Remember when you held off from getting AOL because only 20% of your customers had access to the Information Super Highway and because it was a whopping $15 a month? Remember when you wanted to let the dust settle on this whole "internets" thing to see if it was just a fad?

Well, while you were holding off and watching dust, all your customers again took the course of least resistance and did business over email instead of picking up the phone and waiting on hold after being transfered 3 times. While you were waiting to see, all your clients fled to companies that went up to speed.

You might have thought major network news agencies like Reuters, ABC, NBC, WSJ, etc... would never let a college drop out replace them as the primary source of news for teens to 30's people. Well, that's exactly what the Zuck did. When's the last time you saw a 25 year old watch the news or pick up a paper? They rely on Facebook as their source of news.

Social Media is not going away. 

If you're not already all-in, you're way behind. But you're in great company. The greatest financial minds of our age made the same mistake. They all worked for the Wall Street Journal. What used to be as think as a community yellow pages book is now only as thick as that short stack of Starbucks napkins you have on your table.

If you're finally wondering if it's a good idea to move into Social Media, a Top Agency reveals Your 7 Steps to Profit from Facebook Twitter and Google+

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Continued from: Social Media Agencies Reveal: Why You're Already Behind the Curve If You Don't Have a Thriving Social Network Service Presence in Facebook Twitter Google+

OK. So we've already established that Social Media is the only media that matters any more. In 2 years, newspapers books and tv will be extinct.

If you don't believe me, you're in good company -- with Kodak.

Steve Jobs' last contribution to technology (epub3 format html5 and ipads) was to make sure that 'no more trees would be cut down and that no school children would have to carry heaving backpacks to school.'

Social Media is the only media that matters any more.

With over 10,000 Facebook likers and 10,000 Twitter Followers, you'll have build the the same reach power of a

-- 20,000,000 person email list

-- 700,000 opt In telemarketing list

-- 400,000 direct mail address list

You will have direct access to your customers. Your Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ messages go straight to their cell phones. This is why #4 below is crucial.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to reach your customers directly without an intermediary? Social media enables you to cut out the middle man and cut out advertising costs completely IF you build up a large enough reach.

So, for you believers, this is how you make social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ a profit center for your business:

1. Join

Craft Warm and Inviting Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Quora, Youtube and Niche Social Network Accounts.

You can't miss a single one. 

Remember back in High School when you'd show up to every party except to Jenny's parties? The next day everybody knew there was something weird going on between you an Jenny. Join every social network service that your very last customer uses. You can't miss a single one.

2. Blog

If nothing else, create a blog with your FAQs. It

A) TIME: Saves you time because you can just send your customers a link to a blog post instead of explaining it over the phone or email every time for 47 minutes and 23 seconds.

B) QUALITY: Blogging an official answer ensures that your customers get the most accurate and polished response to their needs

C) CREDIBILITY: Openly posting your thoughts and expertise generates credibility and trust. This is something that you'd normally have to spend years building. But it can be done instantly and open the door to an immediate greased-lightning sale. Actually, it does takes years. This blog for example is 2 years old.

3. Educate

Do not sell. 

This is not 3am Infomercial Amateur Hour. Your potential customers came to you for answers if you don't give them fast accurate answers, Google is closer than their remote control.

Educate to engender appreciation. People buy from people they appreciate.

4. Entertain

Do not sell.

People buy from people they like.

5. Network

Build Vertical and Horizontal Alliances: #16 and #17.

Build a syndicate the way Capone did. Build a syndate the way Network News Syndicates did. 

6. Submit

Submit your blog posts and Youtube videos to the top 100 bloggers in your industry. Do you have the cell phone numbers of the top 100 bloggers in YOUR industry?

This is how you get their direct contact information: Top Tech, Fashion, and Music Publicists and PR Public Relations Firms REVEAL

7. TBA

You'll just have to watch the video by The Top Social Media Agencies

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inspired by joannavargas.com (amazing integrity and heart goes into their products)

Right about now, most executives and business owners are not thinking of how to make Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or any other social media network service into a profit center. Most executives are wondering how to minimize their social networking cost. In fact, most executives are trying so hard to minimize their social networking costs that they haven't even started a Twitter account.

So if you're like most executives, the primary question in your mind is probably, "Should I dive into social networking? And how?" As a top social media agency in New York City and Los Angeles, we get these questions daily.

First things first.

Under Water Bullet Trains Exist!

If you fit into this category, you already missed the boat (but don't worry, underwater bullet trains exist).

Asking if you should integrate social networking and social media services like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc... is like asking if you should pay a designer to build you a website back in the day when the Yellow Pages charged you $1,500 a month on your phone bill.

"Naw, the internet is a fad."

"Besides, only about 20% of our customers have AOL"

Asking if you should integrate social networking and social media services like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc... is like asking if you should get a "corporate email" back in the day when everybody was just faxing everything from deli sandwich orders to photo copies of their butts.

"Naw, it's not secure."

"And only about 20% of your customers have email."

Asking if you should integrate social networking and social media services like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc... is like asking if you should get a "cellular mobile phone" when it was only 10 cents to make a call after you got a "page."

"Naw, nobody expects to be able to reach you immediately."

"Besides, only 20% of our customers need that kind of service."

Well, sadly, if you remember yourself saying any of the above, while your revenues were in the worst slump since Jimmy Carter, it's because, by the time you asked the question, you'd already missed the boat.

"Guys, do you think we're gunna be late for the boat?"

By the time you ask the question, you're already late.

The Top 20% Always Make Up 80% of Your Sales

This is because that 20% of your customer base, your market, your world makes up 80% of your business. You know the math. 20% of your customers always give you 80% of your profits. That 20% that got the first internet service; that got the first email account: mike@aol.com; that got the first cell phone; is your early adopter, they are your trend setter, they are your influencer. 

That top 20% is the popular kid in school.

By the time you ask the question, you're already late.

The most successful companies never asked, "how do we reduce our social media costs?"

The most successful companies asked, "how do we turn social media into a profit center."

Thinking of social media and social network services as a cost center is like thinking that your sales floor is a cost center. It's like thinking that sales calls are a cost center.

Social networks, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ is where people are. It's where they amass. Being where your customers are is never a cost center. In fact, you don't have to even try to turn social media into a profit center, it already is -- for your competitors.

They jumped in 3 years ago.

So then, going back to the original question of the day, "How Do You Turn Facebook Twitter and Google+ -- Social Media into a profit center for you?" CONTINUED: The 7 Steps to making Twitter Facebook Google+ a profit center for your business.

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I don't know why but building your own social network has always been a major pain in the ass. Your options ranged from Ning.com to umm... well... just getting a Facebook page. And looking for a Facebook clone software package or any social network software resulted in a dry desert. 

Not any more. Here's your list of Facebook and Myspace Social Network Clone Options. One even includes a little known pluggin to wordpress:

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I'm happy to announce our most popular blog post on the most innovative and effective Guerrilla Facebook Marketing Strategies has just been updated with a new Youtube video entitled the same: Facebook Marketing Strategies.

In the above new blog, you'll find the top 3 strategies that the smartest MBA students from Wharton or Harvard never think of using. Enjoy. And let us know if you need help! 310 598 1606

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I'm happy to announce that I've just released some of our most powerful internal web marketing industry trade secrets on Marketing with Facebook Pages. You'll find the first episode at : Guerrilla Facebook Marketing Strategies

All the best and let me know if you need help

Bob Wan Kim
310 598 1606 

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In spite of all of Nike's marketing and media power, Lebron James' powder throw failed to become a meme. A meme can only happen if there is zero resistance. Powder availability was the point of resistance that killed Nike's campaign.

In French, the word "MEME" means "SAME."

It's time we had a new one. It's time we had a new "meme."

Budweiser's Whazzup campaign was a major success. This is because everyone has a phone and can say "whazzup." There was zero resistance.

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The 37 Barriers to Your Success Online

We frequently get the question, "How do i get thousands of Youtube, Facebook, Twitter subscribers?" The only question we get more frequently is, "How do I get to page one of Google under __________."

Truth is, it's complex. Yes, you can do it. Many do. Your competitors did. But, it's in the best interest of these billion dollar companies to make it really hard on you. They hire the brightest mathematicians and computer science PhDs to make sure 99.999% of you can't break the code. Google officially has more PhDs than CalTec's compsci department.

That's said, that's not even the point. You don't really want thousands of followers, friends, subscribers, and stalkers. What you want are sales. 

If you throw enough money at generating sales, you'll make them happen. Eventually. The obvious trick is to make the raw marketing dollars you throw at the internet smaller than the number of dollars that end up in your bank through sales. This is a purely mathematical conversion rate issue. And there are a lot of moving parts where you have to tune that conversion rate. Think of it like the coefficient of friction. Less friction, the greater the return.

These are the 37 points of friction to your bank account...

1. Google: 1,346,000 Results Found

2. Twitter: 87% of your followers stopped using Twitter

3. Youtube: 93% of the viewers of your videos bounce away at the 3 second mark

4. Facebook: Maximum number of friends you can add per day is low

5. Google: Google favors content from certain urls over others. Do you know which?

6. Google: Google favors urls that are older over the newer ones

7. Twitter: the 13% of your followers who still use Twitter only read Tweets as far back as one hour. So if you tweeted at 5pm and your follower logs into Twitter at 6:01pm, he will not see your messaging.

8. Youtube: While youtube has the highest conversion rate to sales, youtube severely limits the number of contacts you can make in a day. SEE: How many youtube subscribers and friends can I make per day?

9. Blog: the average user scans your blog post for 0.8 seconds then decides whether or not to read your post.

10. Blog: your blog, if it's like the average, has a 97% bounce rate.

11. Blog: of the 3% who read your blog, 82% only read the first sentence. 

12. Blog: for one person to read your entire blog post, on average, you need to push 740 people to your blog.

MORE: To be Continued in the Next Web Next Web Marketing Secrets Revealed: 

a) the rest of the 37 points of resistance.

b) how to kill the resistance.

How Do You Know It's Possible to Beat Your Competition and the PhDs at Google, Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook:

So obviously, with all those points of resistance, you have an impossibly steep hill to climb if you want to get to a plateau where you can cruise along making profit. How did the successful companies do it? How do you know it can be done at all? How do you know you can beat the resistance put in place by the PhDs at Google, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and your competition? Here a bit of proof: 

100,000 Blog Views
We get about 100,000 views per blog post in about 2 months. See: hackedu

25,000 Youtube Subscribers
We build Youtube channels with over 25,000 subscribers in 6 months. See: Eastern philosophy channel

5,700 Facebook friends + Likes
We got over 700 Facebook likes in 3 weeks. See: facebook page

SEO Google Page One
We got to page one Google under iphone app developer, top publicist, in 2 weeks 

10,000 Twitter Followers
We got over 10,000 Twitter followers in 3 months. See: web startup investor

If you want this kind of web marketing power, Call 310 598 1606 or contact us at http://sparkah.com/marketing.php

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A few days back, I wrote a simple but business data crucial comparison between Twitter vs Facebook vs Google vs StumbleUpon. For some, it was revealing. For others, it was revelational. And yet, for most, it was Swahili. So, now, in technicolor, here are the 5 slides that explain the two blog posts above. Enjoy and make sure you let your TV Dinner stand before eating!  

1._Twitter_VS_Facebook_VS_Google.pdf Download this file

2._Twitter_VS_Facebook_VS_Google.pdf Download this file

3._Twitter_VS_Facebook_VS_Google.pdf Download this file

Why I Never Use Facebook Ads 

4._Twitter_VS_Facebook_VS_Google.pdf Download this file

5._Twitter_VS_Facebook_VS_Google.pdf Download this file

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I love echos. There's a certain feeding 5,000 men with one loaf of bread kinna quality to them. Say it once and your words just get rippled across space and time -- literally. 

I remember one echo. After a greuling 15 hour drive, a life threatening flash flood danger narrows wading, and a 6 hour Matterhornian climb to the top, I collapsed next to several small memorial monuments. One was about a boy who had fallen to his death. Another was about a woman who would forever be missed. One even had fresh flowers around it. I had finally reached the top of Angel's Landing in Zion UTAH.

If you crawled on your belly to peek over the cold hearted edge and you squinted, you could see eagles flying beneath you.

I sang a song. It was Running to Stand Still. And it echoed.

And echoed.

And echoed.

And echoe

And ech

And e

A... 

Well, it wasn't always like that in traditional media. You had to run the same ad spot or display ad every 10 minutes or every issue for anyone to hear you. You had to generate your own echoes. Then, came remote controls. They ruined advertising. You no longer had to sit there and watch a commercial about fungal infections. This was a big deal in marketing ROI. It's that echo that costs so much to generate.

Social media not only lets the little guy have access to an audience, it gives the little guy the same access to that cavernous and precipiceous far above the treeline topography where everything you say can go and go.

Facebook vs Twitter vs Google vs StumbleUpon Comparison 

So we've compared social media to conventional media. Now lets compare the various media within social media. There's Facebook, Twitter, Google (not social), and Stumbleupon. Each has their unique superpower. If you put them together, by the power of Greyskull, you've got Voltron.

It's true.

To consumate any deal, make any sale, you need two things. 

1) Credibility

2) Rapport

If you're the foremost expert on shammies but I can't stand you, I'm not going to buy from you. Conversely, if you're my brother but you can't hold down a job, I'm not going to invest in your new startup. You need both.

Facebook
Facebook gives you rapport.

If you post a message on your wall, have you ever noticed that when you first login to Facebook, you get dropped onto the "Home" page? You do realize there are two main pages. If you post a message on your wall, it'll get posted into a stream of status updates on every single one of your "friend's" home pages. 

A message in facebook has about a 24 hour shelf-life. But since you have a lot of rapport, your CTR or click through rate will be fairly high if your post is relevant to your friends' interests. I've seen as high at 23% CTR!

EDITED: I just got an email from a client saying that everyone else he's talked to makes Facebook ads a mission crittical component of their strategy. I don't recommend spending a penny on Facebook ads. ZERO. If you're interested in why, message me privately at http://facebook.com/bob.wan.kim

Twitter
Twitter gives you credibility. In twitter, the average user has about 250 followers. I know. You've heard different figures. They are wrong. I am right. Here's why:

So while 70% of your 130 Facebook friends are still using Facebook and a post has a whole 24 hours before it gets lost, in Twitter, only 19% of your 250 followers are still using Twitter and you've only got one hour before your tweet disappears into a plushly shag carpeted abyss (keeping the echo annology alive). Oh, and don't forget about the timing of your tweets. 300% more of your followers are online on Twitter after lunch than during. So if you tweet at noon, to your 250 followers, of the 48 people who still use Twitter, only about 1% of them will even see your tweet. 

Yes. That's plush, high pile carpet on the wall and ceiling.

Finally, if you have a large follower count, people visiting your Twitter profile http://twitter.com/journik will think you're some kinna celebrity. So Twitter gives you credibility. But unlike Facebook, people find you on Twitter based on #FF and keyword searches. They don't know you from Adam.

NEXT: Let's add in Google and StumbleUpon. To be alerted when Google and Stumbleupon are added into the equation, just friend me at http://facebook.com/bob.wan.kim

PS... this is NOT saying that Twitter is useless. Twitter is much more powerful than Facebook in 3 respects. The readers who've become a marketing client of http://sparkah.com know exactly what those 3 things are... 

PPS. an hour and a half after I sang that song on Angel's landing, some dude from Laguna Beach walked up to me panting. He said, "Don't sing. You're noise polluting!"

staff notes: metrics
rapport vs credibility
actual readership
visibility attrition time
peak visibility hours 

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Can we all agree that we all hate infomercials? They are obviously and overtly all about getting you to spend money. There's really no real value to take away. They don't develop any real long term relationship with your market. They don't put your products in the greatest light. But what they do do is make money.

Video Makes Money.

Even mega online retailers like Zappos need and love the power of video. Their fastest growing department is not customer service--which they are reknown for. Their fastest growing department is their video department. When Zappos uses Youtube, their sales increase from 6-30 percent.

The reason for this is obvious yet troublesome. If the number one most effective selling medium is a handshake in person, the second most is Youtube. Of the five senses you can use to communicate your domain expertise, credibility, responsibility, and build rapport--all of which are required for a consumation--only video uses both audio and visual. Blogs don't. Podcasts (radio) don't.

The troublesome part is that you've got to stand in front of a camera.

If you can do that, and 

1) Educate about why your market needs your product

2) Entertain to keep them watching and develop an emotional rapport with you

3) Demonstrate your expertise which builds consumer confidence

4) Demonstrate your responsibility by relating a customer service nightmare that became a fairy-tale

5) Overcome all barriers to the sale including justifying the cost

and do all this with no editing cuts, your conversion rates will skyrocket. 

Strategically, there are three places you want to make video contact with your potential buyer. In the old country, It would be you in the flesh out in town square, it would be you out in front of your shop, and it would be you at the cash register. These are the three points of greatest leverage on your market. If you lock down these three points of contact, you've created a golden egg laying goose hatchery assembly line. How this translates into cyberspace is:

1) Town Square
a) Google
b) Blogs
c) Discussion Forums
d) Facebook
e) Twitter
f) Email
g) Youtube
Compare pros and cons of Google vs Adsense vs Facebook vs Twitter vs Blogging

2) Store Front
a) Home Page of Your Site
b) Main Product Category Pages
c) Educational Pages (this is a big topic. Subscribe to http://journik.posterous.com/rss to get it) 

3) Cash Register
a) Under Every Single Buy Now Button
b) Under the Check-Out Button
Because that's when they see their astronomical grand total. You'd be amazed. Prospective clients tell us that they just don't get it. They say, "out of 100,000 visitors, 800 will add stuff to the cart but only 90 will buy. Why don't the other 710 people who want our products actually buy them?"

If you were that old country shop keep, you'd know why your customer left all those bails of hay and pails of milk on your counter without paying for them. And you'd have some golden tongue way to assure them that their purchase is a wise investment.

Think about it. If you could just move that number of people who added products to the shopping cart but didn't "check-out" from 710 to 610 you'd more than double your sales.

Use video. Use Youtube. Put videos out on the web, your home page and definitely absolutely right under that "Pay Now" Button.

Part Two: New Social Media Marketing Rooted in Old School Strategy: Google vs Google Adwords vs Facebook vs Twitter vs Blogging vs Discussion Forums vs Banner Ads 

Finally, the Youtube Trend Watch and Forecast
When there were only 2 major Network TV stations back in the 50's everyone who showed up on TV was a larger than life star. Then, when cable TV made regional programming on channel 716 possible, the exclusivity dropped and so did the influence of TV as a medium.

When Youtube first made in infinite number of "Youtube Channels" available, you could launch a video channel and have all the clout of a cable TV star. You really could. Then, FlipVideo and Software like Apple iMovie made video so easy, anyone could produce it. The cache of video greatly erroded.

Now, with Apple Facetime and Android Video Chatting, you and your customers will be so accustomed to seeing joe blow on a flat screen that soon, even Youtube videos will have lost all of it's platform intrinsic cache. Basically, what that means is, "put yourself online on Youtube, now." 

Oh, PS... If instead of video, you stick to blogging, SEO, and other written content instead, it's kinda like posting up a flyer in townsquare, store front, and behind the cash register instead of standing there in the flesh.

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Back in the old country (not geographically--two decades ago in the 90's), there was one brand of mobile phone, there were two brands of jeans, vaccines were definitely good for you, and you could do advertising or you could do marketing. Life was simple. 

If you were going to do some advertising for you business, you'd consider magazines, tv, newspapers, or the yellow pages. On the outside chance you were big enough, you'd sprinkle in there some billboard ads. 

If you were going to do some marketing, you hire a PR person to get you writeups in those same magazines and papers you are considering advertising in. You'd go to some entrepreneurs' round table, you'd go to trade shows, and you'd mingle. This was marketing.

Today, prospective clients ask my team for marketing help. And frankly, I'm not really sure what that means. 

If you ask us for marketing help and then tell us that you want to market via Twitter and Facebook, which are social environments but then tell us that you have nobody on staff who can write and be a full time web customer service rep, that's like saying, I want to go to a big industry trade show for networking and I have nobody to send (yes, can can hire out but it's much more cost effective to do it inhouse).

So here are the pros and cons; strengths and weaknesses of each medium of communication and each of their requirements for successful implementation. Special thanks to Orange County's Top Solar Panel Installer for inspiring this post!

Part Two: The Pros and Cons: Google SEO vs Google Adsense vs Twitter vs Facebook vs Blogging vs Forums vs Banner Ads

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Recently, I've been getting a lot of RFPs from prospective clients who heavily spend on Google adwords. I'm here to stop that. 

Sure, there are many benefits and well, that's about it. Here they are:

The Pros For Paying Google Adwords
1. Immediacy
You start driving traffic immediately to your site. This is a major bonus when you've worked with 17 flaky designers who've all left your site in various states of chaos and disrepair of the last 8 months that were only supposed to be 1.

2. You get to Peek Into the Global Search Demand for Your Key Word Term
In other words, when you sign up for Google adwords, there's a keyword generator tool. It tells you how much traffic (RELATIVELY) there is demanding your term. So if you pay top dollar, you'll get valuable data about how much traffic your top competitor is getting.

3. You Get to See How Much Your Customer's Click Is Worth to Your Competitors
Just by being at the top of the sponsored ads, you'll immediately learn how much one click from a potential customer is worth to your competition. Some pay about $1.50 per click. Others, like "cosmetic surgeon beverly hills" can pay $175. per click. 

Why You Should Stop Your Google Adwords Campaign
1. You've Had Time to Build Your Organic Traffic River 
Imagine if you could open a store in the Wilshire District of LA (all offices and no retail) and gradually inch it over onto Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills in 2 weeks. Well, you can. At least online you can. Work on your social media Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Forums, Communities, Blogosphere, Quora, Reddit, Digg, PR, and Organic Google positioning hard and intensively. You'll be able to generate fifty fold more traffic than Adwords and at a fraction of the cost.

Think about it, when's the last time you even clicked on a sponsored ad?

There's a whole lot more traffic and customers out there that Adwords can't even touch. Adwords only touches about 1/500 of them.

2. The #1 Google Organic Search Spot Gets About 20 Times More Traffic Than the Top Adwords Ad
Take my word for it.

And, you don't have to pay per click. Pay Per Click, PPC, is just a horrible business proposition. Whether you make any money or not, you're on the hook to pay Google. This means that they have absolutely zero risk. You have 100% of the risk. Why don't you just buy a 30 second ad spot from your local cable TV provider!

3. Rapport
A dollar is NOT a dollar is NOT a dollar. A dollar earned through an incidental adwords ad is worth about one dollar. A dollar earned through the recommendation of an influential blogger or a Twitter account that your can converse through will yield high value dollars--recurring customers.

This is a simple equation. If you searched for a product and bought it via Google Adwords, how many times will you repeat that behavior? If you saw a product mentioned through an influential blog or Twitter, how many times will you see that blogger or Tweeter? This is a recurring relationship that tends to yield recurring revenues.

The Worst Part
Worst of all, do the math: Do you know how many clicks you need from Adwords to generate one sale? Scientifically, you'll have to generate about 100 sales to build numbers you can bank on. 

However, to generate just one sale, if you've done any Adwords advertising, you know that you'll need to generate about 800 unique views to convert into a sale. If you're at a common $2.50 per click (aka unique view) you're at a whopping $2,000 to generate one sale. Let me run that by you again. To sell a $40 item, you've got to spend $2,000. Which is fine if your $40 item is a sale that recurs daily. But it won't be. See #3 Again. 

So how do you drive traffic with high recurring revenue potential to your site? How do you do it at a fraction of the cost? Those answers are two clicks away. The first click, please fill in http://sparkah.com/marketing.php 

Thanks! And I'm looking forward to hearing about your goals! - Bob Wan Kim http://twitter.com/journik

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Global market research firm JWT recently released their annual oracle from upon high. Industry leaders, CEOs, venture capitalists, and marketing gurus all look to this list for a foregleam from tomorrow. And everyone from Twitter Investor Fred Wilson to Economist Paul Kedrosky and from Global Blog TechCrunch to Mashable wrote about it.

Number 33 pointed to Facebook competitors being the emerging trend in 2011. 

Facebook just got a $50Billion valuation and half a billion dollars cash from Goldman Sachs. As Facebook becomes a monolithic empire the way Microsoft did, the cries of "EVIL, EVIL!" intensify. Beginning with serious privacy issues last year and spanning out to the the film, "Social Network," the tide of personal affection for the networking giant is turning.

Popular sentiment for Facebook and Mark are turning to such an extent that Mark felt the need to tell his side of the story on Oprah. His ticket price: a $100Million Dollar donation to Newark NJ Schools. To further insulate against the anti-Facebook sentiment, Mark lives in an average middle class home in Palo Alto. Fittingly, just before his half billion dollar funding from Goldman Sachs, Mark also pledged most all of his wealth to charity along side Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

The tide is turning. Thanks to Microsoft reaching their terminal growth point, niche OSs blossomed (Android, Linux, Symbian, iOS from Apple, Mac, Chrome from Google, etc). Thanks to Nike for reaching their terminal growth point, niche tennis shoes blossomed (Reebok, Adidas, BrittishKnights, NewBalance, Vans, DC Shoes, etc.). Thanks to Ford Motor Company reaching their terminal growth point, niche automobiles blossomed.

The future and what it holds for you is as clear as history. When a quantum leap jump in technology shows humans the next level of what's possible, everyone jumps on board as if by rapture. Then, specialization splinters that bulb while it's still green. This is even true in religion. 

But the fragmentation isn't coerced. The fragmentation that happens to a monolith is written into the DNA of that monolith in the same way petals are written into a rose bud. It is organic. It has to be. 

Fragmentation is as organic as it is inevitable. When I built http://Rawksoup.com , I didn't do it because I wanted to compete with Facebook. I didn't do it to build a big company. I did it because I personally needed it. I personally needed a place where I could go and ask questions about philosophy, personal struggles, and academic questions. I needed a place where I could blog my personal epiphanies without feeling different. I needed a place where I could be myself and be considered "normal."

I was never considered "normal" in school. And Facebook is filled with all the guys I knew from school.

I wasn't about to schlep the feelings of outcastedness from my teen years into my adulthood for my unique interests or way of looking at the universe. So I built http://Rawksoup.com . Now, I'm competing against Facebook. Actually, 173 Teen Geniuses Are.

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People are just not randomly going to subscribe to you because you've got a "like" page. When's the last time you randomly gave a dollar to a bum on the street who didn't ask for it? You've got to ask for the "like." You've got to present the value proposition and ask repeatedly. If one value proposition doesn't do it. Try another one. Like we did here: http://sparkah.com/2010/12/01/marketing-and-branding-strategies-sparkahs-unabridged-dictionary-of-tactics/

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This is an excerpt of an email I just sent to a well known race car driver. He is working on developing more sponsors and building a larger fan base outside his already big network. This is what I recommended when he told me that he already had a Facebook "fan" page.

As far as collecting contact with potential sponsors, we're going to need far more "FAN" pages than just one. We will need fan pages that capture as many potential sponsors as possible. 

For example, to connect with an independent auto parts store or mechanic shop owner who doesn't know you but does know "1972 440 Dodge Challenger Hemi," you're going to need a fan page just for that.

Then like a venn diagram, you've captured a contact with someone you want but would otherwise have been lost.

But at this point, to put up a new website that drives potential sponsors to you, all we need is the wording. If you don't already have it all, we can help you develop it. Let me know.

IF that doesn't make much sense to you, basically, ask yourself, "will people click 'Like' on a page with my name on it? Would even more people click 'Like' on a page with my much bigger global competitor's name on it?" Then proceed accordingly. After all, you are the admin of the page.

HP did it to #Apple:

Let's build your user base and client base rapidly. See http://sparkah.com/marketing.php

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Nobody will tear out your ad, take it home, unfold it from their pocket, turn on the computer, and type in WWW.BLANKer.com

Ironic. Frustration and heavy drinking doesn't happen when your efforts fail. Frustration and 3 Martiinis strike when you run out of ideas.

The following list is a collection of the most effective and ingenious marketing/pr methods used by the most successful people on earth.

Branding
No. Branding has nothing to do with marketing but without it, your marketing is worthless. So let's get the basics checked off. And never under estimate the value of branding. Major Fortune 500s get this wrong.

Quick. What do you do?

If you can't instantly remember what you do, how is anyone else going to remember you for what you do? Let's say you do know what you do. What is it? Go on, say it out loud or in your mind. Makes no difference. Now, when someone else thinks of that word, do they think of you?

What do you think of when you hear "luxury car?"

Now, think of all the other luxury cars that didn't come to mind. That is a branding problem--not a marketing problem. This time, think of a body wash. I personally think of Dove. I never buy Dove. But that's what I think of. So if my (imaginary) wife tells me to get body wash, guess which one I'll pick up. Nope. In spite of the extraordinary success of another brand, you will not pick up the Red bottle. This is why: How Weiden+Kennedy Screwed Up Marketing and Branding

So, these are the most underused and overlooked opportunities for branding you in the minds of your market:

1. Business Card
Does your card say what you do? Specifically? Are you Dr. Williams or are you Dr. Williams, Pediatrician? Are you Acme Windows or are you Acme Winterproof Windows? Are you Stella's Bakery or are you Stella's Cupcakes? 

Brand yourself in a niche that's narrow enough for you to dominate. Then, broaden your branding.

2. Signage
Nobody is going to give you business because of your pretty logo. People are going to give you business because of what it says you do underneath.

3. Packaging
Say the exact same thing from #1 and #2 on all your packaging. Judging by my bachelor friends' homes, you'll be branding their kitchen counter tops, night stand, and living room floor with your packaging for days at a time. You can't ask for better product placement.

PR: Keep pulling media stunts like selling abused super models in "women to go."

4. Collateral 
Again, say the same thing you did in all your letterhead, envelopes, brochures, and any other hand outs.

5. Email signature
This is probably going to be read more than all of the above combined. Again, what is it that you do? Is it something that people commonly ask friends, "Joe, do you know any good BLANKers?"

6. Checks
Yes. Checks. People are happy and receptive when they get your checks. Use the opportunity to ride the good will wave and brand yourself into the psyche of your payee. Say what you do on your checks. They will stare at it all the way to the bank.

People are happy and receptive when they get your checks. Use the opportunity to ride the good will wave and brand yourself into the psyche of your payee

7. Invoices
Yep. Even if everyone hates invoices, that jolt of adrenalin they get when they see your bill will make their brand their long term subconscious with what you do. They will tell their friends about how much this BLANKer charged them. Then the friend will forever remember you as the BLANKer. 

8. Voice Mail Greetings
This is crucial. It's just as cheap to use as an email signature. And it affords you another sensory modality to reinforce your brand in the mind of your victim, ummm, prospect.

9. Call Salutation
Make sure you say, Thank you for calling (insert company name), the world's greatest BLANKer." Continued: Branding

Marketing
OK, let's get to the main course. If you, like most companies are only marketing yourself through two or three mediums, you've leaving a lot of money on the table. No. That's just not telling the story. What you're really doing is leaving a drop dead gorgeous human being naked in bed with just a hand shake.

If you're paying for advertising, stop. It's the most expensive way to market. Here are all of them:

1. Adwords
Adwords build little no brand awareness or value on impression. Most of the clicks you get will be accidental. When was the last time you clicked on a Google adwords ad intentionally?

2. Print ads
Don't. The only exception to this rule is if you can lower the bar of conversion from sale to a Facebook "Like" or an IPhone browse. Nobody will tear out your ad, take it home, unfold it from their pocket, turn on the computer, and type in WWW.BLANKer.com. What they might do is, given enough incentive, use their android or iphone to surf to your site. Once there, you've got to make it so easy to connect that you'll sit there a week later wondering why nobody has connected.

You'd also be amazed how broke poor bloggers and reporters are

3. PR
This, I like. But once you're in the news, you've got to stay in the news. Keep pulling media stunts like selling abused super models in "women to go." Rawk the boat.

4. Blog
People read insightful posts that either entertain, educate, save time, ummm... here's how to build a blog that will drive you business 

5. Close each blog post with a call to action
Strike while the iron is hot. The moment you've got a reader impressed with you, the moment their blood pressure jumps and their imagination soars, use that momentum and get them to take action that will build your relationship. To chat with me about your own marketing push, answer these probing diagnostic questions at http://sparkah.com/marketing.php before moving to #6.

6. See #5

7. Send out promotional crap
Make it useful--like a stress ball that doesn't bounce or a lanyard (perfect for the executive's latch-key kid).

There are hundreds if not thousands of emails and names. That's a lot

8. Twitter bio
Does your Twitter bio have a call to action? People routinely go to the super market and forget why they got there. Remind them to click the follow button. If you are on twitter, follow me at http://twitter.com/sparkah before moving to #9.

9. See #5 then #8

10. Take a blogger or reporter out to lunch
You'd be amazed how much press and Google love you can get for just $8 and another $27 bucks in margaritas. You'd also be amazed how broke poor bloggers and reporters are. You'll get big street cred for under $35.

11. Start a competing blog
No, but seriously, rather then promote blogger obesity and substance addiction, pay college kids $20 a blog post that captures the attention of readers in your market demographic. @Problogger pays $25 for pros to, well, blog.

This is a little tricky. If you're a caterer, don't blog about catering. Nobody cares. Don't blog about recipes. You'll empower your competition--the house wife/husband/partner (not necessarily in that order). Instead, blog about a topic that will intersect like a giant inverse venn diagram and blog about hipster parties. Blog about local weddings. DJs will read it and refer you. Photographers will read it and refer you. Party planners will read it and hire you. Jealous socialites will throw parties and hire you just to be featured in your blog.

If you sell premium natural wigs, how many more people would you influence if you had a fun blog about the hottest costume parties around the world. How many new friends and potential customers would you touch if you had a blog about senior citizens' health and the elderly? I don't know. What if you had a blog about spy gear?

12. Support charities
Find a charity that can help you help them. Support them and let the relationships you build support you to support them even more.

13. Become an activist
 Pick a cause. You'll make friends and customers you wouldn't have access to in any other way.

Instead, get partner maternity boutique owners in San Diego, San Francisco, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Miami, etc to share the marketing work

14. Forums
Post in relevant discussion forums asking for help. Don't spam. Don't astro turf. It's actually FTC illegal. Just humbly ask for suggestions and options about your product and leave a link. Rapidly, your Google traffic will spike. And you'll walk away with valuable public sentiment.

15. Build a forum
A forum saves your sales, support, and executive team gobs of time. Most people will google before looking for your customer service number at 9pm at night. An extra bonus is that you can use your own forum for google link building and advertising your own products. Win-win. If you need a forum built, talk to us at http://sparkah.com/websites.php

16. Vertical (regional) partnerships
If you own a maternity boutique in LA, why market to the billions around world when you only have access to about 100,000 prospects. Keep marketing to the world. Instead, get partner maternity boutique owners in San Diego, San Francisco, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Miami, etc to share the marketing work and stop leaving money on the table (or that gorgeous being in bed).

17. Horizontal partnerships
(Get your mind out of the gutter). If you sell salt, and are pouring money into marketing salt, get yourself a partner who sells pepper. You'll cut your marketing costs and labor in half while bumping your profits substantially. Here's how to find and contact Twitter users by industry, job description and location.

Again, if you sell wigs, why not swap ads with DJs and Party Planners? What if you swapped ads with young jewelery and accessory designers? What about personal stylists to the wealthy like @closetofstyle?  

18. Youtube
Instead of just posting customer support answers in your forum, up the stakes and use youtube. Here's why you should really use Youtube for Customer Support. 

19. Retail partners
This is probably the most frightening for you web types. But it's a gold mine. Let's say you are a travel agency. Let's say you are a travel blogger. Or let's just say you sell those 2oz travel size thingies. When's the last time you thumbed through a guest book at a quaint B and B? There are hundreds if not thousands of emails and names. That's a lot. Now, Imagine you got a B and B from every major city on earth to get you their guest book in exchange for sending them guests.

Let's say you're a Dentist. How many Facebook "Likes" would you get if you left a small netbook in every candy shop in town? All the kids would check facebook while dripping purple everlasting gob stopper saliva into the keyboard.

I don't know. What do you do? Let's figure out how to build your direct relationship with the big wide world. Call us at 310 598 1606 or just email us via http://sparkah.com/marketing.php

Let's get you into high orbit. We carry rocket fuel.

BONUS: PS... When you contact us... ask for the last and trickiest one, #20. We're working on it now. 

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via http://mathiasmikkelsen.com/2010/10/amazing-facts-about-facebook-and-breakups/

So Really, How Many of Our Choices Are Voluntary and How Many of Our Decisions Are Boilerplate Reactions to Social Conditioning? ANSWER: http://rawksoup.com/patterns.html

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IPhone App Developer: "You Are Marketing to Idiots. Proceed With Caution."

The public is long-term stupid; short term sage. Beta was much better than VHS. It never took off. Solar power should be everywhere. We still pay for gas. You came up with the most brilliant iPhone and iPad or Android app and if only 10,000 people used it, you could change their lives. But you've got 8 downloads. Eight.

You are trying to market your app to these people. Remember that.

I remember being at a friends house - Marcus. He had 3 brothers - only boys. Whenever their mom baked a cake, there would be a fight. They would each complain that the other got a bigger piece. So Marcus' dad thought up a brilliant solution. He had the eldest boy, Samuel, cut the pie in half. Then he had each boy by birth order cut the pie in half again.

When this fascinating process was over, Samuel would get to pick the first piece, and Marcus would pick the second piece, etc... on down the line.

Everyone got an Even-Steven piece. 

Their father was an idiot.

He was sending an implied message to his kids that there is a way to make events in life fair. He was teaching his kids to make their happiness relative to the acquisition of others. In this case, it's not the Joneses - it's their brothers.

What I would have done (easy to say for a Guy that doesn't even have a girlfriend) is to simply take away the pie from any and all complainers. 

There's no entitlement. There's no stipulating what someone else gets and making your happiness contingent on the wealth or unwealth of another.

This is the problem with app development. Entrepreneurs think differently.

Entrepreneurs think that if everyone chipped in a single dollar to buy their silly rubber bracelet that ends up smelling like wet dog on a hot day, they could stop cancer and we could use the billions saved to instead fund clean energy builds.

Entrepreneurs think that if you built an app where everyone just volunteers their favorite flavor of ice cream, then they could buy just that one flavor in bulk and open a nationwide chain of One Flavors Flav Ice Cream Chain that give everyone two scoops for the price of one based on their new economy of scale. It won't work.

For every single action you want your user to take (from the first click through to scrolling down to registering to filling out more profile data), you must offer an immediate and extraordinary payoff for each step.

The public is an idiot.

They will not chip in one review, one rating, one field of personal information even if it meant they could have full access to everyone's chip-ins IF it means that:

A) They have to wait for their pay off

B) Somebody else will get rich in the process.

OK. So "A," the public is all about instant gratification. They do not till, plant, water, and wait. If you disqualify 401ks, only about 2% of the America Public own stocks of any kind.

The public is an idiot.

And "B," I'm not Christian but Jesus still said it best. "There was a master of a field. The harvest being great, he hired workers at the eleventh hour. After the harvest, he paid them all alike, the worker who had been there for 12 hours and the worker who only worked for the last hour. The worker who worked from the first hour complained angrily to the master of the field. The master said, you evil wicked slave (personally, I think this is a mistranslation. I think he said, "Stupid Idiot") of what business it is to you that I have made another agreement with another worker. You have received what you wanted. Now go your way before even that is lost to you!"

What I'm telling you is that even if your iphone app idea is brilliant and will reduce traffic by 50% making your users' commute to work 40% faster, saving them $200 in gas and $300 in wear and tear every month, if it takes 6 months to see an ROI, they won't use your app. If they can see that you're making millions while they only save $6,000 a year, they won't use your app.

So how do you get someone to use your app? You've got to offer them an immediate dangling carrot. Remember, your market is a stupid idiot. The whole concept of collaboration doesn't work for them. That's why you're the boss and they just want a job. They can't see the big picture so stop trying to open their eyes. I don't know who's the bigger idiot, the voluntarily blind guy or the guy trying to make them see. Instead, appeal to a sensory faculty they already have. They still have 4 other senses.

It's Amazing How Much We Could Accomplish If Nobody Cared Who Got the Credit - Reagan

How to Strategize Your Web or Iphone / IPad / Android App Roll Out
Do not expect to have a single user based on the promise of a future dated pay off. It won't work (insert cricket chirping noises).

Google didn't launch until they had already spidered 10 times more websites than Yahoo (more or less). Yahoo tried to get people to submit their urls for inclusion in their directory. Nobody did. Google won.

Facebook started off as a private site that showcased the hottest chicks at Harvard - both of them. Everyone wanted in. Only AFTER everyone got in, their payoff to the stupid idiots changed. Now, Guys from other Ivys could connect and network with Harvard boys.

Only AFTER all the Ivy got in, their payoff to the stupid idiots changed. All the kids who had a mere 4.0 GPA and 1,400 SAT score could network with the IVY boys (oversimplified for clarity). See: Facebook Marketing Strategies

For every single action you want your user to take, you must offer an immediate and extraordinary payoff.

Twitter started off as a site where you could contact all the top writers, editors, PR people, and news media directly without knowing their email address. Only AFTER all the CEOs and Entrepreneurs who could see the value in it joined Twitter, the less stupid and less idiotic masses could see that being able to directly message these powerful people would be valuable. Only after they joined, Oprah realized that Twitter would give her direct access to the public - right down to their text messages.

So as far as your Iphone, Ipad, and Android Phone App goes, what's the first thing you can offer now? What's the most compelling thing you can offer now? Right now? Sex. Yes. Sex. Why do you think Facebook got so big? See: The 9 Irresistible Drivers for Monetizing Your Website Like Facebook

For every single action you want your user to take, you must offer an immediate and extraordinary payoff.

Whether you have an app that lets people carpool, lets people get group travel discounts, lets people trade Gucci dresses, or whatever, if you can subtly imply that they will get laid or paid, they will download and use your app (now, the tricky part is to get them to use your long term and bring their network with them. To discuss how this is done for your specific app, let's talk: call Sparkah at 310 598 1606).

If you want help developing your IPhone App Roll Out Strategy (so that people actually use your app)... Call us at 310 598 1606. Ask for Bob Wan Kim.

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Wired Magazine started a wild-fire when they said, "The Web Is Dead."

Everyone from TechCrunch to Mashable blogged about that blog about blogs vs Facebook. To a large extent, Wired is right on the money. Discussion forums killed the BBS. And Facebook killed discussion forums. 

Facebook also killed Flickr. Or they at least killed Flickr's growth potential with the easiest photo uploading, tagging, and sharing software on earth - their own. 

So since Facebook is so easy to get into and so hard to get out of, let's go to the mountain since it ain't comin' to Mohammad anytime soon. 

Facebook Marketing Tips and Strategies from the Most Cunning Social Media Marketing Bastards in Los Angeles and NYC

1. Build a NONCOMMERCIAL "Like" Page

Nobody Likes Your Business But You.

Nobody realizes that if you click "Like" you've just subscribed to the Page Admin's messages. Every few years, people get tricked into opting in for advertising. They do. When Google first came out with Adwords, you couldn't tell the difference between sponsored ads vs organic high rank search results. Advertisers got rich. 

Just a few weeks ago, Apple released iAds for their iPad and iPhone Apps. These ads are so interactive and beautiful that app developers are getting rich from people clicking just for the curiosity of it all.

Just about the same time, Mark Zuckerberg announced at his F8 Industry Conference that he would convert the "fan" button to a "like" button and let Facebook pages broadcast into the stream of those who clicked "like."

The public generally doesn't realize that if they click "Like," on your page, they are opting-in to your messaging. So, build a NONCOMMERCIAL "Like" Page. Like this one: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-SLEEP/73330003836

Whatever your industry, and business, I'm sure you can come up with a non commercial concept that's much easier to like than "Joe's Plumbing." Maybe Joe should try a page named, "Hot Showers" or "Bubble Baths." Then, he'd hit his target demographic and do so with zero resistance to "Like" conversion.

2. Copy and Paste your Edutisement to all the biggest pages until you get blocked
I hate spam. I hate sales people. But if a cologne saleman wants to educate me on the differences between French vs Italian herbs used in Gucci VS YSL, I'll listen and maybe even buy a bottle. So sure, post a message on any page you want. Go ahead. But make sure each post is valuable in and of itself. Make sure each of your posts are valuable to THE READER - NOT to you. Then, when they click through to your site, educate some more and sell the value of your product - not your product.

3. Contact the Admins of the Biggest Facebook Pages and Ask them to Post Your Message
You may have to offer them money. But if you put it all in perspective, even if you printed one million fliers at a five pennies each, you'd have spent $50,000. Then to distribute those fliers, you'd spend another $200,000 on the cheap. So even if 

CONTINUED: http://sparkah.com/2010/08/25/facebook-marketing-strategies-from-nyc-and-los-angeles-most-devious-minds-2/

To Chat with Bob Wan Kim about Making Your Site, Products and Services Fly Out of the Door, Just Call him at 310 598 1606 or gmail him: bob.wan.kim

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