Aligned Marketing Blog

To help solve the problem, Twitter recently launched Lists, which is a tool that allows you to group the people you follow into categories,. The benefit is you can reduce the number of people you truly want follow and avoid the noise created by those that, for whatever reason, are included in you officially Follow. You can now drill down into the conversations/news that matters to you. Here’s a summary of the benefits I see with Lists:

1. Saves You Time.
Someone else has already discovered the best people to Follow for your keyword. As you scan the lists you’ll notice that many of them include the same people. That’s ok,. That means the crowd has spoken and a consensus was reached.

2. Keep Control Over Your Followers.
You don’t have to actually Follow all the people on a list.  You can just follow a list and dive in occasionally to see what people on your list are tweeting about and then go back to your main feed to see what everyone you are Following are tweeting about. In the end, you actually gain more control. That’s huge, I Follow over 1,000 people and have over 1,000 Following me, there’s no way I can keep up all the Tweets.

3. Keep Your Lists Public or Private
You can create your own lists and set them up as either public or private. There will be times and topics where you want to create your own list. For example, I’m going to create a list of tweople in the Lake Wylie, (SC) area.

4. New Application is Awesome – Listorious
There’s a complimentary service that just came out called Listorious. Listorious aggregates the best lists from everyone who has created a list and, then, lets you use them as a resource. It’s very cool! It was created by Sawhorse Media in New York City and has over 6.5 million lists already. You simply type in a word such as “news,” for example, and the tool delivers you the best lists.

5. What else? Increase Followers
I use Listorious and Lists to search for people I want to Follow and, as you would expect, once I started Following all these great people they started Following me. In addition, a bunch of other people, some good and some not-so-good, started Following me back. Here's the data: In three days I went from about 875 Followers to 1,167 and the quality of those new Followers is much better than is typically found with other Twitter tools.

Some of my favorites Lists are:
Linkers: http://listorious.com/palafo/linkers
Thought Leaders: http://listorious.com/kitson/thought-leaders
New Media: http://listorious.com/palafo/newmedia
Great Content: http://listorious.com/Jason_Pollock/great-content
Blogging: http://listorious.com/bloggersblog/blogging
Marketing: http://listorious.com/dannysullivan/marketing

Steve

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A number of people I've talked to recently don't understand all the fuss around social media. What is it? Why is it growing so fast? Do I/we need to be engaged?

Briefly, here's my take:

People use social media for three primary reasons:

1. To acquire knowledge, which is why content is so critical and key to both your personal and your professional brand. This is also the driver behind the proliferation of blogs.
2. To see what other people are doing and buying, which is the basis of sites such as Digg, which is really a recommendation service.
3. To connect with other people, which is a basic human need and the foundation of Facebook’s (and other's) success.

The proliferation and success of social media is driven by three factors:

1. Trust: Many surveys have documented that people trust “someone like me” more than any other source. Moms trust Moms and car nuts trust car nuts, it's how we humans are wired. For the first time our peer’s opinions are more accessible to us than the wisdom of experts and propaganda of sellers.
2. Online access: No matter how unusual or obscure the topic, we know we can find a lot of information - details, perspectives, and context - online. At any given time, there are probably thousands of people online discussing the merits of various screw drivers, for example.
3. Confidence: It’s all about how we enter the decision-making process. We are less willing to make decisions without a great deal of information. Since the information and recommendations are relatively free, it would be nonsensical for us to do otherwise.

1. We all know the power of the network, of networking. It is the best way to gain employment and, as mentioned, the primary way we now learn about products, services and what other people, people just like us, are doing. Social media allows you and your company to expand your network exponentially for little cost.
2. Your customers, peers, neighbors, superiors, and relatives (etc.) are already part of social networks so it's a good idea for you to join the conversation, express yourself and, frankly, monitor what's being said about you, your company, your products and services, as well as those of your competition. Why would you not want to listen to the most important people in your life, which on a personal level is family and on a professional level is your customers.
3. If growing your business, circle of friends and contacts, and expanding your influence are important to you then you need to be part of the social media revolution, because it's where all the people are.

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1. Be concise

People are busy so get to the point. I often begin my emails with “The purpose of this email is to…” That lets the reader know exactly why I’m writing to them and it helps me stay focused. Remember that reading an email is harder, less pleasant, than reading printed communications.

2. Answer swiftly

People send emails because they want a quick response. Therefore, each email should be replied to within 24 hours, and preferably within the same working day. If the email is complicated, just send an email back saying that you have received it and that you will get back to them. This will put the other person’s mind at rest and provide you with the time you need to develop a thorough response.

3. Flames Are Never a Good Idea

When an incoming email angers you, your first response might be to reply in kind immediately, to let the offender feel your wrath. Don’t. Flame e-mails (angry e-mails written in haste) never solve disputes and often lead to e-wars. Instead, take a breath and respond carefully with a well-composed and well thought-out professional email. Walking away to collect your thoughts is all it takes to avoid childish comebacks and retorts that you'll later regret and damage your reputation.

4. Don't Overuse the "Reply to All"

We all receive broadcast emails. But unless you're response is important to everyone on the sender's list do not send a "reply to all" response. Most people do not want to follow a long discussion thread that doesn't pertain to them and, in fact, it is annoying as heck. As one executive said to me, “Anyone who hits “reply to all” should be fired for being too stupid to have a job. Enough said.

5. Answer all questions

Read the entire email and answer every question the first time. If you fail to do this you will most likely just keep getting more emails until the unanswered questions are resolved. Moreover, if you are able to pre-empt additional questions the person writing you will be grateful and impressed with your efficient and thoughtful consideration.

6. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation

This is not only important because improper spelling, grammar and punctuation gives people a bad impression of you and/or your company, it is also required for good communication. Rambling emails are difficult to read and can easily be misunderstood. Don't throw up on the page and expect the reader to figure out what it is you're trying to say. Use you spell checking, that's why you have it.

7. Make it personal

Not only should the email be personally addressed, it should also include personal i.e. customized content. For this reason auto replies are usually not very effective. However, templates can be used effectively in this way, see next tip.

8. Use templates for frequently used responses

You may get the same question over and over, such as directions to your office or how to subscribe to your newsletter. Save your responses as templates so you can quickly copy and paste your (standard) reply. You can save your templates in a Word document, a text editor or use pre-formatted emails. A a tool such as ReplyMate for Outlook allows you to use 10 templates for free and is a real time saver.

9. Do not attach unnecessary files

Large attachments annoy people and may even bring down their email system. Wherever possible try to compress attachments, only send large attachments when they are absolutely necessary or provide a link so the person can download the files at their convenience. Make sure you have a good virus scanner in place since people get very angry when they receive documents full of viruses.

10. Use proper structure & layout

Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and lay out of your email is very important. Use short paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making points number or mark each point as separate.

11. Do not overuse the high priority option

You heard the story about the boy who cried wolf? Use the “high-priority” function sparingly, if at all. If you overuse the high-priority option, it will lose its ability to motivate, you will look like self-absorbed dweeb and you may be out of luck when you really need to get someone's attention.

12. Do not write in CAPITALS

IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Therefore, try not to send any email text in capitals.

Steve

P.S. Beginning today new blogs will be posted on Monday and Wednesday each week.

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1. You don’t need to be John Steinbeck to write a good blog. Most Blogs are written in a conversational style and getting professional writing help is much easier and less expensive than most people think.
2. Good blogs have a common denominator and that’s a unique individual voice – a personality. Don't shy away from a strong opinion.
3. To achieve that personality it is important that you don’t over-edit. A conversational style let’s you shine through. That does not mean poor grammar is acceptable.
4. Be consistent with your posts. People are creatures of habit and if your posts are good, they’ll adjust to your schedule. I post on Tuesdays and Fridays every week.
5. Keep your posts short and simple. Don't get caught up in length of your posts but somewhere between 300 and 600 words, less than a page, is the right length for most business Blogs.
6. Don’t feel confined to a single topic. It’s okay to veer off in another direction if the subject matter is timely and you believe your point of view is unique and interesting.
7. Allow comments even though most blogs get very few. People are a reluctant to put their name into the public domain or be critical.
8. Create an interesting title. People are busy and a catchy title helps you get noticed.
9. Inserting one or two (appropriate) images also helps your Blog stand out from the crowd since most Blogs are text-only environs.
10. Sending a link to your Blog is a great way to connect or reconnect with the people who you’d like to invite into your professional or personal network.

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