“Own Your Network”

I heard that phrase several times this week in Birmingham at Y’all Connect.  It’s something I have been thinking a lot about recently.

Are we stretching ourselves too thin when it comes to social media, and are we spending too much time trying to cultivate new networks instead of maximizing the potential of our existing networks?

For example, I keep hearing that I need to be on Google Plus.  That I need to build a network there.  The obvious problem is, that takes time and energy.  Which also means that the time I take to build a new network on Plus is going to mean less time I spend on cultivating my established network on Twitter.

Networks are like gardens, they need to be cultivated and tended to.  One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to plant too many gardens.

We are always being told that we need to ‘be everywhere’ when it comes to social media.  I disagree.  I think you need to pick fewer social media sites to be active on.  But if you are active there, you need to be all-in.

For the next week, I am going to focus on my network on Twitter.  I won’t be on Plus, I won’t be on Facebook.  You will find me on Twitter or here (or possibly commenting on another blog), and that’s it.

Where will you be spending your time next week?

The last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about this.  It seems a lot of the free social media tools that we are ‘renting’ have come under fire, or disappeared.

Google Reader went away, disrupting how readers subscribe to and receive our posts.

Twitter suddenly changed its API rules or some such for 3rd party sites that many of us were using to follow Twitter chats such as TweetChat and TweetDeck.

Rumors are that Feedburner will go away soon.

It’s more important now than ever before to make sure that you are creating and distributing content via tools that you own versus rent.  This is a big reason why I have always preferred a self-hosted blog over Facebook or even Twitter.  Because you have control over what happens on your blog far more than you do on other social media sites.

For example, for the past few days, the #Blogchat hashtag on Twitter has been overrun with spammers.  My only option really is to ask Twitter to please do something about it.  Which I have, and still the problem persists.  Because it’s a problem that’s happening on a site that I don’t control.  I’ve already started thinking about ways that I can bring more of the #Blogchat conversation here, where I have more control over it.

With Google Reader going away and Feedburner likely following soon, I’ve shifted my focus away from trying to get subscribers of this blog, but instead to building my newsletter list.  I can own that list and have control over it.

So when you start using social media, especially as a channel to create content, think about the tradeoffs you are potentially making between reach, and ownership of that content.  It’s always a good idea to have your ‘homebase’ for your content be a space that you control, such as a self-hosted blog.

For the rest of you, what changes have you made in light of recent changes to Twitter and Google Reader going away?  Has it made you re-think where you invest your time with blogging and social media?

I wanted to let y’all know about two speaking dates I have within the next 3 weeks for Think Like a Rock Star.

The first is next Tuesday at Jacksonville State University, in Jacksonville, Alabama.  I will be joining CK to do an all-day workshop on Social Media and Mobile Marketing.  CK is the foremost expert on mobile marketing for business, especially in the B2B space.  She will be doing two sessions on getting your mobile marketing efforts up to speed.  In addition, I will be doing a session on Social Media Marketing, and we’ll close the day with the newest version of my Think Like a Rock Star workshop.

This entire day event is a staggering low $99.  Ah pricing in the Deep South, this exact same workshop would be closer to $999 in NYC.  You can see the full agenda here, and you can register here.  The first 25 people to register get a free. signed copy of Think Like a Rock Star.  There will be additional copies available for sale if you don’t get one of the free ones.  Also, every attendee will get a copy of CK’s newest Mobile Marketing ebook.

The second event is I will be presenting Think Like a Rock Star at the Nashville AMA’s monthly meeting on May 2nd.  You can register here for this event and with first 75 AMA members to register get a free, signed copy of Think Like a Rock Star!

If you want to keep up with where I will be presenting Think Like a Rock Star for the rest of 2013, you can find the latest updates here.  If your company would like to have me conduct an on-site Think Like a Rock Star workshop, please click here for more information.

BTW, if you’ve already read Think Like a Rock Star, what did you think of it?

If you are subscribed to my Think Like a Rock Star newsletter, you got a heads-up on this announcement yesterday.  Starting next month, I will be launching a new Twitter chat, #RockstarChat!  This chat will be about helping you cultivate fans and connect with them.  It will be focused on many of the same lessons in the book Think Like a Rock Star, but the goal is to help you cultivate a fan-centric brand or organization.

Now as for the day and time, the day will be every Wednesday.  The time is probably going to be early afternoon around noon or 1pm Central.  But if another time, like 7 or 8pm Central like #Blogchat is would work better for you, let me know.  I will say that unless there is overwhelming support for having the chat at night, it will be during the day.

Next Wednesday the 6th will be the first #RockstarChat, and it will be for one hour, just like #Blogchat.  The idea behind both the Think Like a Rock Star newsletter and #RockstarChat is to create resources that can help your company or organization’s efforts to connect with your fans.  Think Like a Rock Star isn’t just a book, it’s about creating a movement of helping brands become more fan-centric.  In the next few weeks I’ll announcing additional ways that I hope to help you in these efforts.  And if you have any ideas on how I can help your company better connect with its fans or what else you would like to see offered, please email me.

So please leave a comment letting me know if you would rather have #RockstarChat at noon/1pm Central on Wednesdays, or at 7/8pm Central.  I’m SO excited about this chat, it’s going to be an absolute blast!

Also, if you are interested in having me present Think Like a Rock Star at your event, please email me to lock in your date.  I am very close to announcing multiple new stops on the Think Like a Rock Star Book Tour, and dates in April and May especially are starting to fill up.

And it’s the same reason why I don’t like most group blogs:  I want to hear from the HOST, not the guests.

Right now I am putting together a marketing plan for Think Like a Rock Star.  A big part of that plan is obviously to have a huge launch.  The idea is to sell a ton of books right when the book launches in order to make all those bestseller lists, etc etc etc.

But another part of that plan (that’s even bigger, IMO) is how can I create a continuous stream of value-added material that compliments the book?  The idea is to find a channel that lets me create content that will not only benefit readers of the book, but that will hopefully encourage others to buy the book.

And one of the potential channels I am looking at is launching a podcast.  But what I’m noticing is that more and more people are launching podcasts, which I think is awesome.  I love it when people give their audiences multiple ways to consume content, and in ways that’s convenient for their audience.

But…the one thing I don’t like about most podcasts is they mostly follow the same format:  1-2 people are the regular hosts, and each episode they interview someone.  What I don’t like about this format is that it doesn’t give me much of a chance to hear from the hosts themselves.  The focus is on the guests, and off the hosts.  I see the same thing on group blogs, especially group blogs that start out being written by one person who then goes to a group blog format.  The blog loses its voice.

Personally, I prefer podcasts that are run by 1-2 hosts, and guests are the exception, rather than the rule.

What do the rest of you think?  Do you like podcasts?  And if so, what type do you think?  Do you love the format where hosts interview a guest every episode, or do you prefer ones with the hosts only and no guests?

Length?  5 minutes?  10?  15?  Please let me know what your thoughts are as it will help me decide if I launch a podcast for Think Like a Rock Star, and what its format will be.  Thank you!

I’ve always said that there are two types of speakers:  Those that want the spotlight on themselves, and those that want the spotlight on their ideas.

Shockingly, I fall in the latter category.  I do a decent amount of speaking, but I *hate* the actual act of speaking.  I hate being in front of a room full of strangers and having to be the center of attention for an hour.  But I love speaking because speaking allows me to share ideas that I am passionate about.  Yet if the focus shifted and I had to talk about myself for an hour, I would probably pass out 30 seconds into it.

It seems many bloggers are the same way.  I have talked to many colleagues and it seems many of us hate to promote ourselves.  We know we need to tell you about your products or services or what we provide, but it just feels ‘icky’ to do so.

And yet, if you ask us to talk about our friends and tell you why they are awesome, we can do that all day, or at least I can.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this disconnect as I’ve been promoting Think Like a Rock Star.  For starters, I love promoting this book.  Which is odd, because typically I hate promoting myself or anything that I am doing.  But I love promoting this book because of what it represents:  A way for companies and brands to embrace and empower their fans.

So in my mind I’m not promoting a product or myself, I’m promoting an idea.  I’m promoting an idea that I am extremely passionate about.  Maybe that’s why so many of us hate self-promotion?  Maybe we are spending too much time focused on the ‘product’ instead of the importance of the product?  Maybe you’ve written an ebook on how to be a better blogger.  Instead of trying to promote the product itself, maybe it would be better for you to promote why being a better a blogger is so important?  What could you accomplish if you were better at blogging?  What doors would open for you?

Many of us don’t like to promote ourselves, so perhaps we need to instead shift our thinking to promote the ideas we are passionate about?  What do you think?

Is to create a plan for your blog.  This is the perfect time of the year to create a blogging plan for 2013.  Everyone is slowing down and shifting away from work and toward the Holidays.  Use this down time to get your plan in order now, so you start 2013 with a bang.

Now, I know even mentioning the word ‘plan’ can cause hives for some.   It can seem like once you make a ‘plan’ that you are locked into a set course of action.  But that’s not the case, the true value of creating a plan for your blog is that it helps you crystallize your thoughts around what you really want to accomplish.

For example, let’s say I ask you what’s your blogging goal for 2013 and you say ‘To make money’.

How much?  ‘I dunno…$2,500 I guess?  I just want to start getting paid for all the time I am putting into this blog’.

Now that you have a dollar amount in mind, you can start to break it down.  $2,500 a year is roughly $200 a month.  So how would you use your blog to raise $200 a month?

Could you do that with AdSense?  Probably not without a LOT more traffic than you have now.  What other options are there?  Maybe sell monthly sponsorships on the blog?   Or sell ad blocks yourself?  What about ebooks?  White-papers?

The point is, now you’ve started to think about HOW you are going to reach your blogging goal of ‘to make some money’.  You are now thinking about WHAT you could sell to make money, whether it’s ads, sponsorships or products.

And that’s the whole point of a plan.  Most of us have a general idea of where we want to be, but we don’t know what the road looks like that we take to get there.  When you start creating a plan, then you start to understand why you need to do in order to reach your end destination.  It’s a big time-saver as well.

So first, let’s think about how to create a plan for our blog for 2013:

1 – Ask yourself what do you want to accomplish with your blog in 2013.  And at this point it is ok to DREAM BIG.  Maybe you want to make $10K from your blog next year, or maybe you want to land a book deal from your blog.  Give yourself permission to be honest about your dreams.

2 – Once you have a goal in mind for your blog in 2013, then start to break that goal down and think about what it’s going to take you to reach that goal.  We talked above about making money from your blog, but let’s say now your plan is to leverage your blog in order to get a book deal.  There’s two things you really need to focus on (assuming you are a first-time author) in order to help you get a book deal.  The first is a killer idea, and the second is a big platform.  Your blog can help you in both regards, you could use your blog as a platform for establishing your killer idea, and at the same time, if your idea really is killer, then your blog readership should grow as well.  So the blog becomes a way for you to flesh out and improve your killer idea, and at the same time, your following is growing, which appeals to publishers.

3 – Regularly evaluate and measure if your efforts are working.  Say once a month look at what’s happening and see if you are making satisfactory progress.  This is important not just to make sure everything is working, but to see if something is working well that you weren’t expecting.  Let’s say you are implementing a plan to make money from your blog in 2013.  As part of this, you are posting more content, and your readership is growing.  But in March, companies start contacting you asking if you would like to post a monthly column on their site, for $100 an article.  Suddenly this is a new opportunity for you to make money from blogging that you hadn’t considered before.

There’s some pointers to get help on how to create a blogging plan for 2013.  Need more advice?  Perfect, because this Sunday’s #Blogchat topic is creating a plan for your blog in 2013!  Please join us on Twitter at 8pm Central by following the #Blogchat hashtag!

I saw Ike Pigott mention on Facebook that Charter Cable was killing customer support via social media, especially Twitter:

“As you may have heard, Charter will no longer have a customer care team tasked, specifically, with resolving matters raised on Social Media…

Monday, December 10, 2012: We will no longer respond to posts that we discover while conducting Charter searches. We will, however, continue to respond to @Charter and @CharterCom mentions until Saturday, December 15th.

Friday, December 14, 2012 (5pm): All the Umatter2Charter accounts (which includes: @Charter, all our individual accounts, as well as the Umatter2Charter Facebook page, Forum accounts, and accounts on Consumer Advocate Sites) will be removed.”

I checked the responses on Twitter to the @Umatter2Charter Twitter account (oh the irony), and saw responses like this:

What I found interesting about the responses to @Umatter2Charter was that none of them were critical of the team on Twitter, in fact many customers stated that the customer support they received on Twitter was the only thing they liked about being a customer!

So why would Charter pull the plug on using social media as a customer service channel?  I am not a Charter customer, but my guess is that Charter wants to use social media as a channel to drive new customers, instead of providing customer service to existing ones.  So they likely see the team’s efforts on Twitter as a ‘waste’, even though as these tweets prove, Charter’s CS efforts on Twitter are actually improving the brand’s image.

But additionally, this likely speaks to the core problem that social media is not a contingency plan for having a shitty product.  This is also one of the points I hit on in Think Like A Rock Star, but the true value of connecting with your customers online isn’t as a sales channel, it’s as a feedback channel.  By closely analyzing feedback from your customers, you can not only get a better understanding of who they are and how you can help them,but your marketing efforts become much more effective and efficient.

Recently, I did a social media strategy audit for a client in the hotel industry.  As part of this, I looked at how their competitors were utilizing social media.   In general, what I found was that on Facebook, the walls of every brand were turned into an area where customers bitched about the service the brand had given them.  They bitched, the brand apologized and gave them an email of someone to contact, and that usually ended the exchange.  Occasionally, the customer would return to point out that the situation still hadn’t been resolved.  I can easily see how an out-of-touch brand could look at this and think ‘No matter what we do, customers will keep complaining, so let’s just kill Twitter and Facebook and spend that money on something else that we know works.  Like advertising!’

If Charter had told you that they were going to stop providing customer service via social media because they didn’t see the value in it, what advice would you have given them?