KNOWING ETHNICITY December 2017
MIKE 'THE BIG BUTTERFLY' FILSAIME .. The Man With The Midas Touch In Internet Marketing
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT FROM TRARENEE ILER PARK INTERVIEW:
TO PARTNERS WITH BLODGETT FACEBOOK IN A YEAR
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT INTERVIEW: RENEE BLODGETT
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MWM contents
[ OCTOBER 2017 ]
Regular Columns 6
Editor’s Letter Welcome to the December Issue.
7
MWM Inbox Got something to say? Tell us what you think.
11
MWM News Stuff you should know about.
15
MWM Success Story Mike Filsaime The Man With The Midas Touch In Internet Marketing
18
Subscribe Subscribe for free
19
MWM Ask the Expert Interview with Douglas Karr @douglaskarr from DKNewMedia @dknewmedia
30
MWM Gadgets and Toys You know you want them.
33
Advertise in MWM Be seen by potential customers.
34
MWM Tools Books, Courses, Software etc.
37
MWM Videos Watch useful videos on internet marketing etc
19
Douglas Karr
42
RENEE BLODGETT
42
MWM Q&A SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT INTERVIEW: RENEE BLODGETT
44
MWM Useful Links All the links in one handy place.
46
MWM Marketplace Buy & Sell domains and websites.
50
MMW Contributors The people that helped make this edition.
57
MWM Back Story HOW THIS ENTREPRENEUR WENT FROM TRAILER PARK TO PARTNERS WITH FACEBOOK IN A YEAR
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MWM contents
[ DECEMBER 2017 ]
Features 8 7 Habits of Highly UNSUCCESSFUL Digital Marketers 13 Internet Business Start Up CHECKLIST 26 MARKETERS are from Mars CONSUMERS are from Venus 27
27
7 COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY INTERNET NEWBIES AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM
7 COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY INTERNET NEWBIES AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM
31 INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY Tips By: Leo Wade 40 WHAT’S EXPLODING ON SOCIAL MEDIA 45 12 “Fearless” Marketing Tips
50
Contributors
51 THE CONTROVERSIAL POP-UP AND IN THE MARKETING WORLD By Fredrick Gonzales 52 THE CONTROVERSIAL POP-UP AND IN THE MARKETING WORLD YOUR INTERNET MARKETING
RESEARCH
COMPANIES TAP 53 HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING
53
HOW COMPANIES TAP SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING By Roxanne Cooper
55 Guerrilla Strategies for Creating Your Own Software Product By: Vaughn Item
MWM editors letter Welcome to the DECEMBER 2017 Issue of MWM our monthly “Making Web Money” Online Digital Marketing magazine - where every month we show you how real people, just like you, are making web money – online.
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MakingWebMoney.com Subscription enquires: www.MakingWebMoney.com Order the printed edition: www.issuu.com
This month we have MORE great articles and personal success insights, interviews, plus some ONLINE opportunities for you.
- 7 Habits of Highly UNSUCCESSFUL Digital Marketers - Internet Business Start Up CHECKLIST - MARKETERS are from Mars CONSUMERS are from Venus - 7 COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY INTERNET NEWBIES AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM - INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY Tips By: Leo Wade - WHAT’S EXPLODING ON SOCIAL MEDIA - 12 “Fearless” Marketing Tips - THE CONTROVERSIAL POP-UP AND IN THE MARKETING WORLD By Fredrick Gonzales - HOW COMPANIES TAP SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING By Roxanne Cooper - Guerrilla Strategies for Creating Your Own Software Product By: Vaughn Item - MWM Success Story – Mike Filsaime The Man With The Midas Touch In Internet Marketing - MWM Ask the Expert - Interview with Douglas Karr @douglaskarr from KNewMedia @dknewmedia - MWM Q&A - Interview: SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT INTERVIEW: RENEE BLODGETT - MWM Back Story - HOW THIS ENTREPRENEUR WENT FROM TRAILER PARK TO PARTNERS WITH FACEBOOK IN A YEAR
Advertising enquires: www.MakingWebMoney.com Contribute articles: http://MakingWebMoney.com Making Web Money Magazine Published 12 times per year. Copyright
All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated or converted into machine-readable form or language without the written consent of the publisher. Articles express the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher Making Web Money Online Marketing Magazine
I hope you enjoy this month's issue of the magazine, and as always please email me any comments, contributions or feedback.
>>
Talk to me Facebook.com/harrycrowder Twitter.com/harrycrowder
Keep your valuable feedback coming. I try to reply to every email, I appreciate your input as it helps to make MWM the Best magazine possible.
Email me at: harry@harrycrowder.com
Editor Harry Crowder Advertising See Above Contributors Various experts in their fields The instructions and advice in the magazine are for entertainment purposes only. The creators, producers, contributors and distributors or Making Web Money Marketing Magazine disclaim any liability for loss or lack of results from following the advice expressed herein.
Follow me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/harrycrowder/ Both the paper and our printer meet the international standard ISO 14001 for environmental management. The paper comes from sources certified under the Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme (PEFC). Please recycle this magazine – or give it to a mate.
MWM inbox
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Merry Christmas
Tell us what you like and don’t like about Making Web Money Digital Marketing magazine. What worked for you or what you think sucks, then we can make Making Web Money an even better online magazine. So, send me an email with your feedback and let me know. harry@harrycrowder.com
Feature Article ..
MWM 8 MWM 8
7 Habits of Highly UNSUCCESSFUL Digital Marketers Although most losers would never admit it, the characteristics of losers are self-evident. To transition from being a loser to a winner, the Bad Habits must be recognized, worked on, and DROPPED, before you can replace it with good habits. JUL I often laugh when I see people with serious loser's habits trying to read Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of highly successful people. It's like trying to do college courses when you were still struggling with kindergarten lessons. The truth is that the habits of successful people will not even make sense to a loser who has not dealt with the loser's issues. You can't pick up habits of highly successful people until you get rid of the bad habits.
4. Losers Have a Habit of Doubting themselves or
Digital Marketers
imposing limitations on themselves - Losers have an ingrained habit of putting limitations on what they can achieve and then try to excuse it by claiming it's not their fault. 5. Losers have a bad habit of giving very good of good excuses - Once you see someone who is always able to explain in very coherent and convincing way why he kept losing or for his lack of achievement, then you know you are in the presence of a skillful loser 6. The Habit of Doubting success stories of othersBecause they themselves have never done anything spectacular, they automatically doubt anyone claiming he had achieved something great
1. Unsuccessful marketers have the Shiny Penny Syndrome Habit – They like chasing every new thing 7. They are procrastinators and They don't' take out there that promised them wealth or that looks action - Unsuccessful people tend to ponder and like it can make them successful. They pursue the leave footprints in the sands of time. They can talk a shiny penny, they buy it and then never do anything JUL great game and they dream big but they lack the JUL with it before chasing another courage to just go forth. If you have noticed any of these habits about 2. Internet marketing Losers do not have clearly defined goals and a plan to achieve them - You see yourself, it's time to get rid of them and then pick up them everywhere. They tell you the great things they the success habits of the winners. You can't be a want TO achieve IN GENERAL TERM. NOTHING winner with loser's habit. Your habits are what you SPECIFIC. become and your habits determine how much you make or do not make every month. 3. Losers Accept Mediocrity and FIND EXCUSES for their lack of achievement. Losers never step up to the plate to do what needs to be done to reverse the Posts should be well thought trend in their careers. They feed into the blame game out and researched. If they lack of blaming the gurus who sold them products 'that information or are not relevant, do not work' though they have never committed to then it makes them see any of those programs to its conclusion.
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MWM news PARADIGM SHIFT: HAS GOOGLE SUSPENDED DEFAMATION REMOVALS?
Columnist Chris Silver Smith takes a look at what could be a recent policy shift in Google's longstanding informal policy of granting courtordered defamation removal requests.
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CUTTING-EDGE MARTECH? 65% OF BRANDS HAVE NO PLANS TO INVEST THIS YEAR In a new survey, marketers say technologies like virtual reality and machine learning will have a huge impact in coming years, but they don't plan to invest in them just yet. Marketers know that change is coming, thanks to new technologies like machine learning and virtual reality. But in a recent survey, almost two-thirds said they’re not planning to invest in those cutting-edge technologies in 2017. The data are from Bynder’s just-released “State of Branding 2017” report, which surveyed 562 “global brand managers and CMOs” in December 2016. Of those surveyed, 78 percent are based in North America, and 53 percent work at companies with more than 200 employees. Responses from B2B and B2C brands were almost evenly split.
A number of attorneys who specialize in online defamation/libel cases have reported to me that Google has recently suspended its longstanding, informal policy of removing URLs from US search results that are specified in duly executed court orders. This poses a major paradigm shift for many victims of online reputation attacks. Beginning around August or September of this year, a number of attorneys from across the US began receiving blanket denials after submitting requests to remove defamatory content from Google’s search results.
Respondents said virtual reality (24 percent) and machine learning (23 percent) will have the biggest impact on marketing during the next five years. Augmented reality (17 percent), beacons and chatbots (12 percent each) round out the top five. But only 43 percent of respondents called their companies early adopters when it comes to new marketing technologies. And very few of them said they’re planning to invest in these kinds of technologies despite knowing the impact they’ll have in the near future. Given a list of new martech tools and platforms, almost two-thirds said “nope” when asked their plans to invest in them this year.
Since at least 2009, Google has had an informal policy of accepting many removal requests when accompanied by a properly executed court order specifying defamatory/libelous content at specific URLs. I’ve personally seen a number of cases where hundreds and even thousands of URLs have been submitted with court orders, and Google has removed those URLs from search results. But they’ve now stopped. Not for every single request, but for a sufficient number that it’s clear something has changed.
Quotable:
“Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.” ~ Andy Rooney
MWM 13
THE
22-POINT
Internet Business Start Up CHECKLIST Many businesses have failed due to lack of planning or missing vital points in the plan. This is a checklist of points I have put together for you to consider and follow step by step when starting an internet based business. 1. First take a Foundational Training or Basic course on how to set up your own internet business. 2. Decide the kind of online business you want to start. 3. Research the market for your chosen line of business. 4. Educate yourself thoroughly about what it takes to succeed in your niche 5. Strategically online business.
Name
your
6. Write a realistic Strategic Business Plan for your online business. 7. Write a Marketing Plan to execute the business plan. 8. online
Organize financing for your business
business plan.
based
on
your
9. Join relevant internet business networking forums and different social media groups in places like Facebook; Google+ and LinkedIn 10. Design or get professionals to design your Logo; FB Banners; Website Banners; product designs.
18.Plan an Event to Launch your business. 19. Assemble Affiliates/JVs Friends to help with the launch.
And
20.Create Affiliate/JV materials that your supporters can use to promote you and your business as you launch.
11. Register a domain name for 21. Launch your Company with your online business. Announcements, press releases; free and paid advertisement and schedule y 12. Purchase or Assemble the our continuous promotions. critical tools you will need to 22. Once you have launched your operate as a business online. company, do not forget about the 13. Build a responsive and business plan you have written. optimized website for your business Above all, see your business as a or let someone do it for you. REAL BUSINESS. It is not a hobby or a past time. It is not a get-rich-scheme 14. Evaluate your finances to while doing nothing. Internet business determine your personal budget. is still a business even if it is easier than 15. Arrange a system for your regular businesses. Run it business accounting and payroll. professionally and you can start making 16. Create a Daily Operations the kind of money in only 2 years that most people in brick and mortar Manual for your online business. business can only dream of after 15 Choose a launch date for your years. online business.
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MWM success story
MWM 15
MIKE 'THE BIG BUTTERFLY' FILSAIME .. The Man With The Midas Touch In Internet Marketing
Mike Filsaime is an Online Entrepreneur and has been described as the “Michael Jordan of Internet Marketing” because of the expertise and knowledge he has shared over the years as an educator of innovative and cutting edge strategies. Mike is also an author, software developer, renowned speaker, and business consultant and runs one of the best and largest Closed-Door Masterminds in Internet Marketing. He has spoken on 5 Continents and has been to over 20 Countries speaking and networking about marketing. His he has been on stages in Singapore, Moscow, and Dubai as well as many of the top English speaking countries around the world. A strong believer in the Mastermind Concept and Networking Mike regularly travels with other self-made millionaires, raising money for charities as he does extreme life adventures like Jumping out of planes at30,000 feet, zero gravity dives, driving the Baja, and trips to the remote parts of Haiti that you can only get to by small planes.
Mike Filsaime has focused more on quality of life in recent years than “big dreams.” Having made money both ways, Mike enjoys a more concentrated smaller business than the day to day hassles of a big team.
His ventures have raised over $100,000 for different charities.
Before Marketing Mike Filsaime was the General Manager of one of the nation's largest auto dealers. 14 years in the auto business along with his education at the New York Institute of Technology in Computer Science and Business Administration has allowed Mike to understand Marketing, Advertising, Sales, Customer Service, long term Business Principles, and how to use the Internet to leverage these items to new successes. A natural leader, Mike led teams of over 50 people and trained some of the highest paid sales people in the auto industry today. He has a way of teaching his successful and innovative concepts to people in a way that sticks.
Startup History Mike started marketing part-time in 2002 and went full-time in 2004. Many of the people Mike has helped with Internet marketing have gone on to have incredible success in a very short amount of time after working with him. Many of them are now Internet millionaires working fulltime with their new businesses. Mike believes in continued learning and makes every attempt to stay on the cutting edge by studying the latest books, courses, and systems about marketing. Mike is also a student and studies from every successful person that is blazing the trail in their field.
Mike Filsaime is a known as a leader in the industry along other experts such as Ryan Deiss, Jeff Walker, Frank Kern, Eben Pagan, Yanik Silver, Andy Jenkins, and his one time mentor, Rich Schefen. Mike has been fortunate to spend personal time with people such as Mark Victor Hansen, Dr. Joe Vitale, Tony Robbins, and Oren Klaff. He has even given marketing advice to the Director of films at R o b b i n s R e s e a r c h International and offered personal one on one a d v i c e o n I n t e r n e t Marketing to giants like Tony Robbins. C h a n g i n g F o c u s T o Capture New Grounds MikeFilsaime.com changed focus in late 2009 to focus solely on S.A.A.S. (Software As A Service) websites as well as teaching marketing. If you take a look around his website, you will see many services that help online marketers to be more profitable with their online businesses. Between 2005-2014, MikeFilsaime.com, Inc. and Mike Filsaime's other online companies generated over 50 million dollars in revenue. MikeFilsaime.com, Inc. moved from Long Island in NY to San Diego, California in Mid 2013 Mike Filsaime has focused more on quality of life in recent years than “big dreams.� Having made money both ways, Mike enjoys a more concentrated smaller business than the day to day hassles of a big team. Shifting Focus Again To Capture More Grounds In Mid 2013 Mike Filsaime and Andy Jenkins merged their companies and assets to create Marketing Genesis. With new products like Video Genesis, Genesis Labs, Webinar Genesis, and Traffic Genesis, the new company, in its first year Marketing Genesis grossed over 10 Million in sales. Mike Filsaime also has a partnership with Hector Yague where we have also created awesome products like EvergreenBusinessSystem.com, l a u n c h edanewmarketplacecalled DealGuardian.com, as well as WebinarJam and most recently a new product called Ever Webinar
BIG BOY PLAY:
MIKE FILSAIME THE MICHAEL JORDAN OF DIGITAL MARKETING, FOCUSES ON ANOTHER SCORING MOVE!
In His Own Words: Why Mike Filsaime Is All In With Webinars And Ever Webinars For those of us who are ardent followers of Mike Filsaime and his post moving initiatives in the industry, it is very hard not to notice that the man dubbed the Michael Jordan of Digital Marketing is moving the marketing goal posts again. First it was Butterfly Marketing that changed the game, then it was SAAS, then it was Videos with his landmark Video Genesis product launch Lately the big butterfly has been betting big with webinars, first with Webinar Jam and now with Ever Webinar. In his own words, here is why Mike Filsaime is dribbling in from the 3-point line straight into a no-miss dunking position with Webinars… “Business owners are constantly telling me they want to sell more of their products and services online… Here's the thing: There's the hard way to sell your stuff - which involves creating a bunch of “lead magnets; "trip wires,;“core offers and “profit maximizers”… Along with all the technical stuff that goes along with that! OR There's the easy way - which is what savvy business owners use to sell their products and services on autopilot all day long:WEBINARS Over the years, my companies have sold 8 figures of products and services from webinars… And I've been part of building 3 different webinar platforms. Most recently Webinar Jam & EverWebinar. The cool thing about creating Webinar Jam is this:I got to seethe results of tens of thousands of webinars conducted on the platform…26 of those customers got IN SANE results from their webinars… So I wanted to know what they were doing… I reached out to them to ask if I could interview them… W h a t c a m e o u t o f t h o s e interviews was nothing less than spectacular! Layering their responses on top of what I already knew about creating webinars that sell left me with a new formula… I d e c i d e d t o t e s t t h a t formula…And it worked like gangbusters! So I tested it again. And again and again. Not only on my own stuff…But on that of my clients too! Every single time, this formula produced a profitable webinar that sells products or services… Even with COLD paid traffic
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MWM 19
MWM ask the expert
Hello Marketers! In today’s interview, I had the opportunity to speak with Douglas Karr, the CEO of DK New Media, the founder of Marketing Technology Blog, and renowned international author and speaker on social and search marketing.
“You can’t agree with everyone and become an authority.
Douglas is one of the leading proponents in the digital marketing space for using big data analysis to tailor marketing efforts and using his expertise in planning and guiding marketing strategies of DK New Media’s top tier clients like GoDaddy, Angie’s List, and Mindjet. His book Corporate Blogging for Dummies was one of the first publications that taught businesses to reach out to audiences through blogging strategies and continues to be a great read for savvy bloggers.
You must differentiate yourself, not be everything to everyone.”
?
Did you know: know:
Douglas is also someone who has been in a wide range of roles – from serving honorably in the U.S. Navy, to being a product manager, and then getting into database marketing, co-founding a blogging platform (that went on to be acquired by Oracle), and finally starting DK New Media, he has seen and done it all. We reached out to him recently for an interview and he was happy to set aside some time for us. In the following interview, he shares with us his knowledge on several things digital marketing.
The first electro-mechanical computer was developed in 1939.
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MWM ask the expert Q. Quality content creation can be a tedious and time-consuming process with the amount of research involved. How do you manage to churn out so much content on the Marketing Tech Blogon a daily basis? Besides content curation, do you have any tips for bloggers to churn out quality content in a short time?
A. In all honesty, I’m not so sure if it’s so much content. My goal is to put out two informative posts per work day and two posts on the weekend. There are a few thousand platforms available to marketers right now. There also dozens of enhancements to the platforms every year. If you do the simple math, it would require tens of thousands of posts per year simply to keep up. What I continue to look at is focusing on the prioritization of the topics, relevance to our audience, and ensuring any gaps are identified, researched, and produced. I have over 50 drafts on my blog – topic ideas where I’m waiting for a response back from a resource or time to do additional research. My goal isn’t to write a perfect article; it’s to get the information out there as quickly and accurately as possible, and then continue to expand the content as information is found. My tips for bloggers to churn out quality content is to ensure you have something valuable to your audience and do not hesitate to click publish. It’s that simple. Stop trying to make every article perfect today, you can continuously improve and enhance the same article over time – even republishing it as new when it makes sense. Being valuable doesn’t require being perfect. Q. You recommend a content strategy that involves the use of earned, paid, shared, and owned media. Can you give us some examples on how each of these marketing channels complement each other?
A. While we predominantly utilize owned media to drive people back to our properties, we want to raise the awareness of our content through relevant sources elsewhere. I view our strategy as a pyramid with our blog being the very highest point. Earned media naturally comes as we develop new rich content that other sites see value in and share to their audiences. We also utilize public relations to increase our visibility to targeted earned media resources. Shared media extends our reach significantly, and we utilize it to drive traffic back to our site. Paid media is something that we tend to use sparingly. While we could drive a lot more attention, I don’t want to artificially inflate our image in the space by buying visits. True authority doesn’t come from buying audience; it comes from impressing it.
MWM 22
Q. DK New Media is a company that diverted from the agency route and chose to service clients that are from the marketing and technology niche. What was the main reason for such a transition?
A. I’ve worked in online marketing since the inception of the Internet. I’ve personally worked with and for some of the largest software as a service provider in the marketing industry. That experience is valuable and we’ve used it to help launch dozens of other companies and assist in helping them develop their platforms. Through the Marketing Technology Blog, we have an audience. Through my work, we have experience. And through the agency, we have the best network and resources in the industry. No other agency can compete with that. If you’re going to start an agency, you have to work in the area you love and can succeed in. For us, that’s marketing technology. Q. You do recommend paid advertising to outreach competitors. Which is your favorite paid advertising channel? Can you give some examples of strategies that you have used successfully?
A. If you’re looking to extend your market share, you have to reach your market. If that market is owned by someone else, you need to pay to reach their audience. This is what our sponsors on our publication do with us. A typical example we often deploy is identifying a topic on our client’s site that attracted engagement and conversions for our client. We respond by diving deeper into the topic and developing an infographic and, more often than that, a white paper. To ensure a return on investment, we spark interest by bombarding some sources with small campaigns, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon. Our goal is to spark interest, not drive ongoing campaigns. StumbleUpon has been very successful for this.
MWM 23 Q. Compendium, the blogging platform that you co-founded with Chris Baggott has changed a lot since it was acquired by Oracle. Are you proud of what it has become? Also, what content optimization and blogging platforms do you use intensively?
Q. What are the 3 most common mistakes you’ve spotted in the blogging strategies of digital marketing agencies?
A. 1) Not writing consistently. 2) Writing about themselves too much. 3) Viewing content as a production of a series of finished products rather than a collection of parts in an overall content library. Q. On your blog you advocate the importance of authority in having a successful content marketing strategy. Do you have any advice on how digital marketing startups can build niche authority for their clients both locally and globally?
A. Authority is something that’s provided to you by your audience or community. You can’t agree with everyone and become an authority. You must differentiate yourself, not be everything to everyone. If there are better resources for your audience to attain knowledge in certain areas, stop trying to compete with them. Instead, point your audience to them. You gain respect and authority when you know what you do well and know who can do the rest. We advocate a process calledContent Authority where you analyze and improve content in the areas you have traction. Over time, your authority will expand as you become known as an authority in very specific topics.
A. I’m not proud nor ashamed of my work with Compendium. It was a great business learning experience, having never been involved in a startup from scratch before. The company pivoted a few times to take advantage of the market and that was good for the shareholders and the city. Of course, saying Oracle bought the company you started is always a cool thing. It’s important to note that the original plan for the platform was honestly never realized (but still could be). The problem we identified was that blogging was difficult – from the optimization of the site to naming, categorization, tagging, and measuring the impact of articles. In my opinion, it’s even more of a complex process nowadays than it was then.
Q. Can you detail how you use predictive marketing to analyze or optimize a marketing strategy for big companies? Also, can you explain how small publishers and agencies can mimic this route for analyzing and developing well-planned marketing strategies for their clients? A. Utilizing a ton of data sources we’re able to identify the content that drives business results. We can then identify the content that’s missing and prioritize it for increased business results. It’s a long-term strategy that requires a lot of resources and momentum, but it’s worked extremely well for our clients. It’s a strategy that drives home working on your strengths rather than wasting resources on work that can not compete nor accomplish your business goals.
Q. Your book, Corporate Blogging for Dummies, is one of the most authoritative and detailed guides on how companies can grow their online presence through blogging and develop an inbound marketing strategy. What inspired you to write the book? Do you plan to author any other books in the future? A. Well, thank you! While developing strategies for dozens of clients – both large and small – I saw that there was a huge gap between the bloggers that were writing for personal gain and the corporations that wished to engage with their audiences. Kyle Lacy wrote Twitter Marketing for Dummies and pitched Wiley that my book would be ideal for them. I teamed up with Chantelle Flannery, a colleague that I worked incredibly well with, and we wrote a book that still stands the test of time (outside of some outdated platform changes and organic search advancements).
Q. In Chad Pollitt’s words’, “SEO is not something you do anymore. It’s what happens when you do everything else right.” What is your take on this? A. Years ago, I caught quite a bit of heat for calling the SEO industry dead. The industry had become a dirty $5 billion industry of people who understood how to intelligently game the algorithms. As a result, some of the largest companies invested heavily and rose to the top of the search engines without the true authority of the industry to get there. We were seeing a continued problem where these companies were ranking well, but not converting well. The industry had figured out the math associated with search algorithms but lacked any marketing intuition on how to convert the audience. Marketers who did an amazing job were being overrun by backlink farms. We handled several clients that had unknowingly fallen victim to these strategies, and we became recognized as an honest SEO resource that had turned around several very large companies. If you asked these SEO consultants, they thought they were doing nothing wrong. They still refuse that they’re doing anything wrong. Unfortunately, there’s a huge percent of that industry that continues to do damage to their clients today. The algorithms have caught up with them. SEO is no longer a math problem, thank goodness. It’s back to becoming a people problem – also known as marketing. Chad’s quote is perfect. There is some baseline optimization that you should do simply to assist the search engines in indexing your site. However, the ranking of your content is ultimately dependent upon its quality and popularity. Jay Baer has done research that the average blog postscosts a company $900, and 80 to 90% of your traffic comes from 10 to 20% of your posts. Stop worrying about quantity and start investing in quality. “True authority doesn’t come from buying audience; it comes from impressing it.” I love this quote and completely agree. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Douglas, and for taking the time to answer my questions.
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MARKETERS are from Mars
MWM 26 26 MWM
CONSUMERS are from Venus By: Ebony Diaz
The Absurd Disconnect Between Marketers and Consumers 1. Marketer Often Forget to Look At Things From Perspective Of The Customer. Let's Look At Some Examples Marketer spends days creating a Viral Video of More than 20 Minutes and then wonders why internet visitors can't spend 20 minutes to watch it! Have you ever tried to get somebody to watch 20 minutes of video about something they're not particularly interested in? It's impossible! Anything more than a minute is asking too much of internet strangers. Marketer spends a fortune creating a branding app is so engaging and useful, and then is confused why Customers are not rushing to download it. The customer is probably thinking, What the heck is a branding app? Yeah, nobody's going to use that unless it's useful. The Irony of it all: If you have an amazing brand that people love, you're probably too busy building amazing stuff to worry about a “branding app”. 2. Marketers Often Obsess About Minor Details the Customers Do Not Care About Some serious concerns and obsessions by marketers include stuff like thinking and trying to resolve issues like: · “This ad would work a lot better if the logo was just a bit more to the right.”
“If only the font was a bit bigger, I would sell more of my
products!”
· “ I love my s l o gan ! It p e r f e c t l y encapsulates the value proposition.” · “This new brand positioning changes everything for my business!” But here are the way customers think about these 'serious issues': Truth is you are not going to see a huge increase in sales by changing your logo alignment or font size. Most customers are not savvy enough to pay attention to such details like brand positioning, font sizes or logo position. Most times, the customers that focused on such things would probably hardly ever be satisfied enough to buy and if they bought, most times they would end up cancelling or turn out to be customers from hell, making the l i fe o f yo u r s uppor t s ta f f m i s e r a bl e … You should probably focus your resources on building a successful product instead of obsessing over arcane stuff like that. 3. Marketers Often Think and Talk About Technical Jargon That Customers Just Think Are Weird! For example, Marketers worry a lot making a product more scalable for customers. But Consumers are like 'what is scalability?'. What is a scalable solution from the perspective of a consumer? Why would a consumer care about scalability, anyway? He only has one scale to worry about: his own. Scalability does matter, but few customers even think that far before making a decision…… better to focus on pleasing your customers now, then thinking of their future for them.
7 COMMON MISTAKES
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MADE BY INTERNET NEWBIES AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM Let us deal with some of the most common mistakes internet business practitioners often make and how they can go about correcting them. Every self-respecting internet marketer should honestly ask themselves - Am I making these mistakes? If you answered yes - then take corrective actions so you can achieve your dreams of internet business success. #1: Lack Of Foundational Training On What It Takes To Succeed Online Success online rarely happens by accident. Nobody goes overnight from being broke to becoming a millionaire on the internet, certainly not without learning the fundamental things it takes to succeed online. #2: Treating The Internet Business As A Hobby Instead Of A REAL BUSINESS Internet Business is not a hobby you just pick up. It is a BUSINESS, much like any other business. It is not a membership club. It is a BUSINESS. Internet business is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme where you just get paid without providing any real value. Regardless of what you may have been told, you need to WORK IT before you can make money online. #3: Feeding The Procrastination Disease [Talking About Internet Business Without Really Doing It] Stop over thinking stuff. Just Do it. Solve the Problems as you go. Find the time, or make the time. Learn the necessary technical stuff to get started – it's not rocket science.
#4: NOT Having An Articulated Business Plan Or Strategy For Their Online Business. Most do not have a written business plan and simply chase after currently hot opportunities, and call themselves successful internet marketers simply because they made a little money on Fiverr; Odesk; or Hubspot. You simply must develop a strategic business plan. This plan needs to be written and well thought out. Strategic netpreneurs aays have a clear vision of where they expect their yrs; 5yrs and even 10yrs, from now. #5: Lack Of Focus [Mr. Jack of All Niches] This mistake is a definite killer of dreams for many would be Netpreneurs everywhere. Most tend to try their hands on different things at the same time. Even those who have a strategic business plan often find themselves derailed by trying too many niches at the same time. # 6 : L a c k O f Effective Networking; JV Participation And Attendance At Internet Business Events You need to start networking with other internet b u s i n e s s p r actitioners ; attend their events/seminars/workshops and be active in online forums #7: Failure To Build A Mailing List (I.E. Missing Opportunities To Collect Customer Info) Virtually all the top internet marketers in the world agree that 'the money's in the List', and all those successful internet millionaires can't be wrong, even if the statement is really not the complete story. By 'list', I mean a mailing list of e-mail addresses, that people have given you as an expression of interest in you and your products or services.
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MWM gadgets & toys HP, Google, Microsoft and Apple were all started out of Sola is an intelligent massager to RUNTIMATE MAGNETIC provide a relaxing time It goes without saying that life can get rather stressful after a particularly difficult day at the office – or even at home, so much so that you feel as though you need to get out of the house and enjoy a massage session. However, things do not always end up according to plan, and for all of the ladies out there, should the hubby end up being too tired to meet your amorous advances at the end of the day, perhaps it is time you fall back on a different kind of massager in the form of the Sola , where it has been dubbed to be the world’s 1st intelligent 4-in-1 personal massager that has been designed by women – for women.
RUNNING BELT SYSTEM
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MEEM MEMORY CABLE AUTOMATICALLY BACKS UP YOUR SMARTPHONE EVERY TIME YOU CHARGE Kelly Sumner has created a new innovative charging cable that also automatically backs up your smartphone every time you connect it to charge. Providing peace of mind and the knowledge that all your data is secure even if you haven’t docked with your desktop or laptop computer.
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Did you know
Runners looking for a convenient way to carry smartphones, keys, water or anything else whilst engaging in their chosen sport, may be interested in a new magnetic running belt and arm band which has been created called Runtimate. Runtimate has been to specifically designed to hold your workout equipment and gadgets conveniently in place around your waist or arm. Providing easy access to everything you might need whilst out running without the need to stop, check out the promotional video below to learn more about its design and inspiration. The creators of Runtimate explain more : Magnetically secure your workout gear to Runtimate Running Belts and Armbands and unlock it whenever you need it. It’s that easy. Keys. Towels. Water. Phone. Our worst nightmares when we decided to go out for running. We tried everything, from waist packs to running backpacks: carrying and using comfortably that stuff was almost impossible. We looked for something better: – Something with the capacity of a backpack in the space of a waist pack. – Something so comfortable that you would forget it while running. – Something designed to maximize usability. Runtimate Belt and Armband represent our vision of the future of sport waist packs and backpacks. We thought magnets could save us from the bother of carrying running gear efficiently. After more than a year, we can proudly introduce a state-of-the-art invaluable device for your outdoor training. The Runtimate project is currently over on the Kickstarter crowd funding website looking to raise €65,000 in pledges to make the jump from concept to production. So if you think Runtimate is something your running could benefit from, visit the Kickstarter website now to make a pledge from €25 and help Runtimate become a reality.
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One million babies have been born from people who met on Match.com.
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INTERNET MARKETING
STRATEGY
Tips
By: Leo Wade
Every business looking to succeed needs to have an unusual marketing strategy in hand. And what could be better than a strategy that works on the internet as well? Internet Marketing has been proven to help businesses reach places and people that they never thought possible. Improve Your Strategy Here are some tips and tricks to help improve your online marketing strategy:
Research and determine the social media platform that would work best for your business.
- Use Social Media While this not the best option for every business, it is one of the best ways to reach a large crowd in a short amount of time. Research and determine the social media platform that would
- Check Out Your Competitors Visit sites that belong to your competitors. Check
work best for your business.
out how their business is doing. It is the best way
- Use SEO and SEM Turning up in search engine results can help you attract more
to increase your knowledge.
and more customers. Businesses having strong SEO and SEM strategies are more likely to be chosen by clients who are looking for similar products or services. - Keep Up with Technology It is a good idea to stay in touch with all the latest trends in the market. This will help in keeping your existing customers interested as well as attract new customers. - Evaluate Your Website Content Keep your site content precise and exciting. Update your site frequently and try to keep your website clean and attractive. Nobody wants a messy internet site.
- Create a Blog Business blogs can help you keep your customers up-to-date about everything going on in the firm. Plus maintaining the blog can help boost your business's SEO.
¡- Encourage Reviews Encourage the visitors on your website to leave their suggestions and complaints. Request them to send you a review of your services. The best way to grow is by learning from your mistakes.
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MWM tools > Books, Courses, Software, Tools and other Resources to help you succeed online.
13 COOL TOOLS TO SUPERCHARGE YOUR DIGITAL
BUSINESS 2. VOXER
1. DICTATION With dictation you can use the magic of see I on to write emails. Narrate essays and documents in the browser without touching the keyboard. Dictation uses your browser’s local storage to save all the transcribed text automatically as you speak.
That means you can close the browser and it will resume from where you left off.
Voxer as a free app that combines the best of voice text photo and video messages for a powerful and personal messaging tools.
E a s i l y and i n s t a n t l y communicate with friends, family or teams at work live or later. Voxer is the only service that delivers voice live, so it can be listened to immediately and simultaneously records the message, so it can be listened to later.
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4. EVERLESSON: Instantly Create Ready-ToSellMembership Products & Courses In 5 Steps.
5. SWIVL
Ever Lesson combines membership software, v i d e o p l at form , Automated sales page builder and more, all in 1 powerful platform- the last membership software you will ever need.
S w i v l is an automated video platform that uses your I O S device (IPhone, iPad and Touch) or Android
Devices to record lessons, lectures, presentation and evaluations. The Swivl is a small round-shaped piece of electronics that connect to your device and records using the iOS or Android device's camera. 7. INTERCOM 6. SLACK
Slack is a team of communication tools which can be used across multiple devices and platforms and is equipped with robust features that allow you to not only chat one on one with associates but also in group. You are able to upload and share files with them too, as well as integrate with other apps and services such as Skype for video calls.
Intercom is a user intelligence and behavioral targeting platform that help t o b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d , improve and benefit from your customer communication, The app provides insight into who is using your product and offer the tools to send personal communications. You can utilize intercom to send targeted in-app messages and behaviordriven emails. 10. WORDSWAG
8. RINGORingo Lets you make phone calls to mobiles and landline in other countries. Only you need to install the app on your smart phone. The other person can answer the call without installing Ringo, so you can call anyone who has a working phone connection. 11. NOISLINoisli
9. ZOPIN Web chat software can give you a significant edge over competitors who don't offer live chat support. With Zopin, you get a unique chat design and a wide range of convenient contact options to help build customer loyalty. Zopin's service also gives you analytical tools for understanding your customer's needs
Wordswag is app that allows you to add text to your photo and create great graphics you can share on Facebook , Instagram email or Twitter. You can choose from your own photos or numerous built-in background.
Noislinoisli is a fantastic background noise and color generator for working and relaxing online soothing ambient sound like white noise. Rain and coffee shop no matter if you are in an environment where it is too loud or too quiet with noisli you can create and listen to your favorite background sound.
12. CALMCalm Is the app for mindfulness and mediation to bring more clarity, joy and peace to your daily life. Calm is the perfect meditation app for beginners but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced mediators and gurus Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes.
13. MOBIMATIC APP BUILDER – A Comprehensive Mobile App Development and Business Platform. Mobimatic makes it Super easy to build Apps for . ALSO providing a ton of YOUR Business while cool Features to make building awesome apps as easy as Drag and Drop. Thousands of businesses and Mobile App Agencies across 50 countries use Mobimatic to greatly reduce the time and cost it takes to build high Performance Apps
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MWM videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSkWqI7M3Ts
MWM 37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t6ba6Cj690
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzEuURaTiZ U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5GQm55c cTk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CaUcIwPsH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYN1BjtZ6nc
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Feature Article . .
WHAT’S
EXPLODING ON SOCIAL MEDIA? 5 TOP TRENDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING YOU SHOULD KNOW! 1. Customer Service Migrating to Social Media with More and More C h a t b o t s Launched More and more companies are turning to chatbots as more and more customers show preference with responses from vendors via social media. Sprout Q2 Index also noted 34.5% of respondents prefer social media as the best avenue for customer care. Following this development, smart brands looking for ways to increase their customer service resources are turning to chatbots as easy solutions. Platforms like Facebook Messenger and Slack use chatbots to communicate with customers, answer frequently - asked questions or to provide immediate information on a product or service. These chatbots can increase communication and reduce response times to social messages in need of an answer. Slack - Slack grew to 4 million daily active users in 2016. (source: Venture Beat). Slack owns roughly 1.25 million paid accounts. BotList shows 484 Slack Bots currently available. (BotList) According to The Verge, there are 11,000 active Facebook Messenger Bots. Forbes also says 300 million people actively use voice and audio calling features on Facebook Messenger. Facebook Bots now accept major vendors such as MasterCard, Visa and American Express.
A Content Marketing Institute report discovered paid advertising on search, social media ads and promoted posts increased dramatically year-over-year into 2016. So, to keep up with your competitors it is a great idea to start experimenting with paid adverts and p aid content promotion, if you have not been thinking about it. 3. Less Automaton and More Effective Management Tools.
For a few years, social media automaton was all the rage but that is waning very fast in 2017. After the initial fad and excitement about automaton of social media posts, customers are starting to get turned off by the automaton software. Most customers hate the robotic feel of automation. Most consumers of today just want real, and personalized interactions. Except for chatbots, experts are now recommending that brands should avoid automating social engagement too much. Instead of automated responses, companies are being advised to try more customer friendly tactics like:
2. The Rise Of Paid Content
As major social media platforms continue to modify their algorithms to make it harder for businesses to get organic traffic with their organic content, social media centric companies are digging more and more into paid traffic and paid content to get more views and more visitors to their social media platforms.
a) Using more personalized responses to engage visitors to their pages b) Organize Social Campaigns that Interact with Consumers c) Listen more to your customers, and don't just try to sell or promote all the time d) Learn to grow an Organic following for your brand with Better Relationships
4. Social Shopping & Instant Purchases on the rise
Social commerce isn't slowing down and more networks are providing brands with easier ways to sell to customers. Instant purchases are now available on Facebook and Instagram with more social media platforms already considering introducing something similar Many companies are beginning to realize that the power of social media can truly impact a buyer's impression and more brands are therefore moving toward social commerce in today. 5. The Rising Excitement and Use of Artificial Intelligence Lenses
Artificial intelligence lenses make the networks who have it like Twitter and Instagram more interactive, engaging and unique compared to others. Therefore, you can expect every social media worth its name to bring out their version of the AI Lenses phenomenon coming. Snapchat , Facebook and Instagram are already exploding the AI
Lenses war and
it's just a matter of time that this becomes mainstream in attracting and engaging customers on social media. Time to start figuring out how they work and how to you can weaponize it for sales.
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MWM Q & A
MWM 42
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT INTERVIEW:
RENEE BLODGETT
By: Kane Lodge Renee, tell us a little about what it is you do? We had a bit of chit chat with Renee Blodgett, the founder of Magic Sauce Media, a social media, branding, marketing & PR consultancy focused on small businesses from around the world. As one of the first bloggers in the industry, Renee has been writing for over 20 years. In September 2012 she ranked #12 social media influencer by Forbes Magazine. Renee is also the founder of We Blog the World, an online culture & travel magazine for the discerning traveller and Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings thought leaders, writers and social media experts to emerging markets to cross pollinate ideas.
I run a social media, branding, marketing and PR consultancy called Magic Sauce Media, based in San Francisco. I work with companies around the globe on their social media and branding strategies from around the world. I take a very integrated approach to marketing: finessing and fine tuning as things develop and change is always part of the mix for clients. We also do a lot of events, which can range from ideas and execution to strategy and messaging. I’ve been blogging for about 15 years. I write on my personal blog, Down the Avenue, which has been ranked as a top marketing and PR blog by several sources. I also write for Huffington Post, BlogHer and We Blog the World, which I founded in 2008. I am also the Editor and run the site which was recently relaunched as an online culture and travel magazine for the savvy, discerning traveller.
Tell us about the journey you undertook to get you where you are now? Where did you start?! I started my career in advertising in London many “moons” ago, at a time when Saatchi & Saatchi was at its peak. I moved from above-the-line advertising to direct mail and promotional agencies in London, Amsterdam and Johannesburg. From there and in between, I was into sales for awhile and the art world. It wasn’t until I returned to the states that I fully dove into PR, initially at a healthcare crisis communications agency in Boston. Technology started to take off and as opportunities opened up in the tech world and retail and consumer marketing was on the decline, I jumped into the enterprise world. I worked at a couple of small boutique agencies and then a large renowned agency where I represented both small and large publicly traded companies in both the B2B and B2C space, including publishing and events. I have always gravitated to events and ended up taking more on in Switzerland when I worked in the telecom space and later in Johannesburg when I returned to South Africa for a second stint in the nineties.
I then went in-house to Dragon Systems, a leading speech recognition player, where I headed up global corporate communications until the company was sold to a competitor. Post Dragon was a pivotal point where I could have taken a few VP offers at a time when I was exploring the start-up scene or heading to a stint at large company like AOL. I started consulting which migrated into starting my own business on the East Coast in Boston until I moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area.
How important would you say having a social media presence is for businesses these days? If you want to market your product or service in any way shape or form, social media is an essential integral ingredient. It’s the first time we’ve been given a megaphone to tell our story to our customers, partners, prospects and other influencers and can do so with a simple button click. Bear in mind that social media may be more successful and instrumental for some industries over others. Businesses will need to create the right mix depending on what will best serve their customers and while it appears the whole world is turning digital, having a team tweet about the efforts of a cement company based in South Dakota may not be the best marketing move. As I mentioned in a recent interview, I attended a business seminar in Las Vegas last year with over 3,000 people and only 30% of the people in the room had primarily online businesses. That said, clearly if you’re not using social media and capitalizing on it, you may just be too behind the curve when more of your customers than not want to engage with you there. My point about the cement company is we need to not lose sight of our business objectives and where our customers spend most of their time. If social media is the best way to reach them, then by all means, implement a major campaign that integrates social media.
What three bits of advice would you give a business that is taking their first steps into the world of social media? It’s the same piece of advice I’d give to a company before the world ever heard of the two frequently misunderstood words: social media. Know Thy Customer. In other words, spend time getting to know your customer, where they spend their time, the things they care about and how they like to receive updates and information. Once you have a better understanding of your customer and prospective customers, you can more effectively create a plan that will work. The other thing that businesses probably don’t realize is just how time consuming it can be to do it right. Often, I hear companies who have an intern or an entry level person handle their social media efforts and complain that “social media” isn’t effective and doesn’t move the needle. Social media is our new megaphone to the outside world. It should be managed by someone who fully understands your brand’s voice and has seasoned experience so they can also handle negative or neutral situations that arise on any of your social media platforms.
What do you think the future holds for social media? Social media is a way of thinking and looking at the world. While we used to communicate with important influencers and customers at events and send them updates via email, we now have many more ways to reach them. That said, it doesn’t mean other more traditional marketing vehicles don’t still work, such as newsletters for example. What’s key is integrating social media into the mix in the ‘right’ places where it will be most useful to engage with your customers...and at the right time. Through trial and error, I am learning what times of day to get the most attention from my Pacific and Asian readers for our blog, and what kinds of things get traction on our Pinterest and YouTube pages and what doesn’t. Like everything else, social media is one piece of the marketing puzzle. I think we’ll increasingly need tools to turn so many of our silo-ed social media apps and solutions into an integrated platform that is easier to manage and scale.
Spend time getting to know your customer, where they spend their time, the things they care about and how they like to receive updates and information.
For The Next 12 Months, I Will Show You Step-By-Step How To Implement 12 Channels To Draw Targeted Visitors To Your Site.
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MWM useful links
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ATTENTION OFFLINE MARKETERS Gone are the days when YOUR business would grow by you JUST reading books!
If you are an OFFLINE MARKETER In order to BEAT your competitors today, you need to be Online and use Internet Marketing effectively for success in all facets of your business. Let me take you by the hand and prove to you that Internet Marketing can grow your business to new heights!
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Feature Article ..
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12 “Fearless” Marketing Tips To Supercharge Your Social Media Marketing Results
1.
Become a Resource on Facebook - Build a page your customers would enjoy and then use that platform to delight them. Deliver posts that educate, entertain, inspire and inform to reach a wide Facebook audience. Turn yourself into an expert that people look to for good information
2.
Use Twitter to strategically Grow Your Audience - To succeed on the Internet today, you must create content that ignites and engages an audience. Use 'Twellow' App to find and follow targeted users in any category. 3. Switch Up Content Formats – You can Turn Articles to videos regularly. You can also convert snippets from your existing articles into images—which tend to have better reach on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. 4. Create a Social Media Channel Plan – Many get overwhelmed on social media because they have no social media channel plan. Here are the components for your channel plan: The Channels you want to focus on; The Persona you want to present online; Your Goal on social media; Primary Content Type; Structure of your approach etc. 5. Host Private FB Live Events - Use a private community alongside regular social media pages, so you can host a dedicated, private experience in a separate group for your company lovers and fans 6. Use Social Updates to Write Blog Posts – Take your most popular tweets and Facebook posts, or the ones you feel most passionately about, and use them to develop blog posts. 7. Manage Time Effectively - How much time do you spend crafting blog posts? Sending emails? Sitting in meetings? Getting a handle on time management is a huge challenge for business owners. Try a time-tracking tool like Rescue Time to improve your daily productivity and devote more time to the areas that need it most. Expand Reach with LinkedIn Publisher - Take advantage of the free content publishing feature on Linked-In called Publisher. It can increase your exposure to your target audience and help build your credibility as an expert in your industry
8.
9. Focus on One Social Media Channel at time – Find one channel that is densely populated with your ideal customers and work it hard for maximum results. Achieve great measurable results before focusing on others. 10.Automate Curated Content - If you run a small business, creating or curating content can be relegated to the back burner. Schedule a baseline of curated content. Use tool like Hootsuite's new Suggested Topics under its Publisher tab. 11. Create a Social Update Library - When you batch content and social media update creation, it's much easier to come up with interesting ideas for status updates relating to that content. 12. Publish Long-Form Content on Linked-In By publishing new and previously published content on Linked-In, you can grow your audience and network while increasing your status as an expert.
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MWM contributors Fredrick Gonzales Frederick Gonzales may be young but he has amazing Internet marketing skills. He started as a PPC expert in a digital company but he now owns his own company based in UK.
Roxanne Cooper Roxanne Cooper is a newspaper contributor. She also works as a freelance writer, creating versatile content, from relationships to marketing.
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MWM Top Q & A Which social media platforms should my business have a presence on? There is no set answer to this question, because you need to have a presence wherever your customers are – and different businesses have different audiences. One demographic spends most of their time on Facebook, while another really only engages on LinkedIn, and some divide their time equally between three or more sites. Find out where your customers are, and follow them there. How can I take control of my brand online through social media marketing? Taking “control” of your brand isn't really possible anymore, thanks to social media. Whether you're in the conversation or not, people will talk about you online, and there's no way for you to “control” what they say. But what you can do is join in those conversations, and influence them by being a part of them. The most effective way to influence your audience's perception of your brand is to participate in the conversations, and steer them in a direction you want Isn't social media marketing taking the place of email marketing? Actually, statistics show that email reaches three times more people than Facebook and Twitter combined. That's a significant difference. Social media marketing is wildly popular, and becoming even more so every day, but it is definitely not taking the place of email marketing any time soon. On Facebook, for example, each post only reaches a small portion of your users. If you have users opted into your email list, however, everyone on that list will receive that message.
Can I buy a list when I'm just starting out with email marketing? It can be tempting, but you've got to resist that temptation. The only way to get an email subscriber list that will be beneficial to your company is to grow it organically. First of all, many email service providers won't even allow you to use purchased lists. And secondly, the email addresses found on lists like those are not high-quality leads, to say the least. They will not contain people truly interested in your products or services, since these people didn't optin to your specific email list, so they'll also be much more likely to mark your emails as spam.
What are the steps to developing a content marketing strategy?
What is content marketing exactly?
What are some common social media marketing mistakes business make?
Content marketing turns traditional marketing on its head. Instead of focusing on a company and its products or services, it focuses on the consumer's needs first. The goal of content marketing is to provide value and genuinely helpful information to consumers for free, in order to create a relationship with them based on trust, and over time usually make a purchase.
First, determine who your target audience is. Develop a customer persona to whom your content should speak. Then, based on that persona and your company's brand image, decide on your company's voice, and the type of content you will be creating. Your content needs to be informative and valuable, as well as interesting and engaging , to your tar get demographic. And once you start producing content, constant tweaking of your strategy is in order, based on how successful each post is.
One of the worst mistakes is inconsistency – only posting sporadically, and not responding when consumers reach out to engage. Another biggie is using social media as a place to announce your own content and nothing more, without ever engaging in discussions or adding comments to the post that make your audience want to click or like or share.
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Feature Article ..
THE CONTROVERSIAL POP-UP AND IN THE
MARKETING WORLD
By: Fredrick Gonzales
The word pop-up is enough to bring a look of disgust on one’s face. You remember the time you almost punched the computer because of them. Pop-ups have been mercilessly unleashed on the users. So much so that pop-up blockers had to come into existence. A pop-up is any message on the web that is displayed in a separate window. This happens on its own, usually triggered by a click. It can also appear just by opening a web page. The content ranges from subscription offers to completely irrelevant videos and text. Not all is bad Pop-ups definitely have their utility. Everyone dislikes pop-ups and some marketers also feel uneasy about unleashing them on the users. But pop-ups actually have the potential to make a difference. In many cases they have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of subscribers. Hence while marketers do not want to irk consumers, they still find them slightly irresistible. Some websites use neat pop-ups that almost don’t irritate the users. The language can make a lot of difference. Honest humour can repair the damage the very action of the pop-up popping up causes. Regulation is also a key factor. Some websites make sure not to bother old users with pop-ups. They try to keep the prompts relevant too. Are they good? Are they bad? Websites must keep in mind to not over use pop-ups. The irritation generated by annoying pop-ups might not be reflected accurately. This is because the closing the pop-up and moving on almost comes as a reflex. Users swallow the annoyance and move on to what they wanted to. They might not even bother complaining because they think it is hopeless. Isn’t everyone is supposed to know how annoying pop-ups are? The utility of pop-ups should not be inferred from complaints against them. Instead, it should look at changes in figures of subscribers etc.
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Feature Article ..
HOW COMPANIES TAP SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING By: Roxanne Cooper
Social media marketing has reportedly caused a 133% increase in business retailers’ revenue. Social media essentially creates a ripple effect, or eword of mouth. Information travels from person to person by social media features like likes, reposts and sharing.
It is hard to stay away from your smart phone with all these features. And that makes social media marketing a very important area for companies to tap. Thousands of apps are designed especially to be compatible with phones. Companies try to develop content and interaction mediums that are mobile-friendly.
Another way in which marketing takes place is by trying to get people to feel involved. People are able to comment on products, write reviews, write to the companies etc. Many prominent people have twitter accounts and tweet regularly. People can even address tweets directly to them through their twitter handles. They become more real and approachable for people. It is crucial in familiarity and trust building.
Social media has its own flow. Things beyond anyone’s control are set in motion once something catches the public’s eye. Among all the activity, companies can pick up complaints, compliments and opportunities. This is great way to fix errors and make improvements. Customer choices are also studied and monitored from people’s social media behaviour.
Right in the hands of customers The advent of mobile phones has been phenomenal. Before our very own eyes they have transformed from small box like gadgets to sleek smart phones. Gone are the days when one only used phones to make calls and send messages. Today people are enjoying photography, video calls, gaming etc. on their phones. The internet can also be accessed from handheld smart devices. Many people like to stay connected to the World Wide Web. They like to regularly check their various social media feeds. Mobile phones make that so easy, especially when people are travelling etc.
What do the customers want?
Many people like to stay connected to the World Wide Web. They like to regularly check their various social media feeds. Mobile phones make that so easy, especially when people are traveling etc.
Instagram has 600 Million monthly active users and highest browsers to buyer ratio Instagram advertising - A huge platform to showcase your offerings to millions of website visitors.
90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text. With Instagram ads - Visual content becomes king and marketing is queen.
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Guerrilla Strategies for Creating Your Own Software Product In 7 Days or Less Without Writing a Line of Code.
Regardless of the secrecy surrounding how to get started in the software game, in the internet marketing world, the truth is, you really don’t need to be a top guru, or be a coder or even have have a technical mind to produce a winning internet software. First, you may want to ask ‘why you need to produce and launch your own software online? 1. Software has a higher perceived value Than eBooks or Video or Training Package 2. Software Is what sells the most online now 3. Most JVs and Affiliates Are Only Interested in Promoting Software Products
Vaughn Item Technical Director Mobisoft360 Inc.
4. Software provides you more opportunities for immediate income (higher prices) and residual Income (SAAS) So, how can you produce your Own Launch-able Software Without Losing Your Mind? My amazing discovery is you don’t need to be a top Guru or have technical skills to produce a winning software to sell on the Internet.
Here are some quick strategies for you to get your own software up and ready to launch online: Strategy #1. Buy Developer’s License Rights. Then you can have someone customize it for you (You can customize on Freelancng sites like Guru.com; Upwork.com; Fiverr.com; Warrior Forum) Where can you get developer rights software you can turn around and launch? A. Codecanyon.net B. Themeforest.net C. Videohive.net D . GraphicRiver.net Strategy #2: Use Open Source Software to Develop Your Own: Find, Create, and Publish Open Source software for free. In general, open source licenses grant computer users permission to use open source software for any purpose they wish. What Are Best Places to Get ‘Open Source’ Software You Can Launch? - Sourceforge.net - Wordpress.org Strategy #3. Use White Label Software: White label software is a SOFTWARE developed by one company to be distributed to other businesses that customize its appearance (not core implementation) and then market it under their own brand as their own software. Where can you get WHITE LABEL SOFTWARE you can turn around and launch As Your Own? -They are EVERYWHERE Online! -Many Software Launches Offer White Label Options -Google ‘white label software for…’ (whatever niche you are interested in) Strategy #4.: You Can Use Private Label Rights (PLR) Software: Private label rights are a special type of right or license which you purchase where you are legally allowed to edit and publish
the product (Software, eBook, video, article, etc.) as your own. Where can you get PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS (PLR) SOFTWARE you can turn launch As Your Own? PLR Software is the most common and easiest to get software! Many JVZoo.com Software launches are Private label. Google ‘Plr software for...’ (whatever niche you are interested in). You can get them easily and cheaply from PLR Websites Strategy Strategy #5. You Can Use Master Reseller Rights (MRR) SoftwareMany owners and websites offer Master Reseller rights for ridiculously low rates Strategy #6. Build your Own Unique Software Using a Freelancer on: Guru.com; Upwork.com; Fiverr.com; Warrior Forum. It is easier and cheaper than you think. Using any of these options, you can have your own personal software ready to unleash on the world in less than a week. Of course, as you grow, you also grow more sophisticated in how your software is developed and maintained but the market is not as closed as you think. For a quick and practical deeper training on each of these guerrilla strategies (video; audio and transcripts) Guerrilla Strategies for Developing Your Own 7-Figure Software without Writing a Line of Code, go to: www.netpreneurlab.com/guerilla-sotware
MWM back story
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HOW THIS ENTREPRENEUR WENT FROM TRAILER PARK TO PARTNERS WITH FACEBOOK IN A YEAR By: Logan Kugler
“AFTER WATCHING THE SOCIAL NETWORK, I INSTANTLY KNEW WE HAD TO BUILD SOMETHING.” March 25, 2015 was a day that Jeremy Greene will never forget. It was the day Mark Zuckerberg went all-in on his company. At Facebook’s F8 developer conference, Zuckerberg announced the latest iteration of Facebook Messenger. It included a direct integration of PingTank, the social-media app Greene created that lets users customize photos with animation overlays. Overnight, PingTank was on 600 million mobile devices. The app is regularly touted by celebrities like Tyga, Akon and Mel B., and is backed by legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper. It’s a story torn from the script of The Social Network: Brilliant software engineer goes from reject to red carpet after his app takes the world by storm. Except for one tiny detail. Make that several tiny details.
Jeremy Greene isn’t an engineer. He barely graduated high school. He grew up in Waterville, Maine, not Silicon Valley. And a year before the F8 announcement, he was living in a trailer park, on his last five borrowed dollars. He spent his formative years lost in the foster system. “They took me away because my mom couldn’t care for me and put me in a kid’s shelter,” Greene says of his troubled upbringing. Despite his struggles, he conceived, built and launched PingTank -- and then sold Facebook on his vision -- without spending a day in the shoes of the tech elite. Greene’s meteoric rise from Salem’s Lot to Silicon Valley was achieved through extraordinary hustle and deathless determination, irresistible salesmanship and a team he hired of mad geniuses who work and live out of the “PingTank mansion” in Hollywood (not Silicon Valley)—where the team’s latest marketing stunt involved Greene getting “arrested,” a helicopter and an impromptu performance by Tyga. His speed, unconventionality and boldness make him dangerous to competitors and have brought in millions in venture capital for the young company. His latest move? He made 12-year-old Sammy Parsley PingTank’s VP of youth marketing. It’s just one example of how Greene acts instantly on things you’ll see everyone else hesitate at. “Jeremy is a force of nature who creates value out of thin air and runs through brick walls that stop others in their tracks. And that’s exactly the kind of person investors like me like to back,” says Rafe Furst, cofounder of Crowdfunder and a PingTank investor. The school of hard knocks Jeremy’s hustle, salesmanship and knack for leveraging star talent came from some lessons learned in the school of hard knocks. When he was 15, his mother relinquished her possession of him to the state. He tried to run away and the state put him in juvenile prison. “You’re in your boxers in a room with no windows that’s freezing cold and smells like piss,” says Greene. When he got out of juvie, a series of positive role models helped him get an education (he’s the first in his family to graduate high school) and move into his own place. He started working on his lifelong dream: music. “I realized music was my only way out, and I started using technology to get there,” Greene says. His timing was perfect. Before the days of 10-second messages and live-streaming video, MySpace was king, especially among musicians and their fans. So Greene started creating music and uploading it to the social-networking site. His popularity grew fast -- a little too fast. People started distributing his music illegally instead of paying for it. One day, he confronted a hacker who was giving his tracks away. “The hacker said, ‘Look, I’m actually helping you. I’m putting your music out into the world,’” Greene says.
Most people would thrash back. But Greene was hustling to survive; he wanted the most exposure possible.
“I asked him, ‘If you can hack my page, can you also hack MySpace?’” The answer was yes. Greene convinced the hacker to promote his already popular music further by gaming the MySpace algorithm. In one of those anecdotes that seems less strange the more you get to know Greene, MySpace didn’t shut him down; they offered him a record deal. “MySpace said, ‘We know you’re hacking us, but we don’t know how, and we can't prove it. But your music is so good, we’d like to sign you,’” Greene says. He met with the head of MySpace’s record label, and walked out with a deal. What followed was massive popularity on the social-networking site and a record deal with megaproducer Diddy, who found Greene through the site. Greene soon was collaborating with will.i.am, Pitbull, Chris Brown and LMFAO. But the success didn’t last. He parted ways with his record label and, eventually, went broke. His friends stopped calling. And prospective record deals dried up. He couldn’t afford his own place, so a friend bankrolled his rent at a trailer park while he worked on revitalizing his music career. “I just knew there was something bigger for me,” Greene says, when asked why he didn’t just quit. “I knew something would eventually happen if I kept going.”
He was
His timing was perfect. Before the days of 10-second messages and livestreaming video, MySpace was king, especially among musicians and their fans. So Greene started creating music and uploading it to the social-networking site. His popularity grew fast -- a little too fast. People started distributing his music illegally instead of paying for it. One day, he confronted a hacker who was giving his tracks away. “The hacker said, ‘Look, I’m actually helping you. I’m putting your music out into the world,’” Greene says. Most people would thrash back. But Greene was hustling to survive; he wanted the most exposure possible. “I asked him, ‘If you can hack my page, can you also hack MySpace?’” The answer was yes. Greene convinced the hacker to promote his already popular music further by gaming the MySpace algorithm. In one of those anecdotes that seems less strange the more you get to know Greene, MySpace didn’t shut him down; they offered him a record deal. “MySpace said, ‘We know you’re hacking us, but we don’t know how, and we can't prove it. But your music is so good, we’d like to sign you,’” Greene says. He met with the head of MySpace’s record label, and walked out with a deal. What followed was massive popularity on the social-networking site and a record deal with mega-producer Diddy, who found Greene through the site. Greene soon was collaborating with will.i.am, Pitbull, Chris Brown and LMFAO. But the success didn’t last. He parted ways with his record label and, eventually, went broke. His friends stopped calling. And prospective record deals dried up. He couldn’t afford his own place, so a friend bankrolled his rent at a trailer park while he worked on revitalizing his music career.
“I just knew there was something bigger for me,” Greene says, when asked why he didn’t just quit. “I knew something would eventually happen if I kept going.” He was right. Something did happen. Greene saw a movie about the world’s youngest billionaire.
Building a better social network Greene and his longtime friend (now PingTank CTO) Derek Myska watched The Social Network late one night in 2012 and realized they’d found their rocket ship.“ After watching The Social Network, I instantly knew we had to build something,” Greene says. He went to bed that night on fire with the idea of starting his own company—and woke up with the idea for PingTank fully formed after having a dream about it, he says. PingTank was born. Greene envisioned it as a new way for people to communicate. While users could "like" content on Facebook, there weren’t many creative ways for them to vividly express themselves through photos. PingTank wanted to change that. The app allows users to choose from hundreds of animations and lay them over photos on Facebook Messenger, iOS, Android and apps like Instagram. Users can “ping” the creation (the app’s version of the “like” button) or “tank” it if they dislike the photo. Myska, who has a computer-science degree, built the app. Greene, already a master promoter, sold it along with their third co-founder Christopher Dawes, who did event promotion. PingTank attracted 2,500 users in the first few weeks after launch through an email list Greene had from his MySpace days. And that’s when the trio knew they were onto something. There was just one problem: They were all broke. Success wasn’t just the best option, it was the only option. Salvation came in an unlikely form. Greene connected with acclaimed music producer Lars Halvor Jensen on, of all things, Facebook by cold messaging him about his producing career. They bonded over music and set up a Skype call to talk further. “The first time I Skyped with Lars, I’m sitting wrapped in a blanket,” Greene says. “He asked me what was going on, and I told him I had nothing.” Greene’s heat in his trailer had been turned off, and he couldn’t pay to turn it back on. Jensen immediately sent him money to survive. The music producer didn’t just invest in Greene, he invested in PingTank. He’s now the company’s President and CFO. With Jensen on board and cash in the bank, Greene turned his sights on a man he knew could turn his socialnetwork dream into a Silicon Valley reality.
'You’re probably looking at the founder of the next Facebook.' In one of his trademark bold moves, Greene cold emailed legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper. He got Draper’s email by reverse engineering his secretary’s email address and plugging in Tim’s name instead of hers. Just 20 minutes later, Draper invited him to come pitch the company in-person at his entrepreneur accelerator program, Draper University. There was only one problem: The pitch was happening the next day in Palo Alto, Calif. “I told Lars that Tim wanted to meet with us. The very next day.” Greene says. “And we were on the other side of the country in Maine. But Lars said, ‘You get one shot.’ We had nothing: no presentation and barely a website.”
“I just knew there was something bigger for me…I knew something would eventually happen if I kept going.” Jensen stayed up all night writing a business plan and putting his own unique spin on their pitch to appeal to Draper’s unconventional ways. (For example, he has had people do jumping jacks or give high-fives before pitching.) The PingTank mascot was a penguin, so Jensen rented a penguin costume and picked Greene and Myska up from the airport wearing it (nearly getting arrested by airport security in the process). They drove straight to where Draper was, and wearing a penguin suit Jensen stood beside Greene as he pitched one of the world’s most prominent venture capitalists in front of a room of young entrepreneurs. “I told my story, that I had just come from a trailer. I was honest,” says Greene. The team’s passion, honesty and commitment to standing out from the crowd paid off. “When I was done, Tim turned to everyone in the room and said ‘You’re probably looking at the founder of the next Facebook,’” Greene recalls. Draper should know. He passed on an early opportunity to invest in Facebook. But he didn’t make the same mistake with PingTank. He invested right after Greene’s pitch. “I told Tim, ‘I don’t need your money, I need you.’ I knew that once I had Tim, I could get everybody,” says Greene. He meant it. With Draper as an investor, Greene sold everyone from celebrities to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (thanks to Draper’s connections) on the app. Most seem to see what Draper does. “PingTank has the potential to allow a whole new brand of communication,” he says. Draper’s involvement was just the beginning. PingTank has raised $2.2 million to date, has 17 employees and boasts over a million users. Not everyone, however, is bullish on the company. One investor who passed on the company, Zachary Zeldin, said he isn’t sold on the company’s vision. “We don’t believe that the influencers and partnerships that [PingTank is pursuing] will be as large of a driving force as [PingTank is making] them out to be,” Zeldin says. It’s a valid concern. But it’s not slowing down Jeremy Greene or his vision for the company. Greene has been the voice of the company since the beginning but that role is taking on new meaning. He’s rebooting his music career as a way to promote PingTank. He’s launching concerts on college campuses to spur student adoption of the app. He will also soon be rolling out a Snapchat competitor called ReallyYo. Like everything Greene does, you can be sure it’s going to be big. After all, Greene did his time in the foster system and the trailer park. Now that those are behind him and the chains are off, he’s moving at a pace that makes even Silicon Valley look slow.