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Sweet Facebook Secrets from a 98-year Old Cookie Company

admin — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:27:38 +0000

Who Else Wants 8,200 likes and 2,300 comments on their Next Facebook Status Update?

Today’s tip comes from a chapter from Oreo cookie’s playbook. Take a look at some of their recent Facebook Fan Page Status Updates and staggering statistics.

“Ever try dunking an Oreo cookie with a fork or anything else?” 8,200 likes and 2,300 comments
“Pick a flavor, any flavor! If you could create a new Oreo cream flavor, what would it be?” 7,100 likes, 12,500 comments
“Pop quiz: Twist, lick, then…” 6,500 likes, 6,200 comments

Would you like these same sort of comments and likes on your fan page? Or how about even a 1/10th of those likes & comments?

(Hell, ya!)

It’s hard to resist that masterful combination of crunchy chocolate cookies and sweet creamy filling. Oreo has over the years created a strong brand, in fact 491 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since they were first introduced in 1912.

So what’s their secret to success and how can you transfer this secret to success into your own Facebook Fan Page?

Let’s look at the classic combination of crunchy and creamy and apply that to the types of status updates you make.

Think of any of the promotional status updates, videos and tweets you make as ‘crunchy’ marketing.

Then picture the valuable content you provide as the creamy center.

If you package your creamy (rich, problem-solving information) content around the crunchy (promotional) cookie you can please a lot more people AND get what you want…more people to pay you money for the work that you do or product/service that you provide.

Play with me a bit more with this analogy. (I promise you can run out to munch on some Oreos in just a minute)

Many people don’t like the crunchiness of the Oreo cookie just like many people get really cranky when people or companies self-promote. And often heart-centered entrepreneurs don’t like being self-promotional or crunchy themselves.

How do you make your Oreo cookies less crunchy?

Most people…dip them in MILK! (Remember Oreo’s are Milk’s Favorite cookie!)

What’s the milk in your marketing?

How do you make your promotional marketing more palatable?

May I suggest that the milk be…conversation?

How do you start a conversation?

ASK questions! Ask questions about what people think about your content, your industry, the way they use your products or services. Ask about how you can support them and service them better. Ask them about how they are.

So what do you think about my Oreo Marketing Secret? Please share your comments below or on our Facebook Fan Page.

Social Media Is A Waste of Time

admin — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:00:11 +0000

This post is brutally honest, NOT for the faint of heart or those who are easily offended or for those looking a quick fix to their marketing woes.

This month marks my 2 year anniversary of being a solo entrepreneur.

I started FreeSocialMediaHelp.com with the intent to help other solo entrepreneurs like coaches, authors, speakers, and sales professionals use the power of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging to build their businesses and get their name out there.

Teaching people to trade their time for notoriety and attention on Facebook and Twitter seemed like a good idea. But I quickly found, the education that was needed was much larger than teaching people what to tweet and how to make an awesome YouTube video.

You may have noticed other things that I promote like Pink Spoon Maker, WordPress Wednesday Webinars and Social Media Coaching Cafe. That’s because I can’t just teach people about social media-it feels completely inauthentic to me-because it is a complete waste of your time if you’re not attracting the right clients to you and systematizing the way you build your business.

Plus, the successful ‘gurus’ out there use a variety of internet marketing techniques-most they don’t even tell you about.

But I’ve been an internet marketing insider for almost 10 years now and I’ve been teaching those techniques and strategies to my private coaching and ‘done-for-you’ clients for years now.

I know that so many of you are feeling like a breakthough is just within your reach but technology keeps getting in your way, stopping you in your tracks, keeping you playing small.

Often finances keep you from investing in a coach that can guide you to success.

I get that.

For the first time ever…I’ll reveal my #1 secret to online marketing success.

This is the first thing I make all my clients implement BEFORE we even tweet our first tweet, friend our first friend or upload a video to YouTube.

Most don’t even know they need IT.

Having IT guarantees you won’t waste anymore time on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or any other social media outlet ever again.

What is IT?

A Client Magnet Website…a website that brings you at least 10 qualified prospects who are eager and ready to do business with you automatically, everyday.

Do you have a client magnet website?

If you don’t you need to rearrange whatever you have on your schedule October 27 and join me in Miami for my Client Magnet Blueprint Workshop.

It’s time to stop wasting time and start making more money and living the life you say you want to have.

There isn’t any more time for excuses (especially the ones about technology!).

The time is now.

The link one more time-Client Magnet Blueprint Workshop, Miami, FL October 27 and November 17

Red Hot Special Offer-Shhh! Don’t Tell!

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:01:09 +0000

…You Don’t Visit

ClientMagnetBlueprint.com

RIGHT NOW!

Are you ready to FIRE UP your online presence so that 2011 is your best year EVER?

Mande has put together a special video for you along with all the details on her upcoming Client Magnet Blueprint Workshop on October 27th. (I think she’s crazy to reveal all of her RED HOT online client attraction secrets in this workshop)

Unless you want your competition to hear about this workshop first and blow you out of the water with their new Client Magnet Website I suggest you…

Go Save Your Seat Now!

ClientMagnetBlueprint.com

Pawsitively Yours,

-Penelope (aka Lobster-nelope)

P.S. If you enter ‘redhot‘ in the discount code area in the shopping cart-you can get $100 off the registration fee. It’s good on all 3 payment options.

P.S. If you don’t register soon she just might put your

Getting the Most from the 3 Types of Social Media Marketing?

christina — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:00:32 +0000

When I’m out speaking or networking I always ask the question “What is Social Media Marketing?” I’m always amazed at the answers I get but it usually centers around 3 areas.

Social Media Marketing is about Networking. The interaction of people who share similar interests. This is what you do on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter.
Social Media Marketing is about Sharing. The content (video, pictures, podcasts, blogs, etc) that you find interesting. This is what you do on Digg, Mixx, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon.
Social Media Marketing is about Publishing. The distribution of content (video, pictures, podcasts, blogs, etc) This is what you do on Wikipedia, Forums, YouTube and Blogs.

Being able to leverage these 3 types is where the power lies. Does your social media marketing strategy include tactics and techniques for leveraging each of these 3 areas?

Google Alerts for Speakers, Authors and Coaches

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:00:16 +0000

If you wanting to brand yourself in any way then its important to stay aware of what is being said or written about you. Google Alerts helps with this task. Here is a list of things you should set up alerts for:

your name
your twitter id
your company name
your blogs name
your product names
your employees or clients names
your clients companies
your competitors
your competitors’ company name
your competitors’ products
industry news
industry blogs
industry keywords

When tracking industry keywords think about using this content for future blog posts, articles or newsletters. It helps to use advanced search operators to help you narrow your searches.

For example if you were a commercial Realtor in Miami then you might want to create an alert for [Commercial Real Estate+Miami] so that you got information only about Commercial Real Estate in Miami. You’ll have to play with this feature a bit but after a few tweaks it can prove to be VERY powerful information.

6 FREE Tools You Should Be Using

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:00:43 +0000

I’ve been recommending Google accounts to my clients for about 2 years now. There are so many reasons to use Google other than just to search for things. Here are 6 applications that you may not know about but should be using.

With Google Alerts, I can be alerted every time my name, my company’s name or a competitors name shows up on a website or social network. In this way its the best kind of friend because I can even set clear boundaries as to when I want to ‘hear’ about the gossip. Sometimes I’m in for getting the gossip as it happens and some days I just need one fix.
With Google Reader, I don’t have to visit all my favorite blogs or websites. It keeps track of all that information for me in one convenient place I can access online anytime.
Google keeps track of who is visiting my website and helps me find better ways of serving my visitors. With Google Analytics I can track the visitors on all of my websites. I can find out where they came from, how long they stayed on my website, what pages they viewed and so much more.
While you’ll never be able to completely stop me from buying book because I truly love their smell, I am a book junkie and Google lets me read thousands of books for free with Google Books. They’ve got self-help books, business, cooking, relationships, health & fitness, pets, philosophy, poetry…you name it they got it!
Google helps me communicate with the people that are important to me . That’s where Gmail comes in. If you’re still using AOL then its definitely time you get yourself a new email address and get a Gmail account. You can also feed other email accounts into Gmail so that you can access all your emails in one account saving time and eliminating stress.
Gmail blocks the most spam, integrates with Google Docs, Reader and Calendar.
What do people see when they Google you? You can control how you appear in Google by creating a personal profile with Google Profiles. You can create a personal page that links to your blog or other websites or social networking profiles. This is a must do for anyone wanting to brand themselves.

There are many more free resources that Google provides but those are my top six. In future posts I’ll explain in more detail how to get the most out of these resources. Which ones are you currently using? I’d love it if you left a comment below.

Oh and I almost forgot. If you have a Google account then any site that asks for an “Open ID” you can log into with your Google information. Pretty cool huh?!

How to Express Emotion in Your Text Messages

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:00:30 +0000

I’m sure you’ve seen them. Those little smiley faces that show up in email, in twitter or on blog posts. Emoticons are emotional icons that are used to convey emotions or feelings within text messages. Here are some of the basic emoticons you see and I hope that you start using:

Smile or
Surprised :-0 or :-O
Wink or
Crying :’(
Sad or
Disappointed or
Angry :-@ or :@
Thinking *-)
Eye-rolling
Don’t tell anyone :-#

Try your new skill out by leaving me an emoticon in the comment section below.

Getting a Lay of the Land-Forums

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:00:41 +0000

So in the last post we discussed why it’s important to participate in industry forums and in this post we’ll discuss the components of a forum so that no matter what forum you visit you’ll be able to navigate with confidence.

1. Members or Contributors-anyone who participates in the conversation

2. Moderator- person who monitors the conversation to be sure that everyone adheres to the rules and regulations set up by the forum owner. Think of them like a referee. Moderators are often chosen or employed by the Forum Administrator.

3. Thread-the two-way conversation that happens between members. Usually only registered members of a forum are allowed to start a “thread” and then any forum member or the moderator can respond to the thread. Threads are usually visible to non-forum-members but only forum members can respond to and comment on the thread.

4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)-this is a section where the rules and regulations are posted as well as where other guidelines for the forum are posted. Some forums do not allow members to post links until they have a certain number of posts. This type of restriction keeps the level of link spamming to a minimum.

5. Posts-text message or comment that is typed out and submitted. Often forums count the number of posts made by a member and display this number to show how active a member is in the community. Some forums even have levels of distinction based on the number of posts made by a member.

6. Forum Administrator-manages the technical requirements of the forum. They handle promoting and demoting members to and from positions as moderators and keeping the site running smoothly.

That should be the basics. If I forgot anything, please leave a comment below with your questions or additions.

Are you participating in forums?

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:00:05 +0000

Forums (also known as chat rooms, message boards, and bulletin boards) are a great way to engage people in an interactive ongoing conversation on a particular subject. They are great for starting a debate, soliciting advice, sharing an idea, running a poll, or just having a conversation about a subject.

Do you know the forums for your industry? Are you participating in them regularly?

An easy way to find a forum for your area of interest is to just Google “INDUSTRY forum.” Most likely there will be several forums that you can start exploring.

In our next post I’ll give you an overview of the elements of a forum. So that you can instantly navigate your way around any forum.

My English Teacher Would Kill Me!

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:00:42 +0000

DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT for English and grammar teachers or anyone else fond of proofreading and perfect punctuation.
In our world of 140 characters or less, it is perfectly acceptable and often necessary to throw out the Strunk & White style book.

Here are 5 quick DO’s from the new social media style guide:

Minimize or all together avoid adverbs, pronouns and articles (a, an, the).
Use commas as a favor to the reader, a place to pause.
Don’t over use exclamation points-only use to show excitement.
Omit needless words
Use only 1 space between the period at the end of a sentence and the start of the next sentence.