Content is KING! Have you heard that? Are you frantically pumping out articles and blogs but still not seeing results? If so, STOP! Take a deep breath. Imagine the possibility…
What if you could just leverage the content you’ve already produced to bring in visitors to your website, blog or social media profile?
In my Mile High Email and Flight Accelerator Program I teach over 100 techniques for Leveraging Content. Here I tell you about the 4 Strategic ways you can leverage content.
1) Change the Medium (turn a blog into a podcast or a podcast into an article or video)
2) Enhance the Distribution (use a free service like TubeMogul.com to distribute your content)
3) Repurpose (create a poll about the topic)
4) Initiate Conversation (Ask questions about your content on your social networking sites)
P.S. If you like thise tip and want more help in getting your email and social media marketing off the ground check out my Mile High Email & Social Media Flight Accelerator.
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
It’s always amazing how people find and start following each other on Twitter. Unfortunately one of the curses of Twitter is a lot of automation tools. These tools usually come with outlandish promises of getting 100,000+ followers in 10 minutes. Argh!
While I’m all for quantity, there does stand some reason to monitor the quality of your Twitter followers. So about once a quarter I like to do a purge of those Twitter followers I feel aren’t an ideal fit.
Twitter Karma http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/ is the tool I use to do the semi-automated purge. Basically its an application that lists all your friends and followers in a way that’s easy to look at a glance. It’s sorted by last update, showing those who must recently updated first. You can sort the list alphabetically, either ascending or descending by Twitter ID. You can also filter the list in several other ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends. Then you simply go through and check all the people you’d like to unfollow and with the click of a button you will automatically unfollow those people.
How do I choose who to unfollow?
-Anyone having anything to do with anything lewd or X-rated. (You can usually tell this by their Twitter ID or the picture they use).
-Anyone looking to just spam (Weight Loss Related, Dating Related, Teeth Whitening)
Other than that I usually keep the other followers. Hope you find this tip helpful!
P.S. If you ever encounter a situation where Twitter tells you, you can’t follow anymore people…by unfollowing some unnecessary people you’ll be able to go about following people again.
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
When people see you in Linkedin searches or when you contribute to a group discussion do you know what people see? Have you appropriately edited your profile to attract people to you instead of confuse them?
The initial thing people see is:
1) Your name
2) Your photo
3) Your “Professional Headline”
Unfortunately the professional headline by default is their job title.
BOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIING! Quite possibly this is the headline from your LAST job. Ugh!
This is a great opportunity to practice your micro-copywriting skills and focus on what you do to help people.
Use mine as an example: “Help those that are lost, confused and overwhelmed with Social Media find direction, clarity and control.” I keep tweaking it as the copywriting bug hits me  and I’d advise the same for you.
You can easily edit your headline via “Edit my Profile”.
What do you think about this tip? What’s your new headline?
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
In the old economy, if you wanted your product or business to get a lot of attention you might try to form relationships with the writer for the local or national paper, television station or magazine. These ‘media outlet’s’ dominated the communication between ‘big business’ and ‘consumer’. With the decline of readership in newspapers and magazines and more people getting their news online, have things changed all that much or are they really the same?
With the advent of social media, it no longer was necessary for someone or a company to have lots of money to have a readership. Now we have “Influencer Marketing“. Influencers are people who exercise influence over a group of buyers. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association defines an influencer as ‘A person who has a greater than average reach or impact through word of mouth in a relevant marketplace”.
In the case of HOW you reach out to the “influencers” I’d say things are the same BUT its the “influencers” who have changed. Today getting the attention of a top industry blogger might do more for getting your product or business noticed than an interview by the local television station.
Let’s look at some quick tips for how to reach out to bloggers–espeically if you have NO idea how to get started.
First, do your homework. Find out who the bloggers are in your industry and subscribe to their blogs. Spend time reading what they write about and HOW they write about products.
So how do you find out who blogs about your industry? Check out these sites:
Next, its time to build a relationship. In the Web 2.0 world that’s pretty easy.
- Start by following them on Twitter. (Quick tip…to find out someone’s twitter name google ” ‘their name’ on twitter” and the first thing that will usually come up is that person’s Twitter link)
- Listen to their tweets. ReTweet (RT) their message to your followers if you find the information valuable and useful.
- Comment on their blog posts
- Set up Google Alerts and comment on articles they write
Spending a few months ‘listening’ and responding to what they talk about will make it all that much easier when it comes time to send an email asking for help. Don’t try to push your product or agenda on someone until you’ve done steps 1-4 a few times.
See its just like when you used to read articles in the local paper by the business writer and study their style before reaching out to them. Same process different medium.
My Challenge for you…Can you add 2-3 hours per month to your marketing mix to start researching influential bloggers in your industry? If you spend 30 minutes today finding and subscribing to their blogs then next week you can spend 15 minutes reading their posts. Week after that read for another 15 minutes. In a month you should have a good handle on what type of style the blogger has and have the confidence to start conversations with them on Twitter or leave comments on their blog.
Good luck!
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
I’m someone who sees opportunity everywhere. I have always loved meeting new people and looking for ways to connect this person to that person and LOVE that social media makes this so easy!
I’m what Linkedin considers to be a “LinkedIn Open Networker” (LION). I initiate and accept connection requests from as many people as possible.
There are also LinkedIn users who are considered “Trusted Partner Networkers” and they only initiate or accept connection requests from people they know very well.
There are benefits to both types of Linkedin Users.
As a LION your chances of finding someone with a first or second degree connection to whomever I might be looking for is easier because my network is broad BUT you’ll have to be more creative in getting the referral or introduction that you are looking for.
A Trusted Partner network might be very small but the relationships within that network will be very tight and any referrals or recommendations will be known to come from trusted sources.
So which type of Linkedin user are you? Leave your answer below and send me a connection request if we aren’t already connected. You never know when we might be able to help each other out!
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
At a recent workshop, we were challenged to summarize our new business concept in seven words or less, and then, to get it down to three words. I confess, despite being an experienced writer and former journalist, it was a humbling exercise.
When you start putting your ideas together for a spoken presentation — whether a “pitch” for new business or an important internal meeting – one of the most difficult parts is condensing your many varied and often brilliant thoughts into the most convincing ones. You want to keep only the information and tactics that will capture and keep the listener’s attention.
Before you can drill down to your most critical concepts, clearly determine exactly whom you are trying to persuade and why. I encourage my clients to begin by letting it “all hang out.” That is, write down everything they could possibly say, in no particular order. Then, write out what the competition (internal or external) might say about the idea, product or service. Consider and list what your proposal or product doesn’t do. Identify at least a half dozen distinct benefits for the listener (your boss, client, board, investor, etc.) that will accompany a decision to give a “yes” answer to your presentation and list them. This process is similar to any other important business or nonprofit organization writing project.
The key difference between writing well for the eye – which is what a business plan, blog, proposal or brochure, requires – and writing effectively for the mouth, is that once you assemble your message, you’ve got to be able to say it, comfortably and convincingly. Seems obvious, but we’ve all been forced to sit through boring presentations where people read their remarks to us, right?
My recommendation? As you brainstorm and write out your points and ideas, speak them aloud right away. It may slow up your “let it all hang out” brainstorming a bit, but you’ll have a much better handle, far sooner, on what you can express well face-to-face. Save the stuff you trip over saying or that sounds boring to you, for a written document. In other words, get out of your own way, and you’ll enjoy better connections between your ideas, your mouth and your listener.
Anne B. Freedman is founder and president of Speakout, Inc.. She is a presentation advisor to corporate executives, business owners, and nonprofit organization leaders, author of Connect, Persuade & Succeed, and a collection of e-books.
Linkedin is considered one of the most professional social networks. But professional doesn’t have to be BORING! I see so many people create their profiles to look like a resume or CV and that might be fine for you if you’re an employee hoping to find your next job but if you are a solopreneur or small business owner looking to use Linkedin to connect with clients, prospects and possible business partners your Linkedin profile might need a make-over.
Remember, social media is about making connections. You wouldn’t rattle off your last 3 employers and qualifications when you met someone at a networking event would you?
No.
Take a minute to look at your Linkedin profile from the eyes of your prospects and clients. What impact does it have on them? Are you answering the questions in their head about how you can help them solve their problems?
Use the space that Linkedin gives you creatively. Don’t take the category names too seriously. Feel free to use whatever space you have to give the impression you want to give.
How about using the “specialities” section to list your services?
So what changes can you make to your Linkedin profile today to make it more ‘client/prospect oriented’?
Feel free to share your thoughts and a link to your profile in the comment section below.
To Your Social Media Success,
Mande White
Social Media Advisor for FreeSpeakerBureau.com
Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com
Are you using too many “initials” – too much jargon — in your presentations?
Every industry, association and profession tries to create a short-hand for its often cumbersome long names and terms – such as saying “apps” for “applications,” “perps” for perpetrators of crimes, and D-O-T for Department of Transportation. Try to buy a camera or a computer lately? There are so many terms with letters and numbers only that “everybody” seems to know, but what about you?
Efforts to save time with these abbreviations can and often do backfire when the communication isn’t clear to those outside of the “inner circle.’ Even some folks you think are part of the ‘inner circle’ often don’t have a clue of what you’re really saying; they’ll pretend to act interested or knowledgeable rather than appear out of the loop.
Your efforts to gain agreement for your proposal can be thwarted because of misinformation or lack of understanding.
For example, an important economic development opportunity for South Florida was being pushed by certain local leaders at a regional conference. The proposal was to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas with a goal to secure Miami as a permanent home for the governing body. Speaker after speaker at the conference referred to the FTAA – often never explaining what the initials meant or even using the words free – or trade. As you might expect, the movement failed.
For clarity and the best shot at real communication, introduce the full title or explanation first and then explain what the term’s abbreviated name or acronym is. Alternate using the full name and “initials” throughout your message to assure that your explanation and information can be understood.
“I’m here to give you an update on the recent advocacy efforts of the Underwater Basket Weavers Association in Washington D.C. Our short-hand for the Association is the UBWA.”
If your objective is to “connect,” or to convince, avoid “alphabet soup” or other verbal short-cuts when you’re speaking to a group, or one-on-one. Be especially careful about using abbreviations when you operate in a diverse community like South Florida, where there are often a big percentage of non-native English-speaking members in the audiences. Regardless of your audience’s background, however, please don’t assume that we’ll remember, five minutes into your remarks, what the “initials” for a term mean that you’ve just shared with us for the first time!
Anne B. Freedman is founder and president of Speakout, Inc.. She is a presentation advisor to corporate executives, business owners, and nonprofit organization leaders, author of Connect, Persuade & Succeed, and a collection of e-books.
Interviews on radio and talk shows are probably the most coveted means of getting one’s message out if you are in the business of talking. From a two-minute news story to a half hour talk show, interviews on broadcast are worth their weight in gold. Since radio and TV make their profit from SELLING TIME, if you can get that amount of FREE TIME, you are scoring big!
But how do you get that interview?
The first step is to identify the stations and programs to go after. Start with the local stations in the community you will be having your speaking engagement in. Do a search on the Internet with the name of the town or city and the keywords “radio stations.” Once you have a list, go to each of those stations’ websites and find out their formats and any satellite programs they may broadcast.
The easiest place to obtain that coveted interview is with local talk shows or as a local news story. So start there.
Emails and phone calls are a good place to start, but since everyone else is sending to and calling the newsroom, you will want to make yourself stand out. First, find out what local stories are hot and when you write your email or call, refer to that story in the subject line of your email and when you first call the station. When possible, refer to the reporter who wrote or produced the piece. You will want to make them KNOW that you are aware of the local issues they are covering at that time and how your message will apply to it: the more of a “local angle” you can have, the better.
When calling the station, be aware that they ARE BUSY!!! It is best to ask for a specific person, preferably the reporter who covered the local story you will be referring to. Name the local talk show you would like to appear on… do not just ask for an interview. The more specific and local you can be, the better. Make their job as easy as you can.
Refer to the local issue, tell them how your message fits in with that issue and how you can provide a unique angle to it. This may take a bit of creativity on your part. For example, if the issue locally is an increase in drug use at the school and you are a BUSINESS coach… how can you connect the dots?
The answer is… approach the PROBLEM identified in the issue as a BUSINESS problem. How do you advise business professionals on problems they may find with their companies? The same technique can be applied if you are a life coach or a marriage counselor. It can also be applied to just about any issue: a plant shutting down, a conflict with local city government, local historic preservation, etc. The common denominator in all local issues and with YOUR message is PEOPLE.
Now, you have taken the first steps to getting that interview. You have sent emails and made contact by phone. What next?
Persistence! But remember… there is a fine line between being persistent and being a pest. That line with news reporters is if they feel you are telling them how to do their job. Don’t do that! Instead, a follow up would include any updates on that local angle the station may have covered. If the topic is still hot, your NEW angle on it will be something those reporters are looking for. However, if that issue has cooled off, approaching the reporter with a new issue and how you relate to it will be the avenue you will want to take. This will not seem a desperate way to get an interview if you make it appear that you are relevant to MANY local issues… which is the reason they will WANT to interview you.
The key to landing that interview is making the reporters/producers or news directors’ job as EASY as you can without telling them HOW to do their jobs. Identify what it is they WANT and then give that to them.
Here are some final tips in landing an interview:
- Avoid using a cell phone for a phone interview. The quality is bad and you run the risk of losing a signal. If at all possible, do the interview in person. If you can’t because of scheduling or location, then a landline phone is your next best choice.
- Be as flexible with time and scheduling as you can. Your first choice would be to schedule it to coincide with your speaking engagement, but that may not be possible. Sometimes, especially during busy times, talk shows are simply booked up. If a time is available AFTER your gig, still take it. It will serve as a reminder of the message you delivered at your speech and may open up new opportunities for future speaking engagements.
- Remember that the station, the reporter, the producer and the news director are the ones in control of your HAVING the interview and how it will be conducted. YOU are only in control of what you say during the interview. Use the opportunity to your greatest advantage.
- And finally, live talk shows are the only time you have control over what will be heard by the public. In a recorded interview, the producer, news director or reporter may have to EDIT for time’s sake. And, in some cases, you can actually be misquoted because of the way they edit and write the story. You cannot control this, but you CAN be prepared for it! Just know that it can happen and do not over-react. You do NOT want to make enemies with the media. Instead, as a follow-up, whether the interview went good or bad, send a thank you or follow up with a thank you phone call. Those stations just gave you free air-time, so no matter what, thank them for it!
Please feel free to share your successes from these tips by leaving a comment below!
There are actually THREE audiences that you must know to make the most of your speaking engagements.
The first audience is one you are familiar with; those faces looking back at you as your deliver your speech. That audience is the one you sell your message to. However, selling your message is not the same as selling your talent.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Who does the booking?
- Who makes the marketing decisions for the actual event?
- Who do THOSE people answer to: a board of directors, an event planning company, a non-profit organization, members?
Once you know who that audience is, figure out what they are looking for and what is most important to them. Is it flexibility? Price? Keeping their job? Pleasing their superiors? The easier you make their job, the more likely they will be to recommend you for further engagements.
Third is the media audience… those television, radio and newspaper reporters that can give you FREE publicity. Knowing that audience requires a bit of advance research. Before you arrive in that town, you need to know WHO does the news there. The basics include their mailing address, phone number, email addresses, etc. But there is more… Find out if there are opportunities to appear on local news talk shows. Who are the news directors? Who decides what will go on the air? Since your speech engagement would be considered “soft” news, find out what days are slower than others. There are days when news departments are scrambling for news coverage and that is your prime opportunity to get that coverage. Holidays are often “slow” times for news.
Knowing the media audience also involves making their jobs easier. Newspaper press releases and press kits are not the same as those you would send to radio and television. For example, sending a photograph to a radio station with a press release tells that news department that you don’t know their needs. Your photograph will end up in the trash. And newspapers are more likely to print a press release if it is short, precise and well written.
Knowing your audience is, essentially, putting yourself in their shoes. In the case of the media, you need to know what is important to them regarding what types of news stories they generally broadcast or print, what is the local importance and what benefit your story provides to them. Benefits include viewer ship and interest.
The news media’s job is to inform and educate, NOT to advertise. When you contact them, it is best to downplay any sort of profit that comes to you, such as books you might be selling. Instead, focus on the issue that directly impacts their viewers and readers.
As an example, a company was putting on a great event that would benefit a non-profit and help underprivileged children. Instead of focusing on the event or those children, this company kept attempting to “slide” their name into the press releases. When they called a radio station newsroom to attempt to get an interview, they identified themselves FIRST as being from that company and then wanted to send a representative to talk about the great things their COMPANY was doing with the event. This was a very blatant attempt to get free advertising. Advertising is the media’s profit and income. Understandably, the company got very little coverage for the event or the cause.
What that company should have done was promote the event and those children first. They could have sent a rep from their company, but only to accompany representatives from the non-profit as support.
There are tricks to subtly slipping in references to your book, tapes, and workshops, ONCE YOU GET THE INTERVIEW. The key is, focus directly on the issue that directly impacts the viewers and readers of the media entities to get the interview first.
Which brings us back to knowing your audiences. You need to first know what issues will impact those viewers, readers and the media in general. If you can do that, you are almost guaranteed coverage.
Any questions or comments, please leave below.
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... ”As President of the Financial Planning Association of Broward, I can not wait to tell our members about this site. It will be an excellent way for our CFP® experts to reach out and maximize their potential as presenters. Thank you for providing this fabulous service.
Howard Kramer, CFP®, CLU, ChFC.
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