Dream Systems Media Blog

SMX SMX, SMX West, Social Media

I love when I see professional athletes using Twitter, but not just “using” it, I am talking really “getting” it – and understanding the power. It’s no secret I am a HUGE Arizona Cardinals fan, even more – I am a HUGE Larry Fitzgerald fan! I have been following him on Twitter for a while, and watching how he interacts with fans, and I must say, he does a great job.

Check out this recent contest he had on his Twitter stream:

Step 1.  Bait your followers:

Step 2.  Give people a reason to follow you. Larry does a great job with opportunities for for fans to “win” something.  With Larry baiting fans, he  makes them pay attention to his Twitter stream.  (It doesn’t always have to be about controversy and getting fired over Twitter with athletes!)

Twitter larry fitzgerald, Social Media, Twitter

Here is a question I received yesterday that I felt would make a good social marketing post (because I have been asked numerous times before).

I get confused on the social media sites like, Facebook, Twitter, even Skidoo etc. Should I be setting up a profile under my name to follow me specifically or setting up something that tells people to follow my website?

Here are my thoughts:  My answer depends on the specific network, as well as what you are trying to accomplish, but let me first touch on the specific networks you mentioned in this question.

Twitter

social marketing Facebook, Marketing, social, Social Media, squidoo, Twitter

Just do a tweet with the word Skittles in it,  (LOL) even if the link will only last for about two seconds … Ok, so that part of this post is a little bait and joke, but Twitter is venturing into the world of social media and I want to know what your thoughts are about it?

I woke up this morning to Skittles Twitter explosion buzz.  Skittles.com has changed its home page to nothing more then a Twitter search for “Skittles” and a little navigation graphic for the rest of their site.  They even have a friends page that redirects to their Facebook friends page.  Here is the screenshot I took of my Twitter comment showing up on the home page of Skittles – So technically I had a PR 5 link from Skittles … haha  – because its the Twitter search, and people are buzzing so much about this today – in about 10 min my tweet was more then 10 pages deep.  Still funny though.

Twitter Facebook, skittles, Social Media, Twitter

Social Media For Firefox

Just wanted to make sure everyone knows about the latest release of the Social Media for Firefox tool created by Chris Bennett.  He goes into more detail on a blog post today, but I wanted to pass my recommendation to go and get it and start using it to craft your social media accounts.

Yesterday, at SMX West on the Social Media panel, social media expert Brent Csutoras said this was one fo the tools he absolutley recommends everyone get!

I have been using this tool for two years now and could not live without it in the social media world!  Great job on this update Chris!

Social Media firefox plugin, Social Media, social media for firefox

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!

Social Media friends, making friends, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

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.

Social Media Social Media, social media expert, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

The Trend Micro blog writes that their are numerous fake celeb profiles on LinkedIn which contain links to malware. Bogus profiles of Beyonce Knowles, Kate Hudson, Salma Hayek, and others contain “tempting” links to see these stars naked. Once a user clicks on the link “he will end up on different malicious Web sites trying the classical social-engineering tricks of either the ‘missing video codec’ or of showing a fake AV scan and telling the user (that) his computer was infected with malware and offering a ‘free’ AV scanner software, which in fact is the real threat,” says the McAfee blog. See the following screen shot:

It appears that LinkedIn has been working to take down most of these bogus profiles since it was called out by Trend Micro on Monday (1/5/09). (If you go Google “Salma Hayek LinkedIn” you will see that the page did exist but is no longer available.) Good move as this kind of activity by spammers, malware authors, and other cybercriminals raises many legal issues including social media cybersquatting and possible defamation and trademark claims.

David Mink, Legal, LinkedIn cybersquatting, LinkedIn, Social Media

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?

Social Media cameron olthuis, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

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.

Social Media cameron olthuis, matt cutts, Matt Siltala, rebecca kelly, smx seattle, social communities, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social networks