Want to get into Tracky early? Go to Tracky.com now and use this code “ontracky”
Once you know you have something of value to offer, profiting from social media is simple
Create great content
Make it easy to share
Listen and Love
At ProftiableSocialMedia, we like to focus on profitable ideas to help you grow your business, but sometimes all you need is a sponsor with a super prize. Read the sponsored promotion, then let’s talk about how you will use the 3 steps above to profit.
When the clock runs out, we award the prize. Tracky is a start up using the 3 simple steps to promote their upcoming launch. I saw a demo last year, and now I’m using Tracky myself (this promotion is coordinated on Tracky). Tracky has created great content. Once you sign up, you’ll see this. and want to share it. I know the people at Tracky know the value of listen and love,so they are already using the steps. But how do you get those first customers to see your product’s value? You sponsor a giveaway!
It’s Easy. Just Click to Win
Tracky want you to sign up free for their service. I’d like you to profit from the content I create. We both win when you are more profitable, so we went to RaffleCopter and created this simple contest. All you got to do is click on the buttons to share. Something I you would do anyway. As you click on the buttons to share, you will find more of the content. Even though it feels like you have seen this before, it’s very common that readers miss great content. I hope you’ll see some of the social media news, informative interviews (not just Social Media Radio) and more fun. Of course, it’s very likely that you’ll see Tracky pop up on some of my favorite sharing sites. We all have some fun sharing, you start thinking of how the 3 steps will profit you and projects get done faster by millions of people using Tracky. The world will be a better place
Did You Enter? Great. More About the 3 Steps
I like this age of authentic transparency. Once I got used to you seeing my “warts and all” and letting everyone inside to see how things work, I enjoy not having secrets. And, I discover that the more you share, the more you get
Whenever I take on a new client, set up a joint venture, or create a promotion. I use the same structure I shared in the Social Media Profit Checklist. First off, I had to check to see where the profits on this promotion. Giving away a Kindle will get some extra visits to my web site but that would be worthless if I did not have the book and business behind it. Tracky is run by some great people, is wonderful software and is at the heart of what I think is the nexus for future growth in the Las Vegas economy. The sponsored promotion they are doing with me fits, but that’s not a reason to be in business.
Fortunately, I’ve been through the Simple Social Media Profit Formula and know how valuable each reader can be. The contest was a no-brainer for me.
Usually, I tell clients to avoid buying readers with a contest, but the content of this contest was a match and I saw how I could tailor it to a message I want to share with you (you’re reading it) and stay consistent with my brand. Easy sharing is built into the contest by Rafflecopter. Even so, I like offer you a easy sharing on anything here. There’s a floating bar to the left to click whenever you want, and the meme I talk about are specifically worded to make them sharable.
Again, it’s pretty easy to say “prize” or “free” but I spend more time writing headlines and tweets than anything else. The message need to be as simple as bacon and eggsThe other secret to sharing is reciprocity. Make sure you are sharing more of about other people than you share about yourself. This has a huge added benefit in that everyone you know plus everything you read is way more interesting than what you are selling. It’s like Chris Brogan says:
“Always have something to sell, but don’t always be selling it.”
I’ve saved the best for last. These two words sum up what I think will be the best business strategy for the future. It’s been taught in many ways for thousands of years as the way to live. Finally, technology allows us to listen and love like never before.
LISTEN: Every customer, phone call, email, comment, tweet is an opportunity for a conversation. If you listen, you will hear people looking for help. When you help them get what they want, they invariably will be more prone to get you what you want. We were taught business in the 20th Century, a unique time when one way communications made broadcasting and marketing a game of big towers and giant numbers. There wasn’t a way to listen to the TV viewer or newspaper reader in real time. Today, all that’s changed. And you are in on this early. Learn to listen and you’ll be ahead of the competition
LOVE: It simple. Treat people like you would treat the people you love. I’m not talking about romance here. I’m talking doing what you know is right. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that. Think about a time when you called a corporate office, got put on hold, then transferred to a phone that wasn’t answered. When you tried again, you heard “that’s not my department” Is this how you want to be treated? No one else likes it either.
Once you have learned to listen, you’ll know what to do. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Think about the experience that they have with you, your social media content, your sales process, products and company. Make every interaction with anyone a reason for them to say WOW. Like @Zappos says, you want to be delivering happiness.
On April 17th, Warren Whitlock will present a "lunch and learn" training for Las Vegas business owners with web marketing authority Brian Williams.
The workshop (which includes catered lunch), "Three Steps Any Las Vegas Business Can Easily Implement to Guarantee New Customers and Get Existing Customers to Buy More Often" is geared toward the business owner who knows that the Internet, social media, search engines and mobile devices and changing how business is done but leery of the way new technologies are preached as "cure-all’s."
According to Brian Williams,
"The goals of business have not changed. We want more customers, and more business from existing customers. Once we peal away the mumbo jumbo and tech jargon, there are some real tools that any business can use to grow in this economy."
Williams mission is getting real business results from new technology. His short seminar was designed to help business owners learn how to evaluate vendors and marketing programs so that businesses can focus on delivering their valuable service rather than needing to become a marketing expert.
The "Lunch and Learn" event is limited to 20 Las Vegas business owners. Tickets are available online at http://brianwilliams.eventbrite.com, or by calling 702-582-9366.
"Lunch and Lean" seminars are produced by Warren Whitlock, social media marketing strategist and best selling author of Profitable Social Media: Business Results Without Playing Games to bring new ideas and profitable strategies to our fellow Las Vegas business owners. Whitlock is the host of "Social Media Radio" and is presenting a these events to train business owners strategies to profit.
I’ve been chatting with @matthewadavid for the past few days about the future of mobile apps, business use of the Internet, and what @jowyang calls “Social Business” (better than “social media, but still just a step toward where we are headed). Ever since we wrote about this in Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online I’ve been seeking out these developers and pushing for the best marketing hooks.
Matthew has been getting a lot of attention for TheAppBuilder. You can now build an app that is ready to submit to app stores for iPhones, Android, iPad, and more in just a couple of minutes for free.
The apps are not the cutting edge stuff we hear about in the news, but add some function for anyone with a crowd of followers they want to send information to. We’ve been exploring just how far this meme will go. I brought up the problem of getting an app for every business, author and web site I use and then needing an app to keep track o them. Just how far can this sort of app growth go?
Matthew and I agreed that more functions will need to go into this type of technology and that there is a lot of growth available for businesses and vendors doing the simple starter apps before any limits there cause a problem.
On Twitter over the last couple of days, we discussed what the app to find the app would be, and some chimed in with ideas and companies. This will come soon enough.
The Dry Cleaning Problem
Any time I get talking or thinking about the future of mobile media, I remember the dry cleaner problem…
Let’s say I plan to go to an important meeting and the plane takes off on Wednesday morning at 6:00 Am. Getting ready for the trip, I decide I want my suit cleaned and take to my dry cleaner. He promises that he’ll have it ready for me on Tuesday afternoon, and reminds me that he closes at 5:00 PM.
If I get tied up with something on Tuesday after lunch, I can do several things. I can have someone else pick up the suit, squeeze the stop into my schedule, or hurry to get there at 5:01 and hope someone is still there. Or, I might just get so busy that I forget to do anything and wear something else.
If my dry cleaner is a good friend or I’m a steady customer, he can go the extra mile and watch to make sure I get my suit. He could deliver it to me, call my wife, or just stay open a few extra minutes. Doing any of these would require some communication between at least two parties.
In the past, that would me some phone tag, post it notes on my dashboard,, or interrupting another last minute meeting to get the suit handled. (not that big a deal, and I could delegate the whole thing, but I’m setting up the point)
Imagine a APP on my smart phone that would alert me with a sound, a reminder email, an SMS if I didn’t respond and finally a phone call to my assistant telling me I was forgetting the suit. Could be easy to code, and easy to sell as a must have for the executive with an important meeting.
And now for the problems.
1. The app would have to be told which communications method I prefer
2. The app would have to TURN OFF notifications for the next batch of dry cleaning.
I hold that #2 is where there is tons of room for innovation in the way we do business in the future. I don’t want to ever here from my dry cleaner for the normal batch of clothes, and frankly, I’d consider it a giant nuisance to have to install an app, accept updates and avoid the frequent pings about a sale on tuxedo cleanings.
I want my smart device to know that a reminder or task is vital and track me down.. then I want it to sit idle forever unless I have something like the suit incident come up again.
The value to me is small.
The value to the dry cleaner can be immense.
If a service business can make their best customer ecstatic about service, they will stick around, pay premium prices and tell others. The first dry cleaner to get a suit to me when I forget is going to be remembered like the Nordstrom that took back snow tires.
In the past the technology wouldn’t allow this sort of personalization. Presently, we have some limits. In the future, there will be many more opportunities for.
An App that hides apps until you search and then takes over to get it out of the archive.
Improved language recognition. Imagine SIRI knowing all your apps
Coordination between apps so my wife picking up the dry cleaning take it out of my phone’ responsibilities
Master rules about locations, times and priorities that my system follows (unless I say I want something else. (don’t let me forget, but never interrupt a meeting with Phil to tell me)
The future isn’t going to be about adding apps long. Right now, you can get a jump on the competition just by having a app Then we an put in all the hooks for smarter business, better customer experiences and new ways WOW our customers with fanatical customer service.
I heard from my friend Paul Colligan this morning. If you don’t know Paul, you are missing out. Follow Colligan on Twitter and listen to what he says. The man is a genius at marketing.
Paul told me about a video on YouTube. At first glance, it didn’t seem like much. A young woman with a new product and a cause. Since I got the link from Paul, I knew it would be worth a minute.. IT WAS.
The video is Daniella Armijo from Cause For a Cause, selling a handmade case for your iPad.
I don’t use a case for my iPad, but I do love a good story.. and I was sold by what Daniela told us.
Case For A Cause exists to help women from this area escape from a life of abuse – whether domestic abuse, forced prostitution or human trafficking. Every penny of the profits goes back to help these women develop and sustain a better quality of life. All artisans are paid a fair wage to make each case, and the Issyk Kul Development Center is provided valuable funds to help their work of intervention, counseling, job training, and other programs to help these women gain hope and the possibility of a better future for themselves and their children.
Now she really had my attention. A handmade product, each unique in design and what a story to share every time you go anywhere with your iPad.
Smart marketing.
While I’m wondering which of the color combinations would work best for me, Daniella went on to explain more about the women the project and company are helping.
This is not some simple “send some money so you won’t feel guilty” pitch, the Case for a Cause web site has details which Daniella summarized in the video.
All profits are sent to the center
Participants are rescued from some horrible situations
Women are trained to be self sufficient
Here’s Where You Can Learn Something
The video doesn’t stop with a plea for help, a sales pitch for the product or the way overused “help us get the word out” appeal. Daniella explains a promotion that is
Easy to do
Specific in explaining the details of how this will help
Incentivized
How can you resist? Watch the video now.. and I’ll add a couple more ideas to create a win/win for you
I’ve placed the video here, but you want to open it up on YouTube when you’ve read the rest of this post.
Action Steps to Follow Today
I’ve already done some of these and a few of the other tactics I used every day to share good stuff and build relationships online. I am share a few obvious steps that I’d like to do as a minimum:
Make sure you are signed in to YouTube and click on the LIKE button
If you’re YouTube account is set up right, this will send a Twitter and Facebook post. If not, make sure you share it in at least two places.
Very important. Daniella is asking for comments. Follow here instructions in the video to win the prize, or just because it is the right thing to do
Consider a blog post, a Facebook video share, or Tumblr with this video and idea. Just like I did here. You can tell your own story, give another shout out to Case for a Cause and give your community something to talk about besides “buy my stuff”
The publicity value of doing good is great for any business. Naturally, in this age of transparency, people will know if you are doing it just to look good, but I know you aren’t like that. You will be authentic in sharing your feelings about the issue, the people involved, the women being helped and the cool new case. You’ll be doing good and looking good.
Speaking of looking good. Did you order one of those cases?
There are plenty of things you can do, simple fun things anyway, to build awesome content, then drive traffic there and reap some rewards. There are important SEO basics to cover, so that search traffic flows smoothly to you, too. But even sites that do everything right can fall flat. What is this elusive ‘viral’ quality?
The Unfortunate Metaphor
In a weird twist of linguistic and technological history (which has its own ‘bug’ metaphor), the concept of virus and something virulent now means being sort of irresistibly interesting or amusing or shocking, which tends to spread fastest through word of mouth and of Facebook post. But of course, nothing is great to everybody — no video that ‘goes viral’ is universally liked, but it is intensely liked along certain social pathways.
It’s kind of like how ‘bad’ meant great back in Michael Jackson’s hay day. It’s basically the holy grail of social marketing now for something to go viral. It’s free and powerful marketing, much like word of mouth. To go viral in many ways is the ultimate Web-powered word-of-mouth.
But you know this concept of viral, or ‘killer’, content should be better understood, not only in order to reach people with better results but because it could enrich your business’s entire outlook and personality.
Being Viral
You know, if everything you posted or published hit the Web burning, and your every peep online goes off the hook with people, then you probably wouldn’t need SEO. But having decent, useful content with superb SEO could only be like having a mildly contagious effect overall.
So, the question is, how to be at least more viral? If you break it down it’s a bit like asking oneself how to be more charismatic, or more cool, or more popular. It’s not that hopeless! But the point is that producing viral media may simply be about understanding the social pathways, and, actually allowing one’s brand to be more viral.
Interest Is Simple
There is one basic quality of viral content, if you’ve noticed. It may be based upon the perennial psychological pattern you see when ‘boy meets girl’, when he likes her more in proportion to how much she rejects him or acts indifferent! We’re attracted to things that don’t need us to be attracted to them.
That is the essence of the concept of being cool, too: one who is cool does not need anybody’s approval and seems self-content (but perhaps slightly dry, or loopy, from having so few expectations). This is a rare quality; cool people are often eccentric.
Viral content is also usually eccentric in a way that is blindingly honest or graphic and yet does not demand your attention. It just is. But its honesty, whatever the subject matter, is disarming in a world otherwise saturated with hype, inflated language, self-promotion and fakes.
How to Catch It
Do you think it’s possible to just become viral, as a creative habit?
· It means being honest, more honest than you thought possible.
· It means looking at normal things in new ways, like an artist.
· It means valuing the audience’s time and attention by never pushing something forgettable and unshareable on them.
· It means never boasting about the content — simply make it available, humbly.
So you see, it just boils down to being honest with your audience. You don’t have to seem cool — just be authentic, and without apologies. Stand for your brand. Share your enthusiasm in a way that doesn’t need approval yet responds to people’s real interests, without another word about it.
You know, it may seem odd, but one place where you can sometimes find this sort of genuine and honest enthusiasm is in the realm of online gaming, and particularly casino entertainment. For example, it seems that much of what a site about online casinos puts on the wire goes viral simply because it knows its social pathways, and what those people want to learn about the best games and offers.
Today’s post answers the fundamental business question we get about using social media.
How do I know if my social media activity will be profitable?
Social media profits can be different. It almost always is far more than quick sales transactions.
I have found that once I sit down with a business and discuss what they mean by profits, quite often, the goals they have in mind haven’t translated into the simple business math that can make social media marketing, or any activity outrageously profitable.
Watch this short clip and let me know if I’ve made this point.
Social media strategy for using social media in marketing your business
My objective when I make a video today is to put important concepts into a simple presentation. There may be things that are left out, but I hope the meat of the message is here.
When you know the life time value of an average customer, you are way ahead in business
Let’s face it, the salon business is tough. In the world of nail salons, if you’ll pardon the pun, you’ve got to claw your way to the top. If you’re going to make it, you’ve got to do many things that make you stand out from the crowd – the crowd being your competition. As you’re well aware, competition is keen and getting more challenging every week. There always seem to be new salons opening, and some of them will gain a foothold while others wither on the vine. You’ve got to consider new ways to attract new customers while keeping your faithful clientele coming back regularly.
You may place coupon advertisements in local newspapers or in direct mail promotional materials, and for many years, that sort of advertising was enough to keep a salon in business, and repeat customers would return week after week. But with the arrivals of new media, a salon like yours can afford to present colorful, animated advertisements that had been previously available only to those businesses that could afford to produce television commercials. If you wanted animated text and images, you’d have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in production and broadcast costs. But with the power of the Internet, and in particular, the World Wide Web, you can create and benefit from electronic media that costs a mere fraction of what you’d have to spend on TV or radio commercials.
Marketing for nail salons has come a long way since the days when you could only use printed ads. Today’s websites can be billboards on which you can post coupons and offers that will help attract customers, and will also persuade them to return to your storefront time and time again. Best of all, you can change the content of your site quickly and easily, so if you’re suddenly inspired to present a new offering to the public, you can change your Web page almost instantly and inform people about the new offering quickly. Say you want to offer a half-off coupon targeted at first-time customers. You can design and place a coupon quickly, and you’ll likely get an instant response in many cases.
Part of the Internet’s power is that it allows you to create advertisements that will be targeted toward a particular segment of the public. If your salon is located in Los Angeles, say, it won’t likely help you if readers in Spokane, Washington, see your advertisements. Websites for salons can be constructed in a way that will make people in your area searching the Internet more likely to see your page. That way, you won’t waste time on people who are unlikely to come to your salon, and you’ll see more likely prospects at your front door. Isn’t that what you really want?
Like any breakthrough site on the Internet, Pinterest has the pundits clamoring to explain how this is either a fad or next big thing.
As usual, there is more fiction than fact.
Pinterest is doing well for sure. The company has funding, income and a lot of press about how well it’s doing. Most say that there is an unique appeal.
Question is how profitable would it be for you to use right now.
Fact: Users in the US are mostly female
Fiction: Female users are attracted to visual.
Pinterest is a sharing site. Seems to reason that women would be more apt to share this way. That’s one guy’s opinion from a lifetime of observing men and women and quite a bit of study in social psychology.
Speaking of studies, I’ve read many times how men are more visually stimulated than women. There is also research to suggest that men are naturally better an some number crunching code tasks(visualizing data), but more often the books I’ve encountered suggest that men see are visual simulated while women use feelings (like connection and sharing).
The growth numbers shared in the past couple of months show amazing growth for Pinterest. At current rates of growth, they’ll have more users than there are people on the planet in no time.
Fact: Traffic has taken off in the past two months
Fiction: This growth is going because we love Pinterest
It sure looks like Pinterest has reached a tipping point. The site is 3 years old, and has changed over time, but now seems to be doing everything right.
Some would say this is a magic formula or breakthrough in technology. Frankly, I don’t see that. Facebook allows you to tag and share photos. There has been a fad there for the past few months of putting a quote on a postcard and getting it virally shared. As sharing gets easier, people want to share. This is a trend that will continue for some time.
From what I see, Pinterest does a better job of sharing technically, and benefits from the social graphs users have on Facebook. I’m wondering how much of the rapid growth is due to Facebook?
Pinterest looks to be a success, but it’s not going to crush everyone. Some pundits want to tout a new platform for social media. They seem to think there is certain path:
Friendster –> MySpace –> Facebook –> Whatever’s Next
They ignore how the platforms overlapped and start to wonder off when you ask how to add Twitter, YouTube or Linkedin. Let’s not forget there are more blogging sites creating social interaction than anything else, and email use still trumps them all.
There’s no reason that one has to fail to give us a new winner. The companies that have fallen from grace have had management and technical issues and I like to remember that MySpace is still a giant site when compared to most anything but MySpace.
So What is the Pinterest Secret?
The game is not over. All the facts are not in. but here’s what I think might be behind the rapid growth we’re seeing at Pinterest.
Good execution.
Sharing is super easy. You can click a button and share. Once you click, you can easily pick an existing pinboard or add another. Compare this to the albums of photo sharing sites.
Push to your network. The latest design of Facebook has been rolling out in the past few months and Pinterest is doing a great job of pushing it’s content to the new timelines.
Easy to add your connections. Like most social networks, you can connect existing social graphs to Pinterest. Some aggressive young companies code their sites to make it easy to add everyone that is on, others make you invite each friend. Pinterest has the best one click add I’ve ever seen.
Clandestine sign ups. Pinterest emails infer that a friend has found you, and asked you to join them. In reality, it’s well written script that sends out invites to your friends and assumes you’ll like it when they show up (which may be true).
For the most part, these aren’t unique to Pinterest. They are doing a good job of implementing tactics that work. Add a simple design and what appears to be good coding to make the site faster than others and you’ve got a winning recipe.
Can You Be More Like Pinterest in Your Business?
Perhaps the best idea I’ve got from watching Pinterest is how good business ideas, executed well with some creative flair will usually win.
I talk to businesses about little things they are getting wrong and am astounded by how often pivotal ideas are dismissed to focus on things that don’t work. Unfortunately, this is just as true for me on this very blog (and many other areas)
Before we jump onto a Pinterest push, I suggest we take a minute and look at our own businesses. What would it take to create an elegantly simple path for your customer to engage, buy and share your profitable products and services?
We may have our own tipping point moments sitting just a few steps away.
I used to feel that I didn’t live in a city, and thought of them as places build to house a lot of factory workers. I was in the suburbs, which I know see as part of cities, and thought downtown meant old and grimy. When someone suggest revitalizing, I’d laugh at what I thought was the futility of propping up the decay.
I was wrong.
I’ve been studying the best ideas for the future of mankind. Ideas about cities keep coming up and has caused me to rethink how important the fast growing cities (think China) are housing more and more people.
A City is the Center of Progress
One of the great turning points in my understanding about cities was Paul Romer’s TED talk on Charter Cities. Romer showed how cities are not using up the land and resources, and actually have a tremendous ROI.
That made me face the feeling I had and learn that while I have always been a fan of progress, I needed to stop blaming cities for the world’s problems.
There is more of everything in cities. The density accentuates problems, but what is often not mentioned is the positive side of these density efficiencies
Higher wages
More patent applications
More arts and creativity
It’s leverage.
Ideas move faster in cities, there are more data points to prove out any hypothesis and of course, more buyers in whatever market you are targeting.
Let’s Think of Some Positive Ideas for Cities
You’ve heard that technology, networks and social media are revolutionizing business and life. Now let’s review what even faster innovation, commination and positive progress can be made
This video from Ericson is a great place to start. It’s the first in the series and got me thinking (and started on this post). Watch it below:
We’re Just Getting Started
I’ve rambled through just a few of the ideas that I’ve been thinking about. I didn’t scratch the surface of my real focus here.
Things are are going to continue to get better at a faster rate.
I’ll be sharing more soon. I hope you’ll leave a comment and tell me where I’m wrong, or how we might all profit from this accelerating trend. What else should we be looking at, and how will this affect us?
Best practice says I ought to post on a regular schedule in one place. Sticking to a topic my subscribers will appreciate and build my expert status and marketing niche.
Good ideas. I teach that myself. I have never been too good at practicing what I preach
On a good day, I’ll say I’m a renaissance man, a generalist with a lot of ideas to share on a variety of topics. Then, I’ll sit down and get busy with a project and decide it need to be put with a certain type of post on a separate web site.
I think if I was put up 3 posts on each of my blogs and kept up with the social media correspondence that results from sharing things, I’d need about 150 hours a week and still would miss some things.
But the real truth is… I get bored easily.
Social Media to the Rescue
I love how we have current technologies are allowing me to post small pieces of content, dozens of times each day. I’m gong to keep sharing news, tips, quotes and ideas I find with my social media network.
However, blogging is still the biggest of the social media platforms and I’ve got a two or thing I think are worth putting out there.
I must admit that the TODO list for blogging has gotten out of hand. This morning, I found a site that had a nifty slider to highlight posts.. with empty posts. A project I started six months ago. Several thousand people saw an error page as a post of another blog.
I could go on.. but I’m embarrassed just thinking about it.
So I’ve fixed up a few, put in a TON of redirection links so that people looking for my posts longer than 140 characters can find me and tried to put most of my plans for near term future writing to point here.
Check back tomorrow for a post with substance.. and let me know how I’m doing with a comment below, a tweet or message on any of the 30,327 sites I’m using when I’m not here.
The workshop (which includes catered lunch), "Three Steps Any Las Vegas Business Can Easily Implement to Guarantee New Customers and Get Existing Customers to Buy More Often" is geared toward the business owner who knows that the Internet, social media, search engines and mobile devices and changing how business is done but leery of the way new technologies are preached as "cure-all’s."
Now she really had my attention. A handmade product, each unique in design and what a story to share every time you go anywhere with your iPad. 
Sharing is super easy. You can click a button and share. Once you click, you can easily pick an existing pinboard or add another. Compare this to the albums of photo sharing sites. 
