Experiments in Web Entrepreneurship.

My Simple Social Media Marketing Strategy.

I've heard social media marketing described as.. "A thousand baseballs falling from the sky, which ones do I grab?"  I'm in the business every day and even I get confused at times.  I thought I'd describe what has worked for me in hopes it will illuminate a clear path for you.

With social media it's not big numbers that count, it's the number of people that trust you.  Sometimes people forget that ..including myself sometimes.

I've chosen one medium, blogging, to focus on creating value and trust there and have it automatically posted to my Facebook, Twitter and sent to my email list.  Meaning as soon as I write an article and click post in my Blog account, it posts to my Blog page, business Facebook page, Twitter account and emails my entire list automatically.

This has been incredibly helpful to focus on one medium and not become scattered in thought.  I know I'd like a dedicated Facebook and Twitter presence, however, not at the expense of detracting from my original focus.  About a year ago I stopped looking to make my email list bigger, currently about 1,700 subscribers.  And instead put my effort into connecting with the people already here.

Here's the specifics of this strategy..  I set up the blog you're reading now through TypePad.com, I then setup a Facebook Fan Page (You can set your own up here) and used the free utility RSS Graffeti (you add this once your Fan page is setup) to grab the posts from my blog account and post them on my Facebook page. I then selected the box inside my TypePad account to post my blog posts directly to my Twitter account by entering my Twitter account username and password and finally I signed up for Feedblitz to grab my new blog posts and put them in an email to my subscriber list.

If you're trying to manage these accounts individually, as apposed to automatically, you'll probably go bonkers. 

Also, if you're under the impression you will read enough to eventually become comfortable starting a Blog, Facebook page or Twitter account, you won't.  You will be completely uncomfortable, it will feel wrong, you'll be confused during set-up, your initial layout won't will be what you want and you'll feel like you're not sure what to say anyway. 

It's best to just get moving, kids are good at this.  They just start clicking things.  And yes they break them, but the sooner you break them the sooner you can fix them and start sharing your compelling passion with others and creating a valuable asset you own.

Create something genuine and others will do your social media marketing for you by sharing it.

Stop Talking.. and Start Walking.

It didn't take me long to realize I'm not smarter than anyone else.  I'm pretty average in fact.  What I have noticed about me however, is that as soon as I have an idea I believe is good, ..I stop talking about it and start moving forward.

Often with only limited knowledge about the market and only a reasonable sense of where I'd like to end up.  I often find myself alone, cold, on some rainy treacherous path that usually feels hopeless most of the way.  However, I always seem to end up at the finish line.  I complete what I started one way or the other.  What ironically feels like the wrong path for most of the journey, I know is the right path to eventual success. 

I hear great ideas from people all the time, ..but they are just talking.  Rarely doing.  It's probably best to get moving now, start learning in the marketplace as apposed to guessing what you think will happen or gathering more information.  You probably have enough already.

What's the one project you believe in and aren't doing right now?  It doesn't matter if you have all the data, I'd rather see you get lost along the way than to find you back at the starting line.  Which is also called the failure line if you never start walking.  It's easy to stay there, most of our friends hang-out there.

Stop talking.. and start walking.. please.. 

Seth Godin Needs Help.

Not in a mental institution sort of way.. He's looking for two or three brilliant people to help him launch a new publishing venture.  You'll be involved in every element, from copy-writing to social media to promotion.

The entire New York publishing industry pays attention to what he's doing becuase he's leading the curve.  How much so?  He's holding a book publishing seminar next month at the famous Helen Mills Theater in New York where he offered only 100 tickets at $649 and sold-out immediately.  That's $64,900 just to be a part of a one day talk with him.  And you know what, ..it's worth allot more.

The gig pays $25,000., you get to work right along side him in his office just outside New York and will learn, build and connect more in 7 months with him than most people get in a lifetime.

Here's his original post and here's a link to the application, the deadline is Friday December 10th. (take a look at a few of the application questions and you'll know right away, ..he does things differently.)