You know where you want to take your business. And you also know that Social Media, when used correctly and efficiently, is one of the best ways to get there. But it’s possible that you – and your business – are missing is the #1 most important tool in your marketing and social media plan.

And that tool is COPYWRITING. (By the way, you don’t have to be a copywriter to write good copy. But you do have to write good copy to succeed in the social media realm.)

Which is why I have teamed up with Craig Cannings, a well-known Social Media Marketing Trainer and founder of the VAClassroom, to offer an online training program especially for you, an online business professional.

It is a live interactive, five-week training program where you will learn a specific and easy-to-follow system to launch and profit from your very own “Content Creation and Distribution Machine!”

The training begins on March 17th so you still have time to sign up at CopywritingKingdom.com. (But don’t wait too long, as the seats are selling fast and as I write this post there are only 29 remaining open).

Technorati Tags: copywriting social media, Craig Cannings, VAClassroom, copywriting is king, web content, Allison Nazarian

Session 2: MaryPat Kavanaugh, The Queen of Connections

• Social Media — each site has its own game, like a playground w/different rules
• Re-purpose same content into: Audio, video & transcript — appeals to all types of learners
• Share, share and share and it will come back to you
• Create good profile to attract good people
• When you are attracting the right people in social media/networking, you are repelling the wrong people
• If you’re not clear about what you’re doing/looking for, social media will be a distraction
• Your target JV partners are your Target Peers, not your Target Market
• Be very clear about the type of people you want to connect with
• Facebook = Your own internal search engine – you can connect w/anyone you want to connect with
• Facebook best place to start to build your business
• Blogs #1, YouTube close 2nd as social networking platforms per Google/Alexa
• KLT Factor: We do business with those we Know Like & Trust
• Social networking allows us to build relationships at warp speed
• Community: As humans, we want to feel part of something
• Social media: connections + information
• Web 2.0 is the conversational component of the Internet
• Win-win-win — for you, for me and for our collective audience
• Common denominator in success = relationships

Learn more about MaryPat Kavanaugh at here.

Don’t miss out on this amazing teleseminar.

It has just started and we still have 19 marketing experts (and possibly a couple of bonus sessions) to go.

Sign up now and listen live with full access to all 20 downloads and potential bonuses. It is being offered for the low-price of $97 and will only be available at this level until March 12th when the series comes to a close.

Once series ends and downloads released, the completed package of downloads will be much higher. So don’t delay, sign up here.

Session 1: Dave Evans, Author of Social Media Marketing An Hour A Day

• Amazing example of integration of social media into marketing is The Brooklyn Musuem
• Listening is for everyone, we can all be better listeners
• Make sure social media is OK in your industry — regulatory issues matter!
• When starting social media program, look @ biz objectives & audience. Sounds obvious, but many overlook this
• When starting social media program, determine if you can handle someone who doesn’t like you
• Look at all social media measurement platforms/techniques & find what makes sense for you
• Your gut as a marketer is hugely powerful
• Social media is “really really measurable”
• In terms of metrics, Social Media IS very measurable,
• Game changer for social media = Consideration Phase
• To start in social media: Just start by listening
• Social media is more realistic, viewing our attention as limited resource
• Tradional media = interruptions, Social media = conversation, Do they work together?
• Social media +marketing: mutually exclusive? No
• Better term: Social Media-based Marketing
• Is there a key to getting social media right? Yes: Disclosure & Transparency
• Coming out of the purchase funnel is an actual experience that drives a conversation

Learn more about Dave Evans at http://www.ReadThis.com

Don’t miss out on this amazing teleseminar.

It has just started and we still have 19 marketing experts (and possibly a couple of bonus sessions) to go.

Sign up now and listen live with full access to all 20 downloads and potential bonuses. It is being offered for the low-price of $97 and will only be available at this level until March 12th when the series comes to a close.

Once series ends and downloads released, the completed package of downloads will be much higher. So don’t delay, sign up here.

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Yvonne Perry of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services and wanted to share some of what we discussed.

What inspired or motivated you to write this new eBook to help authors with online book promotion?

I’m always looking for ways to re-purpose my writing and time spent in marketing research. If I write a media release, it will probably be refashioned into an article or whittled down into a blog post. Book Marketing in the Digital Age Online Promotion Made Easy is a compilation of the material I crammed into an hour-long lecture I gave at Nashville Writers Meetup Group when I presented to the group earlier this year, plus everything I presented in a three-hour intensive workshop at the Tennessee Writers Alliance 3rd Annual Conference; and it includes the most recent research I’ve done on SEO and social marketing.

What is the most effective book marketing tool on the Internet?

Had you asked me that one year ago, I would have said blogging, and while that is still somewhat true, I have to admit that social networking is the best tool for helping authors promote their books online.

Social networking includes interacting or socializing with a number of people in a public chat-like setting except there is no live chat room. It retains the flavor of an email going back and forth the dialog ending at any time but a message being delivered. I’m referring to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Ning, Yahoo groups, and such online places where people share friendship and information. Twitter only allows 140 characters per post, so writers have to learn to be concise. That’s a good exercise to practice when one needs to tighten their writing.

Yvonne launched an e-book that targets getting visitors to your site and other great tools to accelerate on-line book promotions. I have found it to be an invaluable tool and believe you will as well. You can purchase the e-book here. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: promoting an e-book, seo, seo copywriting, search engine marketing, e-book marketing, Yvonne Perry, Allison Nazarian, social network, social media

This was an excellent, concise article on Social Media that I think could not have come at a better time. Thank you to author Aaron Kahlow for permission to reprint it.

Attend any marketing conference today and you’re sure to hear lots of excited talk about social media. And for good reason–social media presents unprecedented opportunities to extend your brand’s reach, build customer loyalty and generate revenue–at minimal cost.

Unfortunately, when it comes to actually participating in social media, many marketers either rush in with no objective or strategy, or become stuck on the sidelines, fearful of losing control of their brands.

In reality, social media is a very forgiving marketing platform–if you play by the rules and have a considered strategy and reasonable expectations: realize there will be some “learning as you go” and that you’ll likely have to implement several iterations of any plan before enjoying significant results. And be sure to avoid these five “deadly sins” of social media:

BLOGGING FOR ITS OWN SAKE
Make sure you have enough to say to sustain a blog. Users expect a blog to provide value–insight, humor, information–and to be regularly updated. It’s extremely time-consuming. Putting up uninteresting posts just for the sake of updating your blog will greatly diminish the impact of those posts which do have value. If you’re not prepared from a resources or value proposition perspective–hold off.

THE WRONG VOICE
Consumers care about your products and how they impact their daily lives. Instead of using the CEO as the voice of your company, perhaps a more junior level employee in product development–someone with a passion for social media–will be better able to relate to, connect with and engage your customers.

FACEBOOK FATIGUE
I’m a huge proponent of Facebook and LinkedIn, but don’t be the company or the person who does anything and everything to get in front of people at every opportunity, whether it’s the group that sends out multiple messages each week or the person who updates his profile daily. Be sensible about updating your corporate and personal online environments–or people may tune you out.

THE RUSH TO BUILD
Instead of immediately building your own community, create a subgroup on an existing social network. Leverage the network’s infrastructure and traffic while learning what it takes to engage your audience and whether the community ads value–to you and your consumers. Then think about building your own.

JUMPING INTO THE POOL BEFORE LEARNING TO SWIM
Before embarking into social media, you must have some personal experience with these environments. Subscribe to some RSS feeds, read a few blogs of interest (and jump into the conversation) and participate in a social network or two. Until you understand the psychology, language and etiquette, you’ll never have the mindset required to successfully navigate these waters for your company and brand.

Aaron Kahlow is chairman of the Online Marketing Summit. He can be reached via e-mail at aaron@businessol.com.

Technorati Tags – social media, social networking, rss feeds, facebook, blog