The Social Media Wars are Upon Us

Twitter is evolving!

Facebook and Google+ have demonstrated how difficult social media can be, how many “circles” we can be made to jump through on our way to nirvana and social media engagement.

Enter Twitter!

Twitter is doing it right:

• Simple
• Engaging
• Interesting

The Social Media Wars are upon us!

The stakes?

• Our time
• Our attention
• Our data.

And in the end?

It is all about our data!

Guard your privacy.

Soon it may be an illusion…a distant memory!

More on Twitter’s evolution.

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• 

How to Use Social Media Effectively: A Lesson in Overlap, Privacy, and the Power of a Tweet

Social media is the newest toy, a fad, a phase, a resource, a platform for social expression, a political weapon, a marketing platform, a symptom, a pathology, a paradox, a conundrum, a black hole….

A MYSTERY!

Social media may be all of the above and more. In fact, social media is whatever you want it to be…because you define your experience!

Or do you?!

Ultimately, only time will tell. As with everything new, and in the grand scheme of things social media is in its infancy, in geological terms an instant in time (or less), there will be myriad changes before anything approaching its final expression will emerge.

The ultimate social media question, particularly interesting from an anthropological perspective may be:

What will social media look like in its final form, if a final form is indeed possible, or will it simply evolve until it eventually goes extinct? Will social media go the way of the Yo-Yo, the hoola hoop, console televisions, the Sony Walkman, the Commodore computer, Atari, the American Football League, the USFL, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Milwaukee Braves?

Think of all the things that were “here to stay” in your lifetime. I’ll bet you can name quite a few. Where are many of them now?

If we can bank on one thing, it is the attention span of the public, or lack thereof, the public here in the USA and around the world. It is fleeting!

Doubt it? For those of you who have been using Twitter for the last couple of years, how many of the people you connected with, “tweeted” with on a daily basis two years ago are still around? Of the ones who disappeared, I would be willing to bet many are still following you…they have simply vanished! And I am talking about people you really hit it off with, not the plethora of entrepreneurs engaging with you in an attempt at “relationship marketing” (a.k.a., social media marketing – an oxymoron), I am talking about people you conversed with daily about everything!

They are gone! Lost interest. Didn’t pay. Whatever!

Retention is social media is beyond the scope of this post but it is in the mix. Why? Because as social media continues to evolve on its way to a final form or extinction, it is going to reveal a lot about its users and about how society uses information.

And that is the reason for this post dealing with social media!

I came across this slide presentation dealing with social media at length on SlideShare and it is brilliant, thought-provoking, and even a bit frightening. I guarantee you haven’t thought of everything this man has. This SlideShare presentation is worth your time to read and digest because it is instructive, informative, and…a warning!

Social media is all of the above and none of the above mentioned manifestations. But whatever it is to you, it is a resource for others, an information base that is being compiled for a myriad of reasons.

So, be careful what you share on social media because regardless of how you perceive social media, there are others who will USE what your share differently; and, ultimately, for their own purposes!

Enjoy the slide show! It is worth the time!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com

PS, Please leave a comment if you like it…or if you don’t!

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• 

The recent acquisition of FriendFeed by facebook, and yes all you English teachers out there, the proper name is left uncapitalized, announced to the world in early August 2009, still has much of the Internet wondering…”What next!?”

The consensus seems to be facebook coveted not only the FriendFeed staff of twelve, eleven of whom are engineers, but some of the FriendFeed tools and technology, applications the David-like FriendFeed had developed that left facebook’s Goliath in a rather covetous state.

To paraphrase several observations made in TechCrunch:

As of the publication of the TechCrunch article, since updated (somewhat) and written by Jason Kincaid on August 10, 2009, the details and the full implication(s) of the purchase are, as of yet, unclear…but Kincaid calls it a “good match.”

Clearly, the acquisition is a good match for facebook as it continues to ramp up its onslaught on twitter (yes, also uncapitalized–didn’t these guys go to grammar school?). The motivation behind the acquisition seems to be as much about facebook acquiring FriendFeed’s tools and technology, along with the small but very creative staff.

In the last year, facebook has “borrowed” several of the FriendFeed tools, such as the ‘Like’ feature and also the “emphasis on real-time news updates.”

Clearly, FriendFeed’s overall functionality outperformed facebook in a number of ways and in several key areas, so facebook did the logical thing…they stepped in and bought out their competition!

The consensus among the majority of the tech and social media writers I surveyed, the people who follow this kind of stuff daily (and my thinking, as well), is that the real win here for facebook is the acquisition of the FriendFeed team. The team is made up of several heavy-hitters from Google, including Paul Buchheit, responsible for the creation of Gmail and the original AdSense model. The ex-Googler team is clearly the the driving force behind the tools facebook covets and the ultimate reason for the facebook-FriendFeed deal.

Is this the next step in facebook’s onslaught on twitter? It would certainly seem to be the case!

In the meantime, FriendFeed remains a very interesting Web 2.0 platform and one worth getting comfortable with.

If you are very active on even a handful of social media sites, you know how difficult and time consuming it can be to keep them all updated with current material. A post on one may not been seen by someone who is a friend or follower on another site, and so on. So is there a solution for this? Some say FriendFeed is the answer.

While the long-term future of FriendFeed is still up in the air, whether it will remain a separate entity or will become part of facebook, the applications and tools continue to make this an attractive and very useful social media site. Yes, there are other sites offering various components of the FriendFeed toolbox…but the mix of tools and applications under one roof, so to speak, makes FriendFeed hard to beat.

FriendFeed is a live streaming web service that takes all of your activity on various social media and social bookmarking sites and consolidates it into one place. Members can subscribe to each other’s streams, and carry on a conversation right from one place instead of signing in and out of numerous sites. If you want to keep track of someone who is not a FriendFeed member but who does use social sites, FriendFeed gives you the option of having their various RSS feeds compiled into one place.

The number and variety of sites friendfeed supports is increasing all the time. Some of the more popular ones already on board are twitter, facebook, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Seesmic, last.fm, and Furl, as well as RSS and Atom feeds.

FriendFeed is a great way to stay in touch with friends, family members and colleagues, but there are numerous other ways you can use its functionality:

1) Start or Join a Room: Have a hobby or cause you are passionate about? A Room is a place where you and others can have conversations about only that subject matter. This is also a great way to engage current and perspective customers, and provide information about your product or brand.
2) Grow your Social Network: When scrolling through streams, if you see someone with great posts or comments, hover over their name and hit subscribe.
3) Broaden your Interests: Everything a person you are following likes, is shared with you. Conversely, what you like – from pictures, to music, to articles, to videos, is shared with them as well.
4) Poll the People: FriendFeed has an easy way for you to ask for the opinions of others.
5) Conduct Searches: FriendFeed will not only provide you with links to related material, but you will also see user’s comments about them.
6) Segment your subscribers/friends into various categories to include: Home feed; Personal; Professional; and, Favorites.

You can also check out the most popular entries of the day, week, and month…all at the click of a mouse! Not only can you check out the most popular entries overall but you can also see how your comments fared and which comments attracted the most attention, from you and from others.

FriendFeed offers tools so you can pick how much content you want to see from each user, and a way to block those whose posts are less than desirable.

When you’re on the road, keep in touch via iPhone’s mobile application, FriendFeedToGo.

Until now, friendfeed’s user base has been relatively small, especially when compared to the likes of twitter, however, all indications are this will be changing rapidly over the next several months.

A recent press release states that FriendFeed will continue to operate normally, for now. However, it seems that the founders of both sites, facebook and FriendFeed, have admired each other’s work for quite some time and will work well together. Perhaps? It will be interesting to see if the long term plan will be to fuse the best of both services together to create the largest interface for users to aggregate all of their social networking updates and news items in one place or they will remain separate and distinct entities. Time will tell!

John
Join me on FriendFeed!
Join me on facebook!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
866-835-2913
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

PS, I am presently taking on mentoring and coaching clients, so contact me any time and leave a message 24/7. I am also recommending anyone interested in growing their business check out StomperNet and TrafficGeyser, the two tools no online business, of any kind, should be without.

PPS, Check out my personal site, The John Zajaros Blog anytime!

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• 

I received a message from a facebook friend. I belong to several groups, some are good, some are vehicles for spam…I get out of them fast! The man who sent me this is usually quite good about sending reliable information and not spamming, he is usually dead-on as far and insights and content. I got this message and I have enclosed the message and my response…and a few notes on the side.

By the way, this is not a knock on the group, it is a quality group, nor the gentleman, he seems like a great guy!

Message begins:

“Hi, John Doe (name changed) here.

Here’s a little thing I’ve noticed recently…

Now, I’ve learned amazing things in my 10 years in the home business industry. Life-changing things.

Here’s a quirky one that makes me giggle.

It’s this…

A. People loves to reference ‘Think and Grow Rich’ as their favorite book.
B. Most of those same people have never read it.

Now, I’m not here to judge you if you haven’t. (It truly is gold.)

Sure, the language in it is a little stiff, but the principles are what success are based on. Hands down. No fluff or filler.

So, here’s my time-saving gift for you…
All of Napoleon Hill’s Success Principles…in one place.

http://his product.com

Print it out and put it on your wall.

Rock and roll,
John Doe (name changed to protect the innocent)
Direct: XXX-XXX-XXXX (someone after my own heart, he puts his phone number on his stuff!)

http://XXXXXXXXXXXX.net

P.S. I live [X] blocks away from Michael Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and It’s been a complete mad house over here. Proof that one person CAN absolutely impact the entire world. The next person to do it could be you. ”

Message ends!

My response:

I wonder why it makes you giggle? Is it just that they haven’t read it or that they are “faking it until they make it,” something the “gurus” have told them to do? Clearly, many of the “fakers” don’t have a clue about the real power of the work…but then I wonder how many “gurus” do either?

I first read Think and Grow Rich after watching Zig Ziglar and J.Douglas Edwards speak years ago, decades ago! It is still with me. The real power of the book in the underlying theme, the unwritten lesson. Like you mentioned in your comment about Michael Jackson, and the impact one person can have on the world, Napoleon Hill was fortunate enough to have a mentor, someone who was wiling to say “Do this… and I will show you the way!” Andrew Carnegie changed Napoleon Hill’s life. Or at least Carnegie provided the vehicle for Napoleon Hill to change his own life. Infinitely more valuable!

Carnegie didn’t say, “Do this and I will show you the way. by the way, that will be 5 easy payments of $497! Or one payment of $97 and, by the way, here’s this one time offer!”

Carnegie said, “Spend the time, do the research, and I will reward your efforts with something of far greater value than money!”

I wonder how many Napoleon Hills are out there without the money for the upsell and the irresistible one-time-offer? A “guru” willing to get paid based on the if-come? Ha! Never happen! Not with the current crop of mentors and “gurus!”

Interestingly, it is precisely the pursuit of riches that most readers take from the work, the main idea or lesson. Yet Hill clearly states that is not where the real treasure lies!

I guess I was just perplexed by the “giggle” comment. Contrary to a “giggle,” I am almost saddened when I think of how profound an impact the work has had and how so many people have it dead wrong!

John

Response ends!

He Messaged Back!

“Good call, brother John. I should have worded this better. My giggle is the head shaking, “you guys are missing out” kind.

My life has been transformed by Hill’s principles. It seems ludicrous to me that people will reference the book as a favorite, but have never cracked it open.

And like you, it drives me nuts when someone thinks buying one ebook will quickly and easily show them the way. The lessons are learned in doing the thing. And man, doesn’t is seem like all our best stories are from those times we fumbled through it?

Loved hearing your piece of mind.

I saw Zig one time live. Boy, he is a master of owning the stage. (I also get a kick out of when he refers to his wife as “The Redhead.”)

John Doe”

His Response Ends!

I Followed Up!

Well said! Have a great night!

More like a chuckle than a giggle. I know what you mean now.

I think the key is in the title! “THINK” and grow rich! Most people are simply absent the “THINK” in the message, focusing solely on the riches.
Of course, they will never get it, the message or rich…but that’s what makes the world go around, I guess!

Take care!

John

Response Ends!

I added a couple of comments within the first response but it is 95% as written. The second part is 100% us! I wonder what Napoleon Hill or for that matter Andrew Carnegie would have to say about the interpretation many have applied as gospel? The gospel according to Napoleon Hill! I would be willing to bet the man is spinning in his grave. If Napoleon Hill could, I will bet you he would shout from the tree tops, for all to hear:

“You’ve got it all wrong!”

The fact is, many do have it wrong! There are key words many readers seem to have missed or simply do not get!

Words like:

Pursuit
Conceive
Achieve
Believe
Burning Desire
Mastermind

and so many more!

Think about the words in the context he used them, in the context of the day! The history of the times! Not how we shape them but how they were intended…as a guide, a process, and a journey!

There is no ultimate destination, other than death!

Success, and in fact life is all a process, a discovery process, a lifetime PURSUIT!

Success is the pursuit of a worthwhile or worthy ideal or goal!

The goal is simply a stepping stone to the next goal and the next worthwhile pursuit!

A goal is a single event in a lifetime full of PURSUITS, endeavors, journeys, and processes!

Riches are not a destination, they may be a reflection of how effectively you translate action into dollars, time into money. But they are in fact only a reflection, and not a very good one!

The destination? The goal? To live life fully and without remorse! Full of hope, and faith (in something, anything!), and love!

A successful life as one individual sees it, may not be a successful life for another. If success is viewed in terms on dollars?

Mother Teresa died a failure!

Success is the worthwhile pursuit of an ideal, a QUEST! When you look back upon your life, that is when:

The Quest is Revealed!

Will you die serene and fulfilled, as Mother Teresa did?

Or will you die one of the richest people on the planet, whose final words were:

“I blew it!” Sam Walton

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
http://johnzajaros.com
http://ultimateinternetimage.com
and about 30 more!

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• 

The debate continues into what constitutes a social media expert or “guru?” Internet marketing, in all of its manifestations is incomplete without including a social media strategy. As Internet marketing and in fact all online business changes, social media marketing is one of the fastest growing facets of entrepreneurship. What defines an expert is one of the central debates in all of Internet marketing. This article is Part III in a series on social media and Part II into this specific debate.

What qualifies an individual as an expert, mentor, coach or, my least favorite of all terms, a guru? It’s a funny thing, almost dialectic, of sorts. A thesis, an antithesis, leading to a synthesis. On one end we have the newbie expert (there’s an oxymoron!), the poser, the wanna-be faking it until they make it. This individual is clearly the thesis, positioned at one end of a spectrum with no clear rules or boundaries. On the other end, we have the indignant, self-righteous, perhaps justifiably so, true expert, the expert who feels he or she has earned his stripes on the field of battle, so to speak, and cannot believe all these wanna-bes and posers are running around here and there attempting to dispense knowledge only HE (notice the caps) should be privileged enough to share! On the middle ground, the ground no one wants to inhabit for too long, neither newbie nor guru, a no-man’s land with absolutely no power or credibility, no chance of making it and no chance or being heard, stand the vast multitudes. A transitionary state from newbie to guru no one wants to be stuck in for too long.

There is a conundrum here, a puzzle to beat all puzzles. How do you get from thesis to antithesis, how do we reconcile the two and come to a synthesis? I know this analogy is a stretch…but work with me here. It is kind of like the kid with a lot of moxie but no experience, you just know he has it, that intangible it everyone wishes they have just a small amount of. You know he’ll make a heck of a salesman but he has no experience, plenty of street smarts but no actual nuts and bolts experience to back up his application into the bigs. Do you hire him? If so, what sort of accounts does he work on until ready for the mythic 7Figureland client? Do you throw him right in and have him consulting with your prize accounts or do you place him under someone else’s wing and allow him to shut up and listen, learn, and perhaps role play a bit until he is ready to get his feet wet.

On the other hand you have a nice young couple, just had their first child, he has a great job, perhaps just out of the Army as a first lieutenant, but they have no credit and little savings. Are you going to lend them money? No actual credit experience, just a lot of promise! In both instances, we have people who, given the right opportunity and the right set of circumstances, may prove themselves worthy of the trust they need, and perhaps deserve, to rise to the appropriate station or level…or just get that new house!

So, what does this have to do with social media, LinkedIn, dialectics, and conundrums?

Glad you asked! It’s really very simple.

How do you get from A to Z without going through the rest of the alphabet?

How do you get experience without someone allowing you to play at actually being a salesman?

How did the ball player get to the minors, much less the big league, The Show?

How do you buy your dream house if you can’t get a signature loan or your first credit card?

How many baseball players never, not ever, make it out of the minors?

How many college football players never go pro but end up coaches, or life insurance salesmen from Lima, Ohio? Sorry Lima life insurance salesmen!

How many coaches are there at all levels?

What makes one coach NCAA Division One stuff and another a DIII coach barely winning a game? Ha! If you can answer that in ten words or less we can all retire!

The fact is, there is no simple answer and there is no right or wrong path, no clear-cut, proven highway to becoming a social media expert either, because, in my humble opinion, there are no experts!

Get that?

There are no real experts!

This is all too new, it’s kind of like spending 4 years at a prestigious university to learn how to write in C or how to use reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in DNA processing, and you find out that as soon as you have mastered the technique, the language, it has all changed, evolved into something altogether new and different. Thankfully for a lot of DNA scientists, they haven’t experienced that quite yet, at least not to any level they can’t keep up with and adjust to, and they are a pretty bright group, so they will adapt. C on the other hand? Well…

And that brings me to my final point. Bet you thought I would never get here! Many of the wanna-bes learning to spread their wings on Twitter and facebook and the other social media platforms, at least the ones who stick, the people who aren’t part in the 60% who quit, because 60% of the people quit everything, they are learning, they are playing little league on their way to the bigs…maybe. And, just like any newbie knows, the best way to learn something is to teach it! In teaching others, a social media experiment of sorts is taking place. How great is it that these people are practicing on each other? The strong are rising to the top and the weak, quitting (the 60% again). All the time, the strong are sharpening their skills, not on some 7 figure client but on each other, to the benefit of whom?

Yup! All of us!

We all benefit from this laboratory, this social media and social media marketing (an oxymoron) experiment.

Are there casualties? Some, but not many! You see, people are a lot smarter than most other people give them credit for being, at least when it comes to sniffing out a phony, a false prophet, a wanna-be-but-not-quite-guru. And yes, there are a lot of phonies…but there are also a lot of very bright people cutting their teeth and spreading their wings, you gotta love these little clichés, while all the time doing it in a social media marketing laboratory, and not on some 5 star, 7 figure client. They learn, they grow, they prosper, they quit, they evolve, they adapt, and they learn some more! Sounds like it’s right up my alley, sounds like evolution and natural selection at work in a social medium…

Sounds like life!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

This is more about a debate over who is and who is not entitled to call themselves a Web 2.0, social media, and/or social media marketing “guru!” As Internet marketing continues to evolve, and new online businesses emerge, with the changing landscape come a new breed of entrepreneur, a group of entrepreneurs attempting to establish themselves in what reminds me of a cross between a high school clique and an old-boy network. We all know by now what I think of the term guru by now, so add that to the mix and I hope this makes for interesting reading!

I read an article earlier today entitled Social media Experts and the curse of a little bit of knowledge. The article was more of a cross between a blog post and a Dennis Miller-esque rant. In fact, the last two lines of the post read as follows: “A little bit of knowledge is dangerous…but not to them, to you! Rant ends…” Interesting! I was immediately drawn in to the post, as I have been known to rant a time or two in the past. Interestingly, this post held the promise of something more because I actually understood both sides of the issue, more complex than many I have come across lately. The article, notice I have referred to it both ways, post and article, presented an interesting position, and not an uncommon one given the emergence of social media and social media marketing.

Social media, in its various forms and manifestations, its complexity and myriad of contradictions, remains relatively virgin territory, yet to be fully understood and defined. Interestingly, here was a fellow colleague, a second generation connection on LinkedIn I had just invited into my network, a fellow member in two different networking groups, and he was set off by the subject matter enough to rant about it…

I had to know more!

The crux of his argument is this:

As he has explored social media in greater depth, in all of its manifestations, its Web 2.0 platforms, and into online marketing in general, he has discovered a disconcerting number of charlatans.

Disconcerting? Disconcerting is my word because he was, after all, ranting…wasn’t he? The thought that immediately crossed my mind was…

Welcome to the Real World! Pretty close to the title of an MTV show, isn’t it? However, as I thought about what he was saying, the issue took a different shape in my mind and I felt it necessary to respond.

Before I do, allow me to complete the picture for you. The author, a very thoughtful and by all accounts a very nice guy, made note of the fact that many, if not all of the individuals currently passing themselves off as social media experts are not; not even close. In fact, the majority of Web 2.0 experts are more akin to the amateur magician at a little kid’s birthday party, my analogy not his, they have learned a few parlor tricks, some slight-of-hand gimmicks, they mimic a few gurus, and then they go on the dog and pony show circuit offering ebooks, teleseminars, webinars, and ecourses to the unsuspecting masses.

The author is quick to note certain gurus, like Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan, among others are not included in his rant, a rant more focused on the newly emerging underclass on Twitter and even LinkedIn…

“spouting their thoughts and opinions as if they mattered.”

Wow! That was a bit severe and judgmental, don’t you think? I did! But, as noted above, this is a fellow LinkedIn group member and a second generation connection, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and read on. But then I came back to it…

“spouting their thoughts and opinions as if they mattered.”

Man! Well, to each their own I suppose, so I read on. The author went on to warn of a real danger. Real danger? My interest was piqued! My colleague then proceeded to provide a loosely formatted resume, pointing to business successes he has had and alluding to the power of LinkedIn as a tool for making valuable connections. Of course the following question immediately came to mind:

Who determines how an individual engages in social media?

And then:

Who and what determines who and what a guru is?

And of course the ultimate question in my mind, a biggie if you have read any of my previous articles or watched any of my videos, is this:

Are we skirting the edge of the hall monitor syndrome here?

The author then offers truly good advice, the you get what you pay for kind, along with a warning of sorts. Naturally, mentors, coaches and advisors should have track record and we really don’t want to put a lot of faith in someone who is untested, or do we?

Well, and read that well as if you are reading a really drawn out one. Kind of like, wwweeeeelllll!

Because it really isn’t as clear cut as that, is it?

Imagine if Penn State hadn’t hired Joe Paterno or Michael Jordan’s high school coach hadn’t worked with the kid he just cut, giving him a second chance to show is championship mettle in his junior year of high school. Imagine Tony Robbins as a 20-something kid in a broken down old car attempting to preach to the masses! Imagine Napoleon Hill without an enlightened Andrew Carnegie! Imagine if you hadn’t been given an opportunity to show you would pay your bills if given credit, do your first job effectively. Imagine having to be an expert from the start, long before you were ready to be? Who would ever learn, who would ever try if from the outset if it was determined by the powers-that-be (you know those guys, don’t you?) wouldn’t let you do anything or be anyone until you had the experience to do it, to be it. An interesting conundrum, isn’t it?

The bottom line?

The real danger is in being too restrictive in our thinking, not allowing others to add to a field by their inclusion in it, rather than their exclusion for lack of experience. Once again, who determines when someone is a bona fide expert? Who establishes the standards every wanna-be guru should aspire to? Is there a social media guru school, and where do I enroll? The answer? There most certainly is a guru school, it is Web 2.0 University. The various colleges are Twitter, facebook, MySpace, YouTube, StumbleUpon, and a myriad of other platforms and applications, all offering undergraduate and advanced degrees, and all dependent on three things:

Determination, perseverance, and work!

Ask Dan Kennedy to talk to you about the four letter word W…O…R…K if you doubt its importance! Social media, online business, internet marketing, and the rest are about taking action and applying the lessons learned daily. Yes, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and the rest…the Web 2.0 University of Hard Knocks! Enroll today!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

Internet marketing and social media have become inextricably linked, you cannot engage in one without engaging in the other, if you hope to achieve optimum results. Yet, in the zeal to chase the buck, by way of social media, many have corrupted the process and actually invite failure in doing so…the Internet marketing version of social media suicide.

I heard an interesting phrase the other day while doing research for a new venture and it’s been with me ever since. The term? “Social Media Mugging!” I don’t remember where I heard it, probably should have written it down. The funny thing about it is I get so much of this stuff in the course of any one day, who would have known that such an apparently mundane phrase would stick and grow into, and take on a life all its own in the course of just a few days. The phrase brings up some interesting images, doesn’t it? The most interesting thing about it is that it is right on the money in a large number of instances and for a surprising number of different social media platforms. Sadly, in an attempt to convert friends, followers, connections, and the like into dollars, many social media applications and platforms have been overrun by a phenomenon called “Social Media Mugging,” something I also refer to as “linking up,” particularly as it relates to Twitter. In the last 24 hours, I have even envisioned producing, directing, and starring in a YouTube video complete with mask, toy gun, and a gruff voice threatening people to “Click my link…or else!”

A bit much? Perhaps, but just barely!

It is interesting how the landscapes of the various social media platforms have been reshaped, even corrupted in the view of many, in an attempt to convert followers to dollars. In fact, with the emergence of the various marketing groups on facebook, it seems all but overrun by marketers, of late. The facebook I joined, the one I connected with my high school friends on, has all but disappeared and many of my high school friends along with it. The height of irony? I was just contracted by a client to do a study on the feasibility of converting friends to clients for local business on facebook. I have my own ideas about the outcome but the study intrigues me because it is symptomatic of the pathology now affecting much of social media…greed.

Greed and the 1980s Revisited

Greed! The word harkens back to the 1980s and Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen in the move Wall Street. Michael Douglas, to a board of directors and stockholders, claiming for one and all that “Greed is good! Greed is right!” Perhaps in a sense greed is good, but as the movie clearly illustrates, it is also corrupting, and ultimately counterproductive, even downright bad. Yet greed drives much of business and its corrupting influence is manifest throughout social media and what is now referred to as social media marketing.

Almost an oxymoron, isn’t it? Social Media Marketing!

To resist the hall monitor urge in all of us, I have tried to look at this from both sides of the equation. You remember the hall monitors from middle school, junior high school for those of you old enough to remember junior high schools, and high schools? The “I’m gonna report you” type of so-and-so everyone hated. You know what I mean, the hall monitor as the classic example of “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?” We’ve all witnessed a bit of the syndrome here and there on the various social media sites like Twitter, facebook, and some of the others. The typical response is to first verbally and publicly reprimand, a figurative b#t*hslap of sorts of you will, then they unfollow, and finally they block you, just so you know they disapprove in the most strenuous way possible your sinful ways. It is more of the social media version of “I’m gonna tell” combined with a temper tantrum because you haven’t conformed to their way of thinking, their idealized vision of a social media utopia in which everyone freely associates and no one seeks any sort of gain other than the fellowship of mankind, or womankind.

Social Media Nirvana, in other words!

Fortunately, social media is really a variety of different expressions all mixed into one big ball, like a microcosm of the world we live in; and yes, complete with hall monitor types, greed, self-serving and selfless behavior, and much, much more. The fact is, social media is about as close to “all things to all people” as anything can get. The nice part about it? As facebook, Twitter, MySpace, friendfeed or any of the rest change, evolve, are overrun by marketers or simply take a new shape, filling a new niche in the vast and ever changing world of social media, other social media platforms evolve and fill the void. Ironically, we speak of Twitter or facebook as if they represent social media in total, when in fact they are only a part, albeit a large part, of a very diverse whole that includes video, social bookmarking, podcasts, applications for the applications, and a variety of other expressions and platforms.

Twave and Bing!

With the emergence of Google’s new Wave and Microsoft’s Bing, who is to say where this will all end, clearly this is just beginning, particularly in light of the suggested Twave, a Twitter + Wave synthesis. Ultimately, social media is as much about business as it is about being social. Right or wrong, that is the reality, a reality here to stay. That being the case, the fact remains “linking up” and “Social Media Mugging” are counterproductive, they do not work! I would suggest that as an income producing strategy, social media is not all many envisioned it to be, it does not convert well, at least initially. Social media is about building a brand, relationships, connections, friends, followers, all the label we use to define the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and information between participants and not about conversions.

Social Media Mugging!

What do I mean? OK, real quick! Let’s say you follow someone on Twitter or they follow you, happens all the time, right? How many times before someone even says hello are they throwing a link in your face:

“Hi! How are you? Wanna buy something?”

Or worse yet? You follow someone and they do not follow you back, which is their right, but they still cannot resist the opportunity to throw a link your way!

“Hi! How are you? No, I won’t follow you back but wanna buy something?”

Now that is colossal nerve! You are not good enough for me to bother following you back but I’m gonna give you a shot anyway!

“Wanna buy something?”

Amazingly nervy, isn’t it? Yet it happens every day, all day. Those people go to the bottom of the heap…forever!

Linking up?

You know the type, don’t you? Ever post, every tweet (still can’t believe I use that term!) is:

“Wanna buy something?”

This individual never engages in a converstation, never makes a connection of any sort, just:

“Look what I have to offer!”

Or

“Look what I did!”

Or

“Look what I posted!”

And the culmination:

“Wanna buy something?”

The “I”s have it! It is all about “I” and not about “we!”

The ultimate result? Social media suicide….Cuz it ain’t social media!

Social media marketing is in fact an oxymoron, the two do not fit. Social does not match up with marketing, the latter changes the dynamic of the former entirely. In a one to one relationship with the other, they are separate and distinct, one altering the other beyond recognition. Social media marketing is what the old-timers, like yours truly, used to call image building and now is referred to as branding or building your brand. If you attempt to “link up” too soon or too often, before an actual relationship, friendship, connection or following is built up, you will be unfollowed, blocked, or worse yet dismissed as irrelevant. In an environment where authority and relevance are considered to be of crucial importance, to be tagged as irrelevant and/or simply dismissed as such is a fate far worse than death; and, it is in fact social media marketing death and that equals failure in Internet marketing.

So, if you wish to commit social media suicide, the fastest way is through “Social Media Mugging” or “linking up” before connecting with, building upon, sharing ideas, thoughts, information…before becoming friends.

More to follow!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed Now Examines the Benefits of Social Media as an Inbound Marketing Strategy!

We hear about the demise of this Internet phenomenon and the death of that social media platform from various pundits and prognosticators as they attempt to sound intellectual or just in the know. We even hear about the death of various forms of advertising and marketing as various Internet “gurus” and self-appointed inbound marketing “experts” attempt to validate their lofty status in an effort to improve their brand and sound “in the know.” Lately, we have heard about the death of Twitter, with its high turnover rate and lack of retention, as high as sixty percent, the death of MySpace with the emergence of mini-blog phenomena, facebook and Twitter, and the death and rebirth of network marketing, with every Tom, Dick and Web Prosperity citing Donald, Robert, and Warren as their authorities.

In an attempt to lend credence to their shaky, often tenuous arguments, the various authorities point to this indicator and that metric while all the time keeping a close eye on what the herd is doing. The herd! To paraphrase Mark Twain who said it best, writing in his notebook of 1904, if you find yourself siding with the majority, it’s time to take a step back and think about the side you are on. In other words, it’s time to “pause and reflect.” Somewhat earlier, but on the same topic, Twain wrote in an unsent letter to Baynard Taylor, 1878, “When you set aside mere names & come down to realities, you find that we are ruled by a King just as other absolute monarchies are. His name is The Majority. He is mighty in bulk & strength…He rules by the right of possessing less money & less brains & more ignorance than the other competitor for the throne, The Minority. Ours is an Absolute Monarchy.” The herd effect or herd ethic is incredibly powerful when it comes to advertising and marketing, exponentially so when it comes to Internet marketing.

The social media marketing phenomenon is a complex and difficult puzzle, a conundrum, neither fully understood nor tested, social media is an excellent example of the herd effect in full stampede. There can be little doubt that social media marketing holds with it the promise of untold wealth, if properly applied, its strategy carefully mapped out and implemented. However, the rush to Internet social marketing gold has novice and “guru” alike maneuvering, clambering, and even elbowing for the ultimate prize, Internet marketing gold. Not unlike the California Gold Rush or the race to acquire the untold and forbidden wealth of China throughout history, entrepreneurs are engaged in the ultimate Internet gold rush, pursuing the riches promised, yet rarely achieved, as many as sixty percent, and perhaps many more, going home broke.

Twitter marketing is the most recent phenomenon in the Internet marketing derby for online riches. There are a myriad of products available to automate, optimize, and monetize the Twitter experience and more created daily. Industrious marketers have created plug-ins of all sorts and kinds. Designers have created amazing landing pages and Twitter backgrounds with incredible graphics and impressive visual effects, many offered at no charge. Of course there is usually an upsell, for just a small price. After all, what self-respecting Internet marketer would forget the upsell? Others have created automated tweet functions to happily tweet the day away completely on autopilot, I still can’t believe I use that word, “tweet.” Automated follow and unfollow applications are also available and make it possible to build massive followings, again on almost total autopilot. Twitter makes it almost imperative that members drop those pesky people who either fail to reciprocate and follow back or drop followers as soon as they reciprocate, a phenomenon called “pump and dump.” You see, Twitter applies a metric, a ratio of following to followers, and if the ration is off, “the powers that be” will stop a person from following anyone else until they achieve nirvana. Well, at least until they achieve Twitter balance, the Twitter version of ying and yang, The Tao of Twitter! Being cut off from following others, particularly for the spammers, is a kind of Twitter death. Since the new mini-blog marketing phenomenon is viewed by many as a numbers game, the more followers, the greater the audience. The greater the audience, the more clicks on the links embedded in each and every tweet; and, the more clicks, the more conversions. Ultimately, tweets with links lead to clicks, and the more clicks the more conversions; and, the more conversions, the more sales. Or does it?

Interestingly, the data does not support this supposition, the logical next-step that links lead to clicks, and clicks to conversions, and conversions mean sales. What many Twitter marketers are discovering, and perhaps this is one part of the reason why the retention is so low, is the tire-kicker phenomenon. What I refer to as the tire-kicker mentality is explained best as follows:

•Twitter followers tend to follow like-minded people, other Internet marketers, coaches, soccer moms, whomever.
•Twitter marketers are marketing to other marketers who are interested in self-education.
•Internet marketers (a.k.a., Twitter marketers) can get all the free education they need by. signing up for another’s offerings, taking full advantage of the free education and whitepaper resources.
•Internet marketers who find a good product will sign up as an affiliate and purchase it from themselves, rather than from the individual who initially referred them by way of the link in the original tweet.

The conversions and sales? Yes, sales are being made but, as many find out when offering Clickbank products, particularly Clickbank products offered to other Internet marketers, they are not being made by the individual initially responsible for the introduction of the product to the consumer. Additionally, most Internet marketing products, sold by other online businesses have little or no tracking capability if an individual decides to beat the system. The moral of the story? In this author’s opinion, the opportunities to make a living as an affiliate marketer, even with a sizeable following, are limited, at best. The reality? Multiple streams of income is still the best approach. Social media in and of itself, and twitter in particular, may offer advantages as part of a total marketing strategy but if you plan on making a living solely from this sort of income producing methodology, you may be in for a bit of a disappointment.

So, what are the alternatives? What solutions are there for the Internet marketer bent on making a living from social media? One solution? Don’t sell to Internet marketers. That’s right! Get out of the Internet marketing niche altogether and offer products to the public at large, those not actively engaged in online business. Another solution? Create your own product and offer that exclusively. If you create a product that solves an immediate problem or does something better than a current application does, you can then offer that product to anyone, given the right advertising and marketing strategies. A third solution? Create your own company offering a unique service or one you feel you can do better, cheaper or with a different spin than the current online businesses are. There are other strategies for making a significant income online, and there are opportunities to cash in on the social media marketing gold rush, just not in the way many envision and not as quickly and not at the click of a link We will discuss the real value of social media and other social media marketing platforms in the next article in this series.

The transition for the old to the new, from an entirely “outbound” marketing strategy to an online focus has resulted in the formation of a new company, The Ultimate Internet Image, with offices in several states and more coming. The need for personalized marketing strategies, incorporating a synergy between the best of traditional offline marketing techniques and innovative and revolutionary new inbound, Internet marketing strategies have resulted in a company with one goal, excellence! For more information stop by our new blog at:

http://www.UltimateInternetImage.com

Russell Brunson’s Absolutely Amazing 27 Day Challenge! Just cover S&H and you will have invested in a program worth thousands! This is as good an offer as I’ve seen from DotComSecrets…don’t miss this one!

Marc Joyner’s Simpleology will do what the name implies and so much more! This program will focus that energy to a knife point and you will experience productivity like never before! The best part? It’s totally free! That’s right, free…always! No trial period, no hitch, just free and absolutely awesome! Sign up today!

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and, if you are interested in pursuing the offer I mentioned to work along side me, and along with the rest of the Ultimate Internet Image Mastermind Group…and the business that goes along with it? Contact me at the email below!

Best wishes and I am available for personal consultation any time!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

For additional articles: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Zajaros

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• 

This is an actual transcript of a chat I had with a friend on facebook about Internet marketing in general, and and my newest Internet marketing venture. We also discussed my online business building mentoring program.

Here is part of the discussion:

May 17
2:20am “Casey” (not his real name)
Hey John, you able to chat now?

Today
1:55am
facebook noted that Casey changed his profile picture.

2:51amCasey
Hey John!

2:54amJohn
Hi Casey! What’s up! Just about to call it quits for the night.

2:54amCasey
sweet, we have to find a time to network and chat?

2:54amJohn
A little bit. I have been at it for 16 hours straight but what’s up?

2:55amCasey
just wondering about your marketing and what forms of marketing you do and stuff like that? Doesn’t have to be specific, can be just brief, can you help me?

2:58amJohn
Sure “Casey” I am more than happy to help in any way I can. Basically, I use just about everything for marketing. I focus a lot on social media, particularly Twitter and facebook, but I also use YouTube quite a bit. I have about 30 blogs in different niches and have just started a new company, as you know, where I am taking key people on, mentoring them, starting them out in their own businesses and then helping them build them it. It’s fun!

2:58amCasey
wow, sounds like a lot of fun

2:59amJohn
It is challenging and I enjoy the people, helping people who have been ripped off and/or are struggling to make it. They appreciate it and I can feel good about what I do for a living.

3:00amCasey
do you get paid to help/coach people like me or is it something you do just to help out?

3:03amJohn
No. We split whatever we make for the first six months or until they don’t need me any more to succeed, then I back off. They end up with something like a franchise and a business worth a lot of money and generating a significant income. We all benefit and it doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg to get going, basically a web hosting account and a domain name…and some business cards. That’s it! Oh yeah, an autoresponder. So it is attractive for people who aren’t afraid to work but have very limited funds.

3:09amCasey
so you just set it up and help them and then you go on to something else?

3:15amJohn
Well it is a little more complex than that but not much and they never have to pay me hundreds of dollars up front or anything like that, the business pays for the set up, their income, my assistance, and when they are ready to “cut the chord,” so to speak, I step back and then I am around if they need me or they can continue to be part of a company that is already doing amazing things! Then they have an awesome business, I have trained them from front to back, and it’s theirs for life!

3:21amCasey
wow, can I be a part of this or is it already too late?

3:24amJohn
Sure! We need to talk a bit more, so I can get to know you and see if this is the right fit for both of us but I am happy to explore the possibility if you are interested in getting some help with you Internet marketing business and aren’t afraid of some real work? This is a merging of off-line marketing and online techniques. We are the only ones I know of who are going about business in this way, so the firm is exploding and the interest is amazing!

3:27amCasey
sweet, how do I get started?

3:29amJohn
Not so fast! There are still some things I want to know, like how committed you are to making a change in your life…because I am going to be totally committed to you for the next few months, even years! I will send you my email address and we can talk later today. Do you have Skype? Send me you information to excellencepadforward@gmail.com and we will talk early this afternoon. OK?

At that point we said good night and Casey is going to contact me later today. And that’s fine, we will see. I asked him if I could use this conversation and he said “sure!” So, here is another perspective on what I am doing with one of my other companies…and what I am willing to discuss with anyone wishing to make a real change in their Internet marketing strategy and in their lives!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

We all wonder what it takes to be the best, to be on top of the Internet marketing heap! The secrets to being an online business sensation are perplexing to many, elusive to most, and rewarding beyond measure to the chosen few!

So, what does it take to be successful? Well, first we need to define success, and that’s for another day, but for now we need to discuss that all-important trait you must have or cultivate if you are ever to succeed at internet marketing. The trait is actually a constellation of abilities that I will reveal more completely in the video below. For even more input, email, call or Skype me anytime.

Ultimately, you need one thing more than any other single component or trait. If you have the ability to build this one component, you will succeed when most around you fail. This is not a pep talk and this is not an easy business. If you want someone to give you a pep talk, talk to one one of the many “gurus” out there so adept at talking you out of your money, not once but many times!

One time offers, upsells, and all the rest!

If you want the truth, from someone who has built businesses that have succeeded, and others that have not…and learned from both kinds of experiences, then enter and learn! I don’t have all of the answers but I have enough of them to ensure your success, and mine! By helping you, I can help myself, and we can both benefit! I am not building an online empire and I am not selling someone else’s product unless I use it myself…and believe in it! I am looking for a small group to MASTERMIND with! Are you looking to go it alone or are you smart enough to realize that two or more minds when focused together create another, greater mind, one we can share and use collectively to build a successful online business.

On or way to The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed!

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter! We are also having the drawing on April 30, 2009 at noon!

John Zajaros
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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•