Online Social Media Frontier - Latest Comments in Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

komik — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:48 -0000

Hello…Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts..what a nice Thursday .

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Anna — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:45:48 -0000

Dear Charles,

Thank you - the software works with bookmarking sites, Scuttle sites. Which is not really Social Media (is it?) just Bookmarking (del.icio.us, furl, ma.ganolia, simpy, etc). It makes RSS Feeds for your site and will then bookmark any site, blog, or page which has an RSS Feed (which might include Hub Pages etc.?).

But I assume you knew that was what I meant and if you say to drop it I should probably drop it.

I just downloaded your 25 page formula.pdf. I had no idea - where have you been hiding this? I have looked through your site more than once and never found it.

I just wanted to tell you that there is an E-Book offered for sale on your site for about $10.00 which teaches how to use Google Adwords to find the right keywords to Theme your site. I tried to buy it but I got error messages.

I use Keyword Elite (I got it for free with Traffic Kahuna). Could I use Keyword Elite (which uses the Google Adwords tool) to find good keywords for structuring and siloing a site? I have and use the Master Plan, and I have been overhauling and creating my sites based on this. (It has created a definite increase of traffic.)

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:51:56 -0000

Anna ... you will not see good results using software like that in social media sites. You need to drop all of your traditional Internet marketing knowledge in this space.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Anna — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:31:56 -0000

Hi - I have been really wondering about one thing. It is this server-side software called RSS Bookmarker. Which gradually bookmarks your sites and pages over time to random sites.

Now it sounds very time-saving and enticing (okay, pricey) but what I am mainly wondering is - is it spam? Or valid promotion? If it's not spam it sounds really good.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Terri Stallcop — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:48:21 -0000

Hi Charles, I've been writing about you :) I have your blueprint. My formula is SR1 (I think) In my business blog I linked to SEO20/20. That article is now on page 1 of google for the key word seo2020!! So your tutorials are working!!
THANK YOU!
Terri Stallcop
BTW, I love this article and all the great comments your getting. WOW!

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

valentina — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:09:17 -0000

Charles,

Have been absent for a while ... doing catchup tonight ... thank you for the additional
info. I find it most helpful. I am working on developing BooBoo Barkley who of course will be the "go to" for all info etc. on dogs. I am having fun and spending a good deal of time on further educating myself on IM.

Thank you for all that you do...................

best...........valentina

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Susan Coils — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:46:05 -0000

Charles,
as usual your information is top notch. And while I haven't been a big fan of forums I'll certainly be checking them out from now on.

Thanks again

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

social media helps improving a — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:51:33 -0000

Facebook.com is the online social networking site. Here people come into contact with each other and build up relations whether personal or http://www.alexa.com/data/d... business.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

dyennybes — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:52:26 -0000

I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Rachael Ray — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:26:05 -0000

Hello...Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts..what a nice Thursday . Rachael Ray

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Phil — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:28:08 -0000

Finding your site was an accident thanks to google, but I like it

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:56:06 -0000

Hi Franck,

What you say is VERY true. Most marketers don't understand the value of a high traffic forum if you step in and contribute.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Franck Silvestre — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:13:04 -0000

Hi Charles,

I was on of the first member of your forum, and I learned a lot from you mate.

I do agree with what you said about forum because I've had the same sort of (not 500K) success with forum.

If you know how to play within the top forum in your niche, you are ahead of the game.

I will keep this post and add it in a case study for my affiliate profit mentor club members if you don't mind.

Franck the body guard.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Julia — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:10:21 -0000

Charles,

You Rock!!!!

By following your teachings, I was able to create a website, purchase the correct domain name at end of Nov 2007 and by the middle of January 2008 I had achieved a PR 2 on my home page. I was amazed that in less than 60 days, I had reached that.

I am still a beginner as far as the internet marketing goes, but my faith has been restored.

My light at the end of the tunnel finally came on!

Highest regards to you,

Julia

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Adam Gershenbaum — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:17:52 -0000

@johnp: It is difficult to say what combo of sites work best for which product, service or gaol you have so sorry if I aimed too high. I wasn't suggesting a huge budget marketing plan based on paper clips but just making the point that no product or service has to be considered 'mundane' as long as you get creative in how you market it.

If you are looking to build your keywords up, and benchmark your keywords vs industry leaders for your category of interest I implore you to use a site like www.hitwise.com.

It's and expensive resource, but worth it's weight in gold if you use it correctly. Charles do you have any other sites that might be free that are like www.hitwise.com?

@the wholesale products guy great ideas for paper clip and tarp headlines!

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:57:52 -0000

@Valentina -

There is not much difference between branding and a persona if the persona is to become your "hook" into the social space then you will use it often to move people to your message. The people that like you (or your persona) will follow you away from your areas of promotion to arrive at your website or blog.

Once they get there then you promote your products but you have to be "forever aware" of why that visitor came to your space or they will run. You can't come across as a bait and switch operation... Your integrity must carry through all the way through to the sale and after the sale.

Always remember you visitors arrived because they like you. Much like a guest arriving at your home, you wouldn't bombard them with advertising... instead you would make them feel welcome and then offer them more of you.

Once people trust you then they will buy from you by simply suggesting things.

I know this goes beyond what you asked but I just had to get this out.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

The Wholesale Products Guy — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:47:48 -0000

JohnP Writes..

"Thanks for having the courage to take on Stompernet, and their absurd pricing. Seems that $1500 is the new IM pricing standard. And don’t forget H. Schwartz’ “Conversation Domination” (promoted by Jeff Johnson)- also about $1500 as I recall.

It’s approach is to outsource a barrage of posts and bookmarks to Web2.0 sites. But checking on a couple of his sites 2 months later shows few of them retained their rankings.

Do I really need a blog ? How do I integrate dynamic SMM with statc web sites ? For example, how do I blog and do SMM if Im selling something mundane like socks, tarps, or paper clips ??

Bottom line: Need the big picture, longevity, and integration with traditional webs

But a marketing model or ‘blueprint’ would be tremendously useful. MacPhearson’s SM Daily makes a great start. Hopefully Charles can build on that."

thanks for all you do !
john
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Accept for the information that Charles will provide, I cannot think of any other free resource that breaks down the confusion of SMM into very manageable parts.

I would have probably paid for the information that the Social Media Daily ebook provides. You may not be as enthusiastic about the report as I am, but, you are spot on in terms of a place to start.

It will, at the very least, give you a healthy perspective on where to begin...

SocialMediaDaily.com
http://www.socialmediadaily...

In addition to tapping SMD, I would just like to "comment on your comments" concerning a lasting advertising strategy using social media. I maybe stating the obvious but you have provide most of these venues with controversial headlines and stimulating subject matter when you are submitting articles or blog posts to Digg and Reddit.

My early attempts at trying to promote a friends website with a press release found me "flagged" as spam on the Digg network. The website in question was a free forum that discusses "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of wholesale suppliers and distributors.

Even though the site was free to join with no selling attempts thrust upon members once they did, it was considered a "spam portal".

Some of the "Digg" community came to that conclusion on the basis of it's design.

Granted, it did look like a site that was designed with FrontPage in the late 90's. But, perception can be reality in the Digg community. Despite my best efforts to convince readers otherwise, it was "dug up and then buried"..

SIDENOTE: I love ugly sites. They do make money...

I realize that there are plenty of other SM outlets available and not all would have treated my press release the same way.

However, this is just a cautionary tale and the makings of a larger point. I think that some people (not you or anyone here per'se) try to promote a business, or a particular e-commerce website strait out of the box so to speak.

Most of the headlines and subject matter among the SM crowd serve up controversy, political discussion, and stories that capture the communities attention.

Just go to a site like Reddit.com another "digg" type of SM. Type in George Bush.

It is filled with articles about his incompetence, or the latest slaming of adminstration policies. If you wrote something that was positive about his Presidency then you might just be able to garner some traffic from it.

On the medical end of the social media spectrum, there was a guy (and his name and blog escape me now) that wrote on article on how certain brain diseases can make you smarter. It was a run away hit and the "traffic hits" soon followed..

You have to keep in mind (and I sure you do) that these are socially driven sites first, and business promotion vehicles second. You can weave your signature file, URL, or a blurb about your company within the fabric of a good article or story.

Your goal should always be to first entertain, or to get someone to complain!

With outlets like Squidoo and other free web page creation services, I would just concentrate on the top twenty words or phrases that have proven (that keyword research you will have to do) to convert, or keywords that you feel are worth targeting.

I think the reason H. Schwartz probably fell a bit in his rankings (and I am only guessing here) is that he might have outsourced a lot of the material he produced, and well, lets say the quality might have been "less than stellar".

Again, I don't have any evidence of this and speculation is my only guide.

The only reason I can offer an opinon, is because he does mention that he outsources some of his website or blog work in his free report.

He might have outsourced just a little too much and the Google Gods in their divine wisdom started knocking chipping away at his PR rankings

Personally, this is something I would not do. I have about 20 keywords that I am working on. When I attempt to develop a Squidoo lense about said keywords, I also am knowledgeable in each category because they relate to the industry I am familiar with.

I am not just creating hundreds of pages hoping that some long tails will convert..

So, they will be updated and cared for just like I would a regular site.

They will not be a "set and forget" strategy, but part of an ongoing long term method of generating income. If I am not mistaken, you also split ad revenue with Squidoo.

They make money from Google, AdSense, Amazon, and other sites that do not come to mind right now. They keep track of the earnings and provide you a 50/50 split.

The bottom line with SM sites like Squidoo is to not create a plethora of sites in the hope of gaming the SE's. You will only get a "google" slap, sooner, rather than later.

When it comes to sites like the "Squid" and their counterparts, sometimes less is more, and quality does out rank quanity..

Regarding your comment..

"Secondly, I think we miss the boat if we focus just on SMM sites by themselves. For me the real quesiton is how do we integrate them into traditional marketing models ? Does Web2.0 work only if you have a blog ?

Do I really need a blog ? How do I integrate dynamic SMM with statc web sites ? For example, how do I blog and do SMM if Im selling something mundane like socks, tarps, or paper clips ??"
___________________________________________________________________

No, you don't need a blog and you can promote any type of static site, or blog format you want. Here again, see the above mentioned SM rules. One of your questions is how do you promote such run of the mill items such as paper clips or tarps.

Well, I would say that if you were to use SM sites like Digg, or Reddit, then, right off the top of my small mind, I could think about some provactive headlines concerning both of the items of which you speak..

"Fast Thinking Man Uses Paper Clip To Disarm Gun Wielding Robber"
"Trucker Uses Paper Clips To Tow 50,000 Pounds Of Frozen Food"
"Forget The Largest Rubber Band Ball - Inventor Builds Automobile Out Of Paperclips"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fireman Amazed At Thin Plastic Tarp - Saved Two People That Fell 20 Stories"
"One Hundred Skiers Set New Record On A Plastic Tarp"
"A Plastic Tarp Saved My Family"
"Using The Right Plastic Tarp Can Save Lives"
__________________________________________________________________

Yes, the above headlines are somewhat exaggerated, and, well, maybe even a bit ridiculious. But, that is the point. You want to create a sense of wonder, interest, and if you can, controversy.

- Point Of Information About Tarps -
TarpsPlus has been around since 2001
http://www.tarpsplus.com/

Just goes to show that just about anything sells on the Internet..

Well crafted lenses and social media driven articles can give you the traffic spike you need and the long term "gifts that keep on giving" type of traffic that can sustain you over the long haul.

As mentioned, you can supply all the necessary contact and website information about where they can purchase their "towing capacity" paper clips, or life saving tarps (LOL!)

SMM can work for anything that you are promoting - online or off..

SM can be used in conjunction with other Internet Marketing strategies and some people are currently using it as their only strategy, because it can provide fast indexing for new sites and rank for keyword phrases with established sites..

How do you find ideas for story lines? Well, you could sign up for Google alerts. Type in just about any keyword or industry you want to keep track of and Google will alert you via e-mail when anything is written or posted about it.

Be the first one, or at least "one of the many" that gets to the story so you can rewrite your own "exciting and revamped" version of it.

Look for new and different products in trade publications of your particular interest, or websites such as Trendwatching.com. If you can't write very well, there are websites like..

AllCustomContent.com
http://www.allcustomcontent...

They are expensive, but for one article, or page that is well written and researched, the price can be recouped in thousands if you hit it right.

I could go on, but I am getting too long in this post already. I will end by leaving you with this..

The Chinese have a saying..

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

While this is by no means the end of the journey, I hope the information in this post can at least help you with the first step..

With Regards..

I am,

Robert C - The Wholesale Products Guy

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:43:00 -0000

John,

Thank you for your thoughtful response based on a position of frustration that is common in the SMM space.

I intend to address your concerns in my upcoming report... As you know SMM is a huge topic and social sites are rising and falling all the time. My goal is to build a timeless solution based on solid principles that can be applied no matter where the social platforms evolve.

This is not proving to be an easy task as you may well understand... What I am discovering is... because every business is different, everyone will have to choose their own model for social impact using a solid guide and a proper resource through which to investigate solutions that "fit" the personality of the marketer and the business they are promoting.

Wish me luck :-)

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

johnp — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:16:51 -0000

Adam, I appreciate the thoughtful response. But frankly, you are shooting beyond my target. I’m thinking of the simple niche affiliate, adsense, and blogging sites run by so many beginner-to-advanced marketers. Not everyone needs huge branding campaigns to be successful. Personally, I have neither the time, desire, or the need to create Stompernet-type videos or dancing paper clips. My sites continue to grow, and none of my key rankings have been eclipsed by anyone doing SMM. So my desire is to keep it simple, without having to 'elf' myself :)

I don’t want to go beyond the what Charles wants in these comments. So I’ll just try to clarify my request: I’m looking for ways to integrate various SM mediums with old fashioned static web sites. For example, I know how to build Squidoo lenses, but when and how do I use them ? How do I give longevity to my bookmarks ? Do I bookmark static pages, or just new content ? What combinations of SMM sites that seem to fit together best ? Etc., etc

Maybe this is too basic for most people here, and I'm sure there is no single answer. But a marketing model or ‘blueprint’ would be tremendously useful. MacPhearson’s SM Daily makes a great start. Hopefully Charles can build on that.

john

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

valentina — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:31:40 -0000

Charles,

I read Adam's post on the paper clip with great interest. I guess that is what I am driving at with my "BooBoo Barkley" .... so, is there a difference between branding and personika ... and then I need to have a better understanding of the difference.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:30:05 -0000

Hey Adam...

Thank you for the awesome brain dump ... I have learned a great deal of insight from your post and am investigating a few of your sources to add to my arsenal.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:24:21 -0000

Well said Adam,

With SMM you build a following based on a concept that may be directly or indirectly related to things that you may sell on the back end. The concept is what attracts people to you.

You then carry and brand that concept again and again...

The popular "elf yourself" was a social interaction on a massive scale and guess who was branded during this wildly viral social event? .... Office Max

Next year during the holidays, people will remember Elf Yourself and the traffic will start all over again... OfficeMax has some "outside the box" thinkers to come up with this legendary social media marketing event.

How much traffic and sales did OfficeMax get from this promotion? ... well if you look at their Alexa traffic you can see that their traffic was more or less doubled while Elf Yourself was running... Do you think they sold more office supplies online with more traffic?

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Adam Gershenbaum — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:43:39 -0000

Having been a blogger since 1999 and the fact that smm is the way I earn my living for a few years now, I'm also glad that to have stumbled upon Charles' page and it seems like a good place to share ideas.

@johnp,

In my opinion smm has already become part of traditional marketing. I would not market anything unless all media vehicles were interconnected through some form of mobile and social media marketing. This means that all media vehicles you are using to advertise are connected to your web based marketing initiative and you're web, print, radio, tv and other vehicles ads have a clear call to action that leads the recipient back to a web destination that results in opt-in subscription, contact info capturing, or a mobile subscription and ultimately a conversion or a sale. You're goal with smm is to find an audience, captivate them, retain them, and create traction to your product or brand; all of which results in a lot more than just a sale. SMM forms trust between consumer and brand every time they interact with it. In the old days of traditional marketing the last point of interaction with a product before a sale was with your salesman most of the time and a lot of your decision to purchase was because the salesman not only sold his product well, but sold himself well. Today, your smm campaign acts as your 'salesman'.

Even selling mundane paper clips can be SMM'ed. Be creative and think outside the box. The answer to your question about how to social media market the mundane is the complete opposite of the word mundane. Paper clips are so mundane, that it would only be funny and quirky to personify the paper clip as the most extreme and funny being on the planet. I really just got ten ideas for viral videos personifying a paper clip. Find a creative way to personify your brand, or product no matter how mundane it is. Create a campaign that engages you're audience and captivates their attention on a regular basis. Connect them to you, each other and your brand. Have an animated paper clip created that serves as a virtual customer service agent for your site. Brand him every step of the way so they recognize you're paper clip vs other paper clips. Make the process of ordering office supplies interactive and engaging. Have you're animated paper clip guide your customers through the ordering process every step of the way, even suggestively selling your customers other office supplies along the way. Use your database of customer to email market to them on a semi weekly basis but make your campaign embrace office humor and mentality while suggestively reminding customers of their office needs. When they are communicated to it is not by you mr john q paper clip salesman, it's from MR. GQ paper clip character. Create a blog that gives office workers a place to rant and joke about office life. Ghost write the blog entries as coming from 'mr paper clip character' and lend your personality and sense of humor to the character making the focus of your entries around all that is the office humor that is so famous for making it's way to employees printers and cubicles for display. Create a widget for your character that serves all the funny office humor being collected by you. Make it a haven for office humor, hell CREATE your own office humor and make it go viral, watermark the LOL content at all times with you're website. People will laugh, and with a proper call to action be drawn to your site and order office supplies from you once a level of trust is gained and a utility is realized. The key to it all is differentiating yourself from the competiton and that is a traditional marketing principle. When creative a traditional ad campaign always ask yourself, how can this message be conveyed on the web and how would I design it so that users can interact with it and the message speaks to them? What is the reaction you want to see from your ad, and then figure out how to gain that reaction. If you have ever watched a commercial or seen and ad and said this ad sucks, or this ad is amazing, or I like this product. Was the ad listening? The ad clearly has a message for you, but is it listening to the message the consumer is sending? If the ad is desinged right and linked to some form of smm then yes it will tell the consumer that it not only knows what the consumer is looking for but is feeling the 'pulse' of their needs. Smm lets you extend your reach beyond a supply based push towards the consumer. With smm you can organically create a consumer pull for your product.

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

johnp — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:51:46 -0000

Charles,
Thanks for having the courage to take on Stompernet, and their absurd pricing. Seems that $1500 is the new IM pricing standard. And don't forget H. Schwartz' "Conversation Domination" (promoted by Jeff Johnson)- also about $1500 as I recall. It's approach is to outsource a barrage of posts and bookmarks to Web2.0 sites. But checking on a couple of his sites 2 months later shows few of them retained their rankings.

That leads to my first question, and suggestion for your SMM report. How do you do SMM that has staying power ? The risk of dynamic Web2.0is that speed and change can require more speed and change just to keep up - not usually a problem with quality static web sites. We dont want to build more here- today-gone-tomorrow sites.

Secondly, I think we miss the boat if we focus just on SMM sites by themselves. For me the real quesiton is how do we integrate them into traditional marketing models ? Does Web2.0 work only if you have a blog ? Do I really need a blog ? How do I integrate dynamic SMM with statc web sites ? For example, how do I blog and do SMM if Im selling something mundane like socks, tarps, or paper clips :) ??

Bottom line: Need the big picture, longevity, and integration with traditional webs

thanks for all you do !
john

Re: Social Media is Booming… Are You?

Charles — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:38:56 -0000

@Valentina - I am not sure on facebook... look at their terms of service. My initial reaction is to say yes... You can be BooBoo Barkley if you want to be I am pretty sure but be sure to check their terms of service first.

http://www.facebook.com/ter...

I did a quick scan and it looks like it is acceptable but double check behind me.