Carl Setzer

I just read "Fake followers are hard to shake" over at AdAge . Yeah, buying followers is tempting. Sure, it might look good on the surface, to have hundreds or thousands of followers. I've had many, many people ask me about buying followers. I think is a waste of money. First, why? If your social media efforts are for a business, fake followers aren't going to come to your store. They don't engage. They don't add any value. Then there are all the recent efforts to purge fake accounts. If your follower count drops massively after one of the follower purges, you're outed Lastly, as this article points out, there are fairly straightforward ways to determine how many fake followers you have. If your goal is to become an influencer, or gain business leads, tools are coming that will out the buy followers tactic. I expect that, in the not too far distant future, the various algorithms will easily detect copious numbers of fake followers. And I expect that...

Was just reading this piece over at Business Insider: Teens are ditching Instagram for Snapchat at a stunning rate . Well, this reinforces one of my underlying assumptions: that what we've currently labeled "social media" is a highly unstable sector. So, we see that Twitter is falling in relevance; that's been prognosticated about forever. And the same with the Facebook and it's sidekick Instagram . But we're seeing growth with Snapchat . Again, the focus of this article is teens, but I expect they'll be the leading edge of social media trends. They have two graphs that really capture things: And this guy, which I think is more telling: So, the world is shifting and shifting rapidly. It'll be good to dive into Snapchat, if you're not already there.

So many articles about how to make zillions on social media. I've long ago grown weary of that discussion. Don't get caught up in the "magic money" mindset: "Set up Facebook/Twitter and watch the money roll in".  Social media provides great opportunities to engage communities. Connecting with a wider audience without much monetary cost is fantastic. However, there is the time cost to consider. Also, everyone is on these channels, as the cost is so low. Developing a distinct voice can be challenging, yet is critical. A key part of that is focus: you can't be everything to everyone. Trying such dilutes that focus, and you lose sight of what's critical. It's better to have 300 engaged fans than 10k unengaged ones. Follower and Like counting are not always the best metrics. Be thoughtful how you measure success. Your social media meditation for Sunday. Go forth and do great things!

Consider: discontent with self-image feeds huge profits to the billion dollar beauty-industrial-complex, and significant misery to millions. We in the business world talk at great lengths about value-add. The only way I see "value-add" by this sector requires a very short-term focus. I wonder if there's a place for the beauty businesses in a world of high-functioning people with great self-esteem. So I think of many women who use these products without demonstrating any lack of self-confidence. Are they simply hiding a deeper misery, or might there be something deeper that I simply cannot see. Probably the later. Probably. We should consider who we can extract the more egregious agony from this sector while keeping the (presumed?) benefits. So much to meditate upon.

Something that struck me this morning: the internet grows bigger, driving us to go closer. We have tools that let us broadcast to unimaginable numbers. Yet it's the personal that works. Even with thousands of Twitter followers (or more), the relationship is based on a one-to-one feeling of connection. Even large brands are trying to push into that space. It makes sense: none of us want to be just a number. Our marketing and PR tools need to be built focussed on creating that sense of connection.

I just received an email with the following request: "if you service the following states, NY, NJ, PA, OH, MD, VT, MI, ME, CT and NH...". I immediately closed and deleted the email, for I'm in Washington. But then I started thinking, "why did the sender blast this out to the entire country?" Today, right now, with pretty much every CRM tool, you can refine your targets. With a few minutes of work, the sender of this email could've culled a few words from their message as well as targeted her message. Too many irrelevant emails and you find yourself in the spam box. This ability to customize your message makes it significantly more relevant to your customers, to your audience. It makes you look more professional, and more knowledgeable. Powerful traits if you're trying to build an audience, or come across as an influencer. Or, if you simply don't want to waste your customer's time. Which is good thing to desire. So, the data is (or should be)...

Social media is a powerful marketing tool, but it's about engagement & connection. It is only as effective as the effort, as the amount and qualify of work you put in.

Some more thinking on trust: Building trust, creating relationship is slow, laborious. Counterpoint:  i t's erosion is fast, with frightening speed. Years to build and moments to ruin. As an entrepreneur, one must be ever vigilant against this erosion of trust. The downward slope is far steeper than the assent. When your customer feels commodified, that they're ONLY a revenue stream for you, the connection will be destroyed.

Just read Tony Hawk's Media Empire Grows With Help From Complex over at Adage . They talk quite a bit about the brands that celebrities are building. This leaves me wondering when saturation happens, when we have so many celebrity brands that we can't see find anyone. We already have so much content, so much internet-based activity. Will we ever get to the point of "not being able to see the forest through the trees"? My first thought is "no, we won't". We have tools for sifting through the massive forest of data. I guess the real challenge is how to differentiate yourself, fully connecting to an audience. The world of general is where the blizzard is. Specialization is where one can still be differentiated and engage deeply.

Saw a flyer earlier today for a Business Planning Clinic which amused me. I support thoughtful business planning, however, this flyer failed to impress me. First, it presented me with a whole page of information, including such things as the presenter's marital status, but didn't have date, location or price. In other words, a marketing "fail". Really, none of the key "Ws" were communicated besides "who". So, would I take business planning advice from someone who fails a basic flyer, their critical chance to get me engaged? Perhaps a rhetorical question, but I'll leave that analysis up to you.

I discovered Ms. King several years ago. Today, for no obvious reason, I was in the mood for her percussive style. While listening on Reverbnation (her account's pretty neglected there, fyi) I found this embed code. So I, being me, needed to plug that in and see how it looks. Learn how to get your music noticed at ReverbNation.com Just some thoughts, though, on her online presence (that is a key part of "what I do", after all). Facebook seems to be her main touch-point with her fans.  The page looks great and current. Twitter is pretty solid, much the same. No major points to bring up. Instagram is not too shabby. It's not that powerful a media player yet, but solid enough to be a great touch-point with fans. A good blend of personal and work.  Now, her website ; that's an area I would invest some time. Very sparse, and not much touch for fans. Other than a few tour dates, and links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Soundcloud, it's pretty v...

I'm quite pleased we were able to pull off hitting page one of "Marysville WA Realtors" again. The market is highly competitive right now, so having high ranking is powerful. Anyway, this was squeal-worthy to me.

Reading this piece about John Legere and T-Mobile's marketing drove home several thoughts that have been lurking in my mind. First, creating a unique brand presence in a saturated/commodified market is very, very hard. How do we make these boring items sexy? Working in real estate, I've been struggling with that for some time. Having a flamboyant leader, one who doesn't shrink from the limelight nor controversy is critical. How does one rise to front of mind in today's media landscape? Uniqueness is key. A certain eccentricity, and self-love of that, really helps. It also helps having gobs of cash to spend. I think the next wireless sector winner will be a fierce competitor. T-Mobile matches that.

I've seen a large array of "build your business with social media" ideas. All based on the great canard of getting rich quick and easy. They're all lies.  Business can be grown and developed with social media. Not, however, by hopping from one bright shiny to the next. It's continuous engagement, consistent updating and regular use that makes the long-term win. 

Am I the only one who hates justified text? I find the cleanliness of the aligned ends to be more than offset by the weird spacing. I'm sure it can be made to work with forethought and focus. That brings back memories of fiddling with typeset, adding up all the characters and spaces, figuring out how to word the thing in order to best utilize the space. Anyway, just being a little snarky in response to an e-flyer I received today. Perhaps just being a bit too cranky and perfectionist. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.

Some things to meditate on if you market towards the teen crowd. Or if you're a creepy stalker type. Either way, read and get learned. Whatever feelings you have towards youth, their feelings reflect the direction culture is migrating towards. I found this over at Social Media Today .

Just my random thought of the day.  There are ways to build demand without creating suckers. Only focusing on maximizing profits from your customers can't be sustained. Once a critical mass has been reached, you will have a growth rate the approaches zero rapidly Go forth and do great things.

Just over a week a ago, I attended at social media workshop hosted by Lori Ballen . Covered a great deal of content that I deeply care about, thus there's tons to write about. There's one piece that really struck me, though. Her ability to connect. One thing that happens regularly for her: people who she's never met treating her like she's their best friend. These are people who have only connected with her via social media. For all the criticism about social media destroying society, clearly these tools still enables us to bond. Utilized well, people can connect solidly to brands, ideas, individuals. This gives communicators powerful ways to affect our audience. And elicit cynicism. If we're not careful, these tools will end up viewed simply as deceptive marketing tools, building a false sense of connection and, thus, exploitive. We need to be vigilant, ensuring we strive for genuine connection. Respectful, solution driven, thoughtful, and focused on our custom...

Spent all day yesterday learning how to generate leads using social media with Lori Ballen . Lots of good ideas, lots of things I want to implement over various projects. Though we had a real estate focus, the ideas are implementable across a wider array of sectors. Learned tons, but haven't had the chance to process it all. I'll post more as soon add I make that time.

A few days ago, I sat in a seminar. The panel's discussion interested me, but wasn't my main takeaway. My main "bit" was when the leader was asked about his company's latest tv campaign. Simple question: how well did it work? Imagine my surprise when he said that there really wasn't any way to track the ROI. I expect most major companies have tools to do just that. Exact? Probably not. Exactness is probably not that critical. But some metrics to justify the expense seem prudent. I thought of a basic way to measure. Simply compare inbound leads/contacts against "background". Of course, that requires having a historical dataset to build off of. AKA, background. Additionally, it would be valuable to have contacts asked "how did you hear of us"? Again, not terribly scientific, but valuable. Random thoughts on a Friday night. Happy weekend to you all!