This week I had the great opportunity to interview Danny Brown on his new book co-authored with Sam Fiorella called Influence Marketing. Danny in my opinion is a Thought Leaders’ Though Leader – an awesome no BS resource for what really works in social media marketing.

The book launched yesterday globally and you can get it on Amazon in hardcover or Kindle format. According to HubSpot Danny Brown’s blog (DannyBrown.me) is the #1 Marketing Blog on the planet. Danny and I have been Tweeting and emailing each other for almost four years and we finally got to connect and do this podcast together

Here were some of the key take-aways from the podcast interview with Danny Brown:

1. Most concepts of influencer marketing (especially through social media) are incomplete or focused on the wrong audience
2. Good influencer marketing doesn’t start with social media gurus or big influencer, it starts with mapping out what your customer persona is and then identifying who impacts your customer buying decisions
3. Klout and the many apps like it are great for identifying macro influencers but in many cases aren’t helpful identifying the actual micro influencers that directly impact your customer’s buying decisions
4. 5 steps to to start doing your influence marketing right

We covered so much in this podcast that you’re just going to have to listen to it to get all the information.

Here’s a great InfoGraphic on Influence Marketing Sam and Danny just released that really demonstrates how many organizations are struggling with or don’t understand the importance of Influence Marketing  (Click here For the High Res Version):

Working with Langara College, international speaker Bill Gibson of Knowledge Brokers (South Africa) and our team here at Socialized we have put together the ultimate sales training program for new sales professionals and professionals that want to add a revenue generating toolkit to their repertoire. The methodologies in this program have been successfully used and implemented by major sales organizations including BMW, ABSA Bank, Gestetner, Vodacom, Siemens and Ford to name a few.

Here’s a quick video we shot where Shane Gibson (me) facilitator of the program  walks you through what you will learn.

Our next program starts soon and here are the dates:

Successful Selling Strategies 
(50203) Jan. 14, 2013

Persuasion, Communication & Relationship Building
(50204) Feb. 12, 2013

Motivation, Closing & Keeping Clients
(50205) Mar. 11, 2013

Sales & Planning Toolkit
(50206) Apr. 8, 2013

Each course is 18 hours in duration held over a six week period and consists of weekly reading, presentations, group discussions and live webinars. If participants can’t make the date and time of the live-webinar there will be an opportunity to watch a recorded version. All courses have testing built-in and each participant must have a passing grade in all courses to be eligible for the certificate.

Community in social media is still number one. I posted the following tweet a couple days ago on Twitter and it received quite a bit of feedback and a few retweets:

Social Media Tip: social media scales through community, community grows by relationship building. Focus on people.

I then realized that I needed to expand on the topic. Here’s the basic outline of what I cover in todays podcast:

1. Why community is vital if you want to leverage your social media marketing efforts and get your content and marketing to expand well beyond your own sphere of influence.
2. Relationships build community, numbers alone don’t make a community. People who have an emotional connection with you and your brand are more likely to share your content and interact with you.
3. Focus on people, even PR has changed. Bloggers and community influencers have now become gatekeepers of communities and your content won’t flow into those communities until you connect with those gatekeepers.

Most social media failures aren’t big public train-wrecks on the internet. They’re silent failures, people and brands that never rise above the noise and get noticed. Today’s podcast focuses on 6 reasons you may be silently failing and what you can do to turn things around.

The 6 Reasons You’re Silently Failing in Social Media:

1)  Your content strategy is too safe

2)  Your reach is minimal

3)  Your conversation strategy is weak

4)  The right people don’t know who you are or they don’t care

5)  You have no social media plan

6)  You’re not integrating social media

Also Consider Gannon University Online MBA Programs as another way to build success in the business world. Before you get social a business foundation really helps.

At Socialized! our Social Media Agency we have had some incredible opportunities over the past year to work with brands such as the Ford Dealers Association of BC and Alberta, the Certified Management Accounts, CGA BC, CGA Canada and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. However…even producing the week long event “Social Media Week Vancouver” did not prepare us for the passionate, loyal and often opinionated fans at Wizard World Comic Cons. This is a relatively new adventure for us but this podcast reviews 5 social media lessons I have learned (or re-learned) so far:

5 Lessons (Listen to the podcast for a full explanation):

1. Tapping into a Tribe is much better than building one
2. When people know you’re listening they talk, share, tweet, like and follow
3. Amplify the moment
4. Run contests to find influencers
5. Partner to expand influence

Here are some of the links and resources mentioned in the podcast:

• Tribes By Seth Godin

Wizard World Comic Con Sites and Resources

• Wizard World Event and News Site
• Wizard World Comic Con Blog
• Wizard World Facebook Page
• Wizard World on Twitter

Social Media Monitoring:

• Viral Heat
• Tweet Reach

Socialized! Social Media Agency

• Socialized! Blog
• Socialized! Team on Twitter
• Shane Gibson – Chief Social Officer on Twitter
• Tris Hussey – Chief Geek and Pixel Washer on Twitter
• Anthony Caridi – President on Twitter

Social Media Podcast: Ford dealers across North America are executing some amazing social media strategies. While catching up on my reading and best-practices I stumbled across a great case study on how Lebanon Ford (Ohio) has had some incredible success. They don’t just have a great social media team, they have built a truly social culture in their dealership that has resulted in a 260% year-on-year increase in Internet sales of vehicles and a significant increase in walk-ins and revenues overall.

I asked Zack Bello, Marketing and Communications Manager at Lebanon Ford to share with me how they have built such a great social enterprise that drives real business results using social media.

Quick Links:

1. Case Study
2. Lebanon Ford on Twitter
3. Lebanon Ford Facebook Page
4. Lebanon Ford Blog

 Key trends

1. How not if
2. TV on everything and social on everything
3. Location based marketing will continue to grow
4. Social cultures will evolve out of social use
5. Social CRM will move mainstream
6. India is rising
7. A return to engagement
8. Rewards versus contests
9. Filters will dampen the noise
10. Social networks will become more fluid and mobile
11. Corporate social intranets

Potential pitfalls

1. App overload
2. Lack of conversation management
3. No policy, training or identity management
4. Lack of true internal social culture
5. Domestic focus and culture
6. Competitors get better at local, mobile and intimacy
7. No follow-up after the contests (see engagement)
8. Hard push back for no engagement

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.  – Albert Einstein

This is not my typical post. It consists of more questions than answers and what I really want to know is how you feel about these images.

This is today’s 24H News frontpage. It seems that what makes the headlines is not food shortages at the food bank or that we have the most chronically destitute skid row on the planet. It’s about the fact that we have an abundance of crack users and not enough crack pipes. We have a systemic problem not just and addiction problem. Paraphrasing the Einstein quote above – the people and the thinking in the system that have allowed this social disease to propagate are very unlikely to be able to solve the problem.

8 Blocks away from Canada’s poorest postal code where hundreds of HIV infected drug users live in 3rd world conditions I snapped this picture. It’s from boxing day. Seems people waiting to get into the Future Shop Boxing Day Sale felt it was okay to pile their empty cups and garbage on top of two news stands instead of (gasp) holding onto them and disposing of them in an ethical way. My hyposthesis: these consumer drones were so fixated to their big screen TV’s they couldn’t make the right decision in their trance. In addition to this… everyone else was doing it. (similar logic for the riots).

Lastly I think that this image sums it up. We should be reaching for this button more often than the “Easy Button.” Our thinking and level of personal responsibility on all fronts needs to be adjusted.  What has to change? I think as we discard our garbage while we buy new “things” and hope that big brother will take care of all of our problems we will be doomed to propagate these social sicknesses and to a greater level. The solution isn’t more money from government or more “things” – it’s a new consciousness. What has to change on a individual level to make this happen?

Hiring a social media manager, social media coordinator, chief tweeter or whatever you might call it is a challenging endeavor. There are many brands which have experienced great success and many who have also shot the foot off of their brand on the internet. Social media is not a department or a cubicle, it represents the most powerful word of mouth (or word of mouse) channels that have ever existed. Too many organizations aren’t strategic about who they hire internally or how they intend on implementing social media and integrating it into their business processes. Today’s podcast covers four major areas you need to look at (there are many more) before hiring.

Social Media Tools and Networks are a significant force that is growing. We cannot afford to avoid using them. The truth is in the numbers:

•Facebook: 800 Million People
•Linkedin: 100 Million Professionals representing every company on the Fortune 500
•Twitter: 250 million status updates per day and Twitter search is now the second most used search engine on the planet
•Youtube: 2 Billion Views Per Day

A recent study released by AirPlus International Travel on business travelers has a also cited a significant spike in social media use and stated the following:

“83 percent of respondents indicated they participate in social media sites this year, as compared to 77 percent last year. When delving into specific platforms, LinkedIn users, which held virtually steady in 2009 (58 percent) and 2010 (59 percent), jumped to 74 percent this year. Facebook also grew from a low of 45 percent in 2009 to 55 percent in 2010 and to 62 percent this year.” – Travelpulse.com

This all adds up to one important conclusion. It’s not a question of whether or not your customer uses social media or social networks. The question is are you fully prepared to profit from it?

Progressive marketers such as the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas have seen the rise of the social customer and have responded proactively. Using the industry leading social media influence ranking index Klout.com the Palms will upgrade and roll-out the red carpet for big influencers. They also provide some basic perks for those of us that are social regardless if we rank high – a thank-you for connecting with them socially. Palms calls it their “Klout Klub.”

Before using social media we need to understand some core principles:

#1) Social Media messaging is not produced solely by a marketing team.

Expand marketing roles to everyone possible, taking the number of marketing messages and multiplying them significantly online. In addition to this realize that any customer facing staff need to be well versed in your Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare promotions. Nothing is worse than investing in a brilliant online marketing campaign that your front office doesn’t deliver on.

#2) Provide social media training to all staff.

More important than training on the tools is training on the principles of using the tools. There is a specific etiquette to engaging people in each of the major networks.

#3) Have a social media policy and process that outlines how to engage customers online, and how to deal with influencers in-person.

This should include guidance on how to deal with negativity, social events, and clients. Important note: If your guidelines are too stringent and you take the fun out of Twitter or blogging don’t be surprised if your efforts fall flat.

#4) Listen and Engage in Real-time

Social media is about listening, community, adding value and entertaining people. It’s about a dialogue. It is a two-way communications medium. “Talking at” people or “blasting updates” is not true engagement and it’s not good for your brand either. The biggest opportunity in social media in in the “now.” It’s about instantly engaging the influencer who has announced to Twitter that they are in your lobby, or thanking the person who took the time to check-in on Foursquare while attending a conference at your hotel. That instant feedback and dialogue is what builds brands and lets the customer you care on a very personal level.

#5) Get Local

Every hotel group should have a Twitter and Facebook account but I don’t believe that you should stop at a nationally operated profiles. Go the next step and empower your front line marketing and sales teams to engage with customers on a local level using Twitter, Facebook and any other platforms your customers use. This will give you an advantage over marketing generalists that have not gone hyper-local with their social media efforts.

This blog post was adapted from an article written for the Cdn Hotels Marketing & Sales Executives.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. (http://socialized.me)

The panel I sat on was on “Technology Implementation over the last 20 years in our schools. The panelists were: Michael Goldberg, Economist, Marty Keast, President of the School Division for Pearson Education, Linda Fabi, Director of Education for the Waterloo District School Board and the panel was kicked off by a very engaging and insightful talk by Thomas Greaves.

Thomas who is the co-author of “America’s Digital Schools” spearheaded an in-depth research project called Project Red, of which he shared key findings with us. They did an in-depth study of 997 schools (K-12) in the USA and looked at 136 different variables in regards to technology and it’s impact on student engagement, drop rates and even the positive economic impacts and savings associated with schools that are digital.

The schools that had some or all of the above 9 factors implemented effectively outperformed comparable schools that had not embraced technology. Very few schools (I believe only 1 if my notes are correct) apply all 9 strategically and comprehensively.

The one thing that really stood out for me is that fact that students that were allowed to regularly use search and social media in the classroom outperformed those that didn’t. One big question from the audience of over 100 school superintendents, directors and technology partners is: “Where a how do we start with social media?”

My thoughts would be to do the following: (which is expanded upon in this podcast):

#1) Start with a social media policy for district staff from senior executives to principles and teachers. Then expand that to a policy for students, volunteers, parents and any other stakeholders.

#2) Have a series on initial buy-in sessions for staff at all level to help see the scope of social media and it’s impact and relevance in education. This is vital as so many people have varied knowledge and assumptions about social communications. The biggest barrier to implementation is often misinformation and/or politics.

#3) Put together a step by step strategy to implement social media at the school board level. (If leadership isn’t using it how can they tell principals and teachers to do it?

#4) Collaboratively work with Principals and Teachers to build an implementation plan at the school level. (Start with a few pilot schools)

#5) Each plan should involve training in both policy, the rules of engagement, online learning best practices, and in the key tools used by today’s digital citizens (including but not limited to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and social search/monitoring) Some of this training can be done by student leaders.

#6) Develop curriculum to help get students social media literate. This educational component must address online etiquette, safety, and the value of collaboration and positive social communications.

#7) Reward collaborators and contributors at all levels.

There is a lot more to this process but the key opportunity and core ingredient for success in using social media for learning is the bi-directional communications and collaborations. It’s no longer about talking at kids in the classroom, it’s about engaging them in two-way dialogue and creating an environment where a network of students (and their teachers) can learn together through networked intelligence.

One statement that was made over and over was that collectively the computing power of smartphones that people bring to school far out-powers what is in the average school computer inventory/labs. The educational environment of the very near future is highly networked, always on, and very mobile. Those organizations that apply all 9 Factors indicated above can prosper in this new environment.

If you’re a business leader, entrepreneur or business builder you need to read this book. It’s packed with usable real-world advice and success strategies.

Psychology in marketing is still a rather untapped landscape. Since I stepped into the ring and became a guerrilla author in writing Guerrilla Social Media Marketing with Jay Conrad Levinson I have come across all kinds of misunderstanding, misuse and abuse of the term guerrilla marketing. Today’s podcast was inspired by what I can describe as a well meaning (or possibly not) but off-base commenter on the Creative Guerrilla Marketing blog.

I decided instead of just replying in the comments section that I would take the time to respond in the form of a podcast. Why? It’s so vital to understand the role of psychology and community in Guerrilla Marketing.

I also think it’s important to establish that Guerrilla Marketing is well defined, and it’s body of wisdom and definition that is widely accepted and used by over 20 million readers of the Guerrilla Marketing Series of books. Some people will take pieces of the body of wisdom and use them to suit their outlook on marketing but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In addition to this just because you slap the term guerrilla on a book, blog post or marketing campaign it doesn’t make it guerrilla.

Here are the facts:

1. The term “guerrilla marketing” was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson and popularized by his best selling book that was released in 1983. Guerrilla Marketing uses unconventional means to achieve conventional goals,  it relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. (We added community on-top of time, energy and imagination for Guerrilla Social Media Marketing because of the vital role it plays in social media marketing).
2. Since then over 20,000,000 (that’s twenty million) books have been sold and read in Jay Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing series of books making it the #1 best selling series of marketing books in history. Jay’s definition is the original and most widely accepted definition and grows by 1million readers and fans per year.
3. Guerrilla’s apply and use the 19 Guerrilla Marketing Secrets (Principles).

Instead of paraphrasing why true guerrillas must understand and depend on psychology, I have posted in Jay’s own (timeless) words the importance:

Guerrilla marketing does not rely on guesswork because wrong guesses are so darned expensive. Instead, it relies upon psychology as much as possible. Psychology used to be a body of theories. Today, many of those theories have been debunked while others have been transformed into laws, actual laws of human behavior. Guerrillas lean on these laws because they want certainty to be a hallmark of their marketing.

There are 15 things that all guerrillas know about psychology as marketing is slowly transforming from guesswork into science:

1. Purchase decisisons are made in the unconscious mind. People may say the words consciously, but they process the data in their unconscious.
2. We now know how to access the unconscious mind. The way to do it is with repetition. Put these two thoughts together — purchase decisions are made in the unconscious, and you can access the unconscious with repetition, and you begin to understand the entire process of marketing.
3. People are either left-brained or right-brained. Left-brained people respond to sequential, logical reasons and love marketing that gives ten reasons to buy. Right-brained people respond to emotional, aesthetic appeals and love marketing that looks stunning and tugs at heartstrings. Guerrillas are sure to hit both left and right-brained people.
4. Businesses that succeed are those that form two bonds with all customers: the human bond and the business bond. The stronger the human bond, the stronger the business bond. Connect up as two human beings before you connect up as buyer and seller.
5. All marketing has two messages — the stated message and the metamessage. The stated message is what you say. The metamessage, often stronger than the stated message, is what your marketing looks like, feels like, where it appears, what size it is, and how professional it appears.
6. If you’re interested in increasing your share of market, the way to do it is to first increase your share of mind. If you go only for the share of market, don’t expect much customer loyalty — or even many customers.
7. There are two schools of marketing hard at work in America these days — Freudian marketing, which is based on Sigmund Freud’s work and aims for a change of attitude — and Skinnerian marketing, based on B.F. Skinner’s proof of the power of behavior modification. Which does a guerrilla choose? Both. Guerrillas constantly implant attitudes while peppering their prospects with special offers that require instant action.
8. During a recession, the tactics that generate sales are: leaning on current customers, enlarging the size of each transaction, offering a guarantee, and showing that high prices are an assurance against making a purchase mistake — something nobody wants to do during a recession.
9. Realize that people hate taking the hard step of buying something, so guerrillas use soft steps to make the hard step a little easier. Soft steps include things like free consultations, free seminars, brochures, videos, demonstrations, and free samples.
10. Full color marketing materials increase retention by 57% and increase inclination to buy by 41%. And the cost of full-color drops dramatically if you tell the printer you have the patience to wait for a gang run.
11. Use as much non-verbal communication as you can. There are only about 250,000 commonly-used words in the English language, but there are 600,000 non-verbal gestures. They are more potent than the spoken words.
12. You can gain guerrilla marketing power if you blend customer insight with product insight. The more your insight, the better your marketing.
13. The way guerrillas view their marketing is as an opportunity to help their customers succeed. If you do the same, your profits will show it.
14. A key to successful marketing is making each of your customers feel a special way. The way they should feel is unique. Not easy, but necessary.
15. It is essential that you constantly feel a sense of dissatisfaction with your marketing and try to improve it without changing your identity. This personality trait will fare you well in the marketing wars.

So I have a challenge when someone (for their own self-interest) tries to redefine Guerrilla Marketing. Add to it? Great! Innovate? Great! But don’t negate, shrink, or dilute it. Back off. It is a timeless body of wisdom that has grown to be mainstream but it is more relevant than today than it was 20 years ago. It works, it’s simple, and it’s time tested.

Guerrilla Marketing is a body of wisdom and movement. It’s bigger and more important than campaigns, tricks, or tactics. To learn more about the book that started the movement (and continues to grow daily and globally). You can visit http://gmarketing.com.

Have a listen to the podcast and tell me what you think!

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We talked about how you can take one blog post and repurpose it in at least seven different ways.  Patrick shared with us a few simple tips, that can build a MASSIVE online identity while working less than most of our competitors competitors.

We also covered some important social media how-to’s:

1. Five places to get great content ideas.
2. Seven ways to repurpose your content online.
3. The reality behind blogs, content and getting found online.
4. The three-part “winning formula” for social media success.

For more information on Patrick’s book and a free gift visit http://www.80shortcuts.com/gifts

Here are the slides to go with the presentation:

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Today’s podcast is a little different than most. It outlines the upcoming Social Media Week in Vancouver that my team and I at Socialized! are putting together (with some massive help from our community, sponsors and our advisory board). I will posting a full text outline of this as well on the Social Media Week Vancouver blog shortly. In the meantime, have a listen and if you’re anywhere near Vancouver we would really like to have you attend, sponsor or even speak.

The question of course is what makes someone influential? Should we look at the Klout score of the people they interact with? Possibly the number of important bloggers that write about them? Or is it simply how viral or broad their message gets shared? As a guerrilla social media marketer I measure success in profit and net-action or results. For this podcast I want to focus on a section right out of our Social Media Rules of Engagement training module. Here is the basis for what we consider influential:

John C. Maxwell said it best when he said “Leadership is Influence.”

He didn’t say leadership is a good idea, a vision or a title. He said influence. Influence can be defined for our purposes as causing someone to take action (internally as and personal growth or externally as in doing something). So we can imply the following:

Influence = Action

Following are some examples of action:

• Message gets passed on
• Get linked to
• Changing or molding views
• Registering and attending events
• Solving problems
• Getting feedback
• Listening and creating brand and relationships
• Generating dialogue
• Getting press
• Capturing an e-mail address or contact info

There are many more. The important factor here is to go beyond the Klout score mentality and realize that people are not an algorithm. I check my Klout on a regular basis, but it’s value of the actions we create determine if we are truly influential. So to summarize this:

Leadership = Influence = High Value Action

The Seven Sins of Social Media Citizens

1. Entertaining Rumor
2. Forgetting Where You Started
3. Joining Community Solely for Personal Growth
4. Disengaged Once We Are Launched
5. Repurposing Without Credit
6. Using Your Voice to Bully Other Opinions
7. Building Blockades Offline (Being a two-faced Tweeter)

I have broke most of these rules (it was a learning process) and they were hard lessons. Hopefully this podcast will help you shorten your learning curve. Did I miss anything?

If you don’t want it on the internet – DON’T DO IT – and if you do it and it ends up on the internet it’s not the crowd’s fault or the the social media communities fault — the responsibility is yours. This goes for executives, public figures and teenagers at a riot. We are humble today or we will be humbled tomorrow.

What are your thoughts?

“When mission is clear abundance will appear.”

This is a vital statement and principle. I discuss it in greater depth in my podcast today.

If you want to start reading thebook on your iPad in the next 5 minutes you can always pick up a copy at the iTunes store.

Buy the Book

1. Social Media Fact: @Banff_Squirrel has more Twitter followers than most marketing experts.
2. Social Media Tip: Content is not King [or Queen ] Connection rapport and trust are today’s currencies.
3. Social Media Tip: build the community, contribute to others success, be authentic and people will line up to help you as well.
4. Social Media Tip: treat likes, followers, and connections on any network like gold. Those are votes of trust and confidence.
5. Social Media Tip: Contrast keeps the conversation fresh. Vary your update and blog formats. Use multiple media to engage.
6. Any social media activity that involves deception, trademark or copyright infringement isn’t guerrilla marketing. It’s lazy marketing.
7. Social Media Tip: it’s not old versus new media — it’s about integrating the right media for the right market.
8. Social Media Tip: In the “Thank-you Economy” don’t outsource or automate your thank-you’s.
9. Social Media Tip: People will read your Tweets and blog posts in the context of their goals and needs. See through their eyes.
10. Social Media Tip: Social media marketing is not a fad. BUT social media consultants now need deeper business knowledge.
11. Social Media Tip: Blogging is not dead, but recycling content and cut-and-paste mentalities are getting old.
12. Social Media Tip: social media strategy needs to be in-line with your business culture and integrated with your business processes.
13. Social Media Tip: Having a Twitter account is like having a telephone. It’s just a tool. How are you going to use it to win?
14. Social Media Tip: Being an early adopter is not enough. You need to evolve with your market and the tools to stay relevant.
15. Social Media Tip: Your rules of engagement will be in context with your goals and your target market’s culture/etiquette.
16. Social Media Tip: Activity doesn’t equal profitability. Activity that builds relationships = mindshare = walletshare. Build relationships.
17. Want to increase the number of people that follow you back on Twitter? Try taking an interest in them. Marketing is a conversation.
18. Social Media Tip: All of the engagement and trust you have built evaporates when your community finds out you outsource your conversations.
19. Social Media Tip: You can go it alone, brave the storms and reach great heights by yourself. BUT half the joy is in bringing people with you
20. Social Media Tip: hiring the wrong social media help can be worse than not doing it. Be prepared. Assess them & where you are starting from
21. Leadership Tip: You don’t need to make someone else irrelevant to raise your profile. In fact you’re usually only hurting your brand.
22. Remember it’s not a about blogging, Twitter, Facebook or the next great thing. It’s how you use it. Wisdom comes from mistakes. Experiment.
23. Social Media Tip: You are never too popular to be humble. In fact no matter who you are eventually the web will humble you
24. Being on a path of integrity isn’t a one time choice. It’s a lifetime of commitment and daily decisions.
25. Social Media Tip: Use hootsuite to flag DM’s from other people in Twitter for future follow-up. They can often get buried.
26. Social Media Tip: Subscribe to your twitter searches as RSS feeds in your feed reader so that you only have to do the search once…ever.
27. Social Media Trend: Community building skills are becoming more important than pitching or selling.
28. Good things come to those wait — but they’re usually the things left behind by those who hustle. Giddy up!
29. Social media monitoring is vital. The opportunity is in engaging at the right time with the right person on the right topic.
30. Leadership Tip: You can never lose by investing in good people. Err on the side of generosity. It will pay in efficiency and loyalty.
31. Social Media Tip: Educate and equip all staff to be social… it provides less headache and greater ROI than policing them.
32. Social Media Tip: The longer you try to contain social media use to one department the further behind you will be from the marketplace.
33. Good publicity is about doing the right thing and getting the word out. Integrity is about doing the right thing when no one is looking.
34. Social Media Tip: If you are more aware of the community gossip than you are of the community needs then you’re going the wrong direction.
35. Social Media Tip: Stop seeking recognition from the cool kids… instead strive to be significant to the/your community
36. Social Media Tip: The more open we are with other people the more willing they are to share with us.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years.  He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down.  When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years.  He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down.  When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Today’s podcast was inspired by a couple of conversations I have had recently. The recurring issue is people and organizations revamping their websites (some spending thousands and thousands of dollars) and not having a social media strategy before doing so. Many sites are built by well meaning developers or agencies that haven’t considered what a truly social site and blog are.

I personally think organizations should have a plan, strategy and spec their sites to be social and easily adaptable to new social media tools and trends (and not cost huge amounts of money in the process). Have a listen to my podcast and let me know your thoughts on this.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years.  He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down.  When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Today I will talk about three things that will help you rise above the crowd:

1. Consistency
2. Niche and Nano-marketing
3. Connecting (Connection is King. Content is secondary)

This is day 5 of my 30 day podcasting challenge. I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next 30 days. If you would like to contribute as a guest on the show e-mail me shane@socialized.me. Otherwise a comment, tweet or Facebook share would be greatly appreciated.

Today’s podcast

I cover it briefly in the podcast but here’s my thoughts on Shankman’s statements. It’s been a full week since the post but people keep emailing me asking my opinion on his blog post. (On a side note: nice work on Peter’s part for all the traffic generated).

Here’s my response to a client:

Instead of becoming a best seller like Guy Kawasaki he feels he needs to put down the entire industry to prove his superiority.

There are good and bad accountants, lawyers, authors, sales trainers, digital agencies and Apple “experts” out there. Shankman points out the obvious: be a good marketer, be customer service orientated, don’t misspell stuff, don’t let an intern do your social media. But you do need to help your team effectively socialize… and many of the social media disaster stories we read about every week come from companies that went it alone and didn’t get mentorship or study bast practices that already exist.

Social media is just a tool, you do need a strategy, an understanding of your customer and yes it should be integrated into multiple departments and with the rest of your business, marketing and customer service strategy. (Integration was one of the parts of your assessment).

I do not have a lot of love or time for people giving bad, ill-informed advice and misleading people or as Guy calls it
“Enchanting Gullible People.” There are a lot of clueless experts out there selling useless crap. On the other hand people like Shankman who want to group everyone and everything into on pile and suggest they should be burned to death really helps no one.

The bottom line: marketing and sales success principles will prevail… but the platforms for engagement have changed and customer tolerance for pitching or in-authentic engagement has decreased. We are in a new era with new opportunities (and new risks).

Have a listen to today’s podcast rant and let me know what you think!

Here’s an excerpt from her bio:

Jessica Northey, SocialMediologist
(Social=Friendly, Media=Form of Communication, Ology=Study Of)

Tucson Native Jessica Northey is taking over Country Music and Radio one Tweet at a time. Specializing in, using Social Media when you ARE the brand, breaking new artists and strategic use of Social Media for Broadcasting; her optimization techniques are being implemented at top stations across the nation, and her writings/methods instructional material for various programs from Real Estate to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

She is a Social Media, Broadcasting, Country and Music Blogger/Writer, Nationally Recognized Speaker, On-Air Personality, Daily Columnist for AllAccess.com, the web’s largest radio and music industry community, who owns Social Media boutique firm Finger Candy Media, LLC.

Having a personal network of over 140,000 followers and a second order influence of over 4 million she is consistently ranked in the top 100 most influential people on Twitter (in the world) according to TwitterGrader.com and in the October Issue of Fast Company Magazine was shown as one of the most influential people on Social Media ranking at 109.

This is day 3 of my 30 day podcasting challenge. I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next 30 days. If you would like to contribute as a guest on the show e-mail me shane@socialized.me. Otherwise a comment, tweet or Facebook share would be greatly appreciated.

I asked Stephen to come on the show to discuss best practices in the area of outsourcing and the technology needed to lead virtual teams.

I have had a number of inquiries from my tech and social media brethren about how to present on stage. Some are gentle questions like “how many slides should I have for a one hour presentation?” to outright pleas for help such as “I’m terrified of audiences over 20 people, how do I present our new iPhone app at this conference?”

Geeks (science or tech savvy and knowledgeable folks who get turned on by pixels, pings, microchips, biology, chemistry, APIs etc.) tend to struggle with presentations, yet if they master the art they can have a massive impact on their business and career (think Steve Jobs or David Suzuki).

Too many people think content is king. Connection is king. Unless you can connect with your audience and engage them effectively your geek speak will mean very little to them. Today’s podcast covers a few insights on better stage presentations.

[This is day one of my 30 day podcasting challenge, I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next month, drop by, make a comment or share a link to the podcast you posted today).

I then looked at my roster of podcasts and realized that I have much more to share. The podcasting seems to happen after the client work, proposals, research, books etc. BUT it has been a major driving force in my business and I have been less than generous with my listeners. I should be giving you way more in the form of interviews, strategy and just sharing the things I’m learning everyday.

I decided to publicy make myself accountable and also ask for your help. Starting today I will be doing 30 podcasts over 30 days.  I would also like to challenge you to contribute in a few ways:

1. If you’re a podcaster – take the challenge with me. Start sharing more of your knowledge more often today.
2. If you are an author, subject matter expert or are having success using social media for business, community building or charity — reach out to me and lets get you on the show TODAY.
3. If you’re a listener, Twitter connection, LinkedIn associate or Facebook friend take a moment to listen to the podcasts, submit your questions, share what you like and let me know what you think. Heckle me if you feel like it!

That’s it. Thanks for coming along this journey with me. I hope you enjoy the show. (I am posting two podcasts today just to get a head start — come back in an hour!)

Shane Gibson
Chief Social Officer
Socialized! Ltd.
http://socialized.me
Blog: http://www.closingbigger.net
Got iTunes? Click here to subscribe our Podcast!: http://tinyurl.com/itunes-sales-podcast
Follow Shane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shanegibson

You say you want to use social media to engage, grow your business and build community. You say you care… BUT WE DON’T BELIEVE YOU. Why you ask?

• You say you care but you rarely follow anyone back on Twitter that follows you
• You say you care on Twitter and Facebook but you send us back to the customer call center – you know… the one that started the problem in the first place.
• You say you care but you rarely say thank you when we say good things about you on our blog
• You say you care but your senior executives have never actually ever Tweeted or posted anything to Facebook, it’s obvious they think it’s below them
• You say you care but your Facebook page is full of links to your marketing materials and events and isn’t about how you can help me
• You say you care but even when I comment on your Facebook updates or blog posts you never comment back – you just keep score.
• You say you care but you got me interested in what you had to say on your blog and then you stopped posting
• You say you care but you make me wait days before my blog comments are approved – I’m long gone by then
• You say you care but even when I like your content it’s hard to share, you make me cut, paste, shrink urls and even write the headlines to your content
• You say you care but your onsite staff don’t even know you have a Facebook contest, FourSquare mayor or a Twitter account. They think I’m speaking a foreign language.
• You say you care that today’s consumer uses social media to communicate, build community and make connections – but your actions say YOU DON’T.

Dear Big Brands – marketing is a conversation now. Social media has opened up the channels for communication, collaboration, and customer interaction. We are not waiting for you to get involved in the conversation. It is already happening.

Sincerely,

Shane Gibson

@ShaneGibson
(On behalf of all of us)

1. Social media tip: life is an experiment. Be willing to make mistakes, challenge your own assumptions and break the mold to win.
2. Social Media Tip: It’s not social if the result isn’t about building relationships, trust or community.
3. Social Media Steps: 1: Have a goal. 2: Know your market. 3: Monitor & Listen. 4: Identify Needs 5: Create Focused Content & Conversation.
4. Social Media Tip: You can’t buy trust and you can’t outsource authenticity.
5. Social Media Tip: the customer is operating in real-time. Socialize your whole team so you can too!
6. Social Media Tip: Always go back to the basics. If you’re no longer getting the results you want, look at what you stopped doing.
7. Social Media Tip: The numbers mean very little. A small group of passionate people is and always has been a majority.
8. Leadership Tip: The quest for knowledge for the sake of empowering those around us is one of the most powerful intents in leadership.
9. Leadership Tip: Don’t let your Ego separate you from other people. We are more alike than we are different.
10. Sales Tip: treat mid-month with as much urgency as month end and your year end will look a lot better.
11. Social Media Tip: it’s okay to make mistakes — but remedy them quickly — apologize and then move on
12. Social Media Tip: it’s never too late to say thank-you. Reach out a acknowledge those in your community who make a difference.
13. Social Media Tip: People don’t care about your marketing tweets until they know how much you care about them.

1. Have a custom background that tells what you do and who you are
2. Have a complete bio with keywords that people search for
3. When you follow people, find something to comment on or ask a relevant question to let them know you’re there and are conversational and community focused
4. Make sure your Twitter profile is recognizable and real. Photos of celebrities, cartoons or logos tend to get less follow-backs than a profile with a real smiling human face.
5. Follow people who recently followed your competitors
6. Follow people who are complaining about your competitors
7. Follow-back those that follow you. Many will un-follow after a period of time if you do not follow-back. Avoid following spammers, pornbots or anything that doesn’t resonate with your values or personal brand of course.
8. Look at your competitors public lists and follow those that are relevant
9. If you’re a local business use Twitter local search to find people talking about your business, industry or community and follow them (remember to interact)
10. Search for relevant industry #hash tags ( ie #scrm #rechat #bieber or whatever your target market talks about) follow those people, then as per #3 – reach out and communicate.
11. Use relevant #hash tags on topics, conferences, and issues and attract more followers
12. Search Twellow.com for regional influencers and follow them
13. Search Twellow.com for industry specific or topic specific people and follow them
14. Register for Twellow.com and fill in the expanded profile and bio section, you will show up in more searches.
15. Change your Twitter bio from time to time to attract new markets through search
16. Put your Twitter address on your business card, brochures and any other printed material you give out
17. Have a decal designed and put your Twitter address on the back of your laptop (I have had a number of new and interesting followers and it’s a good ice-breaker at coffee shops and airports)
18. Finish all of your blog posts with a short bio that suggests people follow you in Twitter
19. When making comments on blogs, many ask for a web address – give your Twitter address instead
20. Have a prominent Twitter badge displayed on every page of your site and/or blog that links to your profile
21. Let your Facebook and Linkedin connections know you’re on Twitter and ask them to connect.
22. In Linkedin Groups (relevant ones) ask members as a topic discussion to share Twitter profiles with each other and suggest you also connect on Twitter.
23. In a tasteful non-spam format let anyone on email lists, meetup groups YOU operate and other online groups that you’re on Twitter and would love to connect. This is often done best as a side-note or footnote in a regular Meetup update or email newsletter blast. Emails and updates titled “Follow me on Twitter” are generally considered bad form.
24. Target regional (all regions your market to) influencers (not necessarily Twitter superstars) on Twitter and put them on a private list. Monitor their discussions and updates and pro-actively have relevant discussions, RT (Re-Tweet or Share) their updates and promote things they are promoting. After a period of time they will take notice, often following you and even sharing your content with their network.
25. Follow anyone who retweets your content and thank them (except of course spambots)
26. Use backtweets.com to find out who is linking to sites of interest or competitor sites. Follow those people and apply #3 again.
27. Host a #Tweetup in your community or at a conference.
28. Attend #Tweetups in your community (What is a Tweetup? Watch Here)
29. If you can type fast and well offer to Liveblog and live tweet an event
30. Guest blog on key sites
31. Write for magazines, newspapers (online or print) and get your Twitter ID into the footer.
32. Start a Twitter Tribe. A group of non-competing people who Tweet each others content. This can be formal or informal but all members usually benefit from increased Klout, reach and followers. (not to mention blog traffic)
33. Make sure your Twitter handle is on all relevant Keynote or PowerPoint presentations.
34. At the beginning of any public presentation let everyone know it’s okay to get out their smartphones and Tweet to the world.
35. If you sell packaged goods or products get your Twitter handle on those packages!
36. Have contests rewarding those who Tweet about you, keep it simple and don’t make following mandatory
37. If you have a physical business location or retail store/restaurant/lounge/pub etc. have a “We are social” poster that shares your social site URLS (Don’t just use the logos)
38. Use QR codes in print materials and on presentations that Link to your Twitter account or a page with all of your social ID’s [This one will take you to my Google Profile]
    
39. Put your Twitter handle on your nametag at Meetups and conferences
40. Put your Twitter handle on your contact info for your VCard, Bump application (for Iphone) etc.
41. Link to your Twitter account at the beginning of any video descriptions on YouTube, Vimeo Etc.
42. If you do a podcast or produce video put it on your splash page or mention it in your intro and extro.
43. Create public Twitter lists of great people in specific industry or interest segments. They will often follow you back as a result
44. Tweet to different time zones. I typically Tweet between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm on weekdays. That means I miss showing up in a lot of searches on Twitter during my off hours. To appeal to markets like India or Europe I schedule Tweets in Hootsuite to be posted while I’m sleeping. I also devote a night a month to staying up late and chatting with my buddies in India, South Africa and Europe. This conversation also increases followers.
45. Using local search start conversations with people in your immediate area who share things of interest. It doesn’t have to be about business, it could be a common interest in art, hiking, food etc. This will often result in a follow-back.
46. Reply quickly. Often people will follow us, then ask a question or make a comment. To build rapport and maintain momentum respond and interact as soon as possible. These means checking Twitter more than once a day and taking time to respond in a personal authentic way. When we ignore people’s questions or take too long to reply they may unfollow or never follow us in protest.
47. “Follow me on Twitter” with a link in your email signature
48. You can custom program “Tweet-this” buttons to include your Twitter address in the title of the Tweet (when people click on the button). This makes it easier to find your fans and gets your Twitter handle more exposure online.
49. Follow the 90/10 rule. Twitter is about engagement, people who might follow you and only see marketing links and no-conversation will most likely think you’re not watching or don’t care about what they say. Keep your stream about community, conversation and connection 90% of the time and Tweet about business, blogs, marketing etc. 10% of the time.
50. Follow people who retweet your competitors or content similar to the content you produce and once again apply step 3.
51. Create and share awesome, unique content via Twitter tips,  links to blogs, videos etc. This will get retweeted, shared and increase your following
52. Pay it forward. Get your friends, clients, staff and associates on Twitter and coach on how to use Twitter. They can become your biggest allies and fans.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years.  He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down.  When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Monitoring conversations is great – but getting involved in the conversation and being a thought leader is where the true opportunity is. Having a Social CRM strategy is vital, we need to help our sales team understand how to socialize online. Today’s podcast talks about some of the pro-active components that should be included in that strategy.

In my opinion your end goal must be to fully socialize most of your departments from HR to sales, marketing and even the senior executives in the company. What are your thoughts?

There are also brilliant people and awesome brands that don’t realize that their persona is actually hiding the great things about them. Today’s podcast focuses on why we need to build the person, build the organization and forget the veneer.

Thought leaders create community, build other leaders, and create unique content that speaks to and helps specific markets. Today’s podcast (direct download here or via iTunes here) discusses thought leadership and it’s importance to marketing, leadership and even your career.

Here’s a SlideShare embed of the model:

As for those that don’t like the term “Thought Leadership” here’s my challenge to you: find me an easy to understand, non-geek or non-tech speak definition that has global appeal and I will gladly use it.

As for the rest of us. Thought leadership is a process of becoming, not an event or clever blog post.  Here are a few of my favorite modern day business thought leaders:

• Jeremiah Owyang
• Jay Conrad Levinson
• Arrianna Huffington
• Tim O’Reilly
• Charlene Li
• John C. Maxwell
• Rob Cottingham
• Bruce Philp

Let me know who your favorite thought leaders are.

Today I had the great opportunity to once again have Bruce Philp author of the Consumer Republic on my social media podcast. I was so inspired by our conversation I actually reworked my Socialized! Lunch presentation today to include some very important thoughts that Bruce shared about the future of brands and the true power consumers now hold in their hands.

The idea for this podcast discussion really came from a couple of tweets I posted about Groupon’s recent off-color marketing tactics and my disappointment that their response and handling of comments and complaints seemed to be more about sanitizing and denying versus engagement and authentic apologies. (Still not happy with Groupon’s Super Bowl Ads this was the icing on the cake) Bruce’s question to me at that point was; “what if consumers become discouraged and no longer engage?” (because of this type of corporate response online.) I invited Bruce back on the show to talk about the “Consumer Republic” and answer this important question.

During the podcast the conversation quickly turned toward so-called social media experts bloggers etc. who are often the first to criticize a brand, but personally don’t walk their talk in regards to engagement or even responding to blog comments and tweets.  (I’ve been personally guilty more than once of not returning an email or a phone call due to huge volumes of in-bound tweets and inquiries.)

Have a listen to the podcast and let me know what your thoughts are on the subject. A huge thanks to Bruce Philp for logging on and having the conversation as well.

I first met Guy Kawasaki at an Olympic Tweetup here in Vancouver a little over a year. My co-author Jay Conrad Levinson had already filled me in on guy, and Jay may have even used the work “enchanting” when he described Guy. He seems to arrive and light up a room and make everyone around him feel at ease, when guy speaks about marketing and leadership business leaders listen. When Guerrilla Social Media Marketing was being written Guy was #1 on our list as the person to write the foreword, and we were absolutely honored to have him do so. He is a true guerrilla marketer and his use of Twitter and the creation of his site Alltop.com make him a social media thought leader and innovator. He also is an Apple Fellow and the driving force behind the creation of the Apple Fanboy many decades ago (a movement which is still in full force).

With Guy’s new book Enchantment being released today I responded to Guy’s announcement and asked him to do a podcast interview. In the interview we discuss:

• Enchanting brands
• Social media marketing
• Enchanting today’s worker
• How to resist enchantment
• and the difference between enchanting brands like Apple and Zappos and mainstream run-of-the-mill brands

Below is an “Enchantment Info Graphic” to accompany the podcast:

This is a process we developed working with our clients at Socialized! and it takes an inventory of the following:

1. Your existing website: Is it socialized with a blog, integrated with the major social networks and well optimized for search engines?
2. Your social profiles: Are you maximizing the use of the major social sites that are relevant to your audience. This entails not just creating content but having relevant conversations and engaging?
3. Social Media Policy: Do you have a personal or corporate social media policy that fosters a social culture and creates accountability?
4. Social Media Plan: Do you have a strategic plan for launching and sustaining focused social media communications.
5. Trained staff: Is your team trained in the rules of engagement and in the technical aspects of the tools they will use?
6. Integration: Silo? Online/Offline? Bi-directional?: What best describes your social media use. If only one person or one department is using it then you will be faced with bottlenecks and a one dimensional communications strategy.
7. Metrics, Monitoring and Measurement?: Are you using social media monitoring tools like Twitter Search, Post Rank, Google Alerts etc. to find business intelligence, identify stakeholders and get involved in the conversation.

Today’s Podcast is focused on part 1 of the assessment: Your Socialized Site or Blog and asks 12 major questions (covered in the podcast)

The most important thing to realize here is that most of the questions are focused on how you are using your blog and site. Some of it focuses on basic functionality but most is about the application. I will be posting Part 2 “Your Social Profiles Assessment” in the next few days.

This month’s event was focused on  “5 Steps to Maximize Your Organization’s ROI in Social Media”

Following are the presentation slides:

For those who attended that want further assistance in developing and managing your social media presence please email Anthony directly at anthony@socialized.me.

Following are links to sites that were mentioned in the presentation:

Forbes insights The Rise of the Digital C-Suite

Social Media ROI (Podcast)

Engagementdb.com

Hootsuite

Postrank Analytics

The Ford Story

Meetup

Vancouver Tweetup

Social Media Calendar

Kasufunding (Social Fund Raising System)

Make-a-Wish BC

CMA BC Blog

1. Social Media Tip: free is great BUT charge for things, people will appreciate them more and you will attract a different market.
2. Social Media Tip: Want to increase ROI? Have a well-trained sales team handling leads and inquiries. You still need to close the deal.
3. Social Media Tip: LinkedIn is about trusted networks connecting with trusted networks. It’s not a “friending” game.
4. Social Media Tip: Twitter is a marketing tool, networking tool, prospecting tool, research tool… it all depends on how you use/mis-use it
5. Social Media Tip: Many marketers don’t see social media as a revolutionary tool but part of the marketing mix. It can be if it’s applied effectively. Innovate
6. Social Media Tip: Having senior level buy-in is vital if you want to fully maximize your organization’s social media ROI.
7. Social Media Tip: If the major conference you are going to doesn’t have a #hashtag or a tweetup start them both and make more connections.
8. Social Media Tip: stakeholder engagement has it’s ebbs and flows, don’t be discourage, stick with the plan.
9. Social Media Tip: People care more about other people than things or brands. Use social media to tell stories and humanize your business.
10. Social Media Tip: Continually search for new social media platforms – they will expose you to new markets and business intelligence.
11. Social Media Tip: human curators are more important than others. People are trying to sort through all of the noise.
12. Social Media Tip: Consistency is important but being relevant and adding value with your content is equally as important.
13. Social Media Tip: If you can influence just one person negatively or positively you are a leader. Watch your intent.
14. Social Media Tip: Stop trying to control your employees and own their tweets. Instead win their hearts and work on your culture.
15. Social Media Tip: social media is evolving. Make sure your behaviors, tools, and rules of engagement keeping pace.
16. Social Media Tip: There’s more to social media than content. Strategy, etiquette, listening, relevance are vital.
17. Social Media Tip: Train your team and develop a socialized culture. Leverage your brand story through building community.

1. Social Media Calendar Sample Template (podcast, pdf and doc download)
2. Rules for Ford Social Media Engagement are Simple and Clear
3. What is Different About Guerrilla Social Media Marketing?
4. Sales and Social Media – Should You Let Your Sales Team Post Content Using Social Media? (podcast)
5. Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secret #19 -  Implement (Video)
6. 10 Best Practices for Social Media in Social Causes
7. Why Social Media in the C-Suite is Vital
8. How the World’s #1 Online Building Supply Company Uses Social Media
9. 12 Social Media Tips <140 Characters
10. Guerrilla Social Media Marketing – Traditional Sites versus Social Sites
11. Podcast – Helping Sales People Get Smarter with Digital Assistants and Technology (podcast)
12. 12 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters (pt 2)

Thanks for all of your support in 2010. I’m looking forward to what 2011 has in store for the social media space.

PostRank Topblogs 2009 – #101 in Social Media

1. Social Media Tip: You can tweet until you are blue in the face – until you develop intimacy you’re not maximizing your ROI
2. Sales and Social Media Tip: sales and social media are not longer two separate processes or activities.
3. Social Media Tip: Before responding to your critics look at their social graph. Their context is as important as their comments.
4. Social Media Tip: Nothing happens until someone tweets something.
5. Social Media Tip: Titles that help you lose credibility in social media: certified, guru, ninja, rockstar, expert #behumble
6. Social Media Tip: Stay curious and you will stay current.
7. Social Media Tip: engagement starts with genuine sincere empathy and intent
8. Social Media Tip: Listening is not enough. Responding is not enough. Adding value constantly builds your brand.
9. Social Media Tip: Have an integrated marketing plan that includes social media. All media work better augmented.
10. Social Media Tip: Commit to your brand, it’s a promise. Constant changing and redirection confuses your customers.
11. Social Media Tip: It only takes two to make a tribe, and it takes a whole tribe to make a leader.
12. Social Media Tip: Only the community can ordain us a leader. Titles like Expert, Thought Leader or Guru aren’t ones we give ourselves.
13. Social Media Tip: evolving with your market is key, but growth can also be painful and challenging. Be prepared.
14. Social Media Tip: Being transparent has it’s downsides, make sure you can walk your talk. You’re always on stage.
15. Social Media Tip: Leadership is about vision and influence. Those with a vision bigger than themselves will have the most influence.
16. Social Media Tip: You dont have to like or use every tool to be successful.
17. Social Media Tip: Invest in training all of your staff in social media tools and principles. Social media belongs to everyone
18. Social Media Tip: Observe expected etiquette as you move between groups or discussions…even on the same network.
19. Social Media Tip: Leadership is also not about followers. Leadership is about influence, trust, and action.

1. Social Media Tip: Focus on what you love and those who love the content you create.
2. Social Media Tip: A single tweet may not create a best friend but it’s a doorway to many new relationships.
3. Guerrilla Social Media Tip: Nano-marketing is not just about hyper-segmentation – it’s the process of developing intimacy with people.
4. Social Media Tip: Social media monitoring isn’t for keeping score it’s for deepening engagement. #scrm
5. Social Media Tip: Social media monitoring allows you to have the right conversation with the right person at the right time. #scrm
6. Social Media Tip: Engagement is great BUT sustained engagement will maximize ROI.
7. Social Media Tip: Being the signal not the noise also means with more attention you will have more critics. It’s a sign of success.
8. Social Media Tip: Your blog is for both creating and aggregating content and conversations. It’s part of an ecosystem.
9. Social Media Tip: While marketing online creates profits, leadership can create legacy. Think short and long-term.
10. Social Media Tip: Mobile and location based tools are growing in importance and effectiveness. Invest in learning about them.
11. Social Media Tip: When writing your 2011 business plan see social media as part of the mix – there are applications in most departments.

Here’s what the book site says about the book:

Consumer Republic
Using brands to get what you want, make corporations behave, and maybe even save the world.

Consumer Republic is premised on the uncomfortable truth that brands give consumers power over the marketplace that is essentially political. Brands make corporations accountable for their actions and, especially now, they give those corporations something valuable to lose if they fail us. Consumer Republic faces consumers with that power, explains how we got it, and then shows how the choices we make at the cash register can change our own lives, the way that corporations go to market and, ultimately, our entire way of life. Just as an engaged citizen is essential to an effective democracy, so an engaged consumer is the key to a sustainable free market, says Consumer Republic. My new book is a challenge to all of us who consume to vote with our money… and to marketers to be ready for a future in which they will face their customers eye to eye.

 

5 reasons why you should not let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. You have hired idiots – even if you trained them they would just be motivated idiots.
2. You have so much profitable business that you couldn’t handle any more
3. Your product really sucks
4. Your company and culture really suck
5. You haven’t or will not equip them with
   – The rules of engagement and a social media policy
   – Training in the tools of engagement
   – Accountability in place – once engaged it’s game on – have a framework support and accountability.

10 reasons why you should let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. “It’s not marketing it’s talking to customers” – Scott Stratten of UnMarketing
2. It adds to value added frequency
3. It opens up new channels
4. It can save time
5. Load balance your branding
6. Social CRM is the next big thing – are you cruising or are you road kill (Social CRM Podcast)
7. Immediate data instead of compiled and stale data
8. It makes them almost as smart as your customer
9. You can see the activity
10. It builds a passive pipeline and makes projections easier “If you’re talking to unqualified prospects it’s not a sales problem, it’s a marketing problem” – Zero Rejection Prospecting (Michael J Durkin and Norbert Orlewicz)
11. It builds a fence around the customer
12. It creates joy
13. It elevates sales people above pitch artist to trusted advisor

Here’s the info on events:

November 17th 2010 – Guerrilla Social Media Marketing – Toronto, ON Hosted by The Toronto Board of Trade – Media Sponsor Techvibes.com

Details:

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing;
TURN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EFFORTS INTO PROFITABLE GUERRILLA CONQUESTS

In today’s dynamic market environment, it’s important to differentiate your business and capture the attention of your audience. Join Shane Gibson, co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! to learn how to ensure your business stands out from the crowd.

This unique session will offer you insight into:

* The top ten attributes of a guerrilla social media marketer
* How to tap into large influential networks online and offline
* The power of nano-casting and nano-marketing
* How to develop and manage a social media marketing campaign
* Five strategies to help you maximize social media ROI

Click here to register for this event
Address:
Radisson Hotel Toronto East
55 Hallcrown Place
Toronto, ON
M2J 4R1
For more information, click here to download the event PDF.

November 22nd 2010 – Calgary Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Book Launch and Social Mixer. Media Sponsor Techvibes.com

Details:

If you want to know what happens when Guerrilla Marketing meets Social Media please join us in Calgary’s business and social media community for a unique book launch event and social mixer hosted by Shane Gibson, author of the new book Guerrilla Social Media Marketing.

Register on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170754506275099&index=1

Register on EventBrite: http://guerrillamarketingcalgary.eventbrite.com/

November 25th 2010 – Vancouver Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Book Launch and Social Mixer – Media Sponsor Techvibes.com

Details:

If you want to know what happens when Guerrilla Marketing meets Social Media please join us in Vancouver’s business and social media community for a unique book launch event and social mixer hosted by Shane Gibson, author of the new book Guerrilla Social Media Marketing.

Register on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137198492998189

hRegister on EventBrite: http://guerrillamarketingvancouver.eventbrite.com

For sponsorship, media and volunteer details please contact:

Twitter: @shanegibson

Important note: We are looking for Meetup.com organizers and Tweetup hosts for more launch party events in Calgary, Vancouver, Regina, Montreal, Halifax and Toronto (GTA). Send us an email or a tweet if you’re interested in helping or hosting an event.

November 29th, Toronto, ON – Shane Gibson speaks on Guerrilla Social Media Marketing at the Real Estate Marketing Summit

This one-day educational conference has been designed by Realtors® and for Realtors® who want to grow their business online.

Realtors® are also eligible to earn 3 CE credits during the conference!

Mortgage brokers, lawyers, accountants, service providers and other real estate professionals and are also welcome to participate to better understand how online and social media marketing can be used to grow their business.

Register and read more by clicking here.

Here’s the Ford Social Media Policy:

Rules for Ford Social Media Engagement

At Ford Motor Company, our social media strategy involves connecting our consumers with our employees in the digital space whenever possible, and providing value to them in the process. As a result, we have specific rules for online engagement, which, amongst other variables, involves abiding by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s Code of Ethics.
Ford will:

• Always request that our social media influencers be transparent and disclose their relationship, as well as anything they’ve received as a result of that relationship with Ford
• Insist on honesty of opinion. We want both positive and negative reviews of our vehicles
• Offer influencers engaging experiences that are worth talking about. We won’t be cutting and pasting press releases into e-mails in hopes someone will post them
• Always carefully target our outreach to ensure that we aren’t “spamming” anyone with unwanted messages
• Listen carefully to suggestions and concerns
• Compensate influencers for consulting or other duties they do for Ford. This compensation will solely be for their time as an advisor and will not include an expectation that they will write about the project – favorably or unfavorably
• Apologize quickly for any mistakes we make. No one is perfect and we are sure that we will make a misstep in our efforts to engage with the social web, but we will be sure to learn from our mistakes
• Share this policy with all influencers we work with

The more straight forward and easy to understand a social media policy is, the easier it is to follow and abide by. Do you have a social media policy for your own social media and social networking activities? What do you think of Ford’s?

Update: See a visual of the Ford Social Media Policy Here.

An excerpt from “Guerrilla Social Media Marketing” by Shane Gibson and Jay Conrad Levinson:

What is an authentic guerrilla brand?

• It makes promises and statements that can be backed up today, tomorrow and indefinitely.
• It is customer-focused and sells and markets to the customer what they need and want.
• It is consistent, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in any geography or language.
• It doesn’t take shortcuts for short-term gain; the guerrilla brand builds customers for life.
• It is, however, fallible; all brands have imperfections and weaknesses, and a guerrilla brand does not shovel these things under the rug. It takes feedback and improves the customer experience.
• It is accessible. No executives are in an ivory tower; no labyrinths have been built to keep out the unhappy customer.
• It is focused on a distinct area of true competency and expertise, and that is why people gravitate to the guerrilla brand.

Join our Facebook Page:

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Official Page | Promote Your Page Too

I posed this same question to Jeff Booth CEO of Builddirect.com and here was the answer he gave me:

“Social media is not really about B2C or B2B it’s about P2P or person-to-person communications and adding value.”  – Jeff Booth CEO Builddirect.com (the worlds largest online wholesaler of building supplies.)

The reality is that the majority of decision makers or their direct influencers use the web to find information on a vendor and the individual employees they are dealing with. I have compiled a short list of resources and blogs that you may find useful in deciding is social media marketing will work for your organization.

Here are some statistics and quotes regarding social media in the commercial space:

…69% of B2B buyers use social networks “primarily for business networking and development.” (About.com)

…Stereotypes may have C-level executives delegating research to others, but the study reveals that 53% prefer to search the Web and locate information themselves. – Google and Forbes Insights Study (2009)

Social media is not a separate silo or discipline, in fact, companies in the Business-to-Business space like Builddirect.com, Oracle, SAP, Intel, Accenture, GE, and Siemens have found that is most effective when integrated with existing sales and marketing processes. They also have found it has given them a significant advantage over their less socially engaged competitors. (An entire engagement study can be found at http://engagementdb.com )

B2B Social Media Reading and Resources:

1. Video: “Vital Statistics for B2B Marketers”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXQdy-22TXM“
2. 20 Support Cases for Using Social Media in B2B Marketing” http://www.savvyb2bmarketing.com/blog/entry/122161/20-support-cases-for-using-social-media-in-b2b-marketing
3. “A fascinating B2B Social Media Success Story” http://businessesgrow.com/2010/06/20/a-fascinating-hardcore-b2b-social-media-success
4. “5 B2B Social Media Success Stories” http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2010/05/b2b-social-media-success.html
5. “30 B2B Social Media Resources” http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6379/30-Awesome-B2B-Social-Media-Resources.aspx
6. “The Definitive Case for B2B Social Media Marketing” – Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/1665075/the-definitive-case-for-b2b-social-media-marketing
7. “7 Reasons Why Social Media is for Sales” – http://bettercloser.com/7-reasons-social-media-sales/

Today’s podcast is about the importance of a social media calendar for individuals and organizations. I have also provides a social media calendar template that Jay Levinson and I developed for Guerrilla Social Media Marketing.

Have a listen, download the sample social media calendar and then let me know how it works for you.

Download the sample Social Media Calendar (WORD) and Social Media Calendar (PDF)

Social Media Calendar

Jack recently helped Michael Tedham find and buy a new house. Mike is a successful marketing and promotions manager for the Granville Entertainment Group. Mike also has 1957 Facebook friends. So when Jack delivered great service, Mike didn’t just tell a couple people… he told 2000.

From a note on Mike’s Facebook page here’s his tongue-in-cheek tribute to Jack Bernard:

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 6:46pm

Why Jack Bernard is the best realtor in the world.

In this note: Jack Bernard (notes), Tina Sharp

1.) He is a ginger, but somehow has a sole intact.
2.) He doesn’t drive a BMW convertible.
3.) He doesn’t use spray tan.
4.) He stops at Starbucks before he picks you up.
5.) It’s really fun to say ‘JACK ATTACK!’
6.) He is EXTREMELY knowledgable.
7.) He is an EXTREMELY good teacher.
8.) He takes about a second to understand what you are looking for, and finds it.
9.) He doesn’t care if you are hung over, and keeps the stereo down if you are.
10.) DId I mention he somehow retained his soul?

Thats 10 reasons, and I could name about a million other. Tina and my experience purchasing our first home has had several set backs, but NONE were by fault of Jack, and he helped us through every single one of them. Anybody out there looking to buy, be it your first place, or 50th, Jack is amazing, and I will never buy another place without him.

Kudos Jack…. Kudos

jack attack!

Since late 2009 Jay Conrad Levinson and I have been working on our new book Guerrilla Social Media Marketing. It’s the latest in the Guerrilla Marketing series of books, the top selling marketing series of books of all time (20 million copies sold). I know Jay personally and when the opportunity came up to write the book I jumped at it. It wasn’t until 1/2 way through the book did I realize the magnitude of the opportunity (and the work entailed in living up to the Guerrilla Marketing brand).

You can order it here or join the Facebook page here.

In the meantime I thought I would share the foreword written by Guy Kawasaki of Alltop.com:

How to Become a Social Media Guerrilla

I first met Jay Conrad Levinson, the father of guerrilla marketing, when I interviewed him in early 90s. I met Shane Gibson at an Olympic Hockey Tweetup in Vancouver, Canada. When Shane told me that he and Jay were working in this latest volume of the Guerrilla Marketing series about social media, he captivated my interest because the two are a match made in heaven.

Alltop owes its success to social-media guerrilla marketing. We used Twitter and Facebook to create Alltop evangelists, galvanize our supporters and critics, and generate page views and brand awareness. We also tapped community and built multiple nano-casts of content for the nano-markets that Jay and Shane talk about in this book.

The combination of the social media and guerrilla marketing enables entrepreneurs to level the playing field in their industry. Capitalizing on social media is not just about using them as tools but taking matters beyond this and making them guerrilla-marketing weapons.

Jay and Shane have crafted a comprehensive guide for the marketer, entrepreneur, or executive that is serious about profiting from social media. The challenges that people face in social media are:

• What tools to use and how to use them profitably.
• Finding and engaging profitable target markets.
• How to build community and then raving fans.
• What and how to measure ROI.

This book answers all these issues. It’s not an easy path; it will take discipline, tenacity, and creativity. For those who are willing to pay this price, Jay and Shane have provided the ultimate roadmap needed to achieve your goal.

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Today’s podcast is not about some of these global examples but a very local one I had the privilege to be part of. In a 24 hour period Anthony Caridi of KasuFunding.com and I along with a very committed social media community here in Vancouver raised over $12,000 for the Make a Wish Foundation. Almost 100% of the donations came from Twitter or FaceBook connections.

Here are 10 things we discovered that worked (some of them we implemented and others we will implement next time):

1)   Organize your collateral material early for each stakeholder group

2)   Make your content easy to share, cut and paste

3)   Integrate the offline with the online and get influencer buy-in early

4)   Have multiple platforms for RSVP’ing for events

5)   Get donors with big lists and big reach to not just cut a check but use that influence and reach to promote your cause

6)   Contact people individually and ask them to do something easy

7)   Use a fundraising platform like KasuFunding.com that makes it easy for people to Tweet, share and forward information about the cause.

8)   Work close with the Charity

9)   If you are a charity leverage your stakeholder groups when social media marketing instead of using internal resources

10)  Keep your message really simple.

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Special Thanks to:

Social media is not just another tool. It can be, but it’s a lot more for those organizations that embrace it. The challenge is it’s also not just about learning a new technology, it’s about changing the way we communicate with customers, stakeholders and staff.

This is a corporate cultural change, it’s also about embracing one of the most powerful word of mouth tools ever invented. There are huge inherent risks and opportunities presented by this. For that reason social media or online engagement initiatives in general have to be driven by the C-suite, the people who can hold others accountable and sponsor change in their organization.

In today’s social media podcast I talk about the following:

1. Senior executives and their need for buy-in
2. What and who to invest in
3. The importance of a corporate social media policy
4. How soft steps lead to ROI
5. Why most social media marketing fails:

• Lack of a goal
• Poorly defined market
• No listening
• No real launch plan
• Quitting too soon

The bottom-line is that social media is too important to compartmentalize or see as a pet project.What do you think?

.tel: This is a new domain name extension but it’s more than just another domain. Yourname.tel, Yourproduct.tel and yourcompany.tel are vital guerrilla tools. A .tel domain is driven by a proprietary software that integrates a variety of SmartPhone and web based applications. Embedded in the .tel are your contact details and key information. With a click of a button your prospects can immediately download your contact information into their address book or cellular phone. George Moen CEO of Blenz Coffee has a business card with no phone numbers, addresses or e-mail on it. It simply says GeorgeMoen.tel.

What the .tel network is building is worlds biggest phone book that dynamically integrates into websites and applications. Anytime you update your contact details in your .tel dashboard it automatically updates all of the other sites and the Smartphone applications. How many times have you been somewhere and forgot your business cards? Now you can simply tell people to visit yourname.tel, yourproduct.tel or yourcompany.tel, and most people will find that easy to remember and easy to do.

Copyright 2010 Jay Conrad Levinson, Shane Gibson and Entrepreneur Press

Guerrillas need to constantly feed their community and connections with value added content. They also need to keep up to date with specific industries and niche markets to remain competitive. Alltop’s always current and up-to-date news and blog feeds are a great source of guerrilla intelligence and content.

Traditional Websites versus Social Sites

Copyright 2010 Jay Conrad Levinson Shane Gibson and Entrepreneur Press

So I have my People Friday booked up. I’m visiting with my co-author Stephen Jagger, then meeting with a long time client, and then I will be meeting with George Moen of Blenz Coffee. Most of these conversations and interactions could be handled online via a wiki / chat collaboration BUT there’s huge value to looking someone in the eye and taking the time to let them know how they have impacted you. If at all possible today… get offline in person with someone you have rapport with online and see if you can add depth to that relationship.

Have a great Friday,

Shane

These are the wrong questions. Lets use a guerrilla analogy: What’s the best weapon for combat? The answer is: You need more than one weapon, you need multiple weapons, multiple approaches and a lot of redundancy and back-up.

Lets step back from “social media marketing” and talk about marketing. We know that the best marketing campaigns use a variety of media and messages. BMW doesn’t just use billboards, they use e-mail, micro-sites, online video, direct mail and also encourage user generated content on some of their more social sites. Starbucks is much the same.

The message here is this:

Stop falling in love with social media tools, start falling in love with your customer

Starbucks, BMW, Ford, Comcast and many other successful social media marketers are customer engagement focused. They surround their customers online with multiple opportunities from multiple media to learn, connect and engage. It takes time, frequency of contact and a lot value added interactions to become top of mind with your customer.

EngagementDB.com a project by Altimeter Group and WetPaint studied the web’s top brands and looked at the impact of using multiple media and channels versus being a one-weapon marketer. Without exception the brands that used multiple media and channels had greater and faster engagement levels. These brands also happened to be more profitable than the others. This is probably not due to social media use but the fact that they are progressive and strategic at all levels in their businesses.

Here’s your take-away:

1. Fall in love with your customer, interact with them in multiple channels and add value. Focus on them, not the tools.
2. Have an over reaching plan and goal that drives your content creation and interaction
3. Use all of your social media tools, search marketing and offline marketing in tandem and with the same focus.
4. Stay on message, stay consistent, and continually engage

What are your thoughts on this? Have you found that multiple media helps you engage faster and more effectively?

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]]> http://www.closingbigger.net/2010/04/facebook-twitter-blogging-seo-%e2%80%93-which-one-is-right-for-you/feed/ 24 http://www.closingbigger.net/2010/04/guerrilla-social-media-marketing-excerpt/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guerrilla-social-media-marketing-excerpt http://www.closingbigger.net/2010/04/guerrilla-social-media-marketing-excerpt/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:24:16 +0000 Shane Gibson http://www.closingbigger.net/?p=676 This is another (unedited) excerpt from Guerrilla Social Media Marketing a new book by Jay Conrad Levinson and Shane Gibson set for release in September 2010.

Engagement pages are designed to capture hearts and minds, not just e-mail addresses.

Traditional internet marketers rely heavily on controlling the behavior of their visitors. This means reducing options and choices. What is commonly referred to as a squeeze page is a good example of this. Squeeze pages usually are completely void of navigation buttons or links to other pages or websites, and give the visitor one of two choices: to read the marketing copy and then make a choice to either fill in their personal information and give consent or to leave. Although this will capture a percentage of visitors who are ready, willing or able to buy or give consent right now, it also repels visitors who could have become good clients if they had only been engaged in a credible manner.

Engagement pages have some similarities to a squeeze page, in that their purpose is also to gain consent and generate subscribers. The difference is: the engagement page offers the visitor multiple options, mediums and pathways to learn more about how the guerrilla’s business can benefit and add value to the visitor’s life or business. It also provides multiple subscription options.

As a reader what are your thoughts on this? Do you use landing pages or engagement pages? What is your impression or sentiment toward organizations that funnel you into squeeze pages?

Guerrillas know that social media and social networks are bi-directional communications tools. Most of your competitors will be stingy with their real level of interaction and conversations with the marketplace. Chat more, contribute more, and listen more than your competitors.

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing – Copyright 2010 Jay Conrad Levinson – Shane Gibson & Entrepreneur Press

A guerrilla positioning story tells your specific niche the following:

1. What your corporate values are and what you represent
2. What you offer and specifically what business you are in
3. What makes you unique, and distinct
4. What you do better than anyone else
5. Who loves to do business with you (your target markets)

Guerrillas position through stories and conversations

The first step in positioning through social media is to get to know your audience intimately. Commonly referred to as social media monitoring tools, guerrilla intelligence tools allow you to sort through the millions of possible blog posts, Tweets, and videos honing in on relevant conversations by your target market. Once this target market has been identified, and their true needs, wants, communications style and culture has been determined then the conversation begins. It’s not a sales pitch, it’s a series of questions, value added content, and engaging conversations using multiple social media. Over time each of these little interactions forms and tells your positioning story. How you answer questions, share information and produce content must be consistent with your brand and the positioning story you want to tell.

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing – Copyright 2010 Jay Conrad Levinson – Shane Gibson & Entrepreneur Press

Truth:

Marketing is the truth made fascinating. Guerrilla social media marketing is about using all of the tools available to tell your fascinating brand story in a way that drives trust, consent and profits. With that said, guerrillas tell the truth and they tell the whole truth. With social media networks and platforms the millions of people that inhabit them quickly detect lies or half-truths. Misinformation or false pretenses can be profitable in the short-term but over the long term not telling the truth will destroy the customer’s trust, credibility and ultimately your fragile reputation.

Copyright 2010 -  Jay Conrad Levinson, Shane Gibson and Entrepreneur Press

#6) Free and Variable

It is important to use free digital give away’s that have real value and customer benefits. Then of course we need a variety of paid options to upgrade to. One size fits all doesn’t work anymore, people want very personalized options tailored to their particular taste and desires.

Lego.com effectively applies the concept of free and variable and is profiting greatly from it. Using soft steps to gradually build consent from the customer is a key guerrilla strategy. Starting with free and highly interactive games kids and adults alike quickly develop a loyalty and positive association to the Lego brand and the toys in the game. There’s not one, two or ten games; there are dozens with varying complexity and appeal.

Of course the real winner is the free Lego DesignByMe downloadable software. This digital design software allows the user to virtually build Lego models using thousands of Lego pieces that are stored in it’s database.  The user can rotate a 3D model in any direction adding pieces, color and functionality and also calculate the exact cost of building and purchasing the model they have built. Once they are happy with their unique design, which fits their personal budget they then can even design a custom box cover and packaging. Lego will put all the pieces in the customer-designed box, complete with instructions to help the customer put together their model in real life and then they ship it to them directly from the factory.

The software has a social aspect as well, allowing members to add friends, and also share and vote on designs. There’s also several ways users can share their designs with friends and family who may want to purchase the custom Lego for them as a gift.

Free digital give away’s build trust and allow the customer to experience our brand without risk. With trust we can garner consent to communicate and market to them. Variable customized options make it easier for customers to purchase and re-purchase. In the case of LEGO there’s always a new, exciting model to be purchased because the options are limitless.

Copyright 2010 Shane Gibson, Jay Conrad Levinson and Entrepreneur Press

Although we invited the world, most people were local that attended; I have never seen a Tweetup of this size in Vancouver where everyone came out to connect in person. What the Olympics has done is give us Vancouverites a reason to relax, connect more often and have more fun. What was great of course is that Canada won (sorry my Swiss friends) and Guy Kawasaki the most Tweeted about personality online showed up after the game to say hello. Over all it was a fantastic demonstration of how social media and virtual connections can create real community and real relationships. For more Tweetups in Vancouver visit “VancouverTweetup.”

Victory Goal Video (by @jlate)

O’Canada Video (by @jlate)

Photos

The Fashion Police Were Obviously Not Present

Mitch Baldwin of Social Media Club Vancouver at the Caprice

Marc McPherson @marcmcpherson from Builddirect.com

Vancouver's Social Media Community Tweeting Up for Team Canada

@jason_baker @guykawasaki @shanegibson and friends

@cybelenegris & @guykawasaki

Shane Gibson is co-author of Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down and is an active member of the Vancouver Board of Trade and Social Media Club Vancouver. Learn more about Shane at http://ShaneGibson.tel or follow him on Twitter @ShaneGibson.

Photo Credit Terry Chay

Today’s podcast is an interview with Larry Chang author of What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School. Larry is also a seriously Sociable! guy and can be found organizing after parties at some of the biggest social media and cultural events from South by South West to conferences at major universities across North America. In fact Larry may be the 3rd best party guy and networker I have met. (Sociable! Book Launch Party). In this interview Larry and I talk about topics you don’t learn in business school such as Man Charm, how to land a super star mentor and sales skills.

Larry’s book sold out it’s first printing on Amazon but you can register for updates at Amazon by clicking on the book below:

What They Don't Teach You at Stanford Business School

Thanks You!

PHOTOS:

Have you seen the pictures from the launch party?

You can see them here – http://www.facebook.com/SociableBook

We will have a video from the event shortly, watch http://www.sociablebook.com for it!

Do you have photos you took at the party? We would love to see them, just upload them to our Facebook Fan Page
http://www.facebook.com/SociableBook

BUY SOCIABLE!

Didn’t Get A Chance To Buy Your Copy of Sociable! ??

You can buy Sociable! at:

Amazon.com – http://bit.ly/9OoplU

Hager Books – 2176 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC – 604-263-9412

Bulk Purchases -  http://www.sociablebook.com/BuyTheBook.ubr

SPONSORS:
The Sociable! Launch Party could not of happened without our sponsors.  A big thanks to:

Event Sponsor:
Amuse Consulting  – http://www.amuseconsulting.ca

Media Sponsors:
TechVibes – http://www.techvibes.com (marketing support)
6SMarketing – http://www.6SMarketing.com (marketing support)
Jeremy Lim – http://www.jeremylim.ca (photographer)
FreyBurg Media – http://www.freyburgmedia.com (video)

Cruiser Tables:
HootSuite – http://www.HootSuite.com
SplitMango – http://www.SplitMango.com
Mobio – http://www.mobioid.com/
SiTek – http://www.sitek.com
Kaerus – http://www.kaerus.ca
JustTheBill – http://www.justthebill.com

SPEAKING:
To hire Stephen and/or Shane to speak at your next conference or event please contact us at http://www.sociablebook.com

Thanks again so much for your support!!

It was a really fantastic night and we could not have done it with out you all.

Sincerely,

Steve and Shane
http://www.sociablebook.com
http://twitter.com/sociablebook
http://www.twitter.com/sjagger
http://www.twitter.com/shanegibson

1. Stay curious and you will stay current.
2. Momentum is hard to build and easy to lose. When things start to rock… ride the wave and keep pushing.
3. Have a goal or theme and build a monthly calendar around your social media activities
4. Crowdsourcing still requires leadership to take ideas and turn them into action. Don’t just create fans, equip leaders.
5. Fresh valuable content beats perfect outdated content every time. Use tools that help you publish easy and fast.
6. Understand tools like friendfeed, tumblr, and ping.fm. They can help you syndicate your messaging for maximum reach.
7. search engine optimization helps people find you. Integrate an SEO plan with your social media plan.
8. Have a set of guidelines and a social media training program for your staff to ensure that you maximize results.
9. Being transparent has it’s downsides, make sure you can walk your talk. You’re always on stage.
10. Evaluate your strategy as if you were looking through your customers eyes. Ask “So What?” a lot
11. “There is no failure only feedback” – @fredshadian
12. Create spaces (Ning, Buddypress etc.) for communities to form. Creating positive community is great for business.

Amacus

Today’s podcast is with sales technology thought leader John Cousineau who is President of Innovative Information the creators of Amacus.  John and I have had a number of coffee chats and debates around why and how to use technology and social media to improve sales performance and customer experience. The nexus of sales and social media seems to be happening in the CRM and Social CRM space.  The question is it happening fast enough and making things more efficient or is it just giving sales people more buttons and buzzwords to worry about.

1. Improve the way you use 5 tools 10% each. Cumulatively it will have a big effect.
2. Easy access to tools like blogging raises the bar for those who want to lead, lots of competition.
3. Take massive action when you see a trend that may have large growth potential. You won’t win them all… but one will do.
4. The best medium is the one your customer likes, use multiple media.
5. There will be platforms you visit and platforms you call home. Make sure you own your home.
6. Be open to feedback, be open to being wrong. Defensiveness isn’t all that social.
7. Hone in on and focus on engaging people. Help multiply each other’s vision.
8. When teaching people talk in variable rules and principles not universal ones. Nothing is forever…things move fast.
9. Many people will quit, shun and criticize social media marketing when they realize it’s actually about leadership.
10. Dear Agency/Marketer/Sales Guy, if we wanted marketing and pitching we’d watch TV.
11. If you keep changing your message you will keep starting over. Experimenting with your strategic brand is not good.
12. Social media works better when it’s incorporated holistically with your entire set of marketing tools.
13. Before listening to someone’s social media tips or advice use social search to verify their credibility.
14. Leadership is influence (John Maxwell) and influence is measured based upon the change and action we create.
15. Use Twitter lists to let people know you’re listening.
16. Consistency, conviction, passion and focus are needed to see a social media plan succeed.
17. Best short-cut for results: focus on people, relationships, & psychology not gimmicks and clicks.
18. Not listening to your customer = Brandicide (Brand Homicide) do you have a social media listening strategy?
19. Once you find a conversation about your brand encourage it to spread by creating and hosting places for dialogue.
20. Social listening strategy comes before social media content strategy.
21. Most social media efforts are abandoned long before their results can be measured.
22. Integrate your tools in your marketing but also measure the effectiveness of each tool individually.
23. Social Media Trend: More people realizing that social media success is about leadership not technology.
24. Social Media Trend: Simultaneous translation in mirco-blogging and collaboration platforms.
25. Social Media Trend: Mobile social apps aggregating multiple social networks and media into one place.
26. Aggregate your client and prospect list and develop nano-casts for each nano-segment.
27. Social media can be used for retaining, developing and prospecting clients, all aspects of the sales cycle.
28. Get out of your industry vacuum when building strategy. Look for SMM concepts that can be adapted.
29. Want to make good connections? Make value added, thoughtful comments on their blog.
30. Teach your clients about social media, help them get online. It creates more dialogue opportunities.
31. Make it real at least twice a week. Meet offline in person with contacts.
32. Research and test the latest platforms but don’t go down the rabbit hole.
33. Teach people the principles of leadership before teaching them how to use Twitter or blogs.
34. Meetup.com is best used for community events. Using it just to promote your product or company will have minimal results.
35. Your great idea or blog post, is being written in 10 different languages by other people right now.
36. Any system or company bent on being exclusive versus inclusive will fail.
37. nstead of writing headlines write engagement lines.
38. As a leader, make the journey look fun & share your joy. People will want to follow the path.
39. “Nothing happens until someone tweets something.”
40. Being a thought leader is just as much about selfless contribution as it is about unique dialogue.
41. You don’t have to like or use every tool to be successful.
42. Social Media Trend: Brands now need to think global social etiquette when planning their social media strategy.
43. Unique, brief sound bytes produced consistently can yield great results.
44. Once in a while ask your FB and Twitter friends for help. See who steps up. This will tell you a lot.
45. Make a list of people who support you online. Develop a strategy to reciprocate.
46. Use your experience in social media to predict areas of growth in new regions and niches. Then pay it forward.
47. You may be awesome blogger but does the world know? SEO, social networks, offline promotions are needed.
48. Make your events that you promote about the community. Education and collaboration trump pitches.
49. “Think what’s in it for me?” from your target market’s perspective.
50. Using more than one channel / stream shortens your brand engagement curve.
51. Defining your target market and goals is easy, engaging them is the challenge.
52. The numbers are exciting but they’re just numbers until you make it real and build good relationships.
53. Engagement is not just about listening; it’s about empathy, rapport, and making people feel heard.
54. Engagement is the goal, social media are the tools.
55. Thank people who comment on your blog via e-mail or twitter. Let them know you’re listening.
56. Search engine optimization can help you rapidly grow your network and connections. Get good at it.
57. Develop a list of your top connections/influencers and make sure you’re connected on multiple networks.
58. There is a Trend: Condensed writing, short videos all getting shorter.
59. Blogging tip. Pick a theme or topic for the month. Plan 7-10 blog entries that build up to 1 core message, event, or action.
60. Have a series of steps planned and measured to track and develop relationships.
61. One of your final steps in the social media sales process is to connect offline, on the phone, or at least one on one virtually.
62. Use http://www.backtype.com/ to search blog comments about you, your blog or a topic.
63. Social media is too new for Gurus. We’re all amateurs! That’s what makes it fun and open.
64. Social Media Phases: Adoption, Population, Pollination, Aggregation, Splintering, Commercializing, and Globalizing.
65. Social media is here to stay and has more relevance and power everyday.
66. Embracing and understanding how to use social media is a core life skill, leadership skill and career building skill.
67. Social media is social. It’s about helping people connect to people using technology, it embodies truly what the internet was intended for.
68. Social media is not just about technology, it’s a new way of leading, thinking, and connecting with other people.
69. Social media belongs to all of us. An ordinary consumer, a front line employee, a political activist in Iran all have access and a voice.
70. You need different messaging for client retention than you do for attraction.
71. Statistics tend to be a history lesson. Growth and human behavior are rarely linear. Listen to customers and staff.
72. Use social listening tools: http://www.collecta.com/ http://www.twitority.com/ http://socialmention.com/ http://www.twazzup.com/
73. Develop a social media policy and set of guidelines to keep your team on track and on message.
74. You can force someone to be social, you can only give them the tools and training.
75. Worry less about selling and more about connecting and rapport.
76. Read Free the Future of a Radical Price before launching your next marketing campaign.
77. Read “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh Macleod if you want to tap into your social media creativity.
78. Spend time each day promoting and contributing to another blogger’s success.
79. What works for you now will only keep working until it is no longer unique. Keep innovating.
80. Polish your work too long and someone will move first with a less perfect work but they’ll get the credit. Publish first.
81. One day we will look back at “social media” as a buzz word. But the best practices will still be in use.
82. Seeing someone as a competitor is old economy, seeing them as a peer and a fusion partner is key.
83. Talk and listen to small nodes or groups of people in your larger niche network. Niche broadcasting is not enough.
84. Contribution, help and kindness are your social currencies which can get you access to great people and great networks.
85. Want to implement your social media plan fast? Think collaboration not committee
86. All the details, plans and tools don’t mean much unless you understand people.
87. A sense of curiosity and willingness to experiment can lead to some positive serendipitous discoveries.
88. Stop focusing on being a social media rock star, focus on building a community and a list.
89. Develop an understanding of the Long Tail http://longtail.com Think variable not universal when building strategy. Nano-casting and the “Long Tail” are key.”
90. Types of social media ROI include: improved staff engagement, quicker response to business challenges, increased frequency contact with clients.
91. Social Media results could also be: increased revenue, more customer data, increased store (real world) traffic, press, improved customer service.
92. Looking to hire a social media expert? Look for proof that they have done more than just build traffic and followers.
93. Words to use in a social media job posting: track record, business experience, well networked, project management experience.
94. There is a lot of hype. Look for truth, verify information and execute with dependable tools and strategies.
95. Use give away’s that have real value with a variety of paid options to upgrade to. Think customization and options.
96. Permission to connect has put the power in the consumers’ hands. Seek and then treat that permission like gold.
97. When I join your facebook page, give you my e-mail or follow you on twitter those are examples of “permission to connect”
98. Some people like lengthy whitepapers, others learn best through video, audio or text updates. Use variety.
99. Measure engagement levels, revenues, value added interactions. Big numbers in views and traffic can lie.
100. Bad customer feedback is a branding opportunity if you handle it right.
101. If you can’t be relevant, at least be entertaining!
102. Visit sites outside of your industry and interest areas for new ideas.
103. Constantly look for ways to contribute and you will never run out of marketing leverage.
104. Social Media should be integrated or synced with other marketing activities.
105. Social media is not rocket science. Forget the big words and focus on listening and connecting intimately.
106. It’s kind of like dating. Don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date.
107. Your goal is to become referable; to become credible, and to build a following through value added interactions.
108. It is not about getting referrals; it is about becoming referable.
109. There are many ways to get followers. A good question to ask is: “How do I create quality connections on Twitter?”
110. Ning.com is a great social networking tool. What it enables you to do is create your own private network for anything.
111. Pay it forward. Teach people about social media and they’ll tell other people about you.
112. Resist the temptation to fill your Facebook friends inboxes with daily marketing. They will tune you out.
113. Break long blog posts into a series of short-posts, it will increase your page views and be more engaging (except this one of course)
114. It’s personal reputation and brand building that makes us approachable, people want the real deal.
115. When you’re reaching out to thought leaders in the social space you need to tap into their motivations.
116. Pre-scheduled tweets and blog posts can help you reach audiences in different time zones.
117. Use http://www.tubemogul.com to distribute video to Youtube, Viddler, Vimeo etc. all at once.
118. Use http://hootsuite.com to manage multiple twitter accounts and schedule tweets into the future.
119. It feels great to know people are listening to us and that they care. Let your customers know you’re listening.
120. If done right social media will become a part of your business process not a separate addition.
121. Spend at least as much time listening as you do broadcasting.
122. It’s called “social media” for a reason. Be prepared to interact consistently.
123. You can’t win the game focusing on the scoreboard. Focus on the game of engagement and the traffic will come.
124. Losing followers is okay, measure the engagement level of who is still here to see how you are doing.
125. Have a goal, measure results, measurement provides feedback and improvement.
126. The internet has always been about helping people connect to people (@nickusborne)
127. Pay it forward. Help, teach. guide and be patient with people new to the scene. [Tweet This Tip]
128. Study people who are credible with the type of clients you want to attract. Model their strategy.
129. Marketers aren’t always synonymous with community builders, traffic and followers isn’t always equal to credibility.
130. If you’re an old school e-mail marketer or pitch artist, there’s some habits you will need to unlearn.
131. Before you start your campaign define your market and their pains.
132. Everyone and every company gets off message once in a while. Refocus and learn from it.
133. Leaders of large “Tribes” need to have thick skin and a tolerance for noise.
134. Continually tweak and update your Linkedin profile, your network will be notified.
135. Social media is changing so quickly that if you stop too long to smell the roses you’ll be out of touch.
136. Try a new platform each month, video blogging, FaceBook, tumblr etc. Curiosity can lead to great discoveries.
137. You can’t make a robot network for you at a party, why do you think they can do it for you on the web?
138. Some un-follows are strategic. People want to know if you’re really listening.
139. You can’t please everyone. But know who you are trying to connect with. Get in sync with your audience.
140. http://www.ping.fm updates FaceBook, Brightkite, Twitter, tumblr and Linkedin statuses all at once
141. Focus on a specific theme in your social media for extended periods of time
142. Your blog is your home base, all social media should feed your home base
143. Social media is 90 % contribution and connection 10 % marketing and sales
144. Social media belongs to the people, they get to make the rules not the marketer
145. Have a social media policy for your company. Help your people be effective and on message
146. Promote other people’s dreams. It builds community, loyalty and brand for you
147. “Marketing is a process not an event”- @jaylevinson Blog, tweet and talk about solutions to people’s pains and challenges
148. Social media tools like twitter are listening tools more than they are broadcasting tools.
149. Nano-cast to many small niches instead of broadcasting to everyone.
150. Learn to break up large blog entries into many smaller entries. It’s more user friendly
151. Take time each month to update your major social media profiles, use key words that your prospects would search for
152. Use social search like http://search.twitter.com and http://blogsearch.google.com to listen to your customers
153. Each social network has it’s own etiquette FaceBook type behavior doesn’t work on  LinkedIn
154. Answer people’s comments on your blog, or @ replies in Twitter. Social media leadership is about bi-directional communication.
155. Think twice, click once.
156. Take it off-line, book in person meetings or hold events for your online social media contacts
157. Use an assortment of tools, it geometrically multiplies efforts
158. Always be asking where are we going? What is the next Twitter or FaceBook going to be?
159. Use a mixture of content on your blogs, top 10 lists, photos, video, audio, guest bloggers, and polls…

I’m excited about what this year has to hold. While the big talk and focus is on Social Media ROI the real trend in my opinion is the realization that social media is a leadership tool. I’m looking forward to seeing many leaders amplify the good things they are doing in 2010 using social media. Happy New Year!

Download a free Chapter of Shane’s new book in PDF or MP3 Format.

10 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters

1. When teaching people talk in variable rules and principles not universal ones. Nothing is forever…things move fast.
2. Many people will quit, shun and criticize social media marketing when they realize it’s actually about leadership.
3. Dear Agency/Marketer/Sales Guy, if we wanted marketing and pitching we’d watch TV.
4. If you keep changing your message you will keep starting over. Experimenting with your strategic brand is not good.
5. Social media works better when it’s incorporated holistically with your entire set of marketing tools.
6. Before listening to someone’s social media tips or advice use social search to verify their credibility.
7. Leadership is influence (John Maxwell) and influence is measured based upon the change and action we create.
8. Use Twitter lists to let people know you’re listening.
9. Consistency, conviction, passion and focus are needed to see a social media plan succeed.
10. Best short-cut for results: focus on people, relationships, & psychology not gimmicks and clicks.

10 Things That Will Not Change About Social Media in 2010

1. It’s about the conversation
2. It belongs to everyone
3. It can’t be controlled only lead
4. It works best integrated
5. It doesn’t fit in the marketing ROI box
6. It’s an investment
7. It’s never been about the tools but those who wield them
8. It’s not going away, it’s not a fad
9. Experimenting with your clients money is a bad idea
10. Success belongs to the storytellers

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know I’m a big Hootsuite fan.  I interviewed Ryan Holmes CEO of Invoke Media (the company that made Hootsuite) a few months ago about the Twitter app and I’ve been a loyal user ever since.  It is a web based Twitter app, and actually if fully used to it’s capacity could be considered a Social CRM tool.   I use  Hootsuite to monitor 15 niches’ of clients, stakeholders, influencers and friends.  I also use the program to do A/B testing on headlines and research what time of day people respond best to my updates and links. The fact that I can now take this Twitter/Social CRM tool with me on my iPhone truly un-teathers me from the office and allows me to interact with my Twitter accounts, clients and core niche markets.  Expect more Tweets from me on the go now. The video is on the Hootsuite iPhone App:

1. You need buy-in
2. It’s really about creating an opportunity culture
3. You need to reward people, that means everyone
4. “What gets inspected gets respected” – Trevor Greene
5. Move poor fits out quick, and hire the right people
6. Feed the monster – train and develop continually
7. Fix operations if they don’t support sales
8. Fix products and services that don’t meet needs or fulfill promises
9. It takes time, up to 18 months or longer before true leadership evolves

Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside Down

Four Types of Prospecting:

1. Face to Face
2. Extended Personal
3. Community and Network Prospecting
4. Media Marketing/Prospecting

Make a Plan:

1. Have the intent to meet people wherever you go, be aware and focus on rapport
2. Book time everyday for e-mail and phone calls
3. Book time everyday for prospecting on Linkedin and listening/monitoring the web
4. Attend two target rich events per month and one major conference per quarter
5. Budget a percentage of your projected income or revenues and spend it every month on media and press releases etc.

What’s your prospecting plan look like?

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Bill Gibson Free Goal Setting Guide

Looking for a social media speaker for your next conference?

You can contact us or take a look at Shane Gibson’s bio.

I thought while we all wait I would give you a sneak peek into some of the personalities involved in the book.

Sociable! Media Leader #1: Kyle MacDonald (@oneredpaperclip):

Kyle wrote the foreword of the book. Here’s a great video on how Kyle traded one red paperclip for a house in one year:

Sociable Media Leader #2: Peter Aceto (@CEO_INGDirect):

Peter Aceto CEO of ING Direct Canada has brought a very transparent approach to leadership in banking.  We had the opportunity to interview Mr. Aceto for the book and have since cooperated with ING in a few progressive social media marketing activities such as their standing room only #tweetup at the ING Direct Café here in Vancouver. (You can check out the event photo’s here on flickr). Below is an example how Peter has used YouTube and FairFees.ca to directly connect with the marketplace. He’s also one of the top CEO Tweeters in Canada (Follow him here).

Sociable Media Leader #3: Scott Heiferman (@heif)

Scott Heiferman is the CEO of Meetup.com. Anyone who knows Stephen Jagger and I will know that we really love Meetup. With that said our interview with Scott really opened us up to Scott’s global vision for Meetup and the very local impacts it can have on community and individuals. Below is a recent slideshare (click play to hear the audio, the 18 minutes are worth a listen) from a presentation by Scott this week at the Personal Democracy Forum in Europe.

Book Update:

Listen to Chapter 1 as an mp3 (audio file) or…

Click below to download Chapter 1

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More information on the seminars here:

Seminar Details

“Leading and collaborating with stakeholders and employees in a hyper connected marketplace.”

With employees, customers and stakeholders equipped with technology that allows for mass collaboration and rapid communication we as leaders need to understand how to harness this technology and the crowds we are connected to.

Today’s workplace is not a homogeneous one. As leaders we have to lead teams that are made up of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.  This coupled with diverse cultures and values in the workplace make leading both exciting and challenging.

In this session Shane Gibson will cover core trends, leadership tools and opportunities that are associated with today’s digitally connected and diverse marketplace.

Key topics include:

• New rules for engagement in a digitally transparent era.
• Web 2.0 collaboration and learning tools.
• Creating an environment that is productive and engaging for the millennial / Gen Y.
• Tips and approaches for recruiting staff using tools like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
• Using technology to break down silos and create collaboration within your organization.
• How to apply timeless leadership principles to this new work and business climate

CMA Testimonial

“I found the seminar (Partnering & Stakeholder Relationships, November 2009) very beneficial. Shane did a great job on the presentation and communicating the message. I would highly recommend his sessions to my fellow CMAs.”

Sanjeev Lal, CMA, Abbotsford

Register for Victoria, December 2nd 2009 Seminar

Register for Vancouver, December 3rd 2009 Seminar

1. Immune to hype:
   There is a lot of hype around social media. The Guerrilla searches for truth, verifies information and executes with dependable tools and strategies.
2. Curiosity:
   Penicillin was invented serendipitously.  Guerrillas aren’t afraid to experiment, make mistakes or try new things to gain a competitive advantage.
3. The ability to sprint:
   There will be small windows of opportunity and the Guerrilla is always ready to exploit them with all of their energy passion and resources.
4. The ability to run marathons:
   Many battles are battles of attrition. Guerrillas know how to wear their competition down and build a presence through consistency.
5. Transparent:
   A Guerrilla knows that truth, empathy and integrity are keys to social media marketing, and they build trust and loyalty through transparency.
6. Community focused
   A Guerrilla builds, connects and helps the community.  Within that community are other Guerrilla Allies that will be their assets.
7. Profit driven
   A Guerrilla measures success by profits, not clicks, visitors, or any “cool factor.”
8. 8. Tech hungry
   Technology is the Guerrilla’s Social Media Marketers core weapon and competency. They are always learning more about technology.
9. Self-developer
   A Guerrilla knows that technology and business moves fast. They are constantly learning more to stay ahead of the competition.
10. Leadership mentality
    A Guerrilla observes the community and gathers intelligence but they are always thinking about what is next. They create trends, unique solutions and are thought leaders.

Copyright 2008-2009 Jay Levinson and Shane Gibson
Guerrilla Marketing Official Page

Promote Your Page Too

1. Pensamiento de SM: El no escuchar a tus clientes es un Homicidio a tu marca, ¿tu ya  cuentas con una estratégia para escuchar en Social Media?
2. Tip de SM: Una vez que encuentres una conversación acerca de tu marca, incita a que continúe creando y facilitado espacios para el diálogo.
3. Tip de SM: Una estrategia social para escuchar, viene antes de una estrategia de contenidos de social.
4. Tip de SM: La mayoría de los esfuerzos de social media son abandonados antes de que los resultados puedan ser mesurados.
5. Moda de Social Media: Mas gente se esta dando cuenta que el exito en Social Media tiene que ver más con liderazgo y no con tecnología.
6. Moda de Social Media: Traducción simultánea en sitios de micro-blogging y colaboración en plataformas.
7. Moda de Social Media: Aplicaciones Sociales móviles agregando redes múltiples y AV en un mismo lugar.
8. Tip de SM: Agrega a tus listas de clientes y prospectos y desarrolla nano-conversaciones para cada nano-segmento.
9. Tip de SM: Social Media puede ser usada para retener, desarrollar y prospectar clientes en todos los aspectos de el ciclo de ventas.
10. Tip de SM: Sal de lo ordinario de tu industria cuando desarrolles una estrategia. Observa usus de Social Media que puedan ser adaptados.
11. Tip de SM: Instruye a tus clientes acerca de Social Media, ayúdalos a tener una presencia online. Esto crea mas diálogo y oportunidades.
12. Tip de SM: Traslada todo a la realidad al menos dos veces por semana. Conocete offline y en persona con tus contactos.
13. Tip de SM: Investiga y prueba las últimas plataformas, pero no caigas en situaciones complicadas o bizarras.
14. Tip de SM: Enseña a la gente, los principios de liderazgo antes de mostrarles como usar Twitter o Blogs.
15. Tip de SM: Meetup.com es mejor cuando es usado para organizar eventos comunitarios. Usarlo para promover tu comañía o producto tendrá resultados mínimos.
16. Tip de SM: Tu gran idea para un blog post ya esta siendo escrita en 10 idiomas diferentes ahora mismo por otras personas.
17. Tip de SM: Cualquier sistema o compañía inclinada a ser exclusiva mas que inclusiva, esta destinada a fallar.
18. Tip de SM: En lugar de escribir encabezados, escribe algo que te vincule con tus lectores.
19. Tip de SM: Como líder, haz que la jornada sea entretenida y comparte tu goce. Las otras personas, querrán seguir tu camino.
20. Se dice en Social Media: “Nada pasa hasta que alguien hace un tweet de ello”
21. Tip de SM: Ser un líder de pensamiento es contribución desinteresada y diálogo único.
22. Tip de SM: No tienes que usar o te tienen que gustar todas las herramientas para ser exitoso.

@shanegibsones traducción de @tyamdm.

Partnering & Stakeholder Engagement Strategies (Nov 5) &
Leading in a Hyper Connected Marketplace (Dec 3)

Click here for registration information (PDF)

Presented by Shane Gibson
President of Knowledge Brokers International (http://www.closingbigger.net).

Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, Burnaby
November 5th & December 3rd, 2009

=======================================================

Partnering & Stakeholder Engagement Strategies: November 5th, 2009

In order to survive and prosper most major business, government or not-for-profit initiatives necessitate the support
of multiple stakeholders and stakeholder groups.  It is about identifying the core needs, goals, fears, and
motivations of every key party and managing that information for strategic and tactical success.

You will learn the key strategies on partnering and stakeholder engagement including:
• The stages of relationship and partnership development
• Key steps in systemizing your relationship and stakeholder development planning (includes sample
planning charts and templates)
• Tips on handling and avoiding roadblocks
• How to map the Power Players in any business or organization
• How to persuade each Power Player

=======================================================

Leadership 2.0 – Leading in a Hyper Connected Marketplace: December 3rd, 2009

With employees, customers and stakeholders equipped with technology that allows for mass collaboration and
rapid communication we as leaders need to understand how to harness this technology and the crowds we are
connected to.

Today’s workplace is not a homogeneous one. As leaders we have to lead teams that are made up of Baby
Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.  This coupled with diverse cultures and values in the workplace make
leading both exciting and challenging.

Key topics include:

• New rules for engagement in a digitally transparent era.
• Web 2.0 collaboration and learning tools.
• Creating an environment that is productive and engaging for the millennial / Gen Y.
• Tips and approaches for recruiting staff using tools like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
• Using technology to break down silos and create collaboration within your organization.
• How to apply timeless leadership principles to this new work and business climate

Click here for registration information (PDF)

Here’s some of the core thoughts

1. We no longer can broadcast, or niche market, we need to nano-cast to small groups of people, often smaller than the entire tribe.
2. Nano-casting isn’t enough, we need to employ Listening 2.0 strategies and have intimate conversations.
3. You must be adept at being a nomadic social media tribalist, your ability to move from tribe to tribe and adapt as you market is vital.

I really would like your feedback on this concept. Make a comment below, Tweet me, or find me on Google Wave (closingbigger@googlewave.com).

1. Social Media Thought: Not listening to your customer = Brandicide (Brand Homicide) do you have a social media listening strategy?
2. Social Media Tip: Once you find a conversation about your brand encourage it to spread by creating and hosting places for dialogue.
3. Social Media Tip: Social listening strategy comes before social media content strategy.
4. Social Media Tip: Most social media efforts are abandoned long before their results can be measured.
5. Social Media Tip: Integrate your tools in your marketing but also measure the effectiveness of each tool individually.
6. Social Media Trend: More people realizing that social media success is about leadership not technology.
7. Social Media Trend: simultaneous translation in mirco-blogging and collaboration platforms.
8. Social Media Trend: Mobile social apps aggregating multiple social networks and media into one place.
9. Social Media Tip: Aggregate your client and prospect list and develop nano-casts for each nano-segment.
10. Social Media Tip: Social media can be used for retaining, developing and prospecting clients, all aspects of the sales cycle.
11. Social Media Tip: Get out of your industry vacuum when building strategy. Look for SMM concepts that can be adapted.
12. Social Media Tip: Want to make good connections? Make value added, thoughtful comments on their blog.
13. Social Media Tip: teach your clients about social media, help them get online. It creates more dialogue opportunities.
14. Social Media Tip: Make it real at least twice a week. Meet offline in person with contacts.
15. Social Media Tip: Research and test the latest platforms but don’t go down the rabbit hole.
16. Social Media Tip: Teach people the principles of leadership before teaching them how to use Twitter or blogs.
17. Social Media Tip: Meetup.com is best used for community events. Using it just to promote your product or company will have minimal results.
18. Social Media Tip: Your great idea or blog post, is being written in 10 different languages by other people right now.
19. Social Media Tip: Any system or company bent on being exclusive versus inclusive will fail.
20. Social Media Tip: Instead of writing headlines write engagement lines.
21. Social Media Tip: As a leader, make the journey look fun & share your joy. People will want to follow the path.
22. Social Media saying: “Nothing happens until someone tweets something.”
23. Social Media Tip: Being a thought leader is just as much about selfless contribution as it is about unique dialogue.
24. Social Media Tip: You don’t have to like or use every tool to be successful.
25. Social Media Trend: Brands now need to think global social etiquette when planning their social media strategy.

Photo Credit: Dr. X’s Vintage Photo Blog

Aquí les present mis 25 Tips Sobre Medios Sociales (PDF):

25 Tips sobre Medios Social

South America and Mobile Social Networks:

South America ( and other regions like Africa and South East Asia )has the potential in my opinion to leap frog North America’s lead in the social media space with mobile internet applications.  As more and cheaper smart phones hit the market here it will quickly ramp up the number of active users on social networks.  North Americans have adopted social media primarily through the web browser on their computer, it wasn’t really until recent introductions of the iPhone, and smarter Nokia’s and Blackberry’s that we really began to network and create social media in a mobile fashion.

North Americas still working on un-tethering tehmselves from phone and cable lines.  South American’s on the other hand have greater access to mobile networks than they do terrestrial internet connections.  In comparison to Canada for instance  mobile handsets in South America are more advanced and their data plans are more reasonable than those of companies like Canad’s Rogers Communications.  When millions of people come online via mobile devices I believe that Latin Americans will be an important force and community in the social media space.  Marketers, and application developers will begin to turn their focus on this massive market. (Thanks multi-cultural marketing maven Cindy King for this insight)

Social media adoption rate is growing fast:

South America has 132,385,340 Internet users as of Feb 07/09, with a 34.0 % Penetration Rate (World Internet Stats), and according to data from Comscore the use of social networking sites alone in South America has increased by 33% in the past 12 months bringing the total number of users to over 53,000,000 unique visitors to social networking sites. (There were just over 40,000,000 last year.)  From an anecdotal perspective, my search on Twellow for users in Colombia, and Chile in particular in March 2009 showed very few businesses or professionals in that region using the tool. My recent search turned about hundreds of business tweeters who are now actively using the tool. (Twellow for Chile, Twellow for Colombia). One prediction I will make is that FaceBook will overtake almost all of the other social networks used in South American within the next 24 months.  Even in Brazil where Orkut has a large portion of the population using it we have seen FaceBook go from almost zero market penetration to over 1,000,000 users in 13 months.

Marketing to and from South America with Social Media:

As South Americans continue to populate social networks and become adept at using social media tools they will have a very in-expensive and effective way to reach markets globally.  Through Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube channels and dozens of other social media tools (that are free) Latin American brands and companies can begin to build some really social connections with previously hard to reach markets.  If you want to establish connections and business in the region these tools provide the same opportunity.  One of the challenges with doing business internationally is local competitors, they get to talk to your clients and foster relationships in a very personal way.  With social media, it is now possible to be in contact and keep our brand and personal message top of mind anywhere in the world. From far away, you can have a very local feeling relationship.

When marketing to any international region using social media it’s not enough to just translate your blog, or twitter content. Think about regional cultures, business protocol and expected levels of formality as well.  Find a local partner in the region (or with previous experience) and get their feedback on how your social content may need to be adapted; and then TAKE THEIR ADVICE.

Disclaimer: I consider myself a very enthusiastic social media amateur,  I have only begun to understand social media and the opportunity it provides both for South American’s and those marketing in that region.  I’m hoping that this week in Bogota, Colombia will provide me with more in-depth first hand knowledge of how Colombian (and other South American) marketers, entrepreneurs, and sales people are using social media. As I learn more I will continue to update this post with more stats and trend information.  If you have data, anecdotes or information to share kindly post it in the comments section of this blog.

More Social Media in South America Links:

• Social Networking Growth Worldwide (Comscore)
• Social network statistics for Latin America 2009
• So Who Owns the LATAM Social Network Space?
• Stats on Global growth of mobile bandwidth
• Is Sonico The Top Socnet In Latin America? Not Even Close, Says Hi5

1. It’s a conversation – As marketers in the past we have been awarded based upon our ability to craft messages and broadcast to an audience, a niche or a market segment.  People no longer want to be talked at.  In fact their conversations with each other on Twitter, Facebook, or even the videos they post on YouTube impact and define major brands.  As social media marketers we need to get involved in those conversations if we want to effectively brand and market online.
2. It’s a listening tool – More than a conversation, social media marketing is about listening.  We need to be listening for opportunities to engage with people that are talking about our brand.  Social media gives us the opportunity to engage at the instant someone is talking about us (if we’re listening), and have relevant, personal and authentic conversations with our customers.  Use tools like Twitter search, Google Alerts, and SocialMention.com to monitor those conversations.
3. Social media belongs to everyone, which is good and bad, it forces you to be different to win – As a marketer you no longer have control or a monopoly on a medium.  Social media tools are in everyone’s hands.  This is great news for anyone who wants to create a brand and generate revenues online.  This is also a bad thing, because it creates a lot of noise. You must have a distinctive message, offering and leadership style if you want to get noticed online.  To win you must be more engaging, add more value, and be more creative than everyone else if you want to rise above the noise.

Social Media Engagement

There’s a lot of talk about being engaged. In particular in social media we talk about engagement as one of the key benchmarks of being a successful brand, marketer, blogger or personality online.  Today’s podcast is on what engagement is about. Here’s a short list of what engagement is:

1. Complete listening, not just to hear but to make others feel heard.
2. Present consistently
3. Connected emotionally
4. Aligned with values
5. Contributing to dreams
6. Seeing trust as an ends not a means
7. Creating networks and meeting points

The End of Social Media

Yes I have consumed the social media Kool-Aid. In fact I have opened my own roadside stand.  Social media is an exciting disruptive technology.  But the ride is almost over, the hype will die down after everyone has found everyone on Facebook and when even our dog has a blog. Marketers and the community at large will ask “Now What?”

Social media will come to an end.  The ride is not over yet, we have a few good years ahead of us but the writing is one the wall.  My podcast today is about the end of social media and what it means to marketers, bloggers, business owners and the community as a whole.

Shane Gibson Speaker Video

Social Media Tips:

1. Unique, brief sound bytes produced consistently can yield great results.
2. Once in a while ask your FB and Twitter friends for help. See who steps up. This will tell you a lot.
3. Make a list of people who support you online. Develop a strategy to reciprocate.
4. Use your experience in social media to predict areas of growth in new regions and niches. Then pay it forward.
5. You may be awesome blogger but does the world know? SEO, social networks, offline promotions are needed.
6. Make your events that you promote about the community. Education and collaboration trump pitches.
7. “Think what’s in it for me?” from your target market’s perspective.
8. Using more than one channel / stream shortens your brand engagement curve.
9. Defining your target market and goals is easy, engaging them is the challenge.
10. The numbers are exciting but they’re just numbers until you make it real and build good relationships.
11. Engagement is not just about listening; it’s about empathy, rapport, and making people feel heard.
12. Engagement is the goal, social media are the tools.
13. Thank people who comment on your blog via e-mail or twitter. Let them know you’re listening.
14. Search engine optimization can help you rapidly grow your network and connections. Get good at it.
15. Develop a list of your top connections/influencers and make sure you’re connected on multiple networks.
16. There is a Trend: Condensed writing, short videos all getting shorter.
17. Blogging tip. Pick a theme or topic for the month. Plan 7-10 blog entries that build up to 1 core message, event, or action.
18. Have a series of steps planned and measured to track and develop relationships.
19. One of your final steps in the social media sales process is to connect offline, on the phone, or at least one on one virtually.

What is a Tweetup?

A Tweetup is:

• A gathering of people who use Twitter
• It can be a general geographic Tweetup like a Tweetup of people in Vancouver
• It can be a Tweetup for a cause where Twitter friends organize a get together to do something for the community
• It can be topical such as a Tweetup for martial artists, cyclists or people who are in the social media scene
• It’s about the fact that when we get offline and meet in person it cements relationships and builds community
• An Event that Usually lasts from 1 to 3 hours
• It is a great stewardship and community building tool (See Jeremiah Owyang’s Post on Tweetups and coverage of the Vancouver #TweetupHeatup by GillianShaw of The Vancouver Sun)

A Tweetup is not:

• An event where you pull people in from Twitter to pitch or sell them something
• A seminar event
• A tradeshow or multi-day event
• A general community event like a sports event, lecture etc.(it’s called a Tweetup because it’s people on Twitter connecting in real life)

Who Can Organize a Tweetup?

• Anyone with a Twitter account
• You don’t have to be a social media guru or expert, it’s about community.
• Usually one person will announce a Tweetup but many are involved in the organization and promotion, it’s a community focused event.

I have a big event happening already. Can I promote it as a Tweetup?

No. People who come to a Tweetup expect to connect with those who use Twitter as a networking and community tool. This would be misleading if a large portion of the people were not in fact on Twitter, people go to meet their online connections offline.

You can however create a special Tweetup within a larger event. For instance at a race, or something like Dragon Boat Festival you could have a “Tweetup Tent” for a 3 hour period during the main event where Twitter folk meet and mingle.  If you’re doing a fundraiser at a pub or lounge, have the Tweetup for a couple hours before the main event, then let people know they can hang around later if they want to network with the rest of the community.

Who made these rules anyway?

Twitter, social media and etiquette attached to it are evolving constantly, this however is accepted practice right now. These answers are a summary of how the concept of a Tweetup is being used within the social media community.  The majority of people attending or promoting Tweetups follow these loose guidelines. You can break these rules (or bend them) just realize that you may get a fair bit of negative push-back or even lose good Twitter connections.

If you’re in Vancouver join Vancouver Tweetup

Questionnaire for Colombia Newsletter

Shane Gibson Social Media Speaker

Q: How are Social Media turning traditional marketing habits around?

A: In the past we could dominate the marketplace with advertising, direct mail, and other forms of traditional media marketing. Today consumers are much more powerful marketers than companies are, with their ability to publish information to the web, they outnumber us. Their conversations about our brand, company, products and services are now “branding” us. They can blog about our company, they can share their opinion on our product on Orkut or Twitter, and they can post a Youtube video praising or condemning us.

Marketers now have to not just broadcast, they have to listen to what conversations are going on out there, and then they have to connect and interact with the marketplace in order to direct the conversations about their brand.

Today the customer owns our brand.

Update August 31 2009 (Watch a 7 minute speaker video addressing this question):

Q: Do you think these tools will replace well-known Marketing complex software such as CRM, for example? Why?

A: These tools are changing the way sales professionals and marketers interact with the marketplace. In the past we would build a database of customers in our CRM and proactively drive the sales process through constant contact. Social Listening tools that allow you to track conversations about your company or what your target market is doing are allowing marketers to pinpoint customers at the very moment they have a challenge or need for what we sell. There is also a new breed of CRM tools called Social CRM (SCRM) software that is just beginning to be available in the marketplace.

SCRM will allow you to pull in all the information about a contact, based upon permission from them (they tell you what data you will get), and your sales process will become driven by the daily activities and events in the lives of the customer. SCRM will make your database come alive with by the minute updates on what your best clients and prospects are posting on social networks and publishing in social media.

Q: What are the main benefits of including Social Media in Marketing and Sales strategies?

A: Social media success is built through a series of genuine interactions with the marketplace. The key is to create valuable content, resources, build community and connect in personalized ways with your market. Unlike traditional marketing and advertising most of the best social media tools are free. They need a time investment, and you have to train your staff to use them, but after that you can generate results with a significantly lower on-going investment financially. Also if used right, you can turn almost any staff member in your company into part of your marketing and customer service team, all they need is a Smartphone or a computer with web access. Social media expands your customer service and marketing capabilities.

Q: (Any real life examples as to how much money companies can save you can mention?)

A: My co-author Stephen Jagger (Sociable! Book Site) runs a company called Ubertor which has several thousand clients. His clients are real estate agents who use his real estate software to drive their websites. Steve was originally a client of mine. He had 10 sales people, and over a dozen other staff including computer programmers, management and support staff and a very large office. In order to service these clients he also needed a lot of telecommunications tools and phone lines.

Steve and his business partner Mike over a period of time began to replace telephone customer service with Web based Live Chat service and Twitter. He then decided to use Meetup.com to hold events with guest speakers on social media and technology use for his target market instead of sending sales people out top real-estate offices (he no longer needs salespeople). The next step was to close the office and have staff work virtually. They moved their phone system to Google Voice, which is free and use Gtalk and a tool called Yammer to communicate all day with each other. Steve’s blog and his Youtube videos are used to communicate to his clients, and post solutions to problems and information on the software updates and functionality.

The result? Significant business growth with a significant decrease in business costs. Steve is saving thousands of dollars per month in business costs, far fewer staff and has actually improved his customer experience.

Q: What are the main obstacles firms face when implementing Social Media in their Marketing and Sales strategies?

A: One of the obstacles is techno-phobia or as I call it Social Media Phobia. A lot of people don’t feel confident in experimenting or trying to use these new tools. They’re also worried about negative comments or someone using their blog or FaceBook to attack their brand. The reality is this technology is new, and we are all learning. Now is the best time to experiment and get good at social media, while your competitors are still watching on the sidelines. In addition to this, the only way we can insulate our company and brand from negative comments or competitor behavior online is to get involved in social media. Build a community of raving fans around your brand. You need to get social to win.
Related Posts:
Social Media Seminars

Developing a Social Media Policy and Guidelines

Social Media Speaker Shane Gibson on Social Media Etiquette

How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down

It’s not who you know but who knows you in today’s hyper-connected marketplace. The consumer now owns your brand, and in order to profit from this new dynamic, we need a solid strategy and set of principles to engage the marketplace.

Understanding the role social media and social networking play in this new dynamic, is paramount to our future success as sales professionals, marketers, and corporations. In this fast paced webinar Shane Gibson and Stephen Jagger will share with you:

• The new rules of engagement in sales and marketing
• How anyone can become a global brand in their niche using social media
• How to effectively and profitably implement social media in your business
• The Role of Social Media in the Sales Process
• The top global social media and networking tools and trends for 2009 and beyond

About Shane Gibson

Shane Gibson is a professional speaker and author of “Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals.” He is also co-author of Sociable! A new book written with Stephen Jagger on profiting from, social media to be released in Summer 2009. As a sales performance and marketing specialist he has addressed several thousand people over the past 15 years on stages in Canada, USA, South Africa and South America.

His client’s include organizations such as Builddirect.com, Ford, The Certified Management Accountants, and numerous Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade across Canada.

Shane has been cited as a subject matter expert on the topic of sales, social media and marketing in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, BC Business Magazine, and the Canadian Professional Sales Association’s “Contact Magazine.”

About Stephen Jagger

Stephen Jagger is an entrepreneur that has been starting businesses since high school. He is currently involved in 2 companies. Combustion Labs Media Inc, which operates as Ubertor.com, is a real estate software company that provides websites and online marketing tools to thousands of real estate agents across North America. His other business, Reachd.com is a training company that focuses on marketing professionals and businesses that are interested in learning more about search engine optimization, blogging, online video, Google Adwords and social media.

Stephen has been covered in many major publications including The Vancouver Sun, The Wall Street Journal, The Ottawa Citizen, The Vancouver Courier, The Calgary Herald plus many more. He has spoken at many different events including British Columbia Institute of Technology, The Vancouver Board of Trade, The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and Inman News Connect 2007 in San Francisco where he was on a panel of 4 with a representative from Google, Yahoo and the Yellow Pages and 2009 in New York on a panel discussing blogging. He is very active in the community as a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade Communication Committee, the Vancouver College Alumni Association, a volunteer with Kids Help Phone, the founding member of the largest real estate agent meetup in North America and a mentor for the Leaders of Tomorrow program.

Your session on Social Media was relevant, practical with ready to use concepts. At the end of the day it’s about the bottom line. I appreciated your real world proven approach to social media marketing
- Dr. Denis Cauvier, Best Selling author of “The ABC’s of Making Money”

Each webinar is just $59.50 FREE to VIP members (take theVIP Tour)

Reachd training founded by Stephen Jagger (co-author of Sociable!) is putting on several great courses on everything from online video, to social media, search engine marketing training. Use the discount code CLOSINGBIGGER when you register.

Training in Wichita Kansas

• August 13th – “Market Like a Sniper with Adwords”
  Learn to use Google Adwords to promote your business and test your marketing strategy
  More details about the
  Adwords Class in Wichita
• August 17th – “1 Hour Web Marketing Intro”
  If you are not marketing your business online but would like to start, this 1 hour fast paced session will give you a great overview of some of the resources available for online marketing
  More Details about the Web Marketing Intro in Wichita
• August 20th – “Build a Website Google Loves”
  3 hour introduction to the in’s and out’s of search engine optimization. Most web activity originates with some sort of search, you need to ensure that your website shows when your visitors are searching
  More Details about the SEO Class in Wichita
• August 27th – “Broadcast Your Message with Online Video”
  There is no better way to build relationships with your web visitors then through online video. In this 3 hour course each participant receives a FREE Flip Video Camera.
  More Details about the Online Video Training Class

Training in Vancouver BC

• August 6th – “Market Like a Sniper with Adwords”
  Learn to use Google Adwords to promote your business and test your marketing strategy
  More details about the Adwords Class in Vancouver
  
• August 11th – “Explode Your Growth with a Blog”
  Blogging is the cornerstone of Social Media and a great tool to use to help fill your website with relevant content
  More Details about the Vancouver Blogging Course
  
• August 18th – “Build a Website Google Loves”
  3 hour introduction to the in’s and out’s of search engine optimization. Most web activity originates with some sort of search, you need to ensure that your website shows when your visitors are searching
  More Details about the Vancouver SEO Course
  
• August 25th – “Broadcast Your Message with Online Video”
  There is no better way to build relationships with your web visitors then through online video. In this 3 hour course each participant receives a FREE Flip Video Camera.
  More Details about the Online Video Training Class
• August 27th – “Social Media Guided Tour”
  Learn to use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to build your brand and grow your business
  More Details about the Vancouver Social Media Training

Here’s how 28 Days to Better Selling Works:

1)    A daily task that you can easily implement to improve your sales and business
2)    A succinct daily lesson to help you make the improvement

By the end of the 28 days you will have looked at 28 ways to fine tune and improve your sales process and business.  The daily lessons will be in written, video or audio format and will take less than 10 minutes each to review.

Day1  The ABC’s of Targeting

Day 2 Targeting the Right Referral Sources

Day 3 Prospecting in Person

Day 4 Networking Strategy

Day 5 LinkedIn Prospecting

Day 6 Investigative Prospecting

Day 7 Lead Nurturing

Day 8 Don’t Be A Boring Salesperson

Day 9 Listening in Sales

Day 10 Needs Analysis in Sales Part 1

Day 11 Needs Analysis In Sales Part 2

Day 12 Twitter for Sales Part 1

Day 13 Twitter for Sales Part 2

Day 14 Keeping Commitments

Day 15 Selling Benefits and Results

Day 16 Preemptive Objection Handling

Day 17 Sell the Price Different Not The Total Cost

Day 18 Vital Signs

Day 19 Preparing For a Sales Call

Day 20 Team Selling

Day 21 Just Thinking About You

Day 22 Team Players Make Efficient Sellers

Day 23 Day of Rest, Chill Out and Reflect

Day 24 Influencing Top Level Decision Makers

Day 25 Key Skills and Strengths for Selling Intangibles

Day 26 Reducing Anxiety and Worry

Day 27 15 Ways to Close A Sale

Day 28 Operationalizing Your Sales Process

Want to Close Bigger Deals? Buy the Book:

Resources by Topic:

Why Blogging is An Important Part of Social Media Strategy [Video]

Integrating Social Media Into Your Sales and Marketing Process [Podcast/Blog]

Making Social Media Part of What You Do [Video]

Developing a Social Media Calendar and Implementation Plan [Podcast/Blog]

Sample Social Media Policy [Blog]

What is Social Media Etiquette [Video]

5 Ways to Build a Twitter Following Organically [Blog]

Twitter for Sales and Marketing [Video] Part 1 and Part 2

Social Media ROI [Podcast]

The Future of Sales and Marketing Social CRM [Podcast]

Slides from Today’s Presentation:

View more presentations from shanegibson.

Well I’m done. I haven’t tallied all of the pledges yet but it appears that with the help of my blog readers and twitter friends that over $1200 was raised for the Vancouver Food Bank.  That for me was worth the 24 hours of no sleep.

Here’s a partial list of the great people who made donations to the Food Bank:

• Trevor Wallace
• Doug Morneau of Rhino Marketing Inc.
• Captain Charles Trevor Greene
• Aileen Javier and Kristian Gibson
• Lynn Kitchen
• Barbara Doduk
• Fred Shadian (Who also did 3 guest blog posts)
• Chris Breikss
• Renbor Sales Solutions
• ThinkTom.com Realty
• Kye Grace
• Ronald Lee
• Yam De La Pena

Also here’s the updated list of everyone in Vancouver that blogged for the past 24 hours for the charity of their choice.

Blogger and Supported Charity:

1. Raul Pacheco The BC Cancer Foundation
2. Rebecca Bollwitt – Miss604 the Union Gospel Mission
3. Duane Storey The Union Gospel Mission
4. Tiny Bites (team effort) The Vancouver Food Bank
5. 604 Foodtography The Vancouver Food Bank
6. Shane Gibson (That’s me and I’m Blogging for The Vancouver Food Bank as well!)
7. Barbara Doduk The Richmond Animal Protection Society
8. Mehnaz Thawer the Tumaini Children’s Project
9. Fraser Valley Pulse the Langley Animal Protection Society
10. WorldwideWaterCooler The BC SPCA
11. Developmental Disability Association for their own cause (I believe)
12. Justin Yang BC Children’s Hospital Foundation
13. Liberation BC for Liberation BC
14. Bluefur Team Diabetes
15. Shane’s World Theatre Terrific
16. Think Referrals Burn’s Bog Conservation Society
17. Brady V BC Children’s Hospital Foundation
18. Langley Politics The United Way
19. Beth Snow Options For Sexual Health
20. Karen Fung Vancouver Public Space Network
21. April Smith Community Education Resource Society
22. Ganga Narayanan Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
23. Matthew Naylor Canadian Mental Health Association
24. Aidan BC Children’s Hospital
25. Iris Dias MS Society of Canada
26. Mitch Baldwin – The Salvation Army, Camp Sunrise
27. Catherine Winters – Canadian Cancer Society
28. Neil Parker – Weekend to End Breast Cancer
29. Jael – Big Sisters

I’m leaving the donations page open until the 28th so if you would still like to contribute:

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Great conversations in the offline world are about listening, providing insight, empathy, and at times the right measure of humor. The same goes for online tools. In using a tool like Twitter here are some tips on being engaging:

• Fill out your profile completely with a current photo, link to your personal blog or site, and use the entire 140 characters provided for your bio. Hiding who you are or not providing your company information can create a barrier to trust or engagement.

• Update regularly, for most active Twitter users that’s 8 to 15 times per day. Key principle: don’t update unless it adds value, solves a problem, inspires or entertains your target market.

• Share useful links to sites other than yours. Also pass on and share (know as retweeting on Twitter) useful information from other Twitter users. This will strengthen your relationship with them and increase the chances of them sharing your messages.

• Use social search to monitor what people are saying about your company or your industry. http://search.twitter.com can give you by-the-minute opportunities to engage people who are talking about your brand. You can instantly solve a problem or correct a situation as it happens.

• Vary your message and the frequency so that you appear human and not robotic. Your updates should be a combination of personal messages, corporate updates, answering questions, commenting on other people’s great tweets, and links to valuable information.

• If you sound like everyone else you’re not a brand or a leader. Create engaging content and unique conversations. This is vital to building a brand and solidifying client relationships.

Great use of Twitter and other social mediums and networks is 90% listening and contribution and 10% marketing and messaging. While that seems like a bad marketing ratio we can go back to what John C. Maxwell said about leadership “It’s 90% connection and 10% content.”

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Social Media Speaker Shane Gibson on Social Media Etiquette

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

It is not uncommon for salespeople and/or sales managers to get caught in the throes of everyday problems and miss seeing the trees because of the forest.
In most cases there is much more support and help around us than we can see. If most of us could really appreciate what we do have, and be grateful, most of the time we would never have a motivation problem.

There is power in gratitude. For example; Have you ever been forced into giving a kiss and a hug to a relative or a friend of a friend you couldn’t stand? It’s not an inspiring experience. As a matter of fact, it can be downright de-motivating. But if you have ever been asked to hug and kiss someone you secretly admired, I bet you found it to be a very pleasant experience. What’s the difference between the two?
Having to embrace someone you can’t stand, can be de-motivating; embracing someone you admire is motivating.

The same rule applies to situations. Most of us spend time living for tomorrow; living for when we will get that raise, that job, that relationship, or that home. In other words, that’s when we will be happy. We don’t like where we are now, so let us dream about tomorrow. What this means is we are not living in the now. It also means we often set our objectives or goals from a time, place, or state of mind that we do not like, which means we don’t embrace it. Therefore it is de-motivating.
What if you could appreciate the moment and embrace it? It would be inspiring, just like embracing that person you admired.

Gratitude is a powerful motivation. To embrace or appreciate the moment you are in, gives you a deep settled strength, and alleviates anxiety. With this strength you are able to tap into your intuition and be directed into paths that are more meaningful and in tune with who you are. This makes it much easier for you to become enthusiastic and move forward and feel good about the present as well as where you want to go. Having gratitude for where you are now can get you started.

Think about the situation you are in right now that frustrates or even immobilizes you. Now come up with a list of some really positive things that you have going for you right at this moment. Think of things you may be grateful for. A few examples could be good health, living in the country you are in, experience in your field, great relationship with your wife, husband or significant other, certain belongings, past experiences, just to name a few.

Once you finish the list, go back through and mentally say “thank you” to all the circumstances and people you could thank for each one of these. For example; in reference to your health, mentally thank someone who showed you how to eat properly, or who got you involved in some form of physical exercise. Maybe a previous employer believed in balanced living and not just work, work, work. Be sure to thank that person mentally. Thank your government for the facilities that are available and your creator for being so kind to you. As Plato once said; “Happiness is not being in a good state, but rather knowing you are in a good state.”

Once you have completed this exercise, you will have experienced the power of appreciation. You will feel much better about the moment. To see the positive in your present circumstances and to feel gratitude about the moment will get you started and keep you going.

Unfortunately, our egos work very hard at stopping us from experiencing gratitude. Very few of us can openly display gratitude on a daily basis to all those people and situations around us. It is much easier to fill our minds and bodies with self-importance, dissatisfaction, criticism, and victim-style thinking, than it is to put these feeling aside and say thank you. Monitor yourself and see how often you resist or justify not having gratitude. Being aware of your anti-gratitude stance alone, can start you on the road to being more grateful and more productive.

As the manager you may want to share this process with your people. Gratitude is one of the greatest internal motivators of all.

(An excerpt from our “Complete Sales Action System”)

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Simply put, it’s just not their calling.  You have to be 100 percent congruent with what it is you are promoting, selling and marketing.  Whether you are an athlete promoting your talent or a marketer promoting your product you need to be excited enough to get up early and stay up late.  Your chosen profession must be in harmony with your calling in life.  Your success will be your destiny.

@FredShadian

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]]> http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/07/picking-the-wrong-profession-by-fredshadian/feed/ 2 http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/07/some-of-my-favorite-vancouver-twitter-and-blogging-friends/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=some-of-my-favorite-vancouver-twitter-and-blogging-friends http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/07/some-of-my-favorite-vancouver-twitter-and-blogging-friends/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:01:52 +0000 Shane Gibson http://www.closingbigger.net/?p=556 Being online and making connections is fun. We all love to see out Twitter, blog, and video following increase.  For me though, it’s events like this Tweetup that was organized by Capones that make it all real for me. Meeting people you are connected to online seems to slow things down temporarily and really help build trust and intimacy.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Thanks Trevor!

Trevor Wallace with his food donation

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

#1) Treat every action as if it will be recorded for eternity.

Almost everything we say online is recorded, logged and backed up somewhere. In every restaurant, bar or conference room there’s dozens of people with mobile video, photo, and blogging apps that capture our behavior in an instant and broadcast it to the world instantly and permanently. You really can’t delete a bad blog post, a rude response. Be careful what you say, blog, tweet and do, because the impact can be permanent.

#2) Talk about what you know.

Being Sociable! is about being a thought leader, and contributor to community and being authentic and transparent. People rely on us for advice and guidance. Stating opinion as fact can hurt our reputation and it may even harm the person taking our advice. If we’re wrong, or inaccurate we can expect to be called out on it and even embarrassed in the social media space by other bloggers or community members. Always be learning, studying and fact checking in the area which you aspire to lead in, and don’t exaggerate or fabricate your knowledge or the facts.

#3) Get Engaged.

Don’t broadcast, connect. Being Sociable! is about listening, connecting, contributing. Engagement is how we make other people feel, it’s also about the lasting impact that we have on them and their success. To be Sociable! you must monitor, listen to and actively answer and communicate with the individuals in the community in a personable customized and relevant way.

#4) Give credit where credit is due

If you hear a great quote from someone, an interesting hypothesis or learn a new business process make sure you give him or her the credit. Just because something is not protected under copyright does not mean we can re-purpose it without giving credit. A quick link back to their site, a mention of them at your seminar or in your video only takes seconds. What it does though is build the trust of everyone watching, they know you’re in this for more than just personal gain and will be Sociable! with you as well.

#5) No Spam

Never send generic messages to people who have given you permission to connect. If they have added you as a connection in a social network, realize that this is not to be taken lightly. Only send information or communicate in a way that is adding value, every time. Avoid auto messages, auto blog links, or auto anything that makes people feel like a number and not a valued contact.

#6) Know when to Zip it

Be conscious of private or confidential information that has been trusted to you. This means don’t post it anywhere on the web. It also means don’t talk about it in public, someone else could hear or record you and post it online for the world to see. Know the difference between fact, opinion and slander and always err on the side of being legally diligent. In other words don’t post anything that could result in an unwanted court appearance.

#7) This is not a video game

Some people see social media as a video game. A game where you collect names and followers like a some sort of digital trophy case. This game is getting old fast. The real measure of someone who is legitimately Sociable! is impact and action. Focus on quality or relationships with people you are connected with. Focus on people doing something when they get to your blog, not how many people visit it. Think in the term of profits made, impact created or actions caused by your Sociable! activity.

#8) Be open to all feedback

The days of corporate white washing are over, so is having a dual life, everyone now knows what your up to in this digital world that lacks privacy. People are going to go after you online on your personal blog, our corporate blog or blast you with a video or a comment on a social network. When this happens, don’t hide and don’t delete their comments or the errors you have made. Engage instead. Customer complaints are branding opportunities and sometimes our critics are actually bold allies trying to set us straight. With criticism it’s important to respond strategically not emotionally and to set the record straight with a correction, the facts, or good old fashion customer service and apologies.

#9) Digital rights

We make our living from the great ideas, content and creative works we create, market and produce. Being Sociable! means our brand is one of integrity, authenticity and transparency. We need to respect others copyright and creative works just like we would want them to do for us. Always ask permission or give attribution to other people’s creations that you use, cite, or include in your work. Every photo, video, quote or audio clip we use must be posted by us and distributed in a way that respects others’ work and it’s digital integrity.

#10) Be Sociable!

Being Sociable! also means not taking our self or our brand too seriously. In order to be a true Sociable! thought leader you must have fun, be passionate and contribute to the success of your clients, peers, family and community as a whole. Most importantly we continually strive to “get real” by taking our online connections and meet them individually or as a community through events like Meetups, Tweetups, and community functions. We do this to deepen and expand relationships. Without strong Sociable! relationships we’re just another marketer or sales person pitching something.

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Register for book tour and early release information on the the book here:

Momentum is a progression of movements that are created just like an ocean wave. You can become part of the flow of momentum and be caught by the wave and ride it to create the momentum that you desire in any aspect of your life.

The key to creating momentum, in reality, is to recognize the extraordinary movement in your life or in your organization and to take small steps each and every day towards your desired outcome. Determine where you are at and where you are going and stay focused, using your time and talent, until you feel totally congruent with your desire.

My martial arts instructor, Sensei David Harris, would always share with me the importance of daily activities towards a desired goal.  If, for any reason, you feel that you are at a plateau you can continue your level of progression by reading a book on the subject that you are pursuing, or you can watch a video on the related subject, maybe you can attend a seminar or you could mentally rehearse your desired outcome for your success.

It is important is to do something, regardless of how small or how large. By taking action daily you create the motion towards your desired achievement.

Stay focused on the end result, be realistic in your approach, and take a step-by-step progression that leads you to your ultimate goal.

There is a Hawaiian saying: “When the surf is high, go surfing and when the water is calm, wax your board.”

Timing is of the essence when riding the wave of momentum. If you hop on too early, you might crash. If you hop on too late, you miss the wave. By timing the wave correctly, you enjoy the ride all the way to the beach.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

This is an important question.

It’s the most important question.

Why?

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

The topic Ronald chose was: What It Takes and/or How to Become a Thought Leader?

This is a great question, have a listen to this podcast to hear about becoming and influencing thought leaders.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

This podcast is about becoming a community building and marketing maven.  How long have you invested in yourself and your people?

Can a fictional character blog?

This was a huge question in the early days of blogging. Blogging stalwarts felt that only “real” people should be blogging, especially for a company. There were a couple notable character blogs that were pretty controversial at the time: the Denali Flavors Moose blog and T. Alexander from the Gourmet Station blog.

For a number of months this was an all-consuming tempest in a teacup, with all sorts of name-calling and unpleasantness, however when it all blew over…
Sure, characters can blog. It became clear that whether it was fan fiction or a company mascot assuming the role of “spokesperson”, it wasn’t who the “author” was pro-ported to be, but rather what and how things were said.
Businesses find it helpful to have one “person” be the voice for the entire company, but have several folks write behind the scenes because there aren’t enough people in the company to dedicate one person to blog. The hardest part of having multiple authors blogging is keeping the “voice” of the writing the same. One easy fix is to divide the tasks up. Maybe only one person writes longer posts, but others do things like a weekly post of interesting links or another do the photo of the week. Mix up the type of posts and the people writing them and you’ll have a dynamic blog with a lot less effort!

This is an excerpt from Tris Hussey’s upcoming book on blogging “6 Easy Blogging Projects” published by Pearson. Follow Tris on twitter.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

#1) Raul in his happy place (He’s blogging for charity tonight too)

#2) This guy I met in Yaletown, his daughter neglected to brush the cat until it’s hair was in knots, the poodle groomer was cheaper. He should be arrested… and shaved.

#3) Doolins Irish Pub at Lunch time. You should see dinner.

#4) This was a joke gift but he chose to wear it in public.

#5) I can’t really top #4 so this post is done.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

In our book Sociable! Stephen Jagger and I talk about some of the do’s and don’t's of social media. One thing we talk about is wherever you are, there’s a camera, and at 2:00 am that funny twitpic might not be so funny when your boss or your best client sees them.

Steve and I have not learned this by standing at the pulpit looking down at people making silly errors or posting things they shouldn’t have. We learned this by doing it ourselves (okay actually most of the dumb things that have been documented were done by me).

I also believe in not deleting, people will catch you and make things worse. So I leave these errors in judgment up, why you might ask? Mostly because they weren’t really errors, it was me, my real personality doing these things. Blame it on my Celtic East Coast sense of humor. So in the spirit of full transparency and for charity (please donate) here’s some pictures from the last few years that probably should not made it on the internet (better me than someone else posting these!):

#1) Kyle MacDonald (The guy who traded up “One Red Paper Clip” for a house) and I after we left a conference we were speaking at. This is is us at 3:00 am after we emptied a Keg. Kyle is really Superman because he did a fantastic radio interview 4 hours later. (Seriously itemized beer bill).

#2) Everyone who left the Mother of all Meetups at Christmas time left their tags with me (so to speak)

#3) I sorta crashed a womens’ only conference for social media after party/tweetup (invited by Colleen), this is what ended up on Twitpic. I look so sincere.

#4) This was just a bad mistake, I wanted a pic of the hat on me but the preview didn’t show the bloke in the background (nice personal branding).

#5) No man should ever walk a dog dressed like this. Yes that’s my dog.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Encouraging comments and discussion

Comments are what keep blogging going. The dialogue and feedback that helps you not only grow as a writer, but also ensures that you stay on track. Through comments you learn, interact, and gain inspiration. I’ve written entire follow-up posts based a comment from a post. I’ve also received cease-and-desist letters because of comments as well. Part of getting comments is writing to encourage comments. First step is to make sure comments are enabled (aka turned on) for all your posts. Nine times out of ten the default setting for blog engines is to have comments on, but sometimes they get turned off so just double check. Whether or not anyone can post a comment or if there is some kind of moderation in place is up to you, and I’ll get to that shortly.
With comments turned on, the next part is subtler: getting people to leave comments. There isn’t a “magic formula” for you to get lots of comments. Sometimes I pull it off, sometimes I don’t. In any case here are simple things you can do to help encourage comments:

• Leave examples out on purpose. People love to feel that they are contributing by adding to your post.
• Ask open-ended questions
• Ask for comments directly
• Take a contrary or controversial stance to the status quo

Even with these tips, including out-right asking for comments, sometimes a great post just doesn’t get any comments. Don’t worry, this happens with even the best posts. Sometimes it’s the posts that you don’t expect to receive any comments to be the one that gets the most. Sometimes you just never know.
Once you do get comments, to keep the flow going you have to respond to the comments you receive. Be open and willing to be proved wrong or challenged. Engaging in a healthy dialogue makes your blog a place where people will go for ideas and inspiration—which means that you will also gain inspiration as well. Every blog, no matter what the topic is, is made better with comments.

This is an excerpt from Tris Hussey’s upcoming book on blogging “6 Easy Blogging Projects” published by Pearson. Follow Tris on twitter.

#1) They need to master the art of Rapport Building

#2) They need to get good at Needs Analysis Selling

#3) They need to understand how to sell what people buy, and it’s not features, price or technology

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Twitter For Sales Part 1

Twitter For Sales Part 2

What the Heck is a Tweetup?

Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside Down

How Hard is it to Video Blog?

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank