During SMX West 2009 Andy did a great job live blogging the sessions he attended, and a comment came through on one of the posts he did asking for ideas, or “out-of-the-box” marketing tactics that could work for physicians offices:

Creative Marketing Tactics for Physician Offices?  I would like to know of any creative “out-of-the-box” marketing tactics that anyone has used when marketing services to physician offices, medical facilities, etc.  Thanks in advance.

Here goes: The thing you must realize about viral marketing ideas in regards to any specific business is that it does not have to be a perfect match.  Services that a physician offers in itself is not the kind of content that is worthy of “going viral”.

The First Step: Research – I would suggest doing some research on some of the major social media websites like Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit and Twitter (for starters) for stories related to the industry that may have gone popular, caused some buzz, got a ton of votes or gotten a lot of re-tweets.  Let me give you an example from Digg first.  If you go to Digg and do a search for something related to physicians, you will start to see the kind of stories that do well.  Also pay attention to the arrows.  You will notice most of the stories that have done well are in the “health” category and this should give you some great ideas for what kind of stories you could come up with.  I would also pay attention to the up and coming inside the health category.  Many times you will find amazing stories that never hit the front page of Digg, but are really link worthy and can well for the over all health of your site in regards to links.

Using Digg For Research

Lets take a look next at Stumble Upon:  You can search on Stumbe Upon the same way – you can find it through the people that have tagged sites under “Physicians” and many other variations including health, but this again, should give you a better idea about the kind of stories that are doing well on Stumble Upon.

Research on Stumble Upon

You can research Reddit pretty much the same way as the above two examples, but its more important to see the kind content that has done well on Reddit.  You will start to notice as you are doing research how certain sites refer different types of content etc.  The better of a job you do getting the specific kind of content the users like and are looking for, the better your campaigns will do.

Here is how I would research for ideas on Twitter.  I would first go to Twitter Search and again, type in my keywords:  In this screenshot I did a search for Physicians and I put arrows next to the ones that Have an RT, or R/T or r/t (retweet) means they liked it so much they wanted to share it with everyone who is following them.  This gives some kind of an indication of what people may be looking for, or what may be better content.

Research on Twitter

Second Step - Figure out to make the research work for you.  You do not want to copy what other people have done, but you can take ideas and do everything you can to come up with something that will bring value and benefit readers.  So the above Twitter example showed social networking links for physicians – what if you came up with an article talking about “The Top 10 Social Networking Resources For Physicians” this would also be great for you to explore and get better because it is your industry too, so its a win-win.

Examples:

I was thinking a physicians office could really take advantage of Twitter by offering “daily tips” to keep away the flu this season, or “helpful hints” on what to do to stop the common cold, or what to do to make it end quicker.  They could also use it to promote their office by having a “$10 Dollar Twitter ONLY Flu Shot Day” or something similar.  There are so many ways to take advantage of these networks its crazy!

Once you get into this, and I mean really get into this – the ideas really will start flowing.  If you are not a great writer then you can hire someone to help you out with editing etc.  Make sure you double check everything and do everything you can to make the content your own and unique.  If you are doing this, and providing something of value it will be picked up on these sites, and people will link to it.  People link to good content – its that simple.  You just had to figure out how and what kind to get in front of them.

Finally:

Think about this – I have a buddy who use to be a professional rollar-blader and has shared a story with me many times about an accident on a rail, and one of his (lets call it) “boys” got smashed and swelled up to the size of a grapefruit – Can you imagine the look on the physicians face when he saw that?  Everytime my friend tells the story I am all ears and laugh my arce off – so if this does not give you even more ideas of what you could do, then I don’t know what will??

With the proper research, you will be able to find something that will work and go viral in the physicians industry.  I hope this answers the question to the person who asked it, but if you have any other questions, or if anyone else has some ideas for this industry then please feel free to comment and share with everyone!

Making Friends!

I have been reading so much lately about social media in 2009, and how everybody thinks the rules are changing. I have to throw in my two cents because I think most of this talk (and what I read) is garbage! IMO, social media can easily be summed up by this one statement – If you are good at making friends offline, you will be good at social media. You may have to learn a few rules, but its simple to understand – If you can make friends offline, you can make friends online.

Social Media has not changed

I have been using social media pretty heavily for the last 4 years, and nothing has changed in the “core” way I have been using it.  I also continue to make good money because of social media marketing, and every year it just keeps getting better!

If you understand the following four things people use everyday for offline friendships, you will have no problems with social media in 2009 and beyond:

1. Relationships – Everybody needs friends, and if you say you don’t you are lying.  I have been married for almost 10 years, and even though my wife is my best friend, I still need other friends to be able to chat with and share experiences with and connect with in other ways (professional, hobbies etc).  You can make relationships online with people who are in your industry, share your same business passions and are willing to network with you and do everything they can to help you out because they are your friend.
2. Sharing – When we finally get past the “mine” stage in life (or do we?) we start to realize how fun it is to share with others.  Christmas and birthday time right now I get more of a kick seeing my kids open presents then I can ever remember receiving them myself!  Online we share content, pictures, ideas, friends, groups and connections we have made.  I get joy out of sharing something that has made my day.  If you approaching sharing in social media with this approach – you can’t fail!  Some of the greatest laughs I have ever had, have come from friends who shared amazing things with me online.  There have also been times I have been going through a bad day, and someone will share something with me on Twitter that totally changes my attitude and lifts my day!
3. Recommending – when you move into a new neighborhood you get to know new people and they recommend things to you like places to eat, cable packages, playgrounds to take your kids, fitness centers and so on.  You take their recommendations because they live there and understand the area.  Online your friends will recommend stuff and it is really no different.  If you are friends with a bunch of people who love photography and you share a photo – they are going to be happy you are sharing with them!  They may give you suggestions and you may not always agree, but that does not mean you can’t be friends.  I don’t always like the places to eat my neighbors recommend but that does not mean I won’t listen to their recommendations again down the road.
4. Helping – When you were a kid and you wanted to play with someone and their parents said; “Not until your room is clean”  You wanted to play so bad with that friend you agreed to help him clean his room so you could play with him sooner – right?  What this means with social media is – if you are friends with one person who is asking if you know a good web designer, and if you have another friend that is a designer, (and you know he is good and can help), well help him out and refer!

Remember what it was like to be a kid

If you can take a step back and remember what it is like to make a relationship work offline, you will be able to make a relationship work online.  I think the only problem that people should have with social media marketing is time, and the time it will take to create accounts that are powerful.  So other then time, you really have no excuses for not being able to be a great social media marketer!

I have a neighbor that is an amazing web developer and is so immersed in what he does, that until recently (after chatting with me) I rarely saw him do anything with social networks.  A few months ago I got him on Twitter, taught him the ropes, and he experienced immediate power and success with it.  This was a great testimony to him because when I was first explaining Twitter to him I could tell he was scratching his head saying “huh?  micro-blogging?  powerful?  WTF??”

I am amazed that more web designers and developers are not more familiar with the power of social networks – especially Facebook.   I love Facebook because people are trying to find YOU, they want to see what YOU are doing and what YOU are up to.  If you have your profile set up correctly, using the tools Facebook gives you to add RSS feeds to your profile etc. the people who are trying to find information about YOU will do just that, and that is why you need a Facebook page!  It is the easiest sell you will ever make.

Within days of setting up a Facebook profile page, my neighbor has already gotten several web development/design leads from people he had forgotten even existed!  Old friends growing up, school buddies, college buddies etc. all found him and what he did for a living very interesting! Again, its the easiest sell you will ever make because they know YOU, and are coming to YOU!  He told me that someone even came up with a Facebook app idea they wanted him to create.

…He’s addicted now (and blames me) but that’s ok because he’s making money and that is never a bad thing!

I had to laugh when he told me after the first day of creating his profile, his email was blowing up because something like 34 people had added him as a friend and they were all commenting wanting to catch up.  What I told him is that is 34 more people that know what he does for a living, and 34 more people that can tell their friends when they hear someone say – “I need a web design” or “Do you know anyone who does web design?”  His number has since gone up and continues to grow everyday, but he finally is understanding the power of social networks and why it is a good thing to have a Facebook page and be “social”.

I love the power of Facebook, and how it allows you to find and stay connected with people from your past and future.  Please feel free to connect with me on Facebook here, and let me know if there are any Facebook questions you have that I can help you with!

This week alone I have read at least 5 different articles talking about so-called social media experts, and if you can really call yourself a social media expert in such a new field.  Only one of these articles I read made a point worth mentioning here, and that was Michael Gray who pointed out:

So when I read a post titles like “9 Ways your can explode your number of twitter followers” and I look at the persons profile, and see 320 followers, half of which are people like robert scoble auto follow bots, I wonder if they have any clue what they are talking about, or are just really good at building a network of reciprocating blind voting friend networks.

I could not agree more with you Michael! Writing good titles is easy, but providing the content to back up the titles is another story.  If the content is worthy, you will have followers but even that does not make you a social media expert.  I have a friend that has 10 times the number of followers I do on Twitter, but they do not make a dime because of it.  Is he more of an expert then me because he has more followers?

Twitter Expert?

I have not asked for any of my followers on Twitter and I have over 500, unlike what I have seen from so many others who have far more followers then me (always begging for more and more followers).  Do I want that number to grow?  Of course I do, but I want to add people to my network of followers that is going to actually do something for me.  Like:

• Will I learn from them?
• Will these guys be able to learn from me?
• Will I be able to network with them?
• Will I be able to monetize?
• Will I be able to sell products to them down the road if they trust me?

Yes to all of the above because it has already happened to me because of Twitter.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being called an expert – there is a reason for it.  One of the biggest mistakes I see people making with social media is not understanding what the specific social networks are best used for.  For example - submitting your brand new websites homepage to Digg is not going to do anything for you – besides possibly getting your URL banned!  Understanding what each of the social networks are best used for is going to help you more then anything I can ever write here.

Call it whatever you want, but unless you have figured out a way to monetize with your social media “expertise” then please don’t post about it.  To me – it really is this simple – Are the social media markeing skills you have doing anything to grow your business and make you (or your business) money?

I have attended several search engine conferences and listened to people who I consider experts, but I have also listened to people at the same conferences that I do not consider experts, and feel they should not be speaking.  Again, call it what you want – but as long as it keeps making me money and helping me grow my businesses, I will keep doing it.

A couple days ago I got some new business cards in the mail, and I am really pleased with how they turned out.  Business cards have been a form of offline marketing for as long as any of you can probably remember, but as I was designing my new ones I really wanted to find a way to still connect with my online communities. I know it is not something that is usually done, but then again, social communities are still rather new.

Bringing the offline and online marketing communities together:

I guess what I really wanted is to make sure the people who got my business cards, know of all the places they can find me online.  We are in a day and age where some people may prefer to connect with you via Twitter instead of emailing you (if they know you are on Twitter).  As crazy as this may sound, get this – I introduced a neighbor who is a web developer to a contact of mine on Twitter.  They have done all their business, and I mean everything via Twitter and instant message – thats it.  Never spoke on phone, never emailed – none of the old traditional ways of doing business – and this was a pretty big client too that is paying him good.

Here is the picture of the front side of my new card: (sorry for crappy quality, its the iPhone camera which is horrible)

Business Cards need to reach your online communities

Here is the back of my card, where I reach out to my two most important (business) networks – Twitter and LinkedIn.  Granted you cant see the URLs on this picture very well, but they are there, and I hope you get the point.

LinkedIn and Twitter on Business Cards

If you have not already thought of doing this, I would suggest you do so with your next batch of business cards.  I know that I would rather connect with you via LinkedIn or Twitter, then any other method (for business).

What to be learned:

This IMO is just a great example and way to connect with your online communities when you are dealing with offline marketing.  It is also a great way to get more people aware of the networks you use, besides maybe introducing them to networks they have never heard of (thus expanding yours).  Believe it or not, I have people all the time ask me what Twitter is.  For the social media community, and online community its kind of funny, but there are a lot of people out there that are not so up to date – especially with social networks.  These are the same people not selling stuff on eBay because they think its to hard.

If this is the first time you are reading this blog, or you have not connected with me on Twitter – please feel free to follow me on Twitter!

Cameron Olthuis

I appreciate my good bud Cameron Olthuis taking the time to answer some questions about social media that many of my readers have either sent me via email, or are always asking me.  Also, this is a great opportunity for me to ask an expert some of the social media questions that have been on my mind.  Cameron owns his action sports media network, as well as a action sports online community – 5ones – where he blogs about, and interacts with others as passionate about surfing as he is.  For those of you that may not know much about Cameron, he is a regular social media expert speaker at conferences like SMX, SES, Pubcon and others, so this is a treat today!

1.  How do you know which social networks to focus on, and which ones do you focus on?

This is a tough question to answer because there’s no cookie cutter social network that works for all people for all things. A social network that might work great for one site, might not work at all for another. Also, depending on the goals of your marketing campaign, the social media sites in which you would use to reach those goals will vary. I’d say focus on the ones will bring the best ROI for any given campaign. I do a lot of stuff on StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook, and Digg.

2.  What would be your best tips for someone brand new to social media? (how to grow in the communities etc.)

The best tip I can give anyone brand new to social media is to actually use social media. Before you jump in the pool you need to learn how to swim. Take some time to understand how certain social media sites work the way they do. Watch and learn from others marketing campaigns. Get to know how the social media crowd works, how they think, and what interests them. Expect a fair amount of trial and error before you hit a home run.

3.  How much time would someone expect to put into social media? (if they are planning to do it right)

I guess that depends on their desired results. I can tell you that you’ll get out of it what you put into it. If you only give a half baked effort, you’ll only get half baked results. I would say that you should plan for a solid 6-12 months before you will really learn the ins and outs of social media, build up your accounts, and be successful and marketing through these channels.

4.  What are the top 5 social networks for getting the most results? (SEO, traffic, buzz, etc. – in your opinion)

1. Digg
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Twitter
5. StumbleUpon

5.  Which social networks are the biggest waste of time?

The ones that are ghost towns and don’t have a decent sized audience.

6.  If I am brand new to Digg, what is the best tip you can give me to creating powerful account?

Provide value to the community. This means submitting articles that will be useful to the community and lots of them. This doesn’t mean submit your own articles that are good, submit from a wide variety of sources. Providing value to the community can also come in the form of digging the right articles and leaving thoughtful and insightful comments.

7.  Do you see any up and coming social networks worth spending time at?  For example; Tipd? What are your thoughts?

I think Tipd is a great one if you have a site that is financially related. There are a lot of niche networks that keep popping up so I’d recommend that a person watch for these in their verticals. Pay attention to which ones seem to be catching on and get on that ride as early as possible. The sooner you can establish your site(s) as an authority source on these sites the better. Before you know it other people will be submitting your content and you won’t even have to do it anymore.

8.  What do you feel are the long term benefits of Social Media Marketing?

• Links for SEO.
• Buzz.
• Branding.
• Creating trust in your brand.
• Traffic.

All of these add up to increased business, which should be the long term benefit of any marketing campaign. A marketing campaign that has no ties back to long term value in your business is just a waste of
time.

If you want to get specific, I think trust in your brand and increased word of mouth is number one. Studies have shown that majority of people base their purchasing decisions on word of mouth. So interact with your consumer base online. Be honest and genuine and you will build their trust. Then they will spread word about you. Of course, the content (products, services, etc) has to be there to back it up.

9.  Any other tips you can offer that we might have missed here for people new to Social Media?

Get started. Don’t wait around to jump in and start learning this stuff. Every day you wait is another day your competitors are gaining ground on you.

The Social Fear:

When I am teaching clients (or consulting new to Internet business owners) about social media, and starting to dive deeper into social media marketing with them, the very first thing I try to help them understand is the “social” side of it.  If you are not able to be social with individuals, or are worried about what people will say or think of you, then you will not do very well with social media.  Being social is the most important key element to any successful social media marketing campaign.

I know this sounds kind of no duh, but you would be surprised how often these concerns come up with clients, especially the new ones that have never done any kind of online marketing – including social media marketing.

I guess the real reason I bring this up, and wanted to post about it, is because last week I did a Webinar (on social media) that had about 20 people on it, and one of them sent me a private message telling me that they did not know if they would be able to do anything with social media marketing.  I thought it was odd considering they were on the Webinar, and knew what they signed up for.  They said they had a fear of being rejected, and were very fearful of how people would interact and take them in the online communities.  This is a problem, and I tried to address it with reasons you MUST be social in order to be successful.

9 Reasons You Need To Be Social:

1. You will have to approach, and befriend other bloggers related to your industry.
2. You will need to leave useful and real comments to gain trust in blog authors (who you might connect with).
3. It is a must to grow your social media accounts by adding friends, and asking people to add you – I don’t think I have ever done a post about Twitter without asking someone to follow me – Follow Me? (heh)
4. You need to vote and participate in the communities – again leaving comments in all the elements of the community (ie post you voted on, in their comments area – anything they allow).  You help people get to know you by doing this, and in turn gain trust.  You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours!
5. New friends will help you grow your business and market it for you, and give you unbiased feedback.
6. New friends will link to you, thus helping out your online presence.
7. You will learn from new friends.
8. You will meet some amazing people that you normally would not have had the chance to.
9. Other people WANT to connect with you.

Do not fear the “SOCIAL” in social media:

You need not fear people not wanting to connect with you.  Most people you find are wanting to grow a bigger group of people around them too.  I realize not everyone you connect with is going to be golden, but you will find some amazing people that almost alone will be enough.

I remember when I first started getting serious about social media, blogging and making connections I thought some of the bigger names in the game would be unapproachable, and not want to talk to a nobody like me.  I went ahead and “took a chance” when Chris Bennett and I attended the first ever SMX in Seattle together, and ended up meeting probably one of the coolest people in the social media industry – Cameron Olthuis and we have since become great friends.  Through the relationship we have gotten each other business, made each other money and helped each other grow even more.  The best part was gaining a cool new friend.  Chris even went on to create a high action sports social community with Cameron that involves (among other things) what those two are most passionate about – Surfing.

Matt Siltala, Cameron Olthuis, Rebbeca Kelly, Matt Cutts - SMX Seattle

You never know what is going to happen with social networking unless you just go for it.  I have learned great lessons in social networking and all of them have paid off in the long run.  Lose the fear, and realize that the social community is the best industry period to be a part of right now.

Now That You Are On Your Way:

If you do end up meeting a jerk, or if someone is not nice to you, then just move on because there are plenty of awesome people out there that ARE willing to hook up with you.  Just remember, the more social you are, the easier things will be for you when it comes to social media marketing and using the networks for pushing your products, services or whatever it is you are doing.

If all else fails, talk to me – please feel free to connect with me online, and let me know how I can help you!

If you have not yet heard anything about the seriously tragic US v. Drew case, it may be difficult to answer this question. Here is a short recap of the facts in the case:

Lori Drew is a mother accused of helping to create and use a fake MySpace account (of a 16 year old “stud” named “Josh”) to torment a female teen who later committed suicide. Drew allegedly considered the plan a clever and comical way to deal with a teen-girl (Megan Meier) who she thought was spreading ugly rumors about Drew’s daughter. The plan was authored by Drew’s employee, 20-year-old Ashley Grills. Megan Meier eventually hanged herself after receiving an email from “Josh” which read “the world would be a better place without you.”

Drew is charged with of violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act by providing false information to MySpace to establish “Josh’s” account, violating MySpace policies by obtaining information about Meier, and using the account to “intentionally inflict emotional distress” on the teen.

Social media marketers beware, while the facts of this case are far-outside of the realm of run-of-the-mill social media marketing, this is a landmark Internet law case which will set a precedent SMM’s/SMO’s will need to understand. When people read the facts of this case they get caught up in the drama and assume it is a case about whether Drew caused the suicide of Megan Meier. Wrong. The real issue in this case is whether Drew violated the terms of service of the MySpace social networking site.

How many social media marketers REALLY take the time to read, understand, and comply with the terms of service of all of the different social media sites they use on a daily basis? The number of us who can answer that affirmatively is probably fewer and further between than it should be.