Bonnie Sainsbury’s social marketing tips

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1. Listen

Twitter is a giant conversation and you get to listen in on any part of it. Several million people are tweeting (talking) day and night, 24 hours a day and you have the opportunity to listen in.

Listen to what people are saying (it’s called trending on twitter), what people are excited about, what’s in the news. Find out what’s important to your readers. Incorporate popular topics in your writing, especially blogs and on-line articles.

Examples of a recent Twitter Session:

@AnneOnline was talking about taking her dog for a walk Took Ivy dog with me. A chicken poked its head out and Ivy tried to get in, but all is well. Chickens are safe for another day. =)

@billwelker quoted Lou Gerig The ballplayer who loses his head, who can’t keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all. -Lou Gehrig

@alferreti mentioned an online article Making Twitter #FollowFriday Effective http://tinyurl.com/lemel6

@properitygal recommended someone she follows #followfriday @terrywygal cause he knows his itsha in Real Estate investing and puts on great seminars-tell him to put me on his stage

Using the search capability of Twitter, you can research any topic in less time and  with more relevant results than with any other online tool.

2. Connect

You can connect with any of the tens of millions people who use twitter everyday. When you follow them, you’re able to see their tweets, what they’re saying.

It’s not necessary for people you’re following to give permission. In that respect, it’s like being on stage and your relationship with your audience. For example, you can follow experts in your field or celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.

Use Twitters search capability to find someone you’d like to follow. You’re able to see who other people follow, so a tip to build a community quickly is to follow all the folks a person of influence does.

3. Communicate

Now you’ve built a community, it’s time for you to dive into the conversation. The same rules that apply at a business networking event apply to Twitter. Rule one is DON’T SPAM. Any form of “Buy my product” is spam.

Safe Twitter message types for the beginner are to

· retweet another user. Copy what they’ve said, giving them credit.

· Reply to what someone has said .. that’s the conversation part. Don’t be shy.

· Tweet your favorite quotes

· Let folks know what you’re reading .. online articles or blogs with a line

Be a giver. Help others by providing good content, tips and encouragement. In the case of Twitter, the good guys do finish first.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing internet applications. It’s so easy to use, anyone can establish an account and start to tweet. Building a community and effective communication requires some concentration, but is easily attainable for those who Listen, Connect and Communicate.

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Your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Wikipedia defines USP as “ any aspect of an object that differentiates it from similar objects”. Simply put What Makes You Different? or Why Should I Buy From You?

In just about every Marketing workshop you’ve attended, you’ve  been told how important a USP is, but being able to define your own USP is often a challenge.

This method is part lateral thinking, part brainstorming with mind mapping techniques thrown in. It incorporates a simple system that can be reused.

Ask yourself, What is an example of how I’m different? Write it down. These are headings.

What is another example? write it down next to the last example. Keep repeating until you’ve run out ot reasons why you’re different. Don’t edit, write down whatever comes to your mind.

Once you have at least 5 examples of how you’re different, then write down at least 5 examples of actions that reinforce the examples of what makes you different.

Here’s what it looks like:

You don’t have to stop at five, but keep writing until you have a minimum of 5 examples of what makes you different.

Now send your list to either a client or a colleague for feedback. Your clients will often identify more examples of what makes you unique.

Have you identified Your Unique Selling Proposition? Is your USP an important part of your Marketing campaign?

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I like WordPress 2.7. Being able to install plug-ins and upgrade to a new release from your blog’s admin panel is more than worth the time is takes to upgrade. The new look and feel takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s well designed information is where you expect it to be.

I’m still not a big fan of the actual blog post editor. The window is too small. I like to move things around and read what I’ve already written. I know you can use preview, but that distracts me. Creating your posts in Word creates formatting issues when you cut and paste the content into a WordPress edit window.

Some folks are able to write in Notepad so another text editor, but those remind me of vi, and I get flashbacks to my UNIX sys admin days.

Windrows Live Writer was recommended to me as a good, free offline blog post editor. It’s easy to download and install. I installed all the plugins I thought I would use (and a few more for good measure). Live Writer allows you to upload photos and do simple manipulation.

I’ve uploaded a photo my friend Marilyn took on her recent trip to Greece. I was able to easily place the photo, add a frame, tilt it, crop it and resize it  quickly. I’m not sure why you’d want to tilt a photo, except to prove you can. I just clicked on the photo to return to the Picture menu.

Need a Quote of the Day? one click an the plug-in does all the work for you. Quote of the Day: Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They’re there every night, they see it done every night, they see how it should be done every night, but they can’t do it themselves –Brendan Behan–Quoted by Gyles Brandreth in *Theatrical Disasters*

I can save a draft locally, post to a draft online or post to a draft and edit online. When you’re done, just Publish to blog. You can create, edit and post Pages too.

You can define your tags .. don’t see categories anywhere, but this is my first post using Live Writer. Usually takes me three or four times before I find all the treasures. If Windows Live continues to behave as nicely as it did for this blog post, I’ve found another time saveing tool. Are you using a offline editor for your blog posts or do you prefer to edit right in Word Press.

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That is exactly what I’m going to do and I challenge you to do the same thing. Actually I started about six weeks ago. Once I had the system in place, I got going right away.

What got me motivated to put a system in place was my inability to move past my present income level. Pretty powerful motivation.

I’m a fan of Brian Tracy. I’ve downloaded his books Goals and Eat That Frog and listen to them when I need encouragement to write down my goals. I know a system of setting and monitoring goals is key to being successful, but as long as I was “getting by” I often didn’t seem to find the time to put into goal setting.

An e-mail from an ex-classmate of mine from the Douglas College Self-Employment Program saying she’d made the decision to accept a position with a high-end Health Spa chain got be thinking about why I became self-employed. It was to control my own destiny and to use my potential. That wasn’t happening.

I didn’t lack confidence, experience and drive. What was lacking was a system. Me lacking a system? I’m the Queen of systems .. what’s going on here? I have systems for everything .. except the BIG system .. where’s me my business going? I used to have a system, but life got in the way and my business morphed into something other than what I had planned. It’s better than my plan, but I failed to make adjustments to my goals to account for life. I need to get back on track.

I use mind mapping to record seemingly unrelated thoughts and then connect the dots later. That’s how I take notes.

Here’s the System:

1. Define you long term goals. Be specific and write it down. I’m going to make more money is not a goal .. it’s a statement, an idea where you’re going.
   1. I’m going to make $250,000 by creating 15 Affiliate Marketing websites by November 2009 is a goal.
   2. I’m going to be running my $250,000 affiliate marketing business from an apartment in Madrid Spain by April of 2011 is a goal.
   3. Write down what it’s going to look and feel like when you’ve achieved this goal. Be specific
2. Define what tasks you need to achieve the long term goal. Use mind mapping here too.
   1. how much money per month/per week/per day is $250,000 per year?
   2. what steps do I need to take to achieve those goals?
      1. Brian Tracy suggests 20 tasks per goal. I usually find the answer(s) somewhere near 10 tasks.
3. What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve these goals?
   1. Now you have the outline of a plan, you have an idea of the time and work involved to achieve your goal. How committed are you?
4. Treat your Long Term Goal as a Project.
   1. Use a simple project planning system to monitor your goals and the tasks required.
   2. I use Liquid Planner. It’s free, easy to use and flexible. They have training videos, so learning to use this utility is a snap.
   3. From your mind map from step 2, start entering expected results (goals)  top down and enter Completion Dates and time per task. Your going to have to use estimates for now. You can make adjustments as you go along.
   4. Define other resources you need and ask tasks and schedules to them.

Treating your long term goal as a project helps you to monitor your tasks and make adjustments as you proceed. This is the key to your success. You know what’s required to achieve your goal and you’re able to measure your progress make strategic changes on the fly.

Is this a lot of work? Yes, but proceed at your own pace. Using a simple mind mapping and project management system is something everyone can do.

You can adapt this system to loose weight, quit smoking or whatever your New Years Resolution.

Let’s get started .. This is the year you can achieve that goal.

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At Perfectio you can vote for Canada’s Most Influential Women in Social Media  .  I know there are a lot of women in social media in Canada. I follow some of them on Twitter and have met others at networking events, but a lot of the list were unknown to me. I followed the links for all 21. Here’s what the successful blogs had in common:

1. the sites were blogs, not static websites. It’s difficult to get to know, like and trust a person from a website that was probably designed by a stranger and the content written by someone they’ve never met.
2. there were regular posts that contained information their reader’s could use and the author wasn’t afraid to express their point of view.
3. there were easy-to-find links to their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn profiles.
4. The blog’s had a clean design with plenty of white space and the information was organized.

How easy are you get to know? Can we find your Twitter and Facebook profiles easily? If not, it’s a simple and inexpensive way to make your blog a more effective marketing tool.

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Cesar Milan is the “Dog Whisperer” on the National Geographic channel who’s well know for showing dog owners how to be the pack leader.  He’s articulate, compassionate, charming and he changes the behavior of the owner then the dog’s behavior changes accordingly.  At the end of the program, he shows result the owner’s been able to achieve. Everyone knows and likes Cesar and he’s a hero to dog owners.

Have you visited his web site? You can be forgiven, since there’s no reference to http://www.cesarmillaninc.com anywhere in the television show credits. You have to go looking for the website. You’re a warm prospect because you’ve made the decision to find out more information.

When you arrive at the website, there’s no doubt you’re at the right place .. the header is a photo of Cesar with a pack of dogs and his trademark “Stay Calm  and Assertive” phrase is front and center.

You know what you should do next. There’s three offers above the fold, you can buy a 2009 calendar for $9.00, a holiday pack is on sale, as is a dog harness.  Just peeking out above the fold is  headlines for “Latest News”, “Learn More” and “Product Specials”. You can subscribe to his monthly newletter, Ask a Vet and Donate to his foundation that helps rescue and shelters rehabilitate  dogs. It’s a very effective website.

Not many of us have the luxury of a television program, but all of have access to Twitter, Facebook, and networking events. Follow Cesar’s successful inbound marketing plan.

• Have a consistent message that allows people to know, like and trust you
• Let folks know what to specific results they can expect when they work with you
• design your web presence so your visitors know they are your target audience
• let your visitors know what you want them to do

How many of the four processes are you using?

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Twitter is incredibly powerful if used properly. It’s deceptively easy to use .. anyone can compose a 140 character message and cast it into the ether. Composing a message that folks will want to read is another matter.

There are a few Twitter users that understand the power of Twitter and know how to break the rules. @Delloutlet posts links to refurbished Dell equipment. That’s all. I guess you can make a case that he provides valuable information. I do follow him because his tweets are spaced far enough apart that he doesn’t annoy me. I’m still windowshopping, so I’m probably not his ideal customer.

All the rest of you .. Twitter is a conversation. If you have a point of view, I’m interested, I don’t even have to agree with you. If you have an agenda, I’ll unfollow you in a heartbeat. If you have a quirky sense-of-humor, I’ll probably continue to follow you, even if you annoy me from time to time. @incredibill is worth following for his wit and out-there opinions. (warning .. sometimes he’s not G-rated .. whatever)

If you’re only using Twitter to send messages that announce the launch of your “new and improved XYZ product”, or sending me a link when I start to follow you, or just tweeting that you’ve just posted to your blog .. and it’s a blatant ad for your “new and improved XYZ product” … YOU’RE SPAMMING. It’s not a conversation.

If you’re a newbie .. size does matter .. the size of your followers, and those who you follow. It’s a conversation. You want people to get to know, like and trust you. It’s inbound or pull marketing. You want to be the “go-to” person when your target market is ready to buy. There are people with thousands of followers. That’s usually a sign that a) you’re famous or b) you have something to say .. cool ..

I keep the number of people I follow low, so I can get to know them. I want to read what you have to say. Using Twitter effectively can be time consuming and distracting. Since I’m not independently rich (yet), I need to devote my time to billable tasks during the day, so I only turn TweetDeck on for short periods of time to check what’s going on. Reading about your “new and improved XYZ product” launch is a waste of my time .. E-mail me .. If your product is compelling enough, or the announcement comes from someone I admire, I’ll skim it .. if it’s the right time, the cost is right and I know who you are from Twitter or Facebook, I’ll buy. If any of those puzzle pieces aren’t in place, you don’t have a chance. Register to Qwitter. You’ll be notified by e-mail if someone unfollows you. If you find a lot of folks are unfollowing you, take a look at your messages .. are you spamming or having a conversation?

SPAM is SPAM, no matter what tool you’re using .. and it’s so 80’s.

Learn how to use social media tools like Twitter, find joint venture partners to help you and DON’T SPAM.

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One way to get traffic to blog is to have a contest. If you’re someone like John Chow, you can afford to give away good prizes. His latest contest prize is Traffic Secrets 2.0. He’s given us three ways to enter, one entry for commenting to his blog, five entries for a blog post and a trackback and another three entries for a Twitter.

UPDATE .. I won Traffic Secrets 2.0 .. how cool is that? I found out about it alogn with everyone else, when it was announced during the Dec 20th DotComPho video on John’s blog .. I’m beyond excited! I was one of 500 people!

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I learned about ZenSix hosting from @weblord, one of the Twitter pals. Their mini-Zen  hosting package is $15 a YEAR .. that’s for 400MB of space, 10GB of bandwidth, unlimited domains. You have my attention. I signed up to test the service. This sounds perfect for a beginning blogger.

They have one support person per 100 customers, 24/7/365 support. They sent me 4 emails, with all the information I need to start. ftp accounts, cpanel logins. Their customer interface is clean, easy to understand and you can log into your cpanel from there. I’m beginning to really like these guys.

Did I mention there’s a 30 day money-back guarantee? I looked for an affiliate program,. but for $15 a year, if I’m happy with the service I’ll recommend it to my clients before the sites that offer affiliate programs.

The thing that really impressed me is .. they have a Twitter account to keep in touch with their customers. It’s the first company that I’ve seen using Twitter as part of their Customer Service platform.

I like to support innovation, I appreciate a company that really takes customer service seriously and as a small business owner, I want the best value every dollar I make.

I’m moving one of the domains that’s been parked at GoDaddy in the next couple of days and I’ll write another blog post next week, with the results of my testing.

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