Are You Socially Awkward?
Archives: Daily Issues
Issue #2642
- WEALTHY: What?! Tax day is tomorrow?! (Tim Clay)
- HEALTHY: 5 minutes to a firm derriere (Jon Benson)
- WISE: Michael Masterson & MaryEllen Tribby on social media marketing
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 3 ways to power up your business (Alexis Siemon)
- A “Big Idea” is not enough (John Forde)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the world’s scariest runway
- Add “ludic” to your vocabulary
== Advertisement ==
He has the best intentions
But what your doctor doesn’t know about cancer treatment could kill you
“Your only options are chemotherapy and radiation.”
I sincerely hope you never have to hear those words. But if you do, you must know-it’s a lie.
Chemotherapy and radiation kill cancer cells, sure. But they also ravage your body-wiping out healthy cells and destroying your immune system. And for what? Just look at the 5-year survival rates: 15% for lung cancer, as low as 10% for colorectal cancer, and a dismal 5% for pancreatic cancer.
Chemo and radiation are not your only options.
Not when there’s a completely natural treatment with an 86% cure rate. That’s right-86% of the most “hopeless” cancer patients completely cleared of the disease. It’s even showing amazing results against deadly pancreatic cancer.
But your doctor just keeps on telling that grand lie-because he simply doesn’t know any better.
If You’re Late on Your Taxes…
By Tim Clay
Tomorrow’s the deadline for filing your taxes, and you’re not ready. Maybe you had personal problems. Maybe you kept procrastinating… or are a little lazy. It happens.
What should you do?
Don’t panic…
Simply by filing Form 4868, the IRS gives you an automatic extension of six months (until October 15).
With the extension, you avoid getting hit with a late-filing penalty, and that can be considerable. The penalty is 5 percent (of the tax you owe) per month up to a maximum of 25 percent of your total tax bill. Avoiding this penalty is too easy to just “let it happen.”
But, there are still two more ways for Uncle Sam to ding your pocketbook.
• Late-payment penalty. If you owe money on your taxes and do not send full payment with the extension application, the late-payment penalty kicks in – and this can be up to another 25 percent of the tax due.
Not quite sure how much you owe? Come up with a “ballpark” figure based on your 2007 taxes, and send as much of that as you can. That way, even if you end up owing more, at least you avoid some of the late-payment penalty.
• Interest. In addition to the late-payment penalty, you’re going to be charged interest on any balance due (tax owed minus the payment you wisely make with Form 4868) at the Federal Short Term Rate plus 3 percent. The rate changes every three months, and the interest is compounded daily.
So get Form 4868 filled in and filed NOW!
[Ed. Note: Internet Money Club member Tim Clay, E.A., is an Enrolled Agent - a federally authorized tax practitioner - and a certified QuickBooks Advisor with 25 years of experience. Visit www.AskTaxGuys.com to learn more and sign up for Tim's free tax-tips newsletter.
One of the best ways to reduce your tax bill for 2010 - while building a business that could throw off income for years to come - is to further your education. Learn how you could make between $50,000 and $5 million by starting your own Internet business - and get ETR's 10-pound "playbook to Internet riches" right here ]
“Social media marketing has changed the nature of promotion and publicity for small-time entrepreneurs and wannabe celebrities. Anybody who has the time to devote to this marketing channel can become a recognized author, movie director, pop singer, artist, or expert on any subject.”
Michael Masterson & MaryEllen Tribby, Changing the Channel
Are You Socially Awkward?
You’ve no doubt heard about how social media is taking over the world – or at least the Internet marketing world. And depending on your perspective, this takeover may seem hostile, especially if you’re new to online marketing and have just started to build your own Internet business.
The sheer volume of different social media types and websites can be overwhelming to new marketers. Between Digg, Reddit, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and countless others, even seasoned Internet marketing professionals can have trouble keeping up.
It’s important, however, not to let fear and inexperience keep you from a marketing channel that could do wonders for your business. You may be “socially awkward” now, but you don’t have to stay that way. I’m going to give you a few techniques that will help you get started marketing your site through social media, starting with the first and most important one:
• Don’t try everything at once
The biggest mistake new social media marketers make is trying to play catch-up by creating accounts on every social media site they’ve ever heard or read about. This is a surefire way to rapid burnout.
The amount of time it would take to maintain all those accounts would suck any and all time away from running your business. Plus, by trying to juggle profiles and build networks on too many sites at once, you’d do an ineffective job of marketing.
Start slowly. Maybe even start by surveying your current customers to see which social media site most of them use. Once you dip your toe in and get a feel for how a particular site functions, how its users behave and the kind of content/conversations they respond to, you’ll have a better idea of how that site fits with your message. And once you know that, you’ll know if that is a site to keep and nurture or one to scrap. You can ramp up from there.
If you run a political blog or website, for instance, you may find that Reddit members respond to your content better than Digg members.
Or, if you’re a photographer, you may think it’s a no-brainer to open a Flickr account, only to find that you can get more inquiries from users of Google’s Picasa.
Then there’s Twitter. What can I say about Twitter? Okay, I’m not going to lie… I hate Twitter. The minutia of Twitter drives me crazy. But that might be because I haven’t figured out a good use for it. Dell certainly did. They managed to turn Twitter into a million-dollar sales channel for their computers by using it to alert users of new sales and discounts.
But that’s the beauty of social media. There is no right or wrong way to use it. It’s like every other marketing channel. You have to test to find out what works best for your business.
• Have a unique purpose
Another mistake marketers make is using different social media sites to simply regurgitate the same tired message over and over – sometimes with the same exact copy!
How could this be useful to your customers? Why would they want to connect with you through Twitter or Facebook, only to get the same thing they can see on your site or in your newsletter? That’s like telling someone to put on the TV, radio, portable DVD player, and iPod at the same time to watch the same movie.
What your customers want is the equivalent of the special features section of the DVD. They’ve seen the movie. That’s your main content, right? Your main message on your site, in your newsletter, or your blog. Now – to really get to know you and build a relationship with your business and your content – they want the interviews, the outtakes, the deleted scenes, the director’s cut, the commentary. You get the idea.
Here at ETR, for example, we strive to provide additional unique content for you through our YouTube channel. We include things like additional business and copywriting tips, clips from conferences, and even the opinions of your fellow ETR readers.
Because we’ve received so much positive feedback on this additional content, we’re expanding to bring you our soon-to-be-launched ETR TV channel.
The point is to use social media to deliver a different message, a unique spin – to show your personality. Make sure the message is remarkable in a way that’s a bit different from your regular content, and you will keep your customers interested. Plus, you will entice new prospects to start a relationship with you.
• Be genuine
I’ve mentioned this before when talking about using social media for link building. It’s especially important when you’re trying to build relationships with customers and prospects. No matter which site or sites you choose to use, make sure you really are connecting with them and not just hammering them with ad copy.
You are networking, after all. You wouldn’t go to a business networking cocktail reception wearing a sandwich board and handing out flyers. Don’t do it online either. Your customers have needs, their friends have needs, their friends’ friends have needs. Fulfill those needs – even in the smallest of ways – and you’ll have an army of advocates faster than you can say “social butterfly.”
When it comes to social media marketing, the rules are pliable. So long as you are connecting with your audience in a meaningful way, you can experiment and have fun.
I’ll leave you with an example of some really daring social media marketing by Skittles that has the Internet marketing community tweeting in their seats.
Go to Skittles.com and take a look at their new corporate website. Thanks to some clever thinking and a few programming tweaks, they’ve turned their site into a social media extravaganza.
Will this bold move be a success? Only time will tell. Let me know what you think in the comments section here - and feel free to share some of your own social media marketing success stories!
[Ed. Note: How have you used social media to market your business? Which networks do you belong to? Which networks have worked? And which have bombed? Let us know right here.
Social media is just one way to market your business. For a dozen proven methods of connecting with your prospective customers, pick up a copy of Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby's Amazon.com bestseller, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business.]
A Recession Days Underdog That Can Churn Out Steady Cash
Where oh where can you make money these days?
Don’t look at the stock market. The Dow’s all over the map. May be up one day – but is that real or the dreaded “sucker rally”?
Don’t look at your boss. According to a survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 42 percent of employers have instituted a salary freeze – and 14% of those who haven’t, plan to do so.
Don’t look at the government. They have other worries.
BusinessWeek suggests you look at an old standby: the e-mail newsletter.
It’s not fancy or high-tech. But it can bring in serious ad revenues – even today. Better yet, it can help attract investors looking for safer places than the stock market to stow their money.
Look at DailyCandy.com, which sold to ComCast for $125 million just last fall. Then there’s Thrillist, which is making profits on $5 to $10 million a year.
And ETR itself shot up from a little “amateur start-up” to a $25 million company in the past few years!
Start your own Internet business, set up an e-mail newsletter, and you could make $50,000 to $5 million starting this year.
Get the exact blueprint for doing so right now.
What to Do With Your Great Ideas
By John Forde
You’ll feel great – even inspired – when all your brainstorming and research yields a Big Idea, whether it’s for a new product, a marketing campaign, or a headline for a sales promotion. But you’re not done.
See, it’s not enough for your idea to be captured. It needs to be tamed. Polished. Beaten into submission (or whatever other metaphor floats your dinghy).
Because it’s in the execution, rather than the mere inspiration, where you’re going to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack.
Think of it this way.
Some cave guy (or gal) once had an idea for a thing called a “wheel.” We must remember to send him (or her) some flowers. But while we’re at it, let’s not forget to thank the fella (for it was one, Charles Goodyear) who thought up vulcanized rubber in 1844… and Robert Thomson who came up with the first inflatable tire in 1845… John Dunlop, who re-invented it for his son’s tricycle in 1847… and all the other innovators since.
They all took a great idea and made it greater… by working it over, massaging it, pushing forward and making mistakes, and plenty more. It was their sweat equity that made the real difference.
Here’s the good news: As you polish and refine, you’ll discover more ideas. All worth re-working too. Your pool of genius will expand. And pretty soon, you’re not just the guy (or gal) who had that one great idea a long time ago… you’re the one who has lots of great ideas. Even better, you’ll have a reputation as one of the rare few who sees those ideas through.
Once you've got your Big Idea for a product, marketing campaign, etc. what's next? Why not learn how to turn it into profitable Internet business that could give you income for life?]
Better Butt Time
By Jon Benson
Try this one for a better backside: Lie on your back. Curl your knees up, but keep your feet on the floor. Then, using one leg at a time, lift your midsection off the ground and tighten (flex) your butt muscles.
Do 10 reps, then switch legs. Do 10 more.
Work your way up to five minutes or so of this exercise and you’ll have a nicer booty in no time at all.
[Ed. Note: If you want to build more muscle in less time while you burn body fat, pick up nutrition and fitness counselor Jon Benson's book, 7 Minute Muscle. It's a complete system for dropping fat and building muscle that's guaranteed to work for you. Try it for 60 days and prove it to yourself. .
For more easy-to-follow exercises you can do at home - plus dozens of strategies for getting fit and living longer - sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter ]
It’s Fun to Know: The World’s Scariest Runway?
The Matekane Air Strip in the mountainous African nation of Lesotho is used mostly by aid agencies and bush pilots. And for good reason. Anybody who doesn’t have to fly into or take off from that runway wouldn’t choose to do it.
At the end of the extremely short runway, airplanes drop off the edge of a 2,000-foot cliff. They haven’t had enough time to get airborne at that point, so they fall until they gain enough speed to start moving and pull up.
(Source: Travel and Leisure)
== Highly Recommended ==
Your “Off Wall Street” Cash Recovery Plan
I don’t know about you, but I’d barely trust Wall Street and the Big Banks with the 63 dollars in my wallet right now, never mind my IRA, 401(k), and life savings!
That’s why thousands of smart Americans are now taking matters into their own hands and quietly moving their money into much smarter positions “off Wall Street”.
One investment of as little as $1,000 has the realistic ability to quickly swell into a full year’s salary in just a few weeks’ time – and then repeat over and over again.
Another is currently offering the chance to gain year-in and year-out returns of 65% with 99.77% certainty – even in today’s economy.
Word to the Wise: Ludic
“Ludic” (LOO-dik) – from the Latin – is another way of saying “playful.”
Example (as used by Richard Bernstein in The New York Times): “But within this ludic tale there lurks a tragedy of love and loss that does not lose its tenderness even when embedded in [the author's] perpetually farcical frame of mind.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2009
I am on twitter and facebook. Have not figured out yet how to advertize there without breaking any rules. but it has been very good for me to get to get to know people I have known for years through the chamber of commerce. Now I am getting to know them as people.
I’m amazed at the way Skittles is using Twitter. I knew it was powerful but had no idea it could be used this way. Still a big learning curve.
Hi Etr
I enjoyed the article ‘are u socially awkward?’ about how social media is may be the next best internet marketing trend. I checked out the skittles site and yeah the approach they used was awesome and gets your attention from the landing page.However skittles popularity may not be solely due to the ingenuity but also due to the fact that they are already an established brand.
Buyos
Kampala Uganda
Re Alexis’ article and specifically on the new skittles.com ….
I clicked away without doing any of what the new site’s design hoped I would do, for a number of reasons:
1) Asking me for my age before I can access the site. Being a new visitor to skittles.com,I have no idea what content is contained in the site so why would I feel it was worth my time to spend 5 seconds filling out the simple form?
2) Reading the disclaimer under the age input form, I am now confused… I want information from skittles, yet they are now telling me that entering the site will take me somewhere that they have no control over and take no responsibility for. The question that occurs to me is, why have a website then?
At that point I closed the tab and came back here to leave this comment.
If their goal is to increase the bounce rate of first time visitors to their site, I think the new site succeeds in spectacular fashion!
Cheers,
Jim
I went to skittles.com as your article on social media suggested. This site required that I put in my full birth date before I could have the pleasure of viewing their site. And even though I normally have no reservations exposing my age, I found this requirement too intrusive. Needless to say, I immediately hit the back button.
I am creating a website to market project management artifacts, i.e. methodology, templates, etc. How would social media fit into that scenario?
Thanks
I am new on Twitter, need more time to learn on how to use it. I think it’s a good thing.
Thanks for the feedback, all!
@Pam and Jim, the Skittles site is likely asking for your DOB in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Act. Since the bulk of this new website redirects to various social media sites, they are required to ensure they are not collecting personal information from anyone under 13. Typically many sites will take care of this requirement with a simple checkbox, but it appears that Skittles is being especially cautious.
Thanks for reading!
Alexis
Hi Alexis,
Thanks for the article. I have been an avid ETR reader for about 6 months now.
It is amazing how the social networks have boomed recently.
I am currently working with a company that is collaborating with Facebook and a guru of social networks (Paramount Pictures and Microsoft exec.) in creating a game application to use on Facebook. It is not an ad, but a game that people play and can instantly be hooked up with our company. We are one of, if not THE first company to use this technology. I couldn’t believe when I read that the avg. person on FB spends over 4 hours a day playing games, chatting, etc?
We are in pre-launch so have not started using the application just yet.
I am curious to hear Alexis’ take on this business approach or if you are aware that it exists.
I am unsure of the rules in the comments regarding posting a link so please contact me through email.
Thank you and I look foward to hearing from you!