Social Media Marketing Archives - Page 23 of 24 by Mark Murnahan

Marketing Online: There Are Just Two Questions!

This is perhaps my simplest blog post ever! It came to me that there only two really important questions about marketing your business, online or otherwise. Sure, there are other questions to ask, but these are the two that matter above all others.

1.) Do you want more targeted leads for your business?

This is a really simple one for most people in business. If the answer is no, you clearly have no business here on this blog. If the answer is yes, we should be talking!

2.) Is it too late because you neglected it too long?

This is the single most punishing question to answer, but it is the most true and realistic reason people make bad decisions in their business. If you say that you cannot afford to market your business, you should really think again. The truth is that you cannot afford to neglect the things that pay you. Marketing should never be a cost to you, because it is what pays you. Without it, you are dead in the water. The better question should really be whether you can afford to not expand your marketing. Here is a simple reminder:

“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the
man who stops the clock to save time.” –Thomas Jefferson

Simple Enough?

I tried to make this my simplest blog post ever. If you think too far beyond these two questions, you may be missing the big picture. Once you have answered these two simple questions, there should be no reason to put it off for another moment.

I would like your input, so please give your comments here on the blog and also feel free to reach me by telephone (direct line *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*) or on Skype (username murnahan).

Social Media: How the Big Dogs Get Paid

This is such a fun blog post to write, because I am going to tell you how the “big dogs” in social media marketing get paid. I hear it all of the time, and many of my peers say they hear it, too … “so how do you make money with social media?”

Please note that this relates to social media marketing consultants who earn their living by helping clients with marketing their products or services better with social media. There are many branches to the field of social media, such as bloggers who earn money as writers and blog owners. There are providers, such as Twitter, Digg, Sphinn Linked In, Reddit, Facebook, etcetera. There are social media marketers who saw some success in the industry and decided to write a book about it and sell it to make money, and similarly those who speak about their success in public forums. These are various methods, and this article is not about them (maybe later).

What I am writing about here are the social media marketing people you encounter and wonder how they earn a living. The “big dogs” are the ones who seem to have a lot of connections, including many thousands of followers on Twitter and elsewhere, and who seem to always be active with socializing in social media.

Social Media Big Dogs Love People!

The big dogs of social media marketing really love people. The most successful social media marketers are the ones who would give you the shirt off their back and ask if you need their shoes, too. I can name many of these big dogs, and I will get to that. The truth about the biggest dogs with the best pedigree in social media marketing, and with the biggest social media respect, are the same people who can laugh with you when you tell them a funny story of how your son got even with his brother by writing all over him with a marker, and counsel you when you have a bad day. They may not reach each and every person, but they sure try, and they are sincere. They care about you, and you are not a part of some underbellied marketing plan.

Social Media Big Dogs Get Paid to Have Fun

It is really an amazing thing, but yes, social media marketing big dogs get paid to know people, make friends, and have fun. So, you may think that is crazy, right? Let’s examine this. The big dog of social media marketing consulting does not look at you as a meal ticket or a box lunch. They want to know about you. They want to hear from you and have a feel for who people are. The big dog of social media has a genuine enjoyment of being your friend.

Social Media Big Dogs’ Agenda

So the business side of the big dog comes out, and I will tell you their agenda. The agenda of the social media marketing big dog is to know people. The big dog uses an understanding of people (yes, including you) to know what people want. Once the big dog knows anything and everything about what people want, they use this information to help their client (the people paying them) to be a better company and to best express themselves to the appropriate audience, and to do so more abundantly, providing a greater return on their investment. By the time the social media marketing big dog is ready to bring something to market, he or she has polished that offering to be positioned at the top of the given industry.

Social Media Big Dogs Run in Packs

A pack hound mentality is not really as ugly as it may sound. Here is how it happens: Once the big dog has done their homework and knows the perfect way to reach the people who will best benefit from their cients’ product or service, they search their brain and their contacts to seek assistance. The big dog will likely make telephone calls to other big dogs to ask for advice, and for references of who they know that can help. This may be to find an editor at a popular industry-related news agency, blogging site, or other periodical. It may also be a series of email and social media messages such as Twitter, Digg, Sphinn, Linked In, Reddit, Facebook, etcetera. If the big dog has done their job well, and has improved their clients’ message to one that is appealing to a massive audience, they will put their reputation on the line and ask other big dog friends to pass along the clients’ revised and shiny new image directly to their networks.

Social Media is Easy

So here you have it. Social media big dogs get paid for a lot of fun, doing what they truly love to do. It is really pretty easy in some ways. You may wonder why they get paid for it at all, since it is so easy. The truth is that although it is a lot of fun, the social media big dog also uses a lot of social equity, analytical marketing experience, media insight, and much of their time in making their clients massively successful. The social media big dog makes many efforts to help their clients understand where their offering should be positioned in the marketplace. They often train and coach key client personnel in proper public relations, keep watch over the client’s reputation, open doors the client never realized existed, and much more.

What Can They Do That a Client Cannot?

The social media big dog often encourages individuals and companies to do everything they can to engage in social media. They try to give their best advice, and hold very few secrets. However, even with all of their coaching and training, and even their list of contacts, a well polished message will often still fall on deaf ears. The relationships and the experience of any big dog will vary, but you can be assured that a real big dog has put in the time and effort to build an invaluable network. If it is truly a big dog, you have one that you are not wise to let walk away. That network sits silently behind them when they are at your bargaining table, and they can prove it to you.

A company can do this all on their own, but it is often the equivalent of a father going to school for dentistry in order to take care of his own family’s teeth. When it calls for a professional, it is best to hire a big dog.

Hiring a Social Media Big Dog

It seems that most social media marketing big dogs are pretty busy. They usually have a lot of work to do, even when it does not relate to a specific client. This is because their job has a lot to do with building and maintaining relationships, and a constant study of the world around them. It also seems that many are not really into selling their service, but rather educating. After all, their job is far more about making a product or service so attractive that selling is not necessary. This can be misleading to both the big dog and the potential client. When the social media big dog sniffs you, they want a feel for the culture of your product or service. If it smells bad, they will likely walk away without any further interest. The real truth of the matter is that if they really have what you need and take the time to prove it, the job is then up to you to recognize it quickly, and be ready to strike a deal. This is because a real social media big dog is truly your best friend, and you will be lucky to have him or her in your family.

When you read this blog post, it is not at all unlikely that it reached you because a dog broke his chain and delivered it to you. The author runs with a lot of really amazing hounds.

So there you have it. This is my job as a social media marketing consultant and search engine optimizer. I enjoy it very much, and I love to help others. If you know somebody seeking to make the most of their business, I am a phone call away at *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE* (*REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*).

Kutcher vs. Murnahan Twitter Dance-Off (well @aplusk?)

This is not a review of Dancing with the Stars, and I have already told Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) that I dance like a goon.

If you are not already familiar with this blog, it may help to know that I wrote an article recently that criticized the highly publicized race between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@CNNBrk) to reach one million followers on Twitter. I look at this today and realize that nearly anybody could do that if they put the resource into the campaign that each of these giants did. There is even a billboard in my home town of Topeka, Kansas advertising to follow @aplusk on Twitter.

Ashton Followed My Twitter Feed

I have been asked a lot about the bar fight / dance-off talk on Twitter between Ashton Kutcher and myself. First, I want to say that there was no bar fight. Secondly, as of yet, we have not determined the venue for our dance off. However, Oprah’s show (@oprah) seems to be the crowd favorite. So what is the real story? Since I wrote a recent post criticizing the race between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@CNNBrk) I suppose it deserves this follow up.

The Ashton Kutcher Bar Fight

The story behind the bar fight is pretty simple. I sent a tweet as follows: “20 Athletes You Would Want with You in a Bar Fight http://bit.ly/hxNg0“. This tweet was subsequently retweeted (see tweet) by my friend, Phao Loo (@phaoloo). Ashton Kutcher follows Phao Loo’s tweets, and he liked it, so he retweeted it again (see tweet). The bar fight story was really this simple.

The Ashton Kutcher Dance-Off

Although there may be a dance-off, I have made Mr. Kutcher aware that I dance like a goon. However, I will be a willing participant if it should come to pass. Interestingly, the whole notion follows through nicely with some of what I believe his intended message was for CNN and Ted Turner. That message is that the little guy can still have a voice in social media, and can still make a difference in the world. The misguided part of that equation was that Ashton Kutcher is not the little guy. Unfortunately, Ashton did not have me on retainer at the time of his message, so a lot became blurred with many mixed signals and lack of solid personal branding.

Perhaps if Ashton Kutcher really wants to show the sincerity of his message, a better approach may be to come down to my level and visit with a guy who uses social media to build relationships and good will. Then perhaps he can win me over as an active part of his audience, and even his advocate. Beating all odds, he and I could work as a team to clear up his message and do some really properly meaningful things together. As it is, I have been bombarded with questions of what really took place, and whether I think he is genuine. To all of the many questions, I must say that I simply do not know, yet.

I have not made an attack on Ashton’s integrity, but I have had reason to criticize his signal. In my previous blog post on the matter, I made observations that his message is flawed, and that I do not respect much of what I observed. Perhaps a lot of that has to do with Hollywood, publicists, contracts, and a whole lot of time spent being desired by masses. I have a strong immunity to the whole celebrity bit. I have spent enough time with “the desired ones”, and also been the focus of some of the same. I do understand the awkward feeling of being envied, as certainly we all have for one reason or another. This transforms each of us differently on different levels. To me, it has made me work even harder to be real and to be humble. In Hollywood, this is a method that is often not embraced, or accepted properly when it is. After all, a little cockiness seems to make you cool. Sadly, the people it makes you cool with are the same people who are wearing a similar mask of blended pride and shame.

When it comes down to who the man is or what he intends, I do not know the answers about Ashton Kutcher. I will gladly welcome him to call me at *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE* on my nickel, join my Webcast as a co-host and come down to “the people’s” level, and I will gladly meet him for a dance-off and show just how horribly I dance.

The way it all went down was like a firestorm of tweets about a dance-off among my followers. Note that I follow well over 8,500 people’s Twitter feed, whereas Ashton followed (at the time) 84. Not only do I follow this many, I do so very actively, and as I write this, I have reached my 1000 direct message daily limit and I am waiting to be able to send direct messages again.

Within my Twitter friends rampant tweets, the speculation of a ghost tweeter was common, as were many RT, and questions of Ashton’s intent (PR, damage control, etc). So that there is no speculation, the Tweets we have shared, and some of the related communications surrounding the bar fight / dance-off tweets are as follows:

@murnahan: Hey, Ashton Kutcher just RT me. http://bit.ly/Gt5Yf LOL!

@kimsherrell: OH SNAP ~>more drama. @aplusk just RTd @murnahan. but did he read mark’s blog? http://bit.ly/4SBD8

@murnahan: ROFL! –> RT @KimSherrell: OH SNAP ~>more drama. @aplusk just RTd @murnahan. but did he read mark’s blog? http://bit.ly/4SBD8

@kimsherrell: WHOA @aplusk has challenged @murnahan to a bar fight?! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@aplusk: @KimSherrell i don’t have time to go to kansas. I just find the assumptions to be interesting.

@aplusk: @murnahan Kind of ironic?

@murnahan: @KimSherrell I guess he did see it. 😉 http://bit.ly/9iHpE

Right about this time is when I realized (from a friend’s tweet) that @aplusk was following me. I was number 84 that he was following out of 1,234,083 following him. So the questions that came to mind was, whether he would still be following me tomorrow, and does this guy meet the criteria of those whom I prefer to follow?

@murnahan: @aplusk Are you an OK guy after all? I like seeing that you are listening. 😉 Dance off, huh? LOL I dance like a goon!

@aplusk: @murnahan lets dance brother. I think you paint interesting picture with your words.

@murnahan: @aplusk Thanks! Do you need any help at the TweetDeck? http://bit.ly/AKIra

@aplusk: @murnahan no I’m quite efficient i’m sure @oprah could use a tutorial though

@murnahan: Well then hook me up, brother. LOL –> RT @aplusk: @murnahan no I’m quite efficient i’m sure @oprah could use a tutorial though

@aplusk: @murnahan you wouldn’t want to teach her she might ruin the platform by connecting with too many people

@aplusk: @murnahan or she might end up saving lives…

@murnahan: Well, @oprah, @aplusk said you may need a hand. http://bit.ly/2zog7w – REF: http://bit.ly/NHRbb

@kimsherrell: ashton kutcher now following mark murnahan. thank you + good night.

@kimsherrell: LOL… a low-budget internet musical: @aplusk versus @murnahan – http://bit.ly/dgyxa

@murnahan: Hey Ashton (@aplusk), I am following you back now, but don’t go messing up my reputation. 😉

There were many more tweets about this, but I must stop at some point. For more tweets relating to this, click here for a Twitter search and refine the search to find related information.

Will There Be a Dance-Off Between @aplusk and @murnahan?

To answer the question of whether there will ever be a dance-off between us, only time will tell. I may never hear from Ashton again, or we may turn out to grow a mutual respect for each other. Who knows? To my notion, Ashton is a funny and talented guy. I simply do not believe that social media stunts last all that long, and I am here for the long-term, just as I have been since the 90’s with my Yahoo! chat clubs, where I met my wife.

I want to hear your thoughts. Please give your comments here on this blog, and feel free to give other readers your Twitter username in the form of http://twitter.com/murnahan (substitute the murnahan part).

Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) Changed Media Forever

Much of America heard about the popularity competition between Ashton Kutcher and CNN. If you did not hear about it, it is pretty easy to find on Twitter.

Social Media Ignorance and Arrogance

How could this happen that such arrogance and ignorance has become the definition of mass media? Well, it has not, and I consider Ashton Kutcher an utter failure in this respect. I watched the ustream Webcast of Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) talking about how he was changing media forever. It was fascinating, but not in a good way. It was more like the kind of fascination that gives me big sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This guy clearly has no idea what it is like to really connect with people. He will surely never understand or relate to the feeling I get from conversations I have with the many wonderful people I meet on Twitter. He surely will never understand the social in social media.

Ashton Kutcher Changing Media Forever?

Before I sound only negative on this, I will give some credit to Ashton. Maybe Ashton Kutcher is changing media forever. If we are lucky, his actions will help to emphasize the a point of social media failure on the part of those who do a lot of talking but no listening.

Perhaps Ashton Kutcher’s best contribution ever is his show of arrogance when he thanked all of his million Twitter followers and said that it was all their help that got him there. Oh, yeah, they got him “there” … wherever that is. He said, “You guys are all of it, because I can’t follow me” and then said the perhaps the biggest failure line a person has ever uttered in social media. Ashton Kutcher said “There are a million people who need to be thanked, because I am not following me, I’m following you” (see timestamp 20:20 on the video below). I found this really odd, because Twitter shows that Ashton Kutcher’s @aplusk account is only following 73 people. These are just a couple of assinine quotes taken from Ashton Kutcher’s recent ustream Webcast, but feel free to watch it and draw your own opinions.

What is Social Media?

If you follow my blog or my Webcast, you probably know what social media is to me. I have written volumes of publicly-deemed valuable information. My opinions are my own, and I freely share them every day with others by way of social media. I don’t feel an obsessive need for acceptance, and I do not shudder to hear another’s disagreement. This, my friends, is a wonderful thing about social media. It is not just being heard, but also about hearing, and learning, and sharing ideas and opinions with others.

A short time ago, I sent out a tweet on Twitter. It read as follows: “I would rather have 10 people speak kindly of me than a million to preach at.” (see the tweet). Apparently there is a good number of people who feel the same way, because it was retweeted many times (see retweets).

Another tweet I sent said “Just an FYI: I receive a lot of tweets, but I respond to nearly every single one.” (see the tweet). Again, there was a huge response from this, both in retweets and in replies. I responded to each of the responses. Now, I do not respond to every retweet. That, for me, would be truly debilitating, but if somebody is talking to me, you can bet I am listening.

I am listening now, and I want your opinions. Please give your comments right here on this blog and let’s discuss this socially.

How Simon Pwned Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki)

I want to tell the story of how my six year old son, Simon, pwned Guy Kawasaki. In order to set the story correctly, I have to share a little bit about my take on social media and how I think Guy Kawasaki gets it wrong. Of course, Guy is invited to chime in here on the blog or ring me at my direct line, *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*.

I Love Social Media

Most of my readers know that I love social media. I love being social, and the Internet is a great place to do that. If you have read any of my articles on social media, or have ever been to one of my interactive live Webcasts, you probably understand my thoughts on this topic. My feeling is that I would rather start with ten people saying something nice about me, because I was good to them, than to have 100,000 people to shout my message at. I do not mean to sound too much like “Stuart Smalley“, but people seem to like my message because they know I mean it. If those people tell a friend “hey, I know this marketing guy, Murnahan … I think he could help you”, I have received much more than I would by shouting at a deaf audience of 100,000. You can say that this does not apply to organizations seeking to reach millions of people, but it does, indeed. Let’s say for example that if those like Guy Kawasaki made a greater effort at communicating with me, he would suddenly have many thousands of additional people seeing his message, because I would pass it along, and my friends would pass it along … etcetera.

Is Social Media Just Social?

I am not trying to say that social media is just social. For examples of my thoughts on social media, I offer you my recent articles on “The Value of Social Media Marketing” and “The Social media Marketing Dilemma“. For those of us who really value social media and its importance to our lifestyles, you will likely appreciate that I met my wife through social media (@pegmu).

How Simon Won the People

So how did a little boy pwn Guy Kawasaki? A lot can be said about intent. I am not going to fact check and give source citations on this. It should be pretty easy to look it up for yourself. As I have been told, Guy Kawasaki employs three or more writers to do his tweeting on Twitter. I have also heard speak that Guy Kawasaki holds the value of a Twitter Retweet in very high regard.

A while back, on February 20th, I had this funny idea to create a Twitter-related video to show my personality and to make a few laughs. I even blogged about funny Twitter videos, because they are great fun to watch. It was all in fun, and we set out to make this video which went from concept to completion in well under an hour. The kids had a great time making it, and they still bring it up about how fun it was.

Here is Simon’s Video Pwn of Guy Kawasaki

The video is not actually how Simon “pwned” the social media master. For the real “pwn”, you will need to read the whole thing!

After making the video, I sent a message over to two guys who were mentioned in the video by Simon. These guys were Rob McNealey (@RobMcNealey) and Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki). I thought for sure that they would take it in good humor and have a fun laugh at the little six year old redhead from Kansas talking trash on them. Rob McNealey promptly responded with a good laugh and he Retweeted it to his friends on Twitter to see how he was “shamed” by this little boy. The response from Guy Kawasaki was not the same. In fact, Guy Kawasaki and his team of writers chose to completely ignore it.

Since the time we made that video, I have quite a few more friends on Twitter. I sometimes send the video out just so new friends can see it, have a laugh, and maybe get a better feel for who this @murnahan guy is. The video came up in conversation with one of these friends who wondered if Guy Kawasaki had seen it and, if so, what his take on it was. I explained that he, nor his writers, even gave it a nod. So, this is when “Simon Pwned Guy Kawasaki”. The tweet went out, and it was retweeted many times. The Tweet read like this:

Simon Pwned @guykawasaki http://is.gd/rykd [the #ghostwriters didn’t know!]

How Can This Be Called “Pwned”?

So how is that really being “pwned”? Well, it was really a joke when Simon said in the video that “we need to put him back in his spot”. Of course it was a just a joke! I was just a small guy who had very few followers, and certainly was not out to compete in any way with this social media giant.

When it actually came down to being pwned is when Simon and his daddy are very commonly more popular in all of the measures of Guy Kawasaki’s coveted Retweet than the man and his ghost writers who do not respond to their audience. Social media is about hearing and being heard. It seems that all his camp really cares about is being heard, which clearly indicates to me that they really don’t care about us “followers” any more than they do about their ability to sell us their words.

Regarding the real “Pwn”, just look at how many people follow each of us, respectively, and then see who is really being listened to. Here are some 3rd party references:

Now you tell me what you think, because I really want to hear. Is social media for broadcast or is it also valuable to hear what others have to say? I think it can be used either way, and it is the users choice, but I wonder which you think makes more sense.