Social Media Marketing: 4 tips for developing a winning social media strategy

SUMMARY: The fear of falling behind in the latest social media trend may be causing another problem entirely — wasting time and resources for your organization. Stretching your resources thin with social media can also dilute your organization’s message to your core audience.

A recent MarketingSherpa webinar, “Stop Wasting Time and Money on Social Media,” sponsored by Eloqua, guides marketers through four tips for developing the most valuable social media strategy — in time, money and a better overall message.

by Courtney Eckerle, Reporter (Courtesy of Marketing Sherpa)

Deciding which social media network will best work for your organization is a struggle for many marketers. Even worse, some may worry that the entire channel will be an overall destructive diversion of resources.

In a recent MarketingSherpa webinar, Matt Bailey, President, SiteLogic, weighs different social media outlets, and provides insight into how to best express your company message through them.

This webinar was broadcast free thanks to sponsorship by Eloqua.

Tip #1. Decide if social media is right for your organization

A big part of discovering which channels are working for your organization, according to Bailey, is in asking two simple questions.

“My marketing is always focused around the how, and the why,” he said. “How do I make money, and why do certain channels make more money than other channels?”

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What makes a message go viral? More importantly, how can you position your marketing messages to go viral? Is going viral just a passing fad?

These days every company is hungry to embrace social media and virality, even if they’re not exactly sure what that means, and even if they’re not prepared to really deal with it once they’ve achieved it.

What relevance does social media have for affiliate marketers? Is social media part of your affiliate marketing strategy? In today’s fast moving online world of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and a host of other social media vehicles it can be hard to keep up with it all.

Seth’s Blog : Learning from four viral events

March 2012 is a big month for viral ideas that change the way people think about more than just LOLcats. Here are four that happened in the last week or two and each brings its own lessons:

Marilyn Hagerty’s review of the local Olive Garden was a huge Twitter sensation, an easy target for ironists in search of something to snark about. The octogenarian (as much fun to type as it is to say) was fabulous in her refusal to take the bait, and this is a classic Internet meme, here today, gone tomorrow. One lesson: you can’t count on media stories to pop, and when they do, they are not worth much to the media companies that publish them. You need more than one to make it a business.

The Kony video is the fastest-spreading internet video of all time, and one that is much harder to pigeonhole than an Olive Garden review. The most important takeaway is that this overwhelming pop is unlikely to ever happen this way again. A video this long, on this complex (and previously little known) a topic, for a non-profit–no, this is the exception that proves a bunch of rules. I have no doubt that the success of the video (seen by more people than any single TV show this week) will lead many organizations astray in the naive belief that they can emulate this one. If a non-profit board decides to spend precious resources on a video hoping it will change the world in three days, I think they’re misguided.

I don’t have the stats of time watched, but my confident guess is that the vast majority of viewers only lasted a few minutes. It’s also worth noting that 60,000,000 or more views led to significantly less than a dime donated (on average) per viewer, and that unlike Dollar Shave Club, there was no well-rehearsed method to turn a viewer into a fan into a donor into a repeat donor.

I’m hopeful that good causes and complicated ideas benefit from rapid viral spread among strangers moving forward. My fear is that this looks like an easy shortcut, and it’s not.

One thing we can learn, I think, is that production values are rising. For an idea to spread, it’s more important than ever that the sneezer (the one spreading the idea) feels comfortable enough to send it along. In the case of the Olive Garden, the sneering tweeter could do so feeling comfortably superior. In the Kony video, the production values were a clue that the story was safe to share.

Dollar Shave Club isn’t just a clever online video, it’s a business. Of the four, it’s the one that was most intentional and was best designed to lead to long-term success. The key distinction: Use the viral spread to gain a permission asset. Then, turn that asset into a profitable business.

Here’s how they did it:

First, realize that razors are boring and expensive and that buying them is a bit of a hassle. If you address all three of these issues for the consumer, you don’t need to deliver a better razor in order to succeed–all that’s necessary is a better way to get the razor in the hands of the buyer. The model of permission is at the heart of the project–the razor business can’t possibly pay off if consumers only buy one or two times and then get bored. Instead, Dollar earns the right to send you a bunch of razors every month forever, making the value of a new customer very high. They can invest that value into a clever video and into aggressive pricing. Also very smart: The affiliate program doesn’t encourage you to pimp your friends to make money for yourself. Instead, they politely remind you that if you share their affiliate link, you get free razors, the very thing you’re encouraging your friends to buy. The symmetry is compelling and successful.

And finally, my free ebook Stop Stealing Dreams continues to spread, with tens of thousands of new readers every day. There’s no doubt I could have dramatically increased the number of viral engagements if I had made a video instead, and if I had created some sort of deadline (free this week only!). On the other hand, one lesson from this sort of gradual viral spread is that while it doesn’t happen overnight, it can spread for months or even years into the future.

Get Your Free Copy of Stop Stealing Dreams here

Have you noticed just how popular Social Media is becoming lately?

Everywhere you go people are using sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter to keep in touch with the world and let everyone know what they are up to. Heck, even TV shows have their own Facebook pages these days – It’s everywhere you turn, I’m sure you’ll agree!!!

So with this in mind there’s no better time than the present to get your share of the 100+ Social Media and Internet Marketing products, available to you for FREE right now at the Ultimate Social Media Giveaway!

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A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”~~Seneca~~

It has been said that it is more blessed to give than receive.

Throughout 2011 and the preceding decade many disasters struck mankind reminding us that although the beauty of nature is all around us and often taken for granted, the forces of nature can be powerful and destructive. Shortly before Christmas, on December 17, 2011 a terrible storm hit the Philippines killing thousands of people and disrupting the lives of many more.

Here’s a golden opportunity to enhance your online business ventures whilst at the same time contributing to the disaster relief fund.

Now that is truly a give and receive plan.

Justin Wheeler and Joe Finn with other internet marketers have put together a relief package full of fantastic products for a low price of US$17. The package contains more than 50 fantastic WSOs .

All the proceeds from the sale of this WSO will go to charity. Every cent raised will go straight to the Philippines to help relief efforts there.

Check out the Philippines Christmas Typhoon Relief Bonus Package today and do your bit to help those less fortunate.

Want a step-by-step training program in affiliate marketing? Affiloblueprint is a “hand-holding” course that will will show you how to build a site, drive traffic to it, and monetize it.

This training program is put together by Mark Ling who is based in my birth city of Christchurch, New Zealand that suffered a devastating earthquake in September 2010 with many after shocks since including several sharp shakes over the Christmas period.

Today’s post is courtesy of Internet Scambusters. If you are serious about building your online business and want to avoid losing your hard earned cash we highly recommend subscribing to the Internet Scambusters Newsletter today. Online Marketing is a great way to earn a comfortable living and replace your day job, however, online there will always be those who seek to relieve you of your cash giving little or nothing in return. It pays to remain vigilant, treat every offer as a potential scam and do your due diligence before parting with your credit card details.

9 Penny Auctions Scams and Tricks That Could Cost You Dearly

Penny auctions, which promise winners fantastic products at knockdown prices, are not always what they seem.

The true cost of buying is always higher than the winning bid price because you have to pay for each bid you make and you’re never quite sure when the auction will end.

In this article we explain how penny auctions work and reveal the tricks some of the operators use to get their hands on your money.

Why Penny Auctions Don’t Always Deliver a Bargain

When you’re looking online for electronic products at bargain prices, you’ve almost certainly come across those penny auctions ads that seem to offer unbelievable value — like your favorite laptop or camera for just $20 or $30.

But there’s a catch. In order to buy at that price, you have to win the auction. And in order to win the auction you have to pay to bid. If you don’t win, you lost the money you laid out for each bid you made.

That, says the Federal Trades Commission (FTC), makes penny auctions more like lotteries than regular auction sites.

Still, you might say, as long as you know the risks, it’s okay to play.

However, even then not all penny auction sites are what they seem.

Some operate questionable tactics to lure people into playing, while others have gained reputations for poor product quality and late, or non-existent, delivery.

How Penny Auctions Work

Usually the item that’s put up for sale is provided by the auction site operator. The price starts at or near zero and the price increases by 1 cent per bid.

However, in order to make a bid, you have to own a bid credit. Each bid credit costs between $0.50 and $1 and you have to buy them in advance, usually in packages of around 100, after registering with the site.

So, to keep it simple, if a bid costs, say, $1 a time, a package of 100 bid credits will set you back $100 and each time you bid and up the auction price by a penny, it costs you $1.

That means from the penny bid auction’s point of view, an item that “sold” for $20 will actually have required 2,000 bids (the number of cents in $20). So the site operators have already made $2,000 from the bid credits they sold!

Just to make things a little trickier, the auction deadline gets pushed back or is totally reset each time a penny bid is made, so you never actually know when the auction is going to end.

You can put in a bid when there are just five seconds to go, thinking you’re going to win, but the clock gets reset, other bidders jump back in, and off you go again.

In a way, you’re bidding against the clock. You could use up your whole $100 credit package, caught up in auction fever, and not win a thing.

No wonder that some people have compared penny auctions to gambling, though the industry itself disputes this and prefers to call them “entertainment shopping” or “retail entertainment.”

Now let’s take a close look at some of the activities that go on behind the scenes — though we’re not suggesting all penny auctions operate this way…

Penny Auctions Scams and Tricks

To get their hands on your money, some of the less reputable penny auction sites engage in dubious or downright illegal practices that include the following:

Using third parties to advertise products for sale at unbelievably low prices on classified ad sites like Craigslist, and then telling would-be buyers the item is sold.

The advertiser then claims he bought the item on a penny auction site and directs the callers to visit it.

If the caller then buys a credit package on the auction site, the Craigslist “advertiser” collects a hefty commission.

Using shills and automated bidding systems to push up prices, keeping the bidding going and constantly resetting the clock.

Charging a registration fee, thus getting your credit card number and then automatically charging the card for bid credits.

Often, operators have a statement on their site warning that this will happen but then they hide it away in barely comprehensible print.

Sometimes, they lure bidders by offering free bids, but, again, they get your credit card number and charge an additional credit package to it.

Again, there may or may not be an obscure statement about this somewhere on the site.

Not making it clear that if you do win the auction, you still have to pay the winning bid amount plus shipping (perhaps at inflated prices) and sometimes even a transaction fee.

Failing to send out the item to the winner, or seriously delaying shipping.

Sending out an item that’s different from the one which you bid on — usually lower quality or totally different.

Running bogus testimonials from supposedly happy, winning bidders, both on their sites and in penny auction ads.

Falsely claiming to be registered with and highly rated by the Better Business Bureau.

Simply using the site as a front for phishing for your credit card number, shipping address and other personal details.

How to Avoid Penny Auction Scams

By one estimate, there are now about 100 penny auctions operating online and some of them have gone out of their way to distance themselves from the less reputable sites.

But it’s often difficult to know who’s legit and who isn’t.

So, first, know that the odds are against you winning and that some people consider it a form of gambling.

In that case, you should only ever play with money you can afford to lose.

And be aware of how much the site operator is making from bid credits sold for each item.

What they’re doing may be perfectly legal but it helps that you keep a sensible perspective on what’s actually happening.

Second, the FTC has issued a consumer alert which details how these auctions operate and how to avoid some of the pitfalls: Online Penny Auctions: Nothing for Something?

Finally, always check out what others are saying online about any site you’re planning to use — but beware of those phony testimonials.

Better to do a search with the name of the site followed by the word “scam” and see what comes up.

After all, life has enough uncertainties without penny auctions adding to them!