Having built a 4,200 member NYC Meetup group over the past 10 months, I am convinced that social media can be a major and effective tool when properly used to promote and market your business.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should pitch your followers on Twitter everyday.  I’ve put together a guide book elaborating the dos and don’ts when it comes to building a community.  Tonight, I am glad to present my ideas to a group of marketing professionals from the NYC “How To” Marketing Meetup Group.  Just for a sneak peek, here are a few key slides I’ve created using Apple’s Keynote.

 

Related posts:

1. 20 Tips to Help You Build A Dynamic Online Community Breaking news! One group (NYEBN) that I founded in...
2. How To: Use LinkedIn to Build a Professional Network LinkedIn has become a major resource for majority of...
3. 50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits (Slides Created by Chad Norman) Social media has increasingly become a useful tool for...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I was reading an article from Problogger today about the problem many small business owners encounter when they try to blog.  The fact is some business owners don’t even write emails well, not to mention blogging. Our blog post here will examine 6 methods social media can benefit small business owners.  Remember, social media is only a tool.  Whether or not it’s effective depends on how you use it and what you use it for.  We will focus on the “How” and “What” aspects in this blog post.

 

1. Use social media for networking purposes

Networking enables small business owners to know more people, increasing the possibilities of finding clients or strategic partners.  Social media sites such as LinkedIn.com offer endless opportunities for business owners in a niche industry to mingle and network.  Correctly filling out your profile is crucial if you want to be identified by valuable contacts that you’d like to network with.  A great and impressive profile tends to make you popular within a group setting.  Let’s say you want to join a LinkedIn group with a focus on networking, you can join Manhattan Local Networkers Group on LinkedIn.

2. Use social media for relationship building purposes

The competition for small business owners is fierce, intense, and cruel.  Eventually, it boils down to relationships.  Your clients and partners are willing to do business with you because they trust you.  How do you gain their trust and build real relationships?  There are two separate posts I’ve written which discuss the key of relationships building:

15 Tips to Help You Build Relationships on Twitter

How to Become A Trust Agent in A Digital Market?

3. Use social media to get leads

It’s almost a cliche to emphasize the importance of leads.  Believe it or not, social media can help you get the job done more efficiently.  If you are on Twitter and happen to follow Mashable, you have probably seen, for numerous times, that Mashable offers a Kindle or whatever gadgets as incentives for their readers to join the Mashable Facebook fan page. That said, incentives are effective when used to get leads.  Have you seen someone offering a free PDF book just to get their readers opt in their mailing list?  You can also build a list by putting an opt-in box or pop-up window on your blog.

4. Use social media to better understand your own industry

We are in an information age. Learning how to filter the correct information through while not getting overwhelmed is a skill to learn.  Microblogging site Twitter is the tool that I use to get my daily dose of information.  I am following Internet titans such as Leo Laporte, TechCrunch, Problogger, etc. So I can get firsthand information from them once it becomes available.  I have also learned so much about social media industry by following links on Twitter.

5. Use social media to do customer services

This is a no-brainer.  Companies such as Whole Foods Market and Media Temple are best known for the superior customer service they offer.  This is reflected by their speedy response to their Twitter customers.  I have had firsthand experiences with both companies and I am very satisfied with the results. In essence, small businesses should know how to treat customers kind and well with social media.

6. Use social media to expand your influence

While you can be social as a business owner, the real rare commodity is the ability to lead. There is almost a direct correlation between a company’s expansion and its influence in its industry.  Needless to say, correctly using social media to become more influential can help any small business succeed in the long run.  Social media tools help you foster communities and tribes where you can lead with influence!

 
If you are a small business owner, don’t forget to leave your opinions below on how you use social media to grow your own business.

Related posts:

1. How to – 5 Tips to Promote Your Business Brand Using Social Media As an entrepreneur, I’ve realized how cost-effective it can be...
2. HOW TO: Use Social Media to Its Fullest During The Holiday Season (15 Tips) Thanksgiving is right on the corner. We are soon...
3. 30 Top LinkedIn Groups for Entrepreneurs, eMarketers, and Social Media Enthusiasts LinkedIn is the social hub for business professionals.  The...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In yesterday’s post, we discussed the first 5 mistakes that online marketers tend to make (review it). In brevity, these 5 mistakes can be summarized as the following:

“Underestimate the amount of time needed to succeed;

Mistakenly thinking that quantity must matter more than quality.”

Having reviewed the first 5 fundamental mistakes, let’s wrap this up by introducing the last 5 mistakes here.

6. As long as I am consistent with what I am doing, victory will come.

There is a difference between “efficiency” and “effectiveness.” As you practice something more and more, you become more efficient at it.  However, if that’s the wrong thing to do, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are efficient because it is not effective to begin with.  My approach is to use measuring tools correctly to track your results.  If it doesn’t work, change the tools.

For example, I am currently using Google Analytics to analyze the source of the traffic coming to my blog. I also use sites like Quantcast to dissect the demographics of the visitors to my different websites.  These tactics help me gain a better understanding of my audiences, which in turn, boosts the effectiveness of online marketing tools I should focus on using.

7. Now that I am an online marketer, I don’t need to interact face-to-face with anybody else offline.

This is a very logical conclusion that many online marketers hold. For them, the notion of online marketing is completely separated from the need to network with real people at a real offline environment. Unfortunately, this type of assumption has made a large number of online marketers step into the inevitable process of failing.

I consider myself as an online marketer.  It’s true that I work on my computer all the time in my New York apartment, but I also have a meetup group that I use to host offline meetings regularly.  Because of this, I have been able to leverage my online presence faster than most other online marketers because of the community I’m forming.  Just take a look at my LinkedIn profile.  It’s not hard to notice that most of my recommendations are coming from people in my entrepreneur group who have actually met me personally and, therefore, trusted me.  As a result, my LinkedIn profile has given me an incredible amount of credibility in building my online presence.

8. Online marketers don’t sleep, and they have to work 100+ hours per week.

Well, I can only agree with you to a certain extent with this assumption. In any endeavor, anybody must work hard in order to get the exceptional results that they expected.  This is especially true if you are building a business.  Furthermore, if you really love what you do, you wouldn’t call it “work” to begin with. I don’t call “blogging” as work.  It’s fun! My suggestion is you should increase your workload accordingly based on how much you can bear.  There is no need to kill yourself with something you’re uncertain about.

9. I’ve read all Seth Godin’s books and every other marketing book you can find on Amazon. There is no way I will fail if I implement all those ideas.

No matter how good a book is, they are still theories. If you want to make something happen for you specifically, think outside of the box given your unique talents, time and circumstances.  Theories work differently given different contexts.  With all the marketing books you’ve read, it would be critical to figure out a formula that especially works for YOU! In the marketing world, there is no such thing as a master key!

10. As a marketer, marketing skills are more important than any other skills I should learn.

No, this is not true.  Online marketers still need the following skills: sales, communication, leadership, and even personal development. They are equally important. Still remember the book “Tribes.” Seth Godin is a great online marketer.  Why would he write a leadership book?  Think about it.

 
I’ve outlined all 10 mistakes by far.  What do you think?  Let us know whether you agree.  Always feel free to add your own mistakes if we haven’t got a chance to cover them.

Related posts:

1. Part I: 10 Mistakes That Online Marketers Tend To Make There are many subjects that I love to talk...
2. How To: 10 Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation Many people have written about this topic before. Have you...
3. 20 Tips to Help You Build A Dynamic Online Community Breaking news! One group (NYEBN) that I founded in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There are many subjects that I love to talk about.  Marketing is one of them.  Not only do I think marketing is cool and interesting, I also believe any businesses, no matter what fields they are in, need marketing more than anything else, especially in today’s world.  But the problem is that people are bombarded with so many commercials that they would simply escape from your purposely designed messages.  As a result, being a good marketer is more challenging than 99% of daily tasks you engage with. As a marketer myself, I’ve learned countless lessons in the past. Here I would like to share the 10 most common mistakes that online marketers tend to make.  Part I covers the first 5 of them.

1. I can make it happen next week or next month

When I first started out with my blog and began marketing myself online, it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.  In fact, it took discipline to build my RSS subscribers and my Twitter followers. I had to blog and tweet everyday to earn their trust.  Such process is a must for every online marketer. Patience, discipline, and consistency are keys here.

2. Google and Facebook ads will make my message go viral

I’ve seen people spending countless dollars on ineffective marketing vehicles. In my opinion, whether or not it’s the right marketing tool depends on your customer persona.  Their habits or behaviors demand your use of various marketing tools.  For example, if your target market consists of small business owners, the best social networking site is probably LinkedIn.  On the other hand, if your audiences are mostly young people who love music, go with MySpace.

3. I must have a blog as an online marketer

No, this is not necessarily true.  In an interview that I conducted yesterday with David Meerman Scott, the author of New Rules of Marketing and PR, he specifically pointed out that online marketers and business owners do not have to own a blog.  The key is to produce meaningful and valuable content. That said, you can leverage your presence through any of the following marketing channels: video, pictures, podcasts, microblogging sites like Twitter, or even guest blogging on other blogs in your niche.

4. I must take advantage of all the social networking sites out there

The conventional wisdom tells us the more tools and vehicles you employ, the more effective your message will be. This doesn’t mean you have to register on 100 different social networking sites simultaneously.  In fact, you can just leverage on a select few of social networking sites and work hard to increase your presence on those networks.  Right now, my main social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  I will probably add Foursquare or Gowalla to my list soon.

5. Quantity usually matters more than quality

I know a few online marketers who believe in the power of repetition.  As a result, they would do anything to increase the frequency of their messages.  For example, some people would insist blogging once a day or tweeting no less than 30 times a day.  This is supposed to do you good if your content is good.  On the negative side, it may backfire if your content is poor.  So my advice is: don’t sacrifice quality and go for quantity.  Quantity only works when it’s combined with superior quality.

Please subscribe to our RSS feed so you get notified once Part II is published.  You are welcome to post your comments below.

 
Update: Now you can read Part II here.

Related posts:

1. Part II: 10 Mistakes That Online Marketers Tend To Make In yesterday’s post, we discussed the first 5 mistakes...
2. How To: 10 Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation Many people have written about this topic before. Have you...
3. 20 Tips to Help You Build A Dynamic Online Community Breaking news! One group (NYEBN) that I founded in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In the digital age, it is overwhelming considering the amount of stimuli we are exposed to each day. I’ve talked to many social media specialists about living in the digital age.  Some of them only sleep for 3-4 hours each day because of their crazy agenda.  At the SXSW festival,  Pete Cashmore, the Mashable founder, revealed that he was working 18-hour days after he initially launched Mashable.  The website is huge now.  But often times, they still publish 30+ daily blog posts to satisfy their readers’ appetite.  No single person can handle that amount of workload.  I can certainly relate to the information overload given my own ‘digital’ experience.  So what can we do to strike a balance in how we live in a digital age?  Here are my 5 habits.

1. Stay focused

I’ve found it’s quite distracting to multitask when you are working with your computer.  For example, I used to check emails while I was writing a blog post.  I would never finish that blog post, because my attention was constantly distracted by what was in my inbox. Right now, I tend to only focus on doing one thing.  After that’s done, I would move on to the next project.  For example, I would dedicate an entire hour to answer emails.  While I am writing an article, I will make an effort to finish it all at once. I can get many more projects done on a daily basis this way.

2. Do a variety of things

Variety makes it fun. I used to work on the Internet straight for 8-10 hours.  Then I would get very tired. But now I literally turned my room into a personal gym.  I would turn the music (Pandora) on when I switch gears to do push-ups or work with my dumb bells in my room.  Oh, did I mention that I read books every morning too?

3. Turn the screen off

Sometimes, you just can’t handle it anymore. You have to battle the email monster and you’ve got different deadlines to catch too. What do you do?  Simply take a break.  Shut down your computer, and go out for a walk.  Yes, even one-hour sleep would help.  Trust me… you will be in a completely different emotional state when you return.  That will help you get more work done.

4. Work smart with scheduling tools

There were times I forgot about important appointments.  For example, one month ago, the Social Paradigm Radio Host, Dino White, invited me as the guest for a Feb. 11 show he was producing.  But I was so buried in my other projects that I forgot about it.  It is not only embarrassing, it is simply unprofessional when this kind of situation happens.  What did I do?  I apologized and now I am using the iCal scheduling tool on my Mac to remind me about certain tasks.  It works like a charm.  If you’re a Google fan, you should also try out Google Calendar.

5. Clean your room

This may seem like a simple task but you will be amazed how many people don’t do it well.  I didn’t realize I had organizing problems until I finished three blog posts in a row after the day I cleaned and reorganized my own room.  I know I am talking about the geeky environment that you could only see in computer nerd movies.  But this is real and it’s me.  I, at least, doubled my work efficiency by creating a cleaner and organized working environment.  Perhaps this is the drawback of having your own offices, which means you must do housecleaning regularly … LOL

All these are my personal opinions. Let us know what you think and how you design your digital lifestyle. Leave your comments below.

Related posts:

1. 10 Tips to Turbocharge Your Life in a Digital Age I have been blogging about social media for quite...
2. 7 Tricks to Overcome Your Social Media Addiction Do you have a Facebook or Twitter addiction?  Do...
3. Twitter Enters Japan’s Mobile Market with Digital Garage’s Assistance While Twitter has been growing exponentially in the US,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Being a blogger has helped me shape many skills in the past. One skill I learned is the ability to come up with innovative and creative post ideas while I am physically or mentally residing at different “places.”  Such places range from bricks and mortar Apple stores to virtual places, such as Mashable.com.  The idea behind this post is to help bloggers generate ideas about what is meaningful to write, and, most importantly, how you can generate those ideas spontaneously while you are engaging yourselves with a variety of daily chores.  Without further ado, let’s get started with these 5 things on my list.

 

1. “While you’re reading articles on other blogs in the same niche…”

When I visit other blogs, I always pay attention to the good points made in their articles.  For instance, I would explore the possibilities of whether the same idea would survive or thrive on my own blog. Sometimes, a little inspiration can help you go a long way.  Last year, I read an article on Twitip which discusses how to increase Twitter followers. Then I implemented the same concept but installed a completely different set of approaches in my own article about the same topic. You can read my article here.

2. “While you’re reading a book…”

I usually consume one or two books in a month.  I don’t know about you.  But reading books conveys a different kind of experience than reading a blog or online article.  For one, a book requires a longer time for readers to finish.  From a writer’s perspective, apparently they put more thoughts into writing a book than if they just write a blog post.  So, while I am reading a book, I try to observe how the author draw the dots together.  In other words, how they piece together different chapters is important because it represents their thought process.  Then I will see if it’s possible to implement the concept in a blog post.

As an example, here is what I have done with different types of books I’ve read:

“Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust – Chris Brogan & Julien Smith” – “How to Become A Trust Agent in A Digital Market? (Post on WebStudio13)”

“Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? – Seth Godin” – “5 Ways You Can Make Your Brand Indispensable Via Social Media (Post on WebStudio13)”

3. “While you’re having a conversation with a friend…”

This approach seems to be against the rule of communications, because most communications books would tend to teach you to focus on the conversation itself while having it, not wondering your mind to elsewhere.  But hey, if it’s a good conversation, why not document it later on on your blog in a different format?  After I talked to a friend about Google’s potential enemies in 2010, I  created these posts:

“Google’s Ten Biggest Enemies in 2010 (Part I)”

“Google’s Ten Biggest Enemies in 2010 (Part II)”

4. “While you’re drafting ideas for a seminar…”

At NY Entrepreneurs Business Network, a business community that I created back in 2009, we give seminars regularly for our attendees to learn.  One of the seminars we did at the beginning of March was called “Business Talk (Panel): Debunking The Myths Of Twitter, LinkedIn, And Facebook.”  The idea then prompted me to write this post – “Debunking Ten Social Media Myths.”

5. “While you’re actively thinking of solutions to solve a real world problem…”

Take the Haiti earthquake that has happened recently for example.  I’ve written a post titled “10 Ways You Can Use Social Media to Help Haiti” to help raise the awareness and relieve the actual problems in Haiti.

 
As Albert Einstein said, “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.“  Young people usually create great companies because they are naive enough to imagine, dream and take action! As a blogger, we should not be limited either.  Whatever you can imagine, you can write!

Related posts:

1. 5 Tips to Increase Your Blog Credibility Rankings Blogging has gained huge popularity in the Web 2.0...
2. 10 Lessons I've Learned By Writing 100+ Blog Posts In retrospect, I’ve been blogging at WebStudio13 for the past...
3. 6 Innovative Ways to Write Your Next Blog Post (With Case Studies) Do you have a blog? Have you ever spent hours...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As an entrepreneur, I have had the opportunities to absorb many valuable lessons in the past two years,. Out of all of them, what appears to be most important to me is the need to create a long-term brand.  Your customers don’t buy from you because you ask them to; your clients don’t come to you because you’ve got the nicest office.  The reason they are willing to put their money in your hands is because of your brand equity!  And you are responsible for building your own brand.  Needless to say, now is a better time than ever before when it comes to building sustainable brands.  Social media tools can be properly used to supplement your brand building strategies and speed up the process. Here are my 5 tips to help you build a truly indispensable brand via social media.

1. Corporate blog

A blog can be used to make important corporate announcements or even answer customers’ questions. Don’t sell yourself short by not having one, especially considering most types of blog software are free, such as Wordpress.

2. Twitter account

Twitter is a great way to show how responsible your companies are when it comes to customer service.  Recently, I just switched to Media Temple to be the new host for my blog.  Although they charge $20/month, I do not have a single regret just because they usually get back to me on Twitter within 10 minutes for all my concerns and questions. And their representatives are very friendly and knowledgeable on the phone.

3. Facebook page

We’ve covered many Facebook-related topics previously. Having a huge amount of following for whatever Facebook page you set up is just great social proof of how popular your personal or business brand is.  If you doubt it, just look at Kevin Rose’s fan page on Facebook.  How can you not feel shocked by that number?  In 2008, Rose was named for “top 25 most influential people on the web” by both Time Magazine and BusinessWeek.

4. Picture sharing

Does your company have a Flickr or Picasa account?  If not, seriously, create one.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Flickr and Picasa are both wonderful tools to build a community. More importantly, visual proof can strengthen a brand faster than most other tools.

5. Video sharing

When it comes to video blogging, one person that’ll definitely come into our minds is Gary Vaynerchuk.  The guy built a million-dollar wine business within a few years with a camera and a computer. But it’s not really his wine business that matters.  Instead, it’s Gary Vee, his personal brand.  As I was writing this paragraph, I Googled “Gary Vee.” What showed up on the search page was the real time tweets from people attending the SXSW in Austin, Texas.  It turns out that Gary was giving a keynote at the exact moment I searched for his name.  I was reading those tweets for about 15 minutes.  On average, people are tweeting every 3 seconds during his keynote.  Yes, the “Gary Vee” brand has passed the tipping point and now it’s truly gone viral.  But you get my point: use all the video sharing sites properly and you will be amazed by their tremendous power!

 
Last but not least, let me wrap this up by citing one of Gary’s keynote messages: “We are in a ‘Thank You’ economy. And customer service always comes the first for any businesses!” Social media can give it a big boost in your brand building effort.

Related posts:

1. How to – 5 Tips to Promote Your Business Brand Using Social Media As an entrepreneur, I’ve realized how cost-effective it can be...
2. 5 Ways You Can Motivate Others Via Social Media As the usage of social media becomes more widespread in...
3. 10 Ways You Can Use Social Media to Help Haiti One of the biggest international news last week was...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I came across a very good video today. It’s Randy Pausch’s lecture on time management. I thought it might be a good idea to relate this to what I’ve been doing recently with social media to improve efficiency.  As we all know that we can use Web 2.0 tools to drastically boost our daily productivity, it’s also a well known fact that overdoing it can be a huge time waster.  For instance, numerous studies and researches have been done to find out how many hours a typical person spends on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.  It’s not uncommon that it takes you an entire weekend just to catch up with your friends on Facebook, check LinkedIn messages, or upload and tag photos on Flickr.  So what can we do to streamline our daily activities without unnecessarily investing a big chunk of our time on social media sites?  Here are the solutions: my 5 simple tips to streamline your daily activities with new media tools.

1. Turn off your email notifier.  Right now, I only check my emails once every 3 hours.  For example, if I check my first email at 6 am in the morning, then it goes like this: 9 am (2nd time), 12 pm (3rd time), so on and so forth.

2. Content needs to be distributed.  Instead of going to different websites/blogs myself to find new articles or posts, I now only follow those authors and bloggers on Twitter, and check their Twitter updates every hour or so. This turns out to be much more productive for me!

3. Since I am present on multiple social networks, I currently use sites like Ping.fm to post messages on different sites simultaneously, although Posterous would also do the trick.

4. I used to be obsessed with checking my site traffic and Google analytics.  This behavior ended up getting me distracted from the core daily tasks I set up for myself.  Even worse, it kills efficiency. Right now, I only do it once at the end of each day. This allows me to thoroughly compare my current traffic graph to the previous ones. Also it gives me time to think more about how to adjust my strategies to get more traffic in the future.

5. I started to use Google Voice at the beginning of the year. As a result, I filtered out a lot of unwanted calls. Sometimes, when there are pressing tasks, I just simply turn off my cell phone and check my email inbox for missed calls.  This is an effective way to improve my efficiency.

It’s not my intention to overburden our readers with numbers.  That’s why I only listed 5 simple pointers here.  Essentially, we all need to have great self-disciplines in order to succeed at each of these.  If we don’t have a daily goal or we lack time management skills, it’s going to be tough to implement these techniques.  But you can start this process by watching Randy Pausch’s lecture on time management.  I promise, it’ll help!

Related posts:

1. 5 Strategies to Help You Manage Social Media Overload Every once in a while, questions were asked regarding how...
2. Part II: 10 Reasons Why Social Media Can Benefit Entrepreneurs Yesterday we covered the first 5 reasons why social...
3. 30 Tips: The Productivity Guide of Social Media I wanted to write a productivity blog post a long...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Recently, I revisited Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. It’s a fascinating experience to read the book again and discover new ideas that are tightly related to the work I am doing now with social media. If you ask me to summarize the content of this book via one brief sentence, I would go with the following, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.” So how do you define a tipping point?  How would you achieve that crucial threshold with whatever businesses you are running or whatever products/services you are offering?  With social media, this can be simple.  Here is why.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, there are three rules of epidemics.  In my opinion, here is how we can use social media to implement these rules.

Rule #1 – The Stickiness Factor

Concept: “Messages must have a certain character which causes them to remain active in the recipients’ minds.  Moreover, they must be deemed worthy of being passed on.”

Implementation:

1. Create a unique, sticky, and captivating Facebook fan page that works well with personal branding (e.g. check out Mari Smith’s fan page)

2. Content you provide  on your blog also should be unique, informative, and valuable for your readers (e.g. Problogger.net)

3. You’re passionate about what you’re doing. Your passion permeates through your keynote presentations, videos you share, etc. (e.g. Gary Vaynerchuk)

4. Have a unique proposition in your niche market so you are the first person people think of when they need services you offer (e.g. Brian Clark from Copyblogger)

5. Get attention on social networking sites by getting more recommendations on LinkedIn, get listed thousands of times on Twitter, etc.

Note: These are simply factors that are hard to duplicate by your competitors, which make them sticky and make you unique. And trust me, uniqueness is good especially in a digital age.

Rule #2 – The Power of Context

Concept: “A rule about the environment in which a message spreads.  Small changes in the context of a message can determine whether or not it tips.”

Implementation:

1. Create long-lasting communities via social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  (Facebook and LinkedIn both let you form your own groups)

2. Use sites such as Meetup to conduct meaningful offline meetings. Meetup allows you to form groups centering certain topics.

3. Fostering a positive learning environment where knowledge flows freely. We just had a social media seminar yesterday where we featured the Meetup founder Scott Heiferman. At the meeting, we especially focused on answering the question “how to create a community that lasts” (review).

4. Creating special reward programs for employees or affiliates to get compensated based on performance. For example, at NY Entrepreneurs Business Network, we are running monthly affiliate programs where special bonuses are given away to members who help spread the word about our community.

5. If you have a website or blog for your own business, make sure your site is created in a way people can share information easily. For example, you can see the Retweet, and Digg buttons are installed on this WebStudio13. Such tools should be integrated on your community sites so sharing information can be a breeze for your members.

Rule #3 – The Law of The Few

Concept: “This law describes how messages are passed through word of mouth. The book mentioned “connectors” and “mavens”. Basically, they are the types of people who help make a message go viral. They are the sources that cause ‘Epidemics.’”

Implementation:

1. In social media sphere, befriend people who are influential in their own niche markets. This single fact indicates they have the ability to lead and deliver your messages efficiently to their networks.

2. Pay attention to the feedback you received for the products or services that you offer. For example, I have a Meetup group. Once an event is finished, I would receive tons of reviews. I’d like to read each of these reviews carefully to see who are serious about networking. Because those people are a select few that I want to build relationship with.

3. Come up with creative compensation programs where people are encouraged to spread your messages or, in my case, become my blog subscribers. Here the real point is to seek out the opinion leaders who’d like to join your community. With web 2.0 tools, you can design a contest which help you select qualified individuals.

4. Be a connector yourself. Be confident that you are the one that connects people.  You are indispensable! You should position yourself as the trust agent that conveys knowledge selfishlessly to others within your social networks.

5. If you are running similar groups as mine via social media sites such as Meetup, be mindful that only few people are qualified to assist you.  In my case, they are my assistant organizers. It could take a long time to identify the right people.  But it’s worth the time.  Be cautious and observant in selecting the right individuals via social media tools.  (Note: take a look at the assistant organizers at NY Entrepreneurs Business Network, a group I am running by using the Meetup platform.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, these three rules are what will eventually start epidemics. They signifies the tipping point. They are the reason why a blog post, a Flickr picture, or a YouTube video can go viral.  Implement them well and there is no doubt your business will soar like viruses do!

Related posts:

1. 7 Tricks to Overcome Your Social Media Addiction Do you have a Facebook or Twitter addiction?  Do...
2. HOW TO: Become A Better Networker (The Social Media Guide) As the organizer of NY Entrepreneurs Business Network (NYEBN), I...
3. How to – 5 Tips to Promote Your Business Brand Using Social Media As an entrepreneur, I’ve realized how cost-effective it can be...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Everyone has fears.  It’s the different ways we respond to our fears that set the winners apart from the losers.  Tim Ferriss is the famous productivity guru. Saying his book The 4-Hour Workweek changed my life is an understatment (my review). Recently, I came across a TED video where Tim Ferriss brings an analytical, yet accessible, approach to the challenges of self-improvement and career advancement through what he calls “lifestyle design.”  He particularly talks about how to overcome fears, your own worst enemies, by asking one simple question, “What’s the worst that could happen?“.

Before diving into Tim’s video, I would like to introduce 7 short tips on how to smash your fear with social media:

1. Fear of public speaking - Use Meetup to self-organize a group, host meetings from time to time and feature yourself as a host.

2. Fear of writing – Start a blog and begin to publish articles daily.

3. Fear of unknown – Information is the key. Once you know it, there is no fear. Start following the people that interest you the most on Twitter, and read their tweets everyday to get informed.

4. Fear of being overwhelmed – Prioritize your tasks and stay organized with Google Calendar, and other productivity tools.

5. Fear of being a leader – Start a Facebook group or page, and attract like-minded people who are willing to follow you.

6. Fear of failure – Watch this video first, then ask yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?“.

7. Fear of being depressed – Start everyday by watching these inspirational videos (check here). If you do a search on YouTube, you can discover more similar videos.

Now let’s enjoy this classic TED video featuring the productivity guru, Tim Ferriss.

Tim Ferris brings an analytical, yet accessible, approach to the challenges of self-improvement and career advancement through what he calls “lifestyle design.” His 2007 book, The 4-Hour Workweek, and his lectures on productivity are stuffed with moving, encouraging anecdotes — often from his own life — that show how simple decisions, made despite fears or hesitation, can make for a drastically more meaningful day-to-day experience at work, or in life.

Word-of-blog chatter in Silicon Valley may have propelled his book to bestselling success, but Ferriss himself takes a fervid stance against the distractions of technologies like email and PDAs, which promote unnecessary multitasking.

Following the success of his book, Ferriss has become a full-time angel investor. (Source: Ted.com)

Related posts:

1. 7 Tricks to Overcome Your Social Media Addiction Do you have a Facebook or Twitter addiction?  Do...
2. What Failure Can Teach Us (JK Rowling Video) As entrepreneurs, we are all boldly experimenting with new...
3. 30 Tips: The Productivity Guide of Social Media I wanted to write a productivity blog post a long...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.