It’s Time to Drive the Taco Truck
We can sit around and talk about the benefits of social media, try to educate ourselves on all the wizardry of the technology, and casually dip our toes in the water hoping for a miracle to happen. But unless we fully dive in and and actually give it a real, dedicated, and committed effort, it’s only going to be hype and we’ll never truly experience all that Social Marketing has to offer.
What Does Commitment To Social Marketing Look Like?
For so many people, a commitment to Social Marketing has often looked like the following:
- taking misaligned risks into an unknown,
- making uninformed investments in time and money that go nowhere,
- never getting past disparate learning stages,
- and failing to execute.
Instead, commitment to this amazing opportunity should look more like taking the time to figure out what it is that you actually want to accomplish in the first place. It means spending a large portion of your valuable time to learning, to developing, and to executing a proven plan that should pay off handsomely. It involves following through with new relationships frequently throughout the day and analyzing your efforts while being open to making adjustments where necessary.
It looks like a lot of work. And to be honest, Social Marketing IS a lot of work.
[the_ad id=’2017′]There are three phases in a business venture that committed people pay close attention to if they want to succeed with Social Marketing. And it’s important to note that these are listed in a specific order:
- Research
- Strategy
- Execution
When I work with my friends and clients who are considering social marketing for the first time, I’m discovering that several of them either try to enter into one of these phases out of order, or they get stuck in one of them and never move on to the next. Either way, they’re setting themselves up for failure and will miss out on a great opportunity.
And as I look closely to understand why this is, I find out that it’s because many of them have failed to join a team of like-minded individuals with common goals and a commitment to succeed.
Let’s Work Together
As you know, I have some experience and understanding when it comes to Social Marketing. During the 2000’s I used Social Marketing to build one of the largest real estate appraisal firms in Orange County. I know how Social Marketing works, and what it takes to succeed online. And it’s more than just trying to figure out “technology”.
I want to share my experience and knowledge with a few of you. I want to see the people that are committed to making this work avoid a lot of the pitfalls, delays, and costly mistakes many face when they jump into the confusing and mysterious arena of marketing on the World Wide Web.
So I’d like to propose that we spend the next 10 weeks together and actually commit to understanding Social Marketing. I’m suggesting that we take the time together to develop a formidable and proven plan that’s founded on our deepest passions, so that by the end of our time together it’s actually a reality for each one of us that we’re an online Social Marketing “Brand” capitalizing on the benefits of Social Media.
A Mastermind Group
What I am suggesting is that a small group, 5-7 perhaps, get together regularly each week, meeting at scheduled times, online and offline, for the next 10 weeks to support each other so that we can conquer this concept of Social Marketing!
A small community like this is commonly referred to as a “Mastermind Group”.
Below is an excerpt from various websites that might help describe the benefits of joining a mastermind group:
AN INTRODUCTION TO MASTERMIND GROUP
A mastermind group is a platform where several participants meet with a common goal to share, understand, learn and improve their performance in their respective fields. These meetings turn out be a wonderful synergy of commitment and energy. The members of a Mastermind group get a chance to share their opinions, ideas, queries, successes, and downfalls. Each member gets an opportunity to learn something new from everyone’s experience. They also garner wisdom and knowledge from these group discussions. Generally, these groups are divided into three sections namely; the beginning, middle and the end.
In the beginning, every person gets an opportunity to share briefly their goals from the previous meetings. The middle part of the discussion centers on the complications, issues and queries of a person’s situation. Finally, the meeting ends when every individual shares their goals about the upcoming meetings. The structure of the group meetings might vary, but the basic idea remains the same.
WHAT A MASTERMIND GROUP IS NOT
Very often, we mistake the idea of mastermind group for several common groups like a class, coaching or networking group. However, these groups are not mastermind groups. Here’s why they aren’t.
A mastermind group is not a class because here the group members can always vote for bringing in new teachers and new guest speakers from time to time. The main focus of this group is not basic teaching but brainstorming and providing support to other members of the group.
This group is also quite different from a regular coaching class. Here, the teachers don’t coach the group members, rather, the members share their individual experiences with each other. This group gives you an opportunity to achieve everyone’s support, guidance, and feedbacks through small discussions. Yes. There might be a facilitator who’s an expert on the topic. However, he too will eventually chime into the group. At the end of the day, the conversation is supposed to be balanced among all group members.
Although this group deals with sharing interesting leads and resources, yet, it is not a networking group. However, while sharing your experiences and developing connections with other group members, you will find a wide gamut of wonderful opportunities and professional networking.
HOW TO RUN YOUR MASTERMIND GROUP?
Running your mastermind group involves a lot of efforts. However, if you know the right strategies, there’ll be no looking back for you. Following are a couple of guidelines that’ll help you to run your mastermind group successfully.
Meet regularly but precisely. Yes. This is much better than the monthly meets. It keeps everyone in sync, and it also keeps the discussions more active and energetic. In order to run these groups, you should choose a schedule or meeting once a week for 60 minutes. This regular but precise meeting will surely play a vital role in the development of your mastermind group.
Every individual should be provided with equal time. When an individual speaks for a conversation, make sure that they get ample time to place their views. At the same time, make sure that every individual is given the same/equal time. Larger groups might need a timer in this regard. Besides this, you should also make sure that no group member is interrupted during the conversation. Everyone should get an equal chance of placing their views, and they should never be interrupted as interruption distracts the members and ruins the smooth flow of the conversation. It might also lead to disputes. So, it is better to avoid speaking in the middle of a discussion.
Decide whether you need an agenda. While running your mastermind group, you should decide whether you need an agenda for discussion. In case you don’t, individuals can share their general experiences and these experiences will turn out to be useful for one and all.
Decide whether you need a facilitator. A facilitator is usually the person who has profound insights on a specific topic relevant for your group. He is responsible for co-coordinating the group discussions. However, we would recommend you to be your facilitators. All of you can act loosely as facilitators and keep your policies in the right shape. However, you can also go for a facilitator to make the group more scheduled and the group conversations more relevant to the topic.
Who We Want To Work Together With
Now I know how this sounds to some… “I want in!”
But honestly, while I don’t think there is a person on our team who isn’t capable, nor do I believe that there is anyone who wouldn’t benefit from this group, I do think there are some that might not find this group to be a good fit for them right now.
Here are a few reasons why I say this:
- This will take a considerable amount of commitment and time – Too often people will join an opportunity like this with great expectations. But let’s face it, life gets in the way and before you know it, we’re asking things like, “Where’s [Name] this week?” Or, we keep hearing from the same person things like, “Sorry, I wasn’t able to complete the assignments because I had…” And while we will totally be understanding and supportive, this Mastermind Group really is for the person who will really focus on applying the time we’re all counting on each other for.
- Also, truthfully, I genuinely do have total confidence in each and every one of you. But, unfortunately, some of you may fail to believe in yourselves. This could mean that if you joined, you might feel overwhelmed and may withdraw, thinking the problem is you, when in fact it’s not you, but probably just a matter of talking it through with someone in your group until you totally understand the concepts we’re working on.
There are more reasons. But after time, the distractions that a lack of commitment one might bring to the group just might prevent others from moving at a pace necessary to get where we’ll want to be by the end of the next 10 weeks.
- I’m not worried if you’re not technically savvy. I’m here for you, others in the group will help, we’ll get past that part.
- I’m not concerned if you don’t know yet what your focus for this project will be. You’re not alone. Many starting out don’t know what to focus on. Or they may have the wrong idea and might need some help thinking it through. Again, you’re not alone. We, as a very supportive and close knit group, are going to spend a good amount of time discovering both your passions, and your goals. We’ll all work together to determine how to best combine the two for a successful Media Marketing Brand Identity and Campaign.
- Finally, it’s ok if you’re shy, nervous, or if you think that maybe you’re too loud and brash. The group I’m looking to form for the next 10 weeks will be helpful in finding your voice and helping each other set the appropriate tone with the right social media vehicle. Remember, we have all kinds of opportunities from tools such as video, audio, or both, writing and blogging, tweeting and posting, pictures, and more.
This group will help each other–it’s the reason for the mastermind group in the first place!
[the_ad id=’2017′]Ok, How Do We Begin?
Well, if you made it this far, without scrolling, and you’re actually reading all this, then you’re probably interested in knowing what’s next. You’ve already shown some commitment.
Our goal for this group is to build an online brand and authoritative identity for ourselves and to gain an audience with whom we can eventually partner with in our business.
We will work together to accomplish this goal so that each one of us will do more in the next 10 weeks than we ever thought possible. Some of us may have 1000’s of followers, some of us may have so much more than even that!
But you’re going to need an infrastructure that supports your Social Marketing program and your online brand. And that’s where my expertise and 25 years of web consulting experience comes in to play.
Besides the time commitment, there is also a financial commitment. Participants in the group will have to pay $500 to cover the costs of materials, design, and development of the technical infrastructure they’re going to need to make this happen. Some of these items include myself building out for each one of you the following:
- Your Content Management System: WordPress, Godaddy Domain Registration, Web Hosting, Email Accounts, etc.
- An Automated Marketing Funnel: Landing pages and Email Autoresponders, Social Comments
- Ecommerce and Cart functionality: Woo-commerce and Stripe Integration
- Custom Graphics, Video, Audio, and other media support
- Workflow and Analytic Software: Buffer, Hootsuite, Google Analytics
- Advertising platform setup: Facebook, Google, Advertising Networks, and more
- The Team’s Communication Portal: Weberys, Dropbox, Google Hangouts, Google Docs
Frankly, having anyone set up all the above for you could easily cost well within the 10’s of thousands and more.
So why is the cost of this group only $500?
Because while I can set all of this up for you, manage it, and help you succeed with it, this isn’t the purpose of a Mastermind Group. It’s not the focus of our group. I’m not here to be your Social Marketing consultant. I’m here to roll up my sleeves and do this along with you over the next 10 weeks.
I will help set up the technology needed so that we can get up and running for our campaigns. But together, we will all work hard on the specifics so that we are both learning how to do it, and we’re understanding why it’s important to do some of the things we’ll be working on.
The easy part is the technical.
But it’s the “marketing” of Social Media Marketing where we will all need to help one another with. For example, we will learn why certain colors work better than others to help our audience connect with us. And you will learn how to change those colors, pick certain fonts, select the appropriate images, and identify where to place them effectively. And we will all work together to help each other out with other Social Marketing concepts like brand analysis, social triggers, upsells and cross-sells, kpi’s, and more.
Here’s the thing, because I know how to set up the technology, I can help each one within the group move much faster, and help you get through this with less problems and mistakes than if you were going to try to do this on your own.
I know that for the value I’ll bring to this group, the initial setup of the technology that I’ll be developing for each one of you, and the one-on-one time we’ll spend together at regular intervals within the 10 weeks, that you’ll look back and realize that this investment is really pennies compared to the amount of knowledge and the progress of your success that you will have reached when this is over.
There is another reason why being a member of this group requires a $500 investment. It separates the people who have a desire to do it from those who will do it.
Afterall, if you’re willing to put a little skin into the game, you’re telling me, and you’re letting your group members know that you’re willing to commit to this, that you’re willing work hard at this, and also that you’re committed to supporting one another.
So here’s the deal, this Mastermind Group will be intimate, stressful, difficult, a stretch for some–often, and at times a real pain.
But it will also be fun, inspiring, and educating.
That being the case, we have to limit it to just 5-7 people. Any more and it will probably lose not only its effectiveness in communication and support, but perhaps its ability for us to reach certain goals at certain points within the 10 weeks.
Remember, our goal is for each one of us to become an identifiable brand in a specified online community. We will commit to meeting with each other online and offline twice a week and will also give up portions of our days to work on this goal. We are joining this group because we realize that there’s value to be gained by working together with like-minded people towards this common goal. And finally, that the $500 investment that you put into this is really not that much when you compare it to the knowledge you’ll have gained, the technology that will be yours, and all the support that goes into helping you capitalize on the benefits that Social Media Marketing can offer you and your business.