#CanucksRiot, Social Media and Crowsourced Policing
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My friend and associate Kemp Edmonds who heads up Hootsuite University asked me an interesting question at a barbeque last weekend. He asked me what I thought about the crowdsourced policing that had occurred during the Vancouver Canucks Riot last week. I personally see it as a fact of life. Anything you do can end up on the internet and then on CBC or CNN or BBC — in seconds. The question of “should we be monitoring” each other is a tough one. The same people who think that citizens shouldn’t be monitoring each other are the same people who cry foul when a police officer objects to being recorded by a passerby’s cell phone camera during an arrest. Corporate accountability, the move toward open government, and citizen journalism (Even Yelp) has put us all under a microscope. Have a listen to today’s podcast and let me know your thoughts on the issue. Here’s the gist of my opinion:
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
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In sales, social media and in business doing the right thing, being social, being positive are all great BUT to create real momentum you need clarity. My good friend and mentor Fred Shadian shared with me many years ago the following statement:
“When mission is clear abundance will appear.”
This is a vital statement and principle. I discuss it in greater depth in my podcast today.
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Defined (Podcast)
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Today’s podcast is an audio recording (by the author) of Chapter 7 of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing. A book that was released (globally) this past October that I co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson. It is a full unabridged version with some side-comments from myself of course.
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
36 Social Media, Leadership and Life Tips in 140 Characters or Fewer
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Today’s blog post and social media podcast is a collection of 36 Tweets I have posted online over the past two weeks relating to social media, leadership and marketing. I have recorded an in-depth explanation (beyond the 140 characters) in my podcast. Have a listen, have a read and add your own in the comments below.
- Social Media Fact: @Banff_Squirrel has more Twitter followers than most marketing experts.
- Social Media Tip: Content is not King [or Queen
] Connection rapport and trust are today’s currencies. - Social Media Tip: build the community, contribute to others success, be authentic and people will line up to help you as well.
- Social Media Tip: treat likes, followers, and connections on any network like gold. Those are votes of trust and confidence.
- Social Media Tip: Contrast keeps the conversation fresh. Vary your update and blog formats. Use multiple media to engage.
- Any social media activity that involves deception, trademark or copyright infringement isn’t guerrilla marketing. It’s lazy marketing.
- Social Media Tip: it’s not old versus new media — it’s about integrating the right media for the right market.
- Social Media Tip: In the “Thank-you Economy” don’t outsource or automate your thank-you’s.
- Social Media Tip: People will read your Tweets and blog posts in the context of their goals and needs. See through their eyes.
- Social Media Tip: Social media marketing is not a fad. BUT social media consultants now need deeper business knowledge.
- Social Media Tip: Blogging is not dead, but recycling content and cut-and-paste mentalities are getting old.
- Social Media Tip: social media strategy needs to be in-line with your business culture and integrated with your business processes.
- 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?
- Social Media Tip: Being an early adopter is not enough. You need to evolve with your market and the tools to stay relevant.
- Social Media Tip: Your rules of engagement will be in context with your goals and your target market’s culture/etiquette.
- Social Media Tip: Activity doesn’t equal profitability. Activity that builds relationships = mindshare = walletshare. Build relationships.
- Want to increase the number of people that follow you back on Twitter? Try taking an interest in them. Marketing is a conversation.
- Social Media Tip: All of the engagement and trust you have built evaporates when your community finds out you outsource your conversations.
- 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
- 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
- Leadership Tip: You don’t need to make someone else irrelevant to raise your profile. In fact you’re usually only hurting your brand.
- 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.
- Social Media Tip: You are never too popular to be humble. In fact no matter who you are eventually the web will humble you
- Being on a path of integrity isn’t a one time choice. It’s a lifetime of commitment and daily decisions.
- Social Media Tip: Use hootsuite to flag DM’s from other people in Twitter for future follow-up. They can often get buried.
- 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.
- Social Media Trend: Community building skills are becoming more important than pitching or selling.
- Good things come to those wait — but they’re usually the things left behind by those who hustle. Giddy up!
- Social media monitoring is vital. The opportunity is in engaging at the right time with the right person on the right topic.
- Leadership Tip: You can never lose by investing in good people. Err on the side of generosity. It will pay in efficiency and loyalty.
- Social Media Tip: Educate and equip all staff to be social… it provides less headache and greater ROI than policing them.
- Social Media Tip: The longer you try to contain social media use to one department the further behind you will be from the marketplace.
- 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.
- 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.
- Social Media Tip: Stop seeking recognition from the cool kids… instead strive to be significant to the/your community
- 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.
You need to be social to have long-term social media success!
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Today’s podcast is about being truly sociable. You need to be social to have long-term social media success! There I said it. Plain and simple, hiding behind your computer or iPhone is only going to give you marginal long-term success. Eventually the Wizard of Oz was found out. Compared to people who are good at social media and also have great personal presence and charisma those that are solely good at being social online will not fare as well for many reasons. Have a listen to today’s podcast and tell me what you think.
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.
What comes first? A pretty website or business results?
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Too many people think a website, Twitter account or well produced video is a strategy — in reality they’re just tools. Before you invest money and time in building a brand new site, or devote more time to your social media efforts, it might be a good idea to have a plan.
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.
Jessica Northey on Authenticity Social Media and Radio
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Today’s podcast is an interview with @JessicaNorthey, a very sociable social media strategist with a background in broadcast media specializing in helping radio stations and music artists use social media efficiently. Update: She also happens to be ranked as the #1 Most Influential Woman on Twitter by Twitter Grader. We recently exchanged a few tweets on authenticity in social media and after looking at the great work Jessica is doing I asked her to do an interview.
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.
Professional Speaking for Geeks Podcast
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Today’s podcast is titled “Professional Speaking for Geeks.” Yes they call it death by PowerPoint and many other things. It’s the art of the bomb, crash and burn — or worse. We get a polite applause and the audience attendees forget about us half-way through the conference wrap-up party.
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).
Join Me for the 30 Day Podcasting Challenge – @ShaneGibson
I have been podcasting since 2004. It has brought me great clients such as Ford, ACL, and a dozen other major corporations. It has also allowed me to meet and interview people like Guy Kawasaki and Bruce Philp (two marketing minds that I suggest you get to know well).
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:
- If you’re a podcaster – take the challenge with me. Start sharing more of your knowledge more often today.
- 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.
- 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
13 Social Media, Sales and Leadership Tips in 140 Characters or Fewer
Here’s a selection of tweets, tips and insights I have posted to Twitter over the past month. If you have any of your own — add them in the comments below. Have a great weekend.
- Social media tip: life is an experiment. Be willing to make mistakes, challenge your own assumptions and break the mold to win.
- Social Media Tip: It’s not social if the result isn’t about building relationships, trust or community.
- Social Media Steps: 1: Have a goal. 2: Know your market. 3: Monitor & Listen. 4: Identify Needs 5: Create Focused Content & Conversation.
- Social Media Tip: You can’t buy trust and you can’t outsource authenticity.
- Social Media Tip: the customer is operating in real-time. Socialize your whole team so you can too!
- 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.
- Social Media Tip: The numbers mean very little. A small group of passionate people is and always has been a majority.
- Leadership Tip: The quest for knowledge for the sake of empowering those around us is one of the most powerful intents in leadership.
- Leadership Tip: Don’t let your Ego separate you from other people. We are more alike than we are different.
- Sales Tip: treat mid-month with as much urgency as month end and your year end will look a lot better.
- Social Media Tip: it’s okay to make mistakes — but remedy them quickly — apologize and then move on
- Social Media Tip: it’s never too late to say thank-you. Reach out a acknowledge those in your community who make a difference.
- Social Media Tip: People don’t care about your marketing tweets until they know how much you care about them.
52 (non-automated) Ways to Increase Your Twitter Following
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Today’s social media podcast (direct download here) and blog post is on how to increase your Twitter following. These strategies aren’t just about the numbers but are proven strategies to attract the right followers. Here are 52 (non-automated) Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers:
- Have a custom background that tells what you do and who you are
- Have a complete bio with keywords that people search for
- 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
- 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.
- Follow people who recently followed your competitors
- Follow people who are complaining about your competitors
- 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.
- Look at your competitors public lists and follow those that are relevant
- 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)
- 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.
- Use relevant #hash tags on topics, conferences, and issues and attract more followers
- Search Twellow.com for regional influencers and follow them
- Search Twellow.com for industry specific or topic specific people and follow them
- Register for Twellow.com and fill in the expanded profile and bio section, you will show up in more searches.
- Change your Twitter bio from time to time to attract new markets through search
- Put your Twitter address on your business card, brochures and any other printed material you give out
- 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)
- Finish all of your blog posts with a short bio that suggests people follow you in Twitter
- When making comments on blogs, many ask for a web address – give your Twitter address instead
- Have a prominent Twitter badge displayed on every page of your site and/or blog that links to your profile
- Let your Facebook and Linkedin connections know you’re on Twitter and ask them to connect.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Follow anyone who retweets your content and thank them (except of course spambots)
- Use backtweets.com to find out who is linking to sites of interest or competitor sites. Follow those people and apply #3 again.
- Host a #Tweetup in your community or at a conference.
- Attend #Tweetups in your community (What is a Tweetup? Watch Here)
- If you can type fast and well offer to Liveblog and live tweet an event
- Guest blog on key sites
- Write for magazines, newspapers (online or print) and get your Twitter ID into the footer.
- 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)
- Make sure your Twitter handle is on all relevant Keynote or PowerPoint presentations.
- At the beginning of any public presentation let everyone know it’s okay to get out their smartphones and Tweet to the world.
- If you sell packaged goods or products get your Twitter handle on those packages!
- Have contests rewarding those who Tweet about you, keep it simple and don’t make following mandatory
- 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)
- 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]
- Put your Twitter handle on your nametag at Meetups and conferences
- Put your Twitter handle on your contact info for your VCard, Bump application (for Iphone) etc.
- Link to your Twitter account at the beginning of any video descriptions on YouTube, Vimeo Etc.
- If you do a podcast or produce video put it on your splash page or mention it in your intro and extro.
- Create public Twitter lists of great people in specific industry or interest segments. They will often follow you back as a result
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- “Follow me on Twitter” with a link in your email signature
- 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.
- 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.
- Follow people who retweet your competitors or content similar to the content you produce and once again apply step 3.
- Create and share awesome, unique content via Twitter tips, links to blogs, videos etc. This will get retweeted, shared and increase your following
- 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.
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