Social Media Success: Building Your Brand with Your Tribe

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In the past we’ve looked at some of the ways you can market your business, build your brand and communicate with your tribe online.  Let’s revisit the topic today with a look at some social media strategies you can consider…

As you know, I’m not really a tech guy, but I love what’s possible with social media today.  So let me give you a few suggestions.

Blog.

Out of every 1,000 businesses, at least 998 of them would benefit from a blog.  They accomplish a number of things.  First they’re the perfect medium to stay in touch with the people who like you or your product.  And it’s a two-way street because of comments.  Look at all the great dialogue you see going back and forth on this blog every day.

Blogs are great for announcements, special offers, launching new products, soliciting feedback and simply expressing your opinion.  They are tremendous traffic generators if done right because of the search engine links they create and people spreading the word on what you write.

If you subscribe to my “Randy’s Rants” then you know I love the guys at Social Spin and the free WordPress blog deal they are offering.  I won’t repeat the details here, so if you missed the last Rants, find the info here:  http://su.pr/24y5SP

Check out miio.

It’s tough to keep up with all the new social media sites popping up every week.  Everyone wants to be the next Facebook or Twitter, but most will die on the vine.  But there is a new one that looks like it could do something.  It’s called miio.com and I like it for a number of reasons.

It’s a simple update engine much like Twitter, but it has a lot more robust features that parallel Facebook or Friendfeed.  Instead of just updates, you have options for reviews, pix, videos, groups and metadata built in.

It’s brand new so you can probably get the name you want.  So I would recommend you reserve your name on the site and give it a test drive.  Then if it does take off, you’ll have your name and an opportunity to start with a lot more people following you.  Sign up at: http://miio.com/

The Tweet Can’t Be Beat

I’ve done whole posts on Twitter in the past, so I won’t belabor the point here.  But Twitter is still the 800 pound gorilla in the space.  For refresher read my Twitter Manifesto.  And a good guy to follow on the service is @unmarketing.  A perfect mix of engagement, retweeting, social media insights, and snarky comments.   A couple others with social media insights are @markwschaefer @markshaw and @courtneyengle.

Do a Facebook Fan Page

The problem in the past with FB was you could only accept 5,000 friends.  And even though I wrote on my page that I was at the limit, I still have people requesting friend every day.  More than 4,000 and still growing.  Then FB created the Fan Pages and there are no limits.  They’re a great way to connect because your posts go in the feeds of the people that “like” you and you can also send messages to the whole group which goes in their in-box.  Check out Mari Smith for great info on maximizing your Facebook presence.

Follow the Tiger Beat Crowd.

Of course the biggest gains on the Internet and in social media are coming in the video arena.  We are a visual society and getting more so.  Here are some shocking figures I just learned.

Of the 6.6 billion people on planet earth, 3 billion of them are 25 and under!  And of course they are the Internet, TV, video game generation.  They have the attention span of a mosquito and have never ever seen a book unless they have visited a museum.

Some other fascinating numbers…

It took 15 years to get the first billion cell phones.  It took five years to get the second billion.  The third billion was about 900 or 1,000 days!

Younger demographics love technology and they love visual mediums best of all.  So video is only going to get stronger and stronger.

I’m a writer, so I love the printed word.  But I have come to understand that to really stay in touch with my tribe, I need to embrace video.  So I’ve put expanded focus on my YouTube channel.

And like anything I do, I look to see who is already doing it successfully.  And on YouTube, that’s the Tiger Beat generation.

Some of these budding entrepreneurs were selling products off their channel at 14 and 15 years old.  They usually start with t-shirts and expand from there.

Now the market is kind of skewed to the American Idol demographic, meaning the top vote getters are the ones that appeal to teenage girls. (And Gay pedophiles.)  But they do a brilliant job of branding themselves.  Some of these guys have a couple million subscribers to their channels and have individual vids with 20 or 25 million views.

Here are three guys I suggest you subscribe to and watch what they do.  Be prepared for some sophomoric humor, vulgar language and teen speak.  But have fun with it.  These guys ooze charisma and show some amazing creativity.  Check ‘em out:

Fred Absolutely manic!

Shane Dawson I want to be like Shane when I grow up.

DFizzy Someone on FOX needs to give this kid a show.

And if you’re not connecting with me on my other social media outlets, get to it!  I need the money.

http://twitter.com/Randy_Gage
http://miio.com/Randy_Gage
http://www.youtube.com/randygage
http://www.facebook.com/randygage

-RG

Posted in Success by Randy Gage.

Tags: Facebook, miio, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Twitter Manifesto