Chad Blenkin

Yesterday a group come up with an idea called The Influencer Project. The brilliant concept was tagged as the "shortest marketing conference ever".  The concept is simple, 60 Speakers in 60 Seconds delivering advice on how to be influential online.

Some of the best speakers and most influencial people were involved including Gary Vanyerchuck (Crush It) , John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) , Brian Clark (Copy Blogger), Mike Volpe HubSpot, Mitch Joel Six Pixels of Separation and many more. 

I loved the bite-sized bits of advice that you received from each presenter. Although some people have stated they wished there was more time for each person to elaborate, I felt it was enough information to get the point across. Furthermore if you liked the point the speaker was making you could follow up with that speakers website for more detailed information. 

Below is a list with notes from each presenter. 

60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online

I was able to listen to the entire conference but thought the following were the best bits of advice. 

You have to know where you’re going. Nobody’s going to want to follow you if you don’t know where you’re going. Then stand up and look at the people around you and make it all about them. – Liz Strauss

Get very, very good at filtering and aggregating content. – John Janstch 

Content is king.  You must know what you’re talking about. - Gary Vaynerchuk

Give more than you get. Influence comes from a passive place, not pushing. - Amber Naslund

Find one niche and master it, own it. Then teach people in that niche how to be successful in it. - Lewis Howes 

Understand the needs of your audience, look at data and build things that help them. - Vanessa Fox

Put your business model before fame or influence. Your Social Media must add to your bottom line. You must have something to show for it. - Wendy Piersall

Use Twitter to converse, participate, & respond...NOT to advertise 

A complete transcript and mp3 will be available shortly if you want to see all of the comments in their entirety. All in all this was a great concept that provided some excellent advice. 

Thanks for reading!

Chad Blenkin
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www.chadblenkin.com 

The importance of Social Media Networking for a successful marketing strategy is a very complex topic and the debates on this matter are never ending. The majority agree that Social Media Networking is a powerful marketing tactic and social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be effectively used in successful promotional activities; there is a minority who disagree with the future of this marketing strategy. But even this minority do not disagree with the power of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter in today’s generation and its influence over masses.

If you closely watch the business scenario today, you will find people from small individual business owners to large multinational companies indicate the importance of building your digital influence. The following are 6 key elements that need to be in place in order for you to achieve success with social media.

Key Elements for Social Media Success

1. Killer Website – At a recent conference I heard the term "I came, I puked, I left" in reference to a bounce rate. This feeling is all too common for visitors to many corporate websites. If your website or blog isn't ready to accept leads, allow for interactions and is designed with easy of use in mind, STOP NOW and go attend to that. There is no sense generating traffic to something that will just harm your brand.

2. Positive Customer Experience – Do you employ the right people? Is your staff trained to support all customer inquiries with an open mind instead of covering things up? Many companies fear what negativity may come from social media networks. It's important to know "Social media won't create negativity, it will uncover it". Conduct a survey with your current and past customer to learn where you can improve in this area, if you don't have the means to provide the best customer experience your going to be sunk before you get started.

3. Street Credibility – Does your business have street credibility? You don't need to be a local hero or icon, but you do require credibility. Typically most companies grow their network from their existing client base. If your existing base won't give you a shout out on social media networks you have a long road ahead of you to establish credibility with future prospects. "Social Media won't create credibility, it will reveal the lack there of."

4. Solid Product or Service – Gut check time here people. Don't waste your time and money trying to promote something via social media if what you have to offer isn't simply great and people aren't already talking about it. Now keep in mind that much of the value in the consumers mind is directly related to the Positive Customer Experience, see element 2. 

5. Time –  Got a sale going on next Friday? Need to move some inventory? Save your time and those who your going to intrude. Social media success is a slow and long process. This isn't built on an hour a day, you need to build authentic relationships with your clients and prospects online. 

There you have it. Although the above elements seem straight forward I can assure you that if you overlook the above you will fail to achieve any type of success using social media, well one that is worth mentioning anyway.

Thank you for reading!

Chad Blenkin
Stay Connected
www.chadblenkin.com