Quality Is Much Better Than Quantity
By Cheval John
You know that you are great at a skill that can help your industry(social media, business, etc.) to thrive.
You put on your website of the skills and services you offer to gain potential customers.
Though you promote yourself until you turn blue, your hear crickets.
The prospective customers are hesistant to buy from you because they probably were tricked into buying from someone else with their self-promotion.
If you have a third party endorsement, there is a better chance of making a sale.
The third party endorsement is much more powerful because the message of your greatness is being told by someone else.
Third party endorsements can come from national or regional (traditional) media organizations in the form of television, radio or newspapers.
If you get in front of a national or regional media, you have achieved your ultimate endorsement of your business.
That is why sports professionals are getting a boat load of money to compete in their respective leagues because they are being covered on a daily basis by national, international or regional media.
And some collegiate athletes are getting their training in university sports because professional leagues are watching them compete on major media outlets.
In this day and age, everyone are considered media due to blogs (about 450 million), podcasts (250,000), live streaming shows on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, etc.
And each blogger, podcaster or live streamer will probably have some sort of lists of the top influencers in social media, technology, or even the best interior designer.
I definitely have put together lists here regarding to social media on many occasions.
Which leads me to chat about the recent blog post by Brand 24 on their “Top 100 Social Media Influencers”
That list featured the well known influencers in social media.
I believed that they earned the recognition for their hard work in social media.
However, one of the influencers on that list said “they” believed the influencers ahead of them had cheated to get there.
Cheating means buying followers.
I know for a fact that the majority of the people who are on the Brand 24 list have earned that recognition because I have seen them put in the hard work with sharing valuable content and interacting with their audience on a daily basis.
So I was thinking I should create my own list of those influencers who have earned their audience the correct way.
I was convinced by friends on social media that it would be a waste of time.
So I was going to write a post for today related to social media.
Until I saw an excellent article by Dr. Karen Freberg regarding Brand 24’s list.
Then on the first day of spring, the topic of true influencers came up in a meeting with a fellow entrepreneur at Toutsuite that made me realized I had to address this topic.
So I will tell you about what I believe about true influencers.
-People who buy followers don’t deserve to be regarded as authorities in any industry because it shows that they don’t truly understand the meaning of social media.
-Everyone are influencers whether they have 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 10,000 or even 20,000 followers because they have an active audience.
To think more about it, an engaged audience is much better than a casual audience with millions of followers.
So if you cheating your way to gaining influence by buying followers, I would warn you that you are deceiving the masses and even robbing the brands of their money due to them wanting to work with you.
They will find out on their own that you are using deception to make a living and will warn their colleagues to stay away from you.
The true influencers who have put in the hard work consistently and correctly to build a loyal audience will overtime be rewarded for life.
In fact, they have already achieved their reward because they are doing the work they love and also understand that quality is much better than quantity.
Have anything to add to this blog post? You can leave your comment below
Your Time Is Your Greatest Asset
By Cheval John
You want to learn something from a very successful entrepreneur you admire.
You see that they are going to be at an major conference and you decide to spend the money to attend that conference in order to hear from them.
You arrived and hear that entrepreneur speak.
You finally have the opportunity to meet up with that person and chat for a bit.
You exchange business cards and decide to keep in touch.
A few months later after correspondence, you reach out to that same successful entrepreneur to let them know that you will be in town and want to set a time to where you can “pick their brain over coffee.”
When you get a response with “sorry I have to decline your invitation for coffee” you might feel disappointed.
You might believe the person is not very nice and you will want to disassociate with them.
Before you think the above response, consider this:
That certain entrepreneur you admire is focused on finding new ways to deliver value to their customers and in the process, make money.
When you want to “pick their brain” by offering them coffee, that is in reality an insult because they have a family to feed and in their mind, time is money.
The above is why Wendy McClelland decline coffee invitations.
You might be wondering, “If I can’t offer to buy them coffee to learn from them, how can I grow my business and even my personal brand?”
Here is an alternative to the above question.
If you host a live stream show or a podcast, you can invite them to be a guest on your show.
The reason is because you have built an audience that they might want to get their business or product exposed to.
You will have an opportunity to learn from entrepreneurs who overcame doubts and fears to be where they are at in their business.
And you can invite that same entrepreneur who you respect and admire to your show because you build that friendship over the last few months after chatting at that conference.
If I were to ask Winnie Sun to share how she became successful as a financial planner, she would have charge me money because she would have spent her valuable time in sharing her “secrets” to success.
Since I host my show, What’s The Word?, I can interview Winnie and other successful entrepreneurs like Sarah K. Burgess, writer of “Dry Powder”, to share their story of attaining their success in their respective careers.
That is in itself a win-win.
The next question is should you host a live stream show or podcast?
You see that by 2020, 80% of all internet activity will have a video component.
And 57 million Americans are listening to podcasts each month according to Edison Research.
To answer the question, you can do both.
You might think that you don’t have the time to do both a live stream show and a podcast because you have a business to run.
You can record your show using video platforms like Blue Jeans Network to simulcast to Facebook Live and then convert them into a podcast format to air at a later date.
If you are looking for inspiration to start your journey in hosting a show, here are a list of live streamers who are turning their shows into podcasts
Vicky Lashenko
Vicky hosts the Mompreneur Show that air Mondays at 1 p.m. eastern, 10 a.m. pacific on Facebook Live
Jennifer Hoverstad and Mitch Jackson
Jennifer and Mitch co-hosts The Show.Live which airs at 4 p.m. eastern, 1 p.m. pacific on Facebook Live. They have grown the show to popularity over a two year span despite changing live streaming platforms (blab abruptly shut down in August of 2016 and huzza.io, which was sold to kickstarter in February 1st of this year and shut down on March 1st.)
Both Mitch and Jennifer are the true examples of perseverance.
Heather Ann Havenwood
Heather is an entrepreneur and is the host of “The Win” podcast.
I already knew about Heather due to her appearance on blab.
However, I found out that she recorded her podcast episode on Blue Jeans Network when Mrs. Sun shared her podcast appearance on Twitter.
Those are the few who are recording their podcasts using Facebook Live.
They are among those who understands that successful entrepreneurs time are valuable and have found a way to learn their “secrets” of success by interviewing them on their shows.
You can leave your comments below if you know of anyone else who are recording their podcasts using live streaming platforms?
Top Seven Twitter Chats For Starters
By Cheval John
Here are some statistics to think about:
-Social media users have risen by 176 million in the last year-Brand Watch
-Online adults aged 18-34 are most likely follow a brand via social networking-Marketing Sherpa.
In 2016, there were 2.3 billion active social media users-Brand Watch.
Among the above statistics, Twitter users are about 350 million.
Yet, that platform allows you to interact with people in real time.
And the majority of journalists are on Twitter.
You can interact with them on a daily basis and they will notice your giving spirit.
That is how entrepreneurs like Josh Elledge, founder of Upend PR got to be on media outlets across the country.
Side note: Diane Gottsman is in my mind the best teacher on how to be a giver because she shares advice on etiquette that has made her a media resource.
One way to share value with your potential customers is to participate in Twitter Chats.
Twitter Chats are a place where you can interact with people using a hashtag.
You can use these Twitter Chats to get ideas for your content marketing.
And maybe interact with some journalists too because they might even be on Twitter chats
So how do you know which Twitter chats is right for you?
To answer your question, I have compiled a list of seven twitter chats that will give you valuable advice with your content marketing.
Twitter Smarter occurs on Thursdays at 1 p.m. eastern, noon central.
It is hosted by Madalyn Sklar, who is one of the leading authorities on Twitter marketing.
The chat has guests who answers questions on tips and strategies on how to use the social media platform.
And the majority of the time, the chat trends on Twitter.
2. #ChatSnap
#ChatSnap occurs on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. eastern time, 1 p.m. central and is hosted by Kristy Gillentine.
This chat focuses solely on snapchat and how marketers can use this platform.
Kristy is one of the leading authorities on Snapchat and her Twitter chat has been quoted on Social Media Examiner
3. #MediaChat
#MediaChat occurs on Thursdays at 10 p.m. eastern, 9 p.m. central and is hosted by Aaron Kilby.
This chat focuses on different trends that is happening on social media and usually have guests like Jessica Ann
#LetsLivestream occurs on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. eastern, 2 p.m. central and is hosted by Rachel Moore, owner of Really Social.
This chat is a combination of a Twitter Chat where people can engage with their fellow participants and a Facebook Live Show where Rachel interviews the guests about different live streaming strategies.
5. #WinnieSun
#WinnieSun occurs on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. eastern, 1 p.m. central and is hosted by you know who, Winnie Sun.
Winnie is the founder of Sun Group Wealth Partners and has made appearances on major media outlets to share her expertise surrounding the finance industry.
Her chat has a panel of guests that shares about how to manage your money and also social media topics in between.
It trended on Twitter today which shows the popularity of the chat .
What an honor to share this on #internationalwomensday #trending #WinnieSun ☀ pic.twitter.com/2IY0G0Nzie
— #WinnieSun ☀️ (@SunGroupWP) March 8, 2017
6. #ContentWritingChat
#ContentWritingChat occurs on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. eastern, 10 a.m. central and is hosted by Express Writers, LLC
Express Writers was founded by Julia McCoy in 2011 and has clients around the world.
Their twitter chat is about best practices surrounding content writing, the dos and don’ts of content writing.
Content Writing Chat also has guests who are experts in the evolving social media fields and they share what works for them in their content marketing efforts
#BlogElevated occurs on Mondays at 10 p.m. eastern, 9 p.m. central and is co-hosted by Lisa Stauber and Bobbie Byrd.
This chat shares about how a person can grow their blogs and also different ethical tactics that will make your blog stand out.
Blog Elevated is like an open forum where each of the participants can share what works for them in their blogging strategies and the hosts themselves will share some valuable advice that you never thought of before to grow your blog.
So there you have it, the top seven twitter chats that can help you grow your social media presence online.
Do you have a favorite Twitter Chat that has helped you with your social media marketing? You can leave your comment below
Everyone Truly Matters
By Cheval John
I am grateful for Angela Maiers, founder of Choose 2 Matter, because she gave me the answers I needed to keep on going with my business and podcast.
Earlier yesterday, I lost my headset that was crucial to me recording my podcast on Blue Jeans Network.
I had left my work equipment at the office to retrace my steps to finding my headset.
I knew that I had left it on the train and ironically, I knew which train it was.
So I traveled on the next train to “chase” the other train.
I knew I had to keep my eyes open for that particular train so that I could get off at the next stop to get my headset.
The problem was when the train had passed me on the second to last stop, the thought came into my mind that I had lost the headset.
So I traveled home keeping the faith that I had left the headset home.
However, I did not see the headset and I knew that I lost it forever.
So I had to buy a new and quality headset because I had a podcast recording later that day with Ms. Maiers.
After buying the headset, I was depressed because I was wondering if it was worth it to continue with my podcast because I was not seeing the return in investment like I wanted with my business.
The interview with Ms. Maiers went well because she shared tremendous value to the audience who saw the live recording on Facebook Live.
In the post-recording, I chatted with Ms. Maiers about contemplating to quit my business and podcast.
She understood my frustration and told me that I did not need to launch the podcast episode with her appearance next week because she thought I needed to take a break.
At that moment, I realized that I could not take a break from my podcast because it was very important to me to showcase the people who are making a positive impact in the world through their business and careers.
The truth was I already knew that I could never quit my business and podcast.
However, I needed the reinforcement from Ms. Maiers at that exact moment that I was on the correct path in providing quality content that will solve the audience’s pain points.
That is the power of community when you surround yourself with the people who will lift you up to greatness.
So the most important message to take away is that everyone of you matter because you have a unique gift that can bright up the world.
And Angela Maiers is someone that people need to pay attention to because she is changing the world through her organization, Choose 2 Matter.
You can leave a reply below to share your thoughts about the article.
Am I Different From My Co-opetition?
By Cheval John
March 29th, 2017
I was watching movies documenting the life of Steve Jobs and how the company Apple was founded.
The fact that Mr. Jobs did not care too much about making money or what the shareholders thought when the company went public was very intriguing.
Some said that parts of the movie which was portrayed by Austin Kuecher was a bit off.
And the other movie starring Kate Winslet that showed the behind the scenes of the launches of the Macintosh Computer, Next and the iMac was a bit different from what actually occurred.
It was interesting to see that no one could truly understand the thought process of Steve Jobs and the attention to detail in each of Apple products.
I want to focus on Apple’s original Mac computer launch in 1984.
The company had one of the biggest ipo’s in wall street history in 1980 due to the success of the Apple II.
The board of directors convinced Mr. Jobs they needed a new CEO to run the daily operations of the company.
They hired John Scully as their CEO and released the most iconic commercial for the launch of Macintosh.
The Macintosh did not sell particularly well after they launched and the board wanted to put their resources in the Apple II.
Mr. Jobs believed the Macintosh was overpriced and disagreed with the board.
That disagreement led to the firing of Mr. Jobs as the board of directors sided with Mr. Scully.
As the story goes, Mr. Jobs founded NexT and their computer design was a failure.
The software for the computer was really successful.
Mr. Jobs bought Pixar and had one of the most successful movies of all time.
Apple bought NexT and Mr. Jobs was back as an interim CEO before being in that role on a permanent basis.
Mr. Jobs was wrong about the Macintosh in 1984 and the board of directors was correct.
However, Mr. Jobs was way ahead of the time because customers was not ready for the Macintosh computer.
In 1998, the customers was ready for the iMac computer and that product helped Apple to become a profitable company again.
Mr. Jobs did not want Apple to be the same company as other computer businesses because they understood that customer experiences mattered more than selling a computer product.
Watching those movies about the company Apple got me to think about if I am being different from my other business “competitors.”
We see a lot of people doing live streaming shows, podcasts, running social media companies.
I was wondering if I was doing the same thing and being a part of the crowd.
I am making my audience feel better about themselves the minute I post content on social media.
Am I a visionary?
Am I willing to hold my ground despite the objections from many who believe that you must have a 9-5 work in order to be successful and disrupt the status quo of doing business?
I do know customers want a company who cares about their well being and don’t want to be sold to.
Educational content pertaining to a company’s product or service through the medium of podcasts, live streaming shows, blog posts and YouTube videos are what will win business.
If a customer feels apart of the brand, they will do business with the brand.
That is what Mr. Jobs aspired for Apple to be: a customer centric company.
I can tell you that other people like Kristyna Torres, Michelle Van Otten and Winnie Sun are following in Apple’s footsteps in providing customer-centric service.
Are you different from your competition? You can leave your comment below
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