Social Networking And Why You Should Be Following The Crowd

By: Loc Tran

I received this question recently from one of the members of my LinkedIn group:

“Hi Loc, I am working on a marketing project and trying to reach the International Backpacker with social media – do you have experience with reaching this “moveable” audience?“ – Jasper.

Social Network Hopping

So I wanted to write today about the concept of social network hopping which is similar to bar hopping but applied to the online world.

When I’m out on the town on a Friday or Saturday night what I find is that I will rarely stay in one place all night, instead I will hop between a number of different venues because a change of scenery is fun and different people tend to frequent different venues. The excitement, magic and joy of entering a venue for the first time can be repeated several times throughout the night.

This is true also of social networking sites:

• It’s fun to be a member of several different social networking sites because each site may offer something different.
• Each social network may in turn attract a different type of audience.
• Just as in real life, you want to be where the action is and connect with like minded people.

Popular Social Networking Sites

Here is a list of popular social networking sites and the type of people you are likely to meet:

1. Twitter – mainly early adopters who are savvy with technology / social media and who are interested in connecting with like minded people i.e. “Tweetups”.
2. FaceBook – basically everyone is on FaceBook these days so it’s almost mandatory for you to be on there also, with FaceBook you have friends who you know and then if you want to connect with other like minded people you join specific interest groups, fan pages or community pages.
3. YouTube – for people who love to make and share videos.
4. Flickr – for people who love to take and share photos.
5. FourSquare – for people who are often out and about and want others to know where they are and what places they frequent most often.
6. Blogs – for people who like to write and share their thoughts and experiences in a more comprehensive way than what services like Twitter and FaceBook can offer.
7. LinkedIn – for business professionals and job hunters.

Go Where The Action Is For Your Brand

If you do a search on each of these social networking sites for your brand you will find that some networks will have more of a natural “buzz” than others, so it makes sense to follow the crowd and join in on the conversation where people are already talking about you or the things that you are interested in.

The same strategy can be applied across most social networks:

• Find the groups of people that you want to connect with.
• Join in on the conversation.
• Retweet, like, comment on what others have to say.
• Connect with those who respond.
• Ask them to do the same in return.

What Is Your Primary Call To Action?

Be sure to have a primary call to action in mind, that is, what do you want people to do?

• Do you want them to join your FaceBook page?
• Do you want them to check out your blog?
• Do you want them to join your mailing list?

Please note that it is generally frowned upon if you try to sell something to someone that you don’t have a relationship with on a social networking site although it is acceptable to promote an event via social networking without too many issues.

Also, you will find that most people are members of 3 different social networks and it’s much easier to get someone to hop from one network to another (i.e. if they follow you on Twitter, it’s likely that they will friend you on FaceBook also) than it is for them to do something that requires a great commitment such as buying your product or joining your email list.

Start Small, Build The Relationship First

So start small, once someone has connected with you on more than one social network you will have more of an opportunity to build a relationship with them and “graduate” them to another level, such as getting them to join your mailing list, etc.

So that’s pretty much it:

1. Follow the crowd.
2. Make a connection.
3. Get them to follow you back by joining you on your preferred platform.

Cheers

Loc

P.S. Got a question? Hit me up at mrlocspoc(at)gmail(dot)com.

About the Author

My name is Loc Tran and I design, develop and implement cost-effective, simple and proven sales, squeeze, social and statistics pages for small businesses in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Loc is very simply a class act. He is innovative, market focussed, highly computer literate and has the ability to integrate those skills into what a business requires. His creation of an online training platform was exceptional and his excellent project management skills kept mumerous marketing and general projects on track and budget.” – Ian Simpson, Innovation Director, MYI Freemans Ltd.

http://www.mrlocspoc.com/about-meloc-tran/

(ArticlesBase SC #2709590)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Social Networking And Why You Should Be Following The Crowd

Why Do So Many Social Media Experts Dislike Email?

By: Loc Tran

“If you don’t have email, you are missing three quarters of potential regular readers.” – Darren Rowse (ProBlogger), 2 minutes 25 seconds in the above video.

It always surprises me how many times I have checked out someone’s blog and they are supposed to be an internet marketing and / or social media expert and they don’t have any way to capture a visitor’s email address on their website. It’s surprising because all of the professionals and gurus all say that email has been an important component of their overall success online.

Why Do So Many Social Media Experts Dislike Email?

1. Because maybe they think that it’s not effective anymore? Well that really depends on how you use it, there is the right way and there is the wrong way, just with any other platform, if you use it the wrong way then you are not going to succeed.
2. Because maybe they think it is old fashioned? As Darren Rowse puts it “the average mom and pop still uses email, it’s familiar”.
3. Because maybe they don’t want to fork out the money to pay for an email marketing system? The way I see it, if you are a marketing professional then you should be collecting emails just so you can understand how the whole process works!

You Don’t Own Your Facebook Profile!

I received a message recently from someone who had their Facebook profile suspended and wanting to reconnect (and this is someone who is supposed to be a social media expert), if you don’t know this already, once you get your Facebook account suspended, you lose access to everything including any groups and pages that you have set up. The reality is that you never really own your Facebook profile and if you do something that Facebook considers to be inappropriate you will get suspended, some reasons for which Facebook might suspend you include:

1. You are adding friends too aggressively, everytime someone receives a friend request from you, they have the option to accept or reject your friend request, if they choose to reject your friend request they also have the option to specify if they know you or not, so if you have too many people reject your friend request and stating that they don’t know you, you will get suspended. This is true not just for Facebook but other sites like Twitter and Youtube as well, they just have different ways of going about it.
2. You are sending out too many messages, this is particularly the case if you are sending out the exact same message, individually to too many people, every message that you send can be tracked back to your Facebook profile and if enough people click on the “Report/Block this person” your Facebook profile will get suspended.
3. You are posting too much stuff on your news feed, this is especially true if you have your Twitter account linked with your Facebook profile, Twitter followers are very different from Facebook friends, with Twitter there is no such thing as over-sharing, whereas with Facebook you have to be a bit more discerning about what you post.

Why You Should Be Collecting Emails On Your Blog Or Website

1. Because unlike a Twitter, Facebook or YouTube account, you own your email list for life and you are pretty much free to do with it as you wish, even if you get your Facebook profile or Twitter account suspended.
2. Because people are fickle, today’s most popular social media networking site may be tomorrow’s ghost town e.g. MySpace.
3. Because as an internet marketing / social media professional you should be familiar with all effective mediums of online communication (email is still effective based on what the majority of gurus and professionals have to say, it’s not mutually exclusive, you can have an email list and a Twitter account and a Facebook profile and a Youtube account, it’s allowed).

So What Now?

Of course it’s not easy, just because you have an opt-in form on your website, doesn’t mean that people will sign up, here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Provide an appropriate incentive for people to opt-in, this will evolve over time and really depends on your niche / audience / source of traffic.
2. Use a proper email marketing system, don’t just rely on Microsoft Outlook or whatever email client you normally use because if you send out too many emails from your computer / domain eventually enough people will flag you as a spammer and you will get black listed (it will happen, everyone’s definition of spam is slightly different, even if they have double-opted into your email list you’re going to get some people who complain). With a professional email marketing system there is usually a team of people involved in developing relationships with the major email providers such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo to ensure a high rate of email deliverability.
3. Start today, test, track, test, track, test and track some more, eventually you will come up with the right incentive that appeals to your audience and in a few years time you will have a substantial email list that you own and that will be helping you to make money for years to come.

Cheers

Loc

P.S. Got a question? Hit me up at mrlocspoc(at)gmail(dot)com.

About the Author

My name is Loc Tran and I design, develop and implement cost-effective, simple and proven sales, squeeze, social and statistics pages for small businesses in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Loc is very simply a class act. He is innovative, market focussed, highly computer literate and has the ability to integrate those skills into what a business requires. His creation of an online training platform was exceptional and his excellent project management skills kept mumerous marketing and general projects on track and budget.” – Ian Simpson, Innovation Director, MYI Freemans Ltd.

http://www.mrlocspoc.com/about-meloc-tran/

(ArticlesBase SC #2639243)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Why Do So Many Social Media Experts Dislike Email?

7 Silly But Fun Things You Can Do While In Adelaide

By: Loc Tran

I just recently joined FourSquare (a location based social networking site). FourSquare is cool because it lets you discover interesting things to see and do in your city but like any social networking website it relies heavily on user generated content, so here is a list of 7 silly but fun things you can do while in Adelaide (in no paricular order):

1. Go to Distill, upstairs there is a pole normally used for pole dancing, climb to the top and touch the ceiling. Usually there is no cover charge to get into Distill although on busy nights i.e. Saturday nights you may need to line up to get in.

2. Go to the Ambassador Hotel on a Friday night and sing some karaoke, if you can’t think of anything I would suggest “All Out Of Love” by Air Supply, it’s a power ballad and it’s very easy to sing even if you don’t have a very good voice. Usually, entry is free.

3. Go to Sugar, challenge your friends to a game of pool, loser has to hit the dance floor and do some dorky dancing for one minute! Particularly funny when you’re drunk and best to do it early in the night when no one else has started dancing yet. Usually, entry is free, unless it is a busy night i.e. Saturday night and / or they have a special act on.

4. Go to the Rhino Room on a Thursday night and check out the stand up comedy, for extra points sign up and do five minutes of stand up comedy one night, probably best to call beforehand if you want to be included in the line up although sometimes you might get lucky although I wouldn’t recommend it, it really depends on what kind of MC you’ve got on that night. You’ll never really appreciate how hard stand up comedy is until you actually do it! Cover charge is usually $12 per person, although, if you’re performing you can get in for free, be sure to check their website for special offers such as two for one entry.

5. Go to HQ on a Wednesday night (flash dance) dressed up in a crazy costume. HQ often hosts dress up / theme parties so it’s not that unusual, be sure to check their website to see if there is a dress up / theme party, on the night you plan to attend. The cover charge is usually around $10 although if you get there early i.e. before 10pm and are in costume you can usually get in for free.

6. Go to PJ O’Briens on a Thursday night (ladies night) and request a song, if you can’t think of anything I would suggest “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, the dorkier the song the better. Usually, entry is free.

7. Go to Cocolat on Rundle Street and order a hot hocolate with extra love. Not sure why I’ve included this maybe it’s because I like chocolate and maybe it’s because I’m sorely in need of love and affection? Either way, it’s still fun / funny to see how the cafe staff react. The hot chocolate will probably cost you about $4.50.

Alrighty, this is all stuff that I’ve had a go at myself and that I think is quite fun / funny without costing too much, so I hope you like it and have a go at it for yourself!

About the Author

Join me on FourSquare, my username there is locspoc and you can find me here:

http://foursquare.com/user/locspoc

(ArticlesBase SC #2045702)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – 7 Silly But Fun Things You Can Do While In Adelaide

A review of David Ogilvy’s book “Ogilvy On Advertising”

Who Is David Ogilvy And Why Should We Listen To Him?

• David Ogilvy is commonly called “The Father of Advertising”.
• He was referred to as “the most sought after wizard in today’s advertising industry”, Time Magazine, 1962.
• He started his company Ogilvy, Benson & Mather in 1948 with $6,000 and sold it in 1989 for $864 million.
• Adweek magazine asked people in the business “Which individuals—alive or dead—made you consider pursuing a career in advertising?” Ogilvy topped the list. And the same result came when students of advertising were surveyed. His best-selling book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” is one of the most popular and famous books on advertising.

 

A Foundation For Successful Advertising

1. Results Are More Important Than Trying To Be Original Or Creative
2. Make Decisions Based On Research Not Gut Instinct
3. Create Big Ideas That Sell
4. Better Is Not Enough
5. Let Your Winners Run
6. Write Headlines That Sell The Copy
7. You Can’t Bore People Into Buying Your Product

1. Results Are More Important Than Trying To Be Original Or Creative

• “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it “creative”. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said “How well he speaks.” But when Demosthenes spoke, they said “Let us march against Philip”.
• Good advertising results in people taking action i.e. People buy your product, service or idea.

2. Make Decisions Based On Research Not Gut Instinct

• “I am sometimes attacked for imposing “rules”. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hate rules. All I do is report on how consumers react to different stimuli. I may say to a copywriter “Research shows that commercials with celebrities are below average in persuading people to buy products. Are you sure you want to use a celebrity?” Call that a rule? Or I may say to an art director “Research suggests that if you set the copy in black type on a white background, more people will read it than if you set it in white type on a black background”. A hint perhaps but scarcely a rule.”
• Research shows you what works and what doesn’t work, do what works, don’t do what doesn’t work.

3. Create Big Ideas That Sell

• “You can do homework from now until doomsday but you will never win fame and fortune unless you also invent big ideas. It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”
• Big ideas make people gasp when they see it, make people wish they had thought of it themselves, are unique, fit into the overall strategy and last for a long time.

4. Better Is Not Enough

• “If you and your competitors all make excellent products don’t try to imply that your product is better. Just say what is good about your product and do a clearer, more honest, more informative job of saying it.”
• Everyone says that their product is “better”, “better” is generic, specifics are what differentiate you from your competitors.
• Don’t just say that your product is better, prove it.

5. Let Your Winners Run

• “If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops selling. Scores of good advertisements have been discarded before they lost their potency.”
• Often advertising is removed in favour of something fresh and new because of the appointment of a new advertising agency or managing director therefore replacing something that is potentially working very well with something that doesn’t work.
• It helps to test the new advertising against the old under similar conditions to be certain that the new advertising is actually better.

6. Write Headlines That Sell The Copy

• “On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your products, you have wasted 90 per cent of your money.”
• People are busy, they rarely open a magazine or newspaper and read it from cover to cover, instead they skim through the major headlines until they come across something that interests them.
• People won’t read what you have to say if the headline doesn’t answer the question “what’s in it for me?”

7. You Can’t Bore People Into Buying Your Product

• “You can not bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them into buying it.”
• People are motivated by emotions and they justify with logic.
• Logic alone does not motivate people into taking action.

Examples Of Some Of David Ogilvy’s Best Performing Advertisements

• “Guinness Guide To Oysters”

• “Darling, I’m having the most extraordinary experience… I’m head over heels in DOVE!

• “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”

Most People Ignore Advertising

• 80% of advertisements get ignored.
• When you create an advertisement that looks like an advertisement you are saying “I only want 20% of people to read what I have to say”.
• When you look closely at David Ogilvy’s advertisements what you will notice is that they don’t look like advertisements – they look like news, informational or editorial copy.
• The best marketing is not marketing but good quality content.

Cosmopolitan Magazine

• Pick up a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine and you will see that they have lots of articles which have provocative headlines e.g. “The 8 Pairs Of Shoes That Every Girl Must Have” and interesting editorial but that are actually advertisements for products such as books, CDs and movies.
• People who hate SPAM and normally would never touch a book in their life will happily spend hours flicking through pages and pages of advertising without even realising it.
• David Ogilvy wrote the “Guiness Guide To Oysters” back in 1950.
• That is the power of modern advertising.

Conclusion

• David Ogilvy’s “Ogilvy On Advertising” is a must read for anyone interested in advertising, marketing, communication or persuasion.
• It not only gives you a good understanding of successful advertising but also provides useful information for finding work in advertising as well as tips for managing people and running your own advertising agency.
• I got it from Amazon.com for around $20 and it’s easily one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

Image By tsmall Flickr

James Cameron Releases Avatar 3D 7 Years Too Late

 

Do you remember back in the day when Adelaide used to have an IMAX cinema? It was kind of nice but it cost like $26, you only had 3 movies to choose from and they were all documentaries? I remember back in 1998 when I went to see Deep Sea 3D at the IMAX cinema on Rundle Street, it was a bit of a novelty, you would put on your 3D glasses and every once in a while a sea creature would seem to pop out from the screen and almost jump at you… but was it worth $26? Maybe, maybe not. Would I go back to see it again? Probably not. Did I go back to see another movie? No.

I remember at the time thinking, yeah this is ok but I really wish someone would actually make some good IMAX movies that we could all watch. Now, in 2009, finally a movie has been released that may satisfy that itch and with all of the buzz I couldn’t help but round up some friends to go check it out, the only problem was… Adelaide no longer has an IMAX cinema! James Cameron released Avatar 3D 7 years too late because the Adelaide IMAX cinema closed in 2002, so we ended up having to go see Avatar 3D on a normal cinema screen (but still in 3D).

Now, I do realise that there have been quite a few movies that have been released for the IMAX but nothing that I would consider noteworthy and keep in mind that I’m no movie or tech buff either, I might go to the cinema like once every six months or something like that and usually I just wait until it’s released on DVD or even on television but I do love a good story and Avatar 3D has been touted as the beginning of a new age of 3D cinema so it was something not to be missed.

So anyways, here is my review of Avatar 3D thanks to a little prompting from @ambermatson.

The Special Effects Should Support The Story

Watching Avatar 3D you get a sense that this movie was made for 3D not just something that was re-made for a 3D screen as an after thought.  The characters and scenery leap out at you, a golf ball seems to hit it’s mark just before it smacks you in the face and bullets fly at you in such a way that you can’t help but feel the impact. The special effects alone make Avatar 3D a must see movie of the year, however I thought the special effects were a bit gimmicky and whilst at first it seemed planned and deliberate, towards the end of the movie you don’t even really notice it anymore. I would have liked to have seen the 3D special effects play a more key role in the actual story line itself perhaps incorporated into the scene where Jake Sully (main character) conquers the toruk (kind of like a dragon) or used to emphasise the presence of Eywa (kind of like “the Force” ala Star Wars). Overall a pretty cool sneak preview of what’s possible with 3D special effects but with a bit more thought it could have been integrated more tightly with the story line. Whilst watching Avatar 3D I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to see a movie like Saving Private Ryan in the same format.

The Story Needs A Reversal

I’ve heard people describe Avatar 3D as being similar to “Dances With Wolves” but in outer space. Personally I don’t mind the whole loss and redemption story line but with the popularity of movies like the Sixth Sense, Fight Club and even more recently Terminator Salvation the audience has come to expect a shocking or unexpected reveal at the end, where you find out that not everything is what you thought it was. Avatar 3D really lacks that “Luke, I am your father!” moment. As I was watching Avatar 3D I couldn’t help thinking – what is unobtanium and why is it so valuable? In the opening scenes we are introduced to this thing called unobtanium which is supposed to be worth $20 million per kilogram but we have no idea about what it does or why it’s so important. Firstly with inflation, $20 million in 2154 would be worth like $100 in 2009 but anyways the value of the unobtanium sets the scene for why everyone is behaving the way they are.  I would have liked to have seen some demonstrations of what the unobtanium can do – is it a source of energy that can power the whole city of New York for a whole year? Can it be used to cure any illness? Is it a drug that promises to get you high like cocaine but without any side affects? Perhaps the Kelutrel (huge tree which is also the home of the Na’vi people, the Na’vi are a race of people who live on the planet Pandora) is the source of unobtanium – kind of like a Goose that lays golden eggs, the greed of the humans leads them to destroy the tree only to realise that it was actually the tree that was producing the unobtanium – the thing that they want more of in the first place?

The Characters Need More Charisma

Even though the technology for the making of the Star Wars prequels is far superior to the originals we are always reminded of how much better the originals were because of the fact that the original characters just had a lot more charisma.

Darth Vadder wasn’t just an evil dude, he was the baddest mofo in the galaxy, he could use the force to crush your vital organs and kill you just with his nasty nasty thoughts and he had a death star that could destroy an entire planet, his moto was “Screw up and I will kill you!”  Sure Colonel Miles Quaritch could talk tough and bench press heavy weights but there wasn’t very much for us to hate about him. Maybe he’s angry because he lost a close friend or family member during previous encounters with the Na’vi? Maybe he wasn’t breast fed enough as a child? Maybe they could have been keeping a few Na’vi in their lab to experiment on and torture. The more we hate the bad guy the more awesome the good guy becomes.

Han Solo was a lovable rogue who always said the most inappropriate things and brought comedy to the most dire of situations. Remember the Millennium Falcon and how it would always malfunction and stall as they tried to go into warp speed and it would stall more and more as the situation got worse and worse? Avatar 3D didn’t’ have a Han Solo or a Millenium Falcon, even though it was implied that the Avatar Capsules (the things that they would sit inside which allowed them to take control of their Avatar bodies) were technically imperfect you never actually saw them malfunction, they always worked perfectly and were never used as a way to increase the suspense and drama within a particular scene.

Yoda always had something profound to say and he would always say it in Yoda-Speak “Size matters not… Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” Great characters always have great catch phrases and we remember them for a long time whether it be “I’ll be back” or “… Bond, James Bond” we all know what movie it is that we are referencing, Avatar lacks that, I can’t remember any specific phrases from Avatar that really hit home for me.

The Future Of Cinema

With all of the money that these movies are generating from computer games, merchandise and other related licensing deals I can’t help but wonder why there is so much fuss over the issue of movie piracy. A good movie can be the spark for a new cult or subculture or franchise in which case a movie is like an advertisement that recruits people into that franchise who will spend good money on anything and everything that is related to that movie. Did I think that Avatar 3D was the best movie of all time? No. Would I go to see it again? Maybe. Would I go to see another 3D movie that is similar to Avatar in future? Yes. Would I wear an Avatar inspired costume to a halloween party? Hell yes! With Avatar 3D you can really start to see the potential of 3D and IMAX and with the expected flood of 3D and IMAX movies likely to hit the silver screen, maybe now is the time for Adelaide to have an IMAX cinema once more?

Go see Avatar 3D if you like science fiction and want to get a sneak speak into where the cinema industry is headed but don’t be expecting a surprise ending or characters that you can mimic and add to your repetroire of comic impersonations because there won’t be any!

What’s Your Comic Style? Take The Test Now!

This short test will help you determine what is your preferred style of comedy, check it out now!

If you plan to come, be sure to get there early, last week’s show sold out by 7.15pm!

Which of these dudes is a nerd and which is a ninja? Some day your life may depend upon it!

If you plan to come, be sure to get there early, last week’s show sold out by 7.15pm!