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What is Wrong With Twitter

We’ve all heard Twitter being likened to a cocktail party, in which you can mill about and join in on any digital conversation that you feel is interesting, and it might have started out that way.

But now it seems that Twitter has turned into a cocktail party in a football stadium, during the Super Bowl game.

Here’s how I see Twitter working if you follow most of the Twitter gurus, Twitter e-book publishers, and self-professed twitter list building experts. Let’s follow through on that cocktail party concept, and assume you’re there for the purpose of finding a date, and eventually a girlfriend/boyfriend, leading to a husband or wife.

The intent seems to have become to say “HI” to everybody at the party as fast as possible (loosely translated, this equates to randomly follow all of them), in as loud a voice as possible (meaning, use some automated tool to follow them), and try to get a first date with everyone you said “Hi” to within 5 minutes (or get them to follow you back).

Is it me, or does this seem delusional?

You know nothing about the people you said Hi to (or followed), nothing about what they are talking about, or what they do, or what their interests are, nothing about whether or not you have anything in common, (didn’t even look at their profile)

Due to having such a huge list of people that you know nothing about, but expect them to agree to your first date request, you have no time at all to take the actions that could actually EARN you that first date.

You didn’t listen to what they are talking about (actually read what THEY post), you didn’t show any interest in them by being interested in anything they said (“Like” something they post), and you didn’t brag about how cool you thought they were and how much you have in common by telling others about them! (“re-tweeting a post or giving them a “Mention”)

You then show your impatience by waiting only a day or two, with no further communication from you to them before you ex-communicate them for not accepting your date offer! (“un-follow”).

Then you brag about your conquests by advertising to the world how many first dates you have had! (I grew by 595 “followers” today) And of course you keep secret how many never called you back. (“un-followed” you) As long as you go on enough first dates, you will continue to grow your ever so valuable list of like minded folks.

It’s noisy, misdirected, misunderstood and even rude. So, even though you have such a misguided approach, you manage to find a few to AGREE to have that first date (or they “followed” you back).

Of course, even though you don’t even know if you like or are interested in them, and they likely have no idea about you as you are both likely following the same misguided technique, you have your robot secretary (or auto reply tool) show up for you (“direct message”) as you are far too busy with your HUGE list of unqualified date prospects to show up in person to explore the possibilities with the one who said they are interested!

If the most common thing to happen, which is your robot secretary (or “direct message”) shows up to find out that they also sent their robot secretary (auto reply to “direct message”) vs. showing up in person, doesn’t happen, there are two ways this seems to go, and the first is almost laughable.

Your robot secretary (or your “direct message”) sits down, but rather than give a compliment, or engage in a meaningful two sided conversation to get to know you, you quickly tell your date (or your “follower”) they have not connected to you the right way to create the most favourable first impression, and you suggest that they re-schedule to a different venue, which you conveniently give them the address to (you telling them to ‘follow you on Facebook or Instagram, or join your newsletter by the link you’ve so graciously included, etc.)

Why wouldn’t you just engage with them in the medium they FOUND you on FIRST? Warm them up to you, t h e n suggest you have other places they can learn more about you after the first date is over, or in order to agree to that first date. Twitter recently took the 140 character limit off the Direct Message feature, for goodness sake.

The second way we are taught to teach our robot secretaries is even more damaging if that is possible.

Your robot secretary sits down at the date, and gives a pre-recorded generic message that doesn’t acknowledge you even read your potential date’s profile, or that you learned anything about them, vomiting your information all over them being convinced they (as a non-curated follower) are totally into you!

Let’s say you fooled your date, they didn’t realize it wasn’t you, or they knew it wasn’t but actually their intention for meeting you was NOT to care what you say, but try to force you to hear what they had to say, so they agreed to a second date.

The better robot secretaries will help this. They will automatically follow up with some equally random, off-putting self-promotion a few days later. This usually guarantees your date will stop returning your calls (or not read, like, reply, or retweet), or worse yet, EX-COMMUNICATE YOU (or “un-follow” you). Either way, you’re NOT getting a second date.

Welcome to Twitter. Everybody talking AT each other, instead of WITH and TO each other.
Now the idea is to get your first dates to turn into second dates, and second to third, to boyfriend/girlfriend, to marriage.

Let’s consider marriage to be the sale.
This to me is Twitter done WRONG! How do we do Twitter the RIGHT way?

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How All the Social Media Experts Got it Wrong

We all know email is a powerful tool to follow up with your prospects and customers but social media can be equally as powerful if you use it correctly. The problem is that most so-called experts have it dead wrong! They think it’s about posting as frequently as possible when in fact, it’s about having a clear, concise message and engaging people through proper follow up.

Now let’s be clear, as with all types of messages: DON’T SPAM people! What’s the difference between proper messaging and spamming?

The key is to provide value and message them about something they are ACTUALLY interested in! Don’t talk about yourself like some egoistical fool! Engage them with information that is relevant and important to their business.
How do you do that?

You want your follow up to be semi-automated so you set up a series with a very specific idea of what you intend to say and then begin with a line that is completely custom. Then you copy and paste it in your Facebook messenger or LinkedIn messenger and you send it.

I talked to someone who was using social media as part of her sales funnel. She was posting messaging in Facebook groups but she wasn’t individually messaging them and she wasn’t following up with them. When you use any sort of sales message you need to follow up, politely but firmly.

If you think that by posting into groups is going to work, then you’re not studying how Facebook works anymore. Two percent of people are seeing what you post and it’s about to go to one percent! Two percent of all your Facebook group people, unless they specifically go to your Facebook group and look what’s there, won’t see your message. Facebook has strictly become a pay to play network! Most of your connections won’t see what you’ve written on your news feed. The problem is if you’re relying on groups and posts for all your communications, you’re missing out on a lot.

Isn’t it interesting that social networking has made a bunch of things easier, but has made us so lazy that we don’t follow up, we think because they joined our Facebook group, anything we post there, they’re seeing and they’ll take action

The good news is that it’s still relatively inexpensive to boost a post. It’s definitely worth it to spend a couple bucks on each post to make sure people are seeing it. The added benefit of boosting a post is that you also increases the organic post. They piggyback off of each other. Many times if I boost a post for seven bucks I get over a 500 organic reach. Not bad for the price of a Triple Venti Mocha!

If you’re smart, you’ll use a customer management tool that actually reminds you to restart the conversation when you’ve not been in contact for awhile. Once you come to the realization of how important that is, you’ll be swatting away the customers!

Everybody out there it’s all excited about social media, but nobody is figuring out that if you engage someone on Facebook messenger, it has to follow up just as much as you would on the telephone or by email.

With messaging everything should be a series to get them connected over time. Yes, when we were talking that someone by direct message on LinkedIn or direct message on Instagram or Snapchat or anything, everybody is sending one message and then that’s it! They give up!

As a small business owner I know you’re busy and you have a lot of things on your plate. That’s why you need a system that does all your thinking and the legwork for you. The CRM tool reinitiates conversations and says ‘hey, you need to talk to this guy again! It has been six days and go here to remind you and this is what you need to say to reengage him!’

If you follow these rules and strategies, you’ll have more clients than you’ll know what to do with and you’ll need help managing all the leads you get. Small Business Dream can help you. For just $99 a month, you can manage all your customers and make sure that you keep them engaged! We can do that through both email and social media campaigns that you can completely customize!

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4 Ways To Make Your Business Stand Out On Social Media

There’s absolutely no getting away from it anymore. Social media is here, and it’s here to stay.

I used to crack jokes when I was watching TV, and at the end of a commercial there’d be a ‘blurb’ saying “Like us on Facebook” or some such social media plug for whichever company was paying for the commercial.

Now it’s so commonplace that I don’t even notice it anymore. There are a number of social media vehicles that you can get involved with. But you don’t just want to “get involved”. You want to stand out! You want your company to be the name on the lips of your customers. Not some random widget maker!
So how do you go about shaking up the world of social media with your company and it’s products or services?

Here are the 5 triggers that generally set the brain in motion when I start a new client on the road to social media success. These are just a few easy ways to utilize some of the tools at your social media fingertips;

1. Think outside the box

Once you realize that in the social media realm, very few things are impossible, it kind of ‘sets you free’ in terms of how you’ll think about reaching out to those who should be buying your products and/or services. Within each vehicle, there is more software and apps that help you accomplish outside the box tasks.

2. Use slide shows

Instagram, as you probably know, is essentially a photo sharing vehicle. But why stop at a plain old photo?

When utilizing Instagram, instead of posting a simple picture, the platform will accommodate video of about 13 seconds in length. Why not make a 13-second ‘slideshow’ of your best sellers, newest pieces, etc.? Better yet, why not create a separate account that just houses your fashion video and/or slide shows?! (I’m sorry…once my brain starts going, it’s really difficult to stop, so please bear with me.) The same idea can be utilized on Twitter and Facebook.

PicSlide is an easy to use app that lets you build 13-second slide shows that you can share with your followers (and their followers, etc.), and it’s super easy to use, whether your product is about shoes, beauty products, clothing, or whatever. Provide your followers with an abbreviated version of each collection/season/new products on this account.

If you’ve got the kind of designs that are frequently worn by celebrities and other notables, why not create slide shows of your creations as worn by those people?

3. Don’t be afraid. It won’t bite.

Twitter is the app/software of choice for those who like to post in short bursts of 140 characters. Periscope is a “live video streaming platform” which basically means that you can transmit a live recording of yourself to your Periscope and Twitter followers.

Using a vehicle like Periscope, you can let “fans” of your products in on some of the ‘top secret’ part of the production of a much awaited piece or a collection, do a customer generated Q&A with your creative director, and stream it on Twitter or Facebook. The possibilities are literally endless.

4. Automation rocks!

Most business owners don’t have the time or the inclination to manage their social media tasks throughout the day/week/month. Automating tasks say…once a week for days, up to a week at a time can help you stay on task and keep you in front of those who’re interested in what your company has to say. Drop in every once in a while and interrupt the automated tasks with some “real life” communication. Mix it up a bit!