Dear readers,

What  social media marketing tips can we learn from the Voice on NBC television.

The Voice is a new hit television show.  The show is a new format of signing competition, but what makes them really interesting is their total adoption and incorporation of social media.

What social media marketing tips can we get from the voice?

First, they had a plan to incorporate social media from the very beginning.

Back in March 2011 before the show began billboard magazine was reporting that the Voice had gotten Christina Aguilera to join twitter as a part of her contract with the Voice.  According to the article all of the mentors/coaches from the show would use Twitter to share with fans.

Second the show has gotten not only the coaches,  but their advisors and the contestants to all sign on to Twitter as well. They have made public twitter lists for each to make it easy for fans to follow them. (See the Twitter lists for the coaches, advisors, contestants.)

Third during the the first several episodes they introduced Alison Haislip to the audience. Alison would be the face of the show in social media as the “backstage and social media correspondent for the show“. This was very clever because the fans all feel like they are communicating with a real person.

Fourth as the show is broadcast each week they incorporate social media into the show. The initial “recorded” shows would include some fan tweets on the bottom of the screen during the broadcast.

Fifth as we now are watching the live broadcasts the Voice has now incorporated the social media element even more with the launch of the “V room”. This is sort of the social media center for the show and is also a backstage area where contestants can relax. They show the contestants using tablet devices to connect with their fans on Twitter during the show. They also show some staff members in the back who are undoubtedly helping answer questions, communicate with fans, and probably even doing some magic cut and paste of tweets to get content onto the live broadcast in real time.

This is of course hosted by the social media correspondent Alison Haislip.

Sixth the use of Twitter allows the NBC executives to see trends about the show in real time.

All of this… and we’re just talking about Twitter! We haven’t even touched what the Voice is doing on Facebook, blogs, and other social media platforms.

Hey ABC, are you paying attention? ABC you could pick up a few social media marketing tips from the voice! Maybe you could save your network by paying attention to your fan base once in awhile instead of killing shows off with poor marketing.

Have you seen the Voice yet?  Have you seen any tv shows that embrace social media as much as the Voice on NBC?

Leave a comment and let us know! We’d love to know what you think of the Voice, Alison Haislip, and their use of social media.

- Ben Fitts
Follow me on Twitter here.

MLM Training > twitter

Dear readers,

I am always look for ways to save time in my social media marketing.

We have to be careful not to waste time being “busy”.

Next thing we know we’ve wasted hours on social media and gotten no work done!

Here is a great tool to save time photo sharing by allowing you to upload photos to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, and Foursquare all at once!

This tool is called Instagr.am.

Instagram is an application for your iPhone or iPad that allows you to take photos, add filters to them, and share them with social media sites.  You can also network with your friends, see their photo streams, like photos, comment, etc.

Here are some uses for Instagram:

• First, it allows me to perform cool effects with my photos and add stylizations to them that make them look like old photos or black and white or whatever.
• Second it allows me to automatically post them to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, and Posterous.
• Third it allows me to network with my friends, I can update them that I just posted new photos. I can see their photos. I can see other people they follow to find new friends, etc. (Basically a social network based around photos.)

For me I’m not looking to join another social site. I’ve got enough.

I do however want to be able to share photos with multiple social sites.

Primarily I want to share photos easily with Twitter and Facebook.

When I’m out and about I want to post photos to both Twitter and Facebook. If I can use one tool to post to both I’ve saved several minutes of time.

Since I can add in other social media sites like Flickr or Tumblr, why not add them too!  Even though I’m not primarily using those services, I do have accounts there. Any social media tool that allows me to cross post to multiple social sites is allowing me to be more effective in my social media marketing!

Best of all Instagram is free.    There are some paid applications out there but the basic Instagram application is free to use!

Have you used Instagr.am yet?

What do you think?

Does saving time photo sharing mean anything to you?

- Ben Fitts

Are you following me yet?

MLM Training > twitter

Dear readers,

Today I wanted to share a real quick post with you.

Here are 3 Awesome Social Media tools you should be using!

1. HootSuite

HootSuite is a web based service that allows me to post status updates to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, My WordPress.com blog and more. I use one tool to simplify all my efforts.

I like the fact that it is easy to use and is web based. I have two computers I work from a desktop and a laptop so I prefer web based services.

I use HootSuite to not only post status messages but I use it to post links. They have a built in URL shortener and it can track clicks on links for you, see my previous post here.

I also like HootSuite because I can setup tabs to follow specific Twitter users, lists of Twitter people, or search for specific keywords or hashtags.  This makes it a lot easier for me to follow a lot of people on Twitter.

2. Fully Follow

I recently discovered this one. This is a very simple site.  Basically instead of giving people separate links to follow you on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter you can use one link instead.

I give people a link like this: http://www.fullyfollow.me/benfitts They can quickly and easily follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  You can also pick 2 of the 3 services if you don’t want to pick all 3.

3. CINCH

Cinch is a website/application that allows me to record voice messages and broadcast them to my Facebook or Twitter.

You can download the application and put it on your smartphone to record messages direct from your cell phone. Or you can dial a special phone number and record voicemail messages to be broadcast.

You can also add your Cinch messages to a web site by pasting in a code like this:

If you’d like to explore more awesome social media tools check out this post from the social media examiner which outlines 22 hot new social media tools.

- Ben Fitts

PS. I am affiliate for HootSuite but you can use HootSuite free!

MLM Training > twitter

Dear readers,

Are you on Twitter?

Do you want to know How to Get Retweets?

As business owners we dream of having other people help promote us.

If we could get more people to retweet our content it would be free exposure.

Here are 3 tips on how to get retweets:

1. Be Original

You need to create original content. Even if you are not a writer and simply want to link to someone else’s blog or promote their article you want to create your own introduction. Talk about why you think this blog post or article is good.  Then tweet your link to your content.

2. Be Interesting

Don’t be boring. Don’t be afraid to pick a side on an issue. If you want people to retweet you, you need to step up to the plate and take a side. You can’t be in the middle ground all the time.

Don’t be afraid to upset the people that disagree with you.  Your fans will love you for it. The people who think like you will come in droves.

3. Make It Easy to Retweet You.

DO NOT USE 140 characters to Tweet

I know we can use up to 140 characters but it makes it harder to retweet you. Why?

When someone retweets you the system adds: “RT @username: ”

RT 2 spaces an @ and a :  PLUS your username.  So you want to take how many characters are in your username and add 6.

My Twitter username is: benfitts There are 8 characters in my name. If I add the 6 extra characters for the retweet that means when someone retweets me 14 extra characters are added.

With this in mind I try to keep my tweets that I want retweeted to less than  126 characters.  That way when someone rewteets me and the system adds in the extra “RT @benfitts: ” they won’t have to shorten the message. They won’t have to think, they can just click the button and send.

It’s easy to get retweets if you follow these simple formulas.

Thanks for reading,
- Ben Fitts

Follow Ben on Twitter

MLM Training > twitter

Dear readers,

How can a simple Tweet led to a tidal wave?

A tidal wave of new users to your web site…

Recently myself and hundreds of other network marketers joined a Social Media game called Empire Avenue.

It all came about as a result of a simple tweet.

I think you’ll find this interesting for your own social media marketing.

Day 1:  A tweet about this new social media game  reaches Randy Gage. It must be from someone of influence to get him to even look at it.

Randy Gage is a well known network marketing leader and author. He joins Empire Avenue on Friday May 6, 2011. (EAv ticker: e(RGAGE))

(Edit: Randy says it wasn’t any one person who told him about the game but more of a group effort.  He clarrified with me via a tweet: “I just saw a lot of early adopters all talking about it”.)

Randy FIRST tweets about the game.

I’m an employee now? RT @mramos87: Shared via EmpireAvenue.com Randy Gage (e)RGAGE was promoted to Employee of the ‘Jedi Knights’ Index!

Now that was his first tweet about the game and it was a retweet… Apparently he didn’t announce it or anything until he retweeted this.

I saw this on Twitter on Friday and it stood out to me, because it says “I’m an employee now.” I knew Randy was a millionaire business owner and wanted to know why he was an employee now. At this point I Google “Empire Avenue” to see what it was.

***  I see the tweet, find it interesting. I look at the web site, see it is a game and ignore it. I am not interested in wasting time on a game. ***

Day 2: Saturday May 7th Art Jonak e(JONAK) joins Randy Gage in the game.

Just like Randy, Art doesn’t mention it on Twitter. However someone buys Art’s shares and mentions it so this tweet is made:

LJHSolution Invest in Art Jonak (@ArtJonak) on the world’s only social media exchange, Empire Avenue http://t.co/0X4Y0fJ

And subsquently Art’s first reply, also a retweet:

@LJHSolution Lene – hope U got 200 shares in @ArtJonak – ’cause my stock is low & is about to sky rocket! Jump in:http://t.co/0X4Y0fJ ▲

Day 3: Sunday May 8th Jim Gillhouse e(JimGillhouse) joins the game and recommends it to Diane Walker e(mlmblonde) Diane mentions it on Facebook.

*** At this point I’ve read several recommendations via Tweets or Facebook posts from people I follow and people I consider peers/mentors in business.

I know Diane Walker really well. I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with her for 7 years and have known her for almost 10. I know she doesn’t play games very often. ***

Day 4: Monday May 9th I finally join Empire Avenue.

As a result of these influencers joining, many more people have joined, including other big name influencers.

Eric Worre, Big Al, Ann Sieg, Joe Syverson, Todd Falcone to name a few of the network marketing leaders, gurus, and coaches that have joined since.  I’m sure many more have joined I don’t know personally or just haven’t realized are on!

This is how one Tweet can spark a tidal wave of activity.  If you get the right influencers involved.

One little tweet got a tidal wave started… and now everyone’s doing it

Now we’re involved and engaged in a new community of people over at Empire Avenue. We’re making new connections and who knows where those will lead.  I’ve met a few people already I plan to stay connected with and at least a couple that are candidates for my business.

One simple tweet; even just a retweet about someone purchasing some shares… and that led to a few more… and a few more… and a few more… Pretty soon hundreds (or thousands) of people could be on YOUR web site.

This is the beauty of social media marketing.

- Ben Fitts
e(BENFITTS)

MLM Training > twitter