Last week I gave a speech at the Red Bank Toastmasters club about social media. I started by asking the audience a simple question, “Who here is involved with social media?” 

Now, how many questions outside of, “Who here breathes air?” do you think you could ask where every single hand in the room goes up?

Apparently social media is as common these days as the air we breathe…crazy! 

After my speech I had a few people approach me with questions about how to get better at social media. One person didn’t have a company, but wanted to work on his personal brand. I gave them a few ideas such as registering his name (URL), starting a blog and completing his LinkedIn profile.

I had another gentleman tell me that his company actually frowned upon their employees engaging in social media. I gave him a few ideas to bring back to his boss, and then showed him how to set his privacy on Facebook so that he can still mingle socially online, because let’s face it, with a boss like that who knows when he may be looking for a new job…of course that was a joke, but he understood the point, that you need to stay connected because you never really know, right?

So even if you don’t completely get it yet, start “social”-izing…it’s the only way to stay relevant…The Time Is Now!

John Zalepka

It seems that everyone has a story about where they were and how they felt when the Great Quake hit today. Personally, I felt like I was back at Bar A around 2am during my Belmar years.

I really didn’t know what was going on, I just knew it was weird.

I had just popped a couple of Excedrin and I was starring at my computer screen… when all of the sudden my entire building started rocking, I thought I was going to be sick. I got up and walked to the front of my store at Adpro Imprints where I saw t-shirts and sweatshirts swinging all over the place.

Is this really an earthquake? In New Jersey?

After the shaking had stopped, I ran back to my computer…I needed to know what Mother Google had to say about what just happened to me…I was disappointed when I found nothing under the news feed.

Then I thought, of course, Facebook…Here was my post: “Ok, was that an earthquake or what?”

Within 8 seconds my friend Joe Leone from Social Media Monsters responded that it was indeed an earthquake, with a 5.8 magnitude and the epicenter was in Virginia.

Wow! I had just gotten the most breaking news possible in 8 seconds…and on Facebook no less!

I was also happy to know that I wasn’t going crazy as questions and comments about the quake from friends began filling my “news” feed.

And I thought…How cool is it that we get “news” from Facebook instantaneously?

John Zalepka

Let’s say you were advertising your brand as the greatest, most reliable HVAC contractor in all of the land. But you never connected with past clients that would have been more than happy to post on your Facebook fan page just how great, and reliable you are.

And let’s just say that someone does a Google search because they are in the market for a great, reliable HVAC contractor.

Instead of finding a well-crafted social presence that you control, Google sends them a link to a blog post from that nightmare customer a few years back who had a less-than-reliable experience with you. In fact, not only are they are telling everyone how un-“reliable” your business is, they even have a link recommending someone else, your competitor.

It could happen, in fact it IS happening, EVERY DAY. And if you are not integrating your online and offline marketing efforts, you are doing more than just losing a potential customer - you are potentially damaging your brand.

People are talking on many different social media platforms, some you may not even be aware of, and they may even be talking about your business. There could be a conversation going on RIGHT NOW that you don’t even know about. Wouldn’t you like to be a part of that conversation, good or bad?

It’s not enough for YOU to tell people how great you are in your advertisements. People are very skeptical these days when they see what they know are “paid” ads, either online or offline. Studies have shown that only 15% of people actually believe advertisements…and those same studies show that over 90% of people believe peer recommendations.

So get moving…get your raving fans to talk about you & refer you to their friends…just make sure to give them something for their efforts so they will want to continue helping you out.

Stay friendly, my friends!

John Zalepka

I read an article today about how a fast-food chicken franchise was able to garner a 280% response rate on a 5,000 piece postcard mailing. For perspective, in case you were wondering, the “typical” or “average” response rate for direct mail is 2%. 

So how, you might ask, is it even possible to get more responses then the number of pieces sent?

The answer is quite simply by incorporating social media and the sharing element of this type of networking into the campaign.

From a cold list that they purchased from a list broker, they were able to get 14,128 hits (280%) to their micro-site that they set up specifically for the campaign, with 6,089 people providing some sort of personal data.

First, a postcard was sent which had perforated coupons that were redeemable in the store. The postcard also featured a PURL, or personalized URL which incorporated the recipient’s name, encouraging them to visit “their own” website for additional coupons and a “chance to win” something big. Once on the site, they were asked to “share” these great offers and chance to win with their friends via Facebook, Twitter, etc.

All told, in four weeks they had over 1,300 coupons redeemed and over 3,400 additional names and contact information for their data base.

This fully integrated multi-channel direct marketing campaign with viral components earned the agency the 2010 Direct Marketing Practices award from PODi (the digital printing initiative).

The simple fact that this direct mail campaign was more “social” then the traditional one-way communication of most postcards blew away any preconceived notions that direct mail is dead.

With the saturation of the market with email messages, right now is a great time to spend on direct mail. Coupled with the fact that many businesses are scaling back on direct mail, this is the perfect opportunity for a well-planned campaign to really stand out in people’s “actual” mailboxes…just make sure it’s “social”.

John Zalepka

Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Imagine your future self, ie, you 10 years from now. If he/she were to send you a tweet or text message, 1) what would it say and 2) how would that transform your life or change something you’re doing, thinking, believing or saying today?

(Author: Tia Singh)

A text message from my 45 year old self: JB was right, Web 2.0 created a million millionaires, and the good news is we’re one of them! The better news is that because we have been so socially engaging to our network of contacts over the past 10 years, we are in position to become a billionaire by leveraging Web 3.0… get ready for a most excellent adventure!

I couldn’t help not to think of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure when I read today’s #Trust30 prompt. The irony in my head was not lost on the fact that their time machine was a 1960’s style phone booth and mine was also a phone (albeit a much more sophisticated Droid). And as silly a thought as it seemed at first, my most excellent and ironic time machine began to make more and more sense to me.

Much in the same way as Bill & Ted were able to convince (kidnap) the likes of Napoleon, Billy the Kid, Abraham Lincoln & Genghis Khan to follow them, aren’t I doing the same thing with social media …”like me”, “friend me”, “follow me”?

And talk about the ultimate cold call victory …two metalhead slackers are able to appear out of virtually nowhere and sell a menagerie of historical figures on the fact that they need to help them with a high school presentation sometime in the future. And why do these important historical figures ultimately agree to participate and help the boys? The short answer is; because they were likeable and social.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you keep making connections and stay friendly, likeable, and social with your message, you will one day too have your Wyld Stallyns’ moment.

PARTY ON, DUDES!

John Zalepka

Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are our most potent at our most ordinary. And yet most of us discount our “ordinary” because it is, well, ordinary. Or so we believe. But my ordinary is not yours. Three things block us from putting down our clever and picking up our ordinary: false comparisons with others (I’m not as good a writer as _____), false expectations of ourselves (I should be on the NYTimes best seller list or not write at all), and false investments in a story (it’s all been written before, I shouldn’t bother). What are your false comparisons? What are your false expectations? What are your false investments in a story? List them. Each keep you from that internal knowing about which Emerson writes. Each keeps you from making your strong offer to the world. Put down your clever, and pick up your ordinary.

(Author: Patti Digh)

All of my businesses have revolved around some aspect of marketing, advertising or sales. Even as a small child I can remember being a sucker for great marketing… whether is was gum or baseball cards conveniently placed down low on the checkout line at the grocery store, or TV commercials in between my Saturday morning cartoons, or the Sears Christmas Wish Book, I had to have it all.

That’s why it was no surprise that when I saw today’s #Trust30 challenge question, I read it from a marketer’s perspective.

Ordinary, much like beauty, is indeed also in the eyes of the beholder.

Busy business owners often borrow (steal) ideas from successful companies in their industry, often trying to emulate concepts and product offerings that they cannot deliver on. A small retail boutique would be crazy to try and compete on price with Walmart… it’d be like like asking a Little-Leaguer to try and hit a CC Sabathia fastball (I’m a Yankees fan btw).

However, time and again I have small business clients ask me to print up fancy brochures and marketing collateral that contain a lot of industry jargon, that, truth be told, they hope no one ever asks them about. They try to be “clever”, but what they are really doing is over-promising and setting themselves up to under-deliver.

Your marketing efforts should focus on what you already do well and apply it to your ideal market segment, then rinse and repeat as often as possible. Social networking sites and blogs can make your marketing go viral as fast as you can upload a video customer testimonial or whitepaper answering questions about subject matter that you know about.

I firmly believe that if you spend a little “extra” time focusing on what you already do well (ordinary), then it’s just a matter of time before your ordinary becomes extraordinary!

John Zalepka