Table of Contents
To all the entrepreneurs wishing
to create a life of freedom, joy, and prosperity
by tapping the amazing power
of the internet
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Tina Cook for encouraging me to write this book and Charlotte Evans for her editing and support in this process. Jere Calmes, Leanne Harvey, and the team at Entrepreneur Press for their support of my work. Mary Eule Scarborough and Laurie Ashner for the books we have collaborated on. Craig Valentine for our World Class Speaking partnership, Peggy Murrah, my VA, and to all the Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coaches.
Especially to all the wonderful contributors in this compilation and to everyone who has followed my books and online programs over the last decadethank you.
FOREWORD
MARK VICTOR HANSEN
Times have never been more exciting. The explosion of the web and social media is the fastest change in human history. Rapidly shifting and affordable state-of-the-art internet technology has altered the way we communicate forever. No longer are people waiting to be told what to think by TVs talking heads; now they are twittering and posting their opinions on Facebook and other social media sites and letting the world know whats on their minds in an instant.
And for the entrepreneur, social media is an even more dramatic game changer and is making fortunes for lots of people in lots of places. But you have to know the rules of the road in this new media. You are either on the leading edge, cutting edge, dull edge, or trailing edge.
I know of no better way to stay on the leading edge than to learn from the internets most successful playersthe superstars of social media. And that is exactly what you will do when you read this excellent collection of wisdom compiled from the from the top social media marketers in the world.
So before you go market online, learn all you can about this new media and then decide where you are going to play. What social media websites will help you achieve your business goals? Linked In, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or others? You will need to learn whats valuable and whats viable for you. Youll need to predict what will be the Fords and what will be the Edsels.
In this excellent compilation, Mitch Meyerson, author of nine marketing and personal development books, has handpicked experts in almost every essential aspect of social media marketing and asked them to share their most valuable strategies and tactics for building a thriving business using new media tools and strategies.
In each page of Meyersons Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars you will be spoon-fed insights and revelations by the top social media marketers in the world that is sure to significantly boost your visibility and profits online.
I work with entrepreneurs every day; my passion is to help them build the life of their dreams. And as Charles Dickens said, It is the best of times and the worst of times. It can be your best of time if you are aware, alive, and =enthusiasticand if you read books like this one so you can keep learning and growing. It can also be your worst of times if you are absorbing only the negative energy from the news. So, not only must you manage your media wisely but you should also recognize that social media just may be your most useful egress; that is, a way out of many of your current and future business dilemmas.
Keep in mind also, that this is the most no-limit, fully functioning, self-actualizing time in human history. And social media is here to stay; it can change the way you communicate and the way you do business forever. Get ready to learn from the best minds in the social media revolution and join the savvy business owners on the leading edge.
MARK VICTOR HANSEN, CO-CREATOR, NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING
SERIES CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL, CRACKING THE MILLIONAIRE CODE,
THE ONE MINUTE MILLIONAIRE, AND RICHEST KIDS IN AMERICA
PREFACE
THE TIMES ARE A CHANGING
In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users. If it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world.
In 2010, Gen Xers will outnumber the Baby Boomers, and 96 percent of them have joined social networks.
One in six higher education students is enrolled in online curriculum.
Last year, one in every eight couples met through a social media site.
Currently, 80 percent of companies use LinkedIn to find employees.
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
Wikipedia has over 13 million articles.
There are over 200 million internet blogs, and that number is rapidly increasing.
Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 70 percent have watched TV on the web.
Statistics complied at socialnomics.net.
In 2005 I wrote a book on internet marketing called Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars. It contained nuggets of wisdom collected from 24 of the worlds top experts in online business development.
Chapter by chapter, Success Secrets provided a blueprint for the successful development of online businesses. But there was one chapter missing, one aspect of online business Success Secrets didnt cover.
There was no chapter on social media; it was barely mentioned anywhere in the book because in 2005 social media simply didnt exist.
Two years later in 2007, I cowrote two other books: Mastering Online Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing on the Internet. Each one contained a single chapter on social media. Social media was an emerging wave, but it was not something we were paying much attention to. Only in the last three years has there been an avalanche of new websites, technologies, and strategies all centered around social interaction.
Social media has revolutionized how we receive the news. Once only the domain of newspaper reporters and broadcasters, today anyone can be the reporter and the broadcaster. Print media has transitioned from offline to online (to survive) and has integrated social media into its programming and interaction with its audiencesand both have benefitted. Social media has also, just as profoundly, changed the way we promote or market our products or services.
The online marketing landscape has changed because the emergence of social media is literally changing the way we communicate and live. Times are changing and quickly.
In this collection many of the top social media revolution leaders share their success secrets as it relates to the new media. Here is just some of what you will learn:
Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, will tell you why relationship strategies are more important than Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn strategies.
Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents, shares how to build an online community that keeps people engaged and connected.
Gary Vaynerchuk, social media guru, shares how he has built a mega following and massive media attention through social media.
Mari Smith, the Pied Piper of Facebook, and Deb Micek, author of The Twitter Revolution, share their success secrets for effectively using these widely popular sites.
And thats just for starters.