The Bulls Roar » Twitter

Do You Know These Social Media Personalities?

AnnieInfinite — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:40:29 +0000

When you play and work on Social Media for as long as I have, you realise that there are some social media types you come across regularly, now I could just tell you what to look for, but I thought I would have some fun with this and give you a little more insight at the same time by using dogs as my reference

So sit back and enjoy this post and gain some inights into the characteristics of some of the most prolific social media personality types:

The Puppy - the total newbie to social media, this personality type makes mistakes however they are endearing and learn from watching other more experienced personalities. When you meet a newbie it is a good idea to be a little patient with them until they learn the etiquette, when they make a mistake because they have been watching and modelling their comments on the ‘wrong’ type, guidance is the best option until they learn the ropes.
The Chihuahua - This personality type yaps often and yet seems to say very little, there is no substance, rhyme or reason for their tweets and posts they can be seen typing things like: “sitting watching tv and chillin’ with ma bro” or the classic “gotta go pee” Yapping all day long about nothing in particular trying to get noticed.
The Miniature Poodle - These posts can be classified as sickly sweet, this SM personality like quotes and fires them off one after the other in quick succession and has little or nothing to say at all other than “I just love my life” etc.. , again no real substance or conversation. This is the cream puff of the social media world again nothing of real substance however occasionally they post a quote worth reposting or retweeting.
The Doberman – now this SM personality is all business and no nonsence, they are there to advertise their product, service and brand and do not bother with any real world conversation. Their posts are characterised by no-nonsence marketing which is often sent out via autobot so they don’t have to bother replying or conversing at all. The all business character of the SM universe and often blocked by me even though I too market online.
The Mongrel – it is interesting what types are attracted to social media and this type loves to bad mouth others, cause trouble and gossip, they will find any user and treat them to a post denegrating their personality, looks, and posts in a rude and uncouth manner and are best blocked at your earliest conventience for good. Obviously have no other way to gain the fame they seek and have a bad attitude.
The Basset Hound - this type tells you every little thing about their lives, they are often looking for sympathy and they post pathetic comments and tweets hoping that you will be reeled into their lives in a way that you will feel you need to help them in some way. This creates the very attention that they crave. They love playing the victim and often ask for help in ways that are downright rude “I am so low at the moment the only way I feel better is when I write my story, I cannot type and so really need someone to buy me a voice recorder – this is the one I want LINK” (a real post I saw on my Facebook wall recently)
The German Shepherd - now this personality is worth knowing, although they are there for business they also understand the need to converse and be social on social media, they will openly edify other businesses and people and are up for a cross marketing opportunity or two. They often post items of interest from all over the web and are generally business-like and social at the same time.
The Golden Retreiver – This social media personality truly gets social media, they create relationships and friendships at the same time as cultivating their business and marketing relationships. They will openly post about their life while not becoming completely boring and are great at cross marketing with those they are ‘friends’ with, even their direct competition, understanding that competition is only an untapped market. Look for the Golden Retrievers they are focussed on creating great relationships and helping you to become successful as they understand that reciprocity is a key component of social media.

Have you got any Social Media personality types you would like to add to this list? Leave me a comment and tell me about them..

The Zen Bull

DISCLAIMER – I love dogs and at no time am I saying that any of the dog types mentioned in this post are unloveable or not worth having, this is just meant to be a bit of fun. At no time were any dogs harmed during the creation of this post.

8 Stages of Social Media Psychosis (philbaumann.com)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Facebook, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Social Media, Twitter

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Best Social Media Posts – this week

AnnieInfinite — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:52:47 +0000

Great posts for this week by major players in Social Media:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/twitter-hack-5-ways-to-up-your-visible-iq.html
Why should you care about appearing smart on Twitter? Because the people who hire, promote, fire, date, marry, and divorce you will all read your tweets (updates) at some point.

http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/facebook-fan-engagement/
there are many brands who’ve surpassed the one million fan mark, while their peers have languished in the thousands. What’s their secret? These companies have figured out how to move from “broadcast” mode into engagement. They have engaged people so well that their fans even invite others along for the ride.

http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/global-social-media-usage/
According to the Nielsen Company, the global average time spent per person on social networking sites is now nearly five and half hours per month (February 2010 data), with Facebook accounting for the majority of that time.

http://www.jenniearmato.com/blog/general/viral-marketing-facebook-game-game
What’s the REAL SECRET POWER OF FACEBOOK? Well you would be right if you said 1) the number of people that go there, 2) the number of connections you can make 3) the networking you can do or 4) the entertainment apps. Each one of these has something I call ‘gravitational pull’ – like gravity, they pull you towards them and make you want to stay, but they are not the Secret to viral marketing on Facebook.

http://socialmediarockstar.com/how-to-build-a-massive-online-community
Josh shares tips for building an online community and tells how he grew the site to almost 50,000 members:

http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/03/facebook-the-tool-of-big-brother/
If you’ve been up to “no good,” you might want to think twice about who you ‘friend’ on Facebook and other social media sites, because there just might be a government official trying to track you down. The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has been collecting information on how a variety of U.S. federal agencies are fighting crime using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks.

http://mashable.com/2010/03/18/social-media-sites-data/
Twitterers mostly consume news, MySpace users want games and entertainment, Facebookers are into both news and community and Digg’s audience has a mixed bag of interests.

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/legitimizing-your-lackluster-linkedin/
Over the last few years LinkedIn has evolved to play a central role in professional networking and relationship building. I’ve come to find it very disappointing when I see a profile that looks like it was thrown together in 20 minutes, doesn’t have much thought put in to it, or is clearly overdue for an update.

http://staynalive.com/articles/2010/03/18/facebook-goes-after-their-trademark-in-popular-domains/
It has long been known that Facebook Apps are not to have the name “Facebook” in their names, but it would appear that Facebook is starting to go after domain names too. Just recently, they have asked such major sites as Mari Smith’s WhyFacebook.com, to change their name in defense of their own Trademark.

How US Government Spies Use Facebook (readwriteweb.com)
FBI using Facebook to fight crime (guardian.co.uk)
Social Buzz Free Icon Pack: Web 2.0 Style Social Media Icons (crenk.com)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Digg, engagement, Facebook, facebook marketing, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social network, Twitter

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Review MarketMeTweet – Twitter Branding and Management Tool

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:28:17 +0000

A few posts ago I raved about a new Twitter branding tool called TweetBrand a free little Twitter app put out by the makers of the all new and amazing MarketMe Tweet. This cute little desktop app is able to brand every tweet with your URL and a link back to your site in place of the usual via ?? seen at the bottom of all tweets.

As you can see in the image below it works without taking any space from your character count and as far as I am concerned is a sweet use of Twitter real estate.

How TweetBrand rebrands your Tweets

Now along comes the much awaited MarketMe Tweet taking this tool to a whole new level! After using the original Tweetbrand for a week or so, I emailed the lovely people at MarketMeTweet and asked them if they had plans for a multi-account version and lucky for me the reply was, “Wait until you see what’s coming, you’re going to love it!” They were right!

Now not only does the new MarketMe Tweet brand your tweets it’s a complete Twitter desktop management tool, with plans to keep it updated, relevent and add more features according to users requests – who could ask for more?

Let’s have a look at the most relevent functions of Market Me Tweet:

Multiple Accounts:

MarketMe Tweet allows you to handle multiple accounts right from it’s interface, users must first login using OAuth and then follow the protocols set out in the user help files.

Once it is done you will have the ability to brand any and all of your user accounts right from your desktop. Changing accounts is as easy a choosing from the list you have created, and can be done on the fly as you tweet.

To Setup Your Brand: Go to Step 2 ‘Create Your App’ > Sign in to Twitter account > Go to Brand app > Retrieve the consumer and secret key > Step 3 to fill in fields.

Shrink your links with Bit.ly:

Users can now shrink their links with Bit.ly right from the app via a little button that’s even easier than using my previous favorite Twitter app Seesmic.

Reply Campaigns:

Tracking keywords just became so much easier with MarketMe Tweet, not only you can track multiple keywords at the same time (and filter out unwanted terms for accuracy using ‘Negative Keyword’ option), you can also include reply templates for targeted users.

Once you “Run” a campaign tweets will show up from various users who used that keyword in their tweets.

Once you have found these people you can hover over the keyword in their tweet andthe word “Reply will appear justc lick on this to instantly send the auto-reply you have created to them, picking up another follower based on your niche keywords.

If you have a real distaste for automated Tweets, worry no longer you also have the option to reply live to them, still taking advantage of finding people who are interested in your niche.

No matter what your stance on automation and if or how you use it remember authenticity and being real are key elements for success.

Scheduled Tweets:

I don’t schedule a lot of tweets however it can be useful if you are planning to be away, or to use them for tweeting links out to your followers. I like to on Twitter myself to connect and interact on a very regular basis, but the truth it is, if I am on all day, I cannot hope to get much work done either. So I do automate some of my tweets, some quotes and links are loaded up each morning so that something is going out every couple of hours all day and then when I am having a free moment I connect live and reply to my followers and friends, retweet great posts, answer questions and converse – the most important things you can be doing on sociall media.

That being said this function does save me some time and I love it!

Threaded Conversations:

This is new on Twitter and you don’t miss out on them using MarketMe Tweet right from your desktop – see who you are conversing with and read back the whole conversation via the threads – love this as sometimes it can be a while since I started a conversation and some replies don’t make sense unless I can refresh my memory.

Follow/Unfollow Users:

This is self explanatory but I have to tell you it means I can manage my followers right from my desktop – very useful.

Group Management:

Create groups of people right on MarketMe Tweet, easy to keep up with your favourites, or according to geo-location or niche. Works just like Twitter lists.

Now that we have a full review of the features of this amazing tool, all I can say is the most attractive thing for me is the ability to brand my own and my clients Tweets with a linkable URL. Branding your business and your self online is about making yourself stand out in every situation and making it really, really easy for your audience to find you and come to your site to learn more, to purchase product or to book your services. MarketMeTweet does this in such a way that no matter what you are tweeting, your link is available to your audience every time you tweet.

For a short time only this excellent Twitter Client is available for just $39 for life! and there is an affiliate program that goes with it where you can earn money for recommeding it along to your friends and followers – as far as I am concerned you are doing them a favour!

Review: Love it! Get yours HERE

BREAKING NEWS: MMT now has Twitter List support! and coming soon Mobile support!!

I love that they are continuing to add features like this – thanks Tammy!

The Zen Bull

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: MarketMeTweet, OAuth, Online Communities, Social Networking, Twitter, Twitter branding

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Gary’s Social Media Counter Proof that SM is Huge!

AnnieInfinite — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:43:38 +0000

This is cool! If you do not believe that social media is changing the way we do business this very cool Social Media Counter will prove it to you. Just watch the numbers roll!!!!!!

Thanks to Gary from Personalize Media

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Branding, Business, Marketing, Social Media

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Twitillate Your World

AnnieInfinite — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:15:47 +0000

: Image by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten via Flickr

There are loads of different ways to use Twitter to enhance your social media marketing, I must admit I like the ones that make my life easier either by simplifying it in some way or by providing a time effective solution to my busy day.

This list of Twitter apps and sites and some of my hints on how I use them, will provide you with some ideas on how to do the same for your busy social media calendars:

Twitter Widgets and Downloads Page: A list right on Twitter itself of Twitter apps and widgets you can use to streamline your Twittering, and use to update other profiles like Facebook and Friendfeed.

Tweetbubble: This app allows you to record a short message via video and place it right on your Twitter profile where it will play anytime a user check out your profile.

TwitWall: Blogging app for Twitter, allows you to create articles and blog post including images and video and is auto linked to your Twitter profile.

Taweet: An event lister linked to your Twitter profile to publicise your events.

Twiturly: Find out what links are tops on Twitter in real time.

Tweetiator: this site notifies you when your links are shared on Twitter and by whom – very useful!

JustTweetIt: a directory of Twitter users – great to find users in your niche etc..

Twellow: the Twitter Business Directory – get listed!

Tweetmeme: Search and retweet the hottest stories on Twitter. Get the plugin for your blog and allow your posts to rate on Tweetmeme.

TwtPoll: easy to use poll app for Twitter, ask question, take surveys.

Seesmic: my Fav Twitter desktop app for tweeting multiple accounts, seeing my twitter lists, and more

Tweetdeck: another Twitter desktop app which is also a fav of many Tweeters

Tweetmic: an iPhone client that allows you to record a HD audio and tweetcast it directly to Twitter

FreeTwitterDesigner: Create a professional looking Twitter background for free, certainly not the only one, but very easy to use and pastes your new design straight to Twitter for you.

Selective Twitter to Facebook: Now this one is not a link, but it is one of the handiest things I can tell you about linking your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Many people use the Twitter widget for this however this results in what I term as an unsightly mess as all your Tweet end up willy nilly on your Facebook profile which can be quite annoying on other peoples walls and if you are a prolific Tweeter can also result in your overstepping the boundaries of Facebook protocol and getting yourself blocked, or banned.

How to make only selected Tweets appear in your Facebook wall: in Facebook either on your Profile or preferably your Fan Page go to Notes (if you are on your FB Fan Page first go into Edit page and look for the Notes app in your list) once there you will hopefully find a link that says “Import Blog” now open your Twitter profile page and look for “Favorites” click on it and this will take you to your favorites page (hopefully you have favorites some items along the way).

Now hover your mouse over the RSS link on the lower right hand area of your Twitter Favorites page a link should appear on the bottom toolbar, copy this link (I had to use pen and paper , now go back to Facebook and paste that link into the URL of your Import Blog page. If you have done this correctly another page will appear which asks you if this is the feed you wish to import. Click on “Import Blog”

Now when you want a selected Tweet to appear automagically on your FB Wall all you need to do is Favorite it and it stops the cluttering of your wall and those of your friends with loads of useless information!

Now that is handy!

The Zen Bull

101 Twitter Tools For the Ultimate Twitter Expert (sociableblog.com)
Web Based Twitter Clients – Which Is Right For You? (thenextweb.com)
How Twitter Conquered the World in 2009 (mashable.com)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Add new tag, Facebook, iPhone, Seesmic, Social Media, Social network, TweetDeck, Twitter

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Brand Your Tweets with New Tool

AnnieInfinite — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:19:50 +0000

Now this is interesting, I am testing out a new Twitter tool today and I am liking it more and more. TweetBrand is a Twitter App installed via Adobe Air that allows you to brand your Tweets with your own URL – any URL!

You know at the bottom of each Tweet where it says via ? e.g. from Seesmic, from the web, or from Hootsuite now it can say “from your url” and click through to your specified url of choice and it couldn’t be easier to set up with full video and image support and best of all it is free.

Who could ask for any thing more? Try it out today here TweetBrand by Market Me Tweet

How TweetBrand rebrands your Tweets

This takes Twitter branding to a whole new level!

Watch this video for more:

Get this cute little app today – it’s free! TweetBrand by Market Me Tweet

Hint I have it up on my desktop screen all day and use it to Tweet whenever I have an idea – too easy!

The Zen Bull

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Add new tag, Adobe Air, Online Communities, Social network, Twitter

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Note to Self: keywords are words used by ordinary people

AnnieInfinite — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:00:17 +0000

: Image by Craig Key via Flickr

I was presenting a workshop on Social Media Marketing the other day and one of the biggest AHA! moments for the group was around how using social media search options and conversation could be a powerful research tool to help refine your site keywords, descriptions and metatags.

As we used the Twitter search tool to find users talking about the search terms (keywords) of some of the group, it became apparent that we can be so entrenched in our own niche we do not see the forest for the trees.

As an example one of our workshop group has a resort in Noosa Heads and he asked to search around one of his keywords “accomodation Noosa”, now as you and I know there is only room for 140 characters in a microblogging update and no-one is going to use them up with a big word like accomodation, they will use: holiday, resort, unit even holiday unit, instead.

This brought on a passionate discussion about how useful social media is as a tool for keyword research. After all, your keywords are search terms most likely to be used by a person searching for your business in a search engine. One of the tips I tell all my website owners about researching their keywords is to go to several of their friends and ask them what words they would use to search for their business. Why? because you can be too close to the industry to know what the average person is saying about your niche or business. You may even mistake the benefits your business provides as your keywords. Big mistake!

Your keywords need to be words used in ordinary (not industry) conversation about your niche, words the average person needed your service or product would use. One of the most invaluable tools to use is: ordinary people not associated with your niche, and that is where social media can be one of the most invaluable tools to use.

Use Twitter Search put in your keywords and see who is talking about your niche (a great way to start your follower list), it is also a great way to see what words are actually being used in conversation about your niche. Go find blogs by people not in the industry and take a look at their blog tags to give you another indicator. Ask your friends on Facebook for clues about how they would search for your business and use the search tool on Facebook in the same way as you did in Twitter Search. This will give you other groups and pages as well as conversations using your keywords and more ideas on what keywords you could be using.

As you must know your keywords need regular review and so this is one area in which your testing never ends: have your site stats gone up or down with this batch of keywords, change them and test again. When you find the perfect mix and your stats rise, only change one or two at a time to see which ones are working well and then test again.

Keywords need to be reviewed at least every 3 months, much more often at first to make sure they are still relevent. Remember when changing keywords on a page to be sure they are relevent to the copy (text) on the page at all times.

The Zen Bull

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Facebook, keyword, Meta element, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Web search engine, Website

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Social Media: Does the one with the biggest following really win?

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:14:30 +0000

: Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

Have you seen them? If you are on Twitter I know you have.

You know the posts that tell you how to join this site and add 5 Million new followers!!

Are you tempted? Ask yourself why?

Now as an online marketer I understand that “it’s all in the list” and a list can be a list of social media followers, friends and fans.. BUT! Yes there is a big BUT and not the kind you want to shake (as in booty) lol.

and here is BUT # 1. What good is it to have a list of 5 million followers who all just want to sell their products to you? These people have their own agenda, they want to sell you on their product or opportunity they are not usually buyers.

BUT # 2. If you are making real, authentic connections and you are passionate, really passionate about what you do or sell the right poeple will be immediately attracted to you and you will have a list of people who trust you, listen to you and ultimately buy.

BUT # 3. When you give value to your friends and followers they know you are trustworthy, they know you know your stufff and they will follow (yes really, actually follow) your recommendations to them.

BUT # 4. Ask yourself why you need so many followers or friends, if you have no connection with these people, you do not know them or what they are looking for or what they need or want, why do you want them to follow you?

BUT # 5. Ask yourself, what if you could get people to follow you without following them first? What if you waited for them to find you, for them to optin to friending or following you, wouldn’t that mean they have chosen you and therefore have made a decision about you and what you have to offer and wouldn’t that mean that more of those people are ready not just to listen to you, but follow your lead? Wouldn’t this mean that most of those who made a decision to follow or friend you are not just prospects, BUT qualified prospects?

BUT # 6. Don’t you think that joining and recommending these sites makes you look a little desperate?

I am a social media marketer, and not once have I followed more than a few people a week (not a day even), and my followings have always grown more from people opting to follow me than the other way around. I love this, it might seem slower but trust me the type of friend or follower you have is a higher quality, you might even make some really great friends (as I have) make some amazing business JV’s (as I have) and gather new clients (as I have) without all the madness.

Social Media is easy, it is not about “the one with the biggest following wins” it is about “those who create the most connections and have the most real conversations win” and it is a win for all. It is not about having the biggest audience it is about who is willing to listen to you and click on your links.

Nothing can beat being real, giving value and creating relationships – think about it word of mouth is only any good if you trust the source.

Be a trusted source.

“Keeping Social Media Human” in Virginia Beach (socialmediaclub.org)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Online Communities, Relationships, Social Media, Social network, Twitter, Word of mouth

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My Favourite Twitter Tools

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:29:06 +0000

Twitter is… well a revolution and to use Twitter effectively – like a pro – a few extra tools are needed to make your Twitter experience easier, more like marketing (because it is trackable), searchable, quicker and simple. These are a few of my favourite Twitter tools and why:

Seesmic – if you don’t know about Seesmic you are missing out on one of the easiest ways to stay on Twitter even while you are working. Seesmic is a desktop application that sits on your computer updating the latest Tweets from your friends, so your Twittering can continue even while you work. Just click back and forth, add a tweet when you feel the urge and keep up with your friends the easiest way I know. Now with integrated Twitter Lists.
SocialOomph – Now this little baby will make your day, do you want to tweet 24 hours a day to make sure you let the whole world know you are there? Well you might get a little tired without a tool like TweetLater – it allows you to schedule your tweets, it even saves favourite tweets so you don’t have to type them again – just click on a saved tweet and hit send! TweetLater can do so much more, like follow people who follow you, unfollow those who unfollow you, or allow you to ‘vet’ your new followers before following, basically it allows you to automate a lot of the time consuming stuff you find yourself doing with Twitter freeing up your time for more important things – like tweeting. This is one you can’t do without! ** Today they announced that you can now do it all with Facebook too!
Twhirl – now this desktop application is a little like TweetDeck except it allows you to Tweet from more than one Twitter profile at a time, much smaller than TweetDeck but still very useful for those who have more than one account. I use it when I am Twittering for clients accounts.
Twitter Search – invaluable if you are looking for people using your keywords on Twitter, or for people tweeting on a particular topic.
Twitpic – Easy photo and image sharing on Twitter, upload your pic and tweet it right into your Twitter stream for all to see.
Tweetizen – easy groups for twitterers, that says it all – a place where you can create or join groups around your favourite topic.
The Twitterhood – great little Twitter directory begun by my friend @linnetwoods a lovely lady who lives on a boat currently moared in Spain, she runs the regular Twitterquiz and has created this directory for Twitterers. If you think it is not worthwhile, please not this lady has over 20,000 followers! (To get into the Directory just DM her and ask for some ’space’ on the Twitterhood.)
Twellow – great directory for Twitter – a must for any business! List yourself under your keywords (up to 10) for all the world to see, Great SEO by the way.
TwitterCounter – Need stats, TwitterCounter is where you will want to be, As it says it is the Ultimate Twitter Stats counter. Just pop in your Twitter username and you get numbers, graphs and more (hint: try putting in someone elses username to see if they are worth following.
Klout.com Another really good Tracker for your clout on Twitter, yells you whether you are an influencer, what your score is and how many people are likely to ‘listen’ to your recommendations.
ePenis – now this one is just to make you laugh – more stats - essentially it measures your influence on Twitter, just type in your username to see your penis grow (Guys love this one – I wonder why???)

The Zen Bull – Bringing the world to your door!

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Klout, Seesmic, social networks, Tweetizen, Twitpic, Twitter, Twitter Search, Zen Bull

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Social Media – Authentic Connective Marketing

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:07:32 +0000

: Image by Yann Ropars via Flickr

Social Media seems to be the buzz word on many lips, yet are people really using social media in the ways it is meant to be used? Truth is many are and many more are not. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, My Space, Bebo and others are there for communities, groups and individuals to share their lives.

Some marketers seem to have missed the point, these sites are not a place for you to blatantly advertise your product as if you are on the shopping channel, these sites are there to build community, for people to socialise and build relationships. One of the most important things to learn about social media of marketing is that it is all about building relationships, creating and adding value to conversations and it is SOCIAL.

What it is NOT!

Social Media Marketing is not:

* a way to ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ people so that you can post links on their profile or in their group

* a way to advertise your product or service to them in direct messages unless requested

* an excuse to “SPAM” people by sending the same message to all of your ‘friends’ to market your latest and greatest ?

What it IS:

Social Media Marketing is a concept that goes way back to the days when Pops ran the General Store and new all of his customers by name, knew their needs and preferences and could recommend products to them that he knew would help them.

That is the intent at the heart of SMM -

* initiating and building genuine relationships

* adding value to real conversations (without marketing)

* establishing communities

* engaging an audience by telling stories that connect with people in real ways

* getting to know your customer well before recommending anything to them

* treating your potential customer or client like a real friend and treating your virtual and online friends and their profile/s with the same respect you would a ‘real’ friend

* recommend products or services that you know would help them in some way

Does that sound like a tall order?
Does this sound like way too much time and trouble?

Then SMM is NOT for you.

By representing ourselves in authentic ways, and practicing the almost lost art of conversation and story telling we will be representing ourselves as real people who care, not faceless organizations whose bottom line is the bottom line.

The Zen Bull

Why Social Media? (slideshare.net)
Secrets To Social Media Success (retechworld.wordpress.com)
Social Media Marketing Plan (opencircle.co.za)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social network, Twitter

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