From MLMWoman.com
Whether it’s your first direct sales business or you’ve been down this road before, everyone could use a few tips to make their business successful. So here are 10 tips that will go a long way in helping you to create a profitable business.
1. The Products – Know, love and stand behind the products you sell. If you know how it works, why it’s worth it and actually like it yourself, you’ll do a better job selling it to others. Know what similar products are all about as well. If your competitor sells a product like yours, be able to tell your customers why yours is better even if it costs more.
2. Network, Network, Network – It’s important to build a business network. Be yourself and take the time to build friendships and other contacts beyond just potential customers. Join your local Chamber of Commerce or a business networking group like Leads or BNI.
3. Online Presence – Create a website or a blog for your business. Nowadays, you are missing a huge opportunity if you’re not doing business via the Internet. One of the first places people go to find something they need is the World Wide Web and your product is no different. Even if you sell a lot locally, broaden your horizons by going online too.
4. Take Your Business Seriously – Your website, business cards, products, presentation and everything else you do in your business should exhibit that you’re serious about your business. Sometimes this will take a bit of money, like hiring a web designer to put your website together if you don’t know how. However, most of your professionalism will show in you personally, so treat it like a real business and you’ll reap the benefits of doing so.
5. Honesty is Key – When your customers feel like they can trust you they will be back. Don’t be shady or pushy in order to make sales or gain team members. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and move on. Remember people buy from those they know, like and trust.
6. Accept Rejection – In the direct sales business, the word No is one you’ll hear frequently. Don’t take it too personally and realize this is just a part of this business. Keep working hard and you’ll get positive replies and more sales too.
7. Attend Meetings – Take the time to attend meetings for your team. Not only will you learn about new products and sales techniques, but you’ll receive some needed encouragement from others who’ve been where you are. Even better, you will be able to help some of the newbies on your team eventually.
8. Set Goals – This tip is extremely important when it comes to the success of your direct sales business. Setting goals and constantly working toward them will help to make your business more profitable. Set big goals and then break them down into smaller easier to achieve steps. As you work your way through your list you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something and your ultimate goal won’t seem so out of reach. Be realistic with your goals, but don’t be afraid to set them high either.
9. Be There for Others – You will some day remember what it was like when you first started out. The help you received from others was invaluable and once you’ve worked your way up, be sure to lend a helping hand to others too. Being a mentor is both rewarding and educational. Remember: "What goes around comes around."
10. Work Hard and Stick with It – There will be hard times when you just want to quit. But remember, any business takes work and nothing happens overnight. Just keep moving forward taking small steps every day and you'll find yourself on the road to success.
Feb 21, 2009
Feb 17, 2009
60 Minutes Interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook, which he founded in 2004. Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, families and coworkers. Mark is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company. He leads the design of Facebook's service and development of its core technology and infrastructure. Mark attended Harvard University and studied computer science before moving the company to Palo Alto, California.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook, which he founded in 2004. Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, families and coworkers. Mark is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company. He leads the design of Facebook's service and development of its core technology and infrastructure. Mark attended Harvard University and studied computer science before moving the company to Palo Alto, California.
Feb 3, 2009
Update: How The Economy Is Effecting Our Industry...
I've been watching the home business industry closely over the past few months to determine if our niche was going to grow or contract with the current decline in the economy, and I finally have enough data to come to a conclusion which I'd like to share with you today...
It's no secret that we're in the beginning stages of a grand super-cycle in the global economy that's never been seen before.
Right now, the biggest question isn't whether things will get worse, but how fast... Thankfully, we're in one of the only industries that has the potential for growth. Logically, I've been expecting the work at home world to see a nice bump in growth now that so many people are needing to supplement their income or replace a job, but the question remained... Would these people still spend money on a business or related training materials?
So I've been watching the numbers and waiting for some real data before coming to any kind of conclusions, which I now feel comfortable making...
Here's what I've seen...
Our industry is definitely benefiting from the bad economy in a very big way. Over the past 13 months, Magnetic Sponsoring as a company has seen an increase in sales of 470%, and January 2009, was the biggest month in our 4 year history.
I compared numbers with my friend Jay who runs a marketing system that's tied to a top-tier opportunity, and they've seen the same thing.
Yesterday, they had their best day in over six months for total daily leads generated.
Last month, they had a 65% increase in sales over last Quarter of 2008. More people are coming into the networking industry, and they're spending money... BUT...
I know several big internet marketers out there who have been experiencing a large increase in refunds. People are willing to buy, but they are looking for quality, and they'd prefer to buy from people they purchased before in the past.
There is little patience in the market for sub-standard products, and the relationship you form with your prospects and customers is now more important than ever.
So here are 4 tips that will help you take advantage of this massive influx of new people into our industry...
1: Put yourself in their shoes...
If I'm brand new to this industry, my biggest challenge will be information over load. With 100's of opportunities in the market, and 1,000's of potential sponsors found on Facebook, YouTube and Adwords, my biggest questions are...
Who can I trust?
Which business is best?
Which products should I buy?
The single best way you can answer all of these questions as a marketer, is with "social proof". If I'm brand new, and researching you as a potential sponsor, how do I know if you're the real thing or not?
Simple...
I'm going to look at your videos and see how many views and ratings you have. I'm going to see how many friends you have on Facebook, and followers on Twitter. I'm going to look for testimonials from customers and distributors.I'm going to look for pictures and screen shots that show results.
All of these things will instantly show me that I can trust you, that you have value to offer me, and that I can feel safe doing business with you, before we've even spoken on the phone.
And PLEASE...
2: Pick up the phone and call your leads!!!
If someone's shopping for an opportunity, they're probably going to fill out 3-10 capture pages for different businesses. Who are they going to join?
Simple... The person who took the time to call them and establish a relationship. If you don't call them.
The next guy will, and that's who's going to get their business. Don't be needy. Don't sit there for an hour and compare your opportunity or comp plan to others over the phone.
Establish a rapport. Position yourself as a leader, and tell them what to do next.
3: Educate yourself.
This is THE opportunity of a lifetime for you in this industry. This is as good as it gets, but the only way you'll be able to take advantage of it, is to learn the skills and strategies required to do so. You must know how to brand yourself.
You must know how to get traffic, and you must know how to market your business to your prospects. If you do not own a copy of Magnetic Sponsoring or Traffic Formula yet, how do you honestly expect to compete against the people who do know these techniques?
You can't. There are no short-cuts here. Get educated or get run over.
4: Make your offer "Risk Free", whenever you can.
Give your prospects the opportunity try out your products risk-free, as often as possible. For example, we increased the money money back guarantee period on the Magnetic Sponsoring course from 3 months, to 12 months.
If someone buys the course and doesn't like it, they have a full year to request a no-questions-asked refund. We're giving our customers all of the power because that makes it even easier for them to choose our products instead of someone else's.
Once someone experiences the quality of our products, they usually purchase 2-3 more because they know they can trust us to deliver the best information out there.
Make it as easy, and as risk free as you can for your prospects to do business with you.
Talk to you soon,
Frank Tocco
It's no secret that we're in the beginning stages of a grand super-cycle in the global economy that's never been seen before.
Right now, the biggest question isn't whether things will get worse, but how fast... Thankfully, we're in one of the only industries that has the potential for growth. Logically, I've been expecting the work at home world to see a nice bump in growth now that so many people are needing to supplement their income or replace a job, but the question remained... Would these people still spend money on a business or related training materials?
So I've been watching the numbers and waiting for some real data before coming to any kind of conclusions, which I now feel comfortable making...
Here's what I've seen...
Our industry is definitely benefiting from the bad economy in a very big way. Over the past 13 months, Magnetic Sponsoring as a company has seen an increase in sales of 470%, and January 2009, was the biggest month in our 4 year history.
I compared numbers with my friend Jay who runs a marketing system that's tied to a top-tier opportunity, and they've seen the same thing.
Yesterday, they had their best day in over six months for total daily leads generated.
Last month, they had a 65% increase in sales over last Quarter of 2008. More people are coming into the networking industry, and they're spending money... BUT...
I know several big internet marketers out there who have been experiencing a large increase in refunds. People are willing to buy, but they are looking for quality, and they'd prefer to buy from people they purchased before in the past.
There is little patience in the market for sub-standard products, and the relationship you form with your prospects and customers is now more important than ever.
So here are 4 tips that will help you take advantage of this massive influx of new people into our industry...
1: Put yourself in their shoes...
If I'm brand new to this industry, my biggest challenge will be information over load. With 100's of opportunities in the market, and 1,000's of potential sponsors found on Facebook, YouTube and Adwords, my biggest questions are...
Who can I trust?
Which business is best?
Which products should I buy?
The single best way you can answer all of these questions as a marketer, is with "social proof". If I'm brand new, and researching you as a potential sponsor, how do I know if you're the real thing or not?
Simple...
I'm going to look at your videos and see how many views and ratings you have. I'm going to see how many friends you have on Facebook, and followers on Twitter. I'm going to look for testimonials from customers and distributors.I'm going to look for pictures and screen shots that show results.
All of these things will instantly show me that I can trust you, that you have value to offer me, and that I can feel safe doing business with you, before we've even spoken on the phone.
And PLEASE...
2: Pick up the phone and call your leads!!!
If someone's shopping for an opportunity, they're probably going to fill out 3-10 capture pages for different businesses. Who are they going to join?
Simple... The person who took the time to call them and establish a relationship. If you don't call them.
The next guy will, and that's who's going to get their business. Don't be needy. Don't sit there for an hour and compare your opportunity or comp plan to others over the phone.
Establish a rapport. Position yourself as a leader, and tell them what to do next.
3: Educate yourself.
This is THE opportunity of a lifetime for you in this industry. This is as good as it gets, but the only way you'll be able to take advantage of it, is to learn the skills and strategies required to do so. You must know how to brand yourself.
You must know how to get traffic, and you must know how to market your business to your prospects. If you do not own a copy of Magnetic Sponsoring or Traffic Formula yet, how do you honestly expect to compete against the people who do know these techniques?
You can't. There are no short-cuts here. Get educated or get run over.
4: Make your offer "Risk Free", whenever you can.
Give your prospects the opportunity try out your products risk-free, as often as possible. For example, we increased the money money back guarantee period on the Magnetic Sponsoring course from 3 months, to 12 months.
If someone buys the course and doesn't like it, they have a full year to request a no-questions-asked refund. We're giving our customers all of the power because that makes it even easier for them to choose our products instead of someone else's.
Once someone experiences the quality of our products, they usually purchase 2-3 more because they know they can trust us to deliver the best information out there.
Make it as easy, and as risk free as you can for your prospects to do business with you.
Talk to you soon,
Frank Tocco
Jan 20, 2009
Did you know Obama is an Internet Marketer?
Did you know that 25% of all the people who voted for Barack Obama had already signed up to one of his sites or had become his friend in an online social networking group?
Obama extensively used all the same techniques I teach on my weekly live show and I believe it won him the election. I'm going to give you an inside look at exactly how Obama used Internet marketing to dominate politics & win the presidency.
Tune in TONIGHT to my weekly live online marketing show: It's live tonight at 6:30 PM Pacific Standard Time tonight (Tuesday).
Come by and say hi! Just go to: http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live
I'll be there answering live questions about online marketing. You should come by and ask me any questions that you have. I'll open up my call in lines during the show & take your questions. When I do, you can call 1-714-795-2504 to reach me live on the air. Later, this number will also forward through to my team during normal business hours.
A quick favor to ask:
If you are a fan of my live show and are on social networking sites like Twitter, Myspace or Facebook, please send an announcement out telling people about the show. I'd love to see a TON of viewers on tonight's show. Thanks!
I'll also be giving an update on my new social marketing tool:
TweetManager. It's currently in closed private beta testing now. I'll be giving an update on the status of the tool & handing out invites to start using it if you aren't already in. Just click this link when it's time: http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live I look forward to seeing you there!
All the best, Bill McIntosh
http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/billmcintosh
Obama extensively used all the same techniques I teach on my weekly live show and I believe it won him the election. I'm going to give you an inside look at exactly how Obama used Internet marketing to dominate politics & win the presidency.
Tune in TONIGHT to my weekly live online marketing show: It's live tonight at 6:30 PM Pacific Standard Time tonight (Tuesday).
Come by and say hi! Just go to: http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live
I'll be there answering live questions about online marketing. You should come by and ask me any questions that you have. I'll open up my call in lines during the show & take your questions. When I do, you can call 1-714-795-2504 to reach me live on the air. Later, this number will also forward through to my team during normal business hours.
A quick favor to ask:
If you are a fan of my live show and are on social networking sites like Twitter, Myspace or Facebook, please send an announcement out telling people about the show. I'd love to see a TON of viewers on tonight's show. Thanks!
I'll also be giving an update on my new social marketing tool:
TweetManager. It's currently in closed private beta testing now. I'll be giving an update on the status of the tool & handing out invites to start using it if you aren't already in. Just click this link when it's time: http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live I look forward to seeing you there!
All the best, Bill McIntosh
http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/billmcintosh
Jan 15, 2009
Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
Written by Salwa from Blogriffic
With the ever-increasing popularity of the blogosphere, it can be hard to keep up with the competition. However, there are a few tips that can propel your blog to the top of the heap. Here are my top 10 blog writing tips.
1. Make it your own. This is the absolute number one item to remember if you want a loyal readership. Never claim someone else’s work as your own. Too often today we do a search for a specific article key phrase and half a dozen articles pop up that are exactly the same but attributed to different authors.
While there are many authors that will sell the same article with private label rights to anyone, it is usually not a good idea for a blogger. In order to draw a loyal following and gain your readers trust, you want a blog post that is unique, original, and all your own. You want your readers to come to you as the expert.
2. Write for your reader. Don’t write for yourself. While it is certainly easier to simply write about what you know, you also want to write what your reader wants to know. Take the time to do some research if your readers want information that you aren’t already familiar with. By venturing into areas that your readers are looking for, you will only make yourself a better writer.
You may also need to adjust your writing to your audience. Different blogs will have different levels of readers. If you are a mature adult writing for a childrens blog you will need to use a different type of writing. Adjust your writing for your readers or you will lose them.
3. Choose your niche. This can be a very fine line. While a wide niche may draw more readers initially, they will eventually move on when you blog about a topic they aren’t interested in.
Remember, a blogger can’t be everything to everyone.
In the same vein, you also don’t want to have too narrow of a focus or you will simply run out of things to post. You may also turn-away potential readers if you don’t broaden your niche.
4. Keep things simple. Don’t make things overly complicated. You want your blog to be easy to navigate and easy to find. Don’t clutter it up with ads or overused sales gimmicks. Provide the information your readers are looking for and that they will find valuable. Don’t clutter your sidebar with icons or overly long blogrolls. Use a simple color scheme and avoid large graphics. Blogs are not websites and the two are distinctly different. Keep them separate and keep your blog simple.
5. Always respond. Respond to comments and questions as soon as possible. Even if you disagree with a comment post a response. This is the essence of blogging. Free exchange. Not everyone will agree with your views but, if they take the time to disagree, you must take the time to respond.
You must also make sure you answer any questions that are posted. Your reader would not have taken the time to ask the question if they didn’t expect an answer. If you don’t know the answer, say so. Do some research and then respond but don’t simply ignore the question.
6. Use a personal touch in your writing. You will gain a loyal readership by adding that personal touch. Blog readers will come to see you as a trusted friend. They will be able to identify with you if you chat with them as a friend would. A personal touch doesn’t mean to “get personal” it simply means that you don’t need to be too formal with your readers. Formality is not needed when writing blog posts. This can be difficult for some writers who have been formally trained and work hard to ensure there are no grammatical errors in their writing but it is important to present your own personal touch.
7. Check out other blogs. Spend almost as much time reading other blogs as you do writing your own. Don’t be afraid to mention them in your postings and don’t be afraid to present your own counterpoint to someone else’s blog post. This is a great way to get links and trackbacks for your own blog.
See what is working (and not working) for others. Expand upon their success by adding more value to your own blog. Discover what is missing on other blogs and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes. Blog writing is a continuous learning experience. Don’t ever stop learning.
8. Blogging is about writing. Remember that blogging is not about sales. Don’t use your blog simply as a self-promotion tool. It is about providing information and value to your readers. Don’t worry about graphics and logos and ads. Use the written word effectively and you will have an effective blog.
You must also remember that blogs are short. Don’t waste words. Make sure each word is necessary and that you get your point across succinctly. If your words don’t relate to your topic and add value to it then leave them out. Readers don’t care if you’re late for work and haven’t eaten breakfast.
9. Have a clear priority. Don’t try to cover too many topics in one post. If you have twenty things you want to write about, don’t try to cover them all in one post. It is usually acceptable to write about two or three related topics if they fit nicely together but more will simply create confusion. Blog posts are short and to the point. Save those twenty topics for other posts. Twenty topics should give you between ten and twenty posts. You may even find that one topic is broad enough to provide you with the content for several posts.
10. Clean up your old posts. Your blog writing will inevitably improve as you gain experience. As you become a better writer, go back over your original posts and clean them up. In addition to improving the post, a refresh may bring new life to it and bring you increased traffic
Jan 7, 2009
Why should Video Marketing Be Included In Your Marketing Mix?
Why should Video Marketing be included in your marketing mix?
Online video is one of the best venues to engage an audience - don't even think about excluding it! This new medium allows the video creator to communicate a message on multiple levels - via visual imagery, the spoken word, music and visual text. It may sound like a commercial for a Montessori school - but this is the way people learn, and consequently, the way legendary brands are created. As a case in point, think of traditional internet marketing; when was the last time that a paid search listing or banner ad raised your blood pressure or induced you to forward something to a friend? Get the point?
With online video you can also reach a huge audience for a minimal investment, thus the ROI of online video marketing can be astounding. Consider that according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau; more than 50% of the US population will watch video online next year. That's 155.2 million people, and we're just talking the US! Increasingly, people are watching a lot of video as well.
According to comScore, Americans watched 9 billion online videos just in the month of July.
Like everything else, there is no "free lunch" - the video-sharing sites don't charge to host your content, but getting your target audience to watch and forward your video is no easy feat. That's where we come in. Since we are tracking videos across the major video-sharing and social networking sites, we know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.
"Secret Formula" - .50C + .15M + .20T + .15P = Success
Alright, we admit that an exact formula may be a bit over simplistic, but when it comes to deciding how to allocate time and resources on a video intended on marketing something virally, the weighting of these four components should follow closely to something like this: That's it. Write down the formula above on a cocktail napkin and you have the code cracker for getting people to watch and forward your video. The formula above says that creating a video is a weighted function of four components:
50% C = Content and Production - this is storyline, style lightning, production, etc.
15% M = Metadata - the text title, keywords, descriptions, and categories that help people find your video
20% T = Thumbnail - the packaging which draws people in when displayed on the page15% P = promotion - just good old fashioned marketingThese aspects help communicate your message far and wide in a way that makes an emotional connection with the viewers in a way that motivates them to pass it along to others. Now we will dive into each component of the secret video marketing formula.
Content and Production - (.5C)
We know now that 50% of creating a great viral video is about content and production. The goal in this stage is to create something remarkable, literally, something that causes people to remark - and in doing so to effectively convey your message. We've noticed that certain categories tend to garner the interest of large audiences. Regardless of your message, utilizing a proven content category to package your message is a good way to spread your message wide and far.
The remarkable comes in many shapes and sizes:
Humor - everyone loves a laugh, but many of us like to make others laugh as well; this is what makes comedic videos so viral.
Avant-garde videos - videos that push the boundaries of what is acceptable can be incredibly viral - especially since this content never makes it to network TV. But be careful not to damage your brand and to obey by the terms and conditions of the respective video-sharing sites.
Talent - true talent is rare and fascinating. If you can showcase true talent people will forward your video.
Celebrities - we are fascinated with celebrities, and any videos featuring a celebrity are very viral, in part because there are hundreds of websites that follow celebrities and will embed these videos. Beyond virality, celebrities endorsements have a powerful influence on decision making.
Kitsch - don't kill the messenger, but a remarkable number of the most popular videos we are tracking also contain one or more of the following qualities:
Special effects - the Ray Ban sunglass catching video is a great example. In general, any video that generates debate generates viewers
Animal/pet tricks - man is drawn to animals just as he is to fire… it's hard to explain, but it seems to have to do with primitive wiring in the brain
Cute kids - one of the draws of online video is that real people capture real moments, and nothing is as straightforward as a child just being herself
Repetitive, catchy music - certainly not a new concept, but with infinite channels come many more opportunities to put up the experimental jingle
Physical injury - thank goodness it's not me!
Pranks - thank goodness it's not me!
Spoofs - ride the coattails of the tried and true
And of course, sex always sells
The trick, as with any marketing effort, is to both be remarkable AND communicate your message. Use the right package to make your video a hit, but don't create a vehicle without passengers. Make sure the content is doing what it supposed to do. In the online video community, discussions around production are typically in reference to video quality - as it relates to camera, sound, compression, and editing. Some believe that higher production quality is an important component in gaining popularity for ones online videos, while others believe that the popularity of the medium is authenticity, and that lower quality video has a genuine nature that gets lost with higher quality.
Given the plethora of widely seen videos over the internet, this concept of quality hasn't seemed to correlate with audience size or popularity. One thing is for certain: high quality human components of production, such as shooting and editing, make any video more watchable. Paying attention to lighting, framing the shot, and crisp editing is not only more pleasant, it's often required to make the picture viewable in a small window and on sites with file size restrictions.
Bottom line: choose production components that fit with your message, content, and intended audience.
Some great resources for tips on video production can be found at such sites as:
http://videomaker.comhttp://studio.metacafe.com/ (along with many of the sharing sites)http://ourmedia.org/learning-center/videohttp://www.theshirtlessapprentice.comhttp://www.digitalvideosolutions.com/
Metadata (.15M)
Each video-sharing site let's you create "tags," which are words that describe your video. These tags, along with the title and description of the video, are the basis for how your video is located by end users on video-sharing sites like YouTube. This is a simple concept, so it's remarkable that so many content creators screw it up.
Good use of metadata for video has recently become a requirement. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing used to be the realm of text only, but with search engines like Google and Ask adding video to their search results ("Universal" and "3-D" search, respectively), optimizing the metadata around your videos is increasingly important. This means creating rich and relevant video titles, descriptions and tags.
There are only a few specifics that you need to know about tags. First, max out the tags, title and description for every site. The more metadata describing your video, the more likely someone is to find your video. It's surprising to see so many uploaders let so much opportunity go to waste by adding few or non-descript tags. Second, your tags, and particularly the category you choose, should be relevant to your video. We have seen video creators go from little viewership to becoming regularly featured producers simply through a better choice of category.
If you are hosting a video on your own site, the same rules apply. But in such a case, be sure to create a relevant file name for your video. It is also advisable to have just one video per page with a simple text title and description place near the video itself. It's important to keep in mind that most videos are watched in social networking sites, blogs and content sites - not video sharing sites. This means that while you may post your video to YouTube or MetaCafe, many of the views are a result of people embedding that video into another site. The implication is that your video should be hosted on both your website and the video sharing sites for maximum exposure.
One more hint on tags - the TubeMogul "Load and Track" tool shows you how your tags will look on each site as you are uploading videos, and soon will show you the most popular tags and video search terms to help you select appropriate metadata.
Promotion (.15P)
Videos that have relevant and rich tags and descriptions will be found and will be forwarded. But there is nothing wrong with supercharging this process, and this is where promotion comes into play. This is especially important as many video sites employ a "bubble up" methodology that promotes videos and content creators that receive the most views, subscribers, comments, ratings and forwards. Thus, then "bubble up" to the top of video sites and become even more popular. So in the video world, popularity begets more popularity.
Building a community is the single best method for promoting a video. This isn't an overnight process, but can be done by using the infrastructure of the various video-sharing and social networking sites. This means subscribing to people's videos and leaving creative comments so that people click on your profile.
Also, it's important (and fun) to befriend people and invite them to subscribe to your video channels. You can also join and be a meaningful contributor to various newsgroups and chat rooms. If you can pull off these things, you've just created your own set of groupies that will watch your content just because of the relationship, and this applies to both companies and individuals.
Yet another way to build community is to write an interesting blog and create a following, as well as responding to the blog posts of others. Also, you'll be surprised how open bloggers and category experts will be to plug your video in exchange for a "sneak peak" or an interview.
Also consider submitting your videos to other "Web 2.0" websites that employ voting systems to promote content. Some of the most popular sites are Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. As your video or article gains more votes, the video will attract even more attention and may even end up in a featured or "top 10" type category which can generate hundreds of thousands of views in a day.
Generally, deploying videos to multiple sites makes sense as different sites have different content niches and audiences. Essentially, each site represents a community opportunity that you can tap into. TubeMogul "Load and Track" is an easy tool to deploy to multiple sites at once.
Thumbnails (.20T)
The last component of our secret formula, and often the most overlooked, is the thumbnail. A thumbnail is the single image that represents your video. This is the image that someone will see before they decide whether or not to watch the video. If your thumbnail is bad it often doesn't matter if you got all of the other components of the formula right.
So what makes a good thumbnail? Typically thumbnails that are relevant and match the video title, description and tags are all you need. Beyond this, try to select the image that best captures the essence of your video. Unfortunately, each of the video-sharing sites has a different methodology for determining which frame will comprise the thumbnail. At one point, for example, YouTube used the frame that is in the very center of your video as the thumbnail, then they used 1:20 into the video, and now you have a choice of three frames. Other sites give you more options. It will pay off to invest the time to understand how the thumbnail is determined for every site where you deploy your video.
If you have any doubts about the power of thumbnails just check out this video on YouTube - http://youtube.com/watch?v=nhSZs-aAZbo. The video features a thumbnail of Britney Spears topless, but the viewer is soon disappointed to see that the video never delivers upon its promise. In fact, the video has no content, just two frames played over and over - this hasn't stopped close to 7 million people from watching the video!
Video characteristics: grainy quality, celebrity, special effects
Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" video series - www.willitblend.com
Think blenders can't be viral? Blendtec created a video show, complete with theme music and a host that feature their blenders pureeing everything from iPhones to Chuck Norris dolls. The videos are hilarious and definitely convey the message that Blendtec blenders are bad ass. While the videos are distributed on video-sharing sites, the company also built an entire website around the concept. As of 9/24/07 the videos have generated well over 30 million views! Think about what that would cost on network television.
Video characteristics: humor, special effects, integration with retail website, building community (they take requests of what to blend)
FrenchMaidTV's "How To Register A Domain" - www.frenchmaidtv.com
Think of the last trade show you attended - the most popular booth was probably the one seeded with scantily clad and beautiful women. Take that same concept, inject steroids, and you have FrenchMaidTV where sexy French maids demo products. In this video, the maids show us how to register a domain on GoDaddy. Beyond the obvious attraction, the videos are well produced and feature over the top humorous French accents and interesting story lines, reminiscence of an old Benny Hill comedy spoof.
Video characteristics: Sex sells, humor, pushes boundaries
SummaryOnline video is a powerful medium for marketing because of its engagement potential, SEO value, and measurement opportunities. There are specific steps one should take to maximize the chances of producing a wildly popular (and widely viewed) web video campaign, and specific tools to help manage those steps. Remember to choose content that is remarkable and incites an emotional connection with the viewer, recognize the value of metadata to help your videos get found and thumbnails to draw in viewers, and last, use the platforms at your disposal to build communities around your video messages. Online video is a powerful marketing tool if you use it to the fullest!
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
Online video is one of the best venues to engage an audience - don't even think about excluding it! This new medium allows the video creator to communicate a message on multiple levels - via visual imagery, the spoken word, music and visual text. It may sound like a commercial for a Montessori school - but this is the way people learn, and consequently, the way legendary brands are created. As a case in point, think of traditional internet marketing; when was the last time that a paid search listing or banner ad raised your blood pressure or induced you to forward something to a friend? Get the point?
With online video you can also reach a huge audience for a minimal investment, thus the ROI of online video marketing can be astounding. Consider that according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau; more than 50% of the US population will watch video online next year. That's 155.2 million people, and we're just talking the US! Increasingly, people are watching a lot of video as well.
According to comScore, Americans watched 9 billion online videos just in the month of July.
Like everything else, there is no "free lunch" - the video-sharing sites don't charge to host your content, but getting your target audience to watch and forward your video is no easy feat. That's where we come in. Since we are tracking videos across the major video-sharing and social networking sites, we know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.
"Secret Formula" - .50C + .15M + .20T + .15P = Success
Alright, we admit that an exact formula may be a bit over simplistic, but when it comes to deciding how to allocate time and resources on a video intended on marketing something virally, the weighting of these four components should follow closely to something like this: That's it. Write down the formula above on a cocktail napkin and you have the code cracker for getting people to watch and forward your video. The formula above says that creating a video is a weighted function of four components:
50% C = Content and Production - this is storyline, style lightning, production, etc.
15% M = Metadata - the text title, keywords, descriptions, and categories that help people find your video
20% T = Thumbnail - the packaging which draws people in when displayed on the page15% P = promotion - just good old fashioned marketingThese aspects help communicate your message far and wide in a way that makes an emotional connection with the viewers in a way that motivates them to pass it along to others. Now we will dive into each component of the secret video marketing formula.
Content and Production - (.5C)
We know now that 50% of creating a great viral video is about content and production. The goal in this stage is to create something remarkable, literally, something that causes people to remark - and in doing so to effectively convey your message. We've noticed that certain categories tend to garner the interest of large audiences. Regardless of your message, utilizing a proven content category to package your message is a good way to spread your message wide and far.
The remarkable comes in many shapes and sizes:
Humor - everyone loves a laugh, but many of us like to make others laugh as well; this is what makes comedic videos so viral.
Avant-garde videos - videos that push the boundaries of what is acceptable can be incredibly viral - especially since this content never makes it to network TV. But be careful not to damage your brand and to obey by the terms and conditions of the respective video-sharing sites.
Talent - true talent is rare and fascinating. If you can showcase true talent people will forward your video.
Celebrities - we are fascinated with celebrities, and any videos featuring a celebrity are very viral, in part because there are hundreds of websites that follow celebrities and will embed these videos. Beyond virality, celebrities endorsements have a powerful influence on decision making.
Kitsch - don't kill the messenger, but a remarkable number of the most popular videos we are tracking also contain one or more of the following qualities:
Special effects - the Ray Ban sunglass catching video is a great example. In general, any video that generates debate generates viewers
Animal/pet tricks - man is drawn to animals just as he is to fire… it's hard to explain, but it seems to have to do with primitive wiring in the brain
Cute kids - one of the draws of online video is that real people capture real moments, and nothing is as straightforward as a child just being herself
Repetitive, catchy music - certainly not a new concept, but with infinite channels come many more opportunities to put up the experimental jingle
Physical injury - thank goodness it's not me!
Pranks - thank goodness it's not me!
Spoofs - ride the coattails of the tried and true
And of course, sex always sells
The trick, as with any marketing effort, is to both be remarkable AND communicate your message. Use the right package to make your video a hit, but don't create a vehicle without passengers. Make sure the content is doing what it supposed to do. In the online video community, discussions around production are typically in reference to video quality - as it relates to camera, sound, compression, and editing. Some believe that higher production quality is an important component in gaining popularity for ones online videos, while others believe that the popularity of the medium is authenticity, and that lower quality video has a genuine nature that gets lost with higher quality.
Given the plethora of widely seen videos over the internet, this concept of quality hasn't seemed to correlate with audience size or popularity. One thing is for certain: high quality human components of production, such as shooting and editing, make any video more watchable. Paying attention to lighting, framing the shot, and crisp editing is not only more pleasant, it's often required to make the picture viewable in a small window and on sites with file size restrictions.
Bottom line: choose production components that fit with your message, content, and intended audience.
Some great resources for tips on video production can be found at such sites as:
http://videomaker.comhttp://studio.metacafe.com/ (along with many of the sharing sites)http://ourmedia.org/learning-center/videohttp://www.theshirtlessapprentice.comhttp://www.digitalvideosolutions.com/
Metadata (.15M)
Each video-sharing site let's you create "tags," which are words that describe your video. These tags, along with the title and description of the video, are the basis for how your video is located by end users on video-sharing sites like YouTube. This is a simple concept, so it's remarkable that so many content creators screw it up.
Good use of metadata for video has recently become a requirement. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing used to be the realm of text only, but with search engines like Google and Ask adding video to their search results ("Universal" and "3-D" search, respectively), optimizing the metadata around your videos is increasingly important. This means creating rich and relevant video titles, descriptions and tags.
There are only a few specifics that you need to know about tags. First, max out the tags, title and description for every site. The more metadata describing your video, the more likely someone is to find your video. It's surprising to see so many uploaders let so much opportunity go to waste by adding few or non-descript tags. Second, your tags, and particularly the category you choose, should be relevant to your video. We have seen video creators go from little viewership to becoming regularly featured producers simply through a better choice of category.
If you are hosting a video on your own site, the same rules apply. But in such a case, be sure to create a relevant file name for your video. It is also advisable to have just one video per page with a simple text title and description place near the video itself. It's important to keep in mind that most videos are watched in social networking sites, blogs and content sites - not video sharing sites. This means that while you may post your video to YouTube or MetaCafe, many of the views are a result of people embedding that video into another site. The implication is that your video should be hosted on both your website and the video sharing sites for maximum exposure.
One more hint on tags - the TubeMogul "Load and Track" tool shows you how your tags will look on each site as you are uploading videos, and soon will show you the most popular tags and video search terms to help you select appropriate metadata.
Promotion (.15P)
Videos that have relevant and rich tags and descriptions will be found and will be forwarded. But there is nothing wrong with supercharging this process, and this is where promotion comes into play. This is especially important as many video sites employ a "bubble up" methodology that promotes videos and content creators that receive the most views, subscribers, comments, ratings and forwards. Thus, then "bubble up" to the top of video sites and become even more popular. So in the video world, popularity begets more popularity.
Building a community is the single best method for promoting a video. This isn't an overnight process, but can be done by using the infrastructure of the various video-sharing and social networking sites. This means subscribing to people's videos and leaving creative comments so that people click on your profile.
Also, it's important (and fun) to befriend people and invite them to subscribe to your video channels. You can also join and be a meaningful contributor to various newsgroups and chat rooms. If you can pull off these things, you've just created your own set of groupies that will watch your content just because of the relationship, and this applies to both companies and individuals.
Yet another way to build community is to write an interesting blog and create a following, as well as responding to the blog posts of others. Also, you'll be surprised how open bloggers and category experts will be to plug your video in exchange for a "sneak peak" or an interview.
Also consider submitting your videos to other "Web 2.0" websites that employ voting systems to promote content. Some of the most popular sites are Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. As your video or article gains more votes, the video will attract even more attention and may even end up in a featured or "top 10" type category which can generate hundreds of thousands of views in a day.
Generally, deploying videos to multiple sites makes sense as different sites have different content niches and audiences. Essentially, each site represents a community opportunity that you can tap into. TubeMogul "Load and Track" is an easy tool to deploy to multiple sites at once.
Thumbnails (.20T)
The last component of our secret formula, and often the most overlooked, is the thumbnail. A thumbnail is the single image that represents your video. This is the image that someone will see before they decide whether or not to watch the video. If your thumbnail is bad it often doesn't matter if you got all of the other components of the formula right.
So what makes a good thumbnail? Typically thumbnails that are relevant and match the video title, description and tags are all you need. Beyond this, try to select the image that best captures the essence of your video. Unfortunately, each of the video-sharing sites has a different methodology for determining which frame will comprise the thumbnail. At one point, for example, YouTube used the frame that is in the very center of your video as the thumbnail, then they used 1:20 into the video, and now you have a choice of three frames. Other sites give you more options. It will pay off to invest the time to understand how the thumbnail is determined for every site where you deploy your video.
If you have any doubts about the power of thumbnails just check out this video on YouTube - http://youtube.com/watch?v=nhSZs-aAZbo. The video features a thumbnail of Britney Spears topless, but the viewer is soon disappointed to see that the video never delivers upon its promise. In fact, the video has no content, just two frames played over and over - this hasn't stopped close to 7 million people from watching the video!
CASE STUDIES
There are thousands of successful commercial videos that have gone viral, but we thought we'd share with you a few of our favorites:
Nike - "Touch of Gold" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsO6D1rwrKc
Video characteristics: grainy quality, celebrity, special effects
Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" video series - www.willitblend.com
Think blenders can't be viral? Blendtec created a video show, complete with theme music and a host that feature their blenders pureeing everything from iPhones to Chuck Norris dolls. The videos are hilarious and definitely convey the message that Blendtec blenders are bad ass. While the videos are distributed on video-sharing sites, the company also built an entire website around the concept. As of 9/24/07 the videos have generated well over 30 million views! Think about what that would cost on network television.
Video characteristics: humor, special effects, integration with retail website, building community (they take requests of what to blend)
FrenchMaidTV's "How To Register A Domain" - www.frenchmaidtv.com
Think of the last trade show you attended - the most popular booth was probably the one seeded with scantily clad and beautiful women. Take that same concept, inject steroids, and you have FrenchMaidTV where sexy French maids demo products. In this video, the maids show us how to register a domain on GoDaddy. Beyond the obvious attraction, the videos are well produced and feature over the top humorous French accents and interesting story lines, reminiscence of an old Benny Hill comedy spoof.
Video characteristics: Sex sells, humor, pushes boundaries
SummaryOnline video is a powerful medium for marketing because of its engagement potential, SEO value, and measurement opportunities. There are specific steps one should take to maximize the chances of producing a wildly popular (and widely viewed) web video campaign, and specific tools to help manage those steps. Remember to choose content that is remarkable and incites an emotional connection with the viewer, recognize the value of metadata to help your videos get found and thumbnails to draw in viewers, and last, use the platforms at your disposal to build communities around your video messages. Online video is a powerful marketing tool if you use it to the fullest!
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
Dec 20, 2008
The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook
Posted by Tamar Weinberg on Techipedia
Social media mimics real relationships — in many cases. Would you do the following within real face-to-face relationships?
Jump on the friendship bandwagon without properly introducing yourself?
Consistently talk about yourself and promote only yourself without regard for those around you?
Randomly approach a friend you barely talk to and simply ask for favors — repeatedly?
Introduce yourself to another person as “Pink House Gardening?”
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may need a refresher course on social media etiquette — and perhaps real-life etiquette also. Here are some egregious sins that you must not perform on social media sites. Avoid these violations and learn how to manage and maintain online relationships on a variety of popular social media sites.
Facebook
Adding users as friends without proper introductions. If you’re looking to make friends, tell people who you are. Don’t assume they know you — especially if they, well, don’t.
Abuse application invites and consistently invite friends to participate in vampire games. Many call this spam.
Abusing group invites. If your friends are interested, they’ll likely join without your “encouragement.”
And if they don’t accept, don’t send the group request more than once by asking them to join via email, wall post, or Facebook message.
Turning your Facebook profile photo into a pitch so that you can gather leads through your Facebook connections. Thanks, but no thanks. Facebook is about real friendships and not about business — at least not to me.
Using a fake name as your Facebook name. I can’t tell you how many people have added me and their last name is “Com” or “Seo.” I’m not adding you unless you can be honest about who you are.
Once upon a time, Facebook deleted all of the accounts that portrayed people as business entities or things. I wish Facebook would employ the same tactics yet again, because I’m not adding a fake identity as a friend.
Publicizing a private conversation on a wall post. In case it isn’t obvious, Facebook wall posts are completely public to all your friends (unless you tweak your privacy settings). Private matters should be handled privately: via email or even in Facebook private messages.
Tagging individuals in unflattering pictures that may end up costing your friends their jobs. Avoid the unnecessary commentary also, especially on your childhood pictures that portray your tagged friends as chubby and not so popular. Further, if your friends request to be untagged, don’t make a stink of it.
The image above was taken last night and represents the number of pending requests I have on Facebook. If you’re one of the pending friends, you may have violated one of the above rules. Otherwise, see this post.
That said, there’s one other rule that some individuals follow. I know this isn’t the case for all individuals, so your mileage may vary:
Forgetting that some individuals won’t network with you on a “personal” space like Facebook without knowing who you are, even with the proper introduction. If you’re looking to establish a professional relationship with someone, consider LinkedIn. Otherwise, consider building up a rapport with an individual before randomly adding them as your friend. Some people require face-to-face meetings before they invite you into their private lives.
After all, Facebook was a tool that college students were using before it was open to the public, and some still use it as a purely personal and not a professional tool. LinkedIn is still seen as the more professional of the two.
Considering the above example, I pose a question on Facebook etiquette: Is it appropriate to let these requests sit in pending mode or to reject the friends outright? In many instances, these requests are probably better off sitting indefinitely (and it’s healthier than the rejection). Plus, in the future, you may want to end up responding to that friend request positively.
Twitter
Following a user and then unfollowing them before they have a chance to follow back. Or unfollowing them as soon as they follow you.
Mass-following everyone so that you can artificially inflate your numbers. Then, you use that number as a success metric for influence. And maybe then you submit a press release about it.
Consistently using your Twitter stream for nothing but self-promotion and ego. Profy highlights this phenomenon quite well.
Requesting that your friends Retweet your Tweets on a consistent basis. This is much more bothersome when the request comes via IM or email and not on Twitter itself.
The bottom line: If your content is good enough to stand on its own, it will be Retweeted. There is no reason to make a personal request. (And if it doesn’t stand on its own, it usually doesn’t need to be retweeted.)
Not humanizing your profile. Twitter is also about real relationships. Add an avatar and a bio at the minimum. Let people know who you are. To take it a step further, make it easy for people to contact you outside Twitter if necessary. This is especially important if someone on Twitter needs to reach you but can’t direct message you since you’re not following them! If they’re making the effort, it’s probably because they really want to talk to you. (Was it something you said? Usually.)
Streaming only your blog’s RSS feed on Twitter. (If you’re following anyone like this, feel free to take my advice and unfollow them right now. They won’t engage with you, so why engage with their narcissistic self-promotion?)
Using Twitter to repeat personal and confidential correspondence. If you’re not happy with the way an email communication progressed about a private matter, take it up with the person who you were emailing to square things away. Certainly, don’t broadcast your dissatisfaction with the turnout to your entire Twitter audience. It looks unprofessional for you and makes you appear untrustworthy.
Leverage your Twitter connections to send spam via direct messages to those who follow you. Two days later, you may wonder why they don’t follow you anymore.
Abusing Twitter hashtags during a crisis. It’s a shame that Mumbai happened, but this was not the opportunity to capitalize on your CRM software.
Using your Twitter feed as a chat room for conversations that are exclusive in nature and not as a broadcast medium. It’s nice that Twitter empowers you to use the @ symbol to talk directly to individuals, and that’s fine in moderation. As a friend recently said to me, “I’m tired of my Twitter feed being a [private] conversation between person X, person Y, and person Z.” Why don’t the three of you get a room?
[Update: Since this particular tidbit had some follow-up discussion, I summarize this point from @cheapsuits: "The tweeps that talk everyday to each other about banalities gets old." The emphasis here is on "chat rooms" that exclude other individuals in conversations that do not provide value. At all. Ever. I think we all would agree about that point! I also added some new points in italics to clarify.]
LinkedIn
Gathering all the email addresses of users you are connected to — even locating email addresses of LinkedIn Group managers — and utilizing this mailing list to promote your own company or service off-site.
In a specific case, I manage a few LinkedIn groups so my email address is far more visible on the site than I’d like. I’m not connected to the LinkedIn individual who spammed me, but he still took the liberty to use my email address for his personal gain in a completely unsolicited fashion. Perhaps this individual lost sight that LinkedIn is a professional network and not a spam faciliator. Even so, recipients should still be required to opt in.
Asking for endorsements from individuals you don’t know or that didn’t do a good job in your employ.
Writing a recommendation for someone and then firing them just a few days later.
Social News (Digg, Sphinn, Mixx, Reddit, Tip’d, and a whole load of related sites)
Submitting only your own articles and posts to social media sites.
Consistently “taking” (asking for votes) but never giving back. Social news is about reciprocal relationships. Even if the people you are asking votes of will never actually ask you for votes, a random IM that pops up that says “Digg this for me” is far more obtrusive than saying “hey, how’s it going?” and having a real conversation first.
Shouting the same story repeatedly to your friends. Can we say spam? (And if you are still being shouted at repeatedly, why haven’t you unfriended the offenders?)
Submitting a story to a social news site that is completely off-topic. It’s important to understand the communities you contribute to and to understand the rules of the sites that you target. Your story about celebrity cell phones simply does not belong on financial social news site Tipd, no matter how you try to spin it. And when I, as a moderator, tell you that that the submission is not appropriate for the audience especially as it has no relevancy to the subject matter of the site, don’t argue with the decision.
Using the comments field to drop links, especially to related submissions that were made after the fact.
On social sites where buries are public (though professional in nature), assume that it’s personal. In a recent instance, a “bury” on a popular social site upset the submitter so much that he resorted to an unprofessional attack on the person who buried the story by blogging about her. Sadly enough, the bury reason (which was public for all to see) was not at all about the writer of the post but was about the content itself.
In social media and in relationships in general, you should be disagreeing with the statement. That means that you shouldn’t be assuming they’re talking about you as the person who made the statement and that the statement is a reflection of a character flaw. They didn’t like what you said and disagreed. Grow from it. Don’t turn it into something personal when it clearly isn’t.
FriendFeed
Using the service completely for self-promotion. If you’re going to claim your social media profile on that totally awesome service, either don’t share your feeds at all or interact on a semi-consistent basis. Please? FriendFeed is a service but it’s also a community.
Cross-post on all social sites using a site like ping.fm. I don’t need to see the same message from you on Twitter, FriendFeed, your Google Talk status, your Facebook feed, and on your dog’s scrolling LED collar. Keep the spam broadcasts to a minimum. It’s obvious on FriendFeed when this facility is abused.
YouTube
Asking someone repeatedly to watch your crummy video, subscribe to your channel, and give you a 5-star rating.
Force people to subscribe to your YouTube channel by applying an iFrame exploit.
StumbleUpon
Sending more than one story to your network daily. The key to success is moderation. Excess converts to spam.
Submitting and reviewing only your own articles. Do you self-promote this often in real life?
Submitting a story from another social news site to StumbleUpon for more visibility and eyeballs. Once upon a time, I stumbled upon a Digg submission of a Sphinn submission of a blog post. Seriously? Why don’t you just submit the blog post directly instead of using the other sites as conduits? (This infraction goes for all social sites that accept submissions, and not just StumbleUpon.)
Blogging and Commenting
Commenting on other articles and using the name “Yellow Brick Plumbing.” Isn’t your name actually Alan? There’s no SEO value to these comments (they’re nofollowed by default), and all this approach does is makes you lose credibility in the eyes of the blogger. This isn’t the way to network!
Using content from another blog without attribution. Sometimes a specific blog will get an exclusive. Then, another blog will write on the story using the original blog post as its “source” without attribution. Even popular blogs will rip off stories from lesser known blogs in their space. Don’t let greed get in the way of your own blogging habits and make sure to link out where appropriate.
Sending a pitch to a blogger requesting a link exchange even though your site has no relevancy at all to their content. I write about social media, people, not about beer bongs. And well, they say that social media is the new link exchange, so instead of asking for an old-fashioned link (which might have worked in 2002), consider using a more viable strategy for this modern time period.
Turning a blog into a flame war against someone you don’t like. Scott Hendison recounts how forum spam not only turned into a bitter heated battle that may end up going to the courts but how the individual responsible for the abuse is not slowing down. If you’re wrong, acknowledge the wrongdoing and don’t use other blogs to tarnish someone else’s image.
Other Social Sites
Join a new social network and then invite everyone you’ve ever emailed in your lifetime to the service by submitting your entire Gmail address book when the service requests it. Reading the fine print is a wonderful — and you should never volunteer your email account’s password to the social site anyway. (It’s also helpful to keep in mind that your email account password should not be the same as your social profiles, and that’s not a question of etiquette — it’s common sense!)
Finally, a word on social media etiquette in general:
You’re leaving your digital signature on the Internet right now. Think about the consequences of your engagement on any social site. Racial slurs, criticisms without warrant, and blatant abuse doesn’t work in real life, and they really have no place in the social media channels simply because you are far more anonymous on these sites.
If you were living in New York and you walked up to a stranger with the same foul-mouthed comments that are rampant on many social media sites, you may never make it home. Consider how your comments would be perceived before you actually post them, and think about logic above emotion at all times.
Above all, think about maintaining a certain level of professionalism, since people can use whatever you make “permanent” on these sites against you. Not all blogs will remove a comment after you’ve requested that they do so simply because you were angry when you wrote the comment. Before you hit “post,” realize that this will be a permanent reflection of your identity and that it may never be erased. It may even be used against you.
Conclusion
Remember that social media communities are real relationships, real conversations, and as such, they should be treated like they are real. It’s not about a me, myself, and I mentality. It’s about the collective, the community, and the common good.
Do you find that there are other social media violations that are committed on any of the above social sites — or perhaps on sites that I haven’t yet shared? If so, please share these infractions in the comments.
Social media mimics real relationships — in many cases. Would you do the following within real face-to-face relationships?
Jump on the friendship bandwagon without properly introducing yourself?
Consistently talk about yourself and promote only yourself without regard for those around you?
Randomly approach a friend you barely talk to and simply ask for favors — repeatedly?
Introduce yourself to another person as “Pink House Gardening?”
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may need a refresher course on social media etiquette — and perhaps real-life etiquette also. Here are some egregious sins that you must not perform on social media sites. Avoid these violations and learn how to manage and maintain online relationships on a variety of popular social media sites.
Adding users as friends without proper introductions. If you’re looking to make friends, tell people who you are. Don’t assume they know you — especially if they, well, don’t.
Abuse application invites and consistently invite friends to participate in vampire games. Many call this spam.
Abusing group invites. If your friends are interested, they’ll likely join without your “encouragement.”
And if they don’t accept, don’t send the group request more than once by asking them to join via email, wall post, or Facebook message.
Turning your Facebook profile photo into a pitch so that you can gather leads through your Facebook connections. Thanks, but no thanks. Facebook is about real friendships and not about business — at least not to me.
Using a fake name as your Facebook name. I can’t tell you how many people have added me and their last name is “Com” or “Seo.” I’m not adding you unless you can be honest about who you are.
Once upon a time, Facebook deleted all of the accounts that portrayed people as business entities or things. I wish Facebook would employ the same tactics yet again, because I’m not adding a fake identity as a friend.
Publicizing a private conversation on a wall post. In case it isn’t obvious, Facebook wall posts are completely public to all your friends (unless you tweak your privacy settings). Private matters should be handled privately: via email or even in Facebook private messages.
Tagging individuals in unflattering pictures that may end up costing your friends their jobs. Avoid the unnecessary commentary also, especially on your childhood pictures that portray your tagged friends as chubby and not so popular. Further, if your friends request to be untagged, don’t make a stink of it.
The image above was taken last night and represents the number of pending requests I have on Facebook. If you’re one of the pending friends, you may have violated one of the above rules. Otherwise, see this post.
That said, there’s one other rule that some individuals follow. I know this isn’t the case for all individuals, so your mileage may vary:
Forgetting that some individuals won’t network with you on a “personal” space like Facebook without knowing who you are, even with the proper introduction. If you’re looking to establish a professional relationship with someone, consider LinkedIn. Otherwise, consider building up a rapport with an individual before randomly adding them as your friend. Some people require face-to-face meetings before they invite you into their private lives.
After all, Facebook was a tool that college students were using before it was open to the public, and some still use it as a purely personal and not a professional tool. LinkedIn is still seen as the more professional of the two.
Considering the above example, I pose a question on Facebook etiquette: Is it appropriate to let these requests sit in pending mode or to reject the friends outright? In many instances, these requests are probably better off sitting indefinitely (and it’s healthier than the rejection). Plus, in the future, you may want to end up responding to that friend request positively.
Following a user and then unfollowing them before they have a chance to follow back. Or unfollowing them as soon as they follow you.
Mass-following everyone so that you can artificially inflate your numbers. Then, you use that number as a success metric for influence. And maybe then you submit a press release about it.
Consistently using your Twitter stream for nothing but self-promotion and ego. Profy highlights this phenomenon quite well.
Requesting that your friends Retweet your Tweets on a consistent basis. This is much more bothersome when the request comes via IM or email and not on Twitter itself.
The bottom line: If your content is good enough to stand on its own, it will be Retweeted. There is no reason to make a personal request. (And if it doesn’t stand on its own, it usually doesn’t need to be retweeted.)
Not humanizing your profile. Twitter is also about real relationships. Add an avatar and a bio at the minimum. Let people know who you are. To take it a step further, make it easy for people to contact you outside Twitter if necessary. This is especially important if someone on Twitter needs to reach you but can’t direct message you since you’re not following them! If they’re making the effort, it’s probably because they really want to talk to you. (Was it something you said? Usually.)
Streaming only your blog’s RSS feed on Twitter. (If you’re following anyone like this, feel free to take my advice and unfollow them right now. They won’t engage with you, so why engage with their narcissistic self-promotion?)
Using Twitter to repeat personal and confidential correspondence. If you’re not happy with the way an email communication progressed about a private matter, take it up with the person who you were emailing to square things away. Certainly, don’t broadcast your dissatisfaction with the turnout to your entire Twitter audience. It looks unprofessional for you and makes you appear untrustworthy.
Leverage your Twitter connections to send spam via direct messages to those who follow you. Two days later, you may wonder why they don’t follow you anymore.
Abusing Twitter hashtags during a crisis. It’s a shame that Mumbai happened, but this was not the opportunity to capitalize on your CRM software.
Using your Twitter feed as a chat room for conversations that are exclusive in nature and not as a broadcast medium. It’s nice that Twitter empowers you to use the @ symbol to talk directly to individuals, and that’s fine in moderation. As a friend recently said to me, “I’m tired of my Twitter feed being a [private] conversation between person X, person Y, and person Z.” Why don’t the three of you get a room?
[Update: Since this particular tidbit had some follow-up discussion, I summarize this point from @cheapsuits: "The tweeps that talk everyday to each other about banalities gets old." The emphasis here is on "chat rooms" that exclude other individuals in conversations that do not provide value. At all. Ever. I think we all would agree about that point! I also added some new points in italics to clarify.]
Gathering all the email addresses of users you are connected to — even locating email addresses of LinkedIn Group managers — and utilizing this mailing list to promote your own company or service off-site.
In a specific case, I manage a few LinkedIn groups so my email address is far more visible on the site than I’d like. I’m not connected to the LinkedIn individual who spammed me, but he still took the liberty to use my email address for his personal gain in a completely unsolicited fashion. Perhaps this individual lost sight that LinkedIn is a professional network and not a spam faciliator. Even so, recipients should still be required to opt in.
Asking for endorsements from individuals you don’t know or that didn’t do a good job in your employ.
Writing a recommendation for someone and then firing them just a few days later.
Social News (Digg, Sphinn, Mixx, Reddit, Tip’d, and a whole load of related sites)
Submitting only your own articles and posts to social media sites.
Consistently “taking” (asking for votes) but never giving back. Social news is about reciprocal relationships. Even if the people you are asking votes of will never actually ask you for votes, a random IM that pops up that says “Digg this for me” is far more obtrusive than saying “hey, how’s it going?” and having a real conversation first.
Shouting the same story repeatedly to your friends. Can we say spam? (And if you are still being shouted at repeatedly, why haven’t you unfriended the offenders?)
Submitting a story to a social news site that is completely off-topic. It’s important to understand the communities you contribute to and to understand the rules of the sites that you target. Your story about celebrity cell phones simply does not belong on financial social news site Tipd, no matter how you try to spin it. And when I, as a moderator, tell you that that the submission is not appropriate for the audience especially as it has no relevancy to the subject matter of the site, don’t argue with the decision.
Using the comments field to drop links, especially to related submissions that were made after the fact.
On social sites where buries are public (though professional in nature), assume that it’s personal. In a recent instance, a “bury” on a popular social site upset the submitter so much that he resorted to an unprofessional attack on the person who buried the story by blogging about her. Sadly enough, the bury reason (which was public for all to see) was not at all about the writer of the post but was about the content itself.
In social media and in relationships in general, you should be disagreeing with the statement. That means that you shouldn’t be assuming they’re talking about you as the person who made the statement and that the statement is a reflection of a character flaw. They didn’t like what you said and disagreed. Grow from it. Don’t turn it into something personal when it clearly isn’t.
FriendFeed
Using the service completely for self-promotion. If you’re going to claim your social media profile on that totally awesome service, either don’t share your feeds at all or interact on a semi-consistent basis. Please? FriendFeed is a service but it’s also a community.
Cross-post on all social sites using a site like ping.fm. I don’t need to see the same message from you on Twitter, FriendFeed, your Google Talk status, your Facebook feed, and on your dog’s scrolling LED collar. Keep the spam broadcasts to a minimum. It’s obvious on FriendFeed when this facility is abused.
YouTube
Asking someone repeatedly to watch your crummy video, subscribe to your channel, and give you a 5-star rating.
Force people to subscribe to your YouTube channel by applying an iFrame exploit.
StumbleUpon
Sending more than one story to your network daily. The key to success is moderation. Excess converts to spam.
Submitting and reviewing only your own articles. Do you self-promote this often in real life?
Submitting a story from another social news site to StumbleUpon for more visibility and eyeballs. Once upon a time, I stumbled upon a Digg submission of a Sphinn submission of a blog post. Seriously? Why don’t you just submit the blog post directly instead of using the other sites as conduits? (This infraction goes for all social sites that accept submissions, and not just StumbleUpon.)
Blogging and Commenting
Commenting on other articles and using the name “Yellow Brick Plumbing.” Isn’t your name actually Alan? There’s no SEO value to these comments (they’re nofollowed by default), and all this approach does is makes you lose credibility in the eyes of the blogger. This isn’t the way to network!
Using content from another blog without attribution. Sometimes a specific blog will get an exclusive. Then, another blog will write on the story using the original blog post as its “source” without attribution. Even popular blogs will rip off stories from lesser known blogs in their space. Don’t let greed get in the way of your own blogging habits and make sure to link out where appropriate.
Sending a pitch to a blogger requesting a link exchange even though your site has no relevancy at all to their content. I write about social media, people, not about beer bongs. And well, they say that social media is the new link exchange, so instead of asking for an old-fashioned link (which might have worked in 2002), consider using a more viable strategy for this modern time period.
Turning a blog into a flame war against someone you don’t like. Scott Hendison recounts how forum spam not only turned into a bitter heated battle that may end up going to the courts but how the individual responsible for the abuse is not slowing down. If you’re wrong, acknowledge the wrongdoing and don’t use other blogs to tarnish someone else’s image.
Other Social Sites
Join a new social network and then invite everyone you’ve ever emailed in your lifetime to the service by submitting your entire Gmail address book when the service requests it. Reading the fine print is a wonderful — and you should never volunteer your email account’s password to the social site anyway. (It’s also helpful to keep in mind that your email account password should not be the same as your social profiles, and that’s not a question of etiquette — it’s common sense!)
Finally, a word on social media etiquette in general:
You’re leaving your digital signature on the Internet right now. Think about the consequences of your engagement on any social site. Racial slurs, criticisms without warrant, and blatant abuse doesn’t work in real life, and they really have no place in the social media channels simply because you are far more anonymous on these sites.
If you were living in New York and you walked up to a stranger with the same foul-mouthed comments that are rampant on many social media sites, you may never make it home. Consider how your comments would be perceived before you actually post them, and think about logic above emotion at all times.
Above all, think about maintaining a certain level of professionalism, since people can use whatever you make “permanent” on these sites against you. Not all blogs will remove a comment after you’ve requested that they do so simply because you were angry when you wrote the comment. Before you hit “post,” realize that this will be a permanent reflection of your identity and that it may never be erased. It may even be used against you.
Conclusion
Remember that social media communities are real relationships, real conversations, and as such, they should be treated like they are real. It’s not about a me, myself, and I mentality. It’s about the collective, the community, and the common good.
Do you find that there are other social media violations that are committed on any of the above social sites — or perhaps on sites that I haven’t yet shared? If so, please share these infractions in the comments.
5 International Social Networks To Keep An Eye On
Facebook and MySpace may reign supreme in North America, but we can't forget that they don't control every country in the world. Simply put, people from around the globe have different tastes and the major U.S. networks barely capture relevant market share in some countries.
China: Xiaonei
Xiaonei is basically a Chinese Facebook clone. The site's design is extremely similar to Facebook's layout and profile options are quite similar, as well. But with a reported $430 million in funding raised earlier this year, it's poised to keep its lead across the world's most populated country, regardless of its similarity to the social network giant.
South Korea: Cyworld
South Korea's Cyworld has been the de facto leader in that country for years. And although the odds are against it, it recently launched a U.S. site in an attempt to expand globally and take Facebook and MySpace on directly.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
It's a big world out there and believe it or not, Facebook and MySpace don't own it.
China: Xiaonei
Xiaonei is basically a Chinese Facebook clone. The site's design is extremely similar to Facebook's layout and profile options are quite similar, as well. But with a reported $430 million in funding raised earlier this year, it's poised to keep its lead across the world's most populated country, regardless of its similarity to the social network giant.
Xiaonei targets college-age Chinese students. According to figures it released earlier this year, the social network currently has 15 million registered users and almost 9 million active users visiting the site each day. Much like Facebook, the service allows users to share photos and videos and connect with friends at school.
Xiaonei also provides a platform for users to share music and movies--a practice that shouldn't come as a shock considering China is one of the leading sources of piracy in the world. Much like Japan's top social network, Mixi, no third-party apps are allowed on the service, though.
France: Skyrock 
France's leading social network, Skyrock, may surprise you a bit: it never was supposed to be a social network. Skyrock started as a blog in 2002, which was eventually abandoned in 2007 and turned into a social network. It was the right move.
Skyrock dubs itself the "Free People Network" and generally succeeds in making that moniker hold up. User profiles are freely available with site registration and users can create blog entries that are published on the site's main page. The top 100 bloggers are featured under the site's "Blogs" heading, which also includes a blogger "Hall of Fame" and a running tally of articles--656,000 as of this writing. According to the site's figures at the top of its page, there are currently 20 million blogs and 11.3 million profiles on Skyrock.
France's leading social network, Skyrock, may surprise you a bit: it never was supposed to be a social network. Skyrock started as a blog in 2002, which was eventually abandoned in 2007 and turned into a social network. It was the right move.
Skyrock dubs itself the "Free People Network" and generally succeeds in making that moniker hold up. User profiles are freely available with site registration and users can create blog entries that are published on the site's main page. The top 100 bloggers are featured under the site's "Blogs" heading, which also includes a blogger "Hall of Fame" and a running tally of articles--656,000 as of this writing. According to the site's figures at the top of its page, there are currently 20 million blogs and 11.3 million profiles on Skyrock.
If you want to create a profile--anyone from any country is allowed to do so--the site does require a quick registration. But if you're looking for privacy, you won't find it here--Skyrock is all about being open and hides nothing from site visitors.
Germany: StudiVZ 
StudiVZ is, well, an almost exact replica of Facebook, but without the company's signature blue design. Instead, the German firm employs a red palette in an attempt to differentiate itself. Regardless, its profile pages look almost exactly the same as Facebook's and its many features mimic the social network giant. Because of that, Facebook initiated an intellectual property infringement case against StudiVZ back in July. So far, nothing has come out of that lawsuit other than posturing on both sides and much to Facebook's chagrin, StudiVZ's 9 million users haven't stopped using the site.
Once users register for StudiVZ, it allows them to create a profile and interact with others. They can upload photos and videos, share interests, make updates, and post messages on friends' walls. In fact, most Facebook users would feel right at home using StudiVZ. See what I'm getting at?
StudiVZ is, well, an almost exact replica of Facebook, but without the company's signature blue design. Instead, the German firm employs a red palette in an attempt to differentiate itself. Regardless, its profile pages look almost exactly the same as Facebook's and its many features mimic the social network giant. Because of that, Facebook initiated an intellectual property infringement case against StudiVZ back in July. So far, nothing has come out of that lawsuit other than posturing on both sides and much to Facebook's chagrin, StudiVZ's 9 million users haven't stopped using the site.
Once users register for StudiVZ, it allows them to create a profile and interact with others. They can upload photos and videos, share interests, make updates, and post messages on friends' walls. In fact, most Facebook users would feel right at home using StudiVZ. See what I'm getting at?
Japan: Mixi 
Say what you will about the prominence of MySpace and Facebook in the U.S., but in Japan, they barely compete. A major social network called Mixi reigns supreme and there's nothing Facebook nor MySpace have been able to do about it.
Say what you will about the prominence of MySpace and Facebook in the U.S., but in Japan, they barely compete. A major social network called Mixi reigns supreme and there's nothing Facebook nor MySpace have been able to do about it.
Mixi controls almost every aspect of the member's profile design and structure and it doesn't even let third-party developers deploy apps on the site. Membership is restricted to users over 18 years of age and requires an invitation from a current user to sign-up. According to the company, just 5 percent of the site's 15 million users provide their real names and photos and every visitor to a person's profile page is recorded so they can see who has been looking them up.
It's difficult to call Mixi a social network considering such a few number of its members really want to be that "social", but it's considered one nonetheless. The company is sitting atop Japan's group of networks, which includes both MySpace and Facebook, and so far, neither can gain significant ground.
South Korea: CyworldSouth Korea's Cyworld has been the de facto leader in that country for years. And although the odds are against it, it recently launched a U.S. site in an attempt to expand globally and take Facebook and MySpace on directly.
Cyworld's success has been astounding. The site currently has more than one-third of South Korea's entire population using its service and 90 percent of all South Koreans in their 20s use the site.
Once users sign up for the service, they can create their own profile and an avatar, which becomes their digital face to the world. That avatar can then be personalized to modify hair color and general look. Once that's complete, Cyworld allows users to upload photos, exchange virtual gifts, or create a club where others who share the same interests can join and interact. According to the company, its intention is to create a "virtual world." So far, that vision has proven relatively successful.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
Dec 18, 2008
Seth Godin Talks About Sliced Bread And Other Marketing Delights
Attraction Marketing Guru Seth Godin talks about getting the word out with your marketing message. Very informative video and Seth has a way of explaining things that make it easy to understand, retain and act upon.
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
Enjoy and Please Leave Your Comments
Talk soon,Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
Dec 16, 2008
What is a FUNDED PROPOSAL?
When I first got started in Network Marketing I had dreams of easily growing a huge team quickly, and covering my monthly autoship expenses without a problem. Most MLM companies require some kind of minimum monthly purchase of a consumable product to keep you qualified to earn commissions - or to keep your business “active”. There is nothing wrong with this - other than most of the time MLM business opportunities do not spit off a large monthly income, but you are rather building your business for the long term payoff after 2 to 5 years of hard work.
What happens to 95% of people that will join your team is that they will not generate income fast enough and then get discouraged. But Who can blame them?
Every month they see money leaving their pockets to cover the monthly autoship expenses, and very little to no income coming in. Obviously this does not sound like a good way to run a business? And this is what most of your new recruits will be saying as well. This is one of the biggest things that leads to the huge revolving door this business has created.
So what can you do to turn this around? Find a way to put instant cashflow in your pocket, and the pockets of your new recruits as quickly as possible! This is where the FUNDED PROPOSAL comes into play for your business.
A FUNDED PROPOSAL is basically a way for you to generate income from your prospects, even if they never join your primary business. In other words you generate a lead, more than likely using the internet, and then offer them an educational product that they can purchase - without joining your primary business. This is what puts cash into your pocket that will cover your monthly expenses, pay for additional advertising or maybe even cover your car payment!
There are several systems available online that you can simply plug into and start using as a FUNDED PROPOSAL.
I recommend Magnetic Sponsoring, as it is what I use to generate 10-15 new leads per day, and $500.00 to $1500 per month regardless of anyone joining my business. It is a must for anyone trying to build there business online, and was the change I needed in my business for success.
Learn the little-known Internet prospecting secret that has been quietly making thousands of network marketers rich, without rejection, frustration, or spending any money on advertising.
In fact, with this secret...
People Actually Pay You To Hear About Your MLM Opportunity And Products!
Enjoy your new Magnetic Sponsoring System and I look forward to hearing your success story after putting it to use.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
What happens to 95% of people that will join your team is that they will not generate income fast enough and then get discouraged. But Who can blame them?
Every month they see money leaving their pockets to cover the monthly autoship expenses, and very little to no income coming in. Obviously this does not sound like a good way to run a business? And this is what most of your new recruits will be saying as well. This is one of the biggest things that leads to the huge revolving door this business has created.
So what can you do to turn this around? Find a way to put instant cashflow in your pocket, and the pockets of your new recruits as quickly as possible! This is where the FUNDED PROPOSAL comes into play for your business.
A FUNDED PROPOSAL is basically a way for you to generate income from your prospects, even if they never join your primary business. In other words you generate a lead, more than likely using the internet, and then offer them an educational product that they can purchase - without joining your primary business. This is what puts cash into your pocket that will cover your monthly expenses, pay for additional advertising or maybe even cover your car payment!
There are several systems available online that you can simply plug into and start using as a FUNDED PROPOSAL.
I recommend Magnetic Sponsoring, as it is what I use to generate 10-15 new leads per day, and $500.00 to $1500 per month regardless of anyone joining my business. It is a must for anyone trying to build there business online, and was the change I needed in my business for success.
Learn the little-known Internet prospecting secret that has been quietly making thousands of network marketers rich, without rejection, frustration, or spending any money on advertising.
In fact, with this secret...
People Actually Pay You To Hear About Your MLM Opportunity And Products!
Enjoy your new Magnetic Sponsoring System and I look forward to hearing your success story after putting it to use.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Social Media Networking Tips
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