Mark Schaefer’s “The Tao of Twitter”: A Twitter Guide for Beginners and Experts

                               

My first knowledge of Mark Schaefer came through a classmate, Aaron Sachs (@AaronSachs), who had worked with Mark on some social media stuff for Aaron’s business Symply Social . Aaron sang Mark’s praises to our Advertising 490: Social Media class, and when he mentioned Social Slam tickets were going on sale, I was one of the first in our class (except for Aaron, of course!) to sign up. I was eager to see what this social media conference was all about. I considered the cost of $40 kind of expensive until I realized that attendees also received free food and free books! Included with registration was a copy of Mark Schaeffer’s The Tao of Twitter and Jay Baer’s The Now Revolution. I decided that even if the conference was boring (which of course it wasn’t!), I would still have two free books. Needless to say, Social Slam was an amazing opportunity and I even got my free books signed by Mark and Jay!

Earlier this week, I had time to sit down and read Mark’s book. While I was reading it, I kept finding myself nodding in agreement with Mark’s points. Because I loved the book so much, I wanted to share some of its key lessons with you—or at least what I thought was key. Mark hits on several ideas that I myself have thought of but not been able to put into words. Below are quotes from the book that I will be referencing in many future conversations with friends about how to best utilize twitter.

“Business benefits are created through three elements: targeted connections + meaningful content + authentic helpfulness.” (pg. 11)

These three elements make up the core of Mark’s The Tao of Twitter, and he offers great explanations for the importance of each. I especially like his emphasis on the importance of authentic helpfulness. Just this week, I wrote a blog post about books I wanted to read for summer to beef up on my social media knowledge. Someone over at Wiley Business Books (@WileyBiz) was kind enough to send over a list of social media books they had recently published, 3 or 4 of which I had listed. I was reminded by the list of a few more books I wanted to read, but had temporarily forgotten about. Whoever was Tweeting for @WileyBiz that day had no guarantee that I would buy any of their books or mention them anywhere, but they tried to be helpful and perhaps promote their products a bit. 😉

“ . . . Under normal conditions, Twitter is about engaging, not broadcasting, so it probably does not make sense to just broadcast on a regular basis.” (pg. 40)

This one hit home because of my extreme frustration with some social media specialisists who simply post and repost and re-repost links to their blogs, which contain only information which I already read when I read their books. (Obviously, Mark isn’t one of these people. His blog, {grow}, is an amazing source of fresh, insightful content!) While HootSuite and other services can help you schedule tweets if you will be away for a while, I strongly believe in the need for interaction. While a little shameless self-promotion can go a long way, you need to be sharing good, new content that can actually help your followers learn something that they don’t already know from reading your books. Which leads to our third point . . .

“If somebody only takes about themselves, their business and how great they are, you’re going to want to get away fast! But, if a person shows genuine interest in you, and offers help without regard for their own personal benefit, you will like that person and connect with them.”(pg. 47)

I LOVE following and being followed by people who are willing to interact on Twitter, even if they don’t have an idea in the world about how they “met” you on Twitter. A random Tweet by @AaronSachs introduced me to Kaarina Dillabough (@KDillabough) who lives in Canada and posts some very interesting things about social media on her blog, Decide2Do. As Mark says on page 32, the rule of creating relationships on Twitter is “You just never know!” There may come a day when I could be helpful to Kaarina or she to me. If she ever needs a place to camp out in Georgia, at least she would have an inside contact. 😉 Which brings us to the final quote I selected . . .

“At the end of the day, as long as you are satisfied with the business benefits you are receiving from Twitter, what anyone else thinks is irrelevant.” (pg. 73)

Some people probably think I spend way too much time hanging out on my computer—or my Android powered smartphone—tweeting away to people I’ve never even met in person. But, I find benefit and think that Twitter is providing me with a wonderful opportunity to learn from people that are the experts in the field. No expensive classrooms for me! I’m learning the ins-and-outs of social media from the pros who are out in the field working on it. And, the best of them are following Mark’s guidelines! Shouldn’t you read The Tao of Twitter and get a head start on your future as a member of the Twitter Tribe?

If you are interested in reading a more traditional style review of Mark’s amazing book, you can read some of these great video reviews below or visit the Tao of Twitter site to see a round-up of great reviews here.

Note: There were some minor typos and grammar issues which prevented a five out of five star ranking. I’m sure, however, that Mark is working on these and will have them all fixed for the second printing. Overall, an amazing book!

Social Media Expert Lon Safko Speaks To University of Tennessee Social Media Class

At 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, March 22, as many students sat dozing or paying half-hearted attention to their professors, an especially lucky group of students in Advertising 490 sat excitedly awaiting a video call from a special guest. This special guest took time out of an extrememly hectic schedule to volunteer to share his social media expertise via a Skype video call from Arizona at 5:30 a.m. his time.This social media expert was none other than the highly esteemed author of The Social Media Bible, Mr. Lon Safko.

Mr. Safko was very enthusiastic, humorous and informative in his presentation and the entire class greatly enjoyed it. This post, however, isn’t just a way for me to brag about how blessed I was to have this opportunity. Instead I would like to share with you five of the most interesting thoughts and ideas I took away from Mr. Safko’s presentation.

1. The Importance of the Social Media Trinity

In the second edition of The Social Media Bible, Mr. Safko states that “if you understand the Social Media       Trinity, you will have a good understanding of 90 percent of everything you need to be successful using             social media in your marketing strategy.  While Twitter is great for quick timely updates and Facebook is a       wonderful way to connect with your community, I have been learning this semester that blogging is a very         essential element of the trinity because it hosts the content that you will refer to primarily from other social       media sites and performs many other functions that we don’t even consider at first. All in all, I believe the           blog is the glue that ties it all together. Mr. Safko shared with us a story of Bil Marriott, of Marriott Hotels,         who blogs each week because he sees the importance of interacting on social media. While Mr. Marriott         has never turned on a computer, he comes up with what he wants to say and has his secretary actually type     and publish the blog post.

2. Second Life Isn’t A Game

While I’ve never been one to engage in virtual worlds, I have learned a good bit about them in class this             semester. I did not, however, realize the implications of how useful such a technology could be. Mr. Safko         shared a wonderful story with us Tuesday morning about how he was the first person to interview a CEO in   Second Life. Watch below to check out Mr. Safko’s interview with Mark Kingdon, former CEO of Second Life.

This interview shows that there are definetely a plethera of possibilities of how virtual worlds can be used. It is   yet to be seen, however, how long it will take for people to become comfortable using these virtual worlds for     businesses. Several major companies are already taking a proactive approach to building a presence in virtual   worlds and other new outlets such as gaming. Most likely, we will see great growth in these areas in the near   future.

3. Take Personal Branding Seriously

When we Skyped with Mr. Safko, there was an image of his book in the background. Images of his book as       well as his logo for Extreme Digital Marketing, as well as his website and other information are also                   embedded into his presentation. The examples he uses are from his personal social media usage. In Second     Life, you will notice that Mr. Safko’s book appears in a prominent location throughout the interview. If you visit   Mr. Safko’s website, you will see that there is a visible connection between colors and fonts used on the book   and colors and fonts used on Mr. Safko’s personal site. Mr. Safko tweets advice and tips from his                     presentations and his book to share social media insights with his followers. Since we recently studied             personal branding in class, it was very interesting to see how this was done by a social media expert.

4. Interact and Share With Your Community

Mr. Safko is very generous with sharing his insight and advice with others in the social media community.         Not only did he volunteer to present for our class, but he did so by commenting on one of my fellow                   classmates blog posts. This shows that Mr. Safko is very involved in monitoring and participating in                   conversations that relate to the Social Media Bible and to social media in general. Also, Mr. Safko uses HootSuite to publish tweets frequently and share information about social media with his followers. He also has a site on vimeo where you can find portions of his keynote presentations. Below is a portion of the       keynote presentation that Mr. Safko used when presenting to us on Tuesday.

By actively engaging with his audience, Mr. Safko can help promote his book, but also establish himself as       an expert as specialist (via Klout) in the field of social media.

5. Social Media Provides Strong Connections

Who would have thought that I would ever be able to hear a keynote address by the esteemed author of our       textbook, especially in a small audience setting at my own school via social media? I am referncing The           Social Media Bible in my master’s thesis because of it’s easy to understand descriptions of many social           media outlets. I was ecstatic to learn that the author of the one textbook in my college career that I                   voluntarily read from cover-to-cover was actually willing to wake up at 5 a.m. to speak to our class, due to a       post that one of my fellow classmates made. It shows us how remarkable things can happen with social           media.

Mr. Safko also talked about how social media can provide us with so many amazing connections. Mr. Safko     was trying to interview Mark Kingdon of Second Life, but had trouble getting in touch with the busy CEO. As       a last try, Mr. Safko mentioned his need for an interview to his friend Doug. Doug passed it on to a good             friend of his, Greg, who happened to be the best man in Mr. Kingdon’s wedding.  Greg talked to Mr. Kingdon     and within 30 minutes, Mr. Kingdon was getting in touch with Mr. Safko.

Social media provides endless opportunities for networking, making contacts and staying in touch with old         friends, professors, and co-workers. It is our job, however, to work to make those connections. As Mr. Safko     said, “If you want to win the game, you have to be in the game”.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the presentation and learned a great deal about social media. I would strongly suggest that anyone who is interested in learning about social media purchase a copy of The Social Media Bible and read it. The very ready friendly content is very beneficial to helping you learn about social media, whether you are a newbie looking for a dummies guide to social media or a professional trying to learn how to utilize social media for your business. Once again, thanks to Mr. Safko for taking the time out of his extremely busy schedule to speak for us. I, for one, was greatly honored by and highly appreciative of the gesture.

ShopKick combines Geolocation, Advertising & Social Good

As you may know, I have a very string interest in supporting social causes. One way in which I like to do this is through the social cause geolocation application Causeworld. I was horribly saddened last week to log in and find out that the application is being fazed out. Never fear, however, because the owners of Causeworld have created what they believe will be a better more efficient application known as ShopKick. While your credits (i.e. Karma) don’t transfer over, you still have the chance to donate any final karma points you have to one your favorite causes. So, donate your final karmas and switch out the old app for the new ShopKick app, which is available for Android and many other platforms. You can see how the new application works in the video below.

Still skeptical about whether these apps are actually beneficial? Then, you should read the inspirational story of how funds raised by ShopKick/Causeworld helped out the American Humane Society to save dogs in a town only an hour from where I was raised in Georgia. Or, see the adorable students who got new laptops with funds from Causeworld karmas donated by users like me (and maybe you too!). I can’t explain to you the technicalities of how it works, but your Causeworld check-ins definetely helped out a great many people!

ShopKick also has the potential to beneficially affect people through check-ins, credits and donations. There’s a bit of a twist to this application though that wasn’t a primary component of Causeworld. ShopKick is an early attempt to use geolocation apps as on on-location marketing and advertising tool. The app is designed to recognize when you are near stores or when you enter shopping locations and deliver personalized deals and coupons for that store. Some of the big names who are collaborating with the application are Best Buy and Target.

This approach seems to be working according to a Mashable report that the six month old application has seen over 100 million check-ins. A story in Business Insider stated that the new application has 750,000 users, 10% of who check in every day! Mashable ranked ShopKick as one of the top ten apps to watch for 2011. (You may also note that another of my favorites, GetGlue, was even higher up the list at number 3!) The application also made Mashable’s list of 5 check-in apps to check-out. ShopKick seems to be on the forefront of a second generation of check-in applications which I believe will far outshine and outperform the first generation geolocation applications! I look forward to trying out ShopKick myself and to seeing how others adopt this new technology!