March 3rd, 2010
A friend of mine recently sent me a great article by Joel Spolsky on why he was shutting down his blog. It appears Joel had great success in creating a blog about programming but he felt it was time to focus his time on taking his business to the next level. As he prepares to shut down the blog, he reflected back on what made the blog such a great tool in growing his business.
What Joel did, without even trying to, was create a community of programmers that were highly interested in his product. He did this by not focusing on himself or his company but rather the industry as a whole. This allowed him to draw-in over a million unique visitors a month that may have otherwise not had an interest in his company. While he admitted it was hard to not give into the impulse of self-promotion, he saw it as the key to his success.
As Joel shuts down his blog, he does so having used it to grow his company from a single person, bootstrap company, to over 30 employees and millions in revenue. Not bad for a man with a vision and a blog. What interested me in the story though was HOW he did it. Time and time again he pointed out that the only reason why the blog worked was because he didn’t focus on himself or his company, only on his industry.
This is an important lesson to take away. Even as a seasoned blogger I sometimes succumb to the temptation to self-promote, although the times are few and far between, they show how easy it is to do. All too often I run across blogs that have aired on the side of self-promotion and they immediately seal their fate that I will not return. Even if the writer is amazing, witty and captures my attention, it is not worth sifting through the sales pitch.
This is even a problem that I will run into with my clients. They will love the traffic and response they are getting and decide they want to through in a quick pitch for one of their products or services. I try to warn them against the move but it is ultimately their blog and their company. And although the results of this quick pitch might not be immediately felt, it is evident that repeated self-promotion leads to stagnated growth. Even an expert in growing a blog’s reach, like me, can do little if the content is not what people are looking for.
I guess my mom was right; it’s not all about me.
TAGS: advertising, blog, business, communication, social media, social networking, strategy, web traffic
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February 23rd, 2010
My mom doesn’t approve of most of the things I do. Since the seventh grade I have seemed to make it my life’s mission to act in a way that she finds unacceptable. However, after over 20 years she has learned that I am going to do things my own way and that is (usually) okay. So as I go through my life I am happy to share with her all the details that she may or may not approve of.
When I started participating in social media several years ago I thought about what information I would or would not share. I looked back to my relationship with my mother. Beneath the disproval of my actions, there seemed to be a genuine appreciation of the honesty. And so I applied that open book policy to social media.
Yes, I do and share things that some people may not agree with. I am a young man and I like to work hard and play hard. There are no apologies about that. But even after years of allowing an open book approach to my life, I occasionally cringe at the thought of sharing certain information. However, I take a deep breath and remember that even the worse of me, is still me and even if people one hundred percent disagree with me, they can at least appreciate my honesty.
So when people object to the thought of sharing information, I instinctively wonder what it is they have to hide. Don’t get me wrong, I get where people are coming from. I understand the desire for privacy and not wanting certain people to know certain things about you. Believe it or not, I am a fairly private person that doesn’t generally like to mix my business and personal life. However, I am me, one hundred percent of the time.
For the people that do question about what they should or should not share with the social media world, consider the mother filter. Would you share the information with your mother? If so, I say go ahead and let the world know about it. If it is something you would not want your mom to know about, it is probably best kept off the internet entirely. Once something is posted to the internet you should assume the entire world, your mother included, can see it.
TAGS: communication, social media, social networking, strategy
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February 16th, 2010
As hard as it is for me to comprehend, there are people that disagree with me. I’m not sure what these people are thinking but apparently they don’t wholly and unquestionably accept my worldview. I’ve grown accustomed to this from a personal side of things (I’m a pretty unique character!) but when it comes down to business, it is still down right frustrating.
Now, I’m not saying I have all the answers; there are a lot of things that I suck at in life. However, one thing that I know I do not suck at is using social media to help companies grow. Therefore, when people question my tactics and procedures I am immediately defensive. This is what I do day in and day out, this is what I eat, breath and sleep, this is how I make my money, this is all I do!
Don’t worry; the point of this piece is not for me to grip. I point out my frustration because it is an internal obstacle I have to overcome from time to time. The fact of the matter is that when I am frustrated at others for not seeing my point of view, I should really be frustrated at myself for not properly explaining myself.
I am going through one of these internal/external struggles right now. A client of mine is not too pleased right now because they have received some negative response throughout the social media community. However, I am very used to negative responses and I simply see them as an opportunity to disprove critics. My client does not so easily accept the public criticism.
My initial reaction was to wholly reject my client’s objections and tell them to trust in my expertise. But then I realized that this does not really handle the issue at hand. What happens when more negative comments come? What happens when they disagree with something else? Telling them to simply ignore it will not suffice.
I need to take responsibility for not properly informing the client what a great opportunity a negative response presents. It will be my job in our phone call tomorrow to properly illustrate my worldview to the client so they can share my vision. Any frustration that I feel is simply because I had failed to do this earlier.
It is easy to become frustrated when others disagree with us. However, instead of pointing the finger outward, look inwards and you will most likely see who is to blame for your frustration.
TAGS: advertising, business operation, entrepreneur, social media, strategy
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January 7th, 2010
All December I felt like a title wave of work has been pounding against me. New clients were signing up, existing clients were expanding and hot prospects were pounding on my door. As the work began to pile up, things began to slip. Projects were launched a week late, things I thought I sent never got sent and follow-ups were never completed.
When I would explain to people how tight my time was they would generally respond with “what a great problem to have!” Of course this would make me blush and agree, yes, it is wonderful to be busy because it means that business is booming. But is it really so great to be so busy? As I begin to pull myself out from the mess, the resounding answer is no.
A month plus of simply trying to keep my head above water certainly did nothing to help my business. New clients got started on shaky ground, prospects were turned off because I couldn’t answer their questions and current clients began to question my loyalty to them. All of this because I wanted to do everything at once and I was convinced that growth was good at any cost.
Now that I am getting reorganized and refocused I know things need to change. Yes, I do need more help and that is on the way soon. I also realized that I personally must change the way that I do business. Just because a prospect decides to sign-up does not mean that I need to drop everything to get them started at once. From now on I will only be launching one project at a time. This allows me to focus on the launch, ensure my current clients are still catered to and frees up time to return calls and emails.
Might I loose some clients because they do not want to have to wait to launch their campaign? Sure, but I would rather loose business because I could not meet their schedule than loose business because I could not meet their expectations. Time is a very valuable asset and I must carefully assess where I spend it.
So, yes, it is great that my business is growing and people are interested in my services. But is it great to be too busy? Absolutely not. Having clients that are too happy is the only great problem that I want have!
TAGS: business, clients, prospects, Rebel, time management
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December 23rd, 2009
When most people think about social media experts a fair dosing of snake oil salesmanship comes to mind. Heck, a lot of people would consider me a social media expert and I regard the title with skepticism at best. Regardless of these hesitations, there are actual social media experts out there but the question is: what makes someone a social media expert?
In my mind there is only one definable trait to a social media expert: positive return on investment. I don’t care if the person tells you to send out one tweet a year or to shut down your Facebook account, if what they do provides a positive return on investment for your company, then I would consider them an expert! Whether the investment was a book, seminar or all-out social media campaign, if what they provided you made more money than it cost, they are experts.
So often people like to talk about the “right” way to use social media. They’ll talk about the newest social network that you just need to use, the exact number of followers you need to be important or the five rules you must follow if you want to be successful. And the majority of what is out there is very helpful but if the return doesn’t outweigh the time and investment, it was a pointless transfer of knowledge.
Actual experts will seldom tell you there is only one way to accomplish an objective. What an expert should do is craft a plan that connects, enthralls and turns consumer into customers. An expert should be able to realize that what works for one person might not work for everyone. An expert is someone like Wayne Breitbarth, who teaches about a formula to success and how you are the cornerstone of that formula.
With the dozens of clients that I have worked with I have had one that has not seen a positive return on investment. To him I am not a social media expert, thus why I seldom accept the title. For whatever reason though that client has stuck with me and I am dedicated to showing him a positive return. We will continue to shape and create a social media campaign that drives in qualified leads that turn into customers. If we were to continue with rigid adherence to what worked for my other clients, we would never be able to find him the business he needs.
Perhaps when I show that last client a positive return on investment I will be happy to call myself a social media expert, but until then, I am content with the title of my choice: social media artist. For I truly hope to meld and mold great social media works of art. I realize that the canvas and brushes may change but the output should not. For in this art form the output is a positive return on investment and that is a work of art.
TAGS: Facebook, return on investment, ROI, social media, social media expert, social networking, tweets, Twitter
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December 2nd, 2009
Well, if you are reading this, then yes. Eighteen months, or maybe even a year ago, I would have considered an argument that social media is meant for a specific target demographic. However, the breadth and depth of social media today is so consuming that it seems naive of any company to not fully delve into social media.
Why must you use it? Although my mother would tell me this is a horrible excuse, everyone is doing it. Even if you are a staunch resister of the social media title wave, you have undoubtedly dabbled, looked or tried. Most of you will have favorite sites and think that others are stupid or a waste of time. I understand all of these perceptions. But let me assure you, if you want to continue to see serious growth in 2010, you need to go all-in on social media. It has been, and will continue to be, the medium that changes how we communicate.
Yes, yes, I am well aware that this sounds like a scare tactic from a social media expert that has much to gain from a slew of companies jumping into the social media game. The reality is that I have more to gain from a gradual social media acceptance than I do a massive onslaught. Already people that I taught how to use social media are labeling themselves experts and trying to take a piece of the social media pie. If suddenly there is a lot more pie to go around, more “experts” will follow.
Not only that, I am far from the only person to suggest that social media is now a must. In his book “Crush It” Gary Vaynerchuk tells his reader that they should be on every social media site possible. Although I would not go to this extreme, it has become apparent that a strong social media presence is essential to continued growth. Gary doesn’t just point out the necessity for social media, he also points out that social media has leveled the playing field in business. Now, any size company can connect with an unlimited number of consumers. No longer do the gatekeepers of large media dictate where the public devotes their attention.
Not only is social media a must, it is a great opportunity. If you are a small company you now have the opportunity to connect with limitless consumers and over take the goliaths of the world. If you are a large company you have the opportunity to connect with consumers and turn them into life long buyers.
So yes, social media is a must but you should consider it the greatest opportunity your company has ever been given.
TAGS: communication, social media, social networking
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November 18th, 2009
I was reading an interesting blog post awhile back that was discussing whether Facebook will even be around in five years. It seems that social networking sites are unable to find a business model that translates into profits. Being that my business revolves around social media, this started to concern me. But then I realized: who cares!
My epiphany came in the realization that social media is not at all a shift in technology; it is a shift in the way we communicate. No longer are we dependent upon a single source to push out a message through a given medium. Although television, radio and magazines will almost certainly continue in some form, their impact has already begun to dwindle. Large conglomerates no longer dictate what information we should know; we have become a water cooler society.
What I mean by water cooler society is that our information is now distributed casually from person to person, just like rumors at the office water cooler. Yes, we can learn about the Iraq war from the massive amount of television coverage or we could read the blog of a soldier fighting on the front lines. Yes, we can get a recap of yesterday’s news from the newspaper or we can hear it from our friends in our news feeds.
Although it may seem like it, this water cooler society did not arrive on our doorsteps overnight. Since the advent of the internet we have been moving in this directions. Forums, chats and groups paved the way for what we now call social media. Forms of blogging have been around since the mid-nineties and modern social networking sites since the early 2000s. Granted, this is a quick timeline in the sense of changing how information is passed from person to person, but is by no means instantaneous. Society has been striving for a new way to communicate for sometime now.
Even if Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn all fall off the face of the earth tomorrow the way we communicate is unlikely to change. In their void will come new technologies that allow us to continue our water cooler society. Gone are the days of one-way communication and here to stay is an era of word of mouth conversation. So, die if you must Facebook, it wont effect my business none.
TAGS: communication, Facebook, linkedin, MySpace, social media, social networking, Twitter
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November 10th, 2009
In July of this year I ended my 6th year in the United States Marine Corps. Today the Marine Corps celebrates its 234th year protecting this nation. I figured I would take this opportunity to reflect on the six years that the Corps and I shared.
For most, the memory of their time in the Corps starts when they are told to get off the bus and stand on the yellow footprints. For me this seems completely detached from my time in the Corps. Even the day I received my coveted Eagle, Globe and Anchor now seems meaningless in hindsight. The one thing that I do remember from boot camp though is when a drill instructor told us that we would not be “real” Marines until we came back from our first deployment.
This stuck with me as I finished up my training and, as fate would have, it would not take me long to learn what the drill instructor meant. The day I checked into my reserve unit I was told not to get a job, not to go to school, not to do anything: I was going to Iraq. I remember feeling proud because I was going to do what Marines were supposed to do.
The first time I left the safety of the base in Iraq I felt this flood of emotions pass over me. I was excited, scared and proud, all at once. It felt like I could not see, smell or feel fast enough. Every light was a possible enemy, every sound an ambush, every movement an attack. My job on that first day was to close off a road so that other Marines could search for explosives.
It was the summer months in Iraq and we had been out since early in the morning. I was hot, tired and convinced nothing was going to happen. As soon as these thoughts entered my head, a car came rushing past our stop signs, past the concertina wire and straight for my unit. After my shouts and arm signals would not stop him, I looked through the scope on my rifle, saw the driver and pulled the trigger.
There would be several more times that I would do this throughout my deployment, however, it was that first time that stays in my mind clear as day. It turned out that I missed, the driver stopped and everything was fine. But there would be days when I didn’t miss, when the driver wouldn’t stop or when everything wasn’t fine. For each of these days I felt myself slip further and further away from what boot camp taught me it meant to be a Marine and towards what I considered to be a “real” Marine.
After two combat deployments, several trips to other countries and six years, I try to define what that “real” Marine was that I was striving for. I think about the men that I know to be real Marines. I think about Sergeant Shogren who took me under his wing and forced me to be prepared for our deployment. I think about Staff Sergeant Conly who refused to leave the frontlines after being seriously injured and then snuck back onto the battlefield to be with his men. I think about Sergeant Jacobs who had us give all our money to a poor Iraqi family.
I think about these men and the definition of a real Marine comes into view. These are brave, selfless men that did more then they ever had to do, in the world’s worst conditions. It is hard for me to consider myself a “real” Marine when I compared myself to these amazing men. All I know is that I feel humbled to have stood next to men like these, humbled to have shared the title of Marine.
TAGS: combat, Iraq, Marine Corps
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November 2nd, 2009
In a recent seminar I was harping on people that they need to be constant and consistent in their postings on social media sites. Things were running along smoothly until someone asked a strange question: what is it that we should be posting constantly and consistently?
The question took me back at first. I was expecting questions regarding how to use a certain feature or how to share information in a certain way but not on how to create the content that should be posted. The question lead to a good discussion about what separates the asker in the marketplace and what kind of conversations she wants to have with potential customers. By the end of the discussion everyone was scribbling down ideas on what they could post.
After thinking about it, I realized that very question is what separates me in my marketplace. There are countless trainers out there that will show you exactly how to use every possible feature on social media sites, but so what? The fact of the matter is that I could train a monkey to do 80 percent of my job; anyone can learn how to do it. What is not easily teachable though is how to create dialogue and discussion that will drive consumers to the next step in the sales process.
This careful construction of dialogue is what makes up the other 20 percent of my job. And, like most 80/20 rules, it is that 20 percent that brings in 80 percent of the business. Yes, knowing how to use the tools is important but knowing how to use the tools to increase sales is what makes all of the difference.
To learn how to drive business with social media, pretend that you have a potential customer sitting in front of you. What questions do you want to ask them? What reasons can you give them to buy from you? How will you convince them that they need your product or service? What is the ideal conversation that you will have with them?
It is as you work through this ideal conversation that you start to realize that social media is essentially a combination of sales and networking but on steroids. By applying the solid fundamentals of sales and networking you will start to learn the 20 percent of my job that is so challenging. With a good amount of practice, it should start to drive in the 80 percent of customers that you are currently missing.
TAGS: sales, social media, social networking
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October 28th, 2009
My main beef with Facebook pages is that they ignore the reason why social networking sites were created, which is to network! To use such sites for any other reason is to try to warp the tool to your strategy instead of changing your tactics to fit the tool. Trying to market in a networking world is exactly why companies struggle with social media.
What this means for companies is that they need real people out there, talking on behalf of the company. To a lot of people, this might not make sense but it is no different then hiring a sales force. You hire a sales force to talk on behalf of your company because humans respond best to other humans. Just because humans now communicate screen to screen, instead of face to face, does not change the rules.
The companies that are seeing the greatest return on their investment are already adhering to this paradigm. The reason Zappos has had so much success with social media isn’t because they have the best Facebook page out there. Their CEO, Tony Hsieh, networks on behalf of the company, tells consumers about what makes Zappos so great and gets direct feedback from customers. He even takes it a step further and encourages each of his employees to network on behalf of the company.
My guess is that I am probably not the first person to tell you that you cannot market through social media. However, I will often see people take this concept to the other extreme and never talk about their business. I heard one “expert” say that what you say should be 80% personal and only 20% business. Though this is better than going out and trying to use Facebook for marketing, it too misses the mark.
I already have plenty of friends so I use networking to drive new business for my company. I do this by engaging people in conversations with the purpose of discovering is it makes sense for us to do business together. I do not bore people with the details of my life because that does nothing to grow my business.
The fine line to walk with social media is to not try to make everyone your new best friend but also to not go around telling everyone why they should buy from you. Forget that you are on Facebook and just try to network. Engage potential customers in conversation, learn about what it is they want and then see if you can provide that to them.
So, are Facebook pages pointless? No, they are great for customer retention and loyalty. However, if you want to use social media to grow your company and get new clients or customers, forget about them. Remember, its call social networking because you are supposed to network!
TAGS: advertising, Facebook, social media, social networking
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