Thoughts on the video?  Any similar stories of how social media has helped you out?

WOW.  Last night’s Live Broadcast of Successfool.com’s 1 Year Web Birthday was a HIT.  We interviewed some of the most amazing business folks online last night.

You heard me rant, you saw me dance, and you saw the passion last night no doubt.

Thanks so much for a great year and we’re doing it even bigger this year.

Hear interviews from:

Angel McClinton
Ed Dale
Coach Deb
Michelle MacPhearson
Sierra Friend
Lewis Howes
Preston Taylor
Justin Brooke

What was YOUR favorite quote or part of the show?  Leave your comments below & Tweet it up using the “Retweet” button up top.

Thanks

With the launch just a few days ago of the Kindle application for the iPhone and iPod touch, you might be looking for some new books to add to your library.

Here are the best selling books on Amazon in the Computer & Internet category under Business & Culture.

Amazon’s results are updated hourly so this list is a rough approximation of the most popular books at the moment.

(As a side note, something worthy to note is that the books in the top spots in ALL categories on Amazon are also available in a Kindle edition.  No surprise that books offered in a variety of formats appeal to more people.)

1. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott

2. Groundswell:  Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

3. Social Media Marketing:  An Hour a Day by Dave Evans and Susan Bratton

4. Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time by Joel Comm

5. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

6. ProBlogger:  Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett

7. Web Analytics:  An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik

8. Wikinomics: How mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott,  Anthony D. Williams, and Alan Sklar

9.  Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz and Guy Kawasaki

10. Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes by Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd

Other notable titles:

Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business by Steve Holzner

Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World HC by Don Tapscott

Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online by Warren Whitlock and Deborah Micek

Please leave your comments below.  Which have you read? Which would you recommend or not?

Many have foundTwitter to be a great place to get linked to many people, and many see it as a promotional wonderland. “WooHoo, look at all those people I can hit with my promotions”

Well, yes . . . and no. Let’s pull back on the reigns just a little ‘Roy Rogers’! Twitter is fast becoming a place where you can gain lots, read thousands, of people you can contact and to a good aggressive marketer, a virtual gold mine. However it doesn’t work that way, at least that’s how most Twitter users see it.

Now you can certainly jump in to Twitter and plaster your latest promotion all about with reckless abandon, but guess what? You will rapidly find a lot of ‘no follows’ – that’s unpopular in Twittereze. The reason for this is that nature of the community. Just like in ‘real life’ every community has a personality that basically dictates normal behavior. Now, like this or not, the Twitter community has sort of established itself already.

For most Twitterers, there is a balance, a fine line between promotion and socializing. Twitter has become a place to socialize and get to know people . . . and recommend. Just like any aspect of life, there is a fine line between the two major aspects of Twitter, socialization and promoting. Twitter is a place where you can get to know people of all sorts, even individual ‘big’ in an industry are there rubbing shoulders with everybody.

This is a place where you can Twit a business leader who would be otherwise difficult to contact, and where they are quite likely to respond. But . . . but as long as you are being social about it, not sales-ey! Here’s the thing, if you spend some time getting familiar with people and they you in a casual way, they will not see you as intimidating or risky to interact with. Realize that many top level people in any business get approached often by people who want something from them – don’t be that guy! Rather, have a simple question for them, or offer help or even just a comment on something that they posted.

When you do post, Tweet, in a promotional manner, make it more suggestive or helpful, not – “Hey Buy My Stuff”. Yes, you will see some of this that doesn’t make it acceptable to most. Not sure, try this – ask other Twitterers what they think about it. Just as in any marketing efforts, it’s better to gain trust, familiarity and respect from people before asking them for money. It’s important to remember that business is about relationship building. This is important with both potential customers as well as partners or joint venture partners.

So, about the fine line, the balance, many are now automatically Tweeting their blog posts and articles, which is fine, but don’t let that be all that you do there. Have a social presence as well. Sure, recommend something, but offer to help, answer a question, and just be social. You will find that with the Twitter community you will be well accepted and welcomed, people will become more interested in you and what you do. Isn’t that better in the long run than just pimping a product?

Balance on the fine line – Twit away!

John Halderman

If a blogger writes on the web and nobody sees it, did they actually write anything?  You have to look at the way bloggers communicate to really get a feel for what I mean.

I just read a unique blog post from a good friend of mine.  She sent me a direct message (DM) from twitter to alert me about it.  The title intrigued me, so I went to her blog, read it and commented on it.

Social Networks are a very potent force in communication.  People hear more about MySpace, Facebook and Twitter from their sitcoms, because those platforms reached a critical mass, where people can no longer ignore them unless they want to continue being completely anonymous.

But posting on social networks just for the sake of posting is like writing just to fill lines on  page.  If you are not providing value of some kind, nobody will read you.  In many cases, people who do not provide good content become lost in the sea of information.

What is content?

Content falls into 3 major categories:

• Information
• Help
• Entertainment

Some people on the social networks are information junkies who just need to consume facts, figures and trivia.  They need a steady diet of these to keep their active minds filled with new data.

Others on the social networks have a problem that they need solved, and they look to the social community for their assistance.  They might ask where something is located, they might need to find a particular person or maybe they just need to connect with someone who has a specific talent.  In all of these cases, the distressed networkers can quickly sift through the responses to find the nugget that they were looking for to solve their problem.

Finally, the group of social networkers who are looking to be entertained are looking for laughter, music and videos that keep them filled with joy!  So if you are a provider of entertainment value, you are going to build a large following by being entertaining.

With that said, your presence on the social networks should give people a sense that they know you.  If you are using my favorite social network, Twitter, you might be telling people who you met at the latest seminar, or how you and your family are going to see a movie.  While those seem like insignificant things to talk about, they are defining you to the outside world.

Being yourself is what draws people into your circle.  If you try to be someone you aren’t eventually the facade will come off when people are around you and you will lose them.  Much better to be yourself all the time and only attract those that like you for being you.

So when you update people on Twitter, you are giving them a slice of your day, make it count by giving your slant on the topic. Say you are ready to try out the new restaurant in town, make it an event!

“I took a chance on the new Asian Restaurant in town and was rewarded with great service!”

This tells people what you did while providing information to the info junkies.  The fact that you took a chance tells people that you usually do not go to new restaurants.  People who are used to staying within their established routines will look at you as a daring adventurer and may actually venture out on your recommendation.

If you just say, “I had Pork LoMein For Dinner.” You aren’t telling anyone much, and probably irritated a bunch of people with growling stomachs!  Think of each of your updates as a part of your autobiography.  You are writing each sentence of it with the updates you choose to post!

If all you want the world to remember about you is that you ate Pork LoMein, you will blend into the scenery with all the other meal updates the world has to offer.

Remember that your followers, friends or acquaintences in the social networks around the world have more than just you to read about.  Make each update count toward them developing a relationship with you that means something.  While you are reading this, your next million dollar partner or client could be looking over your tweet-stream deciding whether or not they want to press the “follow” button on your profile right now.

Make your story be the one which makes them anticipate each chapter daily.  Once you start to examine what you find is important to you, your updates will show it… The life you change may be your own as you write your story one update at a time!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Jason Ewart is a Sydney-based transformation writer and speaker who obliterated obesity & demolished debt.  

As I continue to learn about leadership and social media, I am challenged by the following scenario. (Let’s use Twitter as an example.)

It was pretty cool to see numbers of “followers” ticking over in my early days of usage, I must admit. Wow! Someone wants to connect with me?!

I would be prompted to consider my niche, product/service, methods and tools. Topics that I can learn a lot about from my fellow guest bloggers & the Successfool community I’m sure.

Then it dawned on me, just maybe “followers” are expecting leadership? An ancient proverb states that leadership is nothing without a following.

It’s not a witty self-anointed title or a creatively formed position in our business models. As author John Maxwell defines it – “Leadership is influence”

A few days ago, News.com.au published an article discussing Twitter “influence” and ranking social networking users.

It mentioned that established users on Twitter

“frequently compare each other in terms of “influence” – more or less derived from how many other users read and republish their posts.”

Is influence defined by how many readers we have or how many readers are prompted to action or even reproduction? (Retweeting? Mentoring other leaders? Resourcing?)

We all have a certain size & particular sphere of influence, or “tribes” as Seth Godin frames it.

I am challenged repeatedly to use that influence within community for things of worth, to add value to people and be a voice for the voiceless.

After all, even some of the most despised figures in history were great leaders!

Will my influence be used for maintaining a neutral position? (read: atrophy) or to conform to the status quo, possibly not meeting defined needs and assisting people?

This tweet by @MatthewBarnett resonated with me in recent days

“tweet message recap. If we strive to be relevant will only try to catch up to the moment. When we are revolutionary we are setting trends”

That is the type of leadership I aspire to: Influence that is innovative, advancing and even courageous.

Where am I taking “followers”?  Where are you taking them?

There are lots of tools or “twools” that can save you time on Twitter.

Here is a list of 5 automated tools that are meant specifically to save you time when it comes to managing friends and/or tweets. Some have unique features while others overlap. I’ve left off any desktop or mobile applications that let you tweet away from Twitter like Tweetdeck or Twhirl since the following tools complement them or can be used standalone.

1. SocialToo.com

This is the ultimate set it and forget tool. Once it’s setup it follows those that follow you and also unfollows those that unfollow you. It also lets you send an automated direct message to new followers. Another feature is that you can get a daily email message that shows you who followed or unfollowed you and the last Tweet you sent out when it happened.

2. Twittertise.com

This service lets you time delay or future post your tweets (post at a specific time and day you set). What’s cool is that it has built in tracking capabilities so you can measure the effectiveness of the links on your tweeets.

Although their site says “allows you to advertise on Twitter and track the success of branded communications with your customers”, it’s really just a simple no frills way of seeing how many clicks your tweets get. So even though you don’t advertise on twitter, and I recommend you don’t do any blatant advertising anyway, it provides some valuable feedback to you about which tweets are more effective or generate the most response.

3. TwitterMail.com

TwitterMail is for people who find it more convenient to tweet via email. When you sign up you get a TwitterMail email address and whenever you want to tweet you send an email to that address and it will be automatically posted to Twitter. Plus, it has some added features like sending photos to Twitter and future tweeting.

4. PostLater.com

If you have several blogs or Twitter accounts, PostLater lets you, well, uh…post later. You can schedule posts on multiple blogging platforms as well as microblogging platforms like Twitter. Plus they also support scheduling entries for FriendFeed and scheduling recurring entries.

5. Tweetlater .com

Tweetlater has features of both SocialToo and PostLater. You can schedule future tweets, send automated direct messages to followers and also auto-follow new followers.

Another tool worth mentioning that’s gaining popularity is Tweepler. It’s actually become my favorite because rather than automatically following new followers you can easily see in groups or buckets who you want to follow and who you don’t. It lets you keep control by letting YOU decide in a very fast and efficient way.

There you have it, the top automated time saving Twitter tools based on traffic ranking per Alexa.

Which are your favorite time-saving Twitter tools?  Any that didn’t make the list?

Image source: sxc.hu

I get this question from local businesses and potential clients all the time.  After I take the time to explain the benefits of Social Media to them, they are awe struck!

Well I should say most of them are.  There are a few, a very small few, who only look at measurable results and measure things in ROI (Return on Investment).  The problem is, you can’t put a value on a conversation or a contact.  I like what Jason Falls had to say about it:

“The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable.”

If this is true, then how can I bring a budget to the board, or to the CEO, or to the President?

Let’s start by asking some questions of your business as it is now:

1.  Is your business currently involved in conversations about your product or industry?

2.  What are people saying about your business, on the Social Media Landscape, vs your competitors?

3.  Does your business maintain a dialog with it’s clients?

4.  Do people know, like, and trust your business and employees?

1.  Lets look at what some of the companies who are embracing Social Media are doing.  Let’s look at Comcast.  Customers of Comcast can use the micro-blog Twitter to reach customer service.  Customers using this method of contact have seen their reported problems resolved within 24 hours!

2.  Motrin created a website which was targeted at moms.  The video at the site showed (in cartoon) a mom wearing a baby carrier and went on to say that it’s a pain and it’s time to take care of yourself with some Motrin.

However, there was a huge backlash from women all across the Social Media Landscape.  I joined the conversation on Twitter, and let me tell you, it was heated!  Women took multiple points of view on the subject but the backlash on Motrin was so great, that they removed the site that very day.
There were so many people talking about it all at once, it created a groundswell.  This registered on many of the web monitoring sites as a spike in searches and traffic to Motrin.com to see the video.  The problem is, Motrin didn’t enter the conversation.  It was more like they cowered in the corner and hid.  If they would have asked the visitors one question, things could have been a lot different.  Jeremiah Owyang had a great suggestion on his blog. He suggested that they ask the question: “What pains you?”
Something as simple as that could have changed everything.  But let’s not just look at Motrin here.  Where were Tylenol and the others in this conversation.  This was huge and yet none of them were involved in the conversation about mothers and their pain!

So are you keeping abreast of the conversations going on about your business or your industry or your targeted market?

Photo Credit: Kirsty Pargeter

3.  Just like in #1 above, maintaining a dialog with your clients is important.  What was mentioned in #1 was how customers could contact the business for support.  That’s great, but what about the company contacting its customers or clients on an ongoing basis?
Sites like Facebook allow “Fan Pages” to be built.  This allows people, who are a fan of your business or product or CEO, whatever, to say: “This is cool and I’m a fan!”
Big deal you say?  Well yes, it is a big deal.  Why?  Because you can communicate with all of your fans!  Your fan page keeps track of visitors, where they went and what they did while there.  On top of that, you can send an update to ALL of your fans.  So if you have 18,200 people who are fans of yours, you can send them a message giving them a coupon or special discount to encourage them to buy from you.
Remember though, Facebook is just one site on the Social Media Landscape.  There are thousands of other sites where YOUR potential customers and current customers are.  They are involved in conversations, maybe with each other, and could be talking about your product or service.
Creating an account on some of the sites on the Social Media Landscape is an easy thing to do.  Sending out a message to say hi to your current customers would make them more loyal.  The more loyal they are, the louder they get about how much they love your business.  These people will be your evangelists on the social networks.  All you have to do is continue to give them fuel to add to their fire and you have a great relationship.

4. Combining everything together will get people to notice you or your business.  Just by being where your potential clients hang out, will get you noticed.  By entering conversations, providing great content, and LISTENING, people will get to know your business on a more personal level.

When it comes down to it, people buy things from people.  If they know you, by interacting with you or just listening to your conversations, they may begin to like you.  If they like what you have to say then they may trust you.  When they trust you, they will buy from you.

But it’s not about the sale. – No!  It’s about the relationship you created.  Creating relationships with your customers is the key to long lasting return patronage.  Why do you go to the same hair stylist?  Why do you continue to go to the same store?  It’s because of the people.

I personally drive 30 minutes to shop at Best Buy.  I have a Best Buy 10 min from my house, but the customer service is better at the one farther away.  It is because people buy things from people.

This holds true no matter where the sale takes place.  With Social Media, you are able to reach people on a more personal level.  It’s not just about having a site anymore.  It’s about having a relationship.  When you have that, you will see amazing results.

So why should YOU care about Social Media? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The concept is simple we are a familiar with the literary cliché “A picture is worth a thousand words“, Sherman’s creation is destined to redefine that saying by allowing those thousands of words to be spoken, one Twitter profile at a time. To get started a person simply visits BubbleTweet and creates a short video welcoming other Twitter visitors to their particular profile page and offers them a brief opportunity to offer an explanation as to who they are and what they are hoping to accomplish during their stay on Twitter.

This is all done through a simple three step process:

Step 1: Visit the BubbleTweet website and type your Twitter ID in the field provided on the page.

Step 2: Create a simple video from a flash application that will be displayed on the screen. You’ll be prompt to allow BubbleTweet to access your web cam and your microphone.

Step 3: Once the video has be produced to one’s liking they will save it and BubbleTweet will send HTML code to be placed in the Bio section of the Twitter profile and viola instant video magic on the most popular micro-blogging website.

http://successfool.com/ready-to-shine-in-2009-online/

Because of the response and great feedback, Maria and I decided to do another “Shine in 09″ call but this time bring on 2 of our friends that are going to have a HUGE impact in 2009.  Mark my word!

Ron Hudson is a Master NLP Practitioner that came on to talk about how you can use “Influence & Persuasion” strategies Social Media in 2009.

Angel McClinton who in my opinion is THE authority when it comes to online Video & Video marketing.

This call was phenomenal.

Here’s what each of said is the “Next big thing” in 2009.

Angel:  Mobile Marketing
Ron:  Video
Maria:  Mobile Marketing
Alejandro:  YOU (the listener)

As you listen to the call, follow along with the LIVE #ShineIn09 Conversation here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=shinein09

Also, leave me  your BEST quote and why and I’ll hook you up with my Social Marketing Rockstars Coaching Program for free (starts next month).

Don’t forget to leave your Twitter ID so we can all connect with you on Twitter.