Social Media
Two types of consumers
There are two groups of consumers. In one group price is king. If the detergent, burger or book is 3 cents less I’ll buy it from you. The other world is full of people who ignore the price and have only one measurement for their purchase, value. I define value as, “The result obtained after interacting with an item.” My computer cost 200% more than the alternative operating system but the value I receive makes it a bargain.
The Value Crowd
The world is full of people waiting to become part of the value crowd. When I read books like The Art of Non-Conformity or Linchpin I feel like I robbed the authors because I got so much value from them. There is in all sincerity a feeling on indebtedness for the ideas, the service rendered. I once paid the guy who does my brakes more than the final bill because I could not in good conscious pay him as little as he was charging.
The value crowd is actively looking for ways to “pay back” the author, the cook, the real estate agent or the consultant that already charged them a fee but provided so much value they feel indebted.
The new focus group is not neutral but they’re much more helpful. They’re made up of people who you know like you. They like you enough to tell you the truth. I just applied to be part of The Domino Project Street Team. It would be an honor to be a part of this new movement in publishing. It’s more than just a shift in the publishing world though, it’s a shift in the way ideas are spread. It starts with the authors of course but it is then filtered through the street team. So instead of a focus group of strangers gather your best friends. I once heard that your best friends are the ones who tell you the most truth. No one is going to tell you the truth if you pay them $8 an hour and buy them lunch.
Your Street Team
Gather your fans, your tribe, your loyalists. If they really care about your they’ll tell you the truth about your ideas. Fan club, street team, focus group…whatever you call them just make sure they’re honest enough to tell you whether your ideas stink or are ready to be spread.
Who are those people for you?
I have no doubt that there will be millions of people getting an iPhone on Verizon in a few weeks. I bought an
iPod Touch a few weeks ago. Here are the things I can do with it.
- View reports on my eNewsletters (
Mailchimp)
- Read my Kindle library (
Kindle)
- Complete Facebook functionality (
Facebook)
- Manage all my password required sites (
Lastpass)
- Process checks by taking pictures (
PayPal)
- Send money to vendors (
PayPal)
- Take notes that automatically sync to Dropbox (
PlainText)
- Take cool pictures of pretty much anything (
Instagram)
- Call anywhere in the world for free (
Skype)
- Skip ahead of the line for movies (
Redbox)
- Control my laptop’s media files (
Remote)
- Control my DVR from anywhere (
DISH)
I need WiFi to do many of those things but I’m around a wifi signal 95% of my day. I still have a cell phone but it’s not even a smart phone. Sometimes the best smart phone you can get is an
iPod.
Oxymorons….
Amicable divorce.
Controlled chaos.
Doing nothing.
Words that exist together but don’t really exist.
“Run my social media” is another oxymoron. Unfortunately it’s becoming less of an oxymoron and more of a cliche. I help people learn more about the social media tools, lingo and landscape. There are rules to tweets, strategies for businesses to grow and tricks to navigating this new space. Never have I and never will I pretend to be someone else in social media though. Social media can be done by employees of a company but when you start paying someone to pretend to be someone else then you just whored out your social media personality.
I can’t pretend to be you. You can’t pretend to the president. God only made one of you and one of me and that’s intential.
Social media starts with the word “social”, not “delegated” so if your business isn’t finding it useful then maybe it’s because the person behind the profile isn’t really a person at all, they’re an actor playing a role.
The tools available to all of us make social media scalable in a way we never dreamed of. It is entirely possible to communicate with thousands of people through your mobile phone or using a site like http://www.Hoosuite.com. Don’t be a fraud. Find people who care about their/your company and let them interact with customers. CEOs, presidents and managers can all manage the social media channels.
Here are three steps to success in social media;
1. Listen
2. Act human
3. Repeat
Free with a catch
2010 had a lot of debate about the idea of “free” as a way to build a business, gain a following and turn a profit. One service I was using actually stopped charging me to use it (InvoiceBubble.com) while others that were free placed limits on their use and started charging (Hootsuite). One of my favorite services added a paid option for some added customization (Tungle.com).
Free and awesome
Lastly, a free service that tried to close its doors (Xmarks.com) heard the cry of their users who said they would gladly pay to keep it alive (it eventually got purchased by another company and added a paid option). I know that you can make a lot of money offering someone a “free” version and then getting them to upgrade because for the rest of their lives but at the core of “Freemium” isn’t price, it’s a great service. The key to offering things at no monetary cost to potential paying customers is in my opinion, intent. Is it bait wrapped around a hook (that makes the customer a fish and no fish wins in that scenario) or is it truly a gift?
Free and addicting
A psychologist friend of mine once asked me if I do anything with 100% pure motives. I was at a three week training to go on staff with Young Life (a non-denominational youth ministry organization) and I was fresh out of college. Without hesitating I said that I did do some things with pure motivations. She pressed me on my answer and I got very frustrated because she seemed to be insinuating that I was in fact doing a lot of things for selfish reasons. It’s 12 years later and if she asked me about my motivations now I’d have to answer differently. Everything I do (including giving away services, tutorials and advice for free) is in some way selfish. Just because it’s selfish doesn’t mean it’s dishonest. What I give away is helpful. When 37signals.com offers free versions of their paid programs people benefit from that. Is there a trick? Not as long as the version you signed up for stays free (this is where I think Hootsuite pissed some people off). Is free great for marketing? I think so.
Every week someone asks me the same question. “What advice do you have for someone who is just starting their business and needs to find customers?” My answer, “Find people you can give your service or product to at absolutely no charge.” Don’t charge them “cost” or a 50% discount. Give your service, product…whatever it is, away. This will benefit you in the following ways:
1. You’ll get honest feedback if you ask for it.
2. They may know some potential customers and send them to you.
3. They may become a paying customer themselves.
4. You will help them.
5. It feels good.
So what’s the point of “free”? I’m selfish so I give things away for free because:
1. I get honest feedback.
2. I get potential customers from those who receive my free stuff.
3. I get paying customers from the same people.
4. It helps people.
5. It feels good.
Selfish husband, awesome wife
Let’s get it out there. No one has 100% pure motives. I don’t have pure motives when I love my wife (I want her to feed me and take care of our children because she’s better at both things). I don’t have pure motives in my friendships (I want them to like me, to say nice things about me and to invite me to do stuff with them). I don’t have pure motives in business (I want to get money from people, for them to tell other people about me and I like feeling wanted/important). We’re selfish because we know that givers often benefit the most because giving feels awesome. That’s why I made my tutorials all free (http://www.AndyTraub.com/free).
my kids
None of us pure and neither is “free”. I still think it’s a great idea though.
Go give some stuff away and see what happens. Start with giving your family your time then move on to your business, I believe you’ll be rewarded for both.
I’m starting a new series of posts called Q&A (the other is “How I work“). I get questions via email and online forums every day and I think many of you could benefit from them.
via Zazzle.com
Question: Has anyone here had much success with contests and using them to promote your blog? I started one about a month ago and haven’t had a huge response. I’ve primarily been advertising to my Facebook friends. Don’t know if I’m making it too hard or if people just don’t trust contests–thinking there’s a catch?
Answer: Christine (not their real name), I’m not a big fan of contests and here’s why. I think it seems easy because you can drive traffic (sometimes) but then the traffic doesn’t stick. It’s sort of like having a 50% off sale at Christmas. It doesn’t make me a loyal customer, just a bargain shopper. I won’t come back unless you have another sale (contest). Contests aren’t a good way to make people stick. Now running a contest for CURRENT followers/readers is a great way to build trust and value. It’s just a lousy way to GET followers in my opinion.
The alternative way to build followers/find clients is to do it the old fashioned way by reaching out to people you can help, offering sound advice and creating content consistently (even if no one is listening). The reason I tell clients to write and create content (videos, products etc) is that someday people will be listening and you’ll have a library for them to come visit full of helpful information.
When I coach businesses on building followings I never encourage “promotions” to gain followers. Instead I tell them to provide consistent value and real human interaction. Those things create relationships that will last long term as well as attract the kind of people you want as clients/customers.
