Chuck talks Business

I have been reading lately about some pet peeves of mine in this whole brave new Social Media world.  During the summer I wrote a post called Know, Like and Trust a Twitter Trilogy.  Since then some things have gone from strange to just plain silly.

Here are some observations from other people and some comments of my own:

Joel Comm, you may know him from his book, Twitter Power.  (I’m honestly not sure if that is an affiliate link or not.  Just in case the disclosure folks are looking.)

He wrote a post the other day on his blog called.  “I purged my twitter account.”  Read it, there are some great observations about the status of twitter and social media in general.

Seth Simonds recently did an article called “Why I canceled my Facebook account.”

Here’s my little experiment.  With somewhere around 2,000 followers I just kind of dropped off the twitter map in August.  No tweets, no manual anything.  I did have an autofollow set up, so that I automatically followed anyone who followed me.  My thought was that it wouldn’t be an issue because I wasn’t actively tweeting, so who would follow me?  Wrong!

From August to Thanksgiving my twitter followers increased by about 800.  That freaks me out!  In that time I received 364 twitter Direct Messages.  That’s pretty close to half and a good number of them were essentially, “Hey, buy my stuff.”

It got to the point that I didn’t even look at a DM before I deleted it!  So, I ask you if half of the new followers auto DM with no value add, how long to do you expect that model to last?

Your turn, am I off base, or do some of these tools risk going from just plain useful to just plain crappy?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chuck Smith Social Networking, Twitter, Uncategorized Twitter

In Detroit we’re Kickin’ it 1-2-3

1 - Community

This is our house, “The D”, Hockeytown.  We are Southeast Michigan, we are Detroit and we are not rolling over and playing dead contrary to popular opinion in many media outlets.  You are gonna have to come bigger and harder if you expect a little recession to stop us in “The D.”  With Detroit, I am of course talking about Detroit city limits, the Suburbs, Ann Arbor and all of Southeast Michigan.

We have 5 major research Universities.  Some of the best Health Care Facilities in the World and too many artists and attractions to list in one blog post.

2 - Great Organizations

The first one is Social Media Club - Detroit and Ann Arbor

Thanks to @jesssoul and @davemurr for getting the group going!

The account is @SMCDA2 and the hashtag is #SMCDA2

The wiki is here.

We are changing the Facebook Group to a Facebook Page and I will update this post with links when it happens.

I did a little video essay from the first meeting.  We are asking the big questions and coming up with BIGGER Answers!

We talked about a number of issues in Social Media and Topics for our Program Committee to take on:

Detroit Awesome
Trends
Detroit Social Media Evangelism
Responsible Usage - particularly for younger users
The Business Case for Social Media
Common Challenges
Putting it all together
Presence Management
Showcasing Detroit Artists
Just a little video of folks Sharing It

The second great organization is Motor City Connect.

I grabbed @CharlieCurve to talk about it a little.

@MotorCity

The LinkedIn group is here.

As Charlie said, @TerryBean is the Chief “Ask” Officer.  If you have no idea what that means, get connected and ask him!

3 - Great Charities

Red, Green and Sledgehammer

Red - American Red Cross - Southeast Michigan

Green - Operation Kid Equip

Sledgehammer - Detroit Blightbusters

Again, I grabbed @CharlieCurve to talk a little about it:

I’m curious about what’s going on with building communities and strengthening relationships in other parts of the country world.  I know there are some folks out there talkin’ smack about the Motor City and us folks in the Midwest.

Just remember, we are giving blood and carrying Sledgehammers!

The first word in Social Media is Social, don’t keep it a Secret.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chuck Smith Leadership, LinkedIn, Networking, Social Networking, Twitter Community, Detroit, Marketing, MCC, Motor City Connect, SMCDA2, Social Media, Social Media Club, Twitter

Know, Like and Trust - A Twitter Trilogy

It happened again this morning.  I opened Tweetdeck and had half a dozen DMs that were all exactly the same, telling me how I could put twitter on autopilot, build a huge following and make tons of money doing it.  In a word - Bull!

Here is why.  I don’t know you, which means I can’t like you yet and I sure as hell don’t trust you.  BTW, you’ve already got negative marks on the like and trust thing with the spam.  Don’t kid yourself, just because I follow you back doesn’t mean you get to bombard me with crap! You can send me interesting articles, your blog entries and from time to time an offer or direct link to something that you monetize, but if you are selling me crap before you say hello, get lost.

Which brings me to the auto DM.  I used to use one, and it said “Thanks for the follow, Happy tweeting.”  I turned it off about a month ago.  It was a choice made because I stopped reading the ones that I got, even the ones that said “Thanks for following.”

Know

Here is some expert advice from @TheExpert on the first step of Know, Like and Trust.

One of the folks that gets this right is Jessica Swanson, you can follow her @shoestringing or check out her Shoestring Marketing Kit.  I interviewed her a few months ago, the interview is here.

Like

The next step is Like.  This can be a tricky thing to accomplish, so maybe it would be easier to show how not to get some folks to like you.  Dr. Ellen Brandt has a great post on her blog that covers three experiences where people didn’t exactly put their best foot forward.  It’s Titled “I Don’t Like What You Wrote.  You Should Be Poisoned, Garrotted, Stabbed With Stiletto Heels, Thrown Off A Tall Building and Have Vultures Eat Your Liver.”

I want to make my view on this known.  It is perfectly acceptable to disagree, but you don’t have to be disagreeable when you do it.  If your rebuttal starts with Socialist or Fascist or any other manner of name calling, my ears slam shut!  Make a case on facts and be civil about it.  Just because it is the internet, doesn’t mean that you have the inalienable right to be an explicative deleted.

Trust

Trust, now we are at the pinnacle.  There has been a lot of talk about “The Oprah Effect.”  Which means that I will move on.  Trust comes from being responsible and acting with integrity. One of the folks that I follow on twitter is @chrisbrogan.  He co-authored a book coming out called “Trust Agents.”  Here is a little video of Chris doing a presentation about the book’s content.

So, your turn.  Please leave a comment below.

Have I got it all wrong?

Was this useful, or a waste of time?

Give me your feedback, your twitpics of hiking trails and links to useful stuff, but please say “hello” before you attempt to monetize me!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chuck Smith Free Marketing, Marketing, Twitter Know, Like, Marketing, Social Media, Trust, Twitter