Tonight on Social Media Radio we talk to @amplify.

New tools make it easier than ever to tweet, share and comment on anything on the web.

How can this be profitable for you and your business?

Find out on the Profitable Social Media Radio show

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We’ve learned that social media is not just a new medium to push messages through.. and that “buy now” links are not just ignored, but hated by users… so how do you make money? What is a profit when you are engaging in social media?

Our guest tonight is @TreyPennington Trey is not only one of the smartest, well connected social media speakers I know, he’s also a master at marketing.  If you want to be more successful in everything you do, listen to Trey tell his story and the methods he uses to get messages like yours out to millions

Be sure to log in to the BlogTalkRadio site (free registration) so you can ask question, network with other smart social media users and have some fun!

Do You Want MEGA Success?

Also on this week’s show, we’ll talk about how our network of givers is demonstrating social media results later this month.

On July 21st, millions of readers will get an email about a book that can change their life forever.

We’ll ask them to order a copy from Amazon.com.. and maybe send another as a gift to a friend.

Ordering a book is easy, inexpensive and can bring a tremendous value on its own, but we know how busy people get.. so we want to make sure they have a reason to buy the book on this day and have assembled more life changing audio downloads, eBooks, courses and SUCCESS information we can from dozens of partners who have their own great content.

The result will be a best seller rank, allow author Barbara Hofmeister to publicize here work at a new level.. and thousands will get the opportunity to connect with new ideas from Barbara and our many partners.

The book is called To Be or Not To Be – The Choice is YOURS! .. More than a motivational book, it can be an action plan that will help you roadmap your life.

Mark your calendar for July 21st. It’s MEGA SUCCESS DAY.. better yet. Go to the MegaSuccessDay Facebook Page now and click the LIKE button to see more exclusive content there.

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Our friend @MariSmith book Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day is out and we thought it was a good time to to a show on Facebook social networking and marketing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Facebook social media marketing expert Mari Smith will appear on this week’s Profitable Social Media radio show with Warren Whitlock and Edward Phillip.

Show host Warren Whitlock said “We started this show when we wrote the first book on Twitter. Mari was with us back in 2008 and started teaching and speaking Facebook about the same time as Deb Micek and I wrote Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online

Mari is on of the co-authors of the best selling book on Facebook marketing Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day and will join us to answer your questions about Facebook advertising and growing your Facebook social network.

The show will air Friday May 7th at 7 PM Pacific Time.

To network during the show,  log on to http://BlogTalkRadio.com/warren. You can also hear past episodes, register to be seen in the chat session and post a link to your Twitter profile or Facebook page

Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day (ISBN: 0470569646) is available at bookstores everywhere.

You can also listen to the show live, or hear the archive with this widget.

This is a great time to ask Mari any questions you have about Facebook. The live chat will be open for the show, or you can post as a comment here.

What is YOUR biggest challenge in using Facebook to market your business?

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Twitter is everywhere… even at the old school media show by the National Association of Broadcasters #NAB show here in in Las Vegas this week.

Special Twitter media stories blog has some great case studies and links.

I’ll be covering Social Media, Twitter, Entertainment and Broadcasting from the show this week on this blog, my blog and my best seller book authors blog.

And of course on Twitter

My session is Tuesday Afternoon at 5pm. A complete rundown of Destination Broadband Theater in the Las Vegas Convention Center by Parnassus Group. I’ll be talking about the importance of listening and reciprocity in social media during the Twitter NAB

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NOTE: Our radio show “Profitable Social Media” special episode called “How to Write a Book that Sells” Listen to the on demand episode on BlogTalkRadio

When I started on Twitter, I reached out to people by finding a person in a conversation with my friends and then clicking on the follow button.

That never seemed like enough.. almost immediately I decided to go one step further.

The get to know a new twitter friend process goes like this:

1. Click on the name of a person I don’t know from an interesting thread
2. Read their profile page and look for a  link to their blog or anything that they care about
3. Read till I find something interesting, copy the URL and Tweet about it
4. Include the @ handle at the end saying “thanks” and then the handle
5. Leave a comment if possible on the person’s blog

It wasn’t always blogs, but in the early days, I was there to connect with bloggers, so that was my favorite. I also connected on Facebook or LinkedIn when I could.

It didn’t take long and I had tweets thanking me. Even when I didn’t, I felt great sharing new finds with my friends.

Interspersed with this, and the conversations I had, I’d  often say “Follow @coachdeb. She’s cool” or something like that  (NOTE: that’s pretty close to the first tweet between my future co-author and I).

In January 2009, @micah noticed how many people weren’t spotlighting other like this and suggested we tell others about our friend on Friday. The #FollowFriday (also called #FF for short) hashtag and phenomena was born.

While I often quipped how this was what I did everyday.. I thought it was great that we were sharing that ethos with all the new people coming on Twitter. Trouble was, pretty soon it got very hard to see messages through all the #FollowFriday

In Fall 2009, Twitter added LISTS and @Scobleizer suggested we put our “Tweeps to follow” on lists. I tweeted this several times, and noticed that the fad has died down some, but every Friday, we see plenty of  the tags.

No one wants to complain about the clutter. After all, each tweet is an endorsement. I sincerely appreciate all the people who take time to tell other about me.

An even better alternative…

“Use Follow Friday to Get More Blog Traffic”

In an excellent post today, @ChrisBrogan share an idea that you see used on this post. He suggests that instead of #FollowFriday list tweets, we take a few minutes to write about the people we are suggesting in a blog post, and then tweet the link.

@coachdeb and I saw bloggers talking about bloggers and it was a staple here back in 2008. When I saw @ChrisBrogan’s post, I dropped what I was doing and wrote this article.

I like the style Chris used to with a list and reasons to follow. I like bullet points and numbered lists because they are easy to read and people reading tend to use them as a checklist and are more apt to follow up.

My own style is usually more narrative. So you are seeing my list as I tell this story.

Please, if you haven’t already.. GO BACK and follow all the  people in this list. While you’re at it, try the process I described above.. leave a comment, say something nice, be creative and get in a conversation.

Then, use this on your own blog. Write up who you would like to recommend, and tweet about it.

Extra credit. Pus a Twitter friend and brief description as a COMMENT here. I usually don’t recommend putting URL’s in comments (the exception being when the blogger asks for them) … but TODAY, I WANT YOUR URL COMMENTS.

Tweet about this post so others can try this.

And by the say.. this method isn’t just for Fridays… it works everyday, and works better the more you do it..

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Tonight on Profitable Social Media radio it open call time.

We want you to call in with your story of profitable social media.

Did your Blog bring you a new client?

Did you meet a new partner on Twitter?

Are your customers happy to be able to talk to you online?

What’s you story?

Listen to ProfitableSocialMedia radio here

PS. Have you see our page on Facebook

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Tonight on the Profitable Social Media show we address how geotags on Twitter, GPS in your phone, and a myriad of software apps coming out this year will revolutionize the way local businesses interact with customers.

@24k will be our special guest. You may recognize Chris as a past guest. He’s been very active in the Las Vegas scene and one of the most connected people here.

We’ll be talking about many of the ways that marketing is changing through local access and

location aware apps.

Other guest will be stopping by to share their views on video sharing for small business, and local community networks.

Have You Been Getting Local?

Share your best tips, success stories, and plans for adding location aware or localized marketing to your business. Comments and questions below will be reviewed and addressed  during tonight’s show.

Listen to the show here

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Tonight’s Twitter Radio will be full of ideas to help you build your network, add value to the connections with  your current friends, partners, customers and network to larger profits.

I’ve been producing TwitCastRadio for two years and now we’re moving into more “Profitable Social Media” show and interviews to help you market yourself, your business,  your books, and your network to profits.

As you know, it’s not about begging for a sale online.

@piblogger1

@WillieCrawford

I’ve asked two outstanding radio show marketers to join me and my co-host @EdLoveSumo for an hour of the latest tips and tricks and strategies to create real value for your listeners and subscribers, and grow  your network while finding the best leads for any business.

Today, your marketing has to be based on LISTEN and LOVE.. There are more potential customers around the world, connected online and waiting to do business than you’ll ever get to.

Stop pushing your product, learn to attract a steady flow of customers. Tune in tonight at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific for PROFITABLE SOCIAL MEDIA radio.

 
@WarrenWhitlock

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Thursday January 7th I’ll be in Dallas for a Tweetup with @Barefoot_Exec and many local Dallas friends.

The even will be held at the Sheraton near DFW Aiport. To RSVP click here

As you can see from the photo here, we always have a good time when we get together to teach people about Twitter and Social Media. Sometimes, there are donuts!

In my usual Twitter and make it up as we go along style. We are not announcing any gifts for attendees, how many drinks we are buying (OK.. at least one) and what else will happen.

If you are in Dallas, make plans to get out to the Sheraton that evening and tweet up. You do not have to be part of the big event at the hotel. (but you can tweet me if you want to know about More Heart Than Talent). We’ll be helping people who are just getting started in Social Media, and networking with our Twitter friends.

Open to all.. Good time Guaranteed

Let me know you are coming so we can get enough goodies

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I got an email this morning from a networking contact I met on LinkedIN.

He asked:

I have a question. Currently I have about 15k twitter followers adding about 250 per day, how the heck did you get to 50k+?  Have you been able to monetize your followers in anyway?  Connect in multiple ways?

That’s actually 3 questions.. so I thought I should answer them all here to help others who ask.

My reply:

Funny you asked about Twitter in an email after I reached out to you on Twitter yesterday with didn’t get a response there.

No worries. I’ve found it’s best to listen to my market wherever they want to talk and respond to help if I can.

I’d say you are in Stage 2 the Three Stages or Twitter Acceptance

Your question about monetizing was a dead giveaway.

I took a quick look at your profile and it’s obvious that you are trying to broadcast on Twitter. Not a single conversation on the first page.

The secret to Twitter (and marketing in the future) is to LISTEN and LOVE.

LISTEN: Read others Tweets. Learn what your market wants and get it for them.

LOVE: Respond to questions, refer people to resources.. especially ones that aren’t your own sales process and say thank you whenever you can.

Stage 3 conversations are where the fun lies. Have fun helping people and you will be attractive or “Follow Worthy” as we talk about in Twitter Revolution

You may be getting advice that some system will get you more followers and automate marketing on Twitter. Many of them don’t work, even the ones that do will make you look like a 20th century marketer and could get you labeled as a spammer. (read more on “Don’t Be THAT GUY at the Social Media Party” here)

The “followers” number posted on a profile is not the best indicator of whether someone is helping other. It is one indicator of activity. Other indicators would be

• The number of conversations you have
• The time you have recommended a good link that doesn’t point to a self serving sales page
• How often someone says “thanks for the help”
• The use of the retweet functions (RT) to share others tweets.

A few “famous off Twitter” people build up a following regardless of whether they engage the public. Most of use won’t see any value from Twitter until we engage in listening and love (caring).

“People don’t care how much you know until the know how much you care” — Stephen R Covey

There are many examples of sales through Twitter. Dell attributes $6.5 million to posting deals. Dell can do that, they are a multi billion dollar company.

Zappos is a better example of a company that gets “listen and love” The CEO tweets as @Zappos and most of the office staff does too. You may see a special offer, but mostly they are listening to their customers talk about shoes and joining conversations to add value, help and spread love and good energy.

The Secret of High Follower Counts

They don’t do much for click through results. More connection give you more opportunities to listen and love and more conversations result in real people, real relationships and real business. However, when I post a link with tracking data.. the results are about the same as when I had 1/10 the followers. Twitter is not a broadcast medium.

The revolution in sales and marketing is just starting. With the technology we have now, there is no reason to ever try to pitch someone that is not anxious to hear from you. Rather, we teach our clients monitor the Tweet stream for conversations and questions of those that are looking for a solution (Listen), then where appropriate, join in the conversation answer a question give advice without any expectation of making a sales pitch (LOVE).

You can focus on helping people in your target market, or just help in general. People will be attracted to you when you GIVE.. it’s the Law of Reciprocity (you can get anything you want if you help enough others get what they want).. we want to do business with givers.. people that we know, like and trust. Asking for a sale too soon kills that process. Fortunately, the technology today allows us to meet and network, get to know people and build a trust relationship fast.

A good salesman knows that marketing is a process and hones his skill. Today, the skill that we all need to learn is “listen and love” .. it’s a lot more fun than cold calling, much more productive and will transform us into better people.

Why waste time selling to someone that doesn’t want to buy.. there are millions looking for whatever you have.. just go help them!

Follow People Who Are Doing Social Media Right

My Twitter Radio show has guests with news and tips.. but our primary goal is to allow Twitter users to meet and mingle with leaders in social media.

This Friday’s show will feature @JayBerkowitz who wrote The 10 Golden Rules of Online Marketing. Join us live for Social Media Radio to chat with hosts, guest and others who are doing social media this way or listen to the Twitter Show on iTunes

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