When do you need to re-learn the basics of social media?
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My CEO, Joe Cronin, had a very interesting question as a follow up to the recent post on social media leaders.
At what point do you need to go back and relearn the fundamentals? Things have changed so much in the last 10 years – the fundamentals are completely different. Anyone who learned them 5+ years ago is now doing things wrong – fundamentally, right??? They would have to be re-trained in new fundamentals???
Yes and no. The fundamentals, the basics, always remain the same. The tools that we use to implement them change routinely and regularly, which is why it’s so important to read lots of blogs, participate on Twitter, and stay connected to your community – without that connection, you don’t have the eyes and ears of the group working for mutual benefit.
I liken this to the martial arts. As a white belt, you learn a few basic techniques, you learn how to not get punched in the head, how to fall to the ground safely, and other core basics. As you advance up the ranks, you learn more techniques, newer techniques, more complicated techniques that require more skill, but the core principles remain the same – don’t get hurt. Even at the master levels of martial arts, the same fundamental basics are at work, just expressed differently than a white belt.
The same is true in social media. You may just be getting started understanding your community through tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., but the core basics of social media – community, connection, communication – remain the same. No matter what hot network you sign up for, no matter what the shiny object du jour is, the basics remain the same.
You do need to constantly learn and gain competency in the tools you use to manage your social media community, of course. Applying ideas for promoting something on MySpace even from three months ago don’t work now, because the site changes constantly. The MP3 encoder you used for your podcast in 2005 should have evolved into something better for 2008. The basic underlying principle remains the same, however.
If you understand the principles of social media, if you have underlying goals, metrics, and strategies, then no matter what tools come along, you’ll be able to apply your skills to the new stuff and make it effective for you as soon as you learn the tool. It’s a lot like driving a car. Once you understand the basics, it doesn’t matter whether you get behind the wheel of a Prius or a Ferrari – you can still get from point A to point B.
A hat tip and a pile of links for my CEO as thanks for the great question.
+ Online Education Directory at Edvisors.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Free scholarships at ScholarshipPoints.com
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Stupid simple marketing tip: hijack RSS scrapers
Stupid simple marketing tip: hijack RSS scrapers
Want to make your blog or podcast more effective? Hijack an RSS scraper!
Definition: an RSS scraper is any web site that copies your RSS feed – your blog posts, your podcast show notes, etc. – and presents it on their site to appear to be original content.
Instead of worrying about RSS scrapers repurposing your content, turn the tables on them and turn them into billboards for you. A few simple tips to get you started:
- Copy your blog post title into your post, and link back to the post or your blog’s homepage. Any scraper that repurposes the HTML will automatically provide a link back to the original. This is important because some scrapers copy only an excerpt of your posts.
- Use a plugin like aLinks to automatically create links to important keywords for you. For me, things like my employer, the Student Loan Network, my show, the Financial Aid Podcast, and my other online adventures are all things I want to have links to, but occasionally I forget. aLinks will link them up automatically, ensuring that RSS scrapers get piles of links to replicate, too.
- Add buttons to the bottom of every post containing action items. These buttons will in turn link back to things you want people to do, so when RSS scrapers replicate them, a person who clicks on the button to subscribe will get sent to your RSS feed, not the scraper’s. You can see this in action at the Financial Aid Podcast and Marketing Over Coffee. It’s important that this goes into the body of the post, not your blog’s template, because it’s the post contents that scrapers typically re-use.
- Include a text reminder as well, with your domain name in the text, such as, Get this and other articles from the source at www.ChristopherSPenn.com – and of course, link it up.
As much as content creators hate RSS scrapers, especially when our content is repurposed to sell ads on someone else’s site, these scrapers are a reality that we can’t easily change. Instead of lamenting their existence, we can hijack them as best as we can to get their readers back to our stuff.
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8 step guide to podcast marketing eBook and audiobook
I’m pleased to offer you – completely for free – a combo set of the 8 step guide to podcast marketing basics eBook and accompanying audiobook. This is a super-short eBook (13 pages total) that asks 8 questions of you in your efforts to market your podcast. The answers you come up with will determine in large part just how effective your podcast marketing is.
This is NOT a comprehensive guide to marketing anything – I’ve willfully left out a LOT of stuff, because this guide is intended to get the barebones basics in place before you do anything else.
I’d love your feedback here about the guide, whether it’s helpful or not, what you make of it.
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I call for the immediate resignation of Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
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Senator Christopher Dodd, head of the Senate Banking Committee, is corrupt, plain and simple. Senator Dodd has sponsored a mortgage bailout bill in Congress to benefit mortgage lenders and took money from one of them – Countrywide – while putting up the legislation. Details, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:
On Tuesday, the very day he finally admitted knowing that Countrywide Financial regarded him as a “special” customer, the Connecticut Democrat also announced that he was bringing to the Senate floor a housing bailout sure to help lenders like Countrywide.
How much will Countrywide benefit from Mr. Dodd’s rescue? The Senator’s plan allows mortgage lenders to dump up to $300 billion of their worst loans on to taxpayers via a new Federal Housing Administration refinancing program, provided the lenders are willing to accept 87% of current market value. The program will be most attractive to lenders and investors holding subprime and slightly-less-risky Alt-A loans made during the height of the housing bubble in 2006 and 2007.
That legislation is bad enough. Here’s the kicker:
Meanwhile, Mr. Dodd continues to insist that, though he knew he was a “special” Countrywide customer, he didn’t think he was getting any special financial benefit. But a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments is no small matter for anyone living on a Senate salary of $169,300. Why else would he be known around Countrywide as a “Friend of Angelo” – Angelo being Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.
Yesterday, nine Senate Republicans led by South Carolina’s Jim DeMint sent a letter asking Majority Leader Harry Reid to delay consideration of Mr. Dodd’s housing bailout bill in light of its benefits for Countrywide – and Countrywide’s benefits for Mr. Dodd. That’s an excellent idea, in addition to a Congressional and Justice Department probe of Countrywide, Fannie Mae and the favors they seem to have spread around Washington. American taxpayers need to understand more about who they’re being asked to bail out here, and why.
Dodd, in effect, is going to charge American taxpayers – ME – $300 billion for a $75,000 bribe. This is corruption, plain and simple.
I call for the immediate resignation of Senator Dodd from Congress, and urge you to contact YOUR senators and representatives to ensure the mortgage bailout bill is voted down on arrival. Let lenders – and disclosure, I work for a student loan company – live with the bets they make in the marketplace.
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Would you buy .sex?
CNN is reporting that .sex domains may become available
I wonder what you would expect to find at studentloan.sex and financialaid.sex… still, probably should buy them when they become available. Or MarketingOverCoffee.sex? Or PodCamp.sex? (eww)
For that matter, what would you expect to see at CNN.sex?
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