Power up your lead generation – A new webinar explains how
May 22, 2010
I met Jenny Armato online. We were Facebook and Twitter friends long before we met in person when she was visiting Sydney in March. It was the first time we really got to ‘chew the fat’ (or sushi as it was) and I immediately asked her if she’d speak for our Growth Members and share with them about what she knows about generating leads using social networks..
She really ‘knows her stuff’ when it come to doing business online and this week’s webinar is all about how to use social engines (Jennie’s word for social networks like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook) to:
- Get new clients
- Generate leads
- Power up business
I’ve been using social networks for a couple of years now and have had some success at generating leads from these network. But i KNOW that next week when Jennie presents the Social Engines webinar I’m going to have a whole lot of new distinctions on how to be more strategic about lead generation. I know that we’ll look at:
- How to integrate automated lead generation from Twitter, YouTube and Facebook with your web business blog.
- The 3 most effective ways to generate a steady flow of qualified leads on Facebook.
My invitation to you to attend:
I hope you’ll join me.
Date: 26 May
Time: 10.30am – 12.00pm
Venue: Webinar (all you need is access to the Internet)
Price: Free for Growth Members, $39 for StartUp members and $59 for Non-Members
Hey Hey, it’s Social Media. Old TV Show leads the way in interactive TV.
May 1, 2010
How did an old show get to be (in my opinion) the best example Australia has of ‘interactive TV’ and the use of social media on television?
If you’ve managed to catch any episodes of Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Wednesday nights on Channel 9), then you’ll notice that they’ve done some really great work at integrating new media into the show.
The show’s formula and games are pretty much as they have been for many years. Simple and the kind of funny you kick yourself for laughing at but find yourself laughing regardless! Yeah for Chook Lotto, Celebrity Heads, Red Faces etc. The formula still works. That’s a given.
And now, the show’s masterminds (or some smart cookies involved) have harnessed the power of social media to engage not only the live studio audience but hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
I’m thrilled. Really.
The closest thing I’ve seen to this live use of social media is on US news shows when the Twitter stream is shown in the lower third. Nice, but boring.
Hey Hey has it right. Where once the studio audience would judge a ‘Red Faces’ act, now you and I can, from the comfort of our home, vote, share our opinion, debate and have a collaborative community experience that is unprecedented.
And, and using less ’social’ media, Lavinia has a laptop on hand to get any new emails that are worth commenting about. What a great way to engage viewers! “You mean I could have my email talked about on live TV? Wow…”… and so Mary Smith from Tewantin in Queensland chimes in and takes part in the conversation.
I used Hey Hey as an example at three speaking engagements in the last week. I’m so ‘chuffed’ at how well they’re doing this. (Being LIVE they have a rare opportunity, on Australian TV, with Social Media but others have had the same chance. They are just the first, I think, to really get it right.)
As at this morning Hey Hey had 432, 936 fans on Facebook. How exciting.
This week the show used #chook (I think) as the tag for those watching to follow the conversation on Twitter.
(The Twitter following is at the mo’ just 3,123 but that’s okay. I think Facebook is more suited to what the show is doing.)
When ‘they’ told us about ‘interactive TV’… I don’t think ‘they’ knew that this would be it… a LIVE show, with Australia participating alongside the show’s activity.
Congratulations Hey Hey.
I’m watching (’cause I think you’re fun) AND because this ‘old dog’ has certainly learned some new tricks.
How the @ symbol put the elevator spiel out of work.
March 30, 2010
by Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
I’d like you to meet social media’s new identifier.
How do you introduce yourself in professional situations? Your well-honed 30-second elevator spiel could well be redundant. The new way to introduce yourself is a powerful window into your online social presence. You most powerful business card is now the @ symbol.
“Hi. I’m @cool-name-goes-here.”
Earlier this month I attended the South by South West Interactive festival in Austin Texas. The annual festival features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events and insightful lectures on what is new and different in media, publishing and technology (and soooo much more).
A common structure at all the sessions is for a Q&A session to follow a presentation or panel discussion.
I noticed this year that something had changed about the way people introduced themselves before asking a question. A person would walk up to a microphone and rather than say
“Hi, I’m Mary Smith from Fabulous Frocks…..”
she’d say something like:
“Hi. I’m @fabulousfrocks….”
It happened time and again that people identified themselves as their Twitter handle, their digital profile.
I think this says a lot.
If I introduce myself as my @ symbol then I’m saying that if you went to @me and took a look at what I say and share, if you connect to me via my social network presence, you’d know what you need to know about me to determine if you want to stay in touch, do business, network etc.
I love this concept. It calls for us to:
- be congruent in our online profiles (What you see (read) is what you get.)
- let our online profiles ‘do the talking’ when it comes to introducing our products and services
- be better communicators
Exciting times, people!
Twitter's CEO Evan Williams Interviewed at SXSW
5 Twitter Tips for Entrepreneurs
March 15, 2010
By Yvette Vignando, www.happychild.com.au
Leading up to the launch of a new site, I’m researching everything about the power of social media. Before I catapulted myself into the Twitterverse, I confess I cynically suspected it would be full of people updating me about their breakfast, their political views or be a series of automated marketing pitches.
Well, I was right, and it’s actually fantastic. The power of Twitter is that you can authentically and personably connect with people on the same wavelength. And I love that it’s a platform with fast, 140 character, very digestible pieces of information.
As I get to know people personally, including their breakfast menu, I get a sense of how I can help them and actually build a community of ‘real Tweeple’. Those tweeple might be interested in what I have to say, or have information that is helpful for my own personal and professional growth. Even though I’m not a fan of automated tweeting, I still appreciate the efficient sharing of information by the rich source of tweeple I have met during my 140 character visits to the Twitterverse. And I firmly believe that the quality of your Twitter followers is the key, not the quantity.
5 Twitter Lessons I’ve learnt:
Give to Get
Like most venues in life, on Twitter you need to give to receive value. This means:
- Tweet personable information about yourself that is relevant or has synergy for some of your followers. You can keep this non-identifying but still real. For example @SuziDafnis discloses with a picture that she has a penchant for terrifyingly high heels “Just said no to temptation… I can always change my mind. http://twitpic.com/178vfu”
- Tweet links to interesting blogs and news articles. They don’t need to be all your own.
- Re-tweet the tweets you find funny, useful or informative.
- Keep your self-serving links to a minimum but share the ones you are proud of such as your latest blogpost, or in my case recently: “A link to my 5min pres on why there needs to be more emotional intelligence in school http://bit.ly/b6aTzI #ignite”
Read the #FFs With Interest
On Twitter, #FF stands for Follow (on) Friday. Tweeters post Twitter identities of people they think are worth following. Usually this means they’ll be people of interest to you too. Click on their profiles, read their short description and latest tweets and if you’re interested, follow them.
The power of Twitter is that you can authentically and personably connect with people on the same wavelength.
Re-Edit Your Short Profile
The short profile, limited to 160 characters is what people read when thinking about following you. I’ve amended mine many times and I confess it’s still a work in progress. Be informative, personal and disclose your personal style. If you have feedback on mine, I would really appreciate it. Currently it’s “Publish Parenting Info- Raising Children with Emotional Intelligence. A happy child makes a world of difference. Mum of 3 boys. No, they’re not always happy.” What do you think?
The Best Camera is the One You Have With You
I have totally stolen this line from Andrew Harvey at Ignite – the least I can do is share a link to his presentation. Tweeters develop their online brand by taking a quick photo with their mobile phone. This ranges from a sunrise to a pet rabbit or in @SuziDafnis’ case, a dangerous set of heels! A service you can use for this is Twitpic.
Use a Browser to Avoid Twitter Overload
Twitter can suck you in. If you want to scan through the important stuff quickly, download a Twitter browser to manage your lists of Tweeters. I use Tweetdeck but there are many others. Here are a few to check out: UberTwitter, HootSuite and Seesmic.
Hope that’s useful to you – I’m loving the learning that comes with my entrepreneur’s journey – see you out there in the Twitterverse.
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Yvette Vignando - www.happychild.com.auYvette is pursuing her passion – to take action that helps children develop great social and emotional skills as a foundation for a happy and successful life. Formerly a lawyer and then successful executive coach specialising in Emotional Intelligence, Yvette was encouraged by her experience of MentorNet to launch her business – a website for parents that publishes practical and engaging information about raising children with emotional intelligence. Yvette looks forward to sharing the challenges and successes of her experience as she navigates her way through the adventures of launching a website, and tackles online sales and marketing, an evolving business plan, and the growing universe of social media. Yvette hopes that by following her personal and professional development as an entrepreneur you will also be inspired to follow your passions.
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My Top 9 iPhone Social Media Applications for 2009
December 30, 2009
There are probably a dozen iphone apps that I use regularly. Some are standard and functional e.g. Google Maps (a humdinger when I get lost in the city or need to get directions while overseas), Voicememo (often used to record messages to remind myself to do things) and the weather application.
While I have some fun apps e.g. Shazam (song recognition) and Check Please (for calculating tips when travelling in the US), most of the apps I use enhance or enable my social media activity.
The applications allow me to post to my blog (and respond to comments), tweet, check my web stats, record an audio blog, instant message my contacts, create a video and post it with one click, add photos to my social networks – to name just a few options.
Here are 9 of my favourite social media related apps. They are not in order. All are in the itunes Applications store but I have included below links to the developers websites. Most apps are free, but a couple have a small (and worthwhile) fee.
AudioBoo - Create and share audio easily
This is an iphone audioblogging application. You record a message (up to 5 mins) and host it on the Audioboo site with the click of an icon. You can then use the embed code in blog posts or in statuses on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a post where I’ve used the AudioBoo app during our 30 Days of Social Media program.
The free version is sufficient for me to be able to check the traffic on our blog and website easily.
While I also have TweetDeck and Twitterific, Tweetie is the one that I find easiest to use to track Twitter conversations and add tweets.
This is very cool. What’s App is an iphone to iphone messenger without text/SMS costs.
Gorillacam - Great added functionality for your iphone camera
Just started using this app. Adds great functionality to your iphone camera. Paparazzi (3shot) option, self-timer, time lapse as well as a ‘press anywhere’ option overcomes some of the frustrations of using an iphone camera. Team it with a Gorillapod (a mini tripod for your iphone) and you have a pretty cool camera.
You’ve probably got this if you’re on Facebook. It’s improved and easy to use to update status and stay up with news. Could use a little more functionality.
This app provides voice recognition on your iphone. You can record and translate sound and then send to mail or txt. Great for quick memos. [I have to share this as it made for a good laugh. When I was first using it I was speaking slowly saying "This is Suzi". The translation was coming up as "This is Crazy"… so I guess it needs a little practise to get it working write (or a feined US accent may help)].
Select from pics on your iphone, choose a soundtrack from Animoto’s library and click a button – and you have a professional customised video, for free. Fun for holidays and capturing special moments.
This is a new one for me and was recommended by Facebook maven Mari Smith. It allows me to record a message and post it to a friend’s Facebook page. Great for birthday messages.
BONUS – CAUSE IT’S WORTH MENTIONING!
You may have heard of Gary Vaynerchuck of Wine Library TV fame.The story goes that he turned a $5 million dollar business into a $50 million and has created fame and fortune online through his video blog. His book – Crush It - has been created as an app that is a vook (a video book). At the start of each chapter you get to see and hear Gary and then you can read the book Kindle-style within the app. It’s a great way for any author to deliver their content and I can see applications for many educators and content creators.
As I said earlier, these are just a few of the tools that help me manage and create social media content and which allow me to keep up with the conversations that I choose to be a part of – while I’m ‘on the go’. (Of course that is today… apps are being created so quickly some of these may be replaced by newer/better ones… in which case I’ll be sure to post any new discoveries.)
Got a great iphone app to share? I’d love to hear about it.
Best wishes,
Suzi
My Top 5 Books for 2009
December 27, 2009
When you see the list of my top five books for 2009 you’re bound to notice a pattern. I’ve had a bit of a one-track-mind this year. Most of 2009 I studied online communities, technology and social media.
I don’t know exactly how many books I’ve read this year, but many of them have been on similar subjects. I immersed myself in podcasts (more on that in a few days), courses (both online and live) and especially books — as I endeavoured to learn and implement as much as possible about the changing online landscape. My goal: To master the ability to connect and work with my online community of business women – and to use what I learn as I implement the new information to pass on to the community skills and tools that they can use to run their businesses better.
Now… for the list. If you’re working on building an online community, want to better communicate within your social networks, want practical ways to build your social capital, then I recommend these titles.
I’ve included Amazon links below so you can read up further on the books. Dear Australian Readers: Don’t write to tell me I should order from Aussie retailers – I’m yet to find Aussie bookstores that satisfy my book needs, who delivery quickly and inexpensively and who have the books that I need, when I need them.
The Whuffie Factor – Tara Hunt
After hearing Tara Hunt speak at the South by South West festival in Austin I ordered this book (which was released in July). It’s about how to build your social capital. The author offers a no-nonsense guild to how what grows and what diminishes your online reputation and how to educate and empower your connection. (Here’s a post I wrote about this book when it was first released.)
Trust Agents
Trust Agents – Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust - Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
This one is terrific. The authors describe trust and the most important currency today. I’ve listed to the audio book (which is read by both authors) and am yet to devour the printed version. How to build trust, maintain a good reputation, build relationships online, what breaks trust and what empowers trust.
Free – the Future of a RadicalPrice - Chris Anderson
In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, argues Anderson (The Long Tail). Great examples of companies using ‘free’ to build big businesses. The concept can be a hard one to accept and to see the application in you own business, even harder BUT get it and you can transform an industry and your business.
Crowdsourcing – Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business - Jeff Howe
How is collaboration (and the ease by which you can crowdsource using socialmedia) changing the face of business and product/business development? How to harness the power of the crowd. Great examples.
One of the many 'Dummies' book on my shelves
Facebook for Dummies - Leah Pearlman and Carolyn Abram
I love the “Dummies” books. I’ve purchased a number of the social media/tech titles (including ones on Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, SEO, You Tube, Blogging) because they are easy to follow and the authors walk you through many aspects of using social media tools or both business and personal outcomes. In this one you’ll learn how to optimise your profile, promote your business, create a business page – it touches the main aspects you need to master to get results with Facebook.
140 Characters: A style guide for the short form - Dom Sagolla
I haven’t yet finished this one but it’s definitely already worthy of being on this list. As relevant for status updates in Facebook and LinkedIn, the book covers basic grammar, creating your own style, writing for best effect using Twitter and other short-form vehicles.
If you have any book recommendations you’d like to share, I’d be happy to hear from you.
AUDIO VS PRINT BOOKS
I’ve been an audio book listener of a couple of years, but more so this year partly because I don’t want to wait (I can start the book now – I don’t need to wait to get the physical copy) and partly because of convenience (I can consume the material when I’m walking or driving).
These days I buy most books in both audio and printed version. The audio gets listened to pretty quickly. The printed version ends up more like a workbook with highlights, post-it notes stuck through it and as an easy to follow reference for implementation of the principles contained in the book.
To Kindle or Not to Kindle?
I haven’t bought a Kindle yet. I have the iphone app version of it and may get one (but I’m yet to be convinced of the extra benefits…. Right now I’m using my iphone to read/listen to the vook Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk (get the vook in the Apple Apps store). The iphone is plenty big enough for me to read on. Also, with the Apple tablet (hopefully) not too far away, I’ll be interested to see if that creeps into the same territory as Kindle.
Best wishes,
Additional Resources
South by South West Festival (I’m going. Hope you’ll be there too.)
Do you make these Top 11 mistakes with your social media? #30DSM – Day 28: 30 Days of Social Media
October 28, 2009
Social media can be seriously profitable for your business. “It’s the secret low cost marketing weapon used by the leading entrepreneurs. But, it can go horribly wrong if you make these mistakes…” explains today’s 30 Days of Social Media contributor, Meredith Collins. She identifies 11 mistakes that you don’t want to make.
Mistake #1. Trying to sell something. Although it might seem counter intuitive, if you try to pitch something too soon you are bound for disaster. Social Media is like a big party. You wouldn’t walk into a party and start selling everyone your products. You would spend time to make friends and get to know people. You would share some things about yourself and have conversations with people who were on your wavelength. Social Media is relationship and referral marketing amplified – so use this as a PR machine, not a straight sales tool.
Do you make these Top 11 mistakes with your social media?
Mistake #2. Lack of consistency. If you decide to use Social Media then commit consistent time to the process of using it. Dependent upon your strategy, you may need to ”tweet” daily or ”blog”/”post” every few days or weekly. Whatever the strategy, consistency is key and you must devise a plan and stick to it. Your target market needs consistency and reliability – your commitment and visibility speaks volumes about your business.
Mistake #3. Wrong place wrong market. Choose your social media sites well. Be strategic about which sites you use and where your target market is looking. A local business may not be using the same social media as a specialised, niche or global business. This is not about throwing balls in the air and hoping they will land correctly – it is a powerful relationship marketing tool.
Mistake #4. Joining too many Social Sites. I always say to clients ”don’t do four sites badly – you are better off doing one really well”. Be strategic about which sites you use, add value and manage them well. The big sites are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Plaxo and Wordpress, and depending upon your business, article marketing might be very effective.
Mistake #5 Failing to ’add value’ for your market. Value for your target market is the rule in Social Media – and ”surprising value” is the way to go. Social media is all about relationships and positioning yourself as an expert – so put more value in your posts, articles, audio (podcast) files, videos and recommendations and offer surprising value – enough value that your target market remembers you and wants to engage with you.
Mistake #6 Focusing on promotion over content. This ties in with Mistake #5 – if you don’t push out good content, there is no perceived value. Promotion can come later and even disguised as content when you have a market who wants what you have got. ”Do” Social Media well and the money will come.
Mistake #7 Making contentious or argumentative statements. Contentious statements may attract attention, but they may also lose your audience. Condescending or argumentative topics are unlikely to work in the long term. Just think of that argumentative person in the office…. don’t go there.
Mistake #8 Taking instead of giving. Remember Social Media is about relationships first. Give value, give suggestions, give value, give advice, give ideas, give news give possibilities, give gratitude and do not take relentlessly. One of my biggest joint ventures came after some “giving”. GIVE = Give Influence Very Easily – give first and you will never be second.
Mistake #9 Not joining groups. The premise of Web2.0 and Social Media is community – sharing and expertise. Be seen within groups that are of interest, add value to you and to which you can add value for others. Position yourself and share your expertise. No one ever made it to the top being a Lone Ranger and contribution and mixing is important if you want to make it in Social Media.
Mistake #10 Don’t shun face to face events. Face to face networking is still a significant way to connect and the connection can continue online. Others are far more likely to recommend you, continue to network online and follow you in the Social Media spaces, once they have met you. You will learn from others, expand your own circle and be able to offer significant value to those with whom you come in contact. This is where we add some value for you.
Mistake #11 Having incomplete Social Media profiles. You cannot maximise your work opportunities with an incomplete Resume. Neither can you maximise your connections, potential client interest or business opportunities with incomplete profiles. Ensure that your profiles are complete and get to the point and offer information your market wants. Enlist the help of experts to get you set up correctly in the first instance. Create the best impression you can.
Meredith Collins | Video Social Marketing
Meredith Collins is the founder of Video Social Marketing, an organisation which specialises in teaching business owners and entrepreneurs how to leverage the awesome power of video and social media for your business. For more great articles, resources, tips and training programs on Social Media for Business go to www.videosocialmarketing.net
TODAY’S TASK
Are you making any of these mistakes? Which one(s)? How will you change your strategy as a result of identifying these mistakes?
Until tomorrow,
Suzi
The Blue Print to Video Social Marketing eBook
3 ways to generate leads through social media #30DSM – Day 26: 30 Days of Social Media
October 26, 2009
How can you use social media to attract prospects to your business? Assuming you’re offering a sound product, a compelling offer, and are talking to the right customer, social media tools make generating leads inexpensive and time-efficient.
In today’s 30 Days of Social Media lesson Clare Lancaster gives you three ways to generate leads through social media.
Take a look.
3 ways to generate leads through social media
by Clare Lancaster
Social media is an effective way to generate leads for your service-based business. You can build your reputation within your industry, connect with potential customers and strategic partners and use it to drive traffic to your website.
Here are three ways to use social media to generate leads.
Build your reputation
Participating in social media – through online networking, blogging and rich media – can help you build your reputation within your industry.
Building your reputation online has three great benefits – your credibility goes up, people perceive your business to be successful and a level of trust is established.
How do you start? Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise by providing useful content, helping people with questions and recommendations and commenting on blogs within your industry.
Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise by providing useful content
Build relationships
Social networking online allows you to build solid relationships that can result in lead generation for your business.
Start talking to people in complimentary industries, help them out by referring client enquiries and you could just find yourself in a strategic partnership.
Social networks like Twitter. have broken down traditional barriers to thought leaders – find out who they are, add them to your network and start a conversation. Building solid relationships with influencers and other authorities can result in a boost to your business.
Twitter also allows you to connect directly with media professionals – building relationships with individuals and proving them with information they need could return media opportunities to promote your business.
Always remember when building relationships – it’s all about giving, not taking.
Attract website visitors
There’s a variety of ways to use social networking to attract visitors to your website. Here are two techniques.
- Use social networks to distribute your content by posting a link to your Twitter or Facebook profiles and adding content distribution buttons to your web page (e.g. Tweetmeme). The first step here is to create content worth distributing – if it’s not good, no one will want to pass it on to their network.
- Create a landing page for your social media profiles. People will click on your website link in your profile to find out more information about you. Make the most of their interest with a dedicated landing page that explains what you do – how you can help that person and provide a call to action detailing what they should do next.
Clare Lancaster – Dot Marketing
Clare Lancaster - Dot Marketing
Clare Lancaster is the founder of Dot Marketing an online strategy and marketing consultancy and has been working on the Internet since 2001. She writes a business and online marketing blog for small business owners and has recently launched www.twitterguide.com.au.
Visit www.clarelancaster.com.au to find out more or follow her on Twitter.
TODAY’S TASK
Generating a new lead can be as simple as picking up some new followers on Twitter. The key (with leads of any type) is that they be relevant and possible clients. If there is a higher than 0% chance that they may be interested in your products or services, then they are a valuable lead.
What is your area of thought leadership? Post a Tweet today providing valuable content (a link to a newsletter, an article on your website, some information that tells people what you do) and offer people an opportunity to find out more about you.
Suzi’s Note: Leads are people too
Generating leads is only one part of the sales equation. Having umpteen followers and a database of thousands is only valuable if you can continue to build value into the relationships in order to, at some point, have some financial exchange with that lead (either directly or indirectly). Remember leads are people, not just names.
Developing compelling products in the social context #30DSM – Day 24: 30 Days of Social Media
October 24, 2009
How can social media help you create your next product? In today’s post Denise Tung shows us how to research ideas, validate our concepts and launch our latest, greatest venture.
Developing compelling products in the social context
by Denise Tung
We’ve learned at length about the benefits of Twitter as an information network for communities of interest (my personal RSS feed of choice!). Twitter continues to innovate in this arena with the trailing of Twitter Lists to improve the organisation of such information within communities.
The notion of communities and social networks however is a much bigger playing field than just Twitter. Entrepreneurs in this day and age have a limitless amount of free/low cost online tools that can potentially deliver value to businesses, big or small across a range of disciplines. This post will focus on these tools that support your Product Development activities.
Twitter Communities
By typical product development stages, you have:
1. Ideas generation: in this phase, product, process or service related concepts are created in an unstructured, at times macro level. On generating ideas, the social sphere is a wealth of information that can help seed your idea from the get go. The likes of Social Mention can help you search through the web for conversations and opinions on a certain topic (my previous post talks about its merits further).
In terms of keeping track of your ideas, there is ideas management software such as Spigot that enables ideas to be captured from internal folks as well as customers in the one spot. These same tools have also raised the bar in sophistication, allowing businesses to rank, assess and prioritise ideas in a collaborative manner with key stakeholders such as customers, partners and employees.
2. Concept validation:
Aside from formal approach of investing in ideas management software, existing communities in social networks such as Twitter, FriendFeed and identi.ca , is the easiest and quickest way of validating your concept (all done confidentially, of course!).
But before you start DM’ing your followers (followees!) with your latest idea, be sure that your community: 1. Represents your business’ target market or customer segment; and 2. Is happy to provide you with good feedback on your idea. (Ideally this group would be the same group of people who you can test the final product or service on during the test/market launch phase.)
3. Development phase:
Kicking off development requires some orchestration amongst various functions (even if it’s you doing all these on your own!). If you’re like me, you would want to be clear about whether you will hit your target launch date along the way. Project management tools such as Basecamp help you set and allocate tasks, track progress against milestones via a secure online environment.
4. Test and Launch:
Refining the final product is also important in the process of maximising appeal and ultimately sales and revenue. You can return to the same group of people from the validation phase and use traditional phone calls and emails to undertake this step.
Emerging beneath the cracks is potentially a complimentary approach to customer interaction: Google Wave holds a lot of promise in tapping into your customer base to refine and improve your product offering. I can confidently say this as Google is currently using it to refine Wave itself!
Which then leaves us at market launch, but that’s for another day!
Denise Tung | Media Monitors
Denise works at Media Monitors as head of Product Development and has a new love for everything social media. Prior to this she worked in the telecommunications industry for over 8 years where she designed and launched 2 ‘Australia’ first’ services: Voice over IP for business at Singtel Optus and 3G mobile based Broadband product for residential customers at Virgin Mobile. She has also presented at mobile communications based conferences, including the 2007 IMS Asia and the 2007 Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance funded by British Telecom. She’s a self confessed workaholic who loves her 2 year old daughter (a lot), prefers to microblog than blog and occasionally teaches Cycle and BodyAttack at the gym.
Contact Denise here:
- Twitter: twitter.com/schmediachick
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/denisetung
- Blog: schmediachick.wordpress.com
TODAY’s TASK
Check out the links in this post. Denise has provided some great online resources. (I’m still discovering Google Wave, so if you’re having a good experience using it, let us know.)
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY – How to get targeted Twitter followers #30DSM – Day 23: 30 Days of Social Media
October 23, 2009
Twitter is about the quality of followers and not the quantity.
Success on Twitter is about more than getting lots of followers. Who is following you is more important that how many people are following you. How do you get targeted followers?
Today’s 30 Days of Social Media lesson is from Sarah Prout and explains just how to do that.
Twitter is about the quality of followers and not the quantity. The truth is that a vast proportion of people that have thousands of followers have used automated systems that seek to get their numbers up quickly without regard for the type of followers they are attracting. It’s far more beneficial to have 2000 targeted followers than 20k filled with spammers, bots and random people from around the globe.
When I wrote The Twitter Success Blueprint (ebook) I had experimented with dozens of techniques; from following everyone in the hope they’d follow me back – to adding everyone that was following high-profile people on Twitter. This did not work. It was only when I discovered the power of key words to program into my automation software that I started to get better results.
I see this as a three-step process and an excellent habit to form early on to avoid having to clean up your tweet stream on a massive scale.
- Block all spam/bots without question. Any time you see a spammy fraudster pop up in your tweet stream you should click the block button. It shows support that Twitter is a platform for authentic communication only.
- Find and follow people within your niche. Use keywords and follow hashtags (#) that relate to your specific industry.
- Engage with as many people as possible. This might seem a little impossible, but try and take an interest in what other people are doing. Ask questions, compliment people and open the door to build a sense of community. The people that aren’t interested will naturally disappear.
I recently did some Twitter coaching for a small group of entrepreneurs. They seemed amazed that I contradicted everything that they had been taught about social media so far. Sometimes I feel a slight sense of trepidation when I have to tell them that they’re going about things the wrong way and that hiding behind a company façade will not provide the results they desire.
I always manage to get them to see the importance of authentic connection on Twitter and how relationship building is the key. There is no way you can achieve this without adding a personal touch and showing the humanized aspect to the marketing model of social media.
When coaching, I like to use amazing examples of vibrant people on Twitter that have achieved awesome results. People like Gary Vaynerchuck (@garyvee) have created so much attention with social media just for being present and active. He’s a prime example of how to maximize active engagement. His fun and outgoing personality on Twitter and Facebook has cemented his corporate brand directly from his excellent personal branding.
Too many people out there in the Twitterverse fantasize about tweeting out a link (sometimes repeatedly) and it converting into PayPal sales. The truth is that if there is no personal connection then there is no sale, web traffic or buzz surrounding your brand and business. Above all, Twitter is about engaging your followers and generating enough curiosity to build your reputation and drive traffic to your site. This packs more of a punch if your followers are targeted and you’ve actively maintained a level of quality.
A friend of mine is about to release a service called Twit Cleaner. Twit Cleaner downloads your friends list, then analyses them all for sketchy behavior (spammers, bots, dead accounts..) And yes, the scan is completely free. Once they’ve found the dodgy users, @TheTwitCleaner will DM you a report so you can see who you’d like removed. For a small fee Twit Cleaner will automatically unfollow them, or you can do it manually. Of course, anyone you don’t want unfollowed, they’ll leave (shy friends, helpful bots etc).
I personally think this service is amazing and very innovative. It supports and promotes authenticity and will be an invaluable resource to people that wish to clean up their tweet streams and generate genuine business connections once and for all.
Sarah Prout - Sprout Publishing
Sarah Prout is the founder of SPROUT PUBLISHING, award-winning entrepreneur, author, publisher, business coach, online socialite and mother of 2 little darlings.
The highly anticipated eCourse is soon to be released called SPROUT BUZZ. It’s a PUBLISHING BOOTCAMP with step-by-step tasks to flaunt your business, raise your profile and boost your brand in just 30 days!
TODAY’S TASK
Find and follow some people within your niche. Use keywords that relate to your industry as well as #hashtags to see what conversations are going on right now.
Until tomorrrow,
Suzi
