Sunday, January 31, 2010
Top 10 Subject Line Words That Get Opens
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/07/06/top-10-subject-line-words-that-get-opens
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Get Linked In in 30 minutes
"Do or do not. There is no try." Master Yoda
In order for your social media strategy to be successful, you have to do it. Let's start with Linked In. We'll take it in 5 easy steps.
Linked In
Step 1: Complete your profile.
No one wants to be the friend of someone they don't know. Make it easy for them. Complete your profile. There is a bar graph right on the profile page that tells you how complete you are and what steps you need to take to be 100% complete. What could be easier than that? A few things to keep in mind.
- Ask for recommendations. You have happy clients. Ask them to recommend
you. Nothing says more about you than third party endorsement.
- Add your contact information. Make it easy for people to find you, your web
site, phone number, email.
- Complete your past education and experience. I want to know that you know
what you're talking about. Been doing it 30 years? Tell me about it.
- Keep your summary short and direct. Most people won't read 13 pages of
summary. Assume you get 3 sentences and make them work for you. Be
wordy in the experience NOT the summary.
Step 2: Join Groups
You can join up to 50 groups. There is no reason not to join 10 immediately. It is the quickest way to connect with other people.
- Assert your expertise with your groups. Are you a member of NSA or ASTD?
Join the groups and show it.
- Connect with people who already love you. Your sorority or Toastmaster
buddies already know and love you. Some of them might be able to hire you.
- Join groups your potential clients are in. Did the majority of your work come
from banks last year? Join financial groups.
- Do you need more connections? Join Top linked. It is the easiest and fastest
way to get connected to more professionals.
Step 3: Get Connected
You have to connect to other people. Once you are a member of a group, you share common ground. Go through the groups one at a time and invite the other members. Sounds simple but most people don't do it. Your goal is 500 connections in the first 30 days. If you join Top linked and personally invite a few from groups everyday, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to reach this goal.
Step 4: Become the Expert
No one hires speakers. They hire experts. Establish yourself as the expert. Comment on a discussion. Answer a question. Post a news article, preferably one you wrote. After you have joined a few groups, check out the discussions. Throw your .02 in. This is how people will come to recognize you and your expertise. Remember those discussions go out to all the members of the group. You can show 19,000 people that you are the one who has the answers.
Step 5: Do it
It only works if you actually do it. It won't take long. You can accomplish this in 20 minutes a day. You don't even have to do it everyday. Try it 4 days a week. Once you get the process down, you'll breeze right through it. The object is to keep it simple and manageable. Don't inflict too much process on the steps.
You can do it. I'll help.
Eating the elephant
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." John Wooden
Social Media is not a trend. It is here to stay. Those who embrace it will profit while those who ignore it will perish.
Okay, so you know you need to be more active on the social media front. But where do you start? What do you do? I think the entire concept of social media can be overwhelming and the key to making it work for you is to deal with it in manageable chunks. One bite at a time is the best way to eat the elephant.
Social media is a process. Each action should lead to or drive the next action. If you have a Face Book page and don't use it, it's worthless. But on the other hand, what good is a great blog if no one is reading it? Let's start with the concept of the process.
The first step in the process is to figure out what works for you. There are hundreds of social media sites. You can't master them all. You can't. So figure out what works best to move your business forward and focus on that. If you need help to figure this out, call me. I believe everyone is entitled to my opinion.
Let's use an example called Mike. Mike speaks about publicity. He has years of experience, many articles and product. Now what? For Mike I would suggest a blog, Face Book page and Linked In profile. A lot of speakers can benefit from these 3 platforms. They are simple to use, highly ranked in a search engine and each one leads you to the next one. If you have a profile on Linked In, you can use it to announce your blog posts. Once your reader checks out your blog you can direct them to your Face Book page. Another route would be to link to your blog to your Face Book page and Linked In profile. This can increase your exposure immediately.
Now Mike's head hurts because even these 3 steps can be overwhelming. Implement this...write that....connect to them. Keep it simple. I suggest breaking each of the 3 platforms down into smaller bites. Focus on 1 at a time for 30 days. This will allow you to get used to each one before you move on to the next. It also gives you time to connect with other users before you introduce them to the next part of your process. By the end of the 30 days, you are familiar with the platform and maintaining it won't be the bear you originally thought it was.
You can build your social media empire in 20-30 minutes a few days a week. A few minutes each day doesn't sound overwhelming at all, does it? This will help make the process more manageable and make you more likely to complete it. You can do it. I'll help.
Now, let's take the first bite.
A Swift Kick in the Marketing
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” Mahatma Gandhi
Have you ever had one of those "aha" moments? A moment when you hear something that really reaches out and grabs you? Has one of those moments ever changed your business?
I recently attended the Bust Out speaker boot camp. I have seen many professional speakers in the last decade and am pre-programmed to critique. I found myself so engrossed in the presentations that I forgot to critique. There was a tremendous amount of marketing, technological improvements and product development information. I found myself agreeing with multiple points made by each of the key note speakers.
"You must be consistent." "You must be convenient and easy to find." "Content is king." "Get your name and message out to your potential audience on a regular basis." Yes, absolutely, a complete necessity........wait a minute. I'm not doing that for myself!
There it is. I constantly tell speakers to utilize social media, write a blog, pick up the phone and optimize email marketing. But I'm not. Why? Why wouldn't I take my own advice? Simple answer for a simple question is I should.
That was my "aha" moment and it comes to this. Time to practice what I preach. I got a swift kick in the marketing the moment I realized that all of my actions might not bring results but no actions will bring nothing.
Are you ready to take action?
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