Fit-to-Fat-to-Fit: Introduction

Your health is like a bank account. You make deposits and you make withdrawals. Deposits are the daily little things you do to build up your account — exercise, diet, etc. And withdrawals make up those moments when you push yourself harder than you normal — eating junk food, not exercising, consuming too much sugar and sitting too much.

I’ve been making constant withdrawals for three months — and now I’ve overdrawn. Tomorrow, I’m going to see the banker. And it won’t be pretty.

Tomorrow is my first day of Fit4Change training with Paul Lacoste. As many of you know, I have done Paul’s training for most of the past five years.  But the last three months, I’ve fallen off the wagon.  First a concussion, then 16,000 miles of travel and then two weeks holed up in a hotel room preparing for classes have taken their toll.  I’m 224 lbs. and out of shape.

I’ll pay for it tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.

But I know it is time to make some deposits. My diet will be cleaned up, too.  The number one thing I need to keep up my schedule is energy. Tomorrow, I start working hard to get that energy back.

My goal is to drop back down under 200 lbs.  My body doesn’t need to weigh this much. I haven’t tackled a running back in over 30 years.  I also look forward to training my brain, too.

If your health is a bankaccount, you have to make deposits.  The next 12 weeks will be a tough journey — but it will be another step toward having a wealth of health. It’s time to head to the next level.

Current Weight: 224

Goal Weight: 200

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SHORT STORY: Conversations with George

The host sat in his chair, closing his eyes as the assistant dabbed makeup on his shiny forehead.  Another member of the stage crew ran the microphone wire under his jacket.  The bright lights showed every imperfection in his face.  He’d never make it to a bigger market — but he didn’t really care. He had found a nice niche for himself here on this weekly public affairs show.  Three cameras faced him and an empty chair.

“Any sign of our guest?” the host impatiently asked.  While he lacked TV star looks, he was a a stickler for time.

“He’s on his way,” his producer buzzed in his ear.  She was his brain — and helped him keep time better than Les Miles did at LSU.

No sooner than he had asked, the guest strolled into the studio with his entourage.  Tall, silver-haired, the guest was wearing a black t-shirt and sport coat.  His youthful wardrobe belied his very advantaged age.

The host awkwardly stood up (so he wouldn’t pull loose his earpiece and microphone). “Welcome to the show!”

One of the stage crew handed the guest a one dollar bill, “Would you autograph this?” The guest smiled awkwardly and pulled out a pen.  “I get that a lot,” he said.

The host and the guest sat down in their respective chairs, sipped their last sipped of water before the taping began.  The crew scurried around and someone yelled, “quiet on the set!”  The host heard his producer count down “3….2…..1….”. The TelePrompTer began to glow.

“Welcome to Conversations.  Our guest today is known to school children around the country as the father of our country.  A Virginia planter turned Revolutionary General, he went on to be the first president of the United States. Today he joins us after a long hiatus. Please welcome President George Washington.”

Camera Two’s red light went on as George Washington smiled briefly, revealing a set of new white dentures that looked like he had a mouth full of Chiclets.

“Glad to be here. Glad to be anywhere. I took a very long dirt nap.”

The host shifted his note cards around and asked the first question. “Um, you’re over 200 years old. How exactly is it that you’re….”

Washington interrupted, “Alive? Oh, I’m more alive than I ever have been.  Don’t asked me how it happened but I am sitting here very much alive. Martha credits the Viagra.”

The host smiled awkwardly, ” So, what are your impressions of 2017?

Washington figited in his seat, “Well, it’s better than 2016. I thought I was going to die a second time during that cursed year. But I’m having the time of my life. I like the 21st Century. The Internet is amazing. Airplanes? After getting over my terror, I love them. I travel nearly every week.  Just last week, I pulled some strings and saw Hamilton. Man, the guy who was playing me sure could sing better than me. I’m just chuckling that they made a play about Alex.  Lordy, like his ego wasn’t big enough already.  But it was a darn shame he shot his mouth off and Burr shot him in the side.  Alex was one of the brightest men I’ve ever known. Read Ron Chernow’s book on Alex, by the way. A great account of what happened back then.”

The host continued, “Speaking of bright men, what are your thoughts on the current political landscape?”

Washington rubbed his chin and spoke carefully. “Ex-Presidents really shouldn’t say much. Let’s just say after my trip to my town, I can see why Ringling Brothers canceled their circus. You can’t compete with the circus on the Potomac.”

The host fake chuckled, as he was prone to do when he felt uncomfortable. He then asked, “Did you really cut down the cherry tree?”

Washington once again spoke carefully, “If I said no, then I would’ve told a lie — which was the point of the whole story. So I will say, ‘no comment’ to your question.”

The host pressed, “So you are telling me that story is made up?”

Washington, who was a politician after all, deflected by saying, “You want to hear what I’m up to now?”

The host, realizing he wasn’t going to get an answer said, “sure. What’s up with George Washington these days?”

Washington smiled, “I’m on the speaking circuit. I get 100,000 of the bills with my picture on it for a speech. Easiest money I’ve made since I bet Lincoln that Franklin D. Roosevelt would run for a third term.  Smart money was on his ego.  We presidents usually have big egos. I cross the street when I see Teddy coming. Let’s just say that the Bullmoose is full of Bulls…” Washington caught himself before he swore.

The host then asked, “speaking of ex-presidents, what are your thoughts on the current state of affairs in Washington?”

“There are a lot of affairs going on in Washington,” Washington chuckled at his own joke. “Seriously, I’m almost embarrassed my name is on the place. But I do like the giant phallic monument in my honor.  Martha blushes every time someone brings it up. Yet as dysfunctional as our country is, I’m proud that the framework we created back in the day still keeps things reasonably under control. The Constitution is like the old Timex Watch commercial — it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.  Like any father, I’m proud of my child. It’s a great country, warts and all.”

The host, hearing the producer say ‘wrap it up,’ asked one more question, “You fought for our freedom. How would you describe the state of our freedom these days.”

Fire lit in Washington’s eyes as he pondered his answer. He paused, rubbed his chin again and then spoke in a low, serious tone.

“Freedom is great. But so many people squander it. It’s a gift and yet we chose to spend it seeking trivial pursuits and decadent luxuries.  I’m not saying don’t purse happiness — Thom wrote that line and it is brilliant. But we should all do more with this precious gift we’ve been given.  It’s about  our self discipline — and about becoming educated and working hard.”

Being out of time, the host interrupted him, “Thanks George. That’s all the time we have today. To find out more about George Washington, check out  mountVernon.org. This is Conversations, we’ll see you next week.”

 

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SHORT STORY: His favorite politician

The computer screen glowed in the dark room like coals from a dying fire.

He groggily wiped his face, feeling the day’s stubble as it took control of his weathered face.  The clock on the screen read 9:30, but it seemed much later than that.  The nearly empty house made time go slower.  Tick. Tock. Tick. Tick. But it really didn’t matter to him.  Time had stopped when his wife had left.  A pain hit him in the chest. “It was her damn fault anyway,” he mumbled for no one to hear.  His eyes focused on the screen.

He was a social media warrior. And warriors are never at fault.

His hand guided the mouse as he scrolled through his Twitter feed.  He had done a search on his favorite politician and now was on the front lines of justice. He was a warrior for justice. He would defend his favorite politician to the death. His fingers pounded the keys as 45  years of anger flowed.  Anger from the fact he didn’t do well in school. Anger from the fact that he had lost his job. Anger from the fact that his no-good wife had gotten frustrated with his drinking and left him.  But even the drinking wasn’t his fault. It was OK to have a drink — or ten every once in a while.

It wasn’t his fault.

The first time he had heard his favorite politician was on the radio. The smooth talking man had said everything he wanted to hear.  All the problems in the state were other people’s fault.  His favorite politician believed in his values — he believed in personal responsibility!  And anyone who disagreed with him was evil.  He had seen his favorite politician at the Montanta State Fair, too.  Such charisma. Such caring. His favorite politician was the only person in the world who cared for him.  And he knew it.  How? His favorite politician said so.

The defense must continue.

His fingers jabbed at the keys again. Venom flowed from this fingertips. How dare that person make a joke about his favorite politician?  He switched over to Facebook and wrote a long post about people who disagreed with him should just move.  Montana didn’t need “their kind.”  Anger continued to flow as he spewed talking points back out onto the page.  His favorite politican cared for him. His favorite politican was going to change his life.

He looked around at his empty house. At the empty bottles on the floor. The overdue bills.  It wasn’t his fault. His favorite politician knew that. His favorite politican cared for him. His favorite politican was going to change his life.

Then a second pain struck his chest. “It’s not my fault!” he cried! But not one answered.  He passed out, fell from the chair and hit the floor. The screen on the computer went black.

And his favorite politician didn’t come save him.

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Final exam study guide.

Our leader and his grape juice.

Test tomorrow will be at 8 a.m. sharp. Make sure your alarm clock works.  It will be multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks and a short essay.

Anything on this list and on the first test is fair game for this test.

Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Malcolm Gladwell. Little Brown 2000

Three types of different archetypes

MAVENS – Information specialists. People we rely on to connect us with new information. “Word of mouth” epidemics start with them. They are information brokers.

 

CONNECTORS – People who know large #’s of people and are in the habit of making introductions. They are like a computer network hub or the spoke of a bike wheel.

 

SALES PEOPLE – persuaders. Powerful negotiators with serious skills. They tend to have an idefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes people want to agree with them.

 

 

 

THE STICKINESS FACTOR – specific content of a message that renders its impact memorable

 

The POWER of CONTEXT – Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and place in which they occur (Downton Abbey Cartoon)

 

DUMBAR’s NUMBER – is the maximum number of individuals in a society or group that someone can have real social relationships with – “The Rule of 150”

 

(The number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar)

 

 

PLATFORM: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

Michael Hyatt

Thomas Nelson Publishing 2012

 

Your platform is the means by which you connect with your existing potential fans.

 

Success isn’t what buy who you know – and the who is your platform.

 

A good product does now stand on its own anymore. It’s foundational. But not enough.

  1. Competition is greater (you compete against the world now)
  2. People are more distracted that ever.

Three benefits of building a platform.

  1. Provides visibility
  2. Provides amplification
  3. Connection

Create “WOW” products

  1. Products you’d use
  2. Create products that solve problems in unexpected ways
  3. Create products that exceed expectations

Must have combination of these things.

  1. Surprise
  2. Anticipation
  3. Resonance
  4. Transcendence
  5. Clarity
  6. Presence
  7. University
  8. Evangelism
  9. Longevity
  10. Privilege

And must exceed expectations

 

Questions to ask to see if product is compelling.

  1. What is the product or experience I want to create or transform?
  2. How will the customer feel?
  3. What does failing to meet customer’s expectations for this experience look like?
  4. What does exceeding customer’s expectations for experience look like?

 

Biggest obstacle is FEAR

 

Give product memorable name: (AKA BRANDING)

 

Nothing in the marketing mix is more important that a strong title: Great titles have PINC

P – Title makes a promise

I – Titles that create intrigue

N – Titiles that identify need

C – titles that simply state content.

 

Packaging

  1. Know audience
  2. Consider Your Brand
  3. Review best-seller lists
  4. Makes investments that are necessary
  5. Ask your fans

 

 

TAKE Personal Responsibility for your product

  1. No One Knows the Product as well as you do.
  2. No one is more passionate
  3. No one has more skin in the game
  4. No on is likely to do it

 

Goals to set for your platform:

 

  1. Forces you to clarify what you want
  2. Motivates you to take action
  3. Filters other opportunities
  4. Helps you overcome resistence
  5. Enables you to see and celebrate progress.

 

Create an elevator pitch – a short summary of your product offering, including your target market (your customers), your value proposition (what you have to offer your customers) Be able to convey it in 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

 

  1. This forces you to achieve clarity
  2. Helps you understand your customer’s perspective.
  3. It provides a tool for enrolling strategic partners

Should contain:

  1. Your product name and category
  2. The Problem you’re attempting to solve
  3. Your proposed solution
  4. The key benefit to your solution

 

Set up Branding Tools:

 

Email Address – name. Gmail or own demain

  1. Email signature. Name – with social media stuff on it
  2. Business cars
  3. Website
  4. Social media profiles
  5. same logo
  6. same color palate
  7. same fonts

 

When starting out, put together a good pit crew. I used to have most of these at the paper. Now that I am running my own business, I have put together some of this list – and probably should do them all

 

  1. Administration
  2. Assistant
  3. Bookkeeper
  4. Attorney

All can be hired on part-time basis.

 

  1. Management
  2. Self
  3. Personal (to oversee career)

 

  1. Literary Agent
  2. Booking agent (speeches)
  3. Publicity agent

 

GET A GREAT HEADSHOT

 

  1. Hire a pro
  2. Get all the rights
  3. Not in a studio
  4. Wear appropriate attire
  5. Look at the lens
  6. Pic one image and use it across platform.

 

BUILD A HOME BASE – a place for the digital property and control

EMBASSIES – Facebook and Twitter

OUTPOSTS – Comment sections

 

Beware of self-proclaimed experts

  • Checkout his numbers

 

CREATE YOUR OWN CONTENT (DUH)

  1. Protect your own intellectual propery
  2. Publish an official copyright notice. You are protected.

 

BLOG LENGTH (optimal)

  1. Write 200-400 words – 500 at the most
  2. End each post with quest
  3. Participate in the discussion
  4. Catchy headlines (David Ogilvily)
  5. Strong lede and first paragraph

 

CREATE (as Seth Godin says) A TRIBE – a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea. Tribe as two requirements : A shared interest and a way to communicate.

 

How to build a tribe:

  1. Discover your passion
  2. Volunteer to lead
  3. Be generous (lead by serving and giving)
  4. Provide a way to communicate.

 

Devote 30 minutes a day to twitter.

 

 

TROLLS:

 

Don’t feed them. Really, don’t.

 

  1. Criticism is normal – you have to have thick skin to be in this business. I got death threats on the day of the Mississippi Flag vote.

 

You get it from 1. True friends 2. Honest critics. 3. Trolls. Listen to the first two.

 

And surround yourself with five advisors. Tell them everything and listen to any constructive criticism. Tune out the rest of it.

 

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuck. Chapters 1-3

 

Video: The evolution of internet marketing. 

 

  1. Your number one-job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase.
  2. 325 million phone subscriptions in the United States.
  3. ½ are on social media
  4. 71% of the people in America are on Facebook. Half a billion are on Twitter globally and check it at least once a day.
  5. Social media has altered how people fall in and out of relationships, stay in touch with family and friends and find jobs.
  6. One in four use Social Media to inform purchasing decisions.
  7. Boomers, who control 70% of the spending, have increased their Social Media use by 42%
  8. Social Media is no longer tied to laptops and PCs.
  9. There are three types of media: Traditional (radio, TV, print), digital (websites, banner ads, e-mails, SEO – search engine optimizations) and Social Media. Social Media is pulling away from the first two.
  10. IT took 38 years before 50 million people gained access to radios
  11. It took TV 13 years.
  12. It took Instagram a year and a half.
  13. The fastest-growing marketing sector getting people’s attention is Social Media.
  14. All forms of Marketing must contain Social Media yet 1% of ad budgest going to Social Media.
  15. You can’t just repurpose your content across different platforms.
  16. Great Marketing is about telling your story in such a way that it compels people to buy what you’re selling. That’s a constant. What’s always in flux, especially in this noise, mobile world is how, when and where the story gets told and who gets to tell all of it
  17. Video: Stop storytelling like it is 2007 (language).
  18. “Jabs” are the lightweight pieces of content that benefit your customers by making them laugh, snicker, ponder, play a game, feel appreciated or escape, “right hooks” are calls to action that benefit your business.
  19. Tradition marketing campaigns would sit back and see what happened. Today there is no six-month campaign. There’s now a 365-day campaign.
  20. Like boxers, great story tellers are observant and self aware. And attuned to his or her audience.
  21. Today, real-time feedback that Social Media allows makes it possible for brands and businesses to test and retest with scientific precision.
  22. A great marketing story is one that sells stuff. It creates emotion that makes consumers want to motivate people.
  23. Your story is not powerful enough if all it does is lead the horse to water. It has to inspire the horse to drink – the only story that can achieve that goal is the story told with native content.
  24. Native content amps up your story’s power. It is crafted to mimic everything that makes a platform attractive and valuable to a consumer.
  25. Whatever story you tell must remain true to the brand.
  26. Different platforms allow you to highlight different aspects of your brand identity. Each jab tells a different part of your story. Have fun with it.
  27. A perfect right hook always includes three characteristics: A. They make the call to action simple and easy to understand B. They are perfectly crafted for mobile devices. C. They respect the nuances of the social network for which you are making content.
  28. Content for the sake of content is pointless. Only OUTSTANDING content can cut through the noise.
  29. Outstanding content’s six rules: 1. It’s Native Content – Content is king, but context is God. You can put out good content, but if it ignores the context of the platform on which it appears, it can fall flat. Consumers are on social media for value. Science – social networking sites light up people’s dopamine pathways and the pleasure centers of the brain. In the right social-media savvy hands, a brand that masters native content becomes human. 2. It doesn’t interrupt. It has to be the entertainment. (think about today’s ad-skipping services). 3. It doesn’t make demands – often. Make it simple, make it memorable, make it inviting to look at and make it fun to read. And make it for the audience, now yourself. Be generous, informative, be funny, be inspiring. 4. Leverages Pop Culture. Create content that reveals your understanding of the human condition – issues and news that matters to them. 5. It’s micro: Think of content as micro-content. Tiny unique nuggets of info, humor content or inspiration. 6. It’s consistent and self-aware.
  30. Want to know what content people find valuable? Look on their phone home screens. 1. Most popular apps – social networking (people). 2. Entertainment (escape) 3. Utility (value service – Google maps for example) So your content must fall within these three areas. It can’t be information that makes people realize they are being sold. MUST make emotional connection.

  1. Facebook: Founded in 2004. 
  2. Bloomberg video: On the health of Facebook
  3. Was called Thefacebook.com until August 2005.
  4. The Like Button was originally supposed to be called the “Awesome” button.
  5. Mark Zuckerberg initially rejected photo sharing, he had to be persuaded that it was a good idea by then-president Sean Parker
  6. There were a billion monthly active users as of December 2012
  7. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/09/facebook-users-will-likely-hit-2-billion-in-2017-but-social-network-isnt.html
  8. There were 680 million monthly active users of Facebook mobile products as of December 2012.
  9. One out of every five page views in the U.S. is on Facebook. 
  10. Facebook wants users to see things that they find relevant, fun and useful – not annoying and pointless or else they’ll abandon the site. Which means you’d better create content that’s relative, fun and useful, too.
  11. Facebook settled on an algorithm called EdgeRank. Every interaction a person has with Facebook, from posting a status update or a photo to liking, sharing or commenting is called and “edge.” And theoretically, every edge channels into the news stream. But no everyone who could see these edges actually does, because EdgeRank is constantly reading algorithmic tea leaves to determine which edges are most interesting to the most number of people. It tracks all the engagement a user’s own content receives and well as the engagement a user has with other people’s or brand’s content. The most engagement a user has with a piece of content, the stronger the EdgeRank believes that a user’s interest will be in a similar content and it filters that person’s news stream accordingly. A randomizer ensures that occasionally we’ll see a post from someone we haven’t talked to in years—thus keeping Facebook “fresh.” For example, EdgeRank makes sure that a user who often likes or comments on a friend’s photos, but who ignores that friend’s plain-text status update, will see more of that friend’s photos and fewer of his status updates. Every engagement, whether between friends or between users and brands, strengthens their connection and the likelihood that EdgeRank will push appropriate content from those friends and brands to the top of a user’s News Feed. That’s of course where you, the marketer , what to see your brand or business. It’s the user’s response to the “jab” that matters most. Through EdgeRank, Facebook weighs like, comments and shares. But it currently does not give greater weight to click throughs or any other action that leads to sales. Facebook doesn’t care – their greatest priority is making the platform valuable to the consumer, not to you the marketer. On Facebook, the definition of great content is not the content that makes the most sales, but the content that people most want to share with others. The only way to reach those consumers is to get them to engage, then its up to you to create not just great content , but content that’s so great they want to engage with it. Facebook constantly changes the algorithm. So what works today won’t necessarily work tomorrow.
  12. January 2013, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook should now be considered a mobile company.
  13. Six months later Facebook reported 41 percent of its ad revenue came from mobile, equaling $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2014.
  14. No space on the mobile for ads per se. Your content – your micro-content, has to be the ad.
  15. Sponsored stories. Launched in 2011 but it was the fall of 2012 they came into their own because Facebook adjusted the algorithmic adjustment that would purposely limit how many people would organically see a brand’s posts even if they had already become fans by liking the brands page.
  16. By Sept. 2013, Facebook’s algorithm will only allow your content to reach about 3 to 5% of our fans. To reach more, you have to post some extremely engaging content. Or your have to pay.
  17. Unlike TV, your content’s reach increases only when you’ve put content that people actually want to see and think others do, too.
  18. Explanation of sponsored stories: 1. Simply extends your chosen piece of content to the news streams of a larger number of your fans than the regular 3 to 5% that would normally see it. That’s called a Page Post. 2: The other extends your reach the same way, but it allows you to highlight the fact that a fan has engaged with your content and tell that fan’s friends about it. You can choose to create this kind of sponsored story around a check-in, a like and several other actions.

 

READ THIS: The Six Rules for Managing Your Facebook Post

Social media’s presence in our online lives is unavoidable.

If you’re part of the 93% of marketers who use social media for business, then you already understand how much weight it carries for your company, and you likely place a lot of value in your company Facebook page.”

The Best Time to Post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

READ: The best time to post to Facebook

Because of the complicated News Feed algorithm, getting your timing right on Facebook isn’t easy.

But despite the non-chronological functionality of the News Feed, our social marketing team has discovered publishing times that do indeed yield a higher amount of Likes, comments, shares, and click-throughs:

  • The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
  • And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement,” Hootsuite social media marketing specialist Amanda Wood explains. “But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.”

Hootsuite’s social team also sees lower engagement on the weekend, but there is a spike in click-throughs on posts published between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Supporting these findings to a degree are HubspotMicrosoft, and Quick Sprout. All three report the hours of 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays are optimal posting times for Facebook.

As always, you should test and track results using engagement data gleaned from Facebook’s Page Insights, or other measurement tools such as Hootsuite Analytics to determine what works best for you.

READ THIS Adweek: The best times to post on Social Media

FastCompany: The Best (and Worst Times) to Post on Social Media

POST ON FACEBOOK DURING THE AFTERNOON SLUMP

“Most people need some motivation to get through the afternoon slump, and for many of us that means checking Facebook. Posting to Facebook between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. results in the highest average click through rates. These numbers peak around 3 p.m. and hit rock bottom on weekends, before 8 a.m., and after 8 p.m. when people presumably have better things to do.

For more on managing your Facebook account, check out these six rules.”

Questions to ask when creating Facebook micro-content

Is the text too long?
Is it provocative, entertaining or surprising?
Is the photo striking and high-quality?
Is the logo visible?
Have we chose the right format for the post?
IS the call to action in the right place?
Is this interesting in any way to anyone?
Round Four: Twitter
Listen Well on Twitter

Number One mistake people make on Twitter: https://youtu.be/Wux-Yd4q4Vc

Launched in March of 2006
As of 2012 — 100 million users in US. 500 worldwide
The blue bird is named Larry Bird, after the basketball player
Jet Blue was first company to start using Twitter for marketing research.
Users post 750 tweets per second.

On this platform alone, content often has far less value than context.

Brands success on Twitter is rarely predicated on the actual content it produces — rather is correlates w/how much valuable context you add to the content (yours and others)

The Main mistake most marketers make is to use Twitter primarily as an extension of their blog, a place to push a link to content elsewhere. Also use as a place to humblebrag.

TWITTER PRIMARILY REWARDS THOSE WHO LISTEN AND GIVE.

Mean Tweets 10: https://youtu.be/JgQVj4iMm8Y

Twitter is the cocktail party of the Internet. Conversation is key.

Must deejay other’s content. Skillfully spin, interpret and remix it in your own style.

Twitter allows you to initiate a relationship with your customer.

You can use the Powerful Twitter Search Engine to find people who are talking about topics related to your business.

One way to engage in conversations is Trendjacking. (Look at Twitter trends and engage)

Also you buy promoted Tweets (with hashtags)

Mean Tweets 1: https://youtu.be/RRBoPveyETc

Using trends to throw right hooks. Take advantage of hashtags — it’s a great way for small businesses to get attention.

Choose Hashtags carefully. Don’t just make novelty ones.

Creating micro content is an enormous job. But you can beat larger companies by being nimble.

You want to see ROI (Return on Investment) on Social media? Tell a story that’s good enough to get people to buy stuff.

Retweeting nice things about yourself is humblebragging. Spend the time developing relationships.

Stupid Tweets: https://youtu.be/QR_RN8USCYc

Questions to ask about your TWITTER content:
Is it to the point?
Is the hashtag unique and memorable (PEEOTUS)
Image attached high quality?
Does the voice sound authentic? Will is resonate with the Twitter audience?

Round 5
Glam it up for Pinterest

Gary V on Pinterest https://youtu.be/uyTCjV4LGKs

Launched in March 2010
48.7 million users
Grew 379,599 percent in 2012
From 2011 –2012 Pinterest mobile app rose 1698%
68% Pinterest users are women
The most refined pin is for garlic cheese toast.

Females out-number men five to one.

Pinterest was invented to help people create online collections of things that they love and inspire them.
Food porn
Fashion lovers
People seeking home renovations
48 million in 2012. 150 million in 2016

Big businesses were initially hesitant because of copyright laws and terms of use policy. That was changed and opened floodgate.

Pinterest psychology 101
Does job well
We love displays and symbols and stuff that quickly and silently tells the world who we want to be.
Steelhouse survey: Pinterest users are 79% more likely to buy something on it than Facebook. Some small businesses saw as much as a 60 % increase in revenue!

HOw to market with Pintrest: https://youtu.be/teCvQYyX30o

To begin: Learn the art of the PIN
Pinterest is eye-candy. So ever pin should be visually compelling.

Pinterest users organize their internet finds into categories called boards. Have creative names for the boards.

Jab to create serendipity.

Create value by pinning other people’s stuff and adding commentary.

Use jabs to build community,
Comments are an excellent way to instigate discovery
By engaging with other Pinterest users you create reasons for them to click on your name to learn about you.
Adds perspective to other pins

Follow the rules.
Be nice. Show wares in an attractive and evocotative way.

Questions to ask about your Pinterest Content:
Does my picture feed the consumer dream?
Did I give my boards clever, creative titles?
Have I included a price when appropriate?
Does every photo include a hyperlink?
Could this pin double as an ad or act as an accompanying photo to an article featured in a top flight magazine.
Is this image easily category so people don’t have to think hard about where to repin on their boards.
Round 6: Create Art on Instagram

How your brand can dominate Instagram: https://youtu.be/q0xBmAtvrvY

Founded October 2010
December 2012. Boasts 130 million
40 million uploads per day
It took Flicker two years to reach 100 million. It took Instagram eight months.
Started as geolocation app Burbn

Instagram is a closed loop. Anyone who clicks on your Instagram photo gets brought back to Instagram.

It’s a slightly more interactive experience than a print magazine.

Hwo to throw hooks on Instagram: https://youtu.be/WChfjMjY4Ss
A few tips to creating successful instagram content.
Make it Instagram: People love it because of the quality of content.
No stock photos
Native content is artistic, not commercial
Express yourself authentically, not commercially.
2. Reach instagram generation — learn to make Instagram work for you. Facebook bought it for billion.
3. Go crazy with hashtags. The more the merrier. Brings readers to you
4. Become Explore-worthy — the most gorgeous evocatitative content on Instagram gets streamed to the explore page (which exposes your content to all of Instagram) — and likes are a factor.

Questions to ask about your Instagram Content —

Is my image artsy and indie enough for the Instagram crowd?
Have I included enough descriptive hashtags?
Are my stories appealing to the young generation?

Social media changing world: https://youtu.be/0Qy9aLqhxcc

Round 8
Linked in

Conan Conquers LinkedIn: https://youtu.be/cinb5tcRYXw
Launched in May 2003
200 Million members
Every second — two new members join
More than 2.8 million companies have a linked in page
Executives from all 2012 Fortune 500 companies are members
Students and recent college graduates are fastest growing demographic.

Conan Conquers LinkedIn Continues: https://youtu.be/a1p4fkZfftE

Linked-in influences — where leaders contribute articles on their topic of expertise. Since it is a business site, it provides a natural platform for B2B marketers . You need to have an LinkedIn page for your professional accomplishments. It’s a digital resume. And it’s also a place where you can indulge in long copy. A great place to build your brand as an expert in some business or motivational topic. People coming to the site are looking for information. There have to be creative, smart ways you can make your self-indispensable by using Linked-In

Top Ten Linked in Errors: https://youtu.be/dnYiOmXRVDQ

Snapchat
Launched 2011
60 Million snaps sent in February 2/13
Allows users to send photos and videos that self-destruct in a matter of sections. Changing the way people created and view content on the Internet.

How to grow you SnapChat audience: https://youtu.be/DEP6j2VhoHQ

building your brand using SnapChat https://youtu.be/TRsWXNL_DSk

Normal Internet: 90-9-1 rule. — 90% consume content, 9% edit it, 1 % create it.
Snapchat: 75-20-5 rule — 75% consume content, 20% edit it, 5 percent create it.

People look to Snapchat for conversation or a quick laugh.
Mimics real life conversations — real life conversations don’t last online forever.

Round Nine — Effort
Content is king, context is God and then there’s effort. Together they are the holy trinity for winning on Facebook, Twitter and Any other Platform.

Effort — intense, consistent, committed, 24-7 effort, the best social media micro-content placed within the most appropriate context will go down as graceless as Buster Douglas did against Evander Holyfield.

Effort is the great equalizer. What matters is the effort you put into you work.

Budgets should have no effect on the amount of the effort, heart and sincerity that can go into your conversations with your customers. Marketers who creatively and sincerely engage in as many as those resulting conversations as possible will be about to scale their relationships higher than their opponents.

Volume alone won’t raise a brand’s engagement levels — the quality of the conversation will.

You’re fighting a never ending boxing match.

Initial consistency and effort will build up so much brand equity that you won’t have to have the same frenzy down the road.

10. All companies are media companies.

We’ve just spend nine chapters emphasizing secret to social marketing is micro-content (the shorter the better — it’s the yang). The Yin is long form content — YouTube video, magazine articles, TV shows, movies and books for instance — where it continues to push traditional boundaries via which ways they use to disseminate their content. Companies recognize that they less and less often have to rent their media. But can own it and remarket it in whenever way they want.

There are ways to grown a brand:
Michelin tires started reviewing rural restaurants to encourage people living in the cities to drive farther (and wear out tires).

So long as brands remain transparent so that their consumers aren’t duped into thinking these sites and publications are strictly objective content providers — this could be a fruitful way to expand the brand and content reach.

In marketing world, there will so be no more separation between church and state (advertising and editorial content).

Round 11

You can’t give into the frustration caused by constant change and tweaks.

Round 12. We world we live in evolves every second, everyday.

The Future of Media: Frank Cooper https://youtu.be/wM00LNcZvjA

 

PINTEREST:

 

Hunt and Gather

  1. 2nd largest social source of traffic
  2. 3rd highest order amount per visit

 

  1. Use rich pins (enhanced pins)

Catagories for Rich Pins are

  1. Movie
  2. Place
  3. Recipes
  4. Articles
  5. Products

Rich pins improve click through and price changes are notified.

 

  1. Pin smarter – know what kind of images work. Get more pins that way.
  2. Keep it anonymous – pins without faces get 23% more pins than ones with faces
  3. Multiple dominant colors get 3.25% more a single dominate color (red is better than blue)
  4. Pin size must be at least 600 pixels. Optimal pin width is 736 pixels (max size). Taller pins work better.
  5. Timing: 2-4 p.m., 8-11 p.m. best times to pin
  6. You need a blog
  7. Sell the Lifestyle. (jeep in the mountains, not in a parking lot)
  8. Piggyback on popular content. Consider audience
  9. Run Pinterest contests to drive site traffic. Look at other sites for ideas.
  10. Power of Influencers – Swap sites to get new audiences,
  11. Engage community – create group boards.

 

How to grow your snap chat audience

 

  1. Snapcode – put it everywhere (Twitter, Facebook, etc) Can download stickers.
  2. Attract warm leads – family, friends, etc. Let them know you’re on Snapchat. You can get Ghostcodes app – search functionality to search for people. Code is PINKY.
  3. Repurpose your content across different platforms to show people you have an account.
  4. Tell a good story. Create themes around your content.
  5. SnapChat takeover. Snap swap to get new audience.

 

The secret of promoting on social media is creating a campaign that doesn’t seem like a campaign. You have to have the classic advertising maxims involved (three to five insertions of an add to get attention — something I learned back in the stone ages). But you also have to give your target market content that is relevant and engaging. How does what you post matter to them? If fact there are several others you must ask yourself before you begin (and during your campaign):

Is my content engaging?
What platforms would be the most effective?
What content would work best on each platform? (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, YouTube, SnapChat — you get the point.)
What frequency should I post?
What hashtag should I use?
Should I mix in traditional media?
How long will my campaign need to last?
How can I get people to share my content?
How can I engage my audience?
Who is my market?
In the old days, you’d try to raise awareness. Today, you have to engage people or they won’t pay attention.

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Class Notes Friday, January 13

Happy Friday the 13th!

Final tomorrow. Study guide will go live early Friday afternoon.  Test will be given at 8 sharp.

Today we will have quick discussion on final chapters and will do class project for remainder of the class.

 

 

Round 8
Linked in

Conan Conquers LinkedIn: https://youtu.be/cinb5tcRYXw
Launched in May 2003
200 Million members
Every second — two new members join
More than 2.8 million companies have a linked in page
Executives from all 2012 Fortune 500 companies are members
Students and recent college graduates are fastest growing demographic.

Conan Conquers LinkedIn Continues: https://youtu.be/a1p4fkZfftE

Linked-in influences — where leaders contribute articles on their topic of expertise. Since it is a business site, it provides a natural platform for B2B marketers . You need to have an LinkedIn page for your professional accomplishments. It’s a digital resume. And it’s also a place where you can indulge in long copy. A great place to build your brand as an expert in some business or motivational topic. People coming to the site are looking for information. There have to be creative, smart ways you can make your self-indispensable by using Linked-In

Top Ten Linked in Errors: https://youtu.be/dnYiOmXRVDQ

 

Snapchat
Launched 2011
60 Million snaps sent in February 2/13
Allows users to send photos and videos that self-destruct in a matter of sections. Changing the way people created and view content on the Internet.

How to grow you SnapChat audience: https://youtu.be/DEP6j2VhoHQ

building your brand using SnapChat https://youtu.be/TRsWXNL_DSk

Normal Internet: 90-9-1 rule. — 90% consume content, 9% edit it, 1 % create it.
Snapchat: 75-20-5 rule — 75% consume content, 20% edit it, 5 percent create it.

People look to Snapchat for conversation or a quick laugh.
Mimics real life conversations — real life conversations don’t last online forever.

Round Nine — Effort
Content is king, context is God and then there’s effort. Together they are the holy trinity for winning on Facebook, Twitter and Any other Platform.

Effort — intense, consistent, committed, 24-7 effort, the best social media micro-content placed within the most appropriate context will go down as graceless as Buster Douglas did against Evander Holyfield.

Effort is the great equalizer. What matters is the effort you put into you work.

Budgets should have no effect on the amount of the effort, heart and sincerity that can go into your conversations with your customers. Marketers who creatively and sincerely engage in as many as those resulting conversations as possible will be about to scale their relationships higher than their opponents.

Volume alone won’t raise a brand’s engagement levels — the quality of the conversation will.

Your fighting a never ending boxing match.

Initial consistency and effort will build up so much brand equity that you won’t have to have the same frenzy down the road.

10. All companies are media companies.

We’ve just spend nine chapters emphasizing secret to social marketing is micro-content (the shorter the better — it’s the yang). The Yin is long form content — YouTube video, magazine articles, TV shows, movies and books for instance — where it continues to push traditional boundaries via which ways they use to disseminate their content. Companies recognize that they less and less often have to rent their media. But can own it and remarket it in whenever way they want.

There are ways to grown a brand:
Michelin tires started reviewing rural restaurants to encourage people living in the cities to drive farther (and wear out tires).

So long as brands remain transparent so that their consumers aren’t duped into thinking these sites and publications are strictly objective content providers — this could be a fruitful way to expand the brand and content reach.

In marketing world, there will so be no more separation between church and state (advertising and editorial content).

Round 11

You can’t give into the frustration caused by constant change and tweaks.

Round 12. We world we live in evolves every second, everyday.

 

The Future of Media: Frank Cooper https://youtu.be/wM00LNcZvjA

 

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Class Notes: January 13th

Good morning! Today we’ll dive deeper into Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram! 

 

Questions to ask when creating Facebook micro-content

Is the text too long?
Is it provocative, entertaining or surprising?
Is the photo striking and high-quality?
Is the logo visible?
Have we chose the right format for the post?
IS the call to action in the right place?
Is this interesting in any way to anyone?
Round Four: Twitter
Listen Well on Twitter

 

Number One mistake people make on Twitter: https://youtu.be/Wux-Yd4q4Vc

Launched in March of 2006
As of 2012 — 100 million users in US. 500 worldwide
The blue bird is named Larry Bird, after the basketball player
Jet Blue was first company to start using Twitter for marketing research.
Users post 750 tweets per second.

On this platform alone, content often has far less value than context.

Brands success on Twitter is rarely predicated on the actual content it produces — rather is correlates w/how much valuable context you add to the content (yours and others)

The Main mistake most marketers make is to use Twitter primarily as an extension of their blog, a place to push a link to content elsewhere. Also use as a place to humblebrag.

TWITTER PRIMARILY REWARDS THOSE WHO LISTEN AND GIVE.

Mean Tweets 10: https://youtu.be/JgQVj4iMm8Y

Twitter is the cocktail party of the Internet. Conversation is key.

Must deejay other’s content. Skillfully spin, interpret and remix it in your own style.

Twitter allows you to initiate a relationship with your customer.

You can use the Powerful Twitter Search Engine to find people who are talking about topics related to your business.

One way to engage in conversations is Trendjacking. (Look at Twitter trends and engage)

Also you buy promoted Tweets (with hashtags)

Mean Tweets 1: https://youtu.be/RRBoPveyETc

Using trends to throw right hooks. Take advantage of hashtags — it’s a great way for small businesses to get attention.

Choose Hashtags carefully. Don’t just make novelty ones.

Creating micro content is an enormous job. But you can beat larger companies by being nimble.

You want to see ROI (Return on Investment) on Social media? Tell a story that’s good enough to get people to buy stuff.

Retweeting nice things about yourself is humblebragging. Spend the time developing relationships.

Stupid Tweets: https://youtu.be/QR_RN8USCYc

Questions to ask about your TWITTER content:
Is it to the point?
Is the hashtag unique and memorable (PEEOTUS)
Image attached high quality?
Does the voice sound authentic? Will is resonate with the Twitter audience?

Round 5
Glam it up for Pinterest

Gary V on Pinterest https://youtu.be/uyTCjV4LGKs

Launched in March 2010
48.7 million users
Grew 379,599 percent in 2012
From 2011 –2012 Pinterest mobile app rose 1698%
68% Pinterest users are women
The most refined pin is for garlic cheese toast.

Females out-number men five to one.

Pinterest was invented to help people create online collections of things that they love and inspire them.
Food porn
Fashion lovers
People seeking home renovations
48 million in 2012. 150 million in 2016

Big businesses were initially hesitant because of copyright laws and terms of use policy. That was changed and opened floodgate.

Pinterest psychology 101
Does job well
We love displays and symbols and stuff that quickly and silently tells the world who we want to be.
Steelhouse survey: Pinterest users are 79% more likely to buy something on it than Facebook. Some small businesses saw as much as a 60 % increase in revenue!

 

HOw to market with Pintrest: https://youtu.be/teCvQYyX30o

To begin: Learn the art of the PIN
Pinterest is eye-candy. So ever pin should be visually compelling.

Pinterest users organize their internet finds into categories called boards. Have creative names for the boards.

Jab to create serendipity.

Create value by pinning other people’s stuff and adding commentary.

Use jabs to build community,
Comments are an excellent way to instigate discovery
By engaging with other Pinterest users you create reasons for them to click on your name to learn about you.
Adds perspective to other pins

Follow the rules.
Be nice. Show wares in an attractive and evocotative way.

Questions to ask about your Pinterest Content:
Does my picture feed the consumer dream?
Did I give my boards clever, creative titles?
Have I included a price when appropriate?
Does every photo include a hyperlink?
Could this pin double as an ad or act as an accompanying photo to an article featured in a top flight magazine.
Is this image easily category so people don’t have to think hard about where to repin on their boards.
Round 6: Create Art on Instagram

How your brand can dominate Instagram: https://youtu.be/q0xBmAtvrvY

Founded October 2010
December 2012. Boasts 130 million
40 million uploads per day
It took Flicker two years to reach 100 million. It took Instagram eight months.
Started as geolocation app Burbn

Instagram is a closed loop. Anyone who clicks on your Instagram photo gets brought back to Instagram.

It’s a slightly more interactive experience than a print magazine.

 

Hwo to throw hooks on Instagram: https://youtu.be/WChfjMjY4Ss
A few tips to creating successful instagram content.
Make it Instagram: People love it because of the quality of content.
No stock photos
Native content is artistic, not commercial
Express yourself authentically, not commercially.
2. Reach instagram generation — learn to make Instagram work for you. Facebook bought it for billion.
3. Go crazy with hashtags. The more the merrier. Brings readers to you
4. Become Explore-worthy — the most gorgeous evocatitative content on Instagram gets streamed to the explore page (which exposes your content to all of Instagram) — and likes are a factor.

 

Questions to ask about your Instagram Content —

Is my image artsy and indie enough for the Instagram crowd?
Have I included enough descriptive hashtags?
Are my stories appealing to the young generation?

 

Social media changing world: https://youtu.be/0Qy9aLqhxcc

Posted in Class Notes | Leave a comment

The secret of promoting on social media is creating a campaign that doesn’t seem like a campaign. You have to have the classic advertising maxims involved (three to five insertions of an add to get attention — something I learned back in the stone ages). But you also have to give your target market content that is relevant and engaging. How does what you post matter to them? If fact there are several others you must ask yourself before you begin (and during your campaign):

Is my content engaging?
What platforms would be the most effective?
What content would work best on each platform? (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, YouTube, SnapChat — you get the point.)
What frequency should I post?
What hashtag should I use?
Should I mix in traditional media?
How long will my campaign need to last?
How can I get people to share my content?
How can I engage my audience?
Who is my market?
In the old days, you’d try to raise awareness. Today, you have to engage people or they won’t pay attention.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It’s 5:56 a.m.

It’s 5:56. Your alarm has gone off three times, so you have to get up. Eventually. You have a tough day ahead and the next hour will be insane as you try to get you and your family ready. The weight of the sheets hold you down. Five more minutes of sleep.

This is the most important moment of your day. You have a choice. You can firmly plant your feet on the ground and charge into your day. Or you can dread it. Focus on the positive to take on the bad — or just let the bad overwhelm you.

I know — it’s a lot to think about at 5:56. So don’t think. Act. Let your feet (and your heart) show your brain who is boss.

OK. It’s 5:58 now. Get going. Make the most of today.

I’m pulling for you. My feet are on the ground now, too.

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Class Notes January 10

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuck. Chapters 1-3

 

Video: The evolution of internet marketing. 

 

  1. Your number one-job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase.
  2. 325 million phone subscriptions in the United States.
  3. ½ are on social media
  4. 71% of the people in America are on Facebook. Half a billion are on Twitter globally and check it at least once a day.
  5. Social media has altered how people fall in and out of relationships, stay in touch with family and friends and find jobs.
  6. One in four use Social Media to inform purchasing decisions.
  7. Boomers, who control 70% of the spending, have increased their Social Media use by 42%
  8. Social Media is no longer tied to laptops and PCs.
  9. There are three types of media: Traditional (radio, TV, print), digital (websites, banner ads, e-mails, SEO – search engine optimizations) and Social Media. Social Media is pulling away from the first two.
  10. IT took 38 years before 50 million people gained access to radios
  11. It took TV 13 years.
  12. It took Instagram a year and a half.
  13. The fastest-growing marketing sector getting people’s attention is Social Media.
  14. All forms of Marketing must contain Social Media yet 1% of ad budgest going to Social Media.
  15. You can’t just repurpose your content across different platforms.
  16. Great Marketing is about telling your story in such a way that it compels people to buy what you’re selling. That’s a constant. What’s always in flux, especially in this noise, mobile world is how, when and where the story gets told and who gets to tell all of it
  17. Video: Stop storytelling like it is 2007 (language).
  18. “Jabs” are the lightweight pieces of content that benefit your customers by making them laugh, snicker, ponder, play a game, feel appreciated or escape, “right hooks” are calls to action that benefit your business.
  19. Tradition marketing campaigns would sit back and see what happened. Today there is no six-month campaign. There’s now a 365-day campaign.
  20. Like boxers, great story tellers are observant and self aware. And attuned to his or her audience.
  21. Today, real-time feedback that Social Media allows makes it possible for brands and businesses to test and retest with scientific precision.
  22. A great marketing story is one that sells stuff. It creates emotion that makes consumers want to motivate people.
  23. Your story is not powerful enough if all it does is lead the horse to water. It has to inspire the horse to drink – the only story that can achieve that goal is the story told with native content.
  24. Native content amps up your story’s power. It is crafted to mimic everything that makes a platform attractive and valuable to a consumer.
  25. Whatever story you tell must remain true to the brand.
  26. Different platforms allow you to highlight different aspects of your brand identity. Each jab tells a different part of your story. Have fun with it.
  27. A perfect right hook always includes three characteristics: A. They make the call to action simple and easy to understand B. They are perfectly crafted for mobile devices. C. They respect the nuances of the social network for which you are making content.
  28. Content for the sake of content is pointless. Only OUTSTANDING content can cut through the noise.
  29. Outstanding content’s six rules: 1. It’s Native Content – Content is king, but context is God. You can put out good content, but if it ignores the context of the platform on which it appears, it can fall flat. Consumers are on social media for value. Science – social networking sites light up people’s dopamine pathways and the pleasure centers of the brain. In the right social-media savvy hands, a brand that masters native content becomes human. 2. It doesn’t interrupt. It has to be the entertainment. (think about today’s ad-skipping services). 3. It doesn’t make demands – often. Make it simple, make it memorable, make it inviting to look at and make it fun to read. And make it for the audience, now yourself. Be generous, informative, be funny, be inspiring. 4. Leverages Pop Culture. Create content that reveals your understanding of the human condition – issues and news that matters to them. 5. It’s micro: Think of content as micro-content. Tiny unique nuggets of info, humor content or inspiration. 6. It’s consistent and self-aware.
  30. Want to know what content people find valuable? Look on their phone home screens. 1. Most popular apps – social networking (people). 2. Entertainment (escape) 3. Utility (value service – Google maps for example) So your content must fall within these three areas. It can’t be information that makes people realize they are being sold. MUST make emotional connection.

  1. Facebook: Founded in 2004. 
  2. Bloomberg video: On the health of Facebook
  3. Was called Thefacebook.com until August 2005.
  4. The Like Button was originally supposed to be called the “Awesome” button.
  5. Mark Zuckerberg initially rejected photo sharing, he had to be persuaded that it was a good idea by then-president Sean Parker
  6. There were a billion monthly active users as of December 2012
  7. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/09/facebook-users-will-likely-hit-2-billion-in-2017-but-social-network-isnt.html
  8. There were 680 million monthly active users of Facebook mobile products as of December 2012.
  9. One out of every five page views in the U.S. is on Facebook. 
  10. Facebook wants users to see things that they find relevant, fun and useful – not annoying and pointless or else they’ll abandon the site. Which means you’d better create content that’s relative, fun and useful, too.
  11. Facebook settled on an algorithm called EdgeRank. Every interaction a person has with Facebook, from posting a status update or a photo to liking, sharing or commenting is called and “edge.” And theoretically, every edge channels into the news stream. But no everyone who could see these edges actually does, because EdgeRank is constantly reading algorithmic tea leaves to determine which edges are most interesting to the most number of people. It tracks all the engagement a user’s own content receives and well as the engagement a user has with other people’s or brand’s content. The most engagement a user has with a piece of content, the stronger the EdgeRank believes that a user’s interest will be in a similar content and it filters that person’s news stream accordingly. A randomizer ensures that occasionally we’ll see a post from someone we haven’t talked to in years—thus keeping Facebook “fresh.” For example, EdgeRank makes sure that a user who often likes or comments on a friend’s photos, but who ignores that friend’s plain-text status update, will see more of that friend’s photos and fewer of his status updates. Every engagement, whether between friends or between users and brands, strengthens their connection and the likelihood that EdgeRank will push appropriate content from those friends and brands to the top of a user’s News Feed. That’s of course where you, the marketer , what to see your brand or business. It’s the user’s response to the “jab” that matters most. Through EdgeRank, Facebook weighs like, comments and shares. But it currently does not give greater weight to click throughs or any other action that leads to sales. Facebook doesn’t care – their greatest priority is making the platform valuable to the consumer, not to you the marketer. On Facebook, the definition of great content is not the content that makes the most sales, but the content that people most want to share with others. The only way to reach those consumers is to get them to engage, then its up to you to create not just great content , but content that’s so great they want to engage with it. Facebook constantly changes the algorithm. So what works today won’t necessarily work tomorrow.
  12. January 2013, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook should now be considered a mobile company.
  13. Six months later Facebook reported 41 percent of its ad revenue came from mobile, equaling $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2014.
  14. No space on the mobile for ads per se. Your content – your micro-content, has to be the ad.
  15. Sponsored stories. Launched in 2011 but it was the fall of 2012 they came into their own because Facebook adjusted the algorithmic adjustment that would purposely limit how many people would organically see a brand’s posts even if they had already become fans by liking the brands page.
  16. By Sept. 2013, Facebook’s algorithm will only allow your content to reach about 3 to 5% of our fans. To reach more, you have to post some extremely engaging content. Or your have to pay.
  17. Unlike TV, your content’s reach increases only when you’ve put content that people actually want to see and think others do, too.
  18. Explanation of sponsored stories: 1. Simply extends your chosen piece of content to the news streams of a larger number of your fans than the regular 3 to 5% that would normally see it. That’s called a Page Post. 2: The other extends your reach the same way, but it allows you to highlight the fact that a fan has engaged with your content and tell that fan’s friends about it. You can choose to create this kind of sponsored story around a check-in, a like and several other actions.

 

READ THIS: The Six Rules for Managing Your Facebook Post

Social media’s presence in our online lives is unavoidable.

If you’re part of the 93% of marketers who use social media for business, then you already understand how much weight it carries for your company, and you likely place a lot of value in your company Facebook page.”

https://blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-facebook-twitter-instagram/

READ: The best time to post to Facebook

Because of the complicated News Feed algorithm, getting your timing right on Facebook isn’t easy.

But despite the non-chronological functionality of the News Feed, our social marketing team has discovered publishing times that do indeed yield a higher amount of Likes, comments, shares, and click-throughs:

  • The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
  • And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement,” Hootsuite social media marketing specialist Amanda Wood explains. “But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.”

Hootsuite’s social team also sees lower engagement on the weekend, but there is a spike in click-throughs on posts published between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Supporting these findings to a degree are HubspotMicrosoft, and Quick Sprout. All three report the hours of 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays are optimal posting times for Facebook.

As always, you should test and track results using engagement data gleaned from Facebook’s Page Insights, or other measurement tools such as Hootsuite Analytics to determine what works best for you.

READ THIS Adweek: The best times to post on Social Media

FastCompany: The Best (and Worst Times) to Post on Social Media

POST ON FACEBOOK DURING THE AFTERNOON SLUMP

“Most people need some motivation to get through the afternoon slump, and for many of us that means checking Facebook. Posting to Facebook between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. results in the highest average click through rates. These numbers peak around 3 p.m. and hit rock bottom on weekends, before 8 a.m., and after 8 p.m. when people presumably have better things to do.

For more on managing your Facebook account, check out these six rules.”

The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2018 Based on Research

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The tough, but right call.

From a previous frosty Mississippi Blues Marathon.

Putting on a race involves skill, planning, cooperation and lots of luck. You can control many parts of it, but you can’t control the weather. Today, John Noblin and his team woke up with a nightmare on their hands. You can run through rain. You can run through heat and cold. You can’t run on a sheet of ice. Not only is there a danger to the runners running it — the odds of them getting to the course are pretty slim, too. Let’s not mention what could happen if a passing car lost control and spun into a group of runners.

John, my heart is with you today. Cancelling the race had to hurt you to your very core.

The Mississippi Blues Marathon is a great race. The course is tough — and maybe not the most scenic I’ve ever run (LaJolla Half Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon win that title) but it is by-far the best managed race I’ve been a part of. Why? Plain and simply, the hospitality. You won’t find a kinder group of volunteers at any race in the country. I’ve run it a few times and every time I have, I’m impressed by the several “Thank you for running the race” greetings I’m showered with on the course.

Today, I’m going to start my training for next year’s race. I’ll continue to support it however I can. I want it to survive and be part of our quality of life. The Mississippi Blues Marathon makes us look good. It must go on.

Just not today. Safety first.

Hang in there John.

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