  Keep your options open begins to make sense again - instead of cozying up exclusively with a cub company that's got paws bigger than Alaska. 

 

November 09, 2011

Is Social Media The New Dutch Tulip?

ChartBig
I could write a long post about the above chart. 

But that picture is worth a thousand posts.  Instead, I direct you to an analysis of the Dutch Tulip Bubble and Crash.  Full a longer read, download Dutch Tulip Mania: The Social Politics Of A Financial Bubble. After you read it, ask yourself, should Facebook really be 50% of all the time we spend on the Internet? In light of all the other things we could be doing to research, fund raise, advocate, communicate....? Should Groupon really be worth over ten billion dollars in light of what happened to Blockbuster, Etoys.com and Enron?  Is Zynga really going to scale or will we grow tired (exhausted) of social gaming?

I'm not advocated quitting Facebook or Tweeting.  But I am suggesting you put the following throttle on your zeal for the unfiltered: If social media went away tomorrow, will your ability to help others decline?  That's the acid test for what you should invest your time in when it comes to social media. 

Unless you haven't reconnected with old friends, high school mates and other such Classmates.com-ish type hookups.  If that's the case, you have a few hours of productive work ahead of you.  And if you check your status/profile every ten minutes to see if someone responded to your last post, I'm aiming this missive squarely at you.   PS: If you bought secondary market shares of Facebook, I've got some land I'd like to sell you. #JustSayin

 

November 04, 2011

Leverage EdgeRank To Get More Impressions On Facebook

EdgeRank-Algorithm_thumb
Many of you have Facebook Pages that you'd like to grow.  The key is impressions and engagement. 

Over the last few months, I've researched the changes to Facebook, with an emphasis on their EdgeRank algorithm, which is always evolving.  Facebook uses this to ensure that we see relevant updates in our Top Feed.  Unfortunately, for many Pages, the changes have likely reduced your impressions and your growth in followers (Likers). 

I've conducted several experiments over the last month with my Page as well as my corporate client's pages.  The result is a dramatic increase in impressions, even more than before all the Facebook changes were implemented.  First of all, the EdgeRank formula is important to understand.  Your posts will be distributed to your followers based on three things: Affinity, Weight and Time Decay. The most recent EdgeRank changes have emphasized Time Decay (how recently have you posted? Are people still interacting with it?) and Affinity tweaks (major bonus for deriving visits to your Page or marketing your posts as "Top Story").  With that in mind, here are six ways to boost your EdgeRank score and drive more impressions: 

1 - Post Directly To Facebook.  EdgeRank frowns on third party postings such as HootSuite, Tweetdeck etc.  

2 - Post Frequently To Ensure Freshness.  This is tricky, because if you post too often, you'll either get Unliked or hidden from your follower's feed.  The traditional thinking is once every two days or so, but with the new tweaks, that could really cost you.  Here's a good article on the science behind how often you should post.  As a rule of thumb, when you see the Likes or engagement trail off on a post (usually 10-12 hours), that's when you need a fresh one. 

3 - Post Heavy Content.  EdgeRank's Weight component of the algorithm will reward the weight of your posts, usually in this order: Uploaded video (not links to YouTube video), Pictures, Links, and Text.  Sure, a text update with a ton of interaction will get impressions, but a picture or video update with engagement will get exponentially more.  Here's a tip that makes this whole post worth reading: When you post a quote by a famous person ALWAYS upload a picture of that person!  I've found that a quote with a picture gets 2 to 3 times more impressions!!!

4 - Post During Prime Time.  Remember, when the engagement trails off, EdgeRank considers that decay and you lose impressions.  Most Facebook traffic occurs during working hours, so that's the best time to launch your updates.  Here's a good article on when to post. 

5 - Convert Statements Into Questions.  Instead of saying, my fave new CD of the year is X, put it this way.  "What's the best CD of 2011?  I think it's The King Is Dead by Decemberists."  This way, you'll likely get more comments (which boosts your weight & affinity score) and maybe Likes (for Decemberists fans).  

6 - Engage With All Engagement.  EdgeRank will count your interaction just like any other interaction (so long as it's in line).  Meaning: When someone shares, thank them on their wall or in comments.  Answer comments, and encourage even more.  The number of comments to an update keeps it fresh (think affinity plus time decay).

Post your tips and techniques in comments, I'll likely thank you on my Facebook Page!

 

September 12, 2011

Stop calling it social media if you want to get buy-in

3241710_82dfd15101
Today I gave a talk to a group of Corporate Communication execs interested in 'social-media.'  

They are trying to harness it's listening and engagement power, and distribute it around their companies (from customer service to investor relations).  To a person, they tell me the biggest task isn't figuring out how to use social tools, surprisingly. 

Their biggest challenge is selling their senior leaders and CEOs on the concept.  To the average (older or non-tech) exec, social media is a fad that's led by propellerheads and amateur mavens.  In their view, it's a fad (like CB Radios) that they hope will soon pass.  Sure, they've heard the United Breaks Guitars story, but it likely doesn't apply to them - and when you use words like Twitter, they scrunch up their face in disbelief.  

For several of my consulting clients, though, we've found a breakthrough - the secret sauce to selling social into the enterprise.  Stop using words that sound silly (Twitter) or irrelevent to business (social).  Stop calling this social media!

Instead, call it 'Interactive Media'.  It's the online conversation, to be paired with the offline one, for better business intelligence, marketing and service.  That's a familiar and business centric way to talk about it, and likely no CEO will tell you that "interactive is a pssing fad." 

At one company, the re-branding efforts has led a huge turnaround, and now the CEO has his own Hoot Suite account, to watch the "interactive conversation" as it unfolds.  He isn't writing blank checks against the opportunity, but he no longer has the noise in his head. 

Many internet startups like to use cute, irreverent and fun names: Yahoo!, Twitter, Google, etc. They are likely offputting, though, when it's time to sell stuff to the dinosaurs.  When I was at Yahoo, in several situations, our ad agency partners stopped telling their Fortune 100 clients about the ad opportunity on Yahoo - instead, they just called it 'online marketing' - and it worked then too! 

 

April 11, 2011

A New Way To Write: Friend Sourcing

When I starting writing Today We Are Rich, I had one goal: Share my story to validate and encourage others to be bold, live positive and cultivate confidence. 

I’ve been talking about Abundance versus Scarcity my entire career on the lecture circuit, and with this book, I’ve finally hatched some contemporary ideas for a new generation – based on the classics of the 30’s and 40’s. 

Right about the time I started the formal writing process, I created by first Facebook (fan) page.  After inviting my friends my regular account, newsletter group and Twitter followers, I had about 800 people ‘liking’ my page.  I used it to put out unedited ideas as I wrote them – sort of a proving ground for my book’s concepts.  I’d post short pithy things my grandmother says, then note which ones resonated and which ones didn’t.  Same went with my advice points.  I found out pretty quickly that people are much more interactive on Facebook than they are with a blog – or Twitter for that matter.

One of my Facebook Like Friends contributed a saying her grandmother had, another offered a tweak to one of my ideas and soon, I began to rely heavily on this focus group for the evolution of Today We Are Rich.  Sure, I was still telling Billye’s story, and mine too, but by making room for others it was much easier to achieve my goal as an author – validate, encourage and empower.

This isn’t typical crowd sourcing, where a group of people are aggregated then polled – with their answers being tallied up into a group-point-of-view.   This was different, because my Facebook community was comprised of long time friends, colleagues and supporters of my work.  When I called for some personal stories to help drive home some points, I received great ones from people I’ve known for years such as Jay Beckley (Myles Dad), Paula Cooper (Gratitude Exercise) and Stacey B. (The Quitter).  They help this book become your book as well.

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg’s right: Facebook may be the way we find, buy, research or communicate things in the future.  Think of crowd sourcing as a Google approach to writing (search, funnel, select from a pile) and Friend sourcing as a way of opening up your work to people that know you and care about your work – the Facebook approach to creating content that resonates. 

These days on my author Facebook Page  I’m sharing tips from my talks as well as details about the book launch tour for Today We Are Rich

Line

This is a concept that's included in my next book, Today We Are Rich.   Visit the book page and you can order a copy and receive a free eBook excerpt with an entire principle!  You can also visit its facebook page too.

 

March 23, 2011

Just be good at the one thing you do well

Authors, speakers, bloggers: Don't get caught up in the Triple Threat Conundrum. 

If you can speak, soon, you are asked to write a book.  If you write a business or advice book and it sells, you'll be asked to speak. If you do either, you'll be expected to blog well, terrifically Tweet and master Facebook and/or LinkedIn.  Whew.  

Comedian Mitch Hedberg once lamented that agents would approach him with: "You are really good at telling jokes, can you act?  He said, "That's like saying to a great chef - wow, you can cook, but can you farm.?" His point, just do the one thing well and don't sweat the product or career extensions. 

I've met several authors that aren't really very good a speaking, but they do it anyway (poor audiences).  I've met several great speakers that write awful books (poor readers).  And many of the author/speakers I know slave away over social media, wondering why their blog isn't as big as Seth Godin's or their Twitter following isn't swelling like Gary Vaynerchuk's.  To them I say, relax: Just do your thing really well and you'll find a way to make a living - and a difference. 

We cannot fall prey to the Triple Threat challenge (sing, act and produce) that entertainers deal with.  Blogging has it's own special skill set - just ask Chris Brogan.  If you are a great writer, find a way to make your money selling books and don't think that you have to hit the lecture circuit.  If you get exponentially better at one thing, like Gladwell's done with writing or Tony Robbins has done with speaking - you'll be just fine. 

 

November 17, 2010

Leave the gadget in your pocket and connect

Man phone sea
Digital Attention Disorder is the malady of the day. 

Yesterday, standing in a gate area at an airport, I noticed something - When business folk are idle these days, much like teens, they just stare into their phones.  Checking Twitter or Facebook or email or their multiple text threads.  Anything but connecting with other people. 

In fact, I'm seeing this "lost in his gadget" squinty personality everywhere: Walking down the street (aimlessly), in meetings, driving (really irresponsible), shopping and according to reliable sources -- in church.  We are more interested in pithy updates from semi-strangers than the humans sitting next to us or depending on us/helping us.  This is wrong.  

I started out in the mobile phone business back in the 80's.  Mostly, it was for on-the-go pro's, so they could return phone calls while they were out.  Some bought them for security (pre OnStar) or because they could afford to.  Most of the sales were installed car phones (remember them?).  When those users went to meetings, they actually paid attention and were engaged.  When they were out socially or for business, they conversed with others and "took in the sights."  

Then came digital pagers, black berries, smart phone and now the ubiquitous iPhone.  What's next, brain implants?  Today, we have a disengaged always-on culture, where attention is the scarce world resource.   This will randomize everything in life, including your relationships and circumstances. Data is everywhere, ready to divert-distract you out of any type of strategy.  

So here's the takeaway:  Leave your gadget in your pocket or better yet, back in your car or hotel room.  That way, you will HAVE to actually engage with people.  This is something I've been practicing for the last few years.  I only carry my gadget when I travel or run around town.  When I do, if at all possible, I leave it behind when going somewhere (reception, meeting, dinner, etc.)  If my wife has a phone in her purse, I'm covered for an emergency.  I'm not a surgeon on call, so I'm not shirking my duties by doing this.  The other night, due to a logistical issue, I had to take my phone with me to a dinner event.  I turned off the ringer and turned it upside down on the table so it wouldn't distract me from have a conversation and getting to know some people.  

Here's what I also get out of the equation:  I'm resetting expectations with all my business partners that I am not available 24/7.  I haven't carried a phone with me on the weekend for about seven years now and it's abundantly clear to everyone I do biz with that I'm a Monday-Friday guy.  For other people I know, they've signed up for an on-call lifestyle.  

I believe that phones are the new watches: We wear them for show.  But unlike watches, they are seductive in their attention sucking features and, with constant use, change us for the worse. 

 

November 08, 2010

Personal social media strategy: It's Complicated!

IStock_000012931845XSmall
Think about how simple your social circle was twenty years ago: Work, community, church and social groups.  Sure, you saw people over and over again, but they didn't have to hear your perspective over and over again each time they came in contact with you. 

With social media, all of this has changed.  Think about consultants, small business owners, agents, authors, etc., and how we all feel like we need to 'grow' our platforms in all social media circles.  We build a blog, start to Tweet, get on Facebook, service Linked In....and whatever comes next.  

Then, we catch the follower bug, where we become very promotional and encourage one network's members to join yet another.  We ask our Facebook friends to follow us on Twitter or read our blog. We ask our Twitter followers to link with us on LinkedIn or like our public page on Facebook.  Then we start to add #fb to Tweets, so they go to both places.   When we post an idea once, they receive it multiple times.

Pretty soon, our poor friends and colleagues are getting bit-spammed ... by us! 

This is why you need a personal strategy for your social media life in business.  Here are a few things to think about: 

1 - Define your objectives: Do you want following, influence or just a place to keep up with your friends and colleagues?  The correct answer is not "all of the above."  If you don't need more following, don't cross market.  Let people chose the platform they want to connect with you on. 

2 - Just pick one, and do it very well.  Seth Godin is a good example here, he's chosen his blog as his anchor.  On Facebook, blog posts are redistributed, but he doesn't market to you on his blog to follow him on Facebook.  Seth doesn't Twitter, although some accounts use Twitter to promote blog posts.  Get how unified this is? 

3 - Have a different strategy for different platforms.  Chris Brogan is a good example here.  On his blog, he offers four to five point advice postings related to business/social media and marketing.  On Twitter, he hosts a public conversation.  On Facebook, he's a conversation starter.  He's different on each platform, and not just repetitive.  I notice him constantly tweaking this strategy, seeking true differentiation for his 'narrative' as it best fits each platform. 

What's your strategy?  Are you a mile wide and an inch deep on your social strategy or have you made your bet on a single play?  If you have a strategy you'd like to share, do it in the comments. 

October 07, 2010

The new Twitter and why you need to embrace it

I just finished having my Twitter profile page redesigned as part of my brand-unity campaign.  Now, it matches my blog and website in look and feel.   

Then, yesterday, I noticed that there's a 'new Twitter' I can try.  And when I do, my redesigned Twitter page doesn't fit the specs anymore.  Ouch.  So, like many do in this situation, I click back to the old Twitter and all is good.  At least for me, in this situation. 

Do I really think that the old Twitter will end up winning?  No way.  Eventually, we'll all convert to the new Twitter, just like we did the the new Facebook(s) or Yahoo.  It's the unstoppable force of continual improvement.  The longer you wait to use it or produce for it, the bigger the window of non-functionality you'll have.   For many of us, we still have the "New Coke Hope" syndrome, where we try and convince ourselves that the honchos will reconsider their move, wipe out all the redesign work and just keep things as-is for several (more) years.  Don't hold your breath, Coke's cancellation of New Coke was an 'outlier event.'  There's better research tools to avoid that now. 

So, today I'm going to buck up and ask my friends at OutThink to go back to the drawing board, so our new Twitter profile page matches the new Twitter design spec.  I'm not going to sit around complaining about it or pining for the status quo.  You should too.  

There's a bigger point here: Don't grow attached to your work.  Things change, and sometimes, we've wasted our time.  Consider it practice.  The ability to let go, when letting go's the order of the day, is the difference between growing or dying during times of disruptive change.  Grow attached to your purpose, your mission, your accomplishments.  That's something only YOU can redesign. 

 

Next »