Linked in May Now Be the Second Most Important "Directory" Next To Google Places

Setting up the Profile on Your Linkedin Account for Best Results

Over the course of the next week or so, I am going to give a detailed tutorial on Linkedin as it stands today after major new products have been introduced.  In Linkedin you now have a truly robust business environment where you can tell your story like no place outside of your own website or blog.  With the addition of the company page and product pages within the company page, and the expansion of the profile, you can create a massive commentary on your personal and business capabilities.

if you would really like to fully follow the materials presented over the next week, may I offer you the opportunity to connect with me on Facebook so that everything is open to you to see how I have done my own site.  To be certain that you get my correct Linkedin site (there are a lot of Randy Kirks) past this shortened url into your address bar.   bit.ly/RKLinkedin

Once there send me an invitation and I will connect with you.  Then, if you like what I've written about this process or have enjoyed other aspects of my blogs or books, I would certainly be appreciative of your writing a recommendation. 

Next, go to the link for my company page and follow that page at http://www.linkedin.com/company/2700892 

Finally, check out one of my product pages at the short url bit.ly/productYouTube 

We will start with the next post on this subject to set up your profile page in a way that will be more likely to be found on Linkedin search and Google Web Search.  The changes recommended will also result in a greater likelihood that folks who come to your profile page will decide to do business.  If you don't want to miss these coming tutorials, you may want to subscribe right now.

10 Main Reasons Small Businesses Fail - Author Entrerpreneur Randy Kirk

There isn't a lot that is secret about success in business.  But most small business people have never taken a business class.  Those who have commonly still miss the basics.  But it may not be too late.  Here are the top ten reasons that small businesses fail. 

Do you agree with this list?  Do you have other reasons you think are more likely to cause a business to fail. Let me know in the comments.

If your business is in trouble.  Call me.  I have helped many businesses turn disaster into six figure incomes.  310-910-1848

Does Your Business Have Enough Cash to Do That?

For the Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

I am flabbergasted.  Each of my fantastic short blogs on the Secrets of Marketing generate an immediate response of a pretty consistent number of views.  Some a little more, some a little less.  Then over time, they build to some very nice numbers.  But the one I did on money as a the most critical logistic in business was a phenomenal dud!  It couldn't be the content, since so few read it.  It must have been the headline or time of day I posted or something.  So please go read this post.  You'll be glad you did.  http://help4smallbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/08/money-as-1-logistical-issue-marketing.html

Blogging as The Core of Social Media Integration

Long form is the most critical form.  We can all share a headline on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or google+, but the headlines have details behind them that may or may not be what is even in the headline.  Only rarely does the headline provide you with enough benefit to be worth the read, other than for entertainment.   Blogs, articles, website content, and videos tend to provide the longer, more detailed story.  Of these only video and blogs count as social media.  And obviously, blogs are written words that are already heavily interwoven into social media. 

Can you do Facebook without a blog?  Sure.  You can do any social media effort without a blog or even a website.  And everyone of those media can produce the occasional actual sale.  But if you read the pundits in this field, as I do, or if you are doing this for multiple businesses day-to-day, as I do, you begin to see the pattern.  FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked in, and YouTube are all great feeds to Blogs and Websites.  YouTube is the double threat, as it can lead to immediate and direct results without first sending the client to the blog or website, and there is also a nice stream of traffic to the blog and website from the videos.  The place where the sale takes place is on the Website, the blog, or YouTube.

I have been blogging since January 1995, which is pretty much when it all started.  I have steadfastly adhered to the principle of blogging three times per week.  I'm a professional writer, so I write fast, and theoretically well enough to have been published 100's of times.  So my work should not stand in the way of blogging success.  Some of my blogs have done well.  But only when I started blogging pretty close to daily did I start to see real results.  Only when I started to support my blogs with other social media did the numbers start to really inflate. 

You may not have the time or talent to post to your blog daily, respond to comments, and support your blogging with social media and videos.  You can hire it done (and please call us if that's what you want to do).  But the combination will work to produce steady business over time. 

If you would like me to send you a tutorial on blogging, just send an email to RandyKirk77@gmail.com

Pinterest Provides a Huge Opportunity for Integration of YouTube and Blogs

Believe it or not, some American humans have never heard of Pinterest.  How can that be?

The first time I ever saw this new social media sensation, I was flabbergasted as to how amazing and cool it was.  I even considered making all my blogs and websites look like Pinterest.  And with the possible exception of Google+, this is the fastest growing social media site on the web. 

With 70% or more of the users coming from the gentler sex (can you still say that), and with those who are using it spending serious amounts of time pinning and repinning, the potential is huge.  We are in the process of creating Pinterest sites for all of our clients.  Here is one which you can see at http://pinterest.com/nyactingschool/

You have to love the visuals and the quick read.  It is also super easy to grab what you want for your site.  And the original creator maintains ownership of the content no matter how many times it is repinned.  Sure, you can screen shot things, but why??

You can put up YouTube videos, which is a great use of the concept.  You can also create little posters with words on them when that is needed.  So for blog posts, you can use the word poster approach, or use a fantastic piece of art to create intrigue that drives visitors to look up the post details. 

I think doing just what I did above is also a potential way to integrate.  Take shots of your pinterest and use those on blogs, Facebook, and Google+ to create traffic back to the Pinterest site. 

There is a huge amount of action happening around Pinterest around the idea of contests.  And starting the contest on Pinterest and then connecting it to the other sites can be a really solid way to build all sites. 

This is very, very new to our company, and we are still in the learning curve.  We would love to have your ideas in the comments regarding how to integrate Pinterest.

Google+ Is Facebook for Men - Might Eventually be #1 Overall for Social Media Integration

I am really starting to wish I'd started a huge storyline about Google+ being for men and Pinterest for women.  I wrote about this early via http://googleplaceshelp.blogspot.com/search?q=google%2B+men, but not often.  Now I've lost my chance to become famous for leading in this meme.  But this headline today in Forbes "Women Are From Pinterest, Men Are From Google+?" actually has the stats to back up their question.  I will deal with Pinterest tomorrow.  But what about Google+.  This much maligned social media site cannot be ignored.  Quite by accident, in my humble opinion, Google created an environment that is uniquely providing a place where men can do what men like to do.  Show off and debate.  The streams are rarely trivial, and at least in my circles, no one has described or taken a picture of any meals. 

The reason I prognosticate that Google+ will eventually be the big winner in social media integration is that they are uniquely setting themselves up for integration.  The very first thing you do is to separate your network into circles according to their common interest area.  While you can do this in Facebook, it is an afterthought, and for most FB fanatics, they aren't going to go back and divide up their 500 friends. 

In addition, the tools and toys that Google has already brought to the Google+ environment are very powerful for groups.  In particular, the hangout concept has huge potential. 

I would like to write another 1000 words on Google+, but the timing is wrong.  The merger with Google Places is happening right now, and everyone is waiting to see what that really means in terms of how content is uploaded, used, shown, etc. 

But this much I know.  Growing your circles, sharing updates to appropriate groups, and joining conversations when you have something to add are going to provide you with potential resources in the future.  Sharing the fact that you have a new video up, blog post posted, product in your line, website changed, or event being planned, not to mention hangout scheduled, are just a few of the ways you can integrate your media.  And if you have thousands in your circles, there will surely be an impact on your views and visitors to the target media content.

Facebook - Do We Really Need FB for Small Business Social Media Integration?

MySpace and Yahoo still exist almost a decade after they both became irrelevant.  They have a tiny, by internet standards, sliver of the market, which creates jobs and profits, and useful places for some to advertise.  So, I'm not going to be the first to announce the death of FB.  But what seems to be happening is death by a thousand cuts. 

    ▪    Pinterest is way more fun.
    ▪    Google+ is better for guys who like to debate and show prowess. 
    ▪    Blogs are better for sales and information about product. 
    ▪    YouTube is better for given an impression of authenticity, knowledge, and likability. 
    ▪    Linked in is certainly better for upper level associating and power networking.

So what exactly is left of Facebook?  Games and telling anyone who cares what your three year old said?   News of family and friends status changes?  A place to trade pictures?  My son says that the kids have switched some of that to instagram.  No wonder Facebook bought it.

On the other hand, I have clients who are possibly actually making money with FB.  If not money, at least friends.  In other words, I doubt if any of them could point to much in the way of phone calls or walk ins due to FB.  But clearly it is a media where people gather, and where they share what they like, so there is very likely to be an excellent potential for actual business as people feel more connected to a company. 

As a consultant I have not stayed up with Facebook.  As we create content for our clients on Blogs or Twitter, we use feeds to get this information on FB.  It is up to our clients to add any further proactive content and to react to incoming. 

Therefore when we Tweet or blog about a video, or Tweet about a blog post, the headline ends up on the FB page.  This can lead to more visits to the target media and make the FB page more interesting. 

What else would you suggest as being useful in the FB world for an overall media strategy?

Twitter Useful for More than Following Celebs? Maybe for SMB's to Promote Other Media

As many did, I jumped on Twitter early, and learned the details, downloaded the tools with the funny names, and tried to connect.  Then I tried to connect some more.  Nobody wrote back.  I'm a social guy.  I like having a conversation.  But it seemed like a pretty lousy way to make a friend.

So I read experts and followed their advice.  I now have about 1130 some followers, and I get about 300 Tweets and hour.  90% of them are somebody selling something or quoting some dead person, or making other statements that seem to be mechanical and self absorbed. 

Tell me in the comments if you find your experience to be different and why you think I'm not finding any real conversations.

Now I realize that I can reduce my tweet flow by a lot.  I can unfollow folks that aren't really making my day, or I can filter them out.  The truth is that I just haven't found anything to filter in!

Now that doesn't mean the whole Twitter thing is totally useless for a small business owner.  Some folks actually do follow some of their feed.  Things like stars, fads, brands, hobbies, scores, events, news, and such have a base of people paying attention.

And, I didn't want to go of half-cocked here today.  so I spent several hours on my own Twitter account, read some expert opinion and recommendations for optimizing a business opportunity, and learned very little new. 

My conclusion?  Almost like Linked In, but in this case I would say better for brick and mortar retail, and not so much for services.  Better for businesses that have fan bases, lots of sales or events, or where there is a critical news flow. 

But you can fairly easily add followers, and once you add them, you can sent out Tweets quickly and easily.  A good use for these Tweets would be to announce new blog posts, new videos, new articles, new products.  So, for instance, a retailer gets a new product in.  Do a two minute video, put it up on your blog, and your Facebook.  Now tweet about the product, the video, and the blog post.  Using what I suggested yesterday on Linked in, you can do the same thing there.  And, spoiler alert, you can do the same thing on Google+ and Pinterest.  Now with about 15 minutes worth of promotion, you might generate a significant increase in views of your video or blog post.

Repeat this process and watch all your numbers rise.  Capture some of those folks as likes, some into your circles, and some dropping emails, and you can now reach out to them in a more casual environment.  But it does take a decision to spend that kind of effort for months. not days. 

Please help others with your thoughts if you agree or don't.

Linked in Might Actually End Up Being the Link We Overlooked

If you read through my blogs and books, you'll see that my view of social media looked something like this:  YouTube and Blogs offer most local retailers and service companies an immediate return on investment, and sometimes and outstanding one.  Facebook, Twitter, and Linked in suck up tons of time and rarely result in an actual sale.  You should have a hand in all of them, but they aren't the best way to increased sales.  Google Plus and Pinterest are very interesting and are definitely worth a hard look. 

Now come Panda, Penguin, Venice, and all that.  With those algo changes we are back to unique, quality content being in the drivers feet at Google.  That means blogging and video are still the king and queen of social media, but it also means that the smart guys all know that.  How can you stand out?  By supporting your blogs and videos with FB, Twitter, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest. 

So that brings me back to Linked in.  Over the past five years, Linked in has slowly but surely built up a vast network of people who have signed up and get the occasional email about someone's change in status.  There is just enough of a continuous presence to keep everyone interested.  Sure, there are those who make excellent use of Linked In to end employees or jobs, but I'm pretty sure you will agree that almost no small business owners have ever made a dime off of their involvement with Linked in. 

Now however, it is possible to quickly amass a large network in just a few hours of brainless activity while watching TV.  Inviting excellent, relevant people to connect with you is easier than following folks on Twitter, hoping they will follow you back.  You merely go to Linked in sites of those whom you are already linked to, and you can invite anyone they are linked to.  From there list you will undoubtedly find some folks who have even more relevant folks. 

Three years ago, this was a long arduous task, but it is common to find linked friends and people you may not even know who have 100's of connections.  So, over the past 24 hours I added 65 people with about 3 hours of multi-tasking in front of my boob tube. 

What is the advantage?  There are many things you can do with your Linked in group.  The basic idea is that you can put up an update, such as your availability for work, job description of a possible hire, or even a sale item or new product offer, and your group will have a high likelihood of giving it a quick notice.  And they may even resend it out to their group. 

Anyway, this is not the spot to list the many options available on Linked In.  The usefulness for the purposes of this post is that you can promote your blog posts and videos.  Takes a few seconds.  And if only a few check out you content, it helps to build your stats, hence your ranking, which help your visits, which helps your ranking.  And over time, as you will see, this process can grow everything at once. 





You merely go to your update, give a quick headline and description of the media you want to promote and give the link.  Easy.

So the little engine that could, the tortoise called Linked in has created a huge network that can.  What about my least favorite, Twitter.  That's next.

What have I missed?  What can you add?

PS.  While you are thinking about it, here is my Linked in. 

Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, blogging, YouTube, Pinterest, and Google Places

The Secret of Social Media Marketing May Be in the Integration - part 1

We all come to our aha moments in different ways, and many who read this post may think that for such a so-called expert on Google Places and online marketing, that I am sadly behind the curve on the power of social media.  Or maybe not.  Most social media experts that I've followed tend to be very interested in one or two of the above, but not so much the possible linkage. 

As a marketer who believes in an all of the above approach, slowly but surely I've been weaving together strategies designed to maximize and optimize all of these and point them toward websites.  And secondarily, from all of those and off line activity, generate email lists for traditional businesses that provide a more personal link with the client.

I suppose the strategies and tactics that I'm referring to could also be applied to affiliate marketers, but that crowd seems to always be chasing the latest thing, and not carefully plotting a long term strategy.  So, this series is more about product and service providers.

Certainly Traffic Geyser is one that has most of what I'm talking about working for them.  But I have actually ended my relationship with TG with a very fond memory of what I learned, but I don't think they have quite the right overall approach either.

Over the next few days I will lay out a plan that might be good for some of you small business owners.  Not a huge amount of work after the set up is complete.  But results that should actually make the phone ring.  And I will be very interested to get feedback about how much of what i'm suggesting is wrong, old news, underdeveloped, etc.  I'll start the story tomorrow with my new appreciation for Linked In.  Maybe the stock market got it right giving them the high valuation and Facebook not so much.