This is the second in a series of posts where I am using materials from a White paper I developed on Testimonials.  The information in this white paper applied to your Resolutions on your Linkedin page.  Today, I look at the many ways you can get Resolutions/testimonials.  If you want to see the complete paper go here:  http://tinyurl.com/cj5yz6 .

Ways to Get your Testimonials?

Long Term Customers

Start by calling your long-term customers or those customers who are repeat buyers.  You know these people well.  You’ve done a lot of business with them.  These are easy testimonials to get.  They will be more than willing to help you.  

Tell these customers what you would like them to focus on in their comments—remember your benefits.  This step will produce some immediate testimonials.

Search Your Mail

Search your morning mail, invoice payments or letters for positive comments from your customers.  Many times, people will write a comment when paying their bill.  This can be the source for a testimonial.  When you find something good from one of these sources, call them, thank them and ask them if it’s ok to use their words in your sales and marketing efforts.

Third Party Endorsement

Every business has other businesses they work with.   Go to these businesses and ask for a testimonial about your business.  Exchange testimonials about their business.  Third party testimonials have the additional quality of showing how your business is part of much larger business network.  This impresses the customer.

Industry statistics

This type of “testimonial” starts to stretch the envelope on testimonials but it has its place.  For example, national studies show that when a business has sales training, they increase their profits by 16%.   That does not say anything about your sales training, but that statistics show a 16% increase when a company gets sales training.  This type of testimonial will help some customers buy your product.

Customer Call Backs

After every sale, call the customer to see how they like the product.   Have a series of questions that leads the conversation in the direction you want.  When you get some good comments, thank the customer and ask if it’s ok for you to use their comments.  As a side benefit, you will learn a tremendous amount of information about your business.  It’s wonderful feedback and takes only a few minutes for each sale.

Networking

It is common practice at most business networking meetings to give others members of the group a verbal testimonial when someone has used their service.  “I want to tell you what good service I received from Jane last week when I went to her bank to switch over my account.”  Typically, Jane nods her head and says, thank you.  Go to the person after the meeting and ask if you can write down what they said about you and your business and if you can use it in your marketing efforts.  Don’t let an opportunity like this slip by.

Photo Testimonials

Use photos of your customers using your products or services—make sure they are smiling!  If you provide a service, have someone take a picture of you doing the service.  I know a financial adviser, who gives workshops to seniors.  He had his picture taken at a workshop, then used the pictures in brochures to advertise his workshops.

Have a contest with your customers to send in the best picture of them using your product or service.  Give the winner a free dinner.   Always, let people know you may want to use their picture for marketing purposes, call back the winners, thank them and again ask permission.

Customer photos with written testimonials are doubly powerful.

Audio and Video Testimonials

Present you testimonial in audio form.  You can easily create a customer hot line where customers can call in at any time to comment on your product or service.  This could be a dedicated line with an answer machine. Make it easy for the customer to give you a testimonial.  Some customers find it easier to call in comments, rather than write comments.  These audio comments or video comments can be used on websites or turned into a testimonial CD.

Ask Before you Start the Project

This is a great systematic way to generate an ongoing stream of good testimonials.  Make your request for testimonials part of the package you are offering the customer.   As part of the details with closing the deal, you ask, “I assume that I will do a great job for you.  If I do xyz will you be willing to give me a testimonial about the job?”   I have never had a customer turn me down when I have made this offering. 

This technique gives a different impression of you.  The customer realizes that it’s your intention to do a good job.  They will happily want to write a testimonial about that job.  This is also a wonderful way to systemize a testimonial system to get ongoing referrals in an easy, no effort way.

Customers Feedback Forms

There are many versions of customer feedback forms.   These forms help you direct the types of questions you ask about your products and services.

“Did you enjoy our product?  What was the best thing you liked about the product?  What was the thing you leased liked about the product?  What other comments would you like to make about the product or your buying experience.  May I use your comments in my efforts to help other customers?”  (Enclosed a self-addressed envelope)

Keep it simple for the customer.   You may also wish to give them some reward for taking the time to complete the form.  Giving rewards is perfectly acceptable because you are asking the customer to do something extra.   

Expert or Well Known People

Expert testimonials can be two types.  You can find expert opinions that speak to one or more of your benefits but are not speaking directly to you particular product.  Doctors speak about conditions necessary for weight loss programs. Your program has several of those conditions.  Like industry statistics, these become a form of endorsement or testimony for the generic use of your product.

The second and more powerful testimony comes from an expert who has actually used your program or service and wants to tell others about it.  Who hasn’t read reviews on a back of a book cover to help you decide to purchase the book?

Movie stars and athletes have been using their names to sell products for years.     

Conduct an Interview

Have a third party conduct an interview with some of your customers.  This could be a professional, a PR person or a friend.   They invite the customers to offer their comments about the recent purchase.   Customers feel free and easy sharing comments to a third person.

You can use these interviews in their audio or visual form or you can transcribe them and edit them into useful written forms.  

These are powerful testimonials.  Even when you use a professional , your costs will easily be offset by the return these types of testimonials will bring to your business

Surveys and Questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires receive mixed reviews as a technique for getting testimonials.   Remaining anonymous is usually a chief characteristic of surveys.  This would defeat one of the primary qualities of good testimonials—using the name and address the person giving the testimonial.   Without the name and address you sacrifice the power of the testimonial.

Their Name in Print

One popular reward you can offer for a testimonial is getting your customers name in “lights.”   You address the customers, “I was wondering if you could help me.  I want to thank you for being a wonderful customer and ask for your help.  Could you answer the following questions?”  You give them some simple directive questions to answer and tell them this may result in using their name on your website, in your brochure, etc.  Everyone loves their 15 minutes of fame!

Offer to Write it for People

There is nothing wrong with helping the customer write a testimonial.  You can say, “I know that you are very busy.  I’d be happy to draft something you can use.  You can edit or change it.”  

Many customers prefer this method of giving a testimonial.  They want to say nice things about your business but they don’t know how to articulate them.  They don’t know where to start so they put it off in their busy schedule.  They promise to give you a testimonial.  You wait and wait, not wanting to bug them.  Helping them write it overcomes this bump in the road and allows you to get some very pointed testimonials.  

Personal Testimonials

You can use personal testimonials.   You may need these especially when you are just getting started in business.  When I wrote my book about how to buy carpet, I had a good friend provide a testimonial for me.   She said in the testimonial, “I did not use Al’s book, but he has worked on our house in the past and his experience and insights were wonderful.”  In short, you can trust Al, the person. While these are not as powerful as product testimonials, they have their place.

Use testimonials as Success Stories

On your website or other marketing materials, you may have the occasion to share success stories with prospects.  These can be very powerful, especially when a customer does not know a lot about your product.  Design the success story in the following manner.

Describe the problem the customer was experiencing.  Provide some details about the problem—so the reader can identify with it.   Then tell how your product or service solved the problem.  The third section is the quote from the customer about your business.  This simple three step process is very effective because in step one and two you create a clear problem-solution scenario.  The customer testimonial becomes reinforcement to that scenario.

To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…

Al Hanzal

In its essence, all social media and social networking is a group of people who come together to have a conversation around a common topic.  The internet eliminates the space and time considerations associated with traditional networking.  To be successful with Linkedin Groups, you must participate in the conversation.

Spirited Conversations

Think back to some of the best face to face conversations you’ve had with friends or colleagues.  What happen in those spirited conversations?

You talked about an important topic that interested everyone.  People had definite opinions and feelings about the issue.  Each person was involved and paid attention.  Each person made contributions to the conversation.  People took time to listen and ask questions.  Each person respected the opinions of others, even if they disagreed.

The qualities found in a lively person to person conversation are the same qualities that you want to bring to your conversations within the Linkedin Groups you join.

Social Conversations

This can be a difficult shift for some small business owners.  Their marketing usually centers on events.  They take time to create an ad.  Then they sit back and wait for the ad to work.  Or they put a lot of effort into creating a brochure.  They print it and use it when they feel it is needed.  These are event type marketing.

Participation in Groups conversations requires a different form of behavior.  It takes a different form of energy and time commitment.  You can be more or less involved in the Groups, but you do have to be there consistently if you are going to gain the respect you need to have others look at you and your business.

What would you think of a person who joined a Group six months ago?  Since that time, they have made three new connections.  They made two comments, the last one made 5 months ago?  Is that someone you would want to follow?

Because it is digital, your level of participation is open to everyone in the Group.   They see how many and when you made your last contribution.  If you went into a store in July that still had up their Christmas decorations, would you do business with them?

Let me give you one successful example.  One of the top bloggers in the world started his blogging business four years ago.  When he got started, he made a commitment that before he went to bed each night, he would post comments on 5-10 on his favorite blogs.   He maintained that discipline for several years.  He now makes between $10,000-20,000 per month from his blog.  His content is wonderful.  Just as important, he earned people’s respect and confidence by his consistent performance and participation.

Conclusion

If you are going to be successful with Linkedin Groups, be prepared to participate in the conversation.  It is not a one time event.  It is an on going commitment to participate in the conversation.

In the next blog, I will return to Linkedin Group process and how to join a group and how even to form your own Group for networking purposes.

Your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You have been making connections on Linkedin.  Now you will take your Linkedin network to a deeper level.  Inviting others to join your connections is a basic step in forming your networking.  If you want to be even more successful with Linkedin, you need to join several Linkedin Groups.  Let me explain why.

Why a Group?

Linkedin Groups are formed around people who have a shared or common interest.  ( You will have lots of choices).  Beyond being interested in networking, people in Groups want to network with a specific group of people who care as they do about a topic or an issue.  Here are a few of the benefits you will realize by being part of a Linkedin Group that goes beyond the benefits of normal Linkedin networking.

• You can see more information about Group members than the average Linkedin members.  (Many Linkedin participants disable the View aspect of their Profile.  Not Group members!
• By participating in the Group member discussions, you get to demonstrate your expertise to others who care about the subject.
• Sharing your materials with others in the Group gives more you visibility.  (You can add links to your URL web presence.)
• You can both give and receive from others in the Group discussions.
• You can ask questions from Group members in a different manner than the general Answers section of Linkedin.

The real power of networking, whether in traditional networking groups, Linkedin or any of the internet social networking groups, comes from being active and participating.  The real value of Linkedin comes from participating into the “people” resources of others.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal  

Before we start focusing on the Group functions in Linnkedin, I thought you might enjoy an short article on ways to use Linkedin in your business by Peggy Murrah.  Enjoy.

Al Hanzal
www.successfulmarketingtools.com/wordpressblog

Social Media Tip of the Month -5 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Your Business

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By now, you should be familiar with all of the social networking aspects that LinkedIn offers. LinkedIn has helped so many professionals get in touch with each other and forge new relationships. Many jobs have been found through the use of connections and members have been well placed in their respective company networks. LinkedIn remains to be one of the largest networks of professionals seeking to build their careers.

LinkedIn is, however, more than just connecting with others and building relationships. Here are 5 other ways that can help you as a member of LinkedIn.

Have your questions answered

Similar to Yahoo! and Google Answers, LinkedIn offers an area where members can type in questions that can be seen by all members of LinkedIn regardless of connections. Since LinkedIn is a network of professionals, you can expect to get better answers than other sites like forums.

Conduct reference checks

LinkedIn is a great source for looking up companies and individuals for reference purposes. All you need to do is fire up the Reference Check Tool and just search for a person or company to see some information about how long they worked there and other backgrounds. It is great for crosschecking the legitimacy of profiles since LinkedIn is officially networked to some top resource sites like BusinessWeek.

Obtain information on competitors

Knowing your competitors’ progress and connections can be advantageous in taking your team above them. By taking the time in getting information on individuals and their connections belonging to rival companies, you can highlight their main strengths and weaknesses and find ways to work around them.

Get indexed in search engines

Since LinkedIn has a high Google page rank, you can take advantage of this by setting your profile on public and filling it with as much information as possible. What happens is all that information is indexed by Google and other bots while taking in keywords in the process. This gives you an opportunity for non-registered LinkedIn users to see your profile just by doing simple searches that may match your profile’s description. It also makes it easier for people to find more information about you and don’t know where to look. You can even use this to advertise other websites and gain exposure through LinkedIn.

Find more information about people you’ll meet up with

If you are going to have a huge meeting with a few top executives of a company, try to learn more about them by searching in LinkedIn. Even if their profiles may not be listed, you can do other checks such as searching for the company and see any familiar names there. It is important to know the backgrounds of the people you are about to do business with so you can make better decisions and judgment.

These 5 ways are sure to help and encourage you to use LinkedIn more for any business related tasks. Use these methods to your advantage so you can have the edge over competitors and other people in your network. You can really stand out if you utilize the LinkedIn network using your own creative ways.

http://www.linktoprosper.com [murrah@linktoprosper.com]

If you have been following this sequence of posts about adding connections to your network, you have now invited all those who are already on Linkedin to join you.   In your Outlook file and other email services files, you will have many more names that are not on Linkedin.  What is going to be your strategy for inviting them to be part of your networking efforts?

Again, you want to use the your overall purpose for using Linkedin as the guiding principle to additional invitations.  Continue to ask yourself, how will this person or these types of persons who emails addresses you have, help you achieve your goals for the program.  Revisit your decisions such as quality networking verses quantity networking.

More than likely, you will have a number of people whose emails addresses that are not on Linkedin.  Break this larger number down into chuck size pieces so that you can invite them your join your connection each day.  A consistent effort of 5-10 invites a day from your existing lists of contact will produce an amazing result even over the course of 30 days.

Here’s an example of a script I used for people I know but who may be unfamiliar with the Linkedin program.

Script

“Hello, its been sometime since I have connected with you.  I hope you are doing well.  I am not sure if you are familiar with the new social networking programs people are using on the internet?  I belong to the Linkedin program as a way of networking with a group of people who have similar interests as me.  I would like to invite you to join my network.  It’s very easy to get started.  You can go to www.Linnkedin.com and sign up to be on the program.  It’s free and I think you will enjoy it.  I am currently working on an e-book of tips for people using the Linkedin program and would like to send it to you.  Let’s try to connect on each others network.   Check out www.linkedin.com and join so we can connect on a more regular basis” Thanks,  Al

Change the words to suit your situation.  With this script, I am making an invitation, telling them about Linkedin, showing them how easily they can get started and making a promise to share something with them.  These ingredients make the script work.

Use this or a similar emails invitations to those on your list and do it on a consistent basis.

Manual Invitation

The last direct tool Linkedin offers for building your network is the Manual invitation.  Go to the green Get Connected button and click on it.  You will see a manual section where you can now type in six email names and addresses to invite with one stroke of the key board.

I found it helpful to take some time to research the names and email address I wanted to invite and then place them in a word document.  I then copy six names on a daily basis from this list and send an invitation to all the people I wanted to invite.

Recycling Your Invitations

On a sixty to ninety day basis, you may wish to invite again those who have not responded.  If you go to your Inbox on your Linkedin Home Page and click on “Send” you will see all the people to whom you have send invitations and the status of those invitations.  From here you can choose to resend invitations to specific people.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You may find when you try to Import Contacts” that you get an error message “There was en error processing your request.”  I did when I first tried importing from some of the mail servers.  This is because of the security controls on Internet Explorer 7.  Thanks for this tip from Jan Vermeiren for how to by pass this problem and upload your contacts.

1.  Open Internet Explorer 7

2.  Go to Tools and then choose Internet Options

3.  Select the Security tab

4.  Select the Internet Zone click on Customize

5.  Disable the ‘Enable Protected Mode’

6.  Click on Apply and then Ok to set your changes.

7. You will need to restart Internet Explorer 7 to make these changes

8.  The status bar a the bottom should now state “Internet Protected Mode Off”

9.  Now you can retry uploading your contacts on Linkedin

(Jan Vermeiren How To Really Use Linkedin)

I continue to listen in on the debate regarding whether you should build your social network using a selected number of followers or whether the popular trends of collecting large number of followers is better.  Michael Fortin in his blog:  http://www.michelfortin.com/twitter-populated-drones-frauds/ has written a post that has people comment on both sides of the issue.  Its a longer post.  When you read it, substitute “social networking” for the word Twitter and see where you fall in this debate.  Enjoy.

Your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Twitter Populated By Drones And Fakes?

Twitter is a fantastic marketing tool. I love it and I encourage everyone to get on it. But I do have a warning, because the way some people use it today is not only wrong, but it can also become potentially dangerous to its survival.

Twitter is micro-blogging, i.e., blogging in a shorter format. It limits the posts to 140 characters. The reason for the limit is, when Twitter was first introduced it was intended to be used for text-messaging (SMS) between mobile phones.

The SMS protocol, along with most phones, limit their messages to 140 characters. (Nowadays, some phones allow up to 160.)  I love Twitter because, as a copywriter, it’s also a great tool to force you to be pithy, test headlines and subject lines, and create a persona around which you build your brand.

However, there’s one thing that seriously irks me and my wife, Sylvie Fortin, to no end. That one thing is in the process of destroying one of the best tools to come on the Internet since the invention of email. And that’s auto-following.

First, I don’t use Twitter for telling my followers every bit of minutia of my day. I think that’s ridiculous and absurd.  If I were a celebrity, sure. Fans love to hear about the daily activities of their favorite stars. We live in a voyeuristic society. That’s why reality TV shows have exploded, and the whole concept of social media along with it.

Auto-following is where you automatically follow someone who follows you. There are many benefits to auto-following, such as giving your followers the ability to send you a private, direct message.

But to me, auto-following is, at its core, no different than posting your website URL willy-nilly to a bunch of free-for-all link farms, which was wildly popular at the early onset of the Internet. And we all know how that turned out to be as a marketing tactic.
In fact, FFA links only really benefited the owner of the link farm, because no one came to their website with the intent to read or click on those bazillion links. They only came to post their own link. And the FFA owner would therefore be able to build a list they can easily email to.
(Sounds familiar?)

I use Twitter for business—not for marketing or selling per se, but to share probably the most important aspect in marketing, social media, and the Internet in general (in fact, it’s the reason the Internet exists in the first place).
And that is (hold on tight, here it comes)…
… Information!

(Crazy, huh?)
Yes, I love to “tweet” about websites I’ve visited, which may be of interest to my followers. I love to post quick tips and links to articles I’ve stumbled across that I find fascinating or interesting. And I love to blog about products, software, and programs I’ve used or discovered, which I believe my followers would certainly appreciate knowing about.

And yes, I do insert from time to time an affiliate link or two. But I wouldn’t post it if I didn’t think it would be of benefit to my followers. My goal is not to make money with micro-blogging, or even blogging in general. It’s a byproduct.
But in terms of auto-following, I’ve always been against it. And yesterday, I felt vindicated, because I came across this remarkable short video from Seth Godin, who arguably is one of the leading experts on marketing.

In it, Seth addresses the entire “social media for business” in a simple statement. In fact, he did it in less than two minutes. Basically, he said that business is built on relationships, not on how many followers you have.

Seth calls it “fake networking” as opposed to real networking. What matters is real relationships, the relationships you create, cultivate, and care about. Not numbers on a Twitter account that only boast how popular you are or try to appear to be.

I believe most people use auto-follow in an attempt to inflate their numbers, either for pure egotistical reasons, or at most, for spamming their followers.  Don’t believe me? Here’s a case in point.

Auto-follow is often enabled through various third-party software. But Twitter once had this feature — some users still have it to this day. Well, just yesterday Techcrunch reported a bit of news in which Twitter itself will abandon the whole auto-follow process. And personally, I think it’s about freakin’ time.

Twitter’s CEO said it beautifully: “We’re going to discontinue autofollow because this behavior sends the wrong message. Namely, it is unlikely that anyone can actually read tweets from thousands of accounts which makes this activity disingenuous.”
When I sent this link to my friend Armand Morin via a discussion we were having within our mastermind coaching group, his reply was nothing short of brilliant. He said…

I totally agree.
I think that is my biggest problem with Social Media Marketing.
People are fooling themselves thinking their numbers of followers or friends is an indication of their potential income generation.
Why would this work?
Most people are following or becoming friends with strangers for two reasons.
1.) They want to build their own “LIST”
2.) They are following these people with the false illusion that they are going to be their “friend” and get FREE marketing information. Which they don’t realize is the person they are following is only interested in OPTION #1 I listed above.
So are they really on your list wanting to be marketed to?
The answer is obviously no.

Now, I’ve disagreed with my friend Ed Dale in the past. But recently, Ed posted a video on the Twitter auto-follow nonsense, and this time I must wholeheartedly agree with him.

In fact, just a couple of months ago my wife and I were engaged in a fierce, controversial debate online about the nonsensical nature of the whole auto-follow process. I want to share with you some of the highlights from that debate here.

I cannot paste what others have said for copyright reasons. But let me paste some of my tweets below. Most are from Twitter, but some are from Facebook since my tweets are simultaneously posted to my Facebook “wall,” which often generate independent conversations and additional comments.

Understandably, some tweets are parts of conversations. So to help you understand the context, each group of tweets are preceded by a sidenote to explain the history behind it and give you some background information.

SIDENOTE: The tweet that started it all…
•    Auto-follow? Not me. My philosophy is, I follow those who reply to @michelfortin as to engage me. It’s
like saying “Hi!”
•    What’s your follosophy?* Auto-follow? Follow those who reply to you? Follow only follow-worthy?
Follow “x” followers?
*By the way, “follosophy” was coined by Harris Fellman, not me.

SIDENOTE: Some people said that NOT auto-following defeats the purpose of “social media.” Because a bad ratio of “following” vs. “followers” means your conversations are one-sided. One even said that non-followers who tweet “one way” (i.e., they don’t follow as many followers) are usually tweeting unhelpful, “spammy,” or “soapbox” tweets.

I disagree.
•    “Helpful” could also be defined as appreciating other points of view to support or challenge your own.
Even soapbox tweets.
•    I said this many times, would you auto-follow everyone who propositions you in a bar? (Rhetorical
question. Don’t answer, LOL!)
•    Twitter is the Internet’s water cooler. At least you know the people you work with to talk with them at
the cooler.
•    Lately there’s an onslaught of people who clearly use auto-follow so they can claim “I have a huge
list”. It’s B.S.
•    Ultimately, it seems to me that auto-follow is one person pretending to listen, and it seems fake and
insincere.
•    It’s like “I’ll show you mine *IF* you show me yours.” Paul Myers said it best, “Internet marketers are a
bunch of incestuous cannibals.”
•    With social media, people have a distorted sense of what “friend” means. An acquaintance, a contact,
or a fan, doesn’t make them a “friend.”
•    Same with Facebook. I add friends who add a message to their friend requests. They make an effort to
introduce themselves.
•    I ignore simple friend requests, especially if they’re people I don’t know. Which is the point!
•    Most people on Facebook, who add you as a friend without any introduction, are usually networkers
who want to pitch you their “opportunity”.
•    Facebook caps their friends lists to 5,000 because it’s virtually impossible to have 5,000 “friends.”
Think about it.
•    Once you’ve reached Facebook’s limit, they tell you to start a fan page instead so people can become
fans, not friends.
•    Facebook’s policy is clear: you cannot use a personal profile for professional or promotional purposes.
I know, they’ve told me.
•    If you want to enter a conversation, use hashtags or @ replies, not auto-follow.
•    Twitter is a big cocktail party*. You don’t follow everyone in the room who merely looks at you.

*By the way, “cocktail party” was something my wife coined several months ago, way before Seth Godin mentioned it on that video I posted earlier. Back to the tweets…

•    We need to distinguish conversational vs. social media. Being in a crowded bar doesn’t mean you’re
being social.
•    Conversely, being in a crowded bar and talking to no one doesn’t mean you’re being anti-social,
either.
•    Watching everyone in the bar interacting with one and other doesn’t mean you’re listening in on every
conversation, too.

SIDENOTE: Some have tweeted that “auto-follow” is a way to introduce yourself, like a “handshake.” They say you should auto-follow to be approachable. I disagree.

•    Auto-follow is NOT an introduction. A discussion or conversation IS. It’s all about RELATIONSHIPS.
•    Which is why I prefer to follow those who reply me, because they’re making an effort to introduce
themselves.
•    I *am* approachable. That’s why I’ll respond to tweets with @ reply to me. I might even follow them.
•    But I won’t automatically follow people who simply follow me without saying a word.
•    Handshake? If a serial killer shakes your hand, would you befriend them? Not unless you get to know
them first.
•    Yes, auto-follow is creepy. To me, anyway. I’m not against it, it’s just not my philosophy. I don’t like
it.
•    Honestly when following thousands, the only way to have a conversation is via the @ reply!
•    But not auto-following doesn’t mean it’s one-sided! Want to enter a conversation with me? Just @
reply to me. Simple.
•    TV or radio are one-sided. Twitter is mutifaceted by its very nature — follow or not. Hashtags is a great
example of this.
•    People who follow you (without an expectation of a return follow) are genuinely interested in what you
have to say.
•    I’d rather have hundreds of real, serious fans who care, than thousands of curious onlookers who
don’t.

SIDENOTE: One said that auto-follow’s single benefit is the ability to direct message (DM) each other. I agree, which is precisely why I don’t auto-follow. Here’s what I mean…

•    Bottom line, I follow those who make an effort to introduce themselves to me and whose tweets are
valuable.
•    Return follows grant you access via DM. I don’t like that. I pay a support staff to handle stuff like that.
•    If I followed thousands of people, I’ll get bombarded with DM’s and support requests.
•    It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I don’t have time answering DMs, which takes my attention away
from serving my paying clients.
•    If I don’t respond to DMs by saying “please contact support,” which is time-consuming, I’ll be accused
of not listening anyway.
•    People who auto-follow and want to DM are looking for free advice. A free lunch. I don’t do free
lunches.
•    Here’s a great article/video by @perrymarshall to explain why I, too, don’t do free lunches:
http://is.gd/go5P
•    Would you subscribe to everyone’s blog who comments on yours? Of course not. Micro-blogging is no
different.
•    I don’t subscribe to everyone’s blog who comments on mine. But I do reply to their comments. Twitter
is micro-blogging. But it’s still blogging.
•    Again, I follow people because I want to FOLLOW them. Not because of an expectation of a return
follow.
•    Social media is about interaction. Discussion. Conversation. Hence “social.” Not reciprocal STALKING.
•    Final note, if I followed a gazillion people, I still won’t know you exist… unless you introduced
yourself to me with @ reply.
•    Besides, I know you exist when you @ reply me (that’s what I mean by following after you approach
me). That’s what I do.

SIDENOTE: Some people said that if the “gurus” don’t auto-follow, you can’t access them. You bought their product, and therefore you have every right to access them. They say that, if they don’t follow back their customers, their delivering bad customer service. I’m not only disagreeing with this, I’m also disgusted.

•    Just because you bought someone’s stuff doesn’t give you access. Do you expect Bill Gates to follow you if
you bought Microsoft Windows?
•    Precisely. It’s about relationships. I mean, would you auto-follow everyone who propositions you in a bar?
•    It’s like being in a crowded stadium, when everybody’s talking at once, and pretending that you’re listening
to what everyone is saying.
•    Yes, friends have discussions. It’s like being on stage at a seminar vs. being at the back having a 1-on-1.
•    Exactly. Look at it this way, would you respond to every piece of junk mail with a letter saying “thank you
for mailing me!”?
•    Followers can either be a “fan” or a “friend.” That’s the point about “following” in the first place.
•    I FOLLOW because I’m interested in WHAT that person has to say. I don’t follow simply because I want
that person to follow back!
•    I’m THEIR fan. I follow with no expectation. That’s the point. There’s a difference between “fan” and
“friend.”
•    Right. You follow? You’re a fan. I follow back? You’re a friend. I don’t want followers. I want fans.

SIDENOTE: Chris Brogan, who follows as many people who follow him (and that’s in the several tens of thousands), said to me that if you don’t autofollow, you appear as a snobby bastard, so there’s no winning. My answer…

•    It’s all in the intent. There’s unconditional reciprocation. And then there’s extortion.
•    I guess I’d rather be perceived as a snobby bastard who doesn’t care than a lying one who fakes that he
does.;)

What do you think?

Finally, I’ll leave you with one of the best posts on the subject of Twitter. Copywriter Randy Gage, who I’ve been following for many years, posted one of the best manifestos on the use, purpose, and benefits (and downsides) of Twitter I’ve ever read.

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, consultant, and CEO of The Success Doctor, Inc. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

I am interrupting my blog entries on Linkedin to share a few thoughts from my vacation.  Our family left the cold confines of Minnesota and spent 8 days in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fl area where it was typically 75-80 degrees.   Here are some vacation thoughts as they pertain to social marketing.

I love vacations for many reasons.  There is the obvious reason of a warmer climate.  It always gives me some space and time to step back from the daily grind of business and gain new perspectives.  I always find time to do more writing on vacation.  There is airplane time.  There is beach time.  It also gives me an opportunity to listen and see what is happening in other parts of the country that have yet to appear in Minnesota.

New Things I saw on Vacation

A couple of new things I noticed on my vacation.  One local TV station offered with each new program comments from their Face Book and Twitter accounts.  People now feel free to make comments about the news on the stations social networking accounts and the TV station shares the comments on the air.

Watching the Today show, when they had their Expert Help Segments, instead of just letting the experts tell their story, they have webcams where people actually asked questions of the experts directly from their home computers.

As I watching the last day of the golf tournament, several times during the tournament, the announcers read emails from viewers and answered their questions directly on the air.

Do you see a pattern developing?  An interactive mode of programs and marketing now is replacing the traditional models of controlling the news and TV programming.

The Question for Small Business Owners

The question becomes how will this interactive mode affect your small business?  How are the Social net tools going to change the way you do business?

Let me start by suggesting that the Social net will not eliminate other marketing tools to create awareness for your business.  Physical networking groups can still meet and produce results.  Some of you may still put an ad in the local newspaper or create a brochure to help advertise your business.

However, it becomes even more critical for you to ask the question, “What results are my current marketing tools producing for my business?”  Don’t use any marketing tool because someone tells you to use it!   Keep evaluating what you are doing.  Keep what’s working; discard what’s not working.

Along with your traditional marketing efforts, you will need to develop an internet strategy on which tools you are going to use to help promote your business in this internet marketing medium.   You need to go where your customers are going.  They are going to the internet.  As you do create a strategy for the Social net, I make two notes of caution.

Follow Basic Marketing Principles

First, if you are weak on the basics of small business marketing, you will fail on the Social net.  By the basics I mean clearly knowing your customer niche, clearly knowing how your products benefit your customers, and showing proof that people can believe what you are telling them.

If you are missing these critical ingredients, you will quickly fail on the Social net.  Why?  There is too much competition from people who follow the basics.  You don’t have the luxury of dealing face to face with people to overcome your marketing limitations with your charming personality or a face to face encounter.

Adopt a Different Marketing Mentality

My second warning, you must behave differently on the Social net.  In traditional marketing, you talk directly at people telling them about your business and what you can do for them.  On the Social net you must be willing to give up control and find ways to influence people rather than tell people.

Your primary skill in these social net programs is listening.  You are invited as guest, to participate along with other guests.  You can listen, you can add suggestions, you can ask questions, you can share your insights as an expert in your field.  You can become a person of influence.

If you think you can go to a social networking group and blast your business in front of them, you will be shut out.  Worse, people will simply ignore you.  The key is to come as a person of influence.  When you do this, you can have some success on the Social net.

I believe you cannot avoid the Social net if you want to really be successful in your small business.  The world has already moved there.   Each of us needs to develop a strategy on how we are going to make our business presence on the Social net.

To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Your Linkedin Profile

Your Linkedin Profile is the most important ingredient for successfully using this social networking program.  Here are three reasons why you want to put time and energy into the profile component of your Linkedin program.

Your Internet Billboard

Your profile is your billboard on the internet highway.  Like billboards along the freeways, you never know when someone is going to take notice of your billboard.  No matter what purposes you have for using Linkedin, getting noticed by others is essential.  Your profile needs to be constructed in such a way that it becomes a billboard that others will notice as they travel the internet highway.

How People Buy

You are always selling on Linkedin.  Whether you are looking to advance your career, looking for a new job, looking for business resources, or looking for new customers for your business, you’re selling on Linkedin.  The fundamental rule of selling is that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  Your Linkedin profile is where people get to know you, get to like you and get to trust you.  Construct your profile, not only to show your business expertise, but also your personality as well.  Remember people buy from people not a business.  You want your personality to be expressed in your profile.  People buy from people they know and they like!

Building Your Brand

Your Linkedin profile is the marketing expression of your brand.  (I will talk more about branding later).  Your brand is the expertise you bring to your customers.  It’s the special something that connects with your customers.  It’s the one idea that expresses what they can get from you that they cannot get from your competition.  If your profile is like every other profile from others in your industry, why would a person want to be part of your connections?  Your profile offers an opportunity to establish your online reputation that will draw others to you.   You don’t want to overlook this opportunity.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

I have been invited by a friend to show him how to use the Linked In social networking program in his business.  He tells me his wife has a Linked In account and “on the computer all the time.”  He wants to know what he is missing and how he can take advantage of this social networking program to promote his business.

In the next series of blog entries I will share my reflections on using the Linked In social networking program for small business owners.

Comparing Linked In to Other Social Networking Tools

Think of the different types of social networking programs as different types of parties.  Linked In is a very formal business party.  You can use this social networking program for creating business connections, looking for a job, answering business questions.   You are expected to be dressed up in your best business behavior.  People expect you to push and promote your business.  Currently, there are 30 Linked In million users.

Think of Face book as a social networking party.  It started with Harvard college kids and now has expanded to anyone, including businesses.  You have more fun at this party. The dress is expected to be informal.  You will meet other business people on Face Book among the 165 million users.  Face Book is now promoting Pages or Fan Groups as the business version of Face Book.

Think of Twitter the newest and skinniest of the social networking program as a neighborhood block party.   You are only allowed 140 characters for your messages.  The primary purpose of this party is to get to know people.  It’s very informal and causal.  Conducting too much business is considered bad taste.  If you meet someone interested, ask them to check out your website or blog for more information.  Otherwise has a good time at the party and meet a lot of new people.  Experts claim that Twitter will be bigger than Face book by the end of 2010.

Small is Not Bad

Being smaller, narrower and less popular can be seen as a limitation.  It is also Linked In’ strength as the social networking program environment.   In the next blog entry, I will explore some of the unique features of Linked In for small business owners.

Your comments and questions are always welcomed.  Join me in this discussion. Thanks.

Al