INSIDER ADVICE ON BUILDING A SOLID BASE OF TWITTER INFLUENCE

I’ve got a special treat for today’s podcast episode! You will actually be listening in on my follow-up advice for the first Twitter Turbo Seminar participants. I taught all of my best insider secrets to exploding your influence on Twitter and ramp up sales by building new potential clients. My goal for the participants is to help them become Twitter “Mavens”, or experts, commanding the respect and admiration of those in the Twitter community.

In this personal follow-up advisement session, we discuss the importance of becoming a Twitter Contributor and how to balance relationship building with business brand building.  It is a delicate balance.  We discuss how a steady frequency of Tweeting can make or break your ability to succeed in your Twitter marketing efforts, and an easy way to keep steady quality content posted to the Twittosphere. An advanced tactic of balancing the friend/follow ratio is explained, and how you can use worthless robot followers/spammers to your advantage. Listen in and get the inside scoop, but keep it a secret!

Questions are welcomed and so are comments. Post them in the section below, and let’s get the conversation started!

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

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 Building A Strong Twitter Influence [10:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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BANDING TOGETHER IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES THROUGH INFO EXCHANGE

We are in the midst of tough times, and I am planning on an information sharing podcast that will help business owners to make smart choices and analyze the market the best they can to survive until we break through to economic growth. While I help many Missouri manufacturers, contractors, suppliers, producers, and other businesses with technical regulatory assistance, I am often asked how other businesses are surviving and what my assessment is of this economy.

Many of the business owners want to know if there are any indications of a turnaround, or if the market as a whole has at least “bottomed out”. I always make it a point to ask the facilities that I am helping to share with me how they are doing financially, and how their sector is as a whole. I have spoken with people from a wide variety of sectors who have key knowledge from their experience that could help others assess their situations and also help them make future decisions.

The sharing of information in this manner among business owners is not common. However, when asked, I have found that many business owners and industry leaders are very excited about sharing this kind of information to help each other. What I have learned is that a particular bit of insight into what is going on within one niche or sector may be very vital and useful to those involved in related markets or even in completely different sectors. That is what motivated me to put this information together in a form that can be shared by many.

When times get tough, people are much more willing to stand together as a whole to help each other survive. During high economic times, sharing valuable information and market insight is often discouraged in order to protect one’s “trade secrets” or competitive advantage. That’s why I am so surprised and touched by the willingness to share on the part of the business owners that I have spoken to. This episode of the CZ Marketing Report will foreshadow some of the interviews and information that I will have for you in the coming months, and I truly believe that any business owner, no matter what sector they are in, will stand to benefit tremendously.

Post your comments about this episode below, and stay tuned for developments on the coming interviews.

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

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GETTING BACK TO THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF TWITTER MARKETING

In today’s podcast episode, I’ve decided that I need to get back to the basics of Twitter marketing for business owners and sales professionals. The night I recorded this podcast, I received about 25 new follows on Twitter from various marketers and business owners. 25 out of 25 of these new business followers were absolutely failing the test of grabbing my attention and engaging me. I saw so many basic violations of fundamental Twitter marketing, I decided I needed to devote an entire podcast to the basics of Twitter business marketing.

In this 10-minute podcast, I give several examples of some of the things you do NOT want to do if you are a business trying to make an impression on the Twitter community. When you violate some of these fundamental marketing rules, you turn people off. It can be hard, if not impossible, to reverse the effects of a negative first impression. With that in mind, it is very important for you to take heed to the advice given in this podcast if you are new to Twitter marketing. I hope you find this helpful, and as always, if you have any questions or would like to comment on the topic, you are welcomed to share your input and opinion on the blog post below!

For my local friends in Jefferson City and Columbia, Missouri, don’t forget about my free audio CD offer for February, 2010. I’m giving way copies of my social media marketing seminar CD entitled “The Seven Secrets of Revolutionizing Your Business Through Social Media Marketing” just for the asking. Contact me via Twitter or just give me a call to request your copy, and I will personally deliver it to your place of business. If you’d like, I will even shoot a video interview and feature your business on my blog!

Excited about your success in marketing,

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

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 Standard Podcast [10:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AUDIO INSTRUCTIONAL CD OFFER!

For the rest of the month of February, 2010, I will be giving away a copy of my instructional audio CD entitled “The Seven Secrets of Revolutionizing Your Business Through Social Media” to any local Jefferson City, Columbia, or Central Missouri area businesses and sales professionals that ask! This audio instructional CD is valued at $29.95, and will help you charge up your marketing efforts using low to no-cost methods. You will not want to miss out on getting this information! The ideas, tips, and strategies presented are very simple to understand and even easier to implement. If you are a business owner, sales professional, organizational leader, or even elected official, this is something that you will have an immediate use for.

Here’s some of what you will learn in this 7-part program:

• the single most critical marketing factor that will cost you your business edge if you don’t pay attention to this marketing trend
• the undesirable result of not taking action if and when your competitors learn of these before you do, and what you must do to stay on top in your field
• how to hack down your advertising & marketing budget, and replace it with something that gets measurable results
• the low-cost and highly effective alternative to “grapeshot marketing”
• a new free service that the majority of households are now discovering and accessing while you continue to dump money into “Stonehenge Media” sources
• a new trend that most large businesses have not discovered that is becoming the most effective form of advertising and brand-building
• a new way to increase your exposure and add potential clients in rapid-fashion like never before

All you have to do to land this valuable information is to contact me via Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/carltonf) or by calling me at (573) 893-9498 and I will be glad to hand deliver a copy to your place of business. I will even post a picture on my blog and include your business name for added exposure! So don’t delay… once the special offer is over, I will have to charge the regular price to continue producing the CD’s. Contact me now, and I will look forward to seeing you at your place of business!

To your success,

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

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WILL THE RECESSION ELEVATE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN 2010?

“The Great Recession” has brought hard times to businesses in just about every sector, and has everyone re-thinking and re-prioritizing business expenses and operating strategies like never before. During economic “high times”, waste abounds. But during tough times, deep thought is put into every aspect of business. Couple this with the fact that we are seeing a trend where more and more people are moving away from television and traditional media, and we have a problem worth paying attention to. As a result, companies think twice before dumping the usual amount of cash into traditional media marketing and advertising.

Unless a certain traditional advertising method is tried and tested and producing positive results, it’s risky business to throw large amounts of cash at new untested marketing ideas. However, testing new concepts and ideas can now be done relatively free of cost through social media communities. And the good news? There’s a huge audience waiting on sites like Twitter and Facebook to participate in your marketing and advertising ideas.

High levels of participation can normally be achieved, and the success of testing the market in this manner is due to the insanely large percentage of people participating in social media communities. Just today, it has been reported that Facebook alone has registered 400 million users worldwide. This figure is up 50 million from the last estimate I read just one month ago. Another staggering statistic is the fact that 50% of the registered users check in on a daily basis. This creates an enormous opportunity for businesses.

The goal in advertising and marketing is to get your message and/or brand in front of as many people that you can, and to engage your audience accordingly. Common sense would tell you to take your message where the majority of the people are gathering and paying attention, which just happens to be Facebook and Twitter. Does it make sense to spend advertising dollars in a declining media market? Of course not. That’s why social media marketing is making more sense by the day.

That gets me to my main point. I see social media marketing becoming a cost control measure in the coming year as companies and agencies slash budgets vehemently to survive. Pulling money out of the declining traditional media outlets and doubling down on social media marketing is a complete common sense cost cutting strategy that we are already seeing, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it will become a strong trend in 2010.

Have you observed an increase in the use of social media for marketing purposes among small businesses, corporations and government agencies in your area? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

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