A new movie about Facebook is coming out this fall called The Social Network. I give you 7 reasons why I think it will be a huge success.
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Today in the podcast I talk about the 7 reasons people with “LIKE” the Facebook movie. Get it? Like??? Luckily, the rest of the podcast is not that cheesy. Here is the outline of topics I cover:
1) A built-in audience of 500 million fans
With just the sheer number of people ON Facebook, how can this thing NOT make money? It was announced July 21 that Facebook had officially passed Five Hundred Million worldwide users.
Jim’s guest is Deanna Zandt, author of a social media book. They talk about how she got a book deal, raised money to fund it, and how she got free pizza.
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Deanna Zandt is the author of the new book, “Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking” which you can find out more about at her website, DeannaZandt.com.
During our interview, we talk about the following topics:
- How the former corporate employee and self-proclaimed ‘webmonkey’ went from independent consultant to author
- The process she took to turn her training seminars into a book idea
- The “Jedi Mind Trick” philosophy her publisher uses, and how she used “the force” of social media to raise funds in order to work on her book
- How she used crowdsourcing on everything from the title to the cover — and how people reacted to it
- The free software program she used to dramatically ramp up her productivity during the writing process
And yes, she explains how she scored a free eye exam and free pizza along the way.
With privacy concerns escalating and new players entering the space, is it the beginning of the end for Facebook?
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I’m just sayin
Listen, the mighty behemoth that is Facebook is probably doing just fine. They’ve got us sucked in like lemmings, with upwards of 500 million people on the service checking email, uploading photos, finding old friends, and tending virtual farms.
But it’s been a rough month, and I’m sure young Mark Zuckerberg has aged a little as his company has been tossed about in full public view recently. I’m not saying he’s going to have a few gray hairs, after all, he did just turn 26 on May 14. But maybe he feels like a 29 year old or something.
On Wired alone, the stories have been flowing, showing the progression of events:
Today on The Hopkinson Report: Everybody Gets a Trophy!
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I talk with former Wired Intern 1.0 Brandon Werner (pictured above) of The Modern Day Pirates about how engaging with different generations is changing, specifically that notoriously difficult market of 18-30 year olds, known to many as Millennials or Generation Y.
In this corner, Jim, the Gen X archetype. In the blue trunks, Brandon, paragon of all things that represent Gen Y.
How does a company turn their email file into a list of powerful social media influencers? They go to Flowtown.
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Podcast Episode 101 is an interview I did at SXSW with Ethan Bloch of Flowtown.com, a service that turns email addresses into social profiles. After discussing the best way to survive the festival on no sleep and Green Tea, Jim gets down to business to find out Ethan’s story.
Topics covered: About Ethan
- Ethan’s amazing start as an entrepreneur, importing video game components and driving $13,000 worth of revenue — at age 13!
- How marketing, finance, and technology have been the three pillars of his career thus far
- His move to San Francisco, subsequent job loss, and founding of a new business
About Flowtown
- A platform that allows businesses to connect with their customers
- Starting with their email list, Flowtown generates a list of the social networks their customer base is on, allowing them to write better posts, send better tweets, and more easily target their customers
- Not only does Flowtown return age, gender, networks, and the top 50 locations, but it then creates a sort of “iTunes Smartlist for Marketers,” showing the top 50 influencers that really move the needle
The Marketing Angle
- What is Flowtown’s approach to marketing their business?
- Where does Flowtown get their customers?
- Is all this a good thing? What about user’s personal information being exposed?
- Is email dead?
Advice for Startups
- What are the challenges of being a startup?
- What is the main advantages of being a small company?
- How the “lean startup” process enables them to make quick advances in technology
- Lessons learned through a failed project, which led to 3,500 new customers on their next project
Try it yourself
Check out flowtown.com and enter your e-mail address (it’s not stored) to find out which networks you’re on.
In this episode of The Hopkinson Report, Jim talks with Brendan McManus of Wildfire. The Wildfire guys have developed a streamlined, cost-efficient, and user-friendly way of integrating promotions into Facebook fan pages.
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The numbers are overwhelming…
- Facebook has 400 million users and just keeps growing
- Users are joining at least 4 fan pages every month
- Traffic from Facebook to websites is increasing
Jim Hopkinson: Alright, I’m sitting here in Wired’s New York City office with Mitch Joel. Mitch is President of Twist Image, an award winning digital marketing and communications agency. He’s also a blogger, a podcaster, a passionate entrepreneur, and speaker, who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital and personal branding. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the ‘Rock Star of Digital Marketing’, and called him one of North America’s leading digital visionaries. And, in 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s most influential male on social media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious ‘Canada’s Top 40, Under 40.’ And as of this week, he has another title to add. So, welcome, Mitch.
Mitch Joel: Hey man, thanks.
JH: So, what would you consider your primary job, are you the owner of an agency, a speaker, a blogger, or as of this week, an author?
MJ: My friend, Chris Brogan, who’s got chrisbrogan.com and Trust Agency, says I’m a typist, is what he says [chuckles]. No, I’m actually, definitely a digital marketing agency owner. I’ve got three partners, we have offices in Toronto, Montreal, we have about 90 employees, and I really consider what I do fundamentally, marketing. I definitely use these other cool channels to build and promote the business in a very non-pitching way, but, I consider myself a marketer, at heart.
JH: So, you have the agency, and then all these other things you do kind of help you represent the agency?
MJ: Yeah, people are really shocked to hear about, but like anytime I speak, or the book advance that I got, goes right back into the agency; I don’t take my own cut out of it. When I was teaching digital courses, all that money went into the agency. I really am trying to build the business, after years of being both an entrepreneur and working for companies, I consider myself a rottweiler – this is mine, and I’m not letting go.
And, so, I just sort of look at it as I use a lot of these channels to communicate and connect to people in a very, very non-pushy or salesy way. I’m trying also to build the industry, the interactive world that we live in. And, it’s crazy! You’ve got traditional advertising will account for 90% of the budget, compared to interactive, which is like 10% – on a good day, it’s 10%. And, so, I really do see myself a little bit as an evangelist, a person who likes to go out there and speak to small and big groups about the importance of thinking differently about marketing in this day and age. Because, I’m really on a kick lately, that I think marketers are being highly irresponsible in this marketplace.
Hopkinson Report interview with Blogger, Podcaster, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author, Marketing Guru Mitch Joel.
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What does Mitch Joel have that almost every other “social media expert” doesn’t have?
Well, to answer that question, we have to look at the things that Mitch does have:
- He is certainly a great interview
While my Julia Allison interview is still my most downloaded episode ever, Saul Colt is the smartest man in the world, and my talk with Sarah Prevette confirmed she is the very definition of Malcolm Gladwell’s “connector,” my conversation with Mitch was one of the most engaging and interesting talks on the current state of internet marketing I’ve had to date.
- He certainly has a great background
How many other people started out as a music journalist with their first assignment ever being an interview with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue?
- He certainly has the new media resume to back up what he has to say
Considering he owns his own digital marketing agency called Twist Image, has been blogging since 2003 (which is why we discussed consistency over relevance), and also does a podcast.
- He certainly has a unique perspective on book publishing
Why did he go through a traditional publisher with his new book, Six Pixels of Separation? When I asked him if he thought about self-publishing with any of the new and impressive tools that are available, or distributing the book as a PDF or some other form, he said no. Why was that? He was writing a book for people that read books!
It seems quite obvious, but if some is dialed in and is already reading his work online via his blog and listening to his podcast digitally, they’re already aware of him. This is for the guy browsing in Barnes & Noble or running through the airport that wants a marketing book and has never heard of him. And get this, he ENJOYED the book writing process. Not many authors will tell you that.
- He certainly fits the modern geek profile
We discuss the tools of the modern road warrior, the pros and cons of SSD vs traditional hard drives, laptop choices and key features in laser pointers. You can see the list of geek electronics via “What’s in his bag.”
- OK, so what about public speaking?
Mitch is an accomplished speaker, having presented to Starbucks and Microsoft, sharing a stage with people ranging from Bill Clinton to Dr. Phil, and drawing from his arsenal of thousands of slides to wow any audience.
Maybe you’re an expert in your field as well, and want to do more speaking, or teach a class, or be on a panel.
- So what is the thing that Mitch has that nearly every other potential speaker is missing?
Answer: A “speaker’s page” … basically a bio page on your website that has some or all of the following elements:
- Bio section (or link to your full “About” page) that tells who you are
- List of places that you have spoken before
- Video examples of your speeches
- List of topics that you present on within your realm of expertise
- Testimonials from people that you have spoken with before
- A way to get in touch with you
Wow, that was obvious, right? But think about it… without all these elements, how can a company or conference have any confidence that you are a prepared professional that can pull this off? It’s like a resume for your public speaking persona.
I see this as a huge opportunity for people looking to get into this field, raise their profile, or try to generate additional revenue.
1) Fear of public speaking is right up there with fear of snakes and fear of dying. If you LIKE public speaking, you are ahead of 90% of the game.
2) A lot of people are bad at public speaking. If you practice, can weave a good story, and are prepared, you jump ahead of all of those people.
3) If you can put it all together and demonstrate to a potential company or conference that you can do this through a speakers page when no one else is, that should put you to the top of the list.
Mitch goes on to talk about several other great tactics, including books to read and gadgets to use.
Shirts + Social Media = Fashionable, Profitable Marketing for IWearYourShirt.com
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In my profession as an online marketer in the social media arena in New York City, I often find myself surrounded by three types of people…
1) Entrepreneurs looking to start a fun, unique business
2) Companies asking for new and inventive ways to market their product on a budget
3) People trying to harness the power of social media
Jason Sadler from IWearYourShirt.com is a walking, talking Venn Diagram of these three concepts merged together.
First, he has come up with a side business that not only generates more than $66,000 a year, but also ensures that he never has to buy another t-shirt nor worry about what to put on in the morning.
Second, he is offering a unique way for companies to get the word out about their product in 2009 for $365 or less, that doesn’t involve a traditional banner ad or Google keyword.
Lastly, he is harnessing the power of social media. By building up a personal network of followers on his blog, Facebook, Twitter, and video channels, he can expose a sponsor’s message to thousands of people, who then may in turn spread the word to thousands more. One company estimates Jason increased their social media presence 230%! See the transcript below for details (stats are bolded).
We had a great interview where he talks about:
- How he got the idea - Why businesses get their money’s worth - How his girlfriend — and grandmother — feel about him wearing a t-shirt every day.
Speaking of Venn Diagrams, Wired took the opportunity to buy Friday, September 18 Monday, September 28 from I Wear Your Shirt to promote the fact that they are giving away a FREE one-of-a-kind Venn Diagram with the purchase of an annual Wired Magazine subscription.
Update: Jason ‘wore our shirt’ on 9/28. See his blog post or watch the video below.
Last I checked, t-shirts were running anywhere from $15-$50 at retail outlets. This offer is $10 for a cool shirt AND you get 12 issues of Wired Magazine delivered to your door? No brainer.
—————————————————————- Full transcript of Jim Hopkinson interviewing Jason Sadler of I Wear Your Shirt on The Hopkinson Report podcast.
Jim Hopkinson: Hi, I’m on the line with Jason from IWearYourShirt.com which is a really unique business where Jason has actually outsourced his wardrobe to corporate America. Welcome Jason.
Jason Sadler: Thanks for having me.
Jim: So tell me, what is IWearYourShirt, why did you start this, and how did you get this crazy idea?
If the first half of 2009 was spent telling the world how to use Twitter, the second half might be them telling you that you can’t use it.
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I guess it had to end sometime.
What I’m referring to are the free-wheeling, anything goes days when Twitter burst onto the scene. Sure, it’s been around since 2006, but the first half of 2009 was the golden age of Twitter. We saw Wired Twitter followers grow more than five-fold from about 15,000 all the way past 75,000, and the same exponential growth was seen by everyone from Barack Obama to Ashton Kutcher.
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What does Mitch Joel have that almost every other “social media expert” doesn’t have?
