Once you know you have something of value to offer, profiting from social media is simple

1. Create great content
2. Make it easy to share
3. 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.

Tracky is Giving Away This Kindle Fire

a Rafflecopter giveaway.

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.

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.

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

Do you know the lifetime value of your customers?

If you are in business, watch the next video “3 Social Media Mistakes that Can Hurt Your Business”

Share your experiences here and let’s discuss how this might make finding the ROI on social media easier to measure and obtain.

Use the share buttons to let your network get in on the conversation. Together, we’ll build the best new methods for getting social media profits.

#HashTag

Hashtags (the letters and symbols that work ad a code staring with a pound sign “#”) have been on Twitter since nearly the start

While they are known for adding silly fun or searchiness to a tweet, that aspect has never been needed. Search can find ANY word in a tweet.

I’ve always liked them for events.  Affiliate Summit, the big show this week in Vegas, could be in a tweet about the event, but sometimes doesn’t fit in the sentence. So without explaining where the tweet comes from, users add #ASW12 and everyone at the event, or following it can easily see what happening in real time.

Twitter didn’t invent hash tags. It’s a hack like comments in software code that was added by users. Over the years, Twitter had made them clickable, and many use them for all sorts of things.

Now Twitter is working on EVENTS.. which will eliminate this necessity

At Twitter, that means associating a tweet with an event, tied to it by a number of keywords. That may mean that the keywords auto-associate to the event itself.

“I think we’re finally going to have the Events feature,” Stone said, in a brief interview. “It’s something we’ve been talking about forever… and now that Ev’s back on products, I think that’s something that’s going to be coming up soon.

“Obviously Twitter electrifies events. You’re connected to it, in this matrix,” Stone added. “You want to be connected to it, if you’re there; but if you’re not there, you don’t want to hear about it… And in a short time, it’s gone.”

My guess would be that hashtags are going to be around long after EVENTS and other features are added.

What’s your favorite tag?

For Immediate Release:

Las Vegas: Social Media author Warren Whitlock, host of “Social Media Radio” announced a new series of radio talk show begin in late January and running throughout 2012.

“We have lined up interviews with the top authors and trainers in social media, online marketing, publishing and publicity for this series” said Warren Whitlock. “We know that many people prefer to listen to audio to learn new and better ways to marketing and online promotion and will supplement the blogs, books and training programs with free content for busy business people”

Each program will be posted on the blog talk radio network where it is instantly archived for listening on demand. The program is also available in the popular mp3 podcast format and available free of charge on the iTunes store.

For a listing of shows planned, and to participate live during shows, go to Warren Whitlock on Blog Talk Radio

Guest will include best selling authors, application software developers, social media trainers and expert in social media marketing and promotion. The program will talk about strategy and techniques so that users with any level of experience can benefit.

Warren Whitlock is author of two best selling books on social media. “Profitable Social Media: Business Results Without Playing Games” and “Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online”

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about a service that promises to add a whole lot of unsuspecting followers on Twitter. There are still some marketers who think that all we need to do is build up a massive list of people and then they all will magically buy stuff.

I’ve been replying with “This is a chain letter.. what’s next? Will you have me send $5 to each person on a list?”

But one of them admitted he didn’t believe the claims himself, and asked me to explain why it might not work.. I wrote:

It’s never a question if the chain letter works.. in fact, they were banned in snail mail BECAUSE they were so effective.

Here they have removed the “you will have bad luck if you don’t” and “send $5′ part.. thanks to emails, you can blast this out a lot keeper and don’t need to twist arms.

So I’m not saying not to do it.. I’m just betting that the types of followers you get from automated systems will be like FFA pages and freebie list builders… short lived.

Social media does because it’s so easy to opt out of reading the over hyped messages. The average person looks at 19,000 follower in a month and thinks scam and wont want to follow you.

If you pay someone to follow you, they will be more loyal.. but it’s kind of like paying people to be your friends.

Think of Twitter like a party. You can pass out a lot of business cards.. but you’ll be known as “that guy” and shunned.

Don’t you want to be invited to the next cool party? If so.. make conversations, be helpful and build a real relationship.

Some people look at social media as a new way to build a pyramid scheme.

Fortunately, we know have control.. we just avoid following them or un-follow. If we don’t follow, they become irrelevant fast

Social media gives you the chance to meet people, build relationships and meaningful connections. No reason to be THAT GUY.. you will do a lot more business if you treat people right and listen to them instead of spend your time on scams and schemes

When you start a relationship with a networking contact or prospective customers, one of the best tactics is an offer for a free gift.

I’ve noticed that there were some questions about what makes a good gift and some common misconceptions.

I do a lot of “list building” promotions and we use gifts for readers that want to get a newsletter and more information. The “gifts” have to be easy for many people to get and it’s common to make that a simple e-book or Mp3. We call them gifts because they are free, and very little obligation (you can unsubcribe).

A real gift of value can position you as a provider of value in business (or life). Dr. Robert Cialdini refers to this as the Law of Reciprocity. A gift given without an expectation of quid pro quo seems altruistic and might look like it’s less likely to sell, but studies show that the life time value of customers who get a gift early one is almost always higher than something that looks like you are buying an opportunity to pitch them

Here are some tips to increase the value of using online gifts?

1. Make it a real gift If you send everyone to the same page with an free report signup and then offer that as a “special gift” on another promotion it’s not special
2. Don’t make people sign up for your mailing list. We use this this option on a regular basis “free gift plus newsletter” but don’t assume that the recipient is giving you permission to mail any ad you wish. The more limited and targeted you use email, the more value it can have for your readers.
3. Give away something that others are paying for. That shows it has real value right now
4. Make it a wide appeal. No need to give your lead generating gift when it’s publicity for you, your site and your business.

These guidelines for for contests, charity gifts etc. There are plenty of times when a “free download” gift is perfectly right.. on your sites landing page or in as a bonus for someone buying at a partners site. That’s what we call a “lead generation” marketing program.

I ask myself this question when choosing a gift: “Would I think this was a good value if I wasn’t doing this for a living”

We gave away thousands of copies of Twitter Handbook before releasing Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online. If you’ve seen the ebook, it’s got almost as much information as the real book and tons of value. We knew that the people like you that download it are early adopters and the kind of people we want in our network.

The law of reciprocity says that when you give a real gift, without demanding quid pro quo, you create a bond with the recipient. In marketing, we know that some of the people will come back and that the publicity value will outweigh the small investment in the gift.

Ultimately, giving away real value in gifts gets you the best results. Free can be more valuable that charging.

Pretty cool, eh?

When I started on Twitter, I reached out to people by finding a person in a conversation with my friends and then clicking on the follow button.

That never seemed like enough.. almost immediately I decided to go one step further.

The get to know a new twitter friend process goes like this:

1. Click on the name of a person I don’t know from an interesting thread
2. Read their profile page and look for a  link to their blog or anything that they care about
3. Read till I find something interesting, copy the URL and Tweet about it
4. Include the @ handle at the end saying “thanks” and then the handle
5. Leave a comment if possible on the person’s blog

It wasn’t always blogs, but in the early days, I was there to connect with bloggers, so that was my favorite. I also connected on Facebook or LinkedIn when I could.

It didn’t take long and I had tweets thanking me. Even when I didn’t, I felt great sharing new finds with my friends.

Interspersed with this, and the conversations I had, I’d  often say “Follow @coachdeb. She’s cool” or something like that  (NOTE: that’s pretty close to the first tweet between my future co-author and I).

In January 2009, @micah noticed how many people weren’t spotlighting other like this and suggested we tell others about our friend on Friday. The #FollowFriday (also called #FF for short) hashtag and phenomena was born.

While I often quipped how this was what I did everyday.. I thought it was great that we were sharing that ethos with all the new people coming on Twitter. Trouble was, pretty soon it got very hard to see messages through all the #FollowFriday

In Fall 2009, Twitter added LISTS and @Scobleizer suggested we put our “Tweeps to follow” on lists. I tweeted this several times, and noticed that the fad has died down some, but every Friday, we see plenty of  the tags.

No one wants to complain about the clutter. After all, each tweet is an endorsement. I sincerely appreciate all the people who take time to tell other about me.

An even better alternative…

“Use Follow Friday to Get More Blog Traffic”

In an excellent post, @ChrisBrogan shared an idea that you see used on this post. He suggests that instead of #FollowFriday list tweets, we take a few minutes to write about the people we are suggesting in a blog post, and then tweet the link.

@coachdeb (my co-author for “Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online”) and I saw bloggers talking about bloggers and it was a staple here back in 2008. When I saw @ChrisBrogan’s post, I dropped what I was doing and wrote this article.

I like the style Chris used to with a list and reasons to follow. I like bullet points and numbered lists because they are easy to read and people reading tend to use them as a checklist and are more apt to follow up.

My own style is usually more narrative. So you are seeing my list as I tell this story.

Please, if you haven’t already.. GO BACK and follow all the  people in this list. While you’re at it, try the process I described above.. leave a comment, say something nice, be creative and get in a conversation.

Then, use this on your own blog. Write up who you would like to recommend, and tweet about it.

Extra credit. Pus a Twitter friend and brief description as a COMMENT here. I usually don’t recommend putting URL’s in comments (the exception being when the blogger asks for them) … but TODAY, I WANT YOUR URL COMMENTS.

Tweet about this post so others can try this.

And by the say.. this method isn’t just for Fridays… it works everyday, and works better the more you do it..

@kidfury demonstrates the power of Twitter…

and the fury of not thinking things through.

Call center employee brings works to a halt with prank with one tweet

My best estimate would about about 4000 followers when this happened. Sounds like all of them called in at once

The language is a little off what I”d hope to hear from a call center worker, but he’s off the clock and very real in his presentation.

Perhaps the most interesting part is the reaction from the big boss. I’d like to think I could end it this way, but just a few years ago, I would have blown this for sure.

This story is 2010. I’d imagine that while the attention to a single status update or tweet continues to fall, let’s not forget that the collective power of your customers is growing faster than ever.

Are you listening to them?

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was asked by a Facebook friend why he should bother with Twitter.

Right away, I could tell he was in Stage 1.. so I wrote back:

I’d only recommend using Twitter if networking is important to you business. If you need to meet new people, build closer relationships with your network or keep in touch with a lot of people Twitter is the tool for you.

Most people go through 3 stages getting into Twitter.

1. It looks like a complete waste of time and “why would anyone want to know what people had for breakfast”
2. Friends say “use Twitter” and you get an account to secure your name while you can and still think it’s a waste of time
3. You get into a conversation with someone, pick up a new recruit, learn about some news and start saying “how did I live without this?”

Stage 1 is still most of the world. I’ve seen people in stage 2 for years.

FYI, these same three stage occurred in other technologies. For instance, when telephones came out, most executives assigned someone to make calls (if they had a phone at all). The same thing happened with email, Facebook, etc.

If you don’t use Twitter, that’s ok too. Most of my friends are also in Stage 1. I even know a few that refuse to use a phone. No sense worrying about getting everybody to do things the same way.

As we say.. NO RULES in today’s marketing. Just give people what they want, whenever, wherever, and in whatever format they desire. We all demand that today.