Maximize Your Social With Neal Schaffer

A look at why unplugging from social media is a critical component to a social media strategy as well important to understanding the ROI of social from a business and personal perspective. Key Highlights[00:43] The Personal Side of Social Media[03:50] Why Social Media is an Ever-Changing Landscape[06:21] Social Media Should Not Be a Burden[08:31] Make Every Post Count[09:04] You Don't Need to Be On All Platforms.Notable QuotesBut the important thing is, and as I come back from Japan, I see the increased use of these social networks that were designed primarily for people to communicate, often talk about social media being the convergence of information and communication, right.The important thing is, the more people spend in these messaging apps, and they bring social media back into the personal realm, the less they're spending on social media platforms.This is why social media is an ever changing landscape. And you really need to be monitoring things and adopting your social media strategy on a re

Neal announces his new free ebook, created together with the employee advocacy platform PeopleLinx, on how to create, manage, and measure an employee advocacy program regardless of the size of your business.Key Highlights[00:49] My Newest Ebook Resource[02:03] Where Marketing Begins[02:43] Employee Statistics[03:42] Interesting Note About Overlap[04:35] Where the Ebook Starts[05:40] Defining Your Employee Advocacy Strategy[06:35] Measuring Employee Advocacy Strategy Success[07:43] How to Gain Access to the EbookNotable QuotesThe idea is that companies often look outside the company walls for influencers, or fans, or people that they can try to influence to talk about them in social media, while some of their biggest fans are working for them inside their company. So the idea of employee advocacy is how do we yield? And, you know, it's really no surprise, you know, most strategies in social focus on the brand entity, and overlook the power and the influence of the employee use of social networks.You can i

Neal shares the four things companies need to launch a successful social media program based on time he recently spent in rural Japan helping farmers get social media savvy. Key Highlights[01:00] What I did in Japan[03:33] The Challenge[04:21] What is the First Step?[04:57] Education Comes in 2 Different Ways[05:23] Second Part: Strategy[06:10] One of the Big Missing Pieces[06:50] You Need Content[07:44] Compelling Stories[10:00] Creating SystemNotable QuotesAnd therefore the first step really is how do we get these farmers on Facebook and derive value out of being on Facebook and seeing that this can be a viable future for them by engaging on Facebook and using it as a digital media platform.The first step really is the education right? And the education comes in two different ways. Alright, so number one, understanding that potential. And number two, really yourself becoming a user of the platform and understanding how people use it, right? There's so many things that go into a social media strategy. B

Join Neal in a candid conversation over a pint from London as he introduces three of his social media friends who help provide fresh (but sometimes "old school") insight into leveraging social media for your business. Key Highlights[01:00] What I did in Japan[02:40] Introducing Alex[03:15] How Alex Started With Social Media[04:10] How Social Media Affected Alex's Personal and Professional Life[05:05] Introducing Liz[05:43] How Liz Started With Social Media[11:58] Introducing Conrad[14:42] Conrad's Tips on Improving Writing[15:40] Get Your Branding Right[17:16] Connect with Conrad[17:43] Social Media Is Real[18:55] Social Media Is About PeopleNotable QuotesAnd I think it's important that as businesses, that we use social media and we forget that we're engaging with actual people.And when we make a person, a person, a human human connection, the most amazing things the most amazing ales that you would never imagine drinking if you thought they were laggers. The stories the educatio

Pinterest Community Boards have a unique role in the world of social media. Find out why you should be leveraging them as part of your social media strategy.Key Highlights[01:26]  Great Way of Sharing Passion[02:05] community Board in Pinterest[02:20] How Pinterest Works[04:24] My AHA Moment[04:47] Pinning Together[05:35] The Advantage of Opening My Boards to Others[06:27] How to Audit Your Boards[07:57] The Interesting Thing About Community BoardsNotable QuotesWhat a great way to bring the world together, just like social media is. Think about it social is about people and engaging with people and the social signals that you send to people. And when you share someone else's content, it is an amazing thing you are putting your brand on the line to share with someone else.These are things were creating a community board, if you're a brand that already has an established user base that's engaging with you on Pinterest is really at this point, I think a no brainer.So instead of me carrying the bur

LinkedIn recently upped the ante of becoming a paid member with the new "Spotlight" account. Is it worth the upgrade? Listen on for Neal's detailed advice on the new features and why you may (or may not) be interested in them. Key Highlights[01:03] The Recent Changes LinkedIn Did[01:47] Should You Pay for LinkedIn Professional Plan[03:26] What is an Open Link?[04:06] Spotlight[04:32] Open Profile[04:55] What Open Profile Gives You[05:36] Making Your Profile Appear Larger in Search Results[06:55] How to Find LinkedIn Spotlight PlanNotable QuotesAnd that just is allowing me to be a little bit more contactable, it raises my contact ability, as I would say, on LinkedIn, which is important because when people are looking for someone for a particular reason, they don't want to have to deal with introductions, they don't want to have to deal with sending constantly in mails, they want to be able to communicate with you directly as easy as possible. That's why the contact ability part of

If you're not finding success as a member of any given social network, chances are you simply aren't spending enough time there and becoming a true community member. From Twitter to Pinterest to SlideShare, Neal shares the secrets behind social media success. Key Highlights[01:01] The Approach I Am Taking[02:18] Why I've Been Getting A Lot of Traffic in Twitter[04:07] What Devoting Time to Community Means[06:38] The Beauty of Infographics[06:51] My Pinterest Experiment[08:33] Embed Yourself Deeply in the Community PlatformNotable QuotesOf the time I've spent in social media, I'm beginning to realize, as I experienced this across a number of social networks, that those who are most devoted to the community in which they're a member of will become the most successful and social.It's impossible unless you have a staff to be equally active or deeply active on all social networks, you have to pick your poison, as they say.If you think about it, you know the same business people t

A look into the different ways social media users use Instagram as well as other social networks - and my recommendations for being the most effective on each singular social network with your social media marketing. Key Highlights[00:36] How Striving to Use Social Networks for Their Original Intention Can Help You Be More Effective at Social Media Marketing[01:20] How I Use Social Networks Differently[01:28] Why Instagram Is One of My Favorite Networks[02:20] Social Networks Are Always Changing[06:35] Social Media Are for Human[06:59] Use Networks for What They Were Originally Intended[08:48] My Advice for TodayNotable QuotesBut, you know, the social networks are always changing, because in essence, we as users are hijacking them and using them for things they were never intended for.Instagram was a place where take a picture on your phone, right, and you upload it. And it allows people to see the real you even businesses are using Instagram in many, many different ways. Pinterest does give you the ability t

Neal interviews crowdfund marketing expert Peter Trapasso at Cisco Live and gets to the gist of how to use crowdfunding as a marketing vehicle. Key Highlights[01:18] Introduction of Podcast Guest, Peter Trapasso[01:25] Peter's Role in the World of Social Media[02:25] What is Kickstarter?[04:07] Advantages of Utilizing Crowdfund Marketing[6:00] Best Practices[06:49] Crowdfund to Social Media Marketing vs Email Marketing[08:48] User Bases[10:36] Final Thoughts[11:41] Connect with PeterNotable QuotesSo before launching, you're in a thing called pre launch and you need to do your planning. You need to put together your tribe and that would be friends, family, people that would be very interested in what you're trying to raise money for. So you need to do that first and the same time you need to start building your social circle.If you think about it more as a startup and a product, lead with the big idea, what are you trying to do, what are you trying to sell, then if it connects with people, then

Neal continues providing his advice that he recently gave LinkedIn on career change and learning to adapt to – and thrive on – the constant change that is part of our everyday life.Key Highlights[01:09] Losing the Big Customer[02:44] Focusing On New Pipeline[03:13] Importance of Personal Relationships in Sales[04:17] Unplugging From A Career[05:59] Adjusting to the Curveball[06:57] Finding My Passion[07:37] Establishing My Brand[08:34] Launching My Career in a New Direction[09:27] Becoming An Author[10:11] Launching Windmills Marketing LLC[11:32] What I Learned From My ExperienceNotable QuotesSo being in sales, and if you're in sales, you you get it means that you learn to face constant rejection. But in the belief that every lost deal, or telephone call that wasn't returned, would bring me one step closer to closing, real business.I realized the absolute importance of personal relationships and sales, relationships, supersede contracts in China, at least at that time, when I was doing business ther

Neal provides his advice that he recently gave LinkedIn on career change and learning to adapt to - and thrive on - the constant change that is part of our everyday life.Key Highlights[00:57] Career Curveball Series[04:06] How Life Prepare Us to Run the Bases[06:29] Planning on Starting My Career in China[08:35] Nothing Is Static[09:17] Starting My Career with Sales and Marketing[11:35] Becoming the China Sales Pioneer[16:32] Facing A New RealityNotable QuotesIt gave me a chance to really look back into my past into my entire career, and analyze not the one curveball but the many curveballs and how it has affected the way that I look at social media in the way that I hope you look at social media as well. The only constant in your career is change, learn to embrace it. I love to talk about social media as being an experiment. You always need to be doing different things and changing things. Because it's always changing. I think a career is the exact same, but I learned to embrace it.Life will always thro

A blog post recently published on TechCrunch claims that Google Plus is dying. Neal Schaffer analyzes the facts behind the article, the evolution of social media, and yields some insight on the least understood social network today: Google Plus. Key Highlights[01:30] The Concept of Google Plus[03:16] What Will Happen If You Miss Out on Plus[04:32] What Makes Google Plus Different Than Other Social Network[05:26] The Other Important Thing About Google Plus[06:00] Thing that People Misunderstood About Google Plus[06:15] How to Begin Social Layer[07:19] What I Think is Happening in Google Plus[08:06] Why Have Doubt in Google Plus?[08:58] The Only Way of Determining ROINotable Quotes And in all honesty, I believe that this is questionable this post as to, is it good journalism or not, because if you're going to have a scoop, and you're going to provide analysis, and you're telling people, we have multiple sources that this is happening, you got to know a lot about the product, you got to know a lot

Are you providing true value and building a relationship with your email subscribers? If not, it's time to do a hard reset with this advice from Neal Schaffer. Key Highlights[02:27] My Advice on Email[03:17] Why Email Marketing Is Still Critical[03:29] Why You Need to be on Multiple Social Media Platforms[03:57] Build Your List[05:01] The Other Thing You Should Be Doing[06:35] Getting to the Core of Your Email Marketing[06:57] Never Buy List from Third Party[08:50] Go Big or Go Home Approach[10:08] What Is Something Unique to Maximize Your Social Business?Notable QuotesAs you know, social media permeates everything, it it becomes part of what companies naturally do, it becomes part of their infrastructure. Social is being used, regardless of industry, regardless of department.And my advice really is I really, after you listen to this podcast, I want you to do a hard reset, and alt control, delete on what you've been doing an email and I want to share with you what I've been doing an email.What

Neal provides advice to hotels - which is equally applicable to any brick-and-mortar establishment - on creating photographable memories to help your customers promote your presence in social media. Key Highlights[02:30] What Else You Could Do to Increase Engagement?[03:44] Why Reviews for Hotels Are Still Critical?[04:26] Why Visual Aspect is Successful for Hotels[05:13] The Missed Opportunity[06:32] Leveraging Images Shared on Social Medi[06:44] Create A Photographic Memory [08:02] Recognize People Sharing Their Experiences in Your HotelNotable QuotesYou know, I think hotels, obviously, from a marketing perspective, have a few things that they can do if they are affiliated with a certain brand. Obviously, they have a branded websites, where it is a search engine where they can be found if someone is looking for a hotel of that brand and a certain city. So that sort of passive traffic.This leads to my point, which is for hotels, I believe to be successful and social. It comes down to often that visual aspect

I had the pleasure of interviewing social media marketing professor Niklas Myhr, who teaches at Chapman University here in Orange County, California, about his social media classes and advice for both professional MBA students as well as undergrads. Key Highlights[00:48] Introduction of Podcast Guest, Niklas Myhr[01:08] Who is Dr. Niklas Myhr?[03:22] Teaching Undergrads[06:12] Undergrads's Level of Aptitude[06:27] 3 Components for Every Social Media Professional[10:09] Connect with NiklasNotable QuotesI tell my students that if you find yourself in a situation where you basically can kill a brand overnight, and the company doesn't even know how much control of the cockpit they have given. Please try to get an executive sit them down for coffee, and ask them stupid questions about who are you? What are you doing? What's your voice, because they have built a brand perhaps for 50 years. And you can kill it overnight. It is a balance. I tell students don't consider it dangerous for you career

Is your business changing? Offering new products or services or maybe concentrating strategically on one or two products instead of ten? Your content strategy needs to change as well. Learn what you need to do - and what to expect as a result - from this podcast.Key Highlights[01:03] Shifting Content Midshift[01:41] Shifting Content Midshift is Natural[02:58] How to Do It?[03:35] Another Way of Organizing the Buckets[04:21] Facts You Will Deal with When Shifting Content[05:28] Your Readers May Not Be Ready[07:09] Transitional Period[07:55] Focus on Relevant Metrics[08:23] Almost Do A ResetNotable Quotes But either way, shifting content midstream is natural businesses, organizations are dynamic, the products that you carry may change your industry might change, except if you're obviously very, very well established in a very, very stable industry.But things change, right. And what's going to happen is if you create your social media strategy, as outlined and maximize your social, and you do your PDCA

How to properly build a sales funnel that flows from social media to your website. Where does the funnel building process start?Key Highlights[01:53] How to Properly Build A Sales Funnel that Flows from Social to the Website? [02:00] Where Does Funnel Building Start?[03:49] Attract People to Your Social Media Profile[04:53] Create A Landing Page Specific to the Social media Platform You Expect Traffic to Come From[05:58] Create Customized Page[06:14] Ways of Attracting People from Social Media to Your Website[07:09] Seamlessly Integrate Your Blog to Your Website[08:45] Social Selling: Employee Advocacy[09:06] One of the Case Studies Linkedin for SalesNotable QuotesI think if you can determine what those objectives are, you know, what you need to do, the next thing you need to do is obviously, dig a little bit deeper into social and try to figure out where your audiences how they use each platform, and what platform does it make sense to use what tactic in order to help you achieve your objective? If there&apo

Are you having a problem aligning business goals with your social media activities? Whether you are a large or small business, solopreneur, non-profit, NGO, or religious organization, here are some ideas to help you begin Maximizing Your Social.Key Highlights[01:24] Catch Me at Social Media Marketing World[03:11] Building Social Strategies Aligned with Business Objectives[04:07] A Case Study I Did[05:48] How to Create Social Strategy[07:09] Leveraging Your Departments in Your Strategy[08:32] Start with the Most Critical Things to Your Organization.Notable QuotesI think that when you build your social strategy, it has to align with something that you want to achieve. I always talk about you know, whenever I talk about social media strategy and creating those business objectives at the very beginning, I start with the language of CEOs right the language of exile. It's either more sales or lesser expenses. And either those lead to greater profit. And indeed, there's a number of things you can do to hel

As companies create more content, more of that content will be illegally copied on the Internet. Find out what you can do to protect your content and fight those who steal it.Key Highlights[00:55] Today's Topic: Content[01:10] The Need to Create Exclusive Content[02:07] Don't Create Content Just for the Sake of Creating Content[02:47] The Importance of Content[04:33] My Advice on How to Avoid Content Scraper[05:15] How to deal With People Reposting Your Content?[06:03] Do Google Alerts[06:17] Using Plugins Like TyntNotable QuotesAnd one of the trends was undoubtedly the need to create exclusive content that you own unique and exclusive, that you can publish on your website share on social media, and what have you that perhaps some companies are trying to do too much engaging in social, when they should be creating more content that will help them scale their engagement.The more people that join social media, and the more content that we all publish, the harder it's going to be for any single gi

My firsthand experience of blogging on LinkedIn - and why and how you can leverage the power of the LinkedIn publishing platform.Key Highlights[01:41] How Are We Going to Use LinkedIn Platform[02:04] LinkedIn's Special Audience[03:33] Give Your LinkedIn Publishing Post Some TLC[06:02] LinkedIn Send You Lots of Traffic[06:31] Treat Your LinkedIn Homepage As Your Website[07:37] LinkedIn is About Quality[07:58] How to Get Access to LinkedIn Publishing PlatformNotable QuotesI'm sure you all are as well, even though it's not always possible, of really sending the right message to the right audience. And LinkedIn really is a special audience.I realized that, you know, the LinkedIn publishing platform is not worthy of a status update. It is worthy of something deeper. So it's my belief that if you give your LinkedIn publishing posts, a little bit of TLC, and this goes beyond just you know, publishing content, whether it's unique content, or duplicate content, of giving it a little bit of TLC