10 Corporate Social Media Myths Dispelled
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Today’s podcast is about 10 social media myths that are commonplace in the companies and organizations that we work with at Socialized! Agency. Many of these misconceptions stop organizations from truly realizing the potential of social media (or even starting). Below I have listed the myths. Have a listen to the podcast and let me know what you think.
Social Media Speaker Video: Going Social with CRM #SCRM 41:28
I recently delivered the keynote speaker address to CDC Software’s CRM conference in Las Vegas. This is one of the most recent social media for sales professionals talks I have done and it’ not just a promo clip. Here’s the full 41 minutes on “Going Social with CRM – How Social Media is Turning Sales Upside-down:
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.
The Seven Sins of Social Media Citizens
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This podcast was one I was apprehensive to post. I’m not angel — but I thought I would share this perspective — possibly as a social media penance. Here’s a quick list.
The Seven Sins of Social Media Citizens
- Entertaining Rumor
- Forgetting Where You Started
- Joining Community Solely for Personal Growth
- Disengaged Once We Are Launched
- Repurposing Without Credit
- Using Your Voice to Bully Other Opinions
- 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?
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.
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.
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.
The Socialized! Lunch – 5 Steps to Maximize Your Organization’s ROI in Social Media
Today was our first Socialized! Lunch. Anthony Caridi and I host this social media training event here in Vancouver on the fourth Tuesday of each month. The purpose of this monthly event is to provide insights, best practices and real world social media strategy to CMO’s, executives and business owners who are integrating social media into their organization.
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
Kasufunding (Social Fund Raising System)
17 Social Media Tips, Tweets and Lessons in 140 Characters or Fewer
This week I have been really thinking a lot about how companies are implementing social media. I tweet out social media tips each day and the past couple weeks of tweets have definitely been influenced by my thoughts on best practices, social media training, implementation and of course leadership. Some were tweeted while sitting in the airport in Calgary, some from Blenz Coffee in Vancouver and others while I was doing research online. These tweets represent my stream of consciousness over the past couple of weeks. Your feedback and additional thoughts on the topic would be greatly appreciated. Happy tweeting!
- Social Media Tip: free is great BUT charge for things, people will appreciate them more and you will attract a different market.
- Social Media Tip: Want to increase ROI? Have a well-trained sales team handling leads and inquiries. You still need to close the deal.
- Social Media Tip: LinkedIn is about trusted networks connecting with trusted networks. It’s not a “friending” game.
- Social Media Tip: Twitter is a marketing tool, networking tool, prospecting tool, research tool… it all depends on how you use/mis-use it
- 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
- Social Media Tip: Having senior level buy-in is vital if you want to fully maximize your organization’s social media ROI.
- 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.
- Social Media Tip: stakeholder engagement has it’s ebbs and flows, don’t be discourage, stick with the plan.
- Social Media Tip: People care more about other people than things or brands. Use social media to tell stories and humanize your business.
- Social Media Tip: Continually search for new social media platforms – they will expose you to new markets and business intelligence.
- Social Media Tip: human curators are more important than others. People are trying to sort through all of the noise.
- Social Media Tip: Consistency is important but being relevant and adding value with your content is equally as important.
- Social Media Tip: If you can influence just one person negatively or positively you are a leader. Watch your intent.
- Social Media Tip: Stop trying to control your employees and own their tweets. Instead win their hearts and work on your culture.
- Social Media Tip: social media is evolving. Make sure your behaviors, tools, and rules of engagement keeping pace.
- Social Media Tip: There’s more to social media than content. Strategy, etiquette, listening, relevance are vital.
- Social Media Tip: Train your team and develop a socialized culture. Leverage your brand story through building community.
19 Social Media Tips in 140 Characters or Fewer
I just used this site called Tweet Scan to download all of my Twitter posts since I got onto Twitter. Truth be told — it only was able to recover a portion. Within it though I was able to dig up from my archive some social media tips that I have tweeted over the past year. I will share more over the next couple of weeks but here’s 19 social media tips:
- Social Media Tip: You can tweet until you are blue in the face – until you develop intimacy you’re not maximizing your ROI
- Sales and Social Media Tip: sales and social media are not longer two separate processes or activities.
- Social Media Tip: Before responding to your critics look at their social graph. Their context is as important as their comments.
- Social Media Tip: Nothing happens until someone tweets something.
- Social Media Tip: Titles that help you lose credibility in social media: certified, guru, ninja, rockstar, expert #behumble
- Social Media Tip: Stay curious and you will stay current.
- Social Media Tip: engagement starts with genuine sincere empathy and intent
- Social Media Tip: Listening is not enough. Responding is not enough. Adding value constantly builds your brand.
- Social Media Tip: Have an integrated marketing plan that includes social media. All media work better augmented.
- Social Media Tip: Commit to your brand, it’s a promise. Constant changing and redirection confuses your customers.
- Social Media Tip: It only takes two to make a tribe, and it takes a whole tribe to make a leader.
- Social Media Tip: Only the community can ordain us a leader. Titles like Expert, Thought Leader or Guru aren’t ones we give ourselves.
- Social Media Tip: evolving with your market is key, but growth can also be painful and challenging. Be prepared.
- Social Media Tip: Being transparent has it’s downsides, make sure you can walk your talk. You’re always on stage.
- Social Media Tip: Leadership is about vision and influence. Those with a vision bigger than themselves will have the most influence.
- Social Media Tip: You dont have to like or use every tool to be successful.
- Social Media Tip: Invest in training all of your staff in social media tools and principles. Social media belongs to everyone
- Social Media Tip: Observe expected etiquette as you move between groups or discussions…even on the same network.
- Social Media Tip: Leadership is also not about followers. Leadership is about influence, trust, and action.
Interview with Bruce Philp author of the new book Consumer Republic
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Today I had the opportunity to interview Bruce Philp author of The Orange Code and the soon to be released book Consumer Republic. We had a great discussion about the power of the consumer and our ability to vote with our pocketbooks.
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.
Should you let your sales team publish content using social media?
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Today’s podcast answers the question “Should you let your sales team publish content using social media?” I cover 5 reasons sales professionals should not be publishing content on social media and 13 reasons they should be. Here’s a brief summary of what is covered:
5 reasons why you should not let your sales team publish content using social media:
- You have hired idiots – even if you trained them they would just be motivated idiots.
- You have so much profitable business that you couldn’t handle any more
- Your product really sucks
- Your company and culture really suck
- 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:
- “It’s not marketing it’s talking to customers” – Scott Stratten of UnMarketing
- It adds to value added frequency
- It opens up new channels
- It can save time
- Load balance your branding
- Social CRM is the next big thing – are you cruising or are you road kill (Social CRM Podcast)
- Immediate data instead of compiled and stale data
- It makes them almost as smart as your customer
- You can see the activity
- 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)
- It builds a fence around the customer
- It creates joy
- It elevates sales people above pitch artist to trusted advisor
Speaking and Training
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