What makes someone a great Product Manager at Google?

Alright, I’ll give this a shot based on my experience working at Google with the best product managers I’ve ever seen anywhere. I am not a PM so these are based on my observation of the best at Google.

1. Take ownership of the product and all issues related to it. This goes a long way, if you own the product, you are the first one looking for bugs, first communicating with users and first worrying about whether or not you got it right. You’re always first to volunteer to do the many varied tasks that go along with running a product/team like taking notes, sending emails to customers, filling things out, triaging bugs, or doing a quick mockup. Always start with: It’s not someone else’s responsibility, it’s your responsibility. When you do this, you’ll find #2 to be easier.
2. Be incredibly persuasive. (I don’t really know how to do this one, but I see it done every day.) You want to get things done, but you are not in charge so to speak. None of the team reports to you and they really don’t have to do anything you say. You need to be convincing rather than commanding to get things done at Google. If you are doing #1, this is easier because everyone knows you are going to be in the trenches with everyone else if the stuff hits the fan.
3. Be an engineer. I don’t mean that you actually need to be coding the product. I mean you should be curious about how the product is built as if you were an engineer. You should be interested in understanding how much something costs in engineering time, and why it costs so much. What algorithms are in use for that feature? Why is this page slow? Any engineer on the team will pay a lot of attention to big architecture decisions that affect the product and so should you. You should be able to explain the tradeoffs of major engineering decisions if you run into the founders and they want to know why something works the way it does. The best PMs at Google enjoy getting very technical whenever they can.
4. Be endlessly positive. Your team is likely composed of engineers and some of us tend to be very cynical. A very positive PM can make a world of difference in the mood of the team. You may feel silly being so positive all the time, but it’s infectious and your team will feed off of it. Remember that you and your Tech Leads (lead engineers) may know of a million things to get you all down, but the rest of your team is likely not exposed to all of that. You help them do their jobs better by not wallowing in your worries because as the PM, you are the team’s window/messenger to the larger company. If you are negative, then that’s how the team will think the rest of the company perceives their work.
5. Don’t self-promote. This should be obvious, but if you attempt to self-promote, it’s incredibly obvious and poisonous. Celebrate others on the team, you and the Tech Lead(s) are already the primary contacts for the project and you don’t need any promotion. If you are dragging around the hard work of others attempting to earn kudos for yourself, you’re doing it wrong and you won’t go far. Be inclusive.Whether it’s a blog post, or a launch video for a new feature the best PMs promote their team members. Take a look at the blogs for some of the best products at Google. You’ll find the blog posts are written by a very wide array of individuals and not always the product manager because they are actively promoting others. (Please don’t confuse my usage of “promote” with actual job promotion which is a different animal. BTW the latter is highly dependent on peer reviews.)
6. Fearless. A better writer could explain this better, but you must be blind to titles. The best PMs will speak to the founders the same way they speak to engineers or designers on their team. If you freeze up when questioned about your product decisions by execs, you won’t be successful. Give succinct answers and be fearless when defending your team’s ideas.

cre: quora (Edward Ho, Google Engineer)

Best Social Media Campaign Strategies

There is no shortcut to success.

Social media is an ongoing effort that requires a lot of meticulous planning and a sustained effort towards the predetermined objectives.
The rules of such campaign are not defined and hence some of the possible and effective strategies that can be made for social media campaign are as follows.
• First, find a suitable and befitting channel that can complement the image of yourbrand. The channel should be able to understand the value of the product or the services that is being promoted using the medium.
• Second, plan and choose the team that can build the brand image. It is imperative that the professionals working on this project have the required skill-sets and believe in the product’s brand power. Right from the PR agents or the staff members the team has to be chosen carefully.
• Third, make content the king. As an important part of the social media campaign, the content should target on promotion of the benefits of the products and not be offensive or outrageous.
• Fourth, carefully target the online users. Search better about your targeted online users and then promote the brand to the users who use it more frequently. The promotion campaign can be altered as per the audience and necessary actions can be subsequently taken.
• Be aware of the brand scrutiny. Once the brand has being introduced to the market, the concerned team should be well aware of the pros and cons of the steps they have taken for its promotion. Hence, keep eyes on the conversations, posts, chats or even the forums taking place with respect to the product.
• Always be original as much a possible. Use of social media channels as a method to promote the product has to be done carefully and in an original way. Utilize the possible benefits and reward system process for the marketing of the product in a better way.
• Constantly measure the performance of efforts being put in to make sure these are in sync with the goals. It is only when the goals are achieved and ROI expanded it can be estimated that the campaign was a success
Some of the most famous social media campaigns of all times are as mentioned below:
• Threadless building brand love was an example of the widespread coverage of the brand on the social media channels.
• Dunkin Donut’s new product campaign on Facebook.
• Promotion of new Fiesta by Ford. The campaign saw use of social media to correctly target the audience in a very impressive manner.
• Promotion of Xperia X1 by Sony Ericsson.
• The unique formulation of the sea World’s Whale social media campaign is the best example of intelligent social media marketing. It demonstrated that a marketingcampaign can be made successful even out of the realms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
These and many more successful marketing campaigns are the example of how social media strategies can be made use of to the best of their ability.
Social media campaigns must be designed to derive continuous engagement from the users and should also have beneficial results for the sales department. Smart allocation of resources can ensure better Return on Investment in case your social media campaign is successful. Setting up short term goals and constant revisions should be the right approach to the whole strategy.

How do you begin to improve your sales performance? It all starts with a dialogue. Begin by contacting us or calling us at 201-3015-3305. A member of the MarcoGiunta team would like to learn more about how we can help your team achieve your business results.

by: MARCO GIUNTA(marcogiunta[dot]com)

10 Reasons Why PR Professionals Should Be Using Social Video

I’ve often argued that video is a tool of social media. So as many social media responsibilities are being taken on by PR departments, we are seeing public relations teams becoming more actively involved in the creation and deployment of social video content. Viral videos, branded entertainment, web series videos and video game trailers top the list along with original, entertaining product launch videos. This new breed of video content, rather than simply supplementing the efforts of PR teams, is often spearheading them.

My creative agency has been working with some of the more innovative PR agencies and internal PR teams over the past couple of years, and here’s a list of the top 10 ways video is being used by PR professionals to help brands, businesses, organizations and individuals tell their stories.

1. Media relations / pitches and press releases. Videos make pitches and press releases infinitely more interesting and engaging. Referencing a hot new viral video, the latest video in a web series, a video announcement from a key corporate player or simply a fun, informative video about a product can make a huge difference in how a pitch is received. Video gives journalists, bloggers and publications more content to share with their visitors.

2. Building trust and credibility with targeted groups. Nothing builds trust like video. Instead of reading a text quote from a company spokesperson, viewers are able to actually see that spokesperson speaking. There may be some coaching involved, but that’s what directors are for.

3. Raising brand awareness / promotions / working with celebrities. Videos that offer something of value like cash, prizes or 15 minutes of fame can spread like crazy and highlight a product’s involvement in a contest or promotion, raising awareness of the product, and by extension, the brand.

Creating and launching funny, edgy or cool video content involving TV, sports and YouTube celebrities guarantees a targeted audience. Launching a coordinated social media sharing strategy and integrating this effort with the marketing department allows PR teams to capitalize on that momentum, building and raising brand awareness.

4. Product launches. Viral videos and branded entertainment are high-profile ways to announce new products or refresh old ones. Video gives PR teams a visual, entertaining and engaging tool around which to center campaigns. We were recently involved in creating a video for a pizza chain in which large amounts of cash were stuffed in the crust of their new pizza. The content was used not only as a stand-alone video, but as part of a funny promo on a late-night comedy talk show.

5. Crisis management / shifting public opinion / corporate and ceo reputation management. In 2009, when two Domino’s Pizza employees made a video of themselves sticking cheese in their noses and messing around with customers’ sandwiches, the companywas quick to respond with a video apology from Domino’s USA President, president Patrick Doyle.

In 2010, BP  CEO Tony Hayward made a video apology following the oil spill in the Gulf. Most of the top comments on the video reference the “South Park” episode that lampooned Hayward, but that’s OK. The message still got out.

In both cases, the videos reached large audiences and supplied talking points for the media, social and mainstream, to propel the video messages further. Both videos were effective in turning around negative perceptions toward the brands.

6. Content development. Company newsletters, blogs, speeches and annual reports are being sprinkled with videos. PR teams don’t need to produce a viral video hit for every newsletter, but they can encourage key employees to create video content at events and parties. Include the videos in monthly correspondences with clients and the media. Just be sure to edit them first, especially the ones from the Christmas party.

7. Social media marketing. If social media is UPS, video is the package. If social media is the rocket launcher, video is the rocket. Video can be branded as heavily or as lightly as the creative and messaging dictate, and the larger story can be shared and developed via social media. Having a PR message go viral across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other video sites and social outlets creates a new story that can then be pitched to, or organically picked up by, mainstream media outlets — enabling the message to reach TV, radio and print audiences as well.

8. Social and environmental responsibility. For brands, businesses and organizations, being socially and environmentally responsible can be a key way of differentiating themselves from their competitors. Video can bring the faces of individuals and positive actions of these companies to the forefront and help move brands closer to new and existing fans and customers.

Video can also be used to present a call-to-action, or as a rallying cry for public involvement in a good cause. Launching videos where fans are encouraged to submit a response in video form allows a call-to-action to be spread even faster and with farther reach.

9. Events. While a single live event reaches only the people attending, social video allows PR teams to share the event with everyone. This increases the exposure of both the event and the brand, product, organization or personality. Events don’t always have to be real, either. Flash mobs are types of events that are staged and shared on Youtube and via social media.

10. Political campaigns. Politics is about convincing people to trust a candidate, motivating them to convince others to trust the candidate and getting everyone to vote for the candidate. Politicians are often recorded publicly for videos that can take on lives of their own — but funny, emotional or serious original video content can be produced and launched in order to manage the direction and spread of both positive and negative conversation. Political attack videos and damage control videos can both contain humor, meaning or even shock value — and will be shared.

Online video is fast becoming the face of social media. Like their marketing and advertising brethren, PR agencies and PR departments should be exploring the possibilities and pushing the boundaries.

by:  David Murdico (mediapost[dot]com)

Why Article Marketing Should Not Be A Part Of Your SEO Strategy?

With all the buzz about Google’s recent changes in their ranking factors (dubbed Panda), and the impact it had caused onsearch engine results, Article Marketing is probably one subject that has been in the spotlight. While many people say it is good, some say the contrary. Some say that provided your article is of great quality, then it is a good SEO strategy to be implemented.

So, Does Article Marketing Benefit Your SEO?

In the past, I would not think for a moment to quickly answer this question and told you YES. As with everything SEO, things change, and what was good back then, is not necessarily the same today. SEO if you still have any doubts is always an ongoing process and being on top of things is what makes a difference.

Anyway, in order to provide you with a best possible answer regarding whetherArticle Marketing is “still” good or not for SEO, let’s here what Matt Cutts himself has to say (short video). Please pay attention, this is important.

Now, if you paid attention to every single word Matt has said, here is what caught most of my attention:

• Lean Away. Note that Matt starts with “I’m not a huge fan” and says, “lean away” but not exactly “stop”. Words can be deceiving sometimes and makes as wonder how should we really be interpreting them. My take on this is that there are definitely “content farms” out there you should avoid. Matt mentions “often” the word “duplicate” and that is most likely why Google is now devaluing them.
• Quality Articles vs. Quality Sites: Ahh, this is the problem right here isn’t it? The fact that you may even have “top notch” article but decided to publish it on a “low quality” site is what will determine if the effort is even warranted. The way I understood Matt from this is that, don’t waste your time and find “other” means of providing your quality content, such as writing great content and spreading them around “quality” Social Media sites, and through that get natural links. Which Brings up another question.

What are the other means of sharing “your quality articles” and how do you implement your article marketing?

For this question, I am counting on you to voice out your opinions. I believe that this is object for another post where, hopefully, and together with your input, can reveal some really good forms of article or content marketing. Which reminds me, is Article Marketing now really “content marketing”, or is this just another one of those fancy words we use to create?

Anyway, here are some suggestions to ensure that you are “Panda Friendly”, lol.

1) Guest posting should be still one of the greatest forms of marketing your content. Obviously, you should follow all the rules of writing guest posts and ensure that you are also writing them on “quality” websites.

2) Are you scraping sites and mashing content all together – Stop right now! This is really what the whole issue is about. If you are to “publish” an excerpt and put in a summary of your own “thoughts” about an article, linking back to its original source, that should be OK.

3) Publish only unique content on your site. If you are going to use this same content to spread them around other sites, without changing them at all – Don’t! Suggest you to rewrite them first and the submit to other sites if you want. I also recommend that you do this only after a week or so has gone by. You want to make sure that your unique article gets its proper place on search engines first (indexed). This can indicate that the “original” source for that article is yours.

4) If you accept guest post on your site, be sure to double check them first for “duplicity” before publishing them. Obviously, this is not a necessary measure if the author is already a trusted source for you.

5) And, well… I will be waiting for input to include it here  .

Should You Completely Abandon Article Marketing On Submission Sites?

That’s up to you to decide but I think that it still has its value, providing you are publishing it on “credible” and high quality sites. There is obviously the matter of getting referral traffic from article directories, which does not rely on search engines. Anyway, if your purpose is to just build links and hope for the best, my advice, stay out of it. You do not want sites considered “shady” by Google to be linking to your site anyway, right?

How about you? What’s your take on this? Do you think that Article Marketing is dead, or is it just some sort of phase that is running to “clean” up the mess? Matt did hint that the trend of Article Marketing does not add value to the web.

 

by:  DITESCO(iblogzone[dot]com)

10 Things Every Nonprofit Should Know About Social Media and Online Communications

Last week I spoke on a couple of great panels at the Politics Online Conference about technology, social media and how Congress is trying to adapt to the ever-changing world wide web aka the “series of tubes” as former Senator Ted Stevens so hilariously described it. From grassroots advocacy staffers to Hill staffers and PR folks, the same questions arose during each panel session – what are the top social media tools to use to spread an organizations message and how does an organization effectively use online communications tools. All great questions! Let’s get down to my top 10 list of things every nonprofit should know about social media and online communications.

1. Google Analytics: 
Google Analytics, a free and powerful website stats software, lets you dig into your website data so you can find out all sorts of useful info such as who your audience is and what keywords they are searching for to find your website. Katie Harbath of DCI who joined me on the panel “Every Question I Was too Embarrassed to Ask about Technology” said that this is one of the best resources of data when you begin to search for people to build your social media community. Agreed!

2. Enewsletters Still Work 
Enewsletters are still a valuable form of communications for most organizations. During the panel “What Effect Will the New Administration’s Use of Tech Have on Congress?”, Rob Pierson, Online Communications Director for Congressman Mike Honda and soon to be New Media Director for the House Democratic Caucus, said that sending enewsletters to your online list is the best bang for your buck when you have limited time and resources. Enewsletters can easily generate a lot more clicks then social media outlets such as posting a video to YouTube. Furthermore, according to the latest benchmarks study by Convio, enewsletters are one of the most “cost-effective ways to build relationships with new constituents, increase engagement, and educate supporters about your organization’s mission.”

3. Twitter
Twitter, oh such a trendsetter these days between Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and CNN. The entire world seems to be fixated on Twitter and for good reason. Twitter is a great way to spread your message and brand your campaign, while building a community. As I have mentioned in prior posts, you need to be where your target audiences are. Consider it like an interactive 24-hour news cycle. It’s where people go to gather news, resources and discuss issues. But remember don’t treat it as a one way communication tool to just blast out your latest press releases and action alerts. The Twitter community likes to be engaged.

4. Facebook
As the fifth-most trafficked site in the United States, Facebook is a great social network for nonprofits to build a community and brand their campaigns. Nonprofits can start a Facebook Group, Cause Page to raise a bit of money, or Fan Page to post recent news, videos, photos, events, launch contests, and talk to your members via discussion boards.

5. Build Your Community
At the end of the day raising money, motivating people to take action and social networking is about building up your community – a base of friends. For example, you can search for “friends” that share similar interests to your organizations mission through Summize.com on Twitter or on Facebook by clicking on your own interests and viewing the list of recommendations who come up in your search. Friend Feed is another option.

6. Engagement is Key
Ask your “members/friends” to share their opinions and have them post their responses online. Respond to their comments so they know someone is reading their posts. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) recently said that “Online tools help me stay connected and get feedback from the people I work for.”

7. Freshen Up Profiles
Update user profiles every couple of days with new stories, interesting facts, new videos, blog entries, photos, etc.

8. Transparency Counts Big Time
If you are tweeting or blogging on behalf of an organization sign your name at the end of the post so your community makes a connection to the different people blogging or tweeting. Don’t pretend you’re somebody else like the Executive Director. People can see right through it and will call you out on it which can be embarrassing. For example, when Joe Trippi is not able to be on Twitter, he asks his staff to tweet timely news on his behalf and sign their own name at the end of the tweet.

9. Make It Interesting
Don’t bore your community with wonky status updates or tweets. You are competing with thousands and thousands of messages. According to Ben Pershing, who writes for the Capitol Briefing blog of the Washington Post, reporters are always looking for good stories and hooks, so your blog should be filled with interesting and compelling news not boring press releases.

10. Integrate Social Media Across Your Communications
Times have changed. Remember when all you needed to do was send out a press release, follow up with your rolodex of reporters or buy an ad in the New York Times? In today’s communications world, social media should be a part of your overall communications plans and strategies. Don’t ditch your traditional communications tools though – just expand your channels and use all of the tools at your disposal. Social media is a good thing (not a chore) and gives you more ammunition to brand your organization, spread your message and cultivate supporters.

By: Allyson Kapin(frogloop[dot]com)

One-Way Linkbuilding Strategies to Explode Your Rankings

As you probably know, understanding one-way linkbuilding strategies and building one-way links are incredibly valuable to your website for search engine optimization. These one-way links tell search engines that you are an authority in your particular niche or market. Google, in particular, uses these incoming links as a way to determine value and this contributes to your page rank (PR) and helps you get higher ranking.

As Google has 80% market share when it comes to search engine results pages we need to make sure that we have lots of valuable one-way links targeting specific keywords pointing back to your website.I should also mention, that if you have too many one-way link’s too quickly (we are talking 1000s here), you could be penalized and either lose ranking or in the worst case be de-indexed. So let’s look at some very powerful one-way linkbuilding strategies that you can use right now.

Creating Core Content Others Find Invaluable

By creating good solid and valuable content, you will naturally attract links from other people who find your website. For example, good lists of information, tutorials, step-by-step guides and “how to” guides often attract a lot of interest and links.

Submit Your Site To Directories

You may have already submitted your site to many directories when you launch your site. If not, go ahead and submit your site to as many directories as you can and make sure you place your site in the relevant category. Directories don’t give as much value as they used to, but it’s still counted as a valuable link in many cases.

Place You RSS Feeds With RSS Directories

One often-overlooked source of one-way links is submitting your RSS feeds to RSS directories. This way every time there is a new piece of content in your RSS feed it instantly gets back links to this article. This deep linking can dramatically boost the raking of this page in the search engines. There are many RSS directories out there, and you can automate the submission of your RSS feeds to different directories using software like RSS Submit, which is a tool I use all the time.

Submit Articles To Article Directories

Article marketing is a very powerful way to build not only traffic but also valuable one-way links as well. This is one area of link building where you have ultimate control and can target your articles not only to specific keywords but also the volume of articles and distribution.

Social Network Marketing

If you use Twitter, Facebook, and many other social networks where you may be posting links, these can provide valuable one-way links. Many of the link shortening services we use such as Bit.ly, Tinyurl and is.gd all use 301 redirects, which can help our SEO efforts.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is an incredibly powerful way to build one-way links.  There are literally dozens of social bookmarking sites and you can either submit your pages manually or use automated software like Bookmarking Demon, SocialBot or online services like OnlyWire. These really simplify the entire process of placing your links onto the social bookmarking sites and can save many hours of hard work.

Press Releases

Incredibly valuable way to build powerful and high quality one-way links is to use press releases. This can be an expensive route to take if you use services like PR Web, etc. however, if you have the budget to have a large amounts with you won’t promote, your press releases can end up on many large high PR websites and these back links can really help with your page rank.

Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is a great way to build links and credibility in a particular market. Not only do you tap into existing target market of people who are active on this forum but each post you make contains your signature. If permissible your signature may contain a link back to a website depending on the site’s rule’s. If these links are dofollow links (they feed page rank to you) then this can be a great source of targeted link building for your website.

Hire Reputable One-Way Link Building Services

Link building can take time and if you don’t have the time to spare then you may be able to outsource all of you link building. I have used several services in the past, some good, some fantastic, and some absolutely terrible. Before you start hiring a link building company, check out their credentials, check the reviews of previous clients, and make sure the company you I can deliver on its promises. If you find a good provider of link building services, take full advantage of the opportunity presented to you and dominate the search engine for any of you wish. These are just a few of the most common methods that you can use to build links. Feel free to share your favorite methods and let us know how you build links to your websites.

 

By: Sean Donahoe (themanicmarketer[dot]com)

Five Social Media Myths You Need to Know

A new study by ComScore says that US Internet users spend 1 out of every 6 minutes online engaging with social networks.  This is a significant increase from 2007 when ComScore reported that Internet users spent 1 out of every 12 minutes online using social networks. As savvy marketers and nonprofit campaigners know, numbers can be sliced and diced. Unfortunately many of these studies never tell the entire story. For example, the latest ComScore study says “Facebook now reaches 73% of the total U.S. Internet population each month.”

As you read that stat, you’re probably saying to yourself “wow, that’s impressive. We really need to have a better Facebook strategy for our own organization.” And while it maybe true that your organization needs a better Facebook strategy, it’s also important that you dig a little deeper into social media stats. For example, Facebook shares different types of statistics on their own site that I think are more useful when thinking about the role of social media. Facebook has 150M U.S. “active” users, which is 48% of the U.S. population, yet only 50% of active users login any given day. So 24% of the U.S. population logs into Facebook on any given day to check or post updates.

As more marketers release their own social media studies and statistics, the more pressure organizations face to build and/or refine their own social media engagement. As you continue to plan and evaluate social media’s role in your organization, arm yourself with the right knowledge and memorize these five social media myths.

1.    A Facebook page can replace your website.

THAT IS THE WORST IDEA EVER, said Maggie McGarym, the Online Communications and Social Media Manager for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

“Lets be perfectly clear: while Facebook can certainly be useful as an outpost to your company’s website, it could not and should not ever replace it. Thinking Facebook could take the place of a company’s website is like saying your car is so great soon you can just live in it and get rid of your house,” said McGary.

Why is replacing your website with a Facebook page a bad idea?

• It has limited functionality
• Organizations have little control over how things are displayed in their Facebook page and what shows up on people’s feeds.
• Analytics are limited
• Organizations don’t truly own their data. Facebook can pull your page down any time they think you violated their TOS. Good luck getting it back up. Also, what will happen to your page and community if Facebook goes away? Nothing lasts forever. #ThatsTheTruth

 

 

2.    Social Media is a great fundraising tool. Just look at the success of Obama’s last Presidential Campaign.

While some organizations like Charity:Water have raised money through social networks, the majority haven’t raised very much. Only 2.4% of nonprofits were able to raise over $10K on Facebook in 2010, according to Frank Barry of Blackbaud. 2% of nonprofits raised between $1K and $10K on Twitter.

Your organization is not the Obama campaign. And you are not running for the President of the United States. Plus, senior campaign staff admits that social networks did not produce great fundraising results during the campaign. “The real drivers were old school. They were email. And they were the web,” said David Plouffe, Chief Campaign Manager.

 

3.     Build an app.

Everyone is building an app. Your organization should too. NOT! Consider what the “All-Time Top 20 Iphone Apps” are: IFart, Facebook, IBeer, Google Earth, Super Monkey Ball, The Weather Channel, etc.

Mobile is on the rise and nonprofits should be investing time in making their websites mobile friendly, optimizing their email and fundraising appeals for mobile email, and testing whether your members are open to texting as part of your multi-channel campaign. But for many nonprofits, developing expensive apps could be a waste of time and a poor return on investment. Take a step back and assess whether that investment is really being driven by the magnetism that mobile apps have as shiny objects or if your app will truly be able to provide value to your target audiences like the successful Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app.

 

4.    Social Media is a free way to build your brand and list.

The organizations that have built up a presence on social networks and do a great job of engaging people (National Wildlife Federation, Humane Society of the United States) have made a significant staff investment. And as you know staff is not free and time is money.

 

5.    Social Media should be it’s own department.

No organization should be working in silos, yet many do. The fundraising department is on one side. Advocacy is on the other side. They often compete instead of collaborating and integrating campaigns. Toss social media into the mix and organizations struggle with where this fits into the organization. Social media should be integrated into your organizations fundraising, advocacy, and communications, etc. It should not be siloed in it’s own little department.

What social media myths do you think organizations need to be aware of?

By: Allyson Kapin (frogloop[dot]com)

5 Tips to Grow Your TwittEr Presence

1. Leverage Other Profiles

Do you have an existing online profile somewhere outside of Twitter (big or small)? Use it to springboard into Twitter. If it’s a blog, mention that you’re using Twitter in a post and link to it from your profile and contact pages. If you’re on Facebook use one of the numerous tools available to drag in your Tweets to facebook. Add it to your email signature, business card, mention it in interviews or guest posts that you might do…. etc. The same applies with any online (or even offline) presence that you have – link to your Twitter page and link to it often .

2. Tweet and Tweet Often – But Create Space for Reactions

The more active you are on Twitter the more likely you are to have someone find you from within Twitter and add you as someone that they are following. Every Tweet you do comes up on the Twitter Public Timeline – so upping your Tweet numbers can help have you appear more often there.

Warning – Tweet too regularly and about nothing worthwhile and you run the risk of losing followers. What I’ve found is that on days that I’m more talkative than others that there can come points where I’m talking so much that my followers don’t have room to respond. Twitter can actually become quite confusing once you have too many trains of thought going all at once so I try to stick to one topic at a time and create pauses between them to let others interact.

3. Be Conversational

Apart from a good influx of new followers when I announced I was using Twitter at first the days that I get most new followers are those days that I interact with other Twitter users. Everytime you reply to someone and have them reply to you your Twitter ID appears in the feeds of others which exposes you to potentially thousands upon thousands of other Twitter users. Asking questions is perhaps the best way to get conversational on Twitter. Get 10 people to answer a question you’ve Tweeted and if even just one person signs up from each of those 10 people’s replies to you you have 10 new followers. Just as important is to participate in other people’s Tweets also – reply to their questions and ideas as much as possible.

The key with this approach is to be conversational about topics that will interest others. For example if you ask a very general question like ‘what cereal do you use’ and get a lot of answers – but i suspect you’ll get more answers AND new followers if the question was more relevant to people’s lives in some way (read on for more on this).

Another thought on the ‘art of conversation’ on Twitter is that I find I do better when I’m not talking about me. No one likes to hang around with people who just talk about themselves – so get the balance right between talking about yourself and talking about others and other topics of interest.

4. Provide Value

Tweeting on a personal level is fun and for many that’s as far as it goes – but if you’re interested in growing your Twitter influence you need to provide your followers (and potential followers) with value. It’s the same principle as growing a blog – if you help enhance people’s lives in some way they are more likely to want to track with you and read more of what you have to say. As a result your conversations should ‘matter’ on some level. Sure you can throw in personal tweets and have some fun with it – but unless you’re providing something useful to people (information, entertainment, news, education etc) they probably won’t follow you for long.

5. Tweet in Peak Times

Last week I tracked when I had new twitter followers add me and found (as I expected) that the frequency of ‘adds’ where made during business hours in the USA. My being situated in Australia can have some positives and negatives but one of the things I don’t enjoy about it is that I miss out on a lot of interaction with my followers who are on the other side of the world from me. I try to be online when the US wakes up (evenings for me) so as to make the most of the opportunities of being awake in this overlap time (similarly first thing in the morning for me can be good as my US friends are sometimes still at work or online at home in their early evenings). Tweeting during these times only increases the chances of someone finding you and adding you as someone to follow.

Bonus Tip

These are some of the things that I’ve noticed about my own Twitter follower numbers. I probably should add that for me it’s never really been a concerted effort. I do have the advantage of being able to do #1 quite well quite naturally but my last tip would be to just be yourself and Tweet form the heart. Don’t stress too much about the numbers but connect genuinely with the Twitter followers you already have and let the rest take care of itself!

 

by: Darren Rowse (problogger[dot]net)

1565 Marketing Power Words and Phrases To Boost Your Sales

Have you ever been scratching your head to come up with just the right way to title a marketing sales letter or email? It happens to anyone who is a copywriter. Sometimes you just get a mental cramp and just can’t think of the right thing to say. Well this massive list of incredible Marketing Power Words may help you craft the perfect text you need to rake in your next round of profits. This list has been gathered from my collection over the years and I am sure you will it an invaluable resource, so make sure you bookmark it!

(X) Easy Payments (X) Years’ Experience (X)% Money-Back Guarantee A Child Could Do It A Cut Above A Must! A Pleasant Experience A Winning Offer Abated Abbreviated Abolished Abridged Absolute(Ly) Absolutely Absolutely No Obligation Absolved Absorbed Accelerate Accelerated Accept My/Our Offer Acclimated Accompanied Accomplished Accurate(Ly) Achieved Acknowledgment Acquired Act Now! Act Today! Acted Action Activated Actuated Adapted Added Added Value Addressed Adhered Adjustable Adjusted Administered Admire(D) Admitted Adopted Adrenaline Advance(D) Advanced Advantage Advertised Advice Advised Advocated Affected Afford(Able) Affordable Agree(Ment) Aided Aired Alert Alert! All New All The Difference In The World All You Need All-Purpose Allocated Allure Altered Amazing Amended Amplified Analyzed Announcing Answered Anticipated Anyone Can Do This Anytime Anywhere Appeal(Ing) Applied Appointed Appraised Approached Appropriate Approved Approved By Major Companies Arbitrated Arranged Articulated As Seen On Tv Ascertained Asked Assembled Assessed Assigned Assisted Assumed Astonish(Ment) Astonishing Astounding At Your Fingertips At Your Own Pace At Your Request Attained Attention Attracted Attractive Audited Augmented Authentic Authored Authorized Auto Delivery Autograph(Ed) Automate(D) Automated Automatic Available Awarded Awesome Balanced Bandwagon Bankruptcy Sale Bargain Bargain Price Bargained Basement Price Basic Be First To Qualify Be Your Own Boss Beat The System Beautiful Beautifully Packaged Beauty Before And After Before They’re Gone Began Behind The Scenes Believe Below Dealer Price Below Retail Prices Below Wholesale Prices Benchmarked Beneficial Benefited Benefits Best Best Quality Best-Performing Best-Selling Better Better Than Beware! Beyond Reason Bid Big Big Bonus Big Demand Bill You Later Billed Blast Blockbuster Blocked Blown Away Boggle Your Mind Bolstered Bonanza Bonus Bonus Gift Booming Boost Boosted Borrowed Both Are Free Bottom Line Bought Brand Name Brand New Branded Break The Bank Breakthrough Breathtaking Bridged Bright Bright Future Brilliant Broadened Brought Budgeted Built Bulk Discount Buy Buy Direct And Save Buy Now! Buy One Get One Free! Calculated Call Call Anytime Call Right Now! Call Today! Call Toll Free Call Toll Free — Anytime Cancel Anytime Canvassed Captain Of Your Own Ship Captured Caring Cash Back Cash Discount Cash Rebate Cast Cataloged Catalogued Categorized Caution Centralized Certified Chaired Challenge Challenged Challenging Change(S) Change(S) Forever Change(S) Your Life Changed Channeled Charity Charted Checked Christmas Sale(S) Circulated Clarified Classic Classified Clear Clearance Cleared Closed Clutter-Free Co-Authored Coached Collaborated Collectable Collected Collector’s Item Colorful Colossal Combined Commercial Commission Commissioned Committed Common Common-Sense Approach Communicated Compact Compare Compatibility Compatible Compelling Competitive Competitive Edge Compiled Complete Complete Details Complete Facts Complete Range Of Complete Setup Complete(D) Completed Completely Confidential Complied Composed Compounded Comprehensive Comprehensive Range Of Comprehensive Support Comprehensive Training Compromise Computed Computerized Conceived Concept Conceptualized Concerned Condensed Conducted Confident Confidential Congratulations! Conserved Consistent Consolidated Construct Constructed Consulted Consumer Help Contact Me/Us/You Continued Support Contributed Control Controlled Convenient Converted Convertible Conveyed Convinced Coordinated Core Corrected Cost Effective Counseled Courage Crammed Created Credit Cards Accepted Critiqued Crucial Cultivated Current Custom Design Custom Packaging Customer Comes First Customize Customized Cut Cut-Price Cutting Costs Danger Dare You Daring Dealer Price Dealt Debated Debt-Free Debugged Decentralized Decreased Deductible Deep Discount Deferred Defined Delicate Delighted Deliver(Ed) Delivered Delivered To Your Door Demonstrated Depreciated Described Description Deserve Designated Designed Desire Destiny Detail(Ed) Detailed Information Detailed Instructions Detected Determined Developed Devised Diagnosed Difference Difficult(Y) Digital Direct Direct To You Direct(Ly) Directed Discount Discount Equal To Sales Tax Discover(Y) Discovered Dispatched Dissembled Distinguished Distributed Diversified Divested Doesn’t Have To Be Dominant Don’t Be Left Behind Don’t Delay! Don’t Miss Out! Don’t Miss The Boat! Donate Double Income Double Your Money! Double-Your-Money-Back Guarantee Doubled Download Dreams Come True Drove Durability Durable Dynamic(S) Eager(Ly) Earn More Money! Earned Ease Ease Of Use Eased Easily Easy Easy Installation Easy Operation Easy Ordering Easy Payments Easy To Install Easy To Use Easy-To-Read Instructions Economical Edge Educated Effect(Ive) Effected Efficient(Ly) Effortless(Ly) Elastic Elegant Elicited Eligible Eliminate Eliminated Emerging Emerging Growth Enabled Enchanted Encouraged Endeavor Endorse(D) Endorsed Endure(Ance)/(Ing) Energy Energy(Etic) Enforced Engaged Engineered Enhance(D)/(Ing) Enhanced Enjoy(Ment) Enlarged Enlisted Enormous Enormous Potential Enrich(Ed) Enriched Ensured Enterprising Entire Envision Envy(Ied) Equal(S) Equipped Error-Free Error-Proof Essential Established Estimate(D) Ethical Everything Provided/Supplied Exact Examined Exceed Exceeded Excellent Excellent Offer Excellent Quality Excellent Service Except Exceptional Exchanged Excite(D)/(Ing)/(Ment) Exciting Exciting Details Exclusive Executed Exempted Exhilarated Expanded Expansive Expectation(S) Expedited Expensive Experience(D) Expert Expert Advice Expert(Ise) Experts Agree Experts Say Explain(Ed) Explode(Ing) Exploit Explored Exposed Express Express Service Extended Extension Extensive Extra Extra Income Extracted Extraordinary Extremely Informative Eye-Catching Fabricated Fabulous Facilitated Fact(S) Factory Direct -To-You Faithful(Ness) Famous Fantasy Fascinate(Ing)/(Ion) Fascinating Fashioned Fast Fast Results Fast Service Fast Turn-Around Fast-Moving

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Get The Facts Giant Gift Gift With Purchase Gift(Ed) Gigantic Give Global Gold(En) Good Good Judgment Good Reasons Good Taste Good-Tasting Gorgeous Governed Grace Period Grace(Ful) Graded Granted Grateful Gratification Great(Est) Greatest Greeted Ground-Floor Offer Ground-Floor Opportunity Grouped Growth Guarantee(D) Guaranteed Guaranteed Delivery Guaranteed Lowest Price Guaranteed Overnight Delivery Guaranteed Return Guaranteed To Work Guided Handled Handsome Handy Happy(Ily) Hard Hard-Hitting Hassle-Free Have Fun Head-And-Shoulders Above Heal(Ing) Health(Y) Heart(Y) Heavy Heavy Hitter Hefty Heighten Help(Ful) Helped Helpful Helping People Like You High High Priority High Tech High Volume High-Class High-Growth High-Impact High-Rolling High-Speed High-Tech Highest Highest Commission Offered Highest-Rated Highlight Highly Recommended Highly-Rated Hired Historic Holiday Price Holiday Sale Honor Hope Hosted Hot Property Hottest How To Huge Huge Demand Huge Difference Hungry Hurry Hurry! 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Joined Judged Judgment Just Arrived Just-In-Time Justice Justified Kept Killer Application Killer Prices Killer Strategy Killer Tactics Know(Ledge) Larger Than Life Largest Largest Selection Largest-Selling Last Chance Last Minute Lasting Lasting Impression Late-Breaking Latest Latest Technology Launch(Ing) Launched Launching Lavish(Ly) Lavishly Leadership Leading Leading Name Learn About Lease To Buy Leasing Is Available Lectured Led Legal Legendary Legitimate Less Hassle Liability Liberal Liberated Lifeblood Lifetime Lifetime Guarantee Lifetime Income Lifetime Warranty Light-Weight Lightened Like No Other Limited Limited-Time Offer — May Be Withdrawn At Any Time! Liquidated Litigated Live Your Dream Live(Ly) Lobbied Localized Located Logged Long Term Longevity Love Love(D) Low Low Factory Prices Low Interest Low Price Low-Risk Solution Lower Price(S) Lowest Lowest Prices Ever Loyalty Luxury Magic Magnetizing Mail Today! Maintained Makes A Great Gift Mammoth Managed Mapped Marketed Massive Master Master Of Your Destiny Masterpiece Maximized Maximum Measure Up Measured Mediated Mega Merchandised Merged Millions Millions Sold Minimal Investment Minimized Miracle Modeled Moderated Modern Modernized Modified Money-Making Money-Saving Monitored Monumental Most Underrated Motivated Moved Multi-Functional Multiple Income Streams Multiple Revenue Streams Multiplied Named Narrated National National Brand Nationwide Natural Natural Growth Navigated Neat Necessary Negotiated Netted New New And Improved New And Used New Niche New Vision Next Frontier Next-Day Air Available No Application Fee No Doubt No Experience Necessary No Experience Needed No Hassle(S) No Hype No Interest For One Year No Minimum Order No Money Down No Money Required No Obligation No One Will Call No Out-Of-Pocket Cash No Payment For (X) Months No Payment For One Year No Postage Necessary No Problem No Questions Asked No Restriction(S) No Risk No Salesperson Will Visit No-Hassles Refund No-Nonsense Nostalgic Not Available In Stores Not In Stores Noted Nothing Better! 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Phased Phenomenal Phone Today! Photographed Pinpointed Pioneer(S) Pioneered Pioneering Placed Planned Plus Get Polled Popular(Ity) Portable Portfolio Position(Ing) Potent Potential Powerful Practical Pre-Paid Precious Precise(Ion) Premier Prepared Presented Preserve Preserved Presided Prevent Prevented Preview Price Comparison Price Includes Shipping Priceless Prices Below Competitors Prices Cut In Half Prices Slashed! Pride Prime-Quality Principal Principle Priority Private Invitation Privilege(D) Processed Procured Product Productivity Professional Profiled Profit-Generating Profit(Able) Profitable Profusely Program Programmed Projected Promising Promoted Promotion(Al) Prompt(Ness) Prompted Proposed Prospected Prosper(Ity) Proved Proven Proven Track Record Provided Provocative Publicized Published Purchased Purchasing Power Qualified Quality Quality-Minded Quantified Quantity Pricing Quick Quick Tips Quick(Ly) Quickly Quieter Raised Ranked Ranked At The Top Rapid Change Rare Rated Rates As Low As Rave Reviews Read All About It Real Realize Your Dream(S) Reap The Benefits Receive Coupon With Payment Receive Free Received Recommended Reconciled Recorded Recovered Recruited Rectified Recyclable Red Hot Redesigned Reduced Reduced Rates Refined Refundable Regained Registered Regulated Rehabilitated Reinforced Reinstated Rejected Reliable Relief Remarkable Remedied Remodeled Renegotiated Rent To Own Reorganized Repaired Replaced Reported Represented Request(Ed) Researched Resolved Respected Name Responded Restored Restructured Resulted Results Overnight Retained Retrieved Return On Investment Returnable Reveal(Ing) Revealed Revealing Revelation Reversed Reviewed Reviewing Revised Revised And Updated Revisited Revitalized Revolutionary Reward Reward(Ed)/(S) Rewarded Rich(Ly) Right Now Risk Nothing! Risk-Free Trial Riveting Roaring Rock-Bottom Price(S) Rocketed Royalties Runs Like New Rush Delivery Safe Safe And Secure Safe To The Environment Safeguarded Sale Salvaged Same-Day Delivery Same-Day Service Sampler Satisfaction Guaranteed Save Hundreds Save Money Save Thousands Save Time Saved Savvy Scarce Screened Secret(S) Secrets Secrets Revealed Secured Secured Opportunity Security See Before You Buy See The Savings Segmented Selected Send For Free Details Send Today Send Your Name Sensational Separated Served Service Serviced Set Your Own Hours Setting High Standards Settled Shape Your Own Tomorrow Shaped Sharp(Ly) Short-Term Lease Shortened Showcase(D) Shrank Shrewd Signed Significant Simple Simple Step(S) Simple To Use Simplified Simplistic Simply Powerful Simulated Sincere(Ly) Sizable Sizzle Sizzling Skill Skilled Sky-Rocket(Ed) Slashing Prices Small Investment Smart Soar Softer Sold Solicited Solution Solve Solved Spearheaded Special Special Bonus Special Discounts Special(Ized) Specialized Specializing In Speculated Speed Delivery Speedy Spoke Spotlight Spread Stabilized Stable Staffed Staged Stand Out From The Crowd Standard Standardized Star(Dom) Start-Up Startling State-Of-The-Art Stay Competitive Steered Step-By-Step Stimulated Stimulating Stop Spinning Your Wheels! 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Total Tough Traced Traded Traditional Trained Transacted Transferred Transformed Translated Transmitted Transported Travel Discounts Treated Tremendous Triple Your Money Back Tripled Troubleshot Trust(Ing) Truth Try Before You Buy Tutored Two Free Bonuses U</Strong> Ultimate Ultra Unbeatable Unbelievable Unbelievable Bargains Uncovered Under Underlined Underpriced Underrated Underscord Understand(Ing) Undertook Underwrote Unearthed Unified Unique Unique Offer Unique System United Universal Unlimited Unlimited Warranty Unlock Unparalleled Unsurpassed Untapped Market Untold Up-Scale Updated Upgraded Uplifting Urged Urgent Use Your Credit Card Used Useful Utilize Utilized Validated Value Value For Your Dollar Valued Variety Verbalized Versatile(Ity} Very Hot Vibrant Viewed Vision Visited Visualized Vital Purchase Voiced Volunteered Wanted Warning We Need Your Help We Pay Postage And Handling We Pay Shipping And Handling We Really Care We Will Not Sell Your Name Wealth(Y) Weathered Weird While Supplies Last Wide Range Of Wide Variety Widened Win Wisdom Withstood Witnessed Won Wonderful Word-Of-Mouth Worked Works In Minutes World Premier World’s Greatest Worldwide Worth Its Weight In Gold Year-Round You You Can Too You Owe It To Yourself You Qualify You Select You The Customer Comes First Young Your Your Choice Your Choice Of Youthful Zest(Ful) Zinger

Social Media Marketing For Business – 9 Powerful Reasons Why You Should Be Using Social Media Marketing For Your Business Now!

Social Media and using social media marketing for business has been around for many years now. It is only in recent months that it has really caught fire amongst mainstream media. How many times do you turn on the news or favorite talk show without the television personality telling you how you can follow them on Twitter? However, my question to you as an online entrepreneur is “Are you taking full advantage of this for your business?”

So, what I thought I would do today is give you 9 very compelling reasons why you should be taking advantage of social media marketing for business purposes and why you should not be sitting on the fence…

1. Social media marketing allows you to compete with the big boys on the same level.

It does not matter if you are working from home or a small business. You can be perceived in the same light as any large corporation or even celebrity over time. Not only that, it is a great way to spread your message far and wide without impacting your marketing budget.

2. It is a great way to connect directly with your target market in an “informal” setting.

This is great for attracting new customers that you would never have met but for social media marketing.

3. You break down the barriers of communication using social media,

building rapport, trust and credibility with your audience. This naturally turns into long-term relationships and ultimately sales of your products or services.

4.  You can talk directly to your customers, answer questions or ask questions and get honest feedback,

This is a great way to be seen by your audience and this will also help you target your sales message to address concerns in your market as well as their needs and wants.

5. Social media marketing will help you stand out from the crowd in your industry.

If you adopt a solid social media marketing presence, you will have a huge advantage over your competition that does not utilize this form of communication.

6. You are accessing a global community of potential customers.

If your product or service can be catered to customers all over the world, then take advantage of social media marketing to get your message to every corner of the world.

7. You can use social media for powerful market research.

If you have built a solid rapport with your audience, as well as trust, you can tap into this and perform detailed market research. You could put out surveys, ask questions of your market and watch exactly how your audience reacts to different tactics. This is priceless information for the online entrepreneur.

8. It gives everyone an equal voice.

So, even if you are naturally shy, you can still shine like a celebrity and have people listen to what you have to say with rapt attention.

9. It lets your genuine passion and interest in your business come through in your communications.

This helps build trust and allows people to relate to you and your products or services that you offer. This has the psychological effect of pre-selling and pre-qualifying your potential customers and is going to create a higher conversion of visitors to customers.

Ultimately, the choice is yours if you decide to use social media marketing for business or not. However, consider this one key point, is your competition going to sit on the fence forever and do you want to allow them to get a head start on you? Let me know your thoughts on this and tell the other readers why they should be using social media marketing in their business.

By: Sean Donahoe (themanicmarketer[dot]com)