Taking advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday

I'm rarely taken in by these deals, as I keep hearing 'its only a bargain if you needed it'.  So that's a mantra that works well for Michael.

But .... I did take advantage of some Black Friday/Cyber Monday (or more accuratley the weeks before and after that weekend;) ) offers.  I'm always, always, looking to 'sharpen the axe' for new books, material, trainings.  And this last week has been excellent for 'sampling' some good and not so good online content.

Many of the people whose work I admire have had 'tripwire' deals where you can sample there content, courses, metarial etc, for a month, for a drastically reduced fee - usualy $1.

Brilliant.  Now, I know I will run the gauntlet of their Infusion Soft, or <insert as apllicable>,  follow up emails, but that's 'mostly' cool as I say, I like their work so why not truly follow them?  And, there's always the options to unsubscribe / divert to spam if they start taking advantage of my audience.

I am not advocating dive in with a view to never purchasing!!  In fact I'll issue a health warning, if you like someones work, you'll probably like their on line content (they know this hence the trip wire 'try before you buy' deals). Having said that I have experienced some woeful material. Oh, and before engaging, bear in mind the regular fee and your budget, you may fall in love with someone's style, content, methods etc then find you need to raise $3000 to complete the course.

So, get a wiggle on, go check out those mentors, thought leaders and people whose work you admire, see if they have a low cost (sometimes FREE) 30 day offer and try before you buy.   Some people have deals that are always available, but Black Friday / Cyber Monday seems to focus many more on the opportunity to gather more followers.

Mick

Lets connect - 
I am on LinkedIn here - www.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facbook here - www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter - @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so

Fancy a different One to One Strategy?

                                           
                                                Fancy a different approach to your One to One's?

Its no secret (or shouldn't be if my marketing strategy is working :D ) that I am an advocate of Social Media.  Social Networking, Digital Marketing, the whole 'in bound', permission based marketing model.  While I have lectured, presented and trained thousands of people on how to add Social Networking to your marketing mix...  I am also big on 'get it off the screen', the whole people buy from people mantra.

If you ever find yourself attending one of my meetings, the 2nd slide you see will ask .. "Have you had a one to one ?".  I aim to have two a week, trying to lead by example, they never a waste of time because I choose carefully, do my due diligence before hand, so I am sure there's most likely going to be a real expectation of an ROI of the hour we spend together.

I have blogged about having one to one's before - you will find that article HERE

                                                                         Have One to One's


With this blog, for those that are new to networking - I would like to document and share a one to one strategy that I have used recently to spectacular effect...

If its the first time you have met - spend only 10 minutes each talking about you, your business, what motivates you and what type of contacts you are currently looking to meet - be sure to share your 'WHY'...  If its not the first time you have met, and you know each other's business well - spend 5 minutes each updating on what's new...  Remember - you should have both researched each other before the meeting, and be familiar with their business (good old LinkedIn, Facebook and Google).

And that's it with the 'let me tell you in ever more detail how great my business is' time.  Because this is where the meeting could slide into 'sales pitch' territory, this one to one is too precious, your time is too precious, to waste on a futile sales pitch.

Be sure that you go first, and lets reverse the dynamic, no more talking in terms of 'me', 'I', 'we', you now stop talking about your business and focus on the other person and their business. If you have chosen your one to one partner well, (and you are getting on as people!  As if you don't like each other that's a bit of a show stopper), this focus on THEM will be make them feel great, and feel good towards you, which is handy as next up its their turn to think how they can help you. Try it, it works.

Try a Different Engagement Strategy For Your Next One to One Click To Tweet 

Take turns, first YOU simply spend half the time working out how YOU can help the other person. Really, genuinely work at this, try to see how many ways you may be able to help. Then, all grateful and inspired - its their turn to spend half the time working out how they can help you.

And by 'help' I don't mean whether you can use/buy their products/services yourself (that's a short term bonus if you can).  I mean - think -

• Who do you know that might be interested in them, their products or services?  
• How could you, your business or anyone in your network help them grow their business?  
• Could you work together, maybe on joint ventures?
• Who do you know that might be able to work with them on a joint venture?
  ...etc

Its clearly far more strategic than hoping to get lucky and meet someone that could end up buying from you, far more productive and respectful than pitching or being pitched.  And a fabulous way to start or maintain a mutually beneficial relationship.

                                                      Try a new approach to one to one's

OK - I sense the need for some anecdotal evidence - which of course I have plenty and happy to share them with you... I know !  Lets have a one to one, face to face if you are in the South East UK, otherwise no excuses we can do this on line as I also have :-
     Skype                       michael.holloway1
     Google Hangout      mickholloway@gmail.com

Remind me to tell you the one about the multi £Bn UK PLC, or the Driving School, the Photographer, and I must share with you the opportunities that came from a one to one with a s/w house discussing ways to help them launch a radical highly disruptive product - that resulted in us having to re-think our whole business model...

Hope to talk - Soon.

Mick

Lets connect -
I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway
I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway
I am on Twitter here -    @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so

Repurposing your Social Media...

Repeats, oh yes - there's gold dust in repeats...

Are you making the MOST of your excellent content?  Those considered, researched, drafted, written and re-written blogs can be working much harder than you may think...

In this blog, I am not looking to discuss which platform you should be blogging on, maybe that's a subject for a later post.  This blog is to encourage you to make the most of the blogs you have created by carefully re-purposing them.

So what is Repurposing?  Simply the recycling, re sharing of original content.  Sharing in different formats (audio, video, infogram...).  Sharing on different platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.  And Sharing at different days / times.

Recycle your Content

Why would you do this?  Surely repeating yourself will discourage people form following you?  Not if you give it some thought, a little planning, a Re-Purposing Strategy no less...

The benefits include -

Efficiency - Making your good content work hard for you.  Increasing your reach, your audience and engagement.

Effectiveness - Repurposing can help you ... BE EVERYWHERE !
      Different People like to engage using different media...

      Different People like different social media platforms...

      Different People engage with social media at different times...

So - your fabulous blog, once posted as a blog, could, when re-packaged, sliced up and 're-purposed', provide you with weeks and weeks of content to share.

As an example lets look at the following... consider a blog, "My Favourite 5 Social Media Tools" (There's a title for the future, 'my top 5' hasn't been done before ;) )

Consider the following (simplified) chart of a proposed re-use strategy...

Even on these modest figures you can see the blog would provide over 35 posts and tweets.  And that's just the blog as a 'text' based medium.  We can also present this as a video, audio mp3/podcast, infogram, many more ways to share the blog and its components.

But, it gets better, there's a further dimension, TIME.  Ignoring the affect of Ripples in Space/Time (that too may be a future blog ;) ).  A key strategy in re-purposing is to share your content on different days and at different times...

How many posts / tweets is that now?  We're going to need a bigger calculator...

Actually, we ARE going to need some help.  To have any chance of doing this effectively you have to consider automating the sharing of this content.    Otherwise, all you will be doing all day long would be posting content, I love Social Media - but that's not the way.

LOL - I sense a future Blog 'My top 5 Social Media scheduling tools'.

Mick

Lets connect -

I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter here -    @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so

The Top 8 Mistakes of A LinkedIn Profile Photo

Importance of your LinkedIn Profile Photograph

I LOVE Infographic's.  Good Info graphics, obviously - I just find it easy to grasp the information being shared, particularly data and numbers.  I think that puts me into the psychological learning category - Visual-Lazy... Sounds right ;)

Recently, with our members and students, we've been looking at content, and encouraging our members to keep their various profiles up to date... Which starts with their profile photo.  I posted a blog on the subject Does your Profile Photo Matter?

And, today I came across, this great little Infographic, informative, accurate and humorous... Tick's all Michael's boxes :D

Dear reader, I present to you, by Jamie Shanks, 8 mistakes people make with their LinkedIn profiles. A fairly comprehensive list, although I would add the wide angle holiday shot with our hero a dot on the horizon, skiing down a mountain or waving in front of the Eiffel Tower / Big Ben / White House / Great wall / Taj / Ayres... etc.  

I can confirm I have witnessed all of these...

Here's the link to the original article : http://www.salesforlife.com/linkedin/8-things-to-avoid-in-your-linkedin-profile-photo-infographic/

Mick

Lets connect -

I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter here -    @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so

Pitching a new follower on Twitter #EPIC #FAIL ?

Pitching a new follower on Twitter #EPIC #FAIL ?

Once again, I'm pondering, asking myself a question I have asked myself an awful lot, and an awful lot more lately...  Is It Me?

Could it be?  It could be, maybe so!

What now, what just happened Mick?... I hear you ask.  Well thanks for asking, because this would be a short Blog if you didn't.     I'll tell you what just happened...

Twitter relax the rule over the number of characters you can send in a Direct Message (DM).  No longer are you limited to 140 characters.  I get that, its a good strategic move.  Remember you can only DM people you follow and they have followed you back.  People you are engaging with (or should be) so why not relax the message size and accelerate the relationship - allow more, rapport?

Day one, a new follower on Twitter.  I go check them out, as I do, and I find things of interest, synergy and reasons to follow them back.   Which I do.  Tick, one more worthwhile connection, adopt smug mode and reward myself with a coffee, it's tough work... I've earned it.

On returning to my desk, caffeine levels slightly improved, there's a DM from my new connection. Get in there, see, SEE, knew I chose well, I was right, good call - here we go another Networking connection of value, to learn from, to help as I can, to grow with etc etc .

You can see where this is going, no doubt.  It was such a disappointment.  My first DM greater than 140 characters and it was 1021 characters of crude, direct sales pitch, <sigh>.  Worse, it was selling me 'Done for you' outsourced Social Media services.  A couple of things...

1. Someone hadn't read my profile.
2. Someone was just grabbing followers = I'll pick one from - 'Block', 'Remove', 'Mute', 'Unfollow'    
3. Someone, maybe, doesn't understand Social Media?
4. Nelson will get his eye back before I would let them near my business, let alone my social media.

My work is far from done, we train entrepreneurs and SME's how to use Social Media Effectively and Efficiently.  Connections and relationships then if its right the sales funnel appears all on its own.

Long story short- Pitching on a DM to a new connection is a wrong as it gets, so last century - I wonder if they are on MySpace?


Love this quote "Its called Social For a Reason" (I first heard this from @childsdesign).

A new follower pitches you in their 1st DM Tweet - How NOT to do #Social #Media?  Click to Tweet 

Is It Me?   LOL - Of Course Not ;)

Mick

Lets connect - I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway
I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway 
I am on Twitter here -    @mick_hollowaywww.24-7.so

LinkedIn Pulse - Part 2

Part 2 of my look at LinkedIn 'Pulse'.

My last Blog - Should you have your finger on the linkedIn 'Pulse' ?  discussed some of the benefits of using LinkedIn's Pulse.  I ran a little experiment between posts on Blogger and Pulse.  Not massively scientific, more a quick check...

Any way - here's my (modest) results after a couple of weeks :

A couple of observations: 

-  Not a great deal in it with regards to the number of views.  

-  The LinkedIn post did very well on Pulse, understandably.

-  The pulse posts achieved far more engagement, likes and comments.

While there was not a great deal in it with regards to the number of views, I should point out that I re-purposed a few of these blogs, the original blogger post have been around for up to 12 months.  

To re-iterate a couple of the benefits...

1.  I get to see who has liked and commented on my LinkedIn Pulse Posts, so following up is possible.
AND

2.  LinkedIn will have delivered my post to interested people outside of my network. 

All things considered, I think these are encouraging results and given the benefits, I will continue sharing content on LinkedIn's Pulse, especially blogs on  'linkedIn', as ever the key to making this all worthwhile is to follow up.

Mick

@mick_holloway
www.24-7.so

Should you have your finger on the LinkedIn 'Pulse' ?

As you know I publish my blog using blogger - big reveal huh ;)  Recently though I have been increasingly impressed with LinkedIn's ability to deliver appropriate news and blog posts via their 'Pulse' hosting platform.

The more complete your profile and the more active you are on LinkedIn, the more LinkedIn can learn about you, things you do, things you like, groups and people you engage with.  LinkedIn have always been pretty good at analysing profiles (See how I resisted the temptation to say 'profiling profiles' - I have Ninja levels of self control), remember LinkedIn's roots were in recruitment - and they are still very good at matching profiles with vacancies.  Some of that $9Bn IPO seems to have been invested in very smart algorithms for really understanding ... us.

So, at least for me, LinkedIn was delivering good material that I was interested in... Now, that's really attractive for someone like me, into the whole Inbound, Social Media, Organic Content led marketing.  Not being the bluntest tool in the box, I figured I ought to check this out.  If I could bank on LinkedIn delivering my blogs to interested readers, connections outside my network, what's not to like about that?

A quick review of the history and what Pulse is and is not...

LinkedIn presenting 'on topic' articles

Pulse was an iOS news feed app, a business in its own right, in 2013 LinkedIn acquired the business for $90m initially integrating with the LinkedIn platform and allowing an elite few 'influencers' to host blogs on the platform.  In early 2014 access was rolled out to all English speaking users.

A blog hosting platform, a social platform and a news feed in one, should be epic, shouldn't it? Simply and easily you can publish your blog and LinkedIn will notify your network THEN LinkedIn distributes you work wider afield to appropriately interested parties outside your network, simply extending your reach for you.  If Carlesburg hosted blogs... !!


Layout and formatting is limited, but intuitive, its like one big text box.  And your blog can include pictures, video and hyper links back too... wherever you wish.  And here we come across the first downside of Pulse as a blogging solution - these hyperlinks back to your web site don't bring any 'Google Link Juice', or Page Rank benefits.  LinkedIn label these so the search engine bots ignore them (if you want to get techy - read up on 'no follow links').


Moreover, there's no scope for peripheral messages, up sells, links, calls to action, branding etc etc that you can have on your own blog page.  LinkedIn own that real estate, and like Youtube, your post will be followed immediately by someone elses, and you have no control over that either.

So why host on LinkedIn Pulse, there's limited branding and marketing, up sell or cross selling opportunities, no link juice benefits?  Is it enough to drive traffic where you wish to send it, and the extended reach LinkedIn offers by delivering your post to interested recipients?  It all depends on what you are looking to achieve, peripheral marketing and link juice may not matter to you - if you are looking to raise your profile with an extended network for instance.

This extended reach really resonated with me - I sensed LinkedIn would be good and able to 'aim' well on my behalf, after all I liked the material Pulse delivered to me, and I wasn't following those authors!  Question was then - would my posting on Pulse result in more engagement?

I had to know, so I started using Pulse... I'll let you know how it went in part two of this blog... I have always wanted to end on this line ...

To be Continued...

(Bucket list -=1)

Mick

@mick_holloway
www.24-7.so

Me - a 'Fearless' Keynote Speaker ! How did that happen ?

"Unaccustomed as I am ..."

This time last week I was looking forward to giving my first presentation as a Keynote speaker.  I was nice and early, all set up … even the projector linked to the PC (phew) and I was catching up on some emails and Social Media while I waited for the audience to gather …

An Oasis of calm.

That I was ‘looking forward’ to the presentation, ‘genuinely’ looking forward to addressing a room full of people, all strangers of unknown mixed abilities, some who would be cynical – hostile even – regarding my message, that I was looking forward to this is a staggering indicator of the journey I have been on over the last couple of years.

I have always been a techy, and my presentation - on how to make the most out of that LinkedIn account you opened but have done nothing much with – is a subject I know well, and my technical knowledge allows me to talk on Technical, Social Media, WEB, Cloud or IT matters very wide of the core subject being discussed.   And in the Engineering and Technical sales/marketing phases of my career I was at ease presenting complex technical matters to both technical and non technical audiences.

What was so different here then? I guess you can see it coming … it was the public speaking, not so long ago I was FIRMLY in the “Fear Public Speaking more than Death” camp.

Driving to the venue I confess to wondering why I was so calm and whether I would be OK when the time came.  But those thoughts didn’t take hold, I didn’t allow them too – some simple NLP stuff I picked up on this journey.

It dawned on me that personal development comes in many guises, reading, mentoring, coaching and training for sure, but also in my case it was the ‘doing’ that has helped.  While this was my first key note speech, over recent years I had presented many tutorials and training courses on Social Media and Business Development – and I guess all that practice gave me confidence.

So – my blog message – to all those I have trained, mentored or coached – the most important thing and the new closing message for all my training… “Now go do it”.

Well – Whatever next ?  As I find myself saying more and more…

Introduction to Blogging

In this, my 9th blog introducing Social Networking, we move on from looking at ‘operational’ matters, such as what tools and websites we should be using for our Social Networking, and we start looking at content.  In a nutshell, Social Networking is about getting your digital messages out there, ‘findable’ and easily sharable – to get yourself noticed and spread your message further.

So, what messages and how do we start telling people about ourselves?  One way is to start blogging.

What is a blog?  The word stands for ’web log’ and can be considered as online diary entries.  While there are no rules over a blog’s length, I aim for 300 – 500 words. 

Why blog? As a marketing tool, blogs have many benefits.  They are short ‘snippets’ and can be easier to produce than say a newsletter.  Once published they can be updated and commented upon.  They have an extended shelf life as they remain published, and findable, on the internet until you remove them.  And … they can easily be shared.

When you start writing a business blog as well as the above benefits, there are a number of ‘side affects’ – 

1.  You tend to keep up to date on your industry/sector news.

2.  Your writing skills improve as you get better at communicating messages accurately and
     succinctly in 300-500 words.

3.  As you build a your library of blogs, you work your way through many aspect of your business,
     and therefore develop your idea’s, answers and opinions on ALL these aspects of your
     business.

4.  Blog’s bring many SEO benefits - Google likes changing content.

One thing to consider is how often you publish your blog.  Set a publishing frequency you can keep up with as your audience will expect you to be consistent.  When considering how many blogs per week or month allow 1-2 hours work per blog.

Remember - People buy from People they trust - Good blog content develops trust