Tag Archive: twitter

Social media rock stars? Get real!

I have already had several books sent to me this year for review, written by social media experts or gurus. One thing all of them have in common, is that they contain a version of the following advice, which is, in my opinion totally incorrect: Build a following and market to that following.

Here’s what I have found to be better advice: Don’t build a following. Build a community instead!

FOLLOWERS are like the audience at a rock concert. They are set apart from the rock star on stage. They see the rock star as distant. They are part of the event, but a very small part. The rock star might get the crowd to sing the occasional verse, but we all know they are REALLY just broadcasting THEIR VOICE to the crowd! I really don’t see a lot of value in positioning yourself as a rock star, if you actually want to get involved with people. Ironically, the people I see using this approach all the time, are social media experts!

COMMUNITY members are like…

Read the full article »

What do you think about this email?

I wrote recently about copycat marketing. That’s where someone copies the marketing of someone else, hoping that it will work.

After writing that post, I received a lot of email and comments, from people who had personal experience of copycat marketing going wrong.

Here’s one email, which I would like to share with you and hear your thoughts on….

Read the full article »

Marketing tip: Stop shouting for attention!

Is your marketing shouting at people?

If you go into Starbucks today and start shouting at the people around you, you will definitely grab their attention. However, it’s not the kind of attention you want to attract. Many small businesses use a very similar approach with their marketing. In an effort to capture attention, they act in a way that gets them noticed, but for all the wrong reasons.

They not only fail to generate new business; they can permanently damage the reputation of their business too.

Some examples of how companies shout at people with their sales and marketing:

* Adding people to their newsletter list, without permission. It’s spam.
* Spamming people on Twitter.
* Meeting people at networking events and using that transparent crap; “tell me about your business and how I can help you.” Wake up, it’s not 1985 any more!
* Asking people to join their Linkedin network, claiming they worked with them (when both parties know it’s a lie.)
* Unwanted telemarketing calls to people’s homes at 8pm. Just what you need when getting a young child to sleep or relaxing after a hard day….

Read the full article »

Funny: What is a social media expert?

Someone studying marketing at university, recently asked me what I thought a social media expert was.
I told her that I see social media experts as people, who understand how to make social media platforms deliver results for organizations and individuals.
However, she had a better answer, which I ‘think’ she intended as a joke.  I just [...]

Read the full article »

Stephen Fry, critics and a business lesson

As Stephen Fry demonstrated on Twitter a few days ago, it’s easy to allow a vocal critic to screw things up for you.
In Stephen Fry’s case, one of his followers told him that his tweets were boring.  Fry then threatened to quit Twitter and sever his ties with the million people who actually DO enjoy [...]

Read the full article »

Using social media to launch a new blog

So, can social media really help you market or promote something?
Oh yes!
Earlier today, I launched a brand new blog. Now, usually when you launch a new blog, the first day sees very little traction; after all, no one knows it’s there.  However, thanks exclusively to the use of a few social media tools, the blog [...]

Read the full article »

Twitter junkies and social media addicts

I’m sure you have heard it said many times before; “people think in pictures.”
In written marketing, the words we use have a massive impact on the kind of mental pictures we paint in the minds of our prospective clients or customers.
These pictures help shape how people feel about us and those feelings have a [...]

Read the full article »

Social networking or commercial networking?

Whilst it’s relatively simple (if time consuming), to develop a large social network, many business owners tell me they find it difficult to successfully market their products or services via social networks.
Here’s why I believe this happens & how to fix it!
People talk in terms of “increased brand awareness” and “being part of [...]

Read the full article »

Are you on course?

Did you start using Twitter in order to waste a stack of time attracting “followers”- Or to generate more sales, leads and business connections?
Did you invest in those expensive brochures in order to watch them slowly go out of date – Or to increase the effectiveness of your marketing?
Did you invest in your [...]

Read the full article »

Don’t copy your social media guru

I’m a marketing man, not a social media expert. However, because some social media tools are excellent for helping small businesses market their services, I’ve spent years studying the marketing potential of social media.
Here’s an important observation I would like to share with you.
Don’t copy your social media guru
It’s all about why [...]

Read the full article »

Growing and securing your online network

This post is all about how to safeguard and grow your online network.
How frustrated do you feel, when you’ve just washed your car, you take it out for a spin and a massive truck goes buy and covers it in dirt?  What about when you’ve been working on a document for 20 [...]

Read the full article »

February’s Twitter unfollowing trend

The Twitter unfollow trend happened in February!
That’s right, around 6 months ago, three well-known Twitter users unfollowed all their followers; two within a day of each other.
The big names back then were; Jason Calacanis (mahalo.com founder), Natali Del Conte (Cnet) and Loic Le Muer (Seesmic founder.)
Here’s a what happened – be sure to read the [...]

Read the full article »

2 things I didn’t know yesterday!

Here are 2 things I didn’t know yesterday, which I wanted to share with you.  If you have anything you want to add, please do so – it’s always great to get feedback.
Twitter unfollowing trend is set to continue
Since blogging about Robert Scoble unfollowing his Twitter followers, I have had a lot of feedback.  As [...]

Read the full article »

Scoble, Twitter and the wisdom of the crowd!

My FriendFeed buddy Robert Scoble announced last night, that he was going to unfollow around 105,000 people on Twitter.  He has his reasons for doing this, most of which are valid in my opinion.
Robert also publicly said (very generously) that he now realises he was wrong, when he said that I should not have reset [...]

Read the full article »

The Power of Influence

I have a question for you.  “Why does one person’s recommendation carry a lot of weight, when another person can give the same recommendation, yet few people take any notice?”
The answer, of course, is influence.
The recommendation of an influential person is powerful and in business it has a huge commercial value too.  It’s why a [...]

Read the full article »

Quick networking tip!

I was just looking at a website, where the owner has a small banner, which pleads with total strangers to join his LinkedIn network.  I checked out his Twitter profile, and he’s doing the same there too.
It’s actually a pretty common tactic among some businesspeople, who think it will help them develop their business.
If they [...]

Read the full article »

Join me on Twitter – Don’t follow me!

With marketing and business development, it’s all too easy to focus only on the BIG issues. However, small things can make a massive difference and totally change how people think about us.
I decided to write this quick post, after receiving the comment below from one of my readers, Joni Mueller. Here’s what Joni said:
Excellent article [...]

Read the full article »

More traffic to your site in 2 easy steps!

If you own a website or blog and you want to dramatically increase the number and quality of visitors you get, you need to encourage people who visit your site, to share what they find with their friends.
Thankfully, we know that when people find material on a website, which they believe will be of interest [...]

Read the full article »

A letter from Google

I received a sales letter last week from Google. That’s right, one of the world’s leading email providers contacted me; not via an email, but via a letter.
Email marketing and Google
Google already has my email address, because I am a user of a number of their services – including Gmail. So, it would have been [...]

Read the full article »

Customer service in the Twitter age!

I just received a text message from O2, my mobile / cell phone provider. It turns out that they wanted to let me know that they were about to withdraw one of the benefits of using their service.
However, rather than just admit that, for whatever reason, they were about to withdraw this benefit – they [...]

Read the full article »