FollowFriday is coming!

FollowFriday is coming!

 

Every week FollowFriday seems to just creep up on us. Are you ready? Do you know who you want to tweet?

What is FollowFriday?
So what is all this FollowFriday? FollowFriday is a Twitter mega-trend that started in mid-January 2009, with a simple tweet, encouraging people to recommend and follow their fellow Twitter users. This is the epitome of the 'social' in social media, where Twitter-world puts asid sharing info and updates, and makes a mad, free for all 'scratching each other's backs'. Read more about the creation of FollowFriday here.

Why is FollowFriday good?
FollowFriday is the 'pay it forward' of Twitter. Part of the fuel for each user's Twitter energy is gaining 'followers', especially 'followers' that are relevent to your subject and content updates. Growth in Twitter is not a linear, but VIRAL. Our Twitter networks expand in ALL directions. FollowFriday gives us a chance to really focus on expanding the network at least for one day a week. It is also a great 'pat on the back' to the new connections that we make during the week.

Is it Spam?
FollowFriday differs form spammers significantly. Spammers are using follow-baits throughout the week by filling their Twitter posts with names, in the hopes that the recipients will follow them, or give them acknowledgement in their networks. How does FollowFriday differ?
1. FollowFriday is one day a week
2. FollowFriday is based on sincere recommendations and not junk mail
3. FollowFriday is a positive group experience and a recognized trend

How does FollowFriday work?
FollowFriday is as easy as a ReTweet. The main thing is keeping in mind, or keeping a list of the great people you have crossed paths with throughout the week. You can make several FollowFriday tweets. And most of all, make sure to thank others for suggesting you on FollowFriday.

FollowFriday in action
You can easily create a FollowFriday using the following syntax

Example tweet for group: #FF These are great guys to follow @myfriend, @myfriend1, @myfriend2
Example tweet for individual: #FollowFriday Check out my buddy @myfriend

Good luck and see you on FollowFriday

Pimp my Tweet

Pimp my Tweet

 

Twitter lesson: Pimp my Tweet

Keywords, Hashtags, and short URLS

1. Since Twitter is limited to 140 characters, sometimes just the URL alone can fill up the whole space.

Putting up a long URL like this: http://www.theones2watch.com/newwave/1103

Having looked at the article, I am very impressed with this group of up and coming photographers.

- Yet, what would induce me to open the link?

- Moreover, how would somebody not on my follower list reach the link?

2. Short URLs

The first thing you need to do is shorten the URL.

Go to http://www.snipurl.com/ and paste the URL into the main field.

Out comes the 'short' URL http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

3. Keywords

Now with a short URL, you can make the most of your 140 characters, so add keywords.

You can't write a sentence, but use words that make the article meaningful.

For instance you can write: Photographers rising to fashion’s forefront.

You have to HOT keywords here: photographers, fashion

4. Hash tags

Hash tags (symbolized by #) are the grease in the Twitter machine.

By adding these words, you are indexed in the Twitter search mechanism.

So go ahead and hash those keywords: #photographers, #fashion

5. Posting

Now your new, 'pimped-out' Tweet is ready for posting

Shooting #images with passion, #Photographers rising to the forefront of #fashion http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

Postscript

Don't overdue hashtags! Otherwise it looks like you are spamming to get noticed. Keep it simple.

Validation is Twitter Fuel

Validation is Twitter Fuel

 

Validation comes in all forms. You can have your parking validated, your identity, or more importantly...you can receive validation.

There is a great video on YouTube entitled Validation, showing how much more successful and meaningful life is by giving your fellow human being some positive feedback.

Twitter is being powered on the same fuel: validation. Besides the spam approaches to expanding followers like: want more followers, get 16,000 followers in 90 days, follow me etc, you can expand your follower base with simple positive comments.

Retweeting

The easiest validation to someone is the ReTweet. You simple write Retweet (or RT for short) followed by the persons Twitter name (including the '@' sign of course), and their comment, news, or link.

With minimal effort, you have affirmed their input into the world. You have shown them that the risk they took exposing themselves, their opinions, and identity to the Twitter sphere was not only worth it, but is being recognized.

Response to Retweet

When I retweet information, I don't really expect to get responses. I am sharing items that I find interesting, hope others will to, and plan to go back and visit these posts in the future.

So when I get comments back like:

Thanks heaps for your kind retweet love!! :)

This makes me that much more dedicated to retweeting for this person. Its all part of Twitter fuel.

Feedback

Taking a bolder step, you can give some positive feedback on Twitter.

It can be like:

Hey @xxxxxx, you have a great design on your website, and a cool blog

Who can't resist responding to a nice comment like that. And that is where Twitter Fuel comes from!

Twitter Fuel

Positive comment ==> Positive response ==> Positive interaction

Can you make me a website

Can you make me a website

 

I meet many people excited to get into the web. They see what others are doing and want to get in too. So, when they see I have a website, I hear, "I'd like to have a website like yours."

For the individual, a personal website for presenting their professional qualifications and experience (not just showing pictures of the kids) is a great tool, and a better way to present yourself. It can be more presentable and approachable than a resume.

The stumbling blocks are:
- what content to put
- how to build it
- how to maintain it

What content to put
As with any project, I say ask yourself:

"What do you want to accomplish, what are your goals."

With the personal website you can expand on the dry bullet point of your resume to actually SHOW accomplishments, not just mention them. So if I were answering this question, I would say, "I want to clearly present my accomplishments in a visually engaging manner."

How to build it
Building a website still seems like black magic. Somehow it just gets on the web. Or in the days of TV, somehow those little people got into your box. Today you can blindly pay someone who is an expert in the 'black magic' of websites, or you can take a leap and make one yourself.

Two great services now exist for making websites as easy as 'drag and drop'
- Weebly an HTML, javascript based visual system
- Wix a Flash based site

For the experienced web designer, both have their limitations, but with each new release, there are more advanced settings. These tools practically allow anyone to easily put together a website and publish it very quickly, using professional looking templates

How to maintain it
So you have a website, now you have to keep it up to date. You can keep calling your 'black magic' website builder and throwing money. Or with one of the above tools, you can easily go in and add a page, or drag in another paragraph. The control is in your hands.

I spotted a trend idea!

I spotted a trend idea!

 

Trends are everywhere and changing daily - even hourly. Twitter trends has become the new 'bestseller's list to get on, or at least hitch a ride with (for popularity and other marketing purposes).

I have followed Springwise "Your Daily Dose of Entrepreneurial Ideas" for nearly 3 years. I both excited and impressed every week to get the newsletter, and see the latest new ideas that people have put into business. The innovations are cool, and really juice up your creativity karma.

The other side of this exciting venture is the people that find the 'trends' - these new, innovative ideas. It's not even the business themselves that are plugging themselves, but people like you and me that see something new and say 'That's cool. I've never seen that before.'

This is the entrepreneurs ultimate idea fountain. See something cool on Springwise that was done in Berlin. You can emulate it and launch something similar in Portland, Oregon.


As their website explains: "Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation. We ferociously track more than 400 global offline and online business resources, as well as taking to the streets of world cities, digital cameras at hand."

Submitting to Springwise
This year I started submitting things that caught my eye. One idea that I saw from a couple of Israeli entrepreneurs was a startup for ordering from restaurants Bite2Eat. As their website describes: The team here at Bite2Eat.com wants to make interacting with restaurants across the country as convenient and natural as the on-line banking or shopping you've gotten accustomed to.

It looked like a unique, new and hip idea - leveraging our new online comforts for new areas. The idea could be applied in countless new directions, making more and more service experiences as convenient as online banking.

The idea was turned down. The letter I received was "It was either spotted by someone else or wasn't the kind of idea we're looking for."

Finding Trends
What makes a trend, or in for Springwise a local innovation with global potential?
I think the following points provide a good criteria
- Universality
- Adaptability
- Currentness
- Uniqueness

What I spotted
Well actually my wife found it, but I submitted it to Springwise. It is called Pikolonia, and it is a unique play center in Israel, resembling a mini city where children can experience the “grown-up” world. The activities help kids learn and explore different aspects of day- to-day life by touching‚ observing and acting‚ all done in an atmosphere of incredible fun!

This place had it all. It hit the 'trend criteria' on the ball. What is being done on the moderate scale in Israel, could be emulated on a larger, bigger budget scale in the US.

So we don't need to be the smartest people in class. Ideas are out there, we just have to know where to look.

Bernie Madoff and The Dark Knight

Bernie Madoff and The Dark Knight

 

Bernie Madoff is going to jail for 150 years for stealing billions. He stole from millionaires and from charities. He is a villain, a thief, and a despicable person. But he isn't like the villains we imagine, or see in film. He wasn't connected to organized crime. He didn't distribute drugs or sell unapproved medicine to third world countries.
Madoff was the chairman of NASDAQ .

Madoff served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, and as Treasurer of its Board of Trustees.

Madoff undertook charity work for the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation and also engaged in philanthropic giving through The Madoff Family Foundation, a $19 million private foundation, which he managed along with his wife. They donated money to hospitals and theaters.(from Wikipedia)

He wasn't diabolical, a raving madman, or out to take over the world. He wouldn't have made a very convincing villain of a comic book. And so from a long list of prestigious clients - individuals and organizations - they were taken in.

Madoff was promising annual returns of at least 10% a year, no matter how the market performed. The investors didn't raise an eyebrow.

This would definitely raise the suspicions of the head of Wayne Industries and Gotham playboy, Bruce Wayne.

INT. BOARDROOM, WAYNE ENTERPRISES -- CONTINUOUS
Wayne is standing by the window.

FOX
Another long night?

(Wayne smiles)

This joint venture was your idea, and
the consultants love it, but I'm not
convinced. L.S.I.'s grown 8 percent
annually, like clockwork. They must
have a revenue stream that's off the
books. Maybe even illegal.

WAYNE
OK. Cancel the deal.

FOX
(looks at Wayne)
You already knew.

WAYNE
I needed a closer look at their
books.

(from THE DARK KNIGHT by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan)

Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, saw through such a Madoff situation immediately in the movie The Dark Knight. The difference was that the constant growth was due to 'other revenue streams' like illegal operations and organized crime, instead of the Ponzi scheme bringing in new investors to cover the old.

Where is Batman when we need him.

Do you wanna be a twock star?

Do you wanna be a twock star?

 

Do you wanna have a bestseller?
Do you wanna climb a mountain?
Do you wanna make a 7-course meal?

A friend said to me that he had a goal to advance his social media marketing and get 5000 followers on Twitter.
"By when?" I asked.
"I don't know, it'll probably take awhile."
"What's your strategy?"
"My strategy? I just told you - to get 5000 followers."
"What about 2000, when will you have 2000."
"2000, who's talking about 2000, I just told you. I am aiming for 5000."

There are a lot of alluring pages promising followers in the thousands. Double, triple, quadruple in days and weeks the amount of followers on your Twitter. I haven't analyzed every method, nor do I discount their validity and claims. But I am suspicious of the value that they provide me. Some are pushing their online market products and videos, requesting sign-up fees, others just ask you to join the bandwagon and start endorsing lists upon lists of others on Twitter - whether you know them or not.

The other sites that talk about practical tips you should be doing to encourage followers. For instance Kevin Rose (DIGG founder) suggests such practices as Retweeting, and they become win-win. Or get your Twitter name out there - everywhere you can - in your email signature, on a forum posting, in a comment, in your LinkedIn...

Ultimately the suggestion sites come back to a fundamental element: content. Valuable content. Interesting content. Useful content. Entertaining content.

Kevin Rose notes "Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them. Quality content coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your content, they’ll add you."

Sure there are really successful Twitterers (whales in Twitter tongue) like Oprah Winfrey who has over a million followers is only following 14. None of these social media marketing techniques are relevent to stars. They have already established themselves and made their mark. Their following exists, and just needs a direction.

Can I conclude that because Oprah is on Twitter, then I will also be wildly successful. Can I conclude that because Larry Page and Sergey Brin (of Google) started Google in garage, that my path to success should start with getting a garage?

Obviously not.

So how do you become a Twitter Rock Star (or in Twitter tongue a Twock Star).

Write Great Content
As noted in HubSpot's SEO tips: "The name of the game for search engine optimization is extremely simple. Once you're up and running with the right tools and systems, all you need to do is....

Publish new GREAT content on new pages on your website REGULARLY.

People get so confused about SEO. They are usually just wrapped up in all of the details.

But, if you want to do SEO correctly, there's one thing that you will spend the majority of your time doing: Writing Great Content."

Write It and They Will Come?
I doubt it. It's like the proverbial tree in the forest. If no one is present when it falls, does it make a sound?

The great content is the basis for great promotions. Still a lot of work lies ahead for getting followers, but the first, biggest and most important step is content.

Every Journey
As the classic proverb says "Every Journey of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step", the road to stardom and massive followings starts small. In fact I would say that every journey of a hundred yards begins with a single step. It's the same first step no matter how far you plan to go. The difference is that 'a hundred yards' is within view of the first step. It's all about how you break down your goals.

10-10-10
Suzy Welch has literally written the book on goal setting in her 10-10-10 technique (10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years). She explains: "In today’s accelerated world, with its competing priorities, information overload, and confounding options, we can easily find ourselves steered by impulse, stress, or expedience. Are our decisions the right ones? Or are we being governed, time and time again, and against our best intentions, by the demands of the moment? With 10-10-10, Welch proposes a transformative solution to deal with this pressure."

It's all about breaking down the process into smaller manageable steps. Before you can get to 5000 followers, you need to pass 500.

John Moore (from Brand Autopsy) talks about amping up Suzy Welch's model. "We need to amp up Suzy’s 10-10-10 thinking to account for how quickly information spreads online. 10 minutes. 10 hours. 10 days. That’s a more workable 10-10-10 consequences model for marketers dealing with issues worthy of explosive online conversation."

He's right. For taking steps towards 5000 followers, I don't want to be looking on scales of years. I want to gauge my success after 10 days, after another 10 days and so one.

Becoming a Twock Star
In short, write from your soul. Push your content like you have a big show coming up. And most of all set your sites on reasonable successes, so you can give yourself a pat on the back, and move higher. Remember if you want to be a rock star, you need to market yourself like a rock star.