Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips

SOBCon08 provided great insights to social networking

This past weekend I attended SOBCon08 in Chicago (SOB = Successful Outstanding Bloggers). It was a whirlwind two-day event starting Friday night with a river cruise and ending at noon on Sunday after a full day of outstanding presentations, 5 minute pitches by some participants, lots of networking, LOTS of twittering, lots of photos, and lots of blogger love.

I've compiled a list of links (below) - by no means complete because EVERYONE was blogging and tweeting about the event - so you can get a sense of what was covered and more importantly HOW the event was covered by the participants.

Social media and social networking RULED.

Throughout the presentations, everyone was posting on twitter important points and tips shared by the speakers. This enabled thousands of people who could not attend the event to get a flavor of what was going on and to participate in a limited way by commenting and asking questions.  If you're not using Twitter yet, sign up now. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/BlogSquad (click on the Follow button).

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May is a crazy month for us with 5 teleclasses and 2 radio interviews all on business blogging. All are free except for one which we'll tell you about later.  We kick off the month as featured guests on the Marketing Qi event:

You are invited to attend, as our special guest, an extraordinary online/teleconference event that has the potential to make this year the best ever for your business...

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Patsi Concedes...a little...on social networking

Patsi writes in our recent issue of Savvy eBiz Tips:

Denise and I still haven't settled our debate whether social networking sites are worth spending time on yet, but I'll tell you one thing:

They are an excellent source of ideas and input on what your target audience is concerned about.

We wanted to know what challenges bloggers had with writing on their blogs. Denise asked the question on LinkedIn and the response was amazing and immediate.

Here are some of the challenges people posted, in order of descending frequency:

• Finding time to post (this was mentioned in 70% of the responses...)
• Getting readers to comment
• Finding the "Wow" factor
• Whether to share personal stories
• How to repeat/re-purpose a topic
• Wondering if the time involved is worth it in terms of results
• Writing compelling titles
• Finding relevant topics
• Keeping it fun

Far and away, finding time to post was the recurring theme. I had to laugh, of course, and posted this on our Writing on the Web blog:

Social Networking Debate Part 4

Links to two articles for you today to carry on the social networking conversation:

Steve Pohlit published part 3 of his response to Patsi's question about whether social networking is a waste of time.

Lee Odden of Top Rank Blog posts his notes from a panel discussion on Facebook Marketing Best Practices.

Related Posts:
Social Networking Debate Part 3
Social Networking Debate Continues...
Twitter: there is a point
Social networking is a waste of time...
Social Networking: What Is It and Why Should You Care?
Twitter is sucking me in...

Social Networking Debate Part 3

Our social networking debate is still generating a lot of emails and tweets from colleagues. Here are a few more responses:

From Life Coach Mary

I'm loving Facebook...for multiple reasons.  I've scheduled two interviews for my Conversations with the Masters as a result of Social Networking.  Nido Qubein and Dr. Judith Orloff (not little names).

Also...lots of inspiration in seeing what people are up to.  I like seeing who's visible in the coaching and Internet marketing worlds...tons of good info.  Business advice from Adam Urbanski has been instrumental.

I even got some great tips on doing media interviews -- right before I filmed a DVD that I was using to submit for a TV spot.

And, I'm feeling more eager to tap into Blog Squad resources.  Thanks for the interview with Mari Smith.  I was only 4 days old on FB when I was on that call. Now have 618 friends.

The Marketing Mentor, Adam Urbanski, wrote a dissertation about Social Networking - Business Boost or Bust? This post is worth the time to read because Adam is very thoughtful about the pros and cons of using social networks to build your business.

Social Networking Debate Continues...

We received quite a few emails about the debate Patsi and I are having about the usefulness of social networking to drive business.  Hopefully that question will be answered in today's teleseminar. Here are a few more of the responses we've received:

Robin Hardy
President, The Moosey Group, Inc.

I am not sure what the financial rewards is yet, I have not seen the Ka-Ching yet...
I know it moves me up in Google searches because I link my website to all of it.
I know it is time consuming and it will suck you in, before you know it you have wasted hours playing in Facebook.
I have yet to hear anyone that has really made an increase in profit from it, perhaps we all don't understand the power of social networking yet and how to make it work for us...
I am open to new ideas...productive cash flow ones...

Twitter: there is a point

From WebProNews...

Found: The Point of Twitter

Follow me on Twitter

Related Post:
Twitter is sucking me in...

Social networking is a waste of time...

...so says my esteemed business partner, Patsi Krakoff. Looks like we're not quite on the same page with this one! She wrote about this in today's issue of Savvy eBiz Tips (she considers herself a curmudgeon and introvert). Even though we've had quite a bit of success using Facebook to attract new clients and build our mailing list, Patsi still is skeptical.  What can I do to change her mind???

Yes, there is a time issue. Building relationships takes time (remember it's MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS). And it can pay off big time with new clients, new product sales, and new JV opportunities. The quality of the conversations is getting so much better. Sharing information has never been easier or more effective. We asked for feedback from our ezine readers and here are a couple of responses:

Over half of my income (and clients) originate from relationships built from social networking. Most of the time I'm looking for referral partners or people I can JV with so I feel no pressure to "sell" myself or my services. By releasing the want to get clients, I actually have gotten more clients than I could have imagined. They are impressed with the quality of the content I put out there as well as my friendliness. I really like people and love making connections, so social networking is a natural fit for me. Any venue where I can make a heart to heart connection with someone, be it online or offline or appearing in the media, is always a win for my business. I think that making a genuine connection is great for introverts and extroverts alike.

love
Nancy (Marmolejo of Viva Visability)

PS. Patsi, crumudgeons don't wear pink. I would call you "cautious and somewhat skeptical" but never a crumudgeon! :-)

Social Networking: What Is It and Why Should You Care?

On Wednesday we're hosting a teleseminar on how to use Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites to drive more traffic to your sites and as a result, build your business. If you're doing business online, this is essential knowledge to have now.

We asked one of our guests to share some info about social networking to give you a taste of the type of content we'll be covering on Wednesday. The following article is reprinted with permission from the author.

Social Networking - What Is It And Why Your Business Needs It
by Michele PW

Social networking. Social marketing. Web 2.0.

You may have heard these terms bandied about and wondered what exactly they are and (more importantly) what they mean for your business.

So let's dig right in and get some answers. First, some definitions.

Twitter is sucking me in...

I confess. I'm starting to get hooked on Twitter.  I set up a Twitter account almost a year ago after hearing about it at BlogHer Business last April. But I just didn't see the point. I set up a system to sync my blog posts with my Twitter account and left it at that. No participation, no replying to "tweets".

But in the last couple of weeks I'm getting dozens of emails telling me people are "following" me. So I've started checking these people out and in turn following them.

Today, I finally started interacting and had some good quick conversations with a couple of colleagues who I helped out with some info and who in turned helped me when I asked a question.

So, if you like instant gratification and immediate responses to your queries, Twitter is the way to go. If you want to follow me, here's my Twitter profile.