Author Archive

Asking is essential in social media marketing

May 21, 2013

amanda-palmerI know I promised a comprehensive HOWTO in last week’s blog post, Your social campaign needs 1000x followers  but I was spending time with NPR over the weekend, as heard through WAMU 88.5FM here in DC, and TED Radio Hour came on, titled “Giving It Away” so I had to discuss this instead this week. What really caught my attention was the last segment, “Amanda Palmer: How Do You Get People To Pay For Music?“  Amanda Palmer discusses her past as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride), busker (a street musician) and how she’s taken everything she learned from relying making her living from the kindness of strangers and passer-by’s and brought it into the Internet age. Read the remainder of this entry »

Your social campaign needs 1000x followers

May 14, 2013

justin-bieber-threatsVery few people hang on your every word. Everything that comes out of Ellen’s mouth is duly noted. Same thing with Bieber, Gaga, and Katy. Godin and (skinny) Brogan only need to say something once. But if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ll need to speak up, maybe repeat yourself, and be more persistent than the Earth’s top celebs or our most hallowed social media motivational speakers. Read the remainder of this entry »

3 signs your social media shout is a whisper

May 7, 2013

Bad-boy-ClubEvery other week I like to remind you that you’re being a social media wuss. And, by wuss, I mean you’re being too much of a social media “nice guy.” And by “nice guy” I mean you’re spending too much time worrying about what others think to the point of turning your entire social media marketing campaign into a milquetoast and pablum sandwich. You spend too much time trying to get everyone to like you. You’re always afraid of stepping on toes or offending anyone. You’re especially afraid of getting fired. If you’re honest with yourself, that’s your biggest fear: losing your job if you’re an employee or losing (or alienating) your clients (or prospects) by doing something as revolutionary as having a voice, an opinion, an agenda, or a point-of-view. Heaven forbid.

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Social media tip: People don’t like being collected

April 30, 2013

glass-menagerieYou know how much I am obsessed with “long-tail blogger outreach,” right? I am a man possessed! That said, I really don’t collect people. People don’t like being collected. They — we — don’t like being part of a ménagerie de personnes (people also don’t like folks who drop French for no good reason at all, by-the-way). While it’s really too easy to collect people, it’s even easier to take them for granted — and maybe there’s a tipping point. I have been consulting some bouncing social media babies recently and they’re doing it right. They’re each running a couple-hundred followers and friends and they know every one — they’re aware of exactly who they’re following and get really excited whenever anyone follows them back. Read the remainder of this entry »

Blogger outreach is more PR than social media

April 23, 2013

effective-blogger-outreachThe current catch-all these days for what I do is social media; unfortunately, when what you do is described as social media, people tend to think Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and maybe Google+. My expertise, however, is online community outreach and engagement. Back in 2006 I developed a strategy of blogger outreach that allowed my to reach out to more than just 25 top-tier bloggers by hand over time but to 2,500-5,000 bloggers. Read the remainder of this entry »