3 Tips To Avoid Being A “Poor” Social Media Director
Right now there’s WAY more demand for social media services than there are people to supply it… so it’s easy to land high-paying clients…
Over the past 12 months I’ve shown dozens of people how to do exactly what I do through my SMD Certification Program.
Watch this video on how to become a Certified Social Media Director
If you want to be REALLY successful as an SMD, there are a few things to keep in mind which will help you stand out.
Today I want to share 3 tips that will give a HUGE advantage to those of you who are getting started:
Tip #1. Choose a profitable niche
If you had a headache, would you be more likely to take medicine that claimed it was “good for everything”, or one that said it was specifically for headaches?
Obviously the 2nd one is more appealing because it’s geared to you and your needs.
In the same way, I always suggest to new Social Media Directors that they market themselves as SPECIALISTS in a particular niche or industry. It could be food, health and fitness, parenting and kids, music… there are thousands of possibilities.
As a specialist, you’ll be infinitely more appealing to those businesses when it comes time for them to decide who to hire.
In the Social Media Director Program, I show you how to choose a niche that’s not only a good fit for you, but one where you can position yourself as THE authority in your market…
Which means after delivering for just a few clients, you won’t need to do much “selling” at all, because businesses in that niche will seek YOU out.
Tip #2. Show an ROI for your clients
All business owners need to how much money they’re bringing in relative to what they’re spending on it.
And the relative RETURN they get for what they SPEND is called the Return On Investment, or ROI.
The problem with a lot of those who claim to be social media experts, is that they have no way of showing ROI for their clients. So the business owners see hiring them as an EXPENSE rather than an INVESTMENT…
If you can show - for example - that your social media activities brought in $3000 profit last month, it’s very easy for you to justify charging $1000 or $1500 a month for your services. Because trading $1000 for $3000 just makes good business sense.
One of the things that separates the Web Friendly Social Media Director Certification Program from everything else out there, is our focus on getting a solid ROI, and demonstrating that ROI to your clients.
That way hiring you, (and keeping you on board) becomes a total no-brainer for your clients.
Which brings us to tip #3:
Tip #3. Charge a monthly retainer
The 3rd tip on being a successful Social Media Director has to do with how you package your services.
By offering ongoing services and getting paid a monthly fee, you only have to sell a client ONCE, and - as long as you do a good job - you’ll continue to get paid for years.
Think about it for a minute:
If you had just 10 clients each paying just $1000 a month, you’d be making $10K a month, EVERY MONTH, without having to do any more selling.
(And believe me - you can do a phenomenal job for 10 clients while working considerably less hours than a full-time job)
In the Social Media Director Certification Program, I show you exactly how to pitch and package your services right from the beginning… So you can get more clients, make sure you’re not leaving money on the table, and continue to get paid for years from a single sale.
If you’re interested in becoming a certified Social Media Director, and making thousands of dollars every month while helping real businesses reach more customers…
Then then the Web Friendly Social Media Director Certification Program will shave YEARS off your learning curve, and have you up and running in a matter of weeks.
The program’s track record speaks for itself.
Watch this video and if you’re confident it will be a good fit for you, apply TODAY. I’m only taking 16 students and the program is starting in a few weeks.
Learn more here:
http://www.webfriendly.ca/social-media-director-program/
Why is Wiz Khalifa so rich?
Photo credit: Mike Nusbaum
I love Hip Hop music.
And other genres of music too like Classic Rock, Metal, R&B, Pop, Dance and Dubstep.
But, I particularly enjoy Gangster Rap.
My friend suggested I check out a guy named Wiz Khalifa.
So, I downloaded one of his albums.
He’s a pretty good rapper.
However, he only raps about 2 things:
1) how rich he is
2) how much weed he smokes
It got me thinking..
This guy is not a very well known rapper and if what he’s rapping about is half-true he must be making MILLIONS of dollars! (and how does he have the time to smoke so much weed?)
So I googled it.
“Why is Wiz Khalifa so rich?”
Answer: Touring.
He got in front of his audience!
Turns out this guy came out of nowhere in 2011 and ranked himself at #11 on the Forbes’ “Cash Kings 2011: Hip-Hop’s Top Earners” by simply getting in front of his fans!
If you are familiar with popular music you probably recognize everyones name on this Forbes list below, except Wiz.
The Forbes’ “Cash Kings 2011: Hip-Hop’s Top Earners” is as follows:
1. Jay-Z - $37 Million
2. Diddy - $35 Million
3. Kanye West - $16 Million
4. Lil Wayne - $15 Million
5. Birdman - $15 Million
6. Eminem - $14 Million
7. Dr. Dre - $14 Million
8. Snoop Dogg - $14 Million
9. Akon - $13 Million
10. Ludacris - $12 Million
11. Wiz Khalifa - $11 Million
“Wiz earned his position by branding himself, building a following, presenting a quality product to his fans, and then capitalizing it with facetime - Touring.”
It reminded me of Justin Bieber’s documentary film “Never Say Never”.
This was exactly how JB became very popular, very fast!
Btw… to any JB haters: If Justin Bieber was on the Forbes’ 2011 Hip Hop list he would rank #1 at $53 Million! #believe
*In 2012 Wiz went down one spot from #11 to #12 tied at $14 Million with Ludacris.
So how does this help us busy business people?
If you want to be successful with your business this is what you need to do…
Get in front of your customers
Most businesses die within 3-5 years by simply not getting in front of their customers often enough.
If you’re not getting in front of your customers you won’t grow your business and you WILL eventually go out of business.
So, how do you get in front of your customers?
Meetups! BNI Groups! Tradeshows! Speaking! Advertising! Social Media!
The key is FREQUENCY
Do whatever you have to do to get in front of your customers on a regular frequent basis.
When you get in front of your customers on a frequent basis you position yourself as an expert and build trust with your community.
My favorite way to do this is with Social Media
And if you’re afraid of sharing what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter etc, you will need to eliminate your fear of Social Media immediately!
Just imagine how your business would be different if could share your message with thousands of people everyday - for free.
Imagine if 12 months from now you were ranked alongside industry experts in your industry like Wiz Khalifa did with Hip Hop by simply getting in front of his audience with a HIGH FREQUENCY.
P.S. If you want to discover how I use Social Media for business without wasting tons of time on it you should checkout my upcoming “virtual" Social Media Director program.
Why HATERS are GOOD for you
When I first got started with my business it was hard to earn trust with the community. Who would pay for a workshop by a guy they’ve never heard of?
I had a REAL fear of rejection.
I remember when I was first getting started someone told me they overheard a group of Social Media Experts (whom I really looked up to) trash talking my Social Media abilities at a Meetup.
At first I was pretty hurt about it…
But then I realized - THAT’S AWESOME!
You see, if people are using their energy to hate me it means I’m doing something right! They are using their time to think about ME.
And I noticed something…
All the successful people I know have haters. In fact, the more successful they are, the more HATERS they have!
Think about it… Who do you know that you consider “successful” that doesn’t have haters?
Even Gandhi had haters!
Heck I know a lot of people hate my favorite rapper KANYE WEST.
However, it turns out he’s un-arguably one of the greatest rappers of all time earning himself top SALES and INFLUENCE in the industry.
There is a particular song lyric by Kanye West which really inspired my positive feelings towards haters…
“I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams
I use it as my gas, so they say that I’m gassed
But without it I’d be last, so I ought to laugh”
So, what I’ve learned is that your haters are the best indicators to success!
Do not be afraid of negative criticism by others - it’s a sign of success. They’re PAYING YOU with their attention.
I am very happy that I’ve been able to help dozens of business professionals earn haters through what they discovered at my Social Media Director program.
Social Media is the best way I know to earn attention and trust - and ultimately create a VOICE for yourself or your brand.
YES you’ll earn some haters but, you’ll make a whole lot more FANS in the process! (You can’t have one without the other)
Check out my next Social Media Director program here:
http://www.webfriendly.ca/social-media-director-program/
Best,
Matt
Please, Break the Rules
Photo Credit: Andreas-Photography
I was buying sushi at a small restaurant near my office. I just wanted one roll and the total was $3.80. There was a sign that says “Minimum $5.00 Purchase for Interact”.
The girl working there said it was “against the rules” to accept Interact payent under $5 and there was nothing she could do.
Last week the same girl just charged me an extra $0.25 for interact fee… This time she refused.
I told her that I didn’t have cash and I couldn’t pay if she didn’t accept my card.
She just said “sorry”.
I explained to her that as a business it did not make sense to turn down the sale because there was no way the Interact fee would be greater than the profit.
…and then I explained how profit works in a business.
She had no idea what I was talking about.
She went to the back to talk to the chef and they were both totally confused.
So, I left and ate somewhere else.
I understand she was an employee and following the rules her boss set however, it went beyond logic of the purpose of the business to turn down my sale.
So it got me thinking…
First of all, she was not an idiot - I bet she gets good grades in school.
She was just on the extreme end of being “scared” of breaking the rules. And I meet people like this all the time!
People that live life in a box and that are afraid of doing what they FEEL is RIGHT.
In fact MOST PEOPLE that I meet are afraid to break “rules”.
Seriously, BREAK THE RULES. It is ridiculous to live your life living by someone else’s rules.
In this video Steve Jobs says breaking the rules is the secret to LIFE!
http://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw
What You NEED To Know About Writing Effective Headlines
Photo Credit: condomunity.com
I used to be really bad at writing headlines.
I’m not ashamed to admit it, because here’s the honest truth: even the most experienced marketers are usually pretty hit-and-miss at this!
Writing good headlines is HARD.
Or at least, it used to be.
That was before I discovered a simple technique from internet marketing guru Eben Pagan, that totally changed my focus with headlines – and actually made writing great headlines relatively simple.
And believe me, this makes a HUGE difference to your bottom line.
Why? Because headlines are what get people reading. They’re what keep people on a page instead of hitting the back button.
If your page’s headline is no good, your conversion rate goes way down, and you don’t get a lot of leads or sales.
But take the exact same page and simply put a strong headline on it, and you can double, triple, even quadruple your conversion rate – and of course that means doubling or tripling or even quadrupling your income!
So what’s this technique I learned?
Well, it’s pretty simple, like I said, and it’s all about what Eben calls “tangibility bias”. It’s like a kind of cognitive bias all humans have.
The idea is that people are more motivated by things we can clearly imagine. Concrete things grab our attention, focus us, and motivate us more on average than vague, abstract things.
So for example, if I’m standing over you with a giant sword about to cut your head off, that’s gonna be pretty motivating, right? You’re rather likely to respond in a physical, energetic, action-oriented way. Whereas if I just said, “You’re in danger”, your response would be a lot weaker.
Now, we’re really good at “abstracting” things.
We have to be to be able to reason about the world. So take an apple for example. We abstract the physical apple into a word, “apple”. But then we abstract that word out into a category, “fruit”. And we abstract that out into a higher level category, “food”.
Etc etc – it goes on and on.
But the further we get up the abstraction ladder, the more we get into conceptual ideas, the worse we get at saying things that motivate people. Why? Because the more abstract I get, the less likely it is that YOU are going to understand what I’m talking about.
So for example – if I say “At lunch we’re going to eat some food”, in your mind you can make a picture of just about anything. And if we’re in different parts of the world, we can imagine totally different things. If you’re a bushman from Africa, maybe you’re thinking “dried termites”. That would be totally normal for you.
On the other hand, if I say, “At lunch we’re going to have fruit” that’s much more specific. You’re more likely to think of the same thing I am. (But you could still get it wrong.)
And then if I say “For lunch we’re going to have apples”, the probability that we’re going to be thinking the same thing is pretty much certain.
Of course, we can keep going even further. I can say, “For lunch we’re going to have Macintosh apples”. The more tangible, specific, concrete I am in my communication, the more likely it is we’re going to be thinking the same thing.
The trouble is, when it comes to writing headlines (and actually marketing in general), we think in the OPPOSITE way. Because abstracting stuff is nice and easy, like mental shortcuts – or “heavy lifting” when it comes to expressing ideas.
For example, someone setting up a dating site might ask himself what his prospect wants. And he thinks, “Oh, well he wants the love of his life.”
It SEEMS like this is really clear. Everyone knows what the love of someone’s life is, right? It’s just obvious.
But really, it could mean ANYTHING. It’s so vague that it could mean totally contradictory things to different people.
So he needs to focus in and start asking questions. Is his prospect a man or a woman? A man – okay, what is the most important factor that he wants in a woman when he first meets her? Maybe it’s that she’s blonde and has great legs, or whatever.
Or here’s another example – financial advice. I’m sure you’ll agree this is the sort of headline you’re likely to see for this kind of sector:
“Would you like more financial security?"
But look at how high level that is. It’s so abstract. What is "financial security”?
So here’s a much better headline: “Would you like $1,327.00 deposited into your bank account tomorrow?”
See the difference?
This is the kind of clear, practical stuff I’ve come to expect from Eben. It’s effected my business so much that it’s been literally life-changing for me.
Best,
Matt
