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4 Podcasts Every Entrepreneur MUST Listen To

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The life of an entrepreneur is definitely not an easy one. Whether you’re leading a blossoming business or running a side hustle, there’s a huge learning curve to paving your own path. Thankfully, there are an abundance of tools available to help entrepreneurs find success (this site included ).

Business-oriented podcasts are one of the greatest resources out there. Their content can provide great insight into business news and entrepreneurial best practices, not to mention the fact that they’re super easy to consume on-the-go. Instead of perusing through the thousands of business podcasts out there, here’s a round-up of some of our favorites:

1. The GaryVee Audio Experience

By Gary Vaynerchuk

If you aren’t familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk and his unfiltered approach to business, you’re seriously missing out. Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, speaker, marketer, social media celebrity, and the list goes on. His podcast is an exact reflection of his many ventures. As a result, you’ll hear about everything from motivational life advice to personal branding how-tos. Vaynerchuk also regularly hosts Reddit AMAs through his podcast. So if you ever wondered about his thoughts on pretty much anything, there’s a chance to find out.

2. Renegade Thinkers Unite

By Drew Neisser

Every business needs a solid marketing strategy to get off the ground. Renegade Thinkers Unite will help you do just that. In each episode, Drew Neisser, CEO of social marketing agency Renegade (and publisher of this site!), interviews marketing innovators about the secret to their success. The conversations are both engaging and informative, with each talk wrapping up with a summary of insights for listeners to take away. Past guests have included seasoned marketing veterans from incredible companies like Spotify, IBM, and The New York Times.

3. HBR IdeaCast

By Harvard Business Review

If there’s anyone in the world qualified to give business advice, it must be the folks over at Harvard, right? Harvard Business Review has been the premier publication for business insights for almost a century. Unsurprisingly, the associated podcast is just as informative. You’ll hear from leading thinkers in business and management about what their own experiences have taught them and how you can apply these lessons to your business. Previous episodes have featured industry titans like Jeff Bezos and innovative thinkers like Maya Angelou.

4. The Side Hustle Show: Business Ideas for Part-Time Entrepreneurs

By Nick Loper

If a full-time gig is limiting your entrepreneurial spirit, this is the podcast for you. The Side Hustle Show explores the actionable tips and business strategies of successful entrepreneurs. Each episode covers a different facet of the part-time entrepreneurial experience, from coming up with a business idea to building marketing initiatives to efficiently budgeting time on a side hustle. Best of all, the advice offered is practical and can be applied to whatever step your part-time business is at.

The post 4 Podcasts Every Entrepreneur MUST Listen To appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

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June 28, 2017 at 09:29AM

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4 LinkedIn Mini Case Studies

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June 28, 2017 at 05:07AM

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Twitter has a new VP of inclusion and diversity

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June 27, 2017 at 03:52PM

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Twitter suspends The Fader's account and a handful of other music blogs

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June 27, 2017 at 02:57PM

Going Viral: 3 Strategies For Advanced Video Storytelling

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Digital video is no longer an advanced marketing technique in itself – anyone with a phone can make a video. No, as more sites feature video content, the goal of such videos needs to shift from basic communication to virality, or at least something like it. The more compelling the story and the higher quality the production, the better your odds of going viral, but you’ll need the right supporting tools.

Not sure how to shift your content from average to advanced? These 3 strategies can help you compete with mainstream commercial content on a digital budget.

Learn The Tools

Though you can make digital video content with just a phone or your webcam and post them online, for high quality content you’ll need to take things up a notch – otherwise, you’re just running an Instagram story. For example, a basic program like Adobe Spark can help make basic images look more polished and even YouTube offers video editing software, and anyone can access these for free. These tools are fine for upgrading your landing page, but they won’t take your content viral.

More advanced tools, like WeVideo’s subscription service, offer green screen technology, picture in picture, and more – and these tools will really make the difference in your content styling. At one time, only professional video producers had access to these tools. Now, with the democratization of video technology, you need to make use of them.

Study Storylines

Plenty of people make quality videos that don’t go viral while in other cases low production value clips explode; what makes the difference? Typically, the answer has to do with the storyline.

Storytelling is a craft and it takes time and effort to do it well. If you want to make a successful marketing video, one of the best things you can do is study storylines that have worked well and compare them to similar narratives that failed to take off. The differences are often subtle, so you have to pay attention to the nuances.

Consider, for example, these two “transformation” videos, one of which went viral and one of which garnered little attention. Both tell stories of disabled veterans regaining mobility.

The first video, featuring Arthur, succeeded using an emotional narrative and quick pacing; it reengaged the viewer every few seconds in the story being told. It’s a solution-oriented video, something that all viewers, even those in drastically different situations, find compelling. The second video, centered on Derek’s story, on the other hand, moves too slowly and focuses heavily on Derek’s past. It lacked many of the relatable touches of Arthur’s video, even though the production values were higher.

Consider this comparison a demonstration of a universal rule: storytelling skill determines virality. Without mastering the pacing, narrative, and emotional aspects that underpin a good story, your video won’t be successful.

Consider The Psychology

As you can see in the video comparison above, there’s a significant emotional factor at play in which video succeeds – the more relatable figure produces a higher impact video – but there are other psychological factors at play. For example, don’t try to go viral by dissing your competitors. Most people associate viral content with positive feelings, while hardly anyone ties negative emotions to popular posts. Other emotions that rank highly are surprise, admiration, and hope.

Another psychological factor that can play well into a successful viral campaign is a Hollywood-style narrative series. This creates a sense of continuity and investment that brings viewers back again and again. If you can gain traction with the first video using surprise and then offer a cliffhanger, you have a readymade audience that will just keep growing.

Viral Visions

Whatever the center of your marketing campaign, virality is contingent on factors ranging from production to emotions – and you don’t need all of them for a campaign to succeed. Ultimately, success starts at the core of your story. An honest, engaging story will take your content to the next level.

The post Going Viral: 3 Strategies For Advanced Video Storytelling appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

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June 27, 2017 at 09:40AM

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How to Easily Edit Video: A Simple Guide

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June 27, 2017 at 05:02AM

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Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter form Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism

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June 26, 2017 at 02:24PM

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Social Influencer Marketing: the Future of Business?

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Social influencer marketing is crucial to any business strategy. Without a strong network of connections, advertisers will inevitably fall short of reaching and understanding their target audiences. On the other hand, reaching out to social influencers can pay dividends for your brand. Just ask Jon Ferrara.

Jon is the founder and CEO of Nimble, the next generation CRM product for small businesses. Jon was able to build his brand primarily by reaching out to trusted advisors in his target audience’s sphere of influence. Focusing on creating relationships with social influencers as his main marketing strategy, Jon shows us that a little kindness—and interest—can go a long way.

You can listen to Jon’s story on the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast below, or read on for highlights of the episode.

Looking Beyond Customers

Jon made it big in marketing in 1989, when he co-founded GoldMine CRM, a breakthrough organization that helped companies better reach their audiences. At GoldMine, Jon pioneered the very idea of customer relationship management. Taking everything he learned from that experience, he founded Nimble to help companies everywhere improve their CRM strategies.

In order to truly connect with customers, Jon looks beyond his audience. “To access prospects and customers at scale, don’t think about marketing to them,” he says. “Think about identifying their trusted advisers, their influencers, and build relationships with those influencers and help those people succeed.”

Much of Jon’s marketing success stems from this strategy. When he first started Nimble, he went in with a bold belief: that customers would rather hear about a brand from people they trust than from the brand itself. Jon says, “I think it’s more powerful when other people talk about you than when you talk about you.” After earning the title of “Sales Intelligence Market Leader #1 in Customer Satisfaction” from G2 Crowd for the third straight year in 2016, it’s clear that Nimble knows how to build relationships.

Give a Little Bit

Jon’s story reveals how social media sharing can lay the foundation for forming valuable business ties. In order to reach influencers with Nimble’s message, Jon would share their own material on social media to get the ball rolling.

“And so in taking Nimble to scale, what I did is I started swimming in the social river and I found content that inspired and educated me about how to be better, smarter, faster at social sales or marketing,” Jon explains. “What this did is it attracted the audience of that influencer… but it also attracted that person. And so once that influencer who wrote that content reached out and thanked me, I then reeled them in and started a conversation.” Many of those conversations turned into friendships, which then opened doors to those influencers’ follower spheres.

Service Is the New Selling

As consumers become more aware and weary of targeted ads, marketers will need to change their approach to selling. As Jon’s journey suggests, customers don’t typically enjoy being advertised to, thus the road to more conversions may be found not by selling, but by serving.

“I think service is the new selling,” Jon states. “I think that if you give away enough knowledge that you will set yourself up as the trusted expert, and that [consumers] will hire you to do those things.”

The post Social Influencer Marketing: the Future of Business? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

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June 26, 2017 at 01:32PM

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16 Essentials to Creating a Trust-Boosting Twitter Profile

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I don’t need to tell you how big trust in business and marketing is.

Trust is everything.

You can pull every clever trick in the book, invest thousands of dollars in slick, sexy advertising and work tirelessly on conversion optimization tactics.

But at the end of the day, it’s trust that leads to sales.

That’s probably why word-of-mouth marketing is just as important as it’s ever been.

A new study from Ogilvy, Google and TNS found,

word of mouth is the most powerful factor when it comes to consumers’ relationships with brands.

According to that study, 74% of consumers cite word of mouth as being the most powerful factor.

And this totally makes sense.

I’ll trust the input of a friend or family member over some hotshot salesman any day of the week.

So, when it comes to your Twitter profile, trust-building should be given top priority.

You obviously want to grow your following.

But more importantly, you want your followers to trust you and take your opinion seriously.

Which elements should you focus on to build trust?

In this post, I share 16 essentials mandatory for creating a trust-boosting Twitter profile.

1. Use a branded background image

What’s the first thing Twitter users see when landing on your profile?

For most, it’s your background image.

Of course, it needs to look great and have the right pixel dimensions.

But it also needs to incorporate the same branding elements you use in your logo, on your website, other social accounts and so on.

Here’s a good example from Burt’s Bees:

Here’s another from Mashable:

Both incorporate a color scheme, style and message congruent with their overall brand.

This is important because it typically takes being exposed to your brand five to seven times before customers will buy.

2. Add an appropriate profile picture

Equally important is your profile picture.

Again, it needs to be appealing and be in line with the rest of your branding.

Here’s the image I use for my Neil Patel Twitter profile:

It’s simple yet professional, and visitors can instantly recognize me.

Here’s the profile picture for The Art of Manliness:

It’s matches the central theme of the Art of Manliness website.

3. Get verified

I’ve mentioned before that adding a trust seal to your checkout page can increase conversions.

Twitter has its own version of a trust seal, which is a blue check mark.

It looks like this:

Although it’s just a small, simple icon, it can pump up your trustworthiness considerably because Twitter users instantly know your account is authentic.

I know I always look for the blue verified badge when I’m searching for a celebrity or major brand.

To get verified, you’ll need to submit a request, which you can learn about here.

And here are some of the basic elements you must have in order to be approved:

4. Highlight your credentials (without being obnoxious about it)

Twitter allows you to include some brief biographical information on your profile.

This is the perfect place to explain your credentials and what you bring to the table.

Use this space wisely.

Here’s the info I include on my profile:

Here’s the info Chris Ducker includes:

Just don’t go overboard tooting your own horn to the point of being annoying.

5. Connect your website

Twitter also allows you to include a link to a website in your profile.

This is great for driving referral traffic and can also serve as a trust-booster.

6. Pin your best content to the top

Just like Facebook, Twitter gives you the option of pinning a top tweet to the top of your profile.

At the moment, I’m using this feature to promote my podcast.

See?

Pinning a top tweet is a simple way to maximize the visibility of a particular post and is great for increasing trust.

Pick what you feel is your absolute best tweet, and pin it to the top of your profile.

Ideally, it would have already received plenty of engagement (e.g., retweets, likes, etc.) because this will make you seem more legit to first-time visitors.

Keep in mind this is the first post they will see.

Pinning a top tweet is simple.

Click on the downward arrow on the top right-hand corner of your favorite tweet.

Then click “Pin to your profile page:”

That’s all there is to it.

7. Stay away from garbage content

This is a no brainer but definitely worth mentioning.

At the end of the day, you’re only as credible as the content you tweet.

If you post genuinely insightful, relevant content, people will trust you more.

If you post garbage content that’s worthless, spammy and overtly self-serving, it’s going to kill your trustworthiness.

That’s why I always try to make sure my content hits its mark and matches the interests of my audience, which fall under the umbrella of digital marketing.

8. Retweet credible sources

Retweets are a big part of Twitter’s appeal.

With just a couple of clicks (or taps) you can retweet interesting content and share it with your audience.

But here’s the thing.

People will assess your legitimacy based on the type of content you retweet.

If you’re retweeting epic content from a credible source, you’re good to go.

This is going to enhance your image and increase your followers’ sense of trust toward you.

But if it’s crap, it’s going to diminish that sense of trust.

In other words, don’t retweet posts from spammy, irrelevant sources.

9. Link to major sites

Again, the content you associate yourself with can help or hurt your brand.

Sprinkle in a few articles each week from major publications such as The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, etc.—whatever matches your industry or niche.

It needs to be relevant to your audience and cover a topic of genuine interest to them.

And here’s another thing.

It’s best to include the URL of the publication so that people can instantly recognize it.

Like this:

The idea here is you can inform/entertain your audience while benefiting from the trust people have in an established, trusted site.

10. Stick with a consistent theme

A big component of gaining trust is being seen as an expert or an authority on a particular subject.

To achieve this status, you have to be selective about the type of content you post.

For instance, you won’t catch me tweeting about interior design or cooking.

You’ll find me posting content strictly about digital marketing.

That’s my MO.

Be clear about what your niche is by sticking with a consistent theme.

11. Maintain a steady posting schedule

Of all the social networks, people tend to post the most frequently on Twitter.

According to a recent study from CoSchedule, “15 tweets per day is recommended.”

Don’t be afraid of going a little crazy with your tweets.

The most important thing is to be consistent and not have any major gaps between posts.

12. Pepper in some videos

I’m sure you know how huge video marketing is right now.

Brands that use video report more traffic, more leads and a higher ROI.

I also find video to be perfect for breaking down walls and making deeper connections.

Why not throw in a few videos on your Twitter page?

I’ve been doing this recently and am seeing some great results.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income does the same.

Just link content from your YouTube channel or website.

13. Don’t flood your tweets with hashtags

Hashtags are an effective way to increase the visibility of your tweets.

Their overuse, however, can backfire, especially on Twitter.

While it’s fine and even encouraged to use 10 or more hashtags on other networks, like Instagram, it’s considered best practice to use a maximum of three hashtags on Twitter.

However, two hashtags is ideal and is the number I typically aim for.

Recent research shows that

engagement drops significantly once any more than two hashtags are used, on average.

“Loading the box” with hashtags looks spammy and can be a trust killer.

14. Strive to hit the perfect ratio of followers

Let’s say someone has 100k followers.

That’s great.

But what if they’re following 500k people?

All of a sudden, they don’t seem as legit and trustworthy.

But let’s say someone who has 100k followers is following only 50k people.

You’re probably more likely to take them seriously because their number of followers outweighs the number of people they’re following.

It may seem like a popularity contest, but you should try to reach a favorable ratio of followers.

I would like to think I’ve got a nice ratio:

According to Kred Stories,

it is essential that you get at least 20% of the users you follow to follow you back before you move on to the next group of followers.

In other words, don’t follow a ridiculous number of accounts unless you’ve got a sizable following.

It just looks bad if you’re following thousands of people and you have only a handful of followers yourself.

15. Be a stickler for spelling and grammar

There’s evidence that indicates poor spelling and grammar costs businesses millions each year in sales.

Just like you should double-check your blog posts and emails, you should always look over your tweets before publishing anything.

Otherwise, blatant errors will make you look amateurish.

16. Reply to (valid) complaints

More and more businesses are using Twitter as a platform for handling customer service these days.

You’re likely to receive some complaints at some point along the way.

The worst thing you can do is ignore them.

Your followers will see them, and you’ll look bad.

The best approach is to respond as quickly as possible and try to resolve the situation.

Here’s a good example of Domino’s pulling this off perfectly:

Conclusion

Psychological studies have found that we have an innate desire to connect with others.

Researchers found,

based on perceptions of trust, people reported positive interactions with a ‘close friend’ to be more rewarding than interactions with a stranger or a machine.

They also found that two specific brain regions—the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex—were actively engaged when someone thought they were trusting a close friend.

Your goal on Twitter is to maximize your trustworthiness and create more positive interactions.

You want to bridge the gap and make people feel a sense of camaraderie with you.

The essentials I listed in this post should help you accomplish this in a variety of ways.

This should make first-time visitors more willing to follow you and help you strengthen your rapport with your existing followers.

How do you decide whether or not you trust a person or brand on Twitter?

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June 26, 2017 at 10:01AM

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Gender Differences in Customer Expectations on Social Media [Infographic]

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By now, we all know that customers expect quality service on social media. However, you might be surprised to learn that men and women approach their online complaints differently. A study by digital commerce agency Corra uncovered some interesting gender differences in customer service expectations. If your business’ target demographic is swayed towards a specific gender, knowing that group’s customer service behaviors can help you better tailor your approach. Check out the infographic below for the study’s findings:

Infographic by Corra. Republished with permission.

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June 26, 2017 at 09:42AM