Twitter, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, and Internet Marketing Seem to Be Inextricably Linked!

This is the first in a series on Twitter applications, tools, and their usage, both in a purely social sense and in a marketing context. It is my hope that by the end of this series you will have at your disposal a hole new set of tools and applications, and a clearer understanding of the true nature of Twitter and how it fits into the Internet marketing landscape.

The world is a flutter over Twitter, it has emerged as the darling of social media and all of the Internet. There are a myriad of Twitter tools and applications available for novice and expert, alike. Or should I say “newbie” and “guru,” alike? Interestingly, the jargon of social media, in fact the lexicon of all Internet marketing seems to have accepted this rather broad [mis]use of the term “guru.” Be that as it may, Twitter is an undeniable hit and a social media platform that in this author’s opinion has yet to reach its full potential. The number of applications, tools, websites, articles, blogs, marketing strategies, and advertising opportunities centered around and focused on this latest phenomenon are absolutely mind-boggling. In this article, the first in a series, and future articles we will discuss a few of the more popular Twitter usage platforms. While this article will focus on the most used, and most accepted of the Twitter usage platforms, single and/or multiple, Twitter itself, subsequent articles will reveal several remarkably innovative tools just now beginning to emerge, taking their place in what some refer to as the Twitterverse!

Twitter as a stand alone platform!

The first application or platform we will discuss is of course the most obvious, Twitter itself. Remarkably, for all of the alternative tools and applications available, Twitter offers an impressive array of features without ever leaving the nest. By now we are all aware of the 140 character limit, and while there is an application available which makes it possible to double the limit, most of us have become quite comfortable using 140 characters by way of abbreviations, contractions, and other Twitter-esque codes, enabling us to get our messages or “tweets” to one another.

Trending Topics

“Trending Topics” is just one tool made available without ever leaving the front page. The “Trending Topics” tool allows one to view, at a glance, the most popular topics of the moment. Interestingly, most topics have very little to do with Internet marketing, at least directly.
The search feature, usually found on the sidepanel, at least on the more basic, traditional page, allows Twitterers or Tweeple depending on who you listen to, to type in any keyword and, regardless of whether you are following the individual or not, you immediately get up to date tweets, relevant to that keyword. There are a number of applications using various approaches to the search, various Twitter search engines, but the very simple search application is more than adequate for most Tweeple!

The Profile Page

The profile page allows an individual, any individual, to check out at a glance what any other Twitterer has been tweeting about, as well as refreshing their mind about their own tweets. Not only that, it also provides, in most cases the name, location, web address, and a short biography about the individual. The profile page also includes the number of followers and those people who are being followed by the person. Finally, the profile page also provides the number of updates for any given individual, indicating how active, in a very broad sense, the individual is or has been, and their last tweet. With the information on this page, you can tell what a person is focusing on, how often and at what times of the day or night they are most likely to be on Twitter and tweeting, and how many and whom they are following; and, vice versa. Actually, this is a great deal of information and can be very useful when deciding whether or not to follow or follow back.

Find People

The next tool Twitter offers its users is the “Find People” feature. Interestingly, this tool has a number of uses, beyond simply locating a specific individual. Like the search application, the “Find People” tool may be used to find everyone who has mentioned a given keyword, when they have talked about it, and to whom. Beyond that, Tweeple can then see who those individuals are tweeting with and if those Twitterers are also tweeting about the same topic to others, going deep into another’s list of followers and across lists. The keywords can be anything from back pain to the Iran elections, the results are the same, identifying possible followers, Tweeple with like interests. With this information you can decide whether or not to follow someone, simply offer a suggestion to help them or the maybe answer a question, perhaps make a comment about an observation they made, thus enhancing your authority, “your brand” in the Twitterverse!

Setting and Connections

Finally, one of the newest features or at least the one the social media phenomenon has enhanced greatly of late is the “Connections” feature, within the “Settings.” Twitter has added several tools and applications that not only enhance your search abilities but also allow you to follow others easily and to unfollow faster, as well. Many of the applications and tools in “Connections” are designed to enhance your ability to connect with other Tweeple with like interests, track current trends, and also advertise yourself and your services across the Twitterverse. I would definitely recommend FlockToMe, Twibes, and Tweeple pages. In fact, any of the tools listed on this page with help you build a nice following, and free!

Does Twitter Pay?

Twitter has taken the Internet by storm. Social media is the darling of the Internet and social media marketing the new brass ring everyone is reaching for. Social media marketing may in fact be an oxymoron, as stated previously. Interestingly, social media, for all its recent press and attention, is still something of a conundrum, a paradox even. While many believe there is wealth in social media and particularly in Twitter, I believe the jury is still out. Ploked just announced that Dell’s announcement of 3 million dollars in sales, attributed to Twitter, is validation that the social media giant is now a legitimate marketing vehicle. I am not so sure. In this series of articles, we will discuss the various applications and tools, particularly the really cool ones; and there are some awesome ones!

The $3,000,000 Question!

We will also spend some time analyzing the state of social media and attempt to get a handle on such assertions as those made by Ploked, Mashable, and others. Because that is actually the 3 million dollar question, isn’t it, “Does social media pay?” And beyond that: “Does Twitter pay?” In this author’s opinion, the data while suggestive is by no means conclusive, and may be misleading. We will see in subsequent articles, and videos, in this series on social media.

We will look for your tomorrow, as we continue this discussion!

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

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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

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