DISQUS

I think of the feed not as a media with eyeball to sell to.. but more of a way I can listen to the market and engage customers and prospect individually.

My "NO RULES" philosophy says "go ahead and try whatever.. we can follow or unfollow based on what we want" .. so I'd never say "don't do this"

However, it feels like selling out for the quick buck instead of building trust and rapport for huge returns later.

The biggest blunder is to join Twitter and expect that you will be found and reach out to you.

It's natural to feel like you need to wait till you have something profound to say, or see a friend who told you about Twitter at work.

Best to jump right in. "Following" means you clicked on a gray button.. it's not a commitment ot life long allegence.

Go ahead an follow a few people that look interesting. Answer a question and engage in conversation.

Don't lead with "would you like to buy from me" .. that works about as well as it does at the buss stop.

The data you receive from an answer on a Twitter is usually not anything you could not get on a Google search much faster... but there is one key difference.

It come from your friends. That context makes adds value.

And in the asking, you are building meaningful connections and stronger relationships

The majority of people are not "that guy" and think that people that come to sites like this are pushy marketers.

The fact that we are here identifies as as people who need to be careful about being seen at "that guy"

We all know the kind of guy Tinu is talking about, and any normal person shuns him... but WE all have to watch for this too. (like that pop up that came up in the middle of me writing this ).

I don't want to be "that guy"

Thanks for the article.

It's important to spread the word that Twitter is not just a another medium or a cool place to hang out with a few friends.

It is good for business and a lot of fun... but Twitter is also the best example of a true reveloution in the way we communicate, do business and connect with the world.

We may not get great DM results for long.. the trend to to shun anything that looks like marketing. In the mean time, it's great to start making long term connections with real people.. and pick up the opt ins for old fashioned email marketing where we can.

Warren Whitlock
http://TwitterHandbook.com

Great to hear that competitors may be cutting back, as smart marketers know that most consumers buy in any market.

Of course there is nothing wrong with him selling what he has to anyone foolish enough to buy.

But they would be better off to pay him twice as much to build a network for them.. that disclosed who was who and what was what.

I think it will go over about as well as selling your job. When we get a tweet from a different person than we expect, we'll just unfollow (fire) them and be done with it.

Thanks for this post. It covers what we've known, but in an easy to follow format that I will share with my author clients who are not sure how much effort to put into "keeping up"

Reminds me of Tom Peters telling a crowd that it wasn't enough just to accept change. You have to be running as fast as you can into the future just to keep up.

All good ideas that I will share with authors marketing books online.

"Storing up posts" is an excellent idea. One client tells me that he write well in advance of business startup issues, posts go up 3 times a week.. says there is hardly ever a week without some positive offline connection with a post.

I asked him "what did you do to promote?".. he said nothing.. just let a few friends and clients know.. now it's picked up by papers and other media.

Blogging doesn't have to be a full time job to get done right.. content is what matters. Get it out there.

I've been looking for a concise answer to the frequetly ask question "What's so different about networking today?" (or the variation from friend and family "Why do you do that all day?"

I'll now just link them to this article

Thanks

I think I'd rather compete in the 802.11 division

At first I thought this was a simple idea.. but reading it, I realized that I need this myself.

I've done similar time management projects many times over the year.. each time I'm surprised how effective it is.

I'm going to add some author related comments to a post on http://BestSellerAuthors.com/blog and instruct my followers to read this post. So many of them are asking how they will find time for social media.

This is a great service to us all

Great article. I agreed completely

When we promote a book, we always set up joint ventures to cross promote with all the partners at http://ZeroCostPromotions.com

I find that the new leads generated are targeted, interested people who have just bought a book or taken some other positive action.

Not always a huge number.. but better quality and free!

I haven't been following the discussion you refer to, but reading this message, I get the feel that Scoble, et al are falling in to the same trap the big media does... trying to control what happens to a post, article or comment is just silly.

I'd like to see every public message, post, article, blog, comment feed, podcast, web page shared as much as possible.

If there is a way for someone to pick up 1/3 of my posts, it's better than them dropping the subscription because they don't have time to read the whole thing.

Read, aggregate, share as much as you can, in as many ways as you can.. just spell my name right and put a link to me

Great idea.

I'm posting about you and planning to share the idea with my authors at http://BookMarketingStrategy.com

Warren Whitlock
http://dailywarren.com

Great idea.

I'm posting about you and planning to share the idea with my authors at http://BookMarketingStrategy.com

Warren Whitlock
http://dailywarren.com

There's a lot to be said for getting into your customers routine, but even when you do, you want to surprise and delight them whenever possible.

I complain when I go to the deli.. "why do you ask me all these quesitons?".. but if they way "try our new pastrami", I may just change my habit and love them forever.

Warren Whitlock
http://BestSellerAuthors.com

Sounds like you're trying to just social networking sites by comparing them to other "media"

Facebook does have value there.. the ad rates are very low and targeted.

But to write of the communications with cusomters and prospects possible through Facebook is like deciding not to take a phone call or to avoid individual emails.

Just like the phone and email.. you have to learn it and set up routines that work for you. The only suggestion I have thus far.. NEVER relagate it to a VA.. if you can't communicate yourself, it won't work. (you could have a VA set up a profile.. that works because it's still personal).

I understand the reaction. I've alwasy felt the same about Instant Messaging or chat.. other love it.. I find it sucks me in and diverts attention.

I'm spening way too much time on Facebook right now.. calling it a learning curve. So far, I'm working on three brand new 5 figure clients and hooked up with several past JV partners that had stopped answering emails.

Oh.. and there's one famous author who's my new freind. (you'll have to check my profile to see who)

Warren Whitlock
http://ZeroCostPromotions.com

Love the Franklin quote, I'm going to borrow heavily.

I grin every time I see a discussion on the "new social networking".. it's just people connecting with people as they always have. This is another fine example of how little the important things have changed.

I laugh out loud when I see people with complex rules who they will connect with, or requirements for certain levels of connection.(on MySpace, every fan of a band or TV show is labeled "friend")

As far as I know, you never could trust a letter of recommendation.. it is merely an invitation to consider the guy carrying it. If it's not a forgery, you can at least hope that the person writing it knows the person mentioned. You never now the whole story.

For those who have these complex rules.. I wonder if they are trying to hard to trust the medium without getting to know the individual.

The new technologies help us "trust by verify".. they do not replace the fact that people are people. We all wish we could have deeper connections and more "real" relationships.. let's not confuse that desire with technologies.

Warren Whitlock
http://ZeroCostPromotions.com

Great question Tinu.

But I'd re-frame it and ask

"What is the value you can add by becoming someone's friend?"

If you go in with this attitude, your ROI will skyrocket.

I can see from your activity that you "get it".. As long as we seek to help others, we'll be the kind of freinds that attract greatness.

See you on FB

Warren Whitlock
http://warrenwhitlock.com/facebook

Great session. I'm reccomending this to all my clients.

Thanks for sharing this.

Warren Whitlock
Best Selling Authors Made Here