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Here we go again!
Another year and another great possibility! With the election of Obama to the presidency,there is Hope and all are looking for a great future.But I am sitting here thinking of all the folks in
social Media
that are going to befrustrated again in their social Media marketing efforts. wondering why they are notgetting the traction or friends that they thought they should. And the main reason is thatthey continue to make the same mistakes in Social Media as last year.Are YOU going to do that- I sure hope not. You may not have the power of a RobertScoble, or the personality of aGary Vanyerchuck,or the mind of aChris Brogan, or the networking focus of aMari Smithor CoachDeb micek . Or even the amazing writing talent of aScott Monty.At least not yet.
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 But you CAN accelerate your Social Media Success this year by avoiding these top 10mistakes made by people in Social media in 2009.Ok…what are they?
1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.
You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, withoutCONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson.Or Timothy Carter . NOT going to happen. That is why that you MSUT create a Presenceon the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it’s efforts. It is the saem with your 
Social Mediamarketing.2) Focusing too much on being heard.
LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your  prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.
 
 Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start theconversation will come.
3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.
Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value.Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give NewPossibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will beshunned and labeled as such.If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?
GIVE
=
G
ain
I
nfluence
V
ery
E
asily. Give FIRST - and you will never come in Second.
4) Not Joining groups.
Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to aton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons:
1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) ICONNECT with the folks in the group.
Groups are a “secret weapon” that you should use on as many social sites as you can.They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.
5) Not attending Events.
Events ROCK. And you should be attending at leat 1 event a week to do 2 things:
1)Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.
Events are what i call the “Hidden University” of social Media. You can learn a LOT andgrow a lot from events.Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And seeif you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every eventthat i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do thesame.
6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.
Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call
“Surprising Value.”
Thisis the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person thatdiscovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Putmore Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value inyour Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Mediatable.
 
Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.
7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.
There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. Youneed 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondarysites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of-is up to you. My ‘Big 7″ arefacebook, twitter , youtube,LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, andWordpress- along withmashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more– but have automated those through ping.fmand other social software.Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same withmyspace,or friendster . Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR “Big7.” And then automate the rest.
 
Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.
 Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. Butfocusing too much on that in social media- is , well…not cool. People do not mindknowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE firstwith it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your produst.What do I see daily? Urls and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wishthat would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great contentrich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST–and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.Hmmm….that just might be an idea worth considering.
9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.
Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes.Ask Brian Solis.Ask Dave Taylor.Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value andConnection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan oncehad 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone.Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So didMonty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.
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