Gary Vaynerchuk goes wild on Behind The Brand TV
Check out these video’s by Gary Vaynerchuk: (Playlist - All 4 video’s are pre-loaded in player ,aprx 1 hour)
Part 1: The people in the middle are in trouble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1pLRSKETaU
Part 2: Customer acquisition and retention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNwSczt4S4
Part 3: Media mix matters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxmkQiG82z8
Part 4: How marketing people are ruining social media
David Heinemeier Hansson from 37 Signals talks about “A secret to making money online”. Very funny, informative and entertaining talk. Biggest insight for me was right at the end: work less/get more done. It’s so true… If you only gave yourself 3-5 hours to get everything done you’d be so much more productive. How you design your life today will stick even after you’ve “made it” and rich.
How To Start A Meetup Group For Entrepreneurs
For nearly two years I’ve helped organize an Internet marketing group called Internet Masterminds Group in Vancouver BC with my friends Franco Peta and Bernie Glemas. The group meets every Monday night at 7pm to discuss Internet marketing related topics. We’re now the largest Internet marketing group in the city and I believe we’re the most active Meetup in Vancouver. I’m proud to say that at each meeting we’re getting about 10% of the members to turn out (of course not always the same people but we have many regulars). A few months ago we started charging $5 at the door to use those funds to help grow the group. Since we implemented the fee we’re getting higher turn-outs then ever before (which may or may not relate to the $5 fee). So far we’ve used the funds to buy more chairs, throw a free BBQ for our members, get a logo for the group designed and we have a few more ideas in the works ;)
Starting your own Meetup Group? Here are some lessons learned:
- Have consistent meetings, for example, every Monday. Or the Last Tuesday of every month ect. This way if someone misses a meeting or wants to tell a friend about it they already know when the next meeting is and can prepare to be there well in advance.
- Try to use the same location every time. If you can’t secure a consistent location at least find a location where you have a controlled environment, eg, not a noisy bar or restaurant. A good place to look is a local shared office space or a company that services the entrepreneurial market and has a large meeting room they could donate. ING Direct in Vancouver is one example of a company that has been offering its room for the Vancouver Meetup community.
- Choose a topic of the month. I find this gets more return visitors and a true “mastermind” of people interested in sharing/learning about the topic. Examples of some of our monthly topics for Internet Masterminds have been Video Marketing, Daily Deals, SEO/PPC, Social Media, Outsourcing, Affiliate Marketing and Information Marketing.
- Allow everyone to introduce themselves for 1 or 2 minutes. Here is the format I ask everyone to use “what’s your name, how do you help people, and how can others help you.” If there are more than 40 people in the room we’ll give everyone only 30 seconds and use a timer. Although I’ve had MANY people suggest this was a waste of time, I believe it’s the reason so many connections are made in our group. It lets members hear what everyone in the room does so you know who to approach at the end of the meeting.
- Don’t let guest presenters hard-sell their products or services. I used to be very strict about pitches, and set a “no pitching law” for all presenters. However, I found it a bit tougher to get presenters for the group. I also found attendees rushing presenters at the end of the presentations asking where they could get more info. Now I suggest a soft pitch (and recommend it) but make sure the presenter doesn’t think it’s a seminar and prepare forms and sales agents to “sign you up at the back of the room”. On a personal note, I look for speakers with long-term business concepts and valuable business products and services for the group.
- Make sure every Meetup has a good description. The format I’ve been using is 1) a catchy headline which includes the presenters name 2) one paragraph about the talk 3) five specific bullet points that attendees will learn, 4) one paragraph about the speaker. I strongly suggest this formula exactly, I’ve tested other concepts and this is by far the best, no more and no less.
Here are 3 description examples of Meetups that filled up very quickly:
“How To Make A Fortune With Information Products, with Frederic Patenaude”
http://www.meetup.com/Internet-Masterminds/events/25137801/
“How to Build a PR Plan for Your Business & Why You Need One, with Monica Morong”
http://www.meetup.com/Internet-Masterminds/events/22668642/
“How To Multiply Your Social Media Buzz with Matt Astifan, Web Friendly”
http://www.meetup.com/Internet-Masterminds/events/16949186/
Meetup headlines are important: I once scheduled a high profile speaker for Internet Masterminds and noticed the meetup wasn’t getting many RSVP’s. I got a little nervous that we would have a small audience for the speaker so I asked if I could change the title of the presentation. As soon as I did the RSVP’s skyrocketed and we had a full house! Lesson learned, get good at naming your Meetups and don’t be afraid of re-naming the presentation as long as it doesn’t change the context of the presentation (however, ask your presenter first)
7. Prepare an introduction for your guest speakers. Unfortunately I fail at this all the time… I usually say a few nice words about the speaker and then ask if they could introduce themselves. Of course this isn’t the best way of doing it. It’s always better to have someone else introduce you. It’s an area I’m working on and I highly recommend you prepare an introduction for your speakers.
So why take the time to organize a Meetup Group? I’ve had a lot of people think I make a lot of money from Internet Masterminds. I’ve even had some people think Internet Masterminds was my business. Although my company offers education on Internet marketing the Internet Masterminds Group and my company Web Friendly are two separate projects. At Web Friendly I organize paid workshops that range from 4 week programs to one day or one weekend seminars. At Internet Masterminds Group we invite entrepreneurs and companies to share 60 minutes about a specific topic related to Internet Marketing they are passionate about. These speakers are not paid, but they understand the value of giving back to the community and sharing their lessons learned.
Here is why I love organizing Internet Masterminds:
1) Friends, almost ALL the friends I hang out with regularly these days I met at Internet Masterminds. These are people that I hang out with even when we’re not talking business or marketing. I believe many of the Internet Mastermind members would say the same.
2) Referrals, I have a spreadsheet where I track all my clients and where they came from. If they’re a referral I track where the referral came from. When I look at it I realize more than half my referrals come from someone I met from the Internet Masterminds Meetup.
Internet Masterminds Group meets every Monday night at 7pm at 1633 West 2nd. Meetups are $5 and donations are always reinvested back into the group. You don’t have to be an Internet marketing expert to attend, but you do have to be willing to learn ;)
If you’re interested, here is a link to join the group www.internetmasterminds.ca
Got other tips for starting a Meetup? I’d love to hear them, leave one in the comments below.
Matt Astifan Goes Public
Yesterday I decided to go public…on the “stock market” and also made my personal profile on Facebook public!
Why? I decided to trust Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s long term strategy: “making the web open and social”
Here is how it happened:
I was searching Facebook for an old friend and when I found him I noticed that he had his entire profile set to “Private” with the exception of Facebook Questions. I wondered why… so I looked into it and realized you cannot make Questions private!
This got me thinking… Why did Facebook create a new feature that cannot be set to private while all the other featured have an option of private or public? I came to the conclusion that Facebook has been making many strategic moves over the years to get users to make their profiles public.
Sooo… I gave a little more trust to Zuck and made my profile public. After my first “public” post I had over 30 comments which included two “non-Facebook-friends” which also resulted in 4 new Facebook Fans… Interesting hey!
Here is the one rule you need to follow if you decide to do this: Don’t share anything
PRIVATE online! (you shouldn’t be doing this anyways)
What are your thoughts on Facebook Privacy? Are you locked down or completely public?
Why Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working… And What To Do About It
Would you agree that when companies think about social media marketing the first thing that comes to mind is to go directly to the customer for promotions to drive sales?
The truth is social media offers many more level of networking opportunities that are often forgotten and much more powerful.
I believe that limiting your networking to B2C would be like buying a Swiss knife only to use the corkscrew in it, so here is a reminder of the various ways you can use social media.
B2C: Get the permission to connect
I find that the term “permission marketing” (coined by Seth Godin) perfectly describes what B2C social media marketing should be about.
If you get the privilege to be connected to a network of customers, your priority should be to give them what they are looking for: only share information you know your network will be excited to hear about or, even better, give away freebies (it can be products won through contests or free expert advice).
The key is to remember that, as a business, you will always be a temporary guest in their network and should always behave as such.
B2B: To build a professional network
B2B can actually be even more powerful than B2C, especially for small and medium-sized growing businesses.
By focusing on growing your professional network first you can build strategic relationships with other businesses that would allow you to connect with full databases of new potential customers at once.
C2C: For branding
Consumer to Consumer networking can make the difference between an online campaign going viral and a total flop. Do not forget to also connect with other individuals not as a business but as another individual with common interests.
C2C networking helps with personal brand building. It gives you the opportunity to connect with people reflective of who you are, allows you to share your passion and hobbies, and gives you the chance to showcase your knowledge and expertise in the advice you give to your connections.
Networking as an individual also helps you identify and connect with individuals who are highly influential in their own network and community and can spread the word about you, your business and its latest offers more efficiently than traditional advertising.
Remember that branding is about how customers actually perceive your brand, not about how you perceive yourself (or your business).
B2E: recruiting and internal corporate communications
It has become common practice in the world of HR to network on social media such as LinkedIn and even Facebook in order to find potential new employees or get more information about an applicant.
Posting new job positions on social media also accelerates referrals by making the forwarding of the news easier. Social media can also be used to communicate with current employees when sharing good news or to give credit to hard working and successful employees.
It should be obvious that one should avoid sharing negative news or criticizing an employee publicly.
E2E: Community building and corporate culture
Even though having your own intranet with a company-exclusive social media platform is ideal, not all businesses can afford it or make the most of it.
Creating closed private groups on social media and encouraging employees to employee connections can help creating a sense of community as well as establishing a corporate culture by facilitating social interactions within your company.
The use of social media can also facilitate professional communications across departments and help with the brainstorming of ideas.
There are no limits to what social networking can do for businesses as long as privacy is respected and the boundaries between professional life and private life are clearly established.
At which level have you seen social media effect your business the most?
