The best social media network to use ?

Just recently, someone asked me: What is the best social media network to use to market my real estate business?

The answer is simple.  The best social media network to use is the social media network that most of your clients/customers are using . . . easy huh? 

But besides this obvious answer, seriously think about your business and your industry.  Which social media network would be the best tool to promote your business?  

Let's just say you are in the business of music . . . Soundcloud or any social network that features audio and allows your music to be played easily should be the social network you should focus on.  

Let's say your business is real estate, you should look at social media networks that allow you to feature pictures or video of your properties, which would be maybe Pinterest, or Google+ or Instagram.  

Are you a consultant?  LinkedIn groups or Facebook pages would be the logical tool to highlight, feature and sell your consulting services to an audience interested in your topic.

But, more importantly then finding the right social media network to amass an audience, when you are beginning your online marketing efforts you should focus on developing your audience on ONE social media network.  

Let me explain the logic of my method: when you focus on one network you reduce the changes of being overwhelmed by social media tasks.  Also, you will have a much greater success in developing an engaged audience that will follow you anywhere.  Why is an engaged audience that will follow you so important? Because if you have an engaged and loyal audience you can direct them to other social media networks and accounts you will open in the future.  

Let's just say you have worked hard and smart and developed a large audience of 3,000 followers on Twitter.  Great, but you have a real estate business and featuring your business on Pinterest would be much more suitable for your business.  On Pinterest you would be able to feature photos of your latest properties for sale and even feature a video tour or two. Because you developed a loyal following of 3,000 people on Twitter, it would be a simple matter of you opening a Pinterest account, pinning your photos and videos of properties and then going back to Twitter and letting your audience know that they can "view" some of your properties on your new Pinterest account!  Wha-la, an instant Pinterest audience.

But don't be an amateur social media user, the point is not to acquire numbers . . . 5,000 followers, 1,000 connections, 10,000 likes mean nothing! The real key to success on any social media network is the interaction you have with your audience.  Truly, you should focus on acquiring an audience on the social networking platform that you enjoy visiting and using -- because you will be visiting this site often to talk to your "people."  The key to success is to have conversations with your audience.  Responding to comments, questions, concerns are key to developing a loyal audience of potential clients. 

So, in summary:

1.  Use the social media network that your potential clients love to use (your audience is there, you just have to let them know that you are there to help them);

2.  Focus on developing an audience on one social media network before venturing onto others when you first start out (focus your efforts);

3.  The point is to be available to your potential clients and easily engage with them no matter what social media platform you use.

 Good luck in your endeavors! 


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Sometimes, all you have to do is ASK!

We are so afraid of being rejected that we completely overlook, avoid, refuse to do the simplest thing toward gaining our success.  What would that simple thing be?  The art form called: Asking.

Have you thought about simply asking?  Opening a business and you want customers? Have you thought about calling around and asking people to be your customers?  Want to be a singer or you have some other performance art to share? Have you thought of asking an art gallery or a talent show host if you can perform for them?  Simply asking can be one of the most powerful things you can do and you will be surprised with the results you get.

Clearly a lot of people are not getting far in their goals and dreams because they just refuse to ask.  In their minds they have already rehearsed all refusals and rejections they will receive. They have also convinced themselves that they have already been refused and rejected. For example:

A friend of mine became manager of a pet clinic, a place where they spay and neuter animals.  She's great at the job.  One day, she looked at the payment sheet (which has client information, how they wish to pay for services, etc.) and asked her staff why there was no donation portion to the sheet.  The clinic was a non-profit and most non-profits have donation opportunities on every slip of paper a client gets  because asking for donations is usually a primary source of revenue for nonprofits.  

The staff gave her many reasons -- and granted, they were pretty valid reasons -- why they didn't have a donation offer on the payment slip.  A few of the reasons were:
(1) They were working in a "depressed economic" area and the people can barely afford the service none-the-less a donation;
(2) It might put people off as begging;
(3) In the past, no one donated.

My friend reprinted the customer payment sheet with the request for a donation clearly printed on the bottom. She told her staff not to worry about pushing the request, just let the form do the asking. Within two months, the place pulled in a couple of thousand of dollars in donations, just because the company asked for a donation on a slip of paper!  

The technique and art of asking can be applied everywhere.  However, be careful, because there are three (3) keys of success to asking.  

(1) Ask with no expectation.  

I mean that, don't put weight into the request. Don't put your emotion onto it, your anxiety, your eagerness, your fear . . . that's wasted energy.  Look at it this way, it's just a question, a sound, a thought.  Keep the energy around your question as light as a thought.  Ask and don't expect a positive or negative result.  Basically, ask and move on.  If they are willing, great!  If they are not, no problem maybe someone else is willing or they will be willing another day.

(2) Ask in a creative and kind way.  

Recently I realized that I had a lot of famous people and organizations that I follow on Twitter.  I really enjoy their tweets and I've been following them for months and (some of them) years.  And it occurred to me that maybe they would follow me back if I did something outrageous like ASK them to follow me back.  Well, I knew this was Twitter and posts go fast, I knew that I needed an attention-getter, so I created this little meme:

I sent this to a few people and guess what, some of them actually followed me back!  They said they loved my little kitty meme.  Ha!  I'm gaining powerful and influential friends, you guys. The point here is, I asked and I asked in a way that gets attention.  If they follow me back, great!  If they don't, okay, I understand . . . I'll try again another day.  Which leads me to . . .


(3) Ask often and ask as often as it takes.

Have you ever heard the story about Les Brown, the motivational speaker and how he got a job at a radio station?  He was really young and had no experience. He went to the manager of the radio station asking if he could get a job.  The manager said there were no jobs for him.  So Les Brown went back everyday to that same manager, politely and enthusiastically asking for a job . . . he did this every day until the manager (tired of him coming around) hired him as an errand boy.  As an errand boy, Les Brown got to meet great celebrities like Diana Ross and Al Green and finally one day got the chance to go on air as a disc jockey.  Here was a man with no radio experience, no connections, no formal education, but he asked and he asked as often as it took to get to his goal.  

If Les Brown can do it and if I can do it, you can too.  So go out there, throw caution to the wind and ASK!



If you like this article, you should read:

• Little Things You Can Do to Help Someone
• Don't Wait to Have It to Live It
• Phenomenal Things That You Can Do
• Take the Chance and Live Your Dreams
• Slow Progress and Instantaneous Results
• Fail Your Way to Success
• One Bad Apple . . .

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Earn Quick Money: Make Money with Twitter

Most people can not possibly wrap their heads around the idea that you can make money from sharing  a comments, every few hours throughout the day, that takes at most 140 characters.  Well, only 7 years ago (Happy Birthday Twitter) most people could not wrap their heads around the idea that millions of people would enjoy SENDING 140 character blurbs called TWEETS through a social media platform, all day - every day.

But that's the wonderful thing about living in the Year 2013.  You love it!  And you can make money doing it.  Ain't life grand? 

An avid Tweeter with a large, active following can actually make a bit of money.  And celebritis have found that they can make quite a bit of money on Twitter.  You can too.  But, to make money with Twitter, you must first answer these questions:

1. Do you have a twitter account that is over 60 days old?  (YES? Go to Q2.; No? Wait for 60 days then go to Q2.)
2. Does your twitter focus on one topic?  (YES? Go to Q3; No? Begin tweeting about one topic for 30 days then go to Q3.)
3. Have you amassed a large number of followers interested in this topic? (YES? See below and follow directions; NO? Get to work getting more followers).

The key to gaining extra money through tweeting is having a large following on twitter.  A large following would be at least 25,000 active followers.  The key word here is active.  People on Twitter are notorious for getting on, creating an account, tweeting and following for a few week,s and then becoming in-active. This type of twitter follower is not going to help you in this endeavor. So, what I'm saying here is the key isn't how many followers you have, but how many followers that: retweet, click on links, favorite and tweet -- are active on Twitter.

To make money on twitter you need at least 10,000 active followers, which means that the average Tweeter user needs 50,000+ followers to make money via Twitter.  If you have less than 50,000 followers (like me) then you can only expect a bit of "pocket money" through twitter advertisements. If you want to know how to gain more twitter followers, I will be providing an article about safe ways to do this without getting your account frozen in a later article.  Stay tuned.

Of course you should be concerned about the balance between earning revenue (through ads) and providing good content to your followers.  Here is my advise: keep your tweeting ratio at one ad per seven tweets (1 per 7).  Keeping this ratio seems to be less annoying to followers. Any more ads and you are in danger of losing followers.

So, if you have 25,000 active followers and can provide 6 original, quality tweets per day, you may be able to make money tweeting by using these services.  I'm listing them in the order that I personally LIKE after thoroughly researching them.

1.  MyLikes -- ad platform can be used on Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube and your blog.  I like this option the best because I am a RETWEETER.  I look retweeting good content that my followers share and that I think my 18K followers should know about.  MyLikes works best with the way I tweet.  It's all about your influence.  You share ads and articles that MyLikes list and that you want to share.  Each ad is worth a certain amount (and they tell you up front).  Choose from thousands of ads and articles, they have a nice selections which makes me very, very happy.  Schedule the time the ad is tweeted to your account.  And wha-la it's done.  Payout weekly! 

2.  Sponsored Tweets -- ad service for Twitter that reminds me of Google Adsense.  You basically sign up, then set your price per click for ads you tweet.  They offer ads that would suit your audience (so carefully choose the keywords when they ask you for those). Choose the ads you tweet from a list of available ads. You get paid for every click on the ad you feature.  I'm just not happy with the idea that if you pay $1.99 per month, you will be placed at the top of the advertising list to receive more opportunities.

3.  Amazon and Associates -- Yes, I'm talking old school way for making money.  Amazon affiliate program allows you to create a special link for any product that they sell.  You can shorten the link (using bit.ly) and tweet it with a quick product description.  If someone buys this project through your link you earn a commission.  

4. Ad.ly -- You create a profile of your interests, then advertisers can choose your account to publicize a campaign.  You agree to send out a specific number of tweets on a specific schedule. The focus on celebrity twitter accounts and generally they want people with 100K followers or more.

5.  Pay4Tweet -- Sell your tweets, you set a price from $1 to $10,000. The website is very simple and easy to maneuver through. They have a great FAQ section and blog and I would recommend reading it before you do anything.

All these programs pay through PayPal. I'm looking into more way to make money from your Twitter account.  There seem to be a few more available like "Ad Per Tweets" and "Share Magnet".  I just haven't had time to research them thoroughly yet.  Come back to this blog post, I intend to update it with more options to make quick money at a later date.

 PERSPECTIVE: The quick money series on Telecommuting Millionaire? is to help you find funding so you can take your first steps to following your dreams.  After you read a few of my Quick Money articles, you will realize that Money is Everywhere. Don't use these quick money ideas, unless you understand that you are using these ideas  . . . not to pay off debt, not for extra salary, not for "fun money" . . . but as a stepping stone to financing the first steps of your dreams.  Dog-gone it, we are going to gain our financial freedom together! Read: Money is Everywhere to get the proper perspective.

 
Make Money From Scratch coffee mug (Google Affiliate Ad)

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Finding Blog Post Inspiration

I'm always looking for videos and podcasts that give me practical ways to do what I do.  Some of these videos are so damn good -- so dog-gone informational, that I just gotta share them with you.  This guy really gives some practical advice . . . not just in helping you create good blog posts, but also how to transition blog readers into clients.  Get a notepad ready, the ideas will be jumping through your head while you are watching this!

How to Get Clients and Customers By Blogging by ViralMarketingExpert

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Your Chance for Cool Stuff: A New Car!

I'm always on the look out for ways to get free stuff.  This one is a pretty good offer.  It makes me feel like I'm on Let's Make a Deal.

Can you believe it?

Just because you are a maniac on social media had have like 100,000 Twitter followers, megapoints on Reddit,  your Facebook page has 25,000 Likes, and your YouTube Channel has 10,000 subscribers, or something like that -- you little social media maniac . . . you could get a brand new car from FORD!

Here's the deal though.  Only 100 people will get the new car.  And you have to do like mad social media stuff (videos, reddit AMAs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram activities all year long). For your social media efforts you will get:  A brand new car, a 2014 fiesta, that you can KEEP dude!  They also supply you with: gas, insurance and all the necessary tools you’ll need (I'm thinking video camera, digital cameras, laptops and smartphones to be able to record all your new adventures with your Ford Fiesta 2014.  It's called the Fiesta Movement and you will be Ford's Fiesta Movement Agent (if they pick you).

This is a clear case of Social Media meets Corporate World.  Check out all the information about this movement on YouTube and Twitter.  #FiestaMovement.

Of course the Ford Fiesta Movement website has a bunch of information and the application process.

One of ya'll is destined to win one of the 100 slots.  Get to work you guys!  And please, send me information: links to videos, blog posts, Instagram photos, etc. This is soooo exciting!

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