A couple weeks ago, Sarah Evans published 50 social media stats that she compiled on AdAge. My buddy Mat Siltala over at Dream Systems Media couldn’t help himself and had to transform those stats into the sweet social media infographic below.

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The social media scene continues to grow as the infographic from yesterday’s post proved: Skyrocketing Growth of Social Media. The king of social media networks, Facebook, continues to grow as a part of our daily lives as today’s infographic shows.

Are YOU Obsessed with Facebook?

Source: Dvice.com

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As a social media manager, I have a lot of people asking me questions about what in the world I do for a living. Seems to be as more major businesses are now on Twitter and Facebook, there is a growing number of people considering social media as a career path.

A social media manager does a lot during the course of a day and it can vary from day to day depending on their editorial calendar, breaking news, or the latest launch of a product, press release or service. If you are an individual or a small business debating over how/why to hire someone or want to work as a social media manger, here’s a great infographic by SocialCast of a frenzied day in the life of social media managers.

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In Social Media Marketing -Words are powerful.

Even more than we realize.

There are 7 words that are CRUCIAL to making your social media marketing efforts successful, whether you own’a traditional business, a home business, or work for a business.

And many do not even know them let alone use them.

They can change your social media marketing to a powerful force in your branding efforts and beyond.

Sooooo….

What are they?

1) FREE.

Many folks in social media like free gifts. They like free content. They like free podcasts. They like free videos. They like free content.

So you need to start using the word FREE in your tweets, vids, posts, podcasts and blogs. WHAT is free? That is for you to decide, but it can be an ebook, a report, an mp3, a CD, a DVD, or anything that the people will find of value to their life.

“Here is a FREE mp3 that i recorded last night and thought you might enjoy. Hope you like it and let me know what your thoughts are as i am looking to improve it. Thanks!”

2) GIVE.

This is a biggie. It is CRUCIAL that you GIVR and use the word GIVE in your communications. It is called a “trigger word.” This is a word that triggers psychologically in the brain to create some kind of emotion or feeling. GIVE is a powerful concept in social media marketing.

Especially what you are giving away is FREE.

“I am giving away today a FREE ebook that will help you in your Success efforts. I want you to have it as I know you will like it. Here is the link for it and let me know how you enjoy it as always looking for ways to improve. Thanks!”

3) TRUST.

This is another huge one as we build bridges of trust with people and their friends. Use the word trust in what you do.  Use the word trust in posts, mp3s, videos, and any other communication. Put it FRONT and CENTER and let people know that is your focus. You are looking to be trusted and you sare looking to trust back.

“My goal is to build trust with people before they ever do any business with me as that is critical. Integrity is the foundation of trust and that is how i operate and always will.”

4) VALUE.

People will do more for Value than you think. And people are smarter than you think. They KNOW value and what is NOT Value. Your focus in social media marketing is to provide VALUE in your communication and use the word in all you do. Your FOCUS should be VALUE and a lot of it.

What people talk about is Value. What people are seeking is Value. What people are DEMANDING is Value and you must be the Value Freak in what you do in social media.

“And my goal is to create such an amazing Value in this video that you will watch it over and over and learn something new each time you watch it. All I ask is you let people know what you have discovered in this video and share it with others.”

5) LOVE.

Love is a strong word that people do not use enough. i know i know. I can hear it now-”Doug is getting hairy fairy.” LOL  Nope. Just telling you the truth. if you believe in something string enough- you need to let people know that you love it. if you are convinced that your product is the best that exists on the planet-let them knwo you love it. if you are sure that the relationships you are building in social media are powerful and life changing, let people know that you love that part about social media. if you are a home business professional and LOVE what you do- shout it out and rock the world with it.

Love is a powerful life changing word and when you use it- EYES ARE DRAWN TOWARDS IT- instinctively.

“I LOVE this mp3/video/ebook/report/post even if I did do it. It has a LOT of great content on it that can change lives. I want you to have it as a gift and i look forward to talking to you about it as I know you will love it too. I love giving things away for free-hope you like it!”

6) SECRET.

Everyone likes a good secret that cannot be kept. And if you are any marketing effort, you need to let peo;ple know that you know a secret that they do not. Why? Fear of loss. Curiosity builder. Wanting to be a part of the in the know crowd. Hope of gain. and ther are other reasons as well. But when you use the word SECRET- BAM! Every one’s heads turn-and they are thinking- “Tell me pleasssee!” And we have used it for years as that truly does set you apart form the masses…

IF and ONLY IF you have a secret that no one else has about your endeavor, Success, leadership, social media marketing, home business success, or internet marketing, or anything else that you are working. Be unique and one of a kind. OWN the Secret-don’t just repeat it. Old news is still old news. Get creative and let the secrets flow.

“I have discovered a secret about skin care that ia amazing and wanted to give it to you. Here is a link to a  video that will tell you the secret of looking 10 years younger in little or no time. And all I ask is that you share it with other you know as it will help them too as well. Here is the secret link….”

7) THEIR NAME.

Enough said.

Their name is music to their ears. It is honey to their soul. It is sugar in their tea. I ALWAYS use the persons name or nickname in communication in the very first couple of words.

It is an EYE MAGNET.

It attracts their eyes to move towards their name and then you are guaranteed that your communication will be at least scanned. Use their name at the end too. I call it “bookending.” It works and lets them know that you appreciate who they are.

These are the 7 most powerful words that you can use in social media. of course there are more.

What other words can you suggest in your social media marketing?

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Herring

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Surfing through YouTube last night, I wanted to see what people were creating content about “social media” recently, and I stumbled upon this masterpiece that I had to share with you. It truly captures the fundamental shift that social media has had on the way we communicate.

I contend it’s IMPOSSIBLE after watching this to still be of “the world is flat” mentality when thinking social media is a fad. Have you seen this video? What are your thoughts about the social media revolution?

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“Build it and They will Come!”

NOT.

Connection is the Nuclear Core of Social Media. But you MUST make an effort for that to happen.

Whether you have a social media home business, traditional bricks and mortar business, or an online business, you must get into the social trenches and connect and converse. It is that simple and that plain.

It is ALL about Connecting and creating a Magnetic Conversation.

But why are people NOT doing that?

Maybe they do not know this powerful 5 Step “Avalanche Process” for getting New Customers and KEEPING them.

You MUST connect with the social media culture. It is what marketing is about in social media. Some people think that this is anti-social media and they think they can broadcast their message and people will come.

Build it and they will come!

Don’t think so. Not in social media. You do not build ‘IT” but build relationships that can become doorways and then become customers.

Connect –> Conversation–> Value –> Doorway–> Customer.

Let’s take a quick look:

1) CONNECT.

This is where it starts. On Twitter.On facebook. On LinkedIn.On Youtube. On Orkut. On every other niche site there is that matters.

CONNECT.

Here’s a little tip:

Connect to those who are looking FOR YOU.

They will find you if you are visible, and accessible to connect to.

2) CONVERSATION.

Then the conversation starts. Talk about THEM and where they want to go. talk about what they want to talk about. Study their profile, pictures and videos. You can learn a LOT just by paying attention.

Then make sure that you STAY IN TOUCH and LISTEN when they are communicating. If you do, they will want to stay connected to you.

3) VALUE.

This is where you bring in the Magnet to Pull them towards your message. Show them Value in their life. Show them how your message can help expand, Increase, Enlarge and Improve their life. Do it through Tips and how to’s in videos and blog posts and podcasts. And yes, tweets and twips. Show them how you can make their life easier, or show them how to do something they want to learn. Show them how to BE or DO something. if you can increase their dreams, you can get them as a customer.

The More Value people perceive you have the more likely they will walk through the “Doorway”.

4) DOORWAY.

This is the Doorway to Conversion. You MUST convert prospects into customers if you are going to have any kind of business. That is simple to do.

Give them an offer they cannot say “No” to. That is the secret. GIVE first and then make it so compelling they cannot say “No.”  We do it all the time. we just ran a social media special on our training products and it blew the roof off our shipping department. It has been a FLOOD of new customers and new orders.

All we did was give them an offer that they could not say NO to.

The SECRET is the first word:

GIVE.

Give away something they MUST HAVE. They will get it.

5) CUSTOMER.

Here is where they purchase your message, products, or webinar or event. This is the BEGINNING- not the end.

Here you must start building the relationship even more.

GIVE MORE than they expected. Throw something in for free they were not expecting. Give them a free download or ebook. Let them see a Private video collection.

ENCOURAGE MORE. Make sure that you send a note of encouragement and stay in touch with them.

THANKS MORE. Make sure they know you are thankful for their business and connection. We send out free downloads all the time to say thanks. And some people paid $$$ for in the past. Thank them in everything you do and they will come back for more.

Get your Customers ADDICTED to your  Value, Message and Emotions. They will become more than a customer. They will become a loud speaker for you and tell everyone you know you ate the BEST at what you do

And that is what you want to happen in your home business or traditional business in social media marketing.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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I’ve been using Twitter since January of 2008 and have really come to love the community of people I’ve met and connected with. It has also been a tremendous place to do business, see and be seen by the world. It’s been amazing to watch over this time that nearly 15,000 people read what I tweet. It’s been an organic growth of followers. I’m truly blessed to have one person reading my tweets…let alone thousands of people.

Lately, I’ve been contemplating the number of people that I follow. Since I often tried to follow everyone back that followed me, I noticed over the last 6 months, my DM inbox was more and more filled with SPAM and my tweet stream was so clogged, that I couldn’t keep up and more importantly, I’d lose/miss tweets in the mass of thousands and thousands of tweets from people’s tweets that I’d want to see. An increasing number of tweets would be purely marketing only type tweets. I was missing the tweets that were VALUABLE to me!

What to do…what to do?

Then two weeks ago, I by chance caught in my tweetstream that Chris Pirillo wrote he just used UnFollowAll to clean up his Twitter account. It was free and would delete EVERYONE that you followed on Twitter. I FOUND what I’d been looking for…a fresh start without having to take the time to weed out the spammers, the marketers, etc.

Later that evening my follow account was wiped clean. It was back to zero. And to be honest, a bit freeing from the tweet noise.

Then I slowly started adding back my associates, friends, peers from the Seattle Social Media Club, people related to my niche and generally anyone I know, enjoy reading tweets from as well in the last 2 years.

It wasn’t long thereafter that I got called a “Twitter snob” by more than one person for not following everyone who followed me. Well ya know what? I don’t care what people think is the right way for me to use my Twitter account. But then again, these are the same people who swooned over a certain flash-in-the-pan social media guru who made some quick money making webinars & JV’ing with other “industry names” about the right way to use social media…who has since deleted his account. They’re also the same people who use software to artificially add followers.

I’ve been using Twitter to share what I’m passionate about like fitness and workouts like P90X from Beachbody and most everything in social media. I also share a lot of what I read and definitely share what I believe would be useful information for people who follow me. Twitter is an extension of my life but my life does not revolve around Twitter. Like this month I’ve hardly been tweeting due to a house remodel and soon to be moving experience. Twitter is one piece of the social media puzzle I use to build my business from home. But that’s just me…we all use Twitter for different reasons.

As I was writing this post this morning, I get an email from none other than Joel Comm who had just wrote on his blog that he just purged his Twitter account too. Joel was one of my early “friends” on Twitter. He provided value and often was funny in his tweets. A good guy you should be following: @JoelComm. As I was reading it, one of the things he wrote was:

Just as Twitter is a dynamic site that evolves and changes as it grows, how we use Twitter must also remain fluid.

Let me be clear about one thing.

Twitter is here for the long haul, and it is more important than ever for businesses to be using the service. It’s even more important for them to use it in a way that builds relationships and enhances brands.

I agree with that because without Twitter, there would be no way I would have ever connected with many of the people I have on Twitter because we live in different parts of the country and the world. It has radically shifted the way people communicate and even do business online. It’s dynamic…ever changing…and a powerful tool to develop personal brand and multiply your social networking influence. But there is yet to be a “perfect way” to use Twitter…and until there is, I’ll continue to follow my instincts and do what is natural for me.

And I’m at peace with my decision to delete everyone.

What are your thoughts on why I deleted who I followed on Twitter and why people like Chris Pirillo and Joel Comm did the same thing?

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CONNECTION is the Secret!

The base of Social Media Marketing is about Conversation.

No Doubt. But the platform the base is hosted on I believe is CONNECTION. Conversation does not happen without Connection, and without a reaching out on someones part.

Connection is the START of where it all happens in Social Media.

First comes the Catalyst, then the Connection, then the Conversation. Whether it is tweets on twitter, friends on facebook, and users on youtube – it still starts with Connection in the Social zone.

Are you Connecting on a regular basis? And if you are, how are you doing it?

Connection, according to the dictionary, is “when 2 things come together and meet.”

Cool.

That works as far as social media. Connecting with folks that you have something in common with is all part of the social media marketing process. But if you think about it, there are different types or levels of Connection, and social media really demands a higher level of connection in marketing.

All Marketing is, (no matter if you are a traditional marketer, or a home based marketer, or an online marketer,) is the process of exposing your message or product to a prospect in some way. Yes, tht is a simple definition, but within it, you must CONNECT your message with someone. There must be a CATALYST to make it happen, like an advertisement, phone call, squeeze page, or an article online. But something MUST start the process of marketing.

Here is the process : Catalyst- Attention- Connection- Conversation- Collaboration.

Hence, the 4 levels of Connection in social media.

1) Attention.

This is the weakest form of Connection in socialville. No matter whether it is on LinkedIn, or Facebook, it is the weakest. This form of Connection many people make the mistake of thinking they have Connected here and immediately start bombarding folks with marketing messages. That is a HUGE no no. Attention means that you have Connected their eyes, mind, or curiosity with something, but it is NOT enough to start the marketing process effectively. Yes, you can start here, but rarely does it prove to be effective. This Connection is only where someone NOTICES you message.

2 Connection.

This is where a person in the marketing process, is hooked” by something in your message or offer. It could be a phrase, video, free giveaway, download, image, or color. But SOMETHING has not only gotten their attention, but has Connected their mind to a further look. the psychology of this is to switch in their curiosity, and desire for more information. They have “plugged in” enough to Connect to your message and consider it.

3) Conversation.

This is the third level of Connection, This is where the Conversation has moved beyond curiosity, and now has elevated to communication. They may want to know more about the message or product. They may want to know more about you.  They may want to know more about the benefits and value of the product. But Conversation does take place and can take place many times over the course of time before you move to the 4th level of Connection.

4) Collaboration.

This is where you both agree that you will Collaborate in some way and is some fashion to work together. This may come in the form of a sale or purchase, an appointment, a referral, a new person in your business, a new customer, or even a partnership or Joint venture. Collaboration is something rhat has many possibilities.

The ultimate goal is marketing is to make something happen that creates a win/win situation for both the marketer and customer.  And these 4 levels of Connection can create a LOT of profit if you are consistent and relentless.  Many marketers never get past the Attention stage as they are more interested in RESULTS then a Relationship. They have it backwards. Relationship is a much better catalyzer of Results. Since you have taken the time to Connect on a higher level, they have learned to TRUST you, and trust more of what you suggest or say.

Do nto make that mistake in social media marketing. Take it to the highest level every time, and see your results increase dramatically in your social media marketing zone.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Image via Wikipedia

Social networking on Facebook for business is a really hot topic.

There seems to be a near limitless myriad of ways on Facebook to build brand exposure and sales for home business and small business entrepreneurs. From creating games & applications, to developing groups and fan pages. That doesn’t even cover being able to advertise on Facebook too based on targeted demographics.

So many people struggle with understanding why and HOW being on Facebook can be beneficial to building business whether they’re a brick & mortar business, network marketer, a restaurant or bar, affiliate marketer, eBay’er…and what is possible through this whole “social networking thing on Facebook”.

I went through my old bookmarks and wanted to be able to share with you some cool Facebook stuff I found when I was first looking for Facebook how-to’s, articles and blog posts that I benefitted from checking out when I first started using Facebook for business.

Inside Facebook – a great blog that is all about Facebook.

Facebook’s Ads Page where all the reasons are given by Facebook as to why advertising your business on Facebook will benefit your small business branding.

Five Ways Small Business Can Benefit from Social Media/Networking Sites

Networking: Use Facebook as a Marketing Tool This is a fantastic article on Lifehacker on utilizing self-promotion to take social networking to a professional networking level.

How to Create a Successful Facebook Group

Top Five Viral Facebook Techniques Some great tips on using giveaways, referrals and a couple of other apps. Allfacebook.com is a great site BTW.

Entrepreneurs Need Both Facebook and LinkedIn

How to Use Facebook Status for Marketing Purposes Eye opening piece for people to understand the value of status updates on Facebook.

Social Networks Find Ways to Monetize User Data

Top Ten Ways to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business for Free

Facebook, a Marketer’s Friend A great piece in the Wall Street Journal that follows a small business owner and using Facebook for business.

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• To friend, or not to friend: That is the workplace question (seattlepi.com)
• There Is Revenue in Social Media (myventurepad.com)
• WTF Is This Article Doing On Facebook? (techcrunch.com)
• Facebook sued over social networking patent (macworld.com)
• You are a trust agent (myventurepad.com)

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