Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
What's Your Social Media Plan?
Like a Business Plan or an I.T. Strategic Plan you should know why you are using Social Media Networks. Most businesses are oblivious to this marketing phenomenon and really don’t understand it’s value. The challenge is that when someone asks what it is, they talk like it’s a bunch of friends getting together for coffee and chatting it up. It’s more than a water cooler. In my opinion, FaceBook has cornered the market on catching up with old school buddies but it really hasn’t figured out how to be more than a playground for old friends on recess. Just my point of view, you may feel different about it.
If you think you have to have a large business to enter into the Social Media arena, your dead wrong, all you need to do is build a plan, then you will experience it’s true value. Despite what you may think, it’s not about advertising, positioning and jockeying for the #1 spot on Twitter Grader, that isn’t the goal. Google does this already but doesn’t tell you their secrets on how they control who gets ranked the highest. If you don’t plan the use of this new marketing environment you will waste time and wonder what happened, you’ll wonder if it wasn’t a distraction from you current goals and objectives. You will eventually use those tools as one way to measure your standing but you will be planting a banyan tree so don’t expect an immediate return on your investment.
So what’s am I talking about?
Let’s assume you have a business plan and you actually sat down and built an I.T. Strategic Plan, which one does the Social Media Strategy fit into? Truthfully? It doesn’t fit into either, it should be in your Marketing Strategy, unless you’ve decided to build your own Social Network, build a team to run it and build the infrastructure to support it, only then should it go into your business plan as a way to promote and develop brand. I’ll also assume you have a good understanding of the fore mentioned plans, if not, go study them before you start down this trail.
Building a large following is not as hard as it may seem, it does requires time & effort, it also requires a carefully crafted message to ensure you obtain reach that will generate activity and eventually revenue. So, your vision should be more about how you will use it rather than making it an entity all it’s own, where will it fit in the marketing strategy and what resources will it require, how big will it be and who on your team knows anything about it? Do you need to hire a consultant to help you incorporate Social Media into your marketing efforts? The questions are many and there many of us that can guide you to a sound plan in using the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the great many others.
First Steps:
1.) Review your Business Plan
2.) Review your I.T. Plan if you have one
3.) Build a team to work with a consultant
4.) Hire an outside consultant to walk you through the need for Social Media Marketing
Wading into the Social Media Environment doesn’t have to be difficult, get help and build your plan. Until next time, be good, if you can’t be good, be yourself 🙂
Twitter The Social Media Network Gone Wild!
Social Media Networks are popping up everywhere and no one can stop them! Today it’s clear Twitter is taking the world by storm and is one of the most effective ways to generate traffic to a website, not to mention it’s FREE! Twitter is projected to surpass Facebook and many others as the Social Network of choice. I’ve been using Twitter everyday since December 26th,2008 and I can tell you some of the sharpest minds on the Internet are there and they will follow you if you offer value to the community. Value is measured in many ways on Twitter, like Blogs content is king, find good information, helpful information, develop a reputation as a sound resource, plus, be a great person and you’ll create a large following.
Like many of these Social Media Networks, information is what most are looking for, how to articles and where to find that nugget that can help you be a better you or improve your companies branding. Twitter is the most instant messaging platform with mass appeal, the branding tool of choice and considered a secret weapon by many who use it.
The most common Social Networks to date look like Facebook, Digg, My Space and LinkedIn just to name a few, but none respond faster than Twitter! I’ve helped a number of entrepreneurs and small businesses get started with Twitter and have shown them the value of leveraging the other networks with Twitter. Why not make them all work for you? The phenomenon of Social Media Networks is just starting to realize it’s power by adding value to the market place, whether it in B2B or simple membership environments. It’s getting harder and harder to hide and easier to brand your product(s) and yourself with the power of Twitter.To learn how Social Media Networks can increase awareness, brand a product, increase traffic and develop a revenue stream, send a message to socialmedia@owengreaves.com with your request.
Come join the Social Media Marketing Gone Wild phenomenon. Join Twitter and follow me.
How are you using Twitter, leave a comment and share your experiences.
Internet Marketer or Internet Scammer?
This past week I have attended a number of webinars and joined mailing lists as part of on going need to figure out what is it that makes the term Internet Marketer demand so much respect. I recognize that 90% of the Internet Marketers may fall under the term Internet Scammer, not because they are bad people but because they are merely following some elses way of doing things because it worked for them. I’m a bit old school in that, nothing comes without hard work and persistance, and they preach the same thing but with a spin.
I guess I’m bothered by the fact that almost every Internet Marketer has narrowed down the delivery to a point where I no longer trust it. If I got a nickel for every landing page that looks the same I wouldn’t have to work for a living…hang on I don’t! That’s another story for another time and I am looking. I’ll bet the landing page is the same for well over 95% of those who call themselves Internet Marketers, why? Because they say it works.
To be completely honest I’m more interested in the motives, why are they doing what they are doing, I know make money. But there has to be a deeper motivator, doesn’t there? What’s the real reason for being an Internet Marketer, what’s the WHY I AM I DOING THIS? I want to know I can trust you, I want to know there is a greater good to making the kind of money you claim to make.
If you did a search on Google for Internet Marketing you would find the results around 89 million related links on the topic, if you searched for How to Make Money Online you would find over 30 Million related links. If you changed it to say Make Money Online the results jump to over 40 million, then the big one, Get Rich Online, it has over 253 Million results. I wonder, if you were to click on every one of those links how many of them would look the same and or claim the same things? That’s alot of opportunity, that’s a lot of problem solving, they all want your money and they all say they have the answer to your problem, but do they?
Why do so many follow Internet Marketers? The need is money of course. The problem I have found is that many of these Internet Marketers are selling the easy road, you don’t need this and that and you don’t have to sell! Prosperity teaching is not a good theology to live by, as I mentioned earlier, nothing comes without hard work and persistance. Therefore, being sold on how little you have to do should be a red flag shouldn’t it? It’s too good to be true and so on.
So what to do, who do you follow, how do you know who to trust without losing your shirt buying report after report on how to get rich online? I watched a video clip of three guy’s sit and talk about how they made money doing this and that without really telling how they did it, of course they want you to buy something thats why. My struggle with these fellows wasn’t that they figured out how to make money but it was there attitude, they laughed at how easy it was to make all this money. It was like they finally ripped off the man, the problem is they didn’t, they ripped you and me off.They took our money for something we believed was valueable. Ok, good for you, now what? What are you going to do with all that money? Are you going to make a difference in the world, feed the poor, clothe those living on the street? The list is endless. I have only heard of a couple gentlemen who are using they’re Internet Marketing business to do missionary work, to make a difference, now that tells me just maybe the motive is right, but is it? How do we find out? How we find out is another topic to cover at a later date.
I’m not a highly suspicious person but I do smell crap easily and I can tell when something is rotten in Denmark. I’m no scholar and I’m definetly not an English major ( you can tell by my writing). If the goal is to make money and lots of it, and your not going to use the money to help those in need, why are you doing it? What’s the point of all this money making?
I would suggest to you that knowing the why is where to start, check your motives, why do you feel the way you feel about what you are going to do. It’s taken me a lifetime to figure what I’m truly passionate about, why I write, why I share and why I care about those around me so much. Including you. I’m not crying sour grapes because I spent so much time and money trying to duplicate someones Internet Marketing business model and failed. No, I have two passions that drive me, one is sending a messsage about the advancements of technology and how you will be impacted by it and to help you realize that you can make a difference, you are special, you can be and do better than you are. And that means asking the tough question of why, why become an Internet Marketer, why do you do what you do, what is the reason you spend your time and your money the way you do.
I know some Internet Marketers will take offence to this post and you may believe your motives are right, and that may be true, I would love to hear about the great things you’re doing in your community with the money you make from your business. I would love to hear what makes you unique, what makes you different and what you are passionate about. I am merely suggesting that the majority of Internet Marketers don’t give a minutes thought to how they could make a difference in a world that is suffering. They believe that making money from you so you can do the same to someone else is a noble thing to do even it doesn’t help you. I can only hope you will be different, I can only hope your motives are right and you truly want to help those around you.
So I ask you, are you an Internet Marketer or an Internet Scammer? Do you give or do you only take?
How many people are better off because you lived, not for how much money you made or what you have materially, but because you got involved in someones life and made a difference. After all, in the end, you can’t take it with you.
An Online Success Story for You!
I have to admit that Internet Marketing has really changed it’s shape over the years. Affiliate Programs have found there way into the mainstream and create cash flow for those who are dedicated.
I came across a program called ” The Super Affiliate Handbook ” by Rosalind Gardner and gave it a read. Yes you have to buy it, but it also gives you a great step-by-step way of participating. If you have the stomach for Affiliate Marketing then read below and test your will to make money on the Internet. It’s not for everyone but you can earn extra income from home.
Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earned $436,797+ in 2002 and now earns MUCH MORE than that … just by selling other people’s stuff online!
In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net.
Frequently revised and updated to reflect industry changes, the Super Affiliate Handbook now consists of 236 pages and 124 screenshots that will show you step-by-step how to become a Super Affiliate. You’ll learn how to pick the best affiliate programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.
To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.