No one thinks they are a micro-manager. Yet, we’ve all experienced being micro-managed, and none of us like it.

The paradox here is that those two things can’t both be true. Some of us must unknowlingly micro-manage. And I bet, more times than not, we get more results than those that don’t.

Is Micro-Managing That Bad?

Managers are faced with quite the dilemma when it comes to management style. Every employee will praise the manager who kept their distance and “just let me do my job.” So managers strive to be hands-off and liked.

But what should the good manager do when you don’t do your job well? Or when you continually overlook important details? The good manager doesn’t lay off and hope you figure it out. The good manager takes whatever action is needed to keep things on track. The good manager isn’t afraid to micro-manage.(Or to lose friends)

I don’t think the big issue is micro-management; it’s macro-working. I can promise you that any good manager is begging for his reports to step up so he doesn’t have to micro-manage. Unfortunately, most of us are waiting for permission.

Here’s a tip: managers are waiting for you to just run with it without permission. Permission-seekers have to be micro-managed.Similar Posts:

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But what really stuck out with me is his claim that Scentsy has truly grasped the idea of a democratized brand. In Dave’s words,

We believe that the brand perception is best carried forth by our evangelists – whether consultant or a customer. This new marketing relationship prescribes certain expectations for the company and the evangelists. In short it’s our job to produce a relevant product, amazing brand experience, and help you share the brand, and it’s your job to influence the relevancy of the product and carry the brand promise through to the end-user.

Wow! What a succinctly great way to capture the roles and responsiblities of both corporate and the independent rep.

From coast to coast, I would daresay any struggling direct sales company is screwing up at least a part of this equation. What’s been your experience?

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What I hope to capture with this post is just how moving and/or informative every single speaker managed to be. When you just throw 15 speakers on a stage and let them loose on any topic, you have no idea what you’re going to get. But this box of chocolates had nothing but the good stuff. Here are my quick takeaways from each speaker (in the order in which they spoke):

1. Shyam Patel, The Next American Epidemic – Mind Obesity (@shyampatel): The subject matter was amazing, but Shyam’s delivery, pacing and obvious grasp on what he’s talking about was inspiring. A great speaker with a great message.
2. Brett Duncan (aka me), Move the Box (@bdunc1): When I originally wrote about this topic more than two years ago, I knew it had legs. But I didn’t do anything with it until the Ignite opportunity came up. Also, I had no idea how hard it could be to put together a freakin’ five-minute presentation. Good Lord!
3. Karl Sydow, Tobacco – the Most Interesting Drug in the World (@karlsydow): There was this one slide of Obama smoking in Karl’s presentation and his comment on role models that just cracked me up. Karl’s quirky and dry manner actually fit his presentation perfectly.
4. Michael L. Perry – How Do We Collaborate Through Software? (@michaellperry): OK, Michael could be the smartest guy I’ve ever met. His presentation was way over my head, but you could tell it was important. And that he really knows his stuff. Plus, Michael and I had a great discussion about outsourcing before the event started.
5. Stu Hill, The Birth of a Nickname (@stuhill): Who knew assigning a nickname could be so formulaic. Stu took us step by step how he got his nickname for a snowboarder to be used on ESPN. It was a very funny talk.
6. Laura Vatalaro, Go Green Graphic Design (@lvgraphics): Laura showed five pretty innovative ways to make printing green. She even showed how to turn a cereal box into a business card, and I was one of the few who got one before the night was done. She made a strong case that printing doesn’t have to be as wasteful as we think it is.
7. Sean Scogin, Increasing Emotional Investment in Social Media (@seanscogin): Sean proved the point that you can’t judge a presentation by its rehearsal. I got to see Sean run through his talk a couple times before the doors opened, and I have to admit, I thought it was a little dry. Ends up Sean was saving the good stuff for the real deal, cuz he was smokin’ on stage. Plus, he proved why every good presentation should include a picture of a cocker spaniel. Nice touch.
8. Mike Orren, Stop Thinking and Say “Yes, and ….” (@mikeorren): This was one of my favorite talks of the night. Mike took his experiences from attending an improv class and turned it into a great paradigm shift we should all take in any forum. The idea is that we’re geared to say “No, but….” If we could just switch that mentality, it could change a lot.
9. Travis Blythe, Touring the Country on My Harley – A How-to Guide (@blydawg): Way over the top, but in a good way. It felt right. I still chuckle when I think about how he made us think for a second that a hair dryer and curler were necessary tools for the road. I also thought his powerpoint design was smart – he had his contact info in front of us the entire presentation.
10. Bethany Nelson, Complex Environments: This is not a Bar (@superawesomeBN): First, I have to say I really enjoyed talking to Bethany throughout the night. Very cool girl, and she was proud to be representin’ Denton. She hit the highlights of a project she did in turning a coffee shop into dance performance. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a topic I’d be interested in, but she shared it in a way that made me listen. One thing that stuck out to me was that she mentioned gathering data at the coffee shop and the using that to form the performance. Never have I heard of a dancer gathering data, so that was cool.
11. Jasmin Brande, What Social Media and Ike Turner Have in Common (@brandpointe): Overall, this was probably my favorite talk of the night. First, you could tell Jasmin knows her stuff. Second, the analogy of using Ike and Tina Turner to represent social media and education was perfect. Third, Jasmin was wise in not using my corny line “What’s abuse got to do with it?,” which I pitched at her prior to her talk. Fourth, she really brought it home when she ended her talk (and I paraphrase) with “Social media will never be able to replace great teachers.” The crowd went crazy over that.
12. John Lehmann, Changing the Way the World Looks at Information (@jplehmann): John is a really smart guy. One of the biggest a-ha moments I had of the night was when he said it’s most likely that I have consumed more information than all my previous generations combined. That’s crazy.
13. Liz Broderick, The Importance of Killer Heels (@passingthemic): Of all the talks, Liz’s definitely had the most pre-show buzz. Between quotes in the Morning News and I saw someone filming her in her heels outside of the Granada, everyone knew about this talk. If you thought the talk was gonna be about fashion, though, you quickly learned you were way off. Liz weaved the idea of heels into job searches, climbing the corporate ladder and the power and influence of today’s woman.
14. Salah Boukadoum, One Billion Dollars to End Poverty (@soaphope): Salah got screwed. The mic at the Granada was iffy all night, and it pretty much just crapped out when Salah got up to talk. But he did what pros do and just said “Screw it,” and gave his speech the old fashioned way, sans microphone. Salah took the principle of getting a lot of people (or in this case, businesses) to do a little, which results in big things. In this case, a billion dollars.
15. Mike D. Merrill, For the Love of Bacon – America’s Cult Meme (@mikedmerrill): Could you wrap a night like this any better than with a passionate history of bacon? While this talk was chock-full of very useful information, the image that is stained in my mind is of the girl using bacon for her own frontal support. Not sure if that makes Mike the one with the sick mind or me.

I think it’s clear that the night was amazing. Attendance for future Ignite events are definitely in my future, with the next one being on June 2.

Also, I have to give HUGE props to the folks who organized this, starting with Chris Walters. The idea struck him about 4 weeks prior to the event, and he and his team (Mike Merrill, Joey Pomerenke, Danica Mathes, Cone Johnson, Andy Hickl and Chris Bond) pulled it off and then some. Thanks to you guys.

Also, big thanks to the sponsors:

Scott & Scott, Facebook, hck2, Greenlight, Dave Curlee Media, Granada Theater, Sprint, Campaign Monitor, Big (D)esign Conference, swingly, Content Solutions, Social Media Club of Dallas, CoHabitat, Yelp, Level Ten Interactive.

Were you there? What were your favorite moments?

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With that said, two key transitions have occurred over the past three or four years. One, the gateway to true SEO expertise has become a tough line to cross. And that’s a good thing for all of us. The people at sites like SEOMoz.org and SEObook.com immediately smack us in the face with just one quick read as to what expertise in this field really looks like.

Second, as it’s becoming evident that marketing is simply done online now, and is not a segmented expertise for just some people to grasp, understanding SEO basics is now a prerequisite for pretty much anyone wanting to make a dent at all in today’s markets. That includes you. Regardless of what you’re creating and producing, you must consider how it can be leverage online and how almighty Google will look at your creation.

Search Engine Optimization Basics – 5 Great Links

So, for those of us who need constant reminders as to what matter, or for those who don’t have a clue but know they need to get one, I offer these five excellent posts to get you pretty much all you need to know without bogging you down with hours and hours of reading, studying, etc.

1. SEO Basics for Blogs – Problogger.net, Darren Rowse: If you blog, you need to read Problogger.net. Darren touches on the topic of SEO often, but this article is an excellent first step into understanding what’s really important and what you can really control.
2. Search Engine Ranking Factors 2009 – SEOMoz.org: Every couple years, SEOmoz surveys the top search engine marketers and finds out what’s really moving the needle in terms of how pages rank. The real takeaway here? You have less and less direct control over most of these factors.
3. Web Developer’s SEO Cheat Sheet – SEOmoz.org: SEOmoz is loaded with tons of extremely useful resources like this one. This one is a bit on the technical side, but they have other cheat sheets for those who can’t speak code.
4. SEO Tools – SEOmoz.org: OK, last time I mention SEOmoz. The simple fact is they are pretty much the authority on SEO, and the reason is they give away so much extremely valuable content. Many of these tools are free. Use them.
5. SEO Tools – SEOBook.com: Aaron Wall was probably the first search expert I stumbled upon online a few years ago. Like SEOmoz, this site is chock-full of free tools and great advice.

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I recently attended a social media conference where a fairly large company shared its Facebook Page as a case study. They had obviously spent decent money with an agency to design custom tabs and an application that allowed users to interact with its products (or at least images of its products.)  It really was a very nice Facebook Page…very pretty.  Had a lot of potential to be engaging.

So then someone in the audience raised their hand and asked the obvious follow-up question: “So how’s it working for you? What results have you seen?”

Blank stares.  Deer in headlights.  Absolutely no idea at all.

And that, friends, is a fail.  A big time fail.  It doesn’t matter how well designed your Facebook Page or other social media tool is.  If you don’t have a strategy behind it, and a way to measure the results, then it’s my opinion that you’re wasting your time and money.

So how do you create a social media strategy?  Isn’t that just for big companies with big social media departments and lots of cash?  Nope.  A social media strategy is just as important for the solopreneur as it is for the company with the big department.  And the principles behind creating a strategy are the same.  It boils down to these questions:

WHAT do you want to accomplish?

What are your goals for social media, and where does that fit into your larger marketing goals?  Is it increased sales?  Increased brand awareness?  More reorders from existing customers?  Figure out what you want before you do anything else.  This will help you identify those metrics that you’ll measure in order to determine the success of your efforts.

WHO do you want to reach?

You need to have a very clear understanding of the demographic you wish to reach in order to achieve your goals.  I typically find that people are entirely too broad when it comes to defining their target market (I’ve even had the answer, “everyone with a pulse”), and this is a mistake.  Why?  Because, for example, the way you are going to market skin care to a 20 year old is completely different from the way you market to a 60 year old.  They have different needs.  And the content you provide as part of your marketing campaign needs to be consistently relevant to the market you select.  So choose.

WHEN do you have time to use social media?

Social media requires you to interact daily with your target market.  And that means that you need to be willing to set aside time every day to engage.  You can’t just set up your profiles and walk away.  Your community needs to be nurtured.  So figure out how much time you can dedicate daily.  This will help you decide where your efforts will best be spent.   For example, if you’ve only got 20 minutes per day, perhaps you want to focus on just one tool, such as a Facebook Page.  If you can allot an hour daily, maybe you can add a blog and Twitter to the mix.  By defining the time you can spend up front, and then scheduling it daily, you’ll be a lot more strategic when you’re actually using the social media tools you’ve selected.  Instead of just using the tools all of your competitors are using, you’re spending time on the tool(s) that best meet(s) YOUR goals.

WHERE can I find my target market online?

Once you understand your market, then you can find them online.  Many people start with Facebook just because there are so gosh darn many people there.  Chances are, among the 400 million or so people, there’s someone interested in what you have to offer.  But also think about each tool from a user standpoint…there may be specific social media platform, even niche-specific ones, that have a high percentage of users that may be looking for exactly what you have to offer.  By understanding your market, and the tools they use (do some research!), you have a better chance of success with your social media marketing strategy.

HOW will I share information my target market will value?

Finally, you need to decide what you’re going to do to achieve your goals using the social media tools you’ve selected.  I advise business owners to make a list.  For example: Make a friend list on Facebook for all existing customers, invite them to join me on Facebook, and comment on at least 5-10 updates from this list daily.  Set up a customer group or Page where I’ll share tips on using my products, list special offers, create games, and in other ways promote engagement: post at least 2 times daily to the Group or Page.  By writing down what you will do ahead of time, you will be more productive and strategic during the social media marketing time that you’ve scheduled.  Rather than sitting there trying to decide what to do (and getting pulled off in a million directions, which can easily happen with social media) you are instead using your time wisely, and strategically.

By starting with a plan, you then have the data you need to measure your social media efforts, and decide whether or not they’re working for you.  You can make sure the measurement tools are in place to support your ability to measure the metrics you’ve defined. (I can’t tell you the number of companies I’ve worked with who don’t even have effective Google Analytics in place to track a sale from point of origin to final conversion.)

The amount of time social media can soak up, if not used strategically, can cost your business more than you can afford to lose.  Set up your strategic plan first, so every moment spent brings value to your organization.

Your thoughts?

Jennifer Fong is a social media speaker and consultant who teaches direct selling companies and independent business owners how to use social media effectively as a business building tool. A former direct sales company CEO, Jennifer combines her expertise in direct sales with her passion for social media marketing to provide direct sellers with the knowledge they need to put social media to work for their businesses in a strategic and profitable way.  Jennifer blogs about social media for business at http://www.jenfongspeaks.com.  You can also find her on Twitter at @JenFongSpeaks.Similar Posts:

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Social Media Events in Dallas (Spring 2010)

1. Ignite Dallas – March 3: Ignite is hitting DFW for the first time. This should be a pretty cool event. I’m honored to actually be on of the 16 speakers on tap.
2. Social Media Club Dallas March Tweetup – March 10: This club is really starting to grow. Check out Social Media Club Dallas for more info.
3. Jason Falls at Social Media Club monthly meeting – March 23.
   
4. Optimization Summit Dallas – March 23 -24: This event is gonna be freakin’ unbelievable. Giovanni Galucci, John Jantsch, Mack Collier and lots of others.
5. PubCon Dallas – April 13-15: The mothership of all things search and social?

Do you know of any other events coming to Dallas soon?

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I’ve read a fair share of books on social media. Let me just say this is my favorite, hands down.

First, the approach to the book is no-holds-barred and straight to the point. Where some books focus on the attitude of using social media well while others focus strictly on the tactics, Gary’s book finds the effective middle ground. He takes the time to explain why the rules are changing right now at such a rapid pace, and how that opens up doors for  anyone willing to really go after it. Then, he drops to-do lists on you that should be anyone’s playbook for really making the most of the space.

Highlights of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It

Here are just a few quotes I highlighted in the book:

• Search.Twitter.com is the most important site on the Internet.
  
• If your blog is your home, platforms like Twitter and Facebook are your vacation homes.
  
• The best marketing strategy ever: CARE.
  
• The Internet is only 14 years old or so – it’s so young it hasn’t even had sex – yet it has already crushed many of the biggest communication platforms known to humankind, and it’s not done.
  
• Some entrepreneurs are really into creating the next big thing. Not me. I’m about identifying the next big thing and jumping all over it.
• Creating community is about starting conversations.
  
• Your content has nothing to do with the mic, the camera, the lighting or the set.
• I use analytics very rarely and I urge you not to rely too much on them either, especially if you’ve got good business instincts.
  

In summary, this book is simply a must-read for any marketer, any social media nut, and especially any entrepreneur. That’s essentially what this is: a go get ‘em book for entrepreneurs who are straddling the fence, looking for something to push them one way or the other and put them out of their misery. Gary pulls no punches, but tells you his way (which often contradicts other things you might be reading today) and definitely gets you off the fence.

Buy Crush It right now on Amazon.com. Similar Posts:

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That’s a tough one.

I’m gonna keep both his name and company undisclosed, just to be safe, but I thought I’d throw my quick ideas out there so that you could a) critique my advice and b) add your own.

I tried to imagine who is looking for security systems and when they’re looking for it. I came up with these three major personas based on only my own assumptions:

1. New home owners
2. People who have just had their house broken into, or know someone who has.
3. People who are looking for a cheaper solution.

7 Tips for Security System Salesmen

The second group seems a little too small to focus on, but the struggle with the first and third is that they are probably too broad. With all that said, here are the first few ideas that come to mind for my friend:

1. Go local. While you might have a somewhat large territory, focus on local. Establish yourself in a community, and the smaller, the better. It will help limit your competition and give you a chance to establish some street cred in a reasonable amount of time.For this example, let’s use the city of Denison, Texas, a small town northeast of the DFW Metroplex (and no, that’s not where my friend is from). Search results for “security systems dallas, texas” are at 41.2 million on Google. They’re at 33,200 for Denison, Texas. That’s a big difference.
2. Go Google Local. Once you decide on where you want to establish yourself, start leveraging all of the options made available by both Google Local and Yahoo Local. Google Local is free and can really  help set you apart for a home-service like this. Plus, it offers all kinds of cool analytics and tools that can really help you out.
3. Find local people on Twitter. I doubt you’re going to find too many people anxious to talk security systems on Twitter, but you can still use the tool to simply connect with locals on Twitter. This post on Mashable.com summarizes 9 ways to do this really well. Twellowhood is a very good one to use, as mentioned in the post.
4. Buy a local and targeted domain name. Sure, you might not know what to do with it, but my hunch is that once a couple things start popping online for you, you’ll realize you could do even more with a simple two or three page website with some targeted content. Buy a domain name like Denison-Security-Systems.com (which is available), download Wordpress.org, sign up with a cheap hosting service and let the good times roll. Keep it simple. Every good online campaign eventually needs a central hub, and this one could be yours.
5. Find the connectors. There are people in Denison who have already established themselves with your customers. They could be realtors, mortgage reps, pest control operators, etc. Connect with them. In person is best, but use Twitter or Facebook to find them, too. Keep in mind that social media will help you much more in connecting you with the people who are connected with your customers at first rather than connecting you directly to your customers. So take advantage of it, and let them make all the introductions. Facebook Groups and Fan Pages might be a good place to search.
6. Be valuable. If you’re consistent and truly motivated by offering something valuable to your community in return for nothing initially, it will pay off after a while. Just keep doing it, and people will recognize it, and talk about.
7. Become the anti-salesman. If it’s all about establishing trust (and it is), then do something ballsy. Print out these 10 Lies a Door-to-Door Alarm Salesman Tells, and then add a handwritten note that says “Most security salesmen are snakes; I’m the exception. Call me when you’d like an honest assessment.” Most people aren’t in the market for a security system but probably once every 5 years at the absolute best. But I bet they think of you when their time comes.

OK, what’d I miss? What would you add? I know my buddy would love some crowdsourcing here, so let me hear your ideas.Similar Posts:

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