Let me give you a few tips to kick start the process, and hopefully make it a little easier to come up with content ideas for your blog.

Here are the three (3) tips:

1) Search.Twitter.com – If you haven’t used Search Twitter, you are missing out on a whole list of potential topics for your blog. Here’s what I want you to do…go to search Twitter and enter keywords related to your product or service. Spend about 15-30 minutes and start looking for problems people are having related to your product or service. Start writing down ideas by reading their short posts as the start of your list. You will start seeing a trend. More than likely you will come across several “authorities” on  your subject matter expertise. I suggest you start following them to get consistent ideas for your blog.

2) Yahoo Answers – This is a secret weapon if you use it right. Go to answers.yahoo.com and start entering keywords related to your product or service. For instance if I was a Piano teacher, I might enter “learn piano”. You need to think the way your prospects think. What would they search for? Enter these keywords. You will start seeing questions and answers to solutions related to your product or service. If you spend 30 minutes on Yahoo Answers I guarantee you will have enough blog post ideas for 1-2 months. Stay focused, and think like your ideal client.

3) Go Digging – At this point, you should be up to a couple months of content. Fire up your web browser and go to digg.com. Digg is what is called a Social Bookmarking site. This means that others go and find topics they like, then they “bookmark” it for others to review. Again, start searching for articles related to your product or service. WARNING: Don’t Plagiarize! You can get solid ideas, but please respect others original intellectual property. I can usually get a month’s worth of ideas from Digg alone.

When you combine these methods on a monthly basis, you shouldn’t have any excuse to procrastinate in keeping your blog current. Remember, your Blog is a powerful way to get prospects to know, like, and trust you.

Get out there and…

Target, Attack, and Profit!

More than likely you are experiencing them every single day. As Social Media proliferates as a social marketing tool, I see more and more business owners getting frustrated.

Is this you?

Many business owners jump into the Social Media fray then stop their efforts because they aren’t seeing results. Worse yet, Social Media and Social Marketing become a “time vampire” for them. Sometimes taking time away from marketing efforts that were working well for them.

Here are a couple things you need to do now to prevent the social media time vampires from affecting you:

1) Your Objective - Before you start Tweeting and Blogging, start with an objective. What do you want your prospects to do? Are you trying to build your list? Or, are you trying to use a one step sales process and sell your prospect immediately. If it is the latter, I would suggest a two step process if you are moving them from Social Media to your website or blog. Bottom line, get clear on what you want to accomplish.

2) Work In Blocks – Carve time out each day and use automation tools like HootSuite.com and Word Press to create and pre-schedule content. Working in blocks of time with an objective will allow you to leverage your time and not get sucked into real time chats and the infamous Facebook wall. Focus on creating relevant content based on your objective, but have a purpose.

3) Be Consistent – Remember in any marketing effort, it is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t blog twice then quit. It will take a time to build a following, but you need to consistently take action and post relevant content and build a layer at a time. Speak to your prospects about solutions, and get them on your list to build more trust.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

What’s a Lasso for anyways? You got it, rounding up your herd. Or in marketing terms, turning “suspects” into prospects that tune into your channel and start getting to know you as you gain their trust.

Ok, so what’s the relationship with Twitter?

Here you go…

Twitter as a Social Media tool is an effective means to find “suspects” across the globe that are interested in what you have to say. You can go to search.twitter.com and in seconds find people that might have an interest or are currently looking for advice in your area of expertise.

Or, you can find thought leaders in your market and start a conversation with their followers. Here’s where the Lasso comes in…

It isn’t enough to just find them and start a communication on Twitter. Or add them to your list of followers for that matter…

You need to bring them into your “herd”. Get them on your newsletter list and bring them into the private conversations you are having with your customers and prospects. Twitter is an excellent and efficient tool for list building. Start building the trust, then move them into your herd. Throw a free offer out there, listen to their needs, and respond with something valuable they can’t ignore.

So next time you get on Twitter. Start thinking more strategically how you can move your followers from your followers list to your email list. Then from your email list to your customer list…

Now Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

The problem is people immediately go straight to tactics and don’t look at the “meta” view of Social Media and how it fits into their overall strategy.

Here are a couple things that we do know (regardless of whether you believe in Social Media or not):

1) Google and the other search engines can now index data in real time from your website, customer comments, competitors sites, press releases, and virtually anything else you will let them index.

2) Your prospects and customers are talking about products and services every day.

3) Your competitors are getting savvy and realizing that they can have their own “channel” to communicate with your prospects like the big boys in real time with total transparency.

Let’s face it, one of your customers (satisfied or not) can go to Yelp.com and post anything they want about your company it can literally dominate the search engines in minutes. Scary? You bet. Especially if you aren’t tuned into what is being said about your company, your employees, or your product and services. You can’t hide in the sand, the MACHINE is just too powerful…I tell my clients to get on the wave, or prepare to get crushed.

Here are three (3) tips that will help your business in 2010 regardless of how much Social Media you want to consume:

1) Listen – It is critical you leverage Social Media to determine what is being said about your business, industry, services, wants, needs,  likes, and dislikes. By tuning into these conversations you will be well prepared to position your products and services against your competitors, but more importantly they will be positioned with “real” data. There has never been a more efficient medium to perform market research quickly for the local small business.

2) Your Name = Virtual Real Estate – Just like physical real estate, your name and your companies name have real estate online. You have two choices…You can claim it and control what is being said about you and your company, or you can let others define it for you. What would you rather have? Dumb question I know…

3) Go Global – If you are thinking local you are thinking TOO SMALL. Go global with your thinking. You have an entire world online to discuss your products and services too. Even local service organizations have figured out how to sell valuable how to information around the globe. The result…More local recognition. More expert status in their niche. And more importantly more business locally as a result.

Get past the buzz and take some action in 2010. I guarantee you will see some results.

Let’s make some profits together in 2010!

Cheers,

Enjoy the video, and let me know if you have any questions on how to implement this quick tip.

Facebook Fan Box from John Jantsch on Vimeo.

~Matt

I know other tools do this as well, but I have found this one very user friendly. One other feature is it shows “tweets” that mention you so you can monitor re-tweets and activity occurring on Twitter. This allows you to stay tuned to conversations occurring with your niche, marketplace, and prospects more easily.

Quick tip: Make some time each morning and write 5-10 tweets, queue them up in HootSuite and you are set for the day. This keeps your account alive throughout the day, and you can focus on building your business while you are tweeting away on auto pilot.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

~Matt

Your prospects want to get to know you. After they know and like you, then you move to trusting you. At that point, you are safe to make an offer because you have some trust built up. Take an inventory, and understand what problem your prospect is trying to solve. Then, understand what information you can provide related to your product or service that adds VALUE to their day. Then TWEET about it…Pretty easy right?

I am wrapping up a book about one of the greatest Advertising copywriters of all time, Claude Hopkins. A quote in his book “My Life In Advertising” hit a chord…

People will do anything to cure a trouble. But they will do little to prevent it.

As part of your small business marketing and social media marketing system, add some value. Understand your prospects problems and you are sure to see solid leads start flowing into your small business no matter what tactic you decide to use.

Now…

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

~Matt

This program is by far the most comprehensive and relevant Social Media information I have seen on the market.

Enjoy the introduction. We will be publishing more information soon on our upcoming Social Media workshops based around the Social Media Pro platform.

Social Media System Overview from John Jantsch on Vimeo.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

~Matt

I firmly believe that social media needs to be a core component of your 2010 marketing tool belt and overall Marketing strategy. Your business requires a marketing system, and as part of that a social media system that defines the daily, weekly, and monthly social media “tactics’ you implement to get suspects and prospects to “know, like, and trust” you.

Let’s start with the basics…

What exactly is Social Media? The most concise explanation I have seen comes from the Social Media Pro program created by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing University.
The hierarchy outlines the key components of your Social Media system.

Let’s dive in…

Blogging is the foundation of your social media system and strategy. Writing, reading, and commenting on blogs is critical to a successful to a social media platform. The next step is to aggregate content using RSS technology to re-purpose and re-publish content that adds value to your prospects. Stepping up to the next layer in the pyramid, social search allows small businesses to manage their reputation online for local search with Yahoo and Google. Leveraging social search can get your business on the map when customers search for your products and services. The next layer is Social Bookmarking. Content is king on the Internet. By tagging relevant content you can open up new channels to your own content, as well become a subject matter expert in your field. Social networking is near the top of the hierarchy. Connecting to others on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn can help you build trust with prospects and customers. The transparency and ability to add personality to your product or service is a powerful tool in your marketing system. Don’t get overwhelmed right away. Get started and leverage one platform and start connecting with others. At the top of the pyramid we have micro blogging (Twitter and other services). This is probably one of the most complex tools, but also one of the most powerful as part of your social media tool belt.

Watch for upcoming articles and free webinars we will be offering on social media for small business.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

~Matt