Motivational Marketer's Journal | Online Marketing Muscle » Social Media

Visualize Your Network With LinkedIn InMaps

Dean Mercado — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:00:06 +0000

I don’t know about you but like most people, I’m very visual… images speak volumes to me. And when it comes to networking, I am very critical on where I spend my time. Why? It’s my one key resource I can never get back!

View Into Dean Mercado's Professional Network Using LinkedIn InMap

So imagine how excited I was to see a visual representation of my LinkedIn network. One that clearly points out who the major hubs in my network were. One that in a color-coded way clusters my contacts together showing me where I connected with them most. One that shows the inter-connectivity between my networking contacts. Piqued your interest yet?

Now of course this is not a complete and comprehensive view of my network and networking activity. However it does provide a very interesting snapshot into a piece of it. One that opened up my eyes in some ways and confirmed my thoughts in others.

So what exactly is LinkedIn InMaps?

The best way to familiarize you further with InMaps is to share a video from LinkedIn on it… take a peek.

So what does your network say about you? Are you properly penetrating desired industries, groups, or events? Or is your network chaotic with seemingly no rhyme or reason?

Create your LinkedIn InMap here and find out!

Content Curation – Hot Marketing Strategy For Small Business!

Dean Mercado — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:27:06 +0000

Hey… I firmly beleive content curation is going to play a huge role in successful marketing campaigns for small businesses going forward… I see it in action already… As a matter of fact, I use content curation quite a bit in my business! This blog post is an example of me doing just that!

So What Exactly Is Content Curation?

The easiest way to explain it is to watch this excellent video I came across through the content curation efforts of my Social Media friend Michael Q Todd. That means Michael didn’t create the video, he curated it! The video was created by the folks over at idio.

Take a peek!

What did you think?

You’re probably even leveraging content curation without even knowing it. Do you ever share other people’s content that you feel your target market would be interested in via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook? Guess what? You’re leveraging content curation as a marketing strategy… excellent!

We simply can’t know it all…. and that’s OK! I believe your target market will be OK with that as well. The key is to get the ego out of the way and share! By bringing relevant and timely content (regardless of who created it) to your target market, you are differentiating yourself from the competition. You are adding value! Pretty cool hah?!

Want To See More Content Curation In Action?

One tool I started using recently that is fabulous for content curation is Scoop.it! Here are links to two of my content curation efforts using Scoop.it that I’ve created to add more value to my target market:

Social Media Strategy for Small Business

Internet Marketing Strategy for Small Business

I invite you to check them out and let me know what you think.

So the big question for you is… “How can you leverage content curation in your small business to increase the value you add to your target market?”

Chatting on Facebook? Protect Your Privacy!

Dean Mercado — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:47:32 +0000

I have to say that it’s really scary just how much companies like Facebook know about its more than 800 million users!

57 categories of data Facebook collects, stores, and uses about its users! Screen shot courtesy of http://europe-v-facebook.org

As a matter of fact, according to europe-v-facebook.org, Facebook collects, stores, and uses 57 categories of data about each of its users. Facebook considers this appropriate behavior and cites it as their intellectual property… even though the data is about you! Are they right? My guess is the courts will decide that one day.

Don’t get me wrong… I love Facebook! I use it for both personal and business! I think it’s an awesome social media tool! However I do highly recommend that we, as users, protect our privacy however and whenever we can!

In a recent blog post I read titled “How Encryption Can Keep Facebook From Snooping In Your Chats“, my eyes popped open!

Did you know that Facebook keeps all of you past chats on file?

Did you know that the information in those chats is used to target ads toward you?

Did you know Facebook willingly releases that information to the government… and it could be used against you in a court of law?

Well according to online privacy company Abine this is all true! Abine also provides several tools you can integrate into your web browser (for FREE) to protect your online privacy… not bad Abine! It’s unselfish acts like that, that get people like me to blog about them.

So one such tool (from Abine) that I want to share with you here is their free bookmarklet which (if installed by both parties) will encrypt your Facebook chats so no one other than those chatting (even Facebook) can see them! Ahhhh… online privacy!

Give it a shot and let me know what you think! Also… know of any other cool (and free) tools that help protect online privacy? I’d like to know about them!

Disclaimer: Neither I nor my company Online Marketing Muscle receive any compensation from Abine as a result of recommending their product(s)!

The Long Tail of Social Media

Dean Mercado — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:40:39 +0000

Social Media Sites Dean Mercado Hangs Out On

One thing I can say with all certainty… there is no shortage of social media sites out there! Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and we can go on and on probably for the better part of an hour rambling them off… and that would be only the ones we know about. Now I don’t know the statistics however it seems that several new social media sites are showing up daily… some with sticking power and several without.

So what does this mean for us? We are experiencing what author Chris Anderson dubbed the Long Tail in his similarly titled book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More (side note: If your in any kind of business, read that book!).

Yes as of this writing there still are (and will be for a while longer) the social media behemoths such as Facebook however, I do believe we will continue to see the masses of social media users splinter off toward smaller, more niche social media sites that give them precisely what they are seeking from social media (and not much more). This in my opinion is a good thing. We certainly do not need any one company monopolizing and driving the social media space. I prefer letting the social media users drive it.

What do you think? Do you see what I see happening in regards to social media? What social media sites are you using and why? I’d love to know… leave your comment below!

Who Me… A Twitter Snob?

Dean Mercado — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:09:00 +0000

“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

To this day, I still remember Mom saying to my brothers and me “I don’t want you hanging around with that kid… he’s nothing but trouble!” Of course back then we didn’t see it that way however many years later, now a Dad myself, I understand where she was coming from. She believed that our peers significantly influenced who we would become in life.

Fast forward to the modern day, Mom’s message still resonates. Until recently, on Twitter I’ve for the most part operated under the premise of follow me and I’ll follow you back. I never understood what harm it could do by just following anybody and everybody. Was I being ignorant? Unfortunately if I wanted to increase my results online I was.

In today’s online world, Mom’s philosophy is more true than ever… not solely of course however we are being judged and prejudged based on who we hang around with.

Let me explain.

First up… Google. In a nutshell, one of the key factors on the success of how well your web site ranks in Google is due largely in part to what web sites we link to and more importantly what web sites link to us. The more credible (and complementary) the web site linking to and from us, the better we rank. The better we rank the more opportunity opens up.

Second up… Klout. In a nutshell, Klout measures your online influence. I believe it started with social media sites like Twitter, and then expanded to others such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more. One of the key factors that Klout appears to rank (or judge) you on is based on whom you follow, connect, or link to on these sites. Hang around with those who are less of a social media dynamo then you, your Klout score goes down. Pal around with the Twitter elite, your Klout score goes up.

Now of course these are not the only factors that play into how well we rank in Google or how high our Klout score is, however they appear to be significant.

And be sure to understand that people you may want to connect with are checking you out online first… prospects Google you before they meet with you… the Twitter elite check out your Klout score before following you… and so on. Yes, whether right or wrong, we use these tools to judge people.

So for the first time after several years on Twitter, I began heeding Mom’s advice (to a degree) and started looking into ways to improve my Klout score… here’s where my competitive nature reared its ugly head…one such way was simply to unfollow those with low Klout scores while interacting more with those who had higher Klout scores than me. Now rest assured that my sensitivity wouldn’t allow me to be ruthless here, however I did unfollow about 25% of those I was following. I cut those who hadn’t tweeted in over 6 months. I cut those who either weren’t following me back or willing to engage in the social networking aspect of Twitter (not including major personalities, news sources, and other entities I like of course). I cut the spammers. I cut those who appeared to be using the distasteful tactic of “I follow you… you follow me back… I unfollow you so I bulk up my number of followers while keeping the numbers I follow small… oooh I don’t like that one.

So the big question is… Is being more selective on whom I follow snobbish? Have I become a Twitter snob?

What about you? Are you a Twitter snob? I’d love to hear your story!

LI Tweetup for Social Media Day 2011 Rocked!

Dean Mercado — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 05:06:58 +0000

What an awesome experience! Thursday evening’s LI Tweetup for Social Media Day 2011 rocked! Great people… great food (catered by Albert’s Pizza of Hauppauge)… great location (hosted at The Business Corners in Hauppauge @licoworking) and most of all… great conversation!

Now I’m a pretty avid local networker and who knew… there were some real gems of people circulating out there that I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting… WOW am I glad I showed up! I highly recommend following these folks on Twitter… a few old friends and a few new ones as well: @jscheine82 @BillBaylis @7thWoman @namnum @LovelyLu @BasilPuglisi @AmandaNMarsh @NathanRKing @DixieLil @peteshelly

I also recommend following the trending topic #LITweetUp as well as on Twitter to stay in the know of future events.

Social Media Mastermind

Andrea Mercado — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 02:14:29 +0000

[ May 17, 2011; 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm. May 24, 2011; 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm. May 31, 2011; 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm. June 7, 2011; 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm. June 14, 2011; 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm. ] The next Social Media Mastermind begins May 17th! Sign up now at: http://www.onlinemarketingmuscle.com/socialmediamastermind Related posts: Social Media Mastermind 3! Social Media Mastermind Social Media Mastermind 4! Related posts:

Social Media Mastermind 3!

Andrea Mercado — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 04:59:56 +0000

Who Else Wants To Learn How To Leverage Social Media Such As Facebook, LinkedIn, And Twitter To Explode Their Business In Just 10 Minutes A Day?
Here is just a small sample of what we will cover…

* What is social media and why you MUST care!
* How to use social media to get traffic to your web site, blog, or
other social media sites!
* How to use social media to strengthen your personal brand!
* How to position yourself as the only obvious choice to your
prospects and clients!
* How to use social media to attract and obtain new prospects and
clients!
* Numerous time saving and business building tips & tricks to make the
most of your efforts!
* And much more!

Limited space is available, so for more information and to sign up now, go to: http://www.onlinemarketingmuscle.com/socialmediamastermind/

Your Customers are Talking About You in Social Media Circles . . . Do You Know What They Are Saying???

Andrea Mercado — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:21:02 +0000

If you own a business or are in the process of starting one, you need to be on this teleseminar! Join Dean Mercado of Online Marketing Muscle and Randi Busse of Workforce Development Group as they discuss topics such as: Is social media scaring away your customers? What does your online reputation say about you? What is the impact on your business? Join us for this complimentary teleseminar on Wednesday, September 22 at 12pm (EST). Sign up now at: http://www.onlinemarketingmuscle.com/free-social-media-teleseminar/

Pictures from LIASB June 16 Breakfast with the Board

Andrea Mercado — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:35:40 +0000

Here are some pictures from the most recent LIASB Breakfast with the Board meeting on June 16, 2010 where Dean Mercado presented a roundtable discussion on social media.