Social Media
Welcome MetroMom Online Success TeleSummit Visitors!
If you found your way here from the MetroMom Telesummit going on now, I would like to thank you for dropping by! If you are here because you found us, please stay around too! I mentioned a few things to you such as the video talking about the “Canonical Issues”, this is to your right.
I also talked about the post with the blog tips, and SEO tips, well here it is. Please take time on my blog to view the variety of tips you will get on search engine marketing.
As suggested in my handout and my interview with Kim, please sign up for my blog feed to keep up on the latest tips for Search Engine Marketing.
Additionally, if you want incredible social media tips, sign up for my Social Media Blog.
Don’t Forget Kim DeYoung has some powerful offerings you will want to choose from below.
In addition to this blog, I own several websites dealing with internet & social media marketing. I also belong to several social media sites, and networks and would love to become your friend and follower!
Successful Twitter MeetUp In Wilmington!
What a fun night last night! nearly 50 Wilmington residents assembled at Howe Creek offices near Mayfair to listen to some top notch Twitter advice. For a new twist, we also streamed the Meetup in live broadcast using UStream.tv, and had 10 people watching live from various parts of North Carolina, including Colorado!
Our focus on this Twitter MeetUp was to field questions from the audience people had about Twitter, then our stellar panel answered them.
Questions ranged from “Why use Twitter”, “Using Twitter for business” and “What are your favorite applications for Twitter." Some applications discussed last night included Twollo, Tweet Deck, twhirl, and Twitter grader. Do you have a favorite Twitter application? We want to hear, please leave it in a comment below!
One other neat announcement was Shannan Bowen telling us about the Star News launching a new section of their site listing their Twitter users, and local “tweeps”, here it is: http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41
Special thanks to our panelists Bruce Brown of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, Steve Harrell of Sophic, Shannan Bowen of the Wilmington Star News, and William Lang of Port City Color Copy handled the Ustream PC and fielded questions that came in via the Internet. Oh, I was there of course, Ty Downing with Perspective Internet Marketing and SayItSocial.
Video: Twitters Spectacular Growth – Co-Founder Evan Williams
Relationships Trump Self Promotion/Selling – Social Media Is Changing Everything
It’s amazing how the landscape of the internet is evolving, especially with regards social media. The way we do business these days has changed, and unless you change your old ways of doing business, you will become extinct.. (Video Below, you must watch!)
Never since the 1800’s has this country seen such a "Social economy" shift, so it’s vital to get involved in social media, that is where people are, your community, your customers are hanging out.
Social media engagement is all about trust, if they know you, trust you, they will buy from you period. Remember "Advocacy" is your $$ ROI. If they like you as person, "they" will tell people about you and your services, thus you should not come across as ’selling’, but be a ‘contributor’.
One last tip…Don’t just ‘Fire’ and throw yourself into social media and barrage people with your services, links, etc..Remember this point: "You never get a second chance at a first impression"
I invite you to watch this video (Afterward, leave a comment if you agree or disagree with the video), as it beautifully explains the change in business practices. It’s about the relationship between an advertiser and a consumer. They’ve agreed to meet in a restaurant. The man’s feeling perfectly happy, until the woman makes a painful announcement: she wants a divorce…..watch what happens.
Wilmington Twestival Was a Complete Success!
For those of you who came out last night, (over 60 people) our Wilmington Twestival was an incredible display of how social media can impact people, and organizations for the good. Twestivals were held simultaneously last night (February 13, 2009) for Charity: Water, in an effort to raise awareness, and donations for cleaner water in under-developed lands. Twitter was the main “tool” of social media we used to organize this event in literally 10 days..amazing. Pictures of last night are at bottom of this post, if you have any to add to this, send them! Leave comments too.
How much did our Twestival Raise?
We just got our final donation called in this morning from Ana Dawson, with Pre-Paid Legal Services, she and her associates donated $220, and plan on giving a total of $500.00! So with that amount and 100% donations off ticket sales last night we will be able to donate $1,205.00!!!
Our goal was $4,000, but in all honesty, we met, and exceeded our goal. This amount will help fund clean drinking water for 1000’s of people, Wilmington, we should be proud! Remember this was a global event, I can’t wait to see the total numbers from the over 180 cities….Be sure to visit the Twestival site, and Charity: Water site for details soon.
Twestival 2009 – Wilmington, NC – Are You Coming?
We are just a couple of days away from one incredible world-wide event called Twestival. What will happen Thursday February 12th, 2009 at Port City Pub here in Wilmington, NC?
- Social Gathering, Networking.
- Simultaneous broadcast from cities across the globe.
- Donations accepted to fund clean drinking water projects in Africa.
- Witness results of harnessing the power of Twitter, and social media.
- Free Beer, food, clean drinking water.
What else, any prizes? Of course. The first 50 people in the door get a free t-shirt! After that, a donation of $5.00 per shirt. There will also be raffles going on, here are some other prizes being given.
- One free Surf lesson.
- iPod Nano.
- Spectrum Jewelry & Crafts Jewelry.
- Tickets to the Sea Dawgs basketball.
- Who knows what else, just get your tickets!
Please, please come. Help us reach our goal of $4,000.00, the price to fund the building of one well in Africa…
Where do I get my tickets? Please go here. Looking forward to seeing you Thursday!
In the meantime, take a look at our local promotional video, as this will about bring you to tears, and explain why we are doing this.
5 Ways to Social Media Success
1) CHECK WHERE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE
Before you jump to any social networks, communities or other tools, find out
WHERE your customers are. And the best way is to search them in the Internet,
check LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo Groups and find them one way or the other. And if you still have a good relationship with them, ASK.
2) SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOCIAL WEB
Once you know, subscribe to the sites and explore. Invest in your profile, put up a photo, let people know what you like and what not, show your inner self in a professional way. You can’t expect anybody to connect with a stranger. Once your profile is in good shape connect with your trusted friends, colleagues, partners, vendors, resellers and then of course customers you know. At that stage it’s just a connection.
3) UNDERSTAND YOUR NETWORK
Learn all about the people in your network learn what they do, what their interest is, what their skills are what their goal in life is – everything. You will build up a new asset of unparalleled value compared to what you have today – your rolodex or link list in LinkedIn or whatever. You will learn the people and their behavior their interests and their pain without asking a single question. At this point you haven’t contributed – you are just an observer.
The “New” Sales Funnel
What used to be the accepted status quo “Sales Process” (identifying targets in the market, separating leads from a mass of inquiries, and distilling them through some exploration of cold calls and negotiation) has changed forever.
Social media has become the most important marketing initiative today because it has actually changed (or adapted) the “Sales Process” into the “Buying Process”. With peers talking with peers sharing advice and comments about all of their purchases and experiences, this has created a buzz amongst prosumer’s, a confidence or empowerment, that is unstoppable.
To continue to be relevant in the marketplace and avoid extinction, the “New” Sales 
Funnel has had to yield to the Prosumer’s being in control, captaining the ship, if you will. This means the salesperson’s role is now one of guiding or being a well-educated navigator in the purchasing process. As Larry McClymonds said: “The new form of relationships selling isn’t about selling anymore, it’s about helping the customers buy.”
With this new openness provided by the “navigator”, the prosumer will now reciprocate that openness (at least over time), which will result in the old “Sales Process” of the tedious, opinionated, strong arm process of selling to consumers will eventually evaporate.
Twestival Is Coming To My Home Town, Wilmington, NC!
Hello everybody,
Have you heard the buzz around Wilmington, NC, the city I live in? I know you have heard of Twitter, the social media tool ‘phenom’ right?
Well guess what, "Twestival" is coming to Wilmington next week! Instead of our Meetup this week, I will be organizing the finishing touches on this worldwide fund raising event for an organization called Charity: Water. Wilmington will be host to 1 out of 175 cities worldwide on February 12th, 2009.
I personally invite all of you to attend. No, you don’t have to be a ‘Twitter’er’, so just take a look at the following websites to get more information, but for now 100% of proceeds go to the charity, tickets are only $15.00 and includes food, entertainment, prizes, and beer… More details below….please especially view the video, and visit our site!
I look forward to having you there if you can make it!
What is Twestival? Where does the monies for my ticket go? Take a look.
More details, and where do I get tickets? Take a look here.
Consumer or Prosumer? PART 2
I have been getting a lot of DM’s about the earlier Consumer or Prosumer post. The consensus was, ok but “what do I do now if I see that I am old school’? and “How do I change it”? First, I commend you for your honesty (more business leaders needs more humility when it comes to examining their business model and accepting that changing to a social media system is going to be disruptive to the current one in place, but it is critical) and second, you ask very good questions.
As those of us who run businesses, we find ourselves in the most anxiety filled time in modern history; along with that, there are a couple of obstacles we have to acknowledge first before proceeding. Today’s climate is hard on us as business leaders, with uncertainty at every turn, the complexity of adjusting to new demands, increasingly shorter product lifecycles, competition, etc., there are the facts., which can lead some to succumb to the “eat or be eaten” mentality. Ahh – what to do??? Please step away from the ledge… slowly…. thank you. Here are just a few helpful suggestions, to see things from the Prosumer’s perspective that may help us tweak our operation and get us on the right path without having to do a lot of heavy lifting:
