Mistake #8: “Buy My Stuff! Buy My Stuff!” – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

This is probably the biggest mistakes, and it takes many forms – but the bottom line is if you’re treating social media like just another sales platform, you’re doing it wrong. Social media is not meant to be used as just another means of a way to advertise your stuff. It’s about building relationships and getting to know people on a more personal level. It’s about conversation and engaging with others. A good question to ask is: am I speaking to my connections or with them? You want to be talking with them not at them.

So exactly where does promotion come in then? More than likely you have services or products you want to sell. That’s great and people want to hear about them…but only in small doses and only when it makes sense for them. People will block you or stop following you if your feed is nothing but a sales pitch over and over and over. Think about how you would feel if, for example, your TV got stuck on a commercial and it just kept playing. You wouldn’t be too thrilled and would probably click the TV off. That’s exactly how your followers will feel if all you do is promote over and over.

As mentioned in mistake seven, don’t just post status updates linking to your stuff. Be sure to share other helpful relevant information too. If you found a really cool person on Twitter, let your followers know. If you found a great business page on Facebook, let your fans know. Just finished reading an excellent informative article – share it. You want your content to be as diversified as possible without getting off topic. And by sharing other people’s stuff you’ll probably find that they’re more than likely to share your stuff too.

To sum it up, you can become a person that people want to do business with via social media channels without promoting over and over and over. Here are some suggestions on how to make people want to do business with you:

Promote others not just your stuff.
Have conversations - start conversations (ask questions).
Be silly (have fun).
Be authentic.
Share valuable information.
Don’t automate your messages – be there ‘in person’ to interact with others.
Be human – this goes along with not automating your messages. People want to talk to YOU not a ‘robot’ (aka pre-scheduled status update).

The bottom line when it comes to social media is that people are looking to socialize and build relationships with others that share common interests with them. They don’t want to be marketed to, at least not on a regular basis but instead in very small doses.

June 1, 2016

How to Refresh Your Social Networks in 5 Days – Day One

Any time of the year is a good time to look through and check over your social networks. For me, the beginning of the year is a logical time to rebrand and freshen up my social networks. What I'm looking for, is to see whether my profile picture, my bio, and or any of the information are correct. Is the branding message correct or have there been technological advances that require me to make changes in my strategy.

Your social networks, much like mine, have probably changed over the course of the year, and therefore need some refreshing. So I take this time to make sure, that all of my branding throughout my social networks are in line.

In this series, I will discuss and share with you the strategy that I use not just for myself, but for all of my clients.

Day One

Assessments

My first step every year and rebranding my social networks, is to first assess the networks. This requires going through and making sure that the network is a part of my customer demographics.

Are my prime demographic still using this network? Has there been a major change in the networks technology? Has there been a major shift in how the network is being used by my demographic?
Does the social network have the approved profile picture? Does this network have the approved bio or description? Is the profile fully completed? Is all the contact information correct? Are there any extras that can be added to this network that will make it better?
This one is not a question but, more of a process. I change all of the passwords to all the social networks during this process as well.

Bonus: Is there a good quality call to action?

These are just some of the things that you should ask yourself when rebranding your social networks. Depending on which network you have, there may be other questions that you need to ask. But this is the process I start with whom ever I am in the rebranding process for my social networks.

I've also included, my social network rebranding worksheet, please feel free to download it . Just click the share button below -

[sociallocker] socialrebrandingassessment [/sociallocker]

As always if there are any additions that I missed, please feel free to add them in the comments below.

June 1, 2016

The Transition

Everyday I feel myself transitioning to pastor mode. I have consulted and advised pastors for numerous years.

I will say this experience is so different. It is different from the executive roles I have held and even running my own business.

What is different:
I can't quite put my hand on it. I am starting to feel the pain of people I meet. Small things about people are revealed to me. I see identifiers on certain people. It is like that movie where there is glow around certain people but not others that identifies them as a member. (probably not explaining that well)

My prayer life is different. I am finding myself in mire and deeper prayer times. I spend more time in intercession - even for people I don't know.

Finally, I am having to make decisions that go against my business sense. For someone that is as analytical as I am - this can be very disconcerting. But there is a freeing feeling when you just do what God tells you.

My pastor friends say this is just a part of the transition. I guess my calling is being made sure. How do you handle transition. And if you are a pastor share your experience with that first year of transition.

J. Richard Byrd

June 1, 2016

Lesson Number Nine: Slumps Happen

In the classic baseball movie “Major League,” one of the players has taken to sacrificing chickens and rubbing mysterious voodoo tchotchkes on his bat in order to get a hit. Some of the other players belittle his efforts – until it appears to work. Superstitions aren’t just the stuff of Hollywood; Hall-of-Famer Kiki Cuyler refused to move to a different spot in the batting order; Dolf Camilli used to rub the batboy’s head before entering the batter’s box; and possibly one of the most famous that players of all levels have adopted: Tapping your bat on home plate before each at-bat.

The problem with superstitions like these is that they work… until they don’t. Eventually the slump happens, no matter how many chickens sacrificed or batboys rubbed. Sometimes, baseball slumps just happen. You’re on fire the entire season until one day you wake up, do everything you did the day before, and suddenly you can’t get a hit to save your life. You’re in a slump, and it hangs around until it breaks – or you do.

Businesspeople experience their share of seemingly inexplicable slumps, too. And just as in baseball, you have a choice: Through or out.

Top-notch marketing blogger and best-selling author Seth Godin based his book, “The Dip,” on this very principle. He says that dips – “slumps,” in baseball speak – will happen; it’s not a question of if, but when. And when it does happen, you have a choice to make. Are you going to give up, or are you going to barrel through?

If your reasons are strong enough, you will continue to get in that batter’s box, says Godin. You’ll put out products, talk with customers, market your wares. And you’ll also work behind the scenes to improve your chances of getting a hit. You’ll review your statistics (Lesson #8), you’ll work with a coach (Lesson #6) and you’ll keep refining your process. And then you’ll keep on swinging (Lesson #3). And eventually, the slump will end and you’ll get that hit.

Of course, giving up is always an option. More than one baseball player has let the slump get the best of them and quit without ever managing to make it back on base. The choice is yours. In the meantime, your competitors will be facing the same challenges at one time or another. The spoils will go to the one who can stick it out – and put their voodoo to work.

May 1, 2016

Friday Musings

jrichardbyrditunes

Just downloaded the MAC App store onto my desktop. WOW - this thing is the real deal. I downloaded the iMovie 11 for 14.99. A saving of about 40 dollars. I am now testing out the MarsEdit Blogging app. Let me know how it goes.

I am so excited to be planting this new church - everyday it gets better and better. It is really starting to gel what God wants to see happen. I am meeting new people everyday. And more importantly learning to be more transparent and bolder. Bold not in a confrontational way - but bold to say- I am (with God's Help) planting a church and I would like to introduce you to my Jesus.

Most people wouldn't even believe I am an introvert. Yes the outgoing boisterous person that many believe me to be. I am at heart an introverted person. But I am learning. What are you learning to do differently to be successful.

March 1, 2016

Mistake #7: Poor Usage of Social Media Channels – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Is there really a correct way to use social media channels? Yes and no. It’s going to depend on what you’re using them for. If you’re a teen just using Facebook for the sake of using it then no, there’s not really a proper way to use it. But for business owners who need to maximize their social media efforts, the answer is absolutely yes.

You can’t think of social media as just another way to advertise your products/services. While you can advertise it shouldn’t be all about that (we’ll get to that in mistake #8). Each and every social media platform is unique and should be used for different things. Keep in mind that there will be different rules for all the social media sites as well. For example Twitter only allows you 140 characters to post an update so the etiquette there will be different than Facebook where you have a lot more space. Another difference between these two sites is that you can get away with posting more frequently throughout the day on Twitter than you can on Facebook.

Aside from the different rules and etiquette for each site, there are some other basic ‘rules’ you should follow, like:

Don’t be boring – while there isn’t a rule about how to be interesting, think outside the box and find interesting ways you can get your message across.
Don’t be offensive – this is pretty much a no brainer but is worth mentioning. Keep that old saying about treating people the way you want to be treated in your head. Just because we’re talking about social media and not being in person with people, it doesn’t mean manners go out the window. You still need to be respectful. Don’t post offensive content – steer clear of sexual, religious and political postings.
Don’t be too negative – one of the great things about social media is that you get to ‘let your hair down’ and ‘let loose’ a little. But be careful. If you’re having a crummy day, go ahead and share. But if every day is crummy you shouldn’t continually keep posting about it. People will get sick of too much negativity and unfollow you.
Don’t only push your product – one of the quickest ways to use social media incorrectly is by doing nothing but advertising and pushing your product or services. First and foremost you’re there to build relationships not sell! Keep in mind that when you do promote that you shouldn’t just be linking to your stuff. Share other useful resources. Point out other social media profiles that may be useful to your followers.
Never badmouth your clients or competitors – you never know who is watching, and the Internet is forever. Rant to your husband or your best friend or your dog – not on Facebook.

So what can you say on social media? Above all else, it’s a conversation. Sure, there might be millions of people involved, but it’s still nothing more than chatting among friends. Treat social media like the “social” space it is, and you’ll be fine.

March 1, 2016

Mistake #6: Failing to Promote Your Social Media Profiles – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Given the sheer number of links we see everywhere for Facebook, Twitter, and the like, it might be hard to believe that people aren’t promoting their profiles, but it does happen. You’d be shocked at how many small business owners don’t have links to their social media profiles in their newsletter or in their email signature line. One of the best things you can do is provide multiple ways for people to find and follow you and this means using all the communication channels you have available to promote your social media presence.

First let’s talk about your newsletter and why you should link to your social media accounts from it. Don’t just assume everyone on your mailing list is already aware of – and following you on – your social media pages. It’s important to have this information available and in front of people at all times so that with the click of a button they can find and follow you. For example, let’s say that you just sent out your weekly newsletter and one of your readers found something that a friend of theirs would benefit from so they forward it to them. Having your social media sites in your newsletter now gives this new person a chance to find and follow you quickly and easily.

If you use Aweber for email marketing they make it really easy to link your social media accounts. It’s pretty much as simple as clicking a button and entering in the relevant information (if you’re using their new message editor). They even provide step-by-step instructions: https://help.aweber.com/entries/21776966-how-do-i-add-social-media-buttons-to-my-messages.

Now, let’s talk about your email signature line and how you can link up your social profiles. One of the quickest and easiest ways is by simply adding a text link (for example something like ‘have we connected on Facebook yet’ and linking those words to your FB page). Another way you can do it is to insert actual social media icons into your email signature and link the images to your profiles. While it’s not difficult, it can be a bit finicky to insert images into your signature line. A simple Google search for ‘how do I add social media icons to my email signature’ will bring up tons of resources with step-by-step instructions on how to do it. And if you’re a Gmail, Yahoo, or Windows Live user, check out Wisestamp.com, a great little plugin that allows you to completely customize your email signature.

Not linking your social media profiles to all your other communication is such a common mistake marketers make. But it really shouldn’t be because it’s simple and doesn’t take long to get it set up. Now, it’s time to look at the next mistake which is not using social media channels correctly.

March 1, 2016

Mistake #10: Failing to Measure Your ROI (Return on Investment) – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Do you know if social media works for you? Do you know whether Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn produces more sales? Have you tested and tracked your efforts when compared to results? If not, you’re guilty of making mistake number 10.

Going hand in hand with this mistake is that many marketers will look at how many Twitter followers or Facebook Fans they have and if it’s a fairly high number they think they’re doing something right and getting results. While these are important stats to know because you do want to be building your number of followers/fans, they’re not the main thing you should be looking at to figure out if you’re getting a good ROI.

Some people wonder if it’s even possible to measure social media ROI and the answer is yes. In fact, there are several different ways you can do this. Here are four easy ways that you can measure your social media marketing ROI:

1. Traffic – one of the main goals you probably have with social media is that you ultimately want to increase traffic to your site. Keep an eye on your analytics (if you use Google Analytics) or other stats that will give you the information you need to track your traffic. Checking your traffic stats is probably one of the easiest ways to monitor your social media marketing ROI.

2. Sales – another way to track your social media ROI is to pay attention to whether the increased traffic (from social media) is converting into sales. Ultimately you want that traffic converting into a sale.

3. Unique links – don’t use the same link on Facebook that you use on Twitter. Set up unique links that you can use on the different social media platforms. This will help you track the traffic that’s coming from each site.

4. Social media only specials – you can set up different landing pages on your website for each of the social media sites your running a special on. This doesn’t mean you have to run a different ad for each individual social media site (although you can). For example, let’s say you’re running a Twitter special and a Facebook special, all you’ll do is set up two different landing pages on your website so you know whether the traffic came from Twitter or Facebook. This will help you be able to easier track the ROI of each of the social media offers.

There are other ways you can gauge social media ROI, it’s just a matter of figuring out how you want to track things. But keep in mind that until you have a goal in mind of what you want your results to be, you won’t be able to know whether or not social media is producing positive results for you.

Conclusion

Perhaps even more damaging to your business than these 10 social media mistakes is not using social media at all. It’s clear that this is one trend that is not going to go away, so it’s critical for every small business to learn to use social networking to your advantage.

If you’ve been active in social media for a while, now is the time to look at your strategies and take steps to eliminate what’s not working, and to start improving your efforts. With these top 10 mistakes in mind, you’re in a good position to greatly increase your social media effectiveness – and have some fun doing it!

March 1, 2016

Exporting Google Contacts

Over the last year, I've been spending time automating my business. One of the best ways to be successful in business, is to take yourself out of the equation as much as possible.

One of my projects, has been to consolidate all of my contacts into one program. If you're like me, your contacts are in several different place You may have contacts in Gmail, Outlook, email news lists, etc. so, here's an quick and easy way to export your contact from Google and put them in the CRM of your choice.

Exporting Gmail contacts

You can quickly export your Gmail Contacts list into a CSV file. Here's how:

Sign in to Gmail.
Click Gmail at the top-left corner of your Gmail page, then choose Contacts.
From the More drop-down menu, select Export....
Choose whether to export all contacts or only one group.
Select the format in which you'd like to export your contacts' information. Please note, some of these formats can lose some contact information.
- To transfer contacts between Google accounts, use the Google CSV format. This is the recommended way to back up your Google Contacts.
- To transfer contacts to Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, or various other apps, use the Outlook CSV format.
- To transfer contacts to Apple Address Book, use the vCard format.
Click Export.
Choose Save to Disk then click OK.
Select a location to save your file, and click OK.

Depending on the requirements of the program to which you're exporting your contacts from Gmail, you can easily edit the file to fit your needs.

I hope this was easy for you. As always please leave a comment below.

February 28, 2016

“Am I a Habit or Do You Really Love Me?”

This morning as I got ready for my day – I turned to the old 70’s show “Good Times”. This show, while dated, always seems to have a moral that is still needed in today’s society. In this episode, the mother, Florida, has become so overwhelmed by the cares of life. The cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, even having breakfast prepared for her husband, James, when he wakes up. All of this before she even goes to her own job. Making her feel inadequate and frankly taken advantage of.

As the show progresses we find Florida having lunch with her boss who wines and dines her and treats her, as Florida puts it, like a Lady. Well, as with any great show the ultimate happens. James finds out that this other man has been treating his woman to lunch and flowers and so forth. Boy was he angry, how dare someone try to “cozy up” to his wife. But as Florida quickly explains, there is nothing going on between the two, but she does like the way he makes her feel.

“Like a Woman” -Like she matters.

Florida asks this important question,

“When was the last time you made me feel Like a Woman.”

James replies like most typical men

“Just the other night”.

“No not like that – I mean make me feel like you cared.” replied Florida. ” I want to know, “

“Am I a Habit or Do You Really Love Me?”

For lots of us the ritual of going to church, praying, reading the Bible, etc. has become a habit. Our obedience to these ordinances are robotic and impersonal at best. Have you been going through the motions without any thought to the relationship you are building with God. I had a conversation with a good friend of mine, and we discussed the mercy of God, and how we are not even worthy of that mercy. A understanding not shared by many. In fact, when posted on Twitter he received a few posts asking why do you not feel worthy of mercy?

It is not a self depreciating comment, but more of an understanding that God’s mercy is not a right. It is not something we merit. More importantly when we get to a point that we think that God’s mercy is just something we are supposed to get regardless. We have made God a Habit and are now taken advantage of the relationship. At any time, we forget the blessings and mercy of God are because he love us and not that we are that great. We are acting out of Habit not Love.
God is Asking You -

Am I a Habit or Do You Really Love Me?
J. Richard Byrd