The hot term right now is influencer. So and so is an influencer, this person over here is a micro-influencer, you've heard it before.

Eyeballs. Views. Clicks. That's the beginning part of being an influencer, essentially, traffic. Do you have an audience that watches your content? Then you're an influencer.

It doesn't matter if you have 117 million followers and almost 10 billion likes as Charli D’Amelio does, or if you have 3000 followers and 10,000 likes. You are an influencer.

And believe me, I'm not keen on the term "influencer" term or the connotation and rapport behind it. But it is what it is.

Influencers and Influence

What matters is how many of those people who follow you are true fans and will follow you across networks and across time. How many of those people are willing to listen to you when you tell them to go check something out or to visit some other website or property because you like it or endorse it.

There are two factors that really matter when making money online. Traffic, and conversions. You can have a viral video get a million views, but it could also net you $0.00. That means you have traffic, but no conversions.

On the other hand, you can have a video that gets 10 views every day but makes you a few hundred dollars each month, which means you have a little bit of traffic, but it converts.

Now, what if you had a video, or several that get hundreds of views AND convert into money? That's what we're after. Making money as an influencer, or making money online for that matter takes fine-tunning. It takes some practice and trial and error, but if you don't have the basic elements to work with then you'll never be able to fine-tune them.

Are you waiting for a viral moment?

You could blow up and become an Internet sensation and capitalize on that. Like Nathan, the guy with the Oceanspray juice and Dreams song. You could also win the lottery. But who's actually counting on that?

Even after all the success Nathan experienced when his video went viral, I know he left hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars on the table.

Let me tell you what you need to have a steady income, a long-lasting legacy, and a path to go from a lucky (or unlucky) influencer to a true digital entrepreneur.

Be Prepared

Part of going viral, getting free stuff, getting sponsors, making money, and all that could be luck, but the other part is preparation. And as they say, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

The following are the things you need to do to make money from your social media presence. I'll go through them in a quick list kind of way. If you'd like me to expand on any of these, let me know, leave me a comment or send me a message here, or on Instagram and I'll be happy to answer your questions in greater detail, in a video or in a dedicated post.

What you have

An audience

Don't worry if you only have a few followers. Everybody starts at 0. You don't need to have a million followers. Don't worry if you don't have 10,000 followers. Really, you can start this with 50 followers. The part that is important is that you have a profile and you're going to develop it.

A little bit of time

Let's face it, we're busy. Everybody's busy. I recently posted on Facebook about this and the common response is that we have 1000 things to do. But if you've got time to scroll through Tiktok for 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, check Instagram for 15 minutes, then you can make time. If you're up to speed with the latest bingeable Netflix show, then you have time. Especially if you can get paid for this time.

A desire

This is key. I can't force you to do this. I can't compel you to do it. You either want to or you don't. Could I persuade you to do what I'm saying here? Of course, I could use psychologically powerful words to convince you; I could promise you riches; I could offer all the assistance in the world, but if you don't have a desire, then you might as well scroll on by and keep spending time on TikTok without earning any money.

What you need

A website

I will tell you until I'm blue on the face. You. Need. A. Website.

A website does a few things. Number 1, It legitimizes you in the eyes of reputable companies. Number 2, it locks in your fans and audience. Number 3, it establishes the foundation for your legacy, independent of the social network you want to use.

With a website, you aren't subject to the social network's terms and condictions, your posts aren't banned, your comments won't get you shadowbanned, you control the narrative.

A list

This has evolved overtime, but the principle is the same as it has been for 100 years or more. You need a list of interested parties. A mailing list. The easiest and most common is an email list, yes believe it or not, people still read email and it's in fact the most trusted and relied upon messaging system in the planet.

Not everybody has a Facebook account, not everybody has an Instagram account, some people don't even have a phone number that can receive a text message. But almost every person that has access to a computer has an email account. It's how banks, hospitals, doctors, schools, and other institutions keep in touch with you.

Get an email list. Plug it into your website and this will let your audience and your fans stay in touch with you no matter what platform is hot today, and no matter what you're promoting (see the next item). Remember when Snapchat was all the rage? Yeah... who cares about them anymore?

An item or something to promote

This is the trickiest part because it is a universe in and of itself. I can't quickly tell you what item to promote, but the opportunities are endless. There are three big areas that you could explore to make money with this. One is affiliate relationships, two is sponsored promotions, and three could be your own product. There are a few other notable mentions, but they pretty much fall into these three categories.

A good amount of companies that you use everyday have affiliate programs. Take for example, the trends on TikTok. One of the trends is summervibes, summer bodies, etc. If you're a girl and you're already posting bikini videos or dancing videos, one easy way way to make money is to become an affiliate for those products. Shein has an affiliate program that pays 10 to 20% commissions.

Sponsors work in a couple of different ways. You can get paid just to be an ambassador or spokesperson for a brand --this requires a highly engaged audience and generally a large audience. But you can also do one-off sponsorships, where a company will pay you a flat fee for posting a number of posts.

Your own product can mean that you develop and engineer an actual physical item. That's a lot of work, but it is profitable in many situations. You could sell your art, or crafts.

You could also create a digital product, like a course, a book, or even a private membership site. You could become the product, or you could offer your services.

I know what you're thinking, but no, I'm not suggesting that you go out and join OnlyFans, but you can have a private membership area on your own website where you give your audience what they're looking for or an extended version of what you post in your public social media profiles.

While OnlyFans is making all the headlines right now, the private membership area concept isn't a new thing and there are many other platforms besides OF that you can use for this. Your website for one, but there are also others like Patreon, SubscribeStar, Thinkific, Kajabi, and the list goes on.

In Conclusion

You can monetize your social media profiles. I know people that make 4 or 5 figures per month; that's nothing to sneeze at as a side hustle. Others make over $100,000. You can do it from anywhere in the world where you have an Internet connection.

You don't need to be a huge celebrity. It takes a little bit of effort, some time, and preparation, but at the end of the day, the opportunities are endless, the payouts are fantastic. You can do this, doesn't matter if you're 16, or 73.

Dedicated to my TikTok fam, You guys are killing it. Shout-outs to you guys @ayuputurossa @marivic59mommy @dumb_bricklayer @iamtiktokelle @findingmea

The post How To Monetize TikTok Influence appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

John Rothrock was sporting a bright blue suit with a white hats pattern on it. As he was getting swarmed with attendees trying to ask him what was up with the suit and hoping to get their picture taken with John, I jumped in to ask him what was going on with the outfit.

It turns out that the suit is part of his employee engagement campaign. You see, John thinks outside the box. It was refreshing to hear him talk about his business and his approach with the same passion that compels him to wear a suit like this to a conference full of Instagrammers, Youtubers, and other various social media enthusiasts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg6_h50lDMO/

I asked John, what were his top three tips for those companies that are in a seemingly dull, or boring industry. You know the ones, they are accountants, auto-mechanics, dentists, dry-cleaners, hair and beauty salons, insurance brokers and similar.

Interview with John Rothrock from Yale Cleaners

I agree with John that any company can use social media to grow their business, but they have to approach it differently than the popular Instagram-ready industries, like lifestyle, food, and fashion.

You have to be creative, and with the risk of sounding cliche, you have to be social.

More from Yale Cleaners

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZY7bKGgnRz/?taken-by=yalecleaners

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUwaq-4gtv-/?taken-by=yalecleaners

Who is John Rothrock?

John Rothrock is the President and CEO of Yale Cleaners, a local family business focused on providing high quality, same day dry cleaning with exceptional customer service. See more: Yale Cleaners.

The post 3 Tips for “Boring” Industries in Social Media appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Who's Stephan Spencer?

Stephan is an SEO authority expert, author, speaker and consultant helping some of the most prominent companies in the world.

Stephan is the author of The Art of SEO and he's one of the foremost experts in the field of search engine optimization. Stephan is also the host of two popular podcasts. The Optimized Geek and Marketing Speak. I'll tell you a little bit more about each podcast next, and you can find out everything else you need to know about Stephan at his website, stephanspencer.com

The Optimized Geek

I listened to a few episodes of The Optimized Geek when he first told me about the podcast, but it wasn't until recently that I started listening to every episode.

The Optimized geek talks about "life-hacks" for lack of a better term. Stephan interviews interesting people that have achieved high-level accomplishments and amazing personal transformations.

The podcast is about biohacking, personal transformations, I would say they're about self-optimization (is that even a real term?). Its official tagline is: Reboot and Improve your Life.

Stephan went through his own amazing transformation. If you knew him 6 years ago, you wouldn't recognize him today. I was flabbergasted when he first showed me and told me about his transformation.

I'd recommend it to anybody looking to learn how to master your body, your life, and relationships.

Marketing Speak

The other podcast, Marketing Speak is also a high-value podcast covering monologues and interviews with field and industry experts. I don't recommend it to everyone because it isn't for everybody.

If you're an entrepreneur, marketing geek like me, blogger, vlogger or business owner, then this is a must podcast to add to your subscriptions.

Both podcasts are available everywhere it matters: iTunes, Google Play, Sticher and probably other podcasting apps

So what did I ask Stephan Spencer During the Interview?

Our interview was about voice search and how it's changing the landscape of SEO.
⠀
Imagine that in the future, actually... right now, Google will not be showing you 10 blue links to pick one you like. Instead, it will be reading the summary of the top one result.

I say reading it because we have a boom in virtual assistants being deployed in our homes. Google Home, Alexa, Cortana and others are listening to your commands and queries triggered by your voice commands.

Most of these devices take the top-most result on a search query and read it out loud. This is the featured snippet of search engines. You might have noticed these the last time you did a search online.
⠀
Those little summaries in the search engines are called featured snippets and Stephan tells us the steps we can take to take advantage of those results so that our websites provide those results.

via GIPHY

If you can answer a question on your website, and your answer shows up on that spot, then Google Assistant in Google Home, Alexa, Siri, Cortana and other "smart" assistants will use your answer to give people searching with their voice.

The tricky part is making your blog or website the one that provides that answer. The interview is short, but packed with useful and actionable information to help you rank for featured snippets and start integrating voice search results as part of your overall SEO strategy.

The post How To Rank For Featured Snippets appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I found a few ways to do it and here I have listed them for you.

Option 1. Using Instatray.

This service offers a 3-day free trial. It's $29/month after that. Yeah, I think the pricing is crazy. I mean c'mon guys, $30.00 per month to chat on Instagram? Give me a break. But it may be worth it to you if you have hundreds of direct messages coming in. You can get access to Instatray here.

Sign up,  and after you confirm your email address, you'll need to enter your username and password for Instagram.

When you submit this information, you'll see an error that says "checkpoint required."

This checkpoint alert means that Instagram will check with you via the mobile app to make sure it was you trying to access your account. You'll need to go to your mobile device and authorize this.

After you authorize the access from the mobile app, go back to Instatray and try the authentication again. This time it should work, and you will now have an inbox where you can send messages from and receive messages. From here on now, it works pretty much as you would expect.

The downsides?

• There seems to be a slight delay on the incoming messages; it's minimal, but if you're going back and forth quickly with somebody, you might end up  "talking over" the other person.
• You can't seem to be able to click on the icon or profile of the person you're chatting with to look at their IG profile directly.

Instatray is so far, the only reliable method I found, without having to mess around with installing programs or modifying stuff on my computer.

In Quora and a couple of other places, you'll find some guy posting about an Instagram chat enabler. But I checked it out, and it seems sketchy. It's not an app, and it's only available for download as a zip file (for Windows only) from a weird file-sharing website. I recommend you don't use that.

Option 2. Using Bluestacks Player

Bluestacks is an Android device emulator; that means it's a program that makes it seem like you have an Android device on your computer. It works for Windows, and they have recently added a version for OSX.

The reason I said the previous method (using Instatray) was the only reliable method is because installing, configuring and using Bluestacks may be a bit too technical for some people. Nonetheless, it works fine if you roll up your sleeves a little bit and get it all setup.

If you want to give it a try, read on!

You'll need to install Bluestacks on your computer, Bluestacks installs just like another app. Just pick the right version for Windows or Mac.

After you install it, an emulated device will start up. You can then search for the Instagram app as if you were using an Android device. Type in Instagram in the search, then click on "search Play for Instagram."

This action will prompt a "one-time setup" screen to connect your Gmail account and to connect to the Google App store. Click continue to Enable the AppStore the Google play store.

Then you'll be prompted to use an existing account or to create a new one. If you have a Gmail account you want to use to access the Google Play store, use that. Else you can create one.

Most people have a Gmail account, so we'll go with that option and click on Existing. Remember, this is just for the Android device simulator, not for Instagram.

You'll be prompted to sign in to the Gmail/Google account.

If you're familiar with Android devices, the next option should be easy. If you're not sure what to do when you're prompted about "Backup & Restore" maybe you should leave it unchecked.

In my case, I left the Backup and Restore option checked because that way I should be able to restore all my apps into this simulator and have a full Android environment available for me if I use it somewhere else.

This part completes the AppStore enable function and the second part of the one-time setup is to allow App Sync. I want it enabled so I clicked on Continue.

This will prompt another authentication with Google services based on the account you put in earlier.

It may seem like you can't log in at this point because your password could be rejected a few times (even if you are sure it's correct).

Then Gmail may prompt you to send an alert to your existing Android device to authorize this. Of course, you'll need to allow that to happen. Then you'll need to enter the password again, and things should continue as planned.

Then enter the password again, and find out it will take a lifetime to complete the next step.

After all that is set up, you can then search for Instagram again and install it. Don't be weirded out that the Instagram title is cut off or anything; Bluestacks is an emulator, and it probably won't be perfect all the time.

Yes, all this just to be able to send direct messages on Instagram from my computer.

The usual permissions pop-up will come up. Sign away your life, accept that the NSA may be looking at, hearing you and pretty much spying on everything you do by using this app, then click on Accept.

For a brief moment, you'll see the app downloading and installing, and then the Open button will become available; click it. Dammit, click it!

Then marvel as your room fills with heavenly light and sound because you can use Instagram "natively" from your desktop.

Yes, that's Instagram in a window, in Bluestacks in my OSX desktop.

Click on Login with Facebook, or at the bottom to use your username and password; then proceed to login to Instagram. On. Your. Desktop.

The result should be both fascinating, and intriguing, but nonetheless functional and you should have the ability to send direct messages from your desktop.

If you go to try to message somebody on Instagram and the app just sends you back to the homepage in Instagram, you need to go into the Bluestacks settings and change the settings to simulate a tablet.

After you change the settings to reflect Tablet, then you'll be able to send direct messages to other Instagram users from the computer.

The display may be a little wider than you expect but typing with all your fingers on your full-sized keyboard beats typing with just two thumbs in a screen that's only 3 inches wide if you ask me.

Conclusion

As an honorable mention, there is also the Pushbullet app which allows for your mobile notifications to show up in your browser so at least you can tell when someone sent you a DM on Instagram. Maybe that's all you need.

I wish that Instagram would just give us direct messaging options from the web version. If they did that then we wouldn't have to jump through all these hoops just to be able to message our friends and contact each other.

Seriously, Instagram? #WTF.

But in any case, these two options worked fine for me. Feel free to give them a try if you want and let me know how they worked out for you.

The post Instagram – How to Send and Receive Direct Messages from Your Computer. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

When I was going through the earlier videos my friend Harsh reached out and told me about his Youtube subscription plugin. So this is what we're talking about today.

The plugin can be found here, and it's only ten bucks, $9.60 to be exact. Of course, like most things on this blog, I got it for free so I could tell you about it and take it for a test run.

First The Downsides of This Plugin

As usual, I'll tell you about the downsides of this plugin before I get into the good stuff; there's only one. The only issue I found so far is that it doesn't play nicely with another plugin I use called Fitvids for WordPress which takes care of making the videos responsive so they resize to the correct size for every screen.

When you use Fitvids with Youtube Viral Subscribe, you break the responsiveness. This may or may not be a huge deal to you, so act accordingly. I reached out to Harsh from Shoutmeloud and brought this up and he said they'll have a fix sometime next week so in reality, this may not be an issue by the time you read this.

Update 12/30 - The plugin has not been updated so I had to deactivate it for now. The demo may not work currently on this site, I will update this when there is an update to reflect a fix for the responsive display of the videos.

Now Onto The Review

The official name of the plugin is: Youtube Viral Subscribe, but you'll find it in your dashboard as Youtube Viral Growth. And it works pretty simply, by adding a link to subscribe to your YouTube channel directly on your WordPress blog.

[bctt tweet="The purpose of this plugin is to increase your subscribers, plain and simple." username="notagrouch"]

Installation is basically the same as all other plugins for WordPress. Download the plugin, install it to your WordPress dashboard using the upload feature and then activate the plugin. Once activated, you'll need your license key which you get when you buy the plugin. Plug your license in place and voila, the plugin is ready for use.

The settings are pretty straight forward as you can see in the following screen:

After the plugin is installed, activated and configured, a button to subscribe to your channel will show up under your Youtube videos embedded in WordPress and this makes it really easy for readers of your blogpost to subscribe to the channel without leaving the blogpost.

This is what it looks like on my blog as of right now:

Overall, this plugin has a lot of potential. As with any social network and social media growth tactic, you still need to put in the work and effort to create good content.

In this case, you need to make sure the content is attractive to your readers and make sure you configure your videos to be shown in the best light possible. Each video you embed in your blog becomes an invitation to subscribe to your YouTube channel so make sure it's compelling and attractive!

The post YouTube Subscriber Growth Plugin for WordPress appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It can be different for everybody, but there are some things that apply to everybody. My opinion is sometimes unpouplar but I know I'm right. The major social networks are: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, not necessarily in that order, there's also Snapchat.

There are also dozens of other networks that are more focused or have a smaller user base but have a deeper reach into a specific niche. Sites like Reddit, Stumbleupon, Minds, Medium, Quora and others

So which ones should you join to help you promote your business? This video covers that.

Which one is your favorite and specifically for business, which other, let me know in the comments in the video or here on the blog.

Things are changing really fast now and as the youngest generation enters the workforce, new networks like Snapchat are becoming more and more influential. I have been spending a lot of time on Snapchat, if you want to join me there.

The post Which Social Networks Should I Join For My Business? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

First a couple of disclosures, I am loving Snapchat. I first thought it was goofy, but I've come to embrace it and I think it's pretty awesome. I also see it growing and maturing quite a bit. I expect it to be a huge contender in the social media space within the next 6 - 12 months. It's already worth north of 20 Billion, so don't dismiss it anymore.

What is that ghost image with all the black dots?

It's called a Snapcode. Everybody that joins Snapchat gets their own unique Snapcode. It's similar to a QR code or a barcode, but only works with Snapchat at the moment. It is used as a way for you to follow other people, and for people to follow you. You simply scan it or take a picture of someone's Snapcode and then you can add them to your account. If you make your Snapcode available to the public, then other people can also add you the same way.

Can I change my Snapcode?

Yes. If you shared your Snapcode and you are getting added by people or strangers and you don't like that, you can request a new Snapcode here (requires Snapchat account).

You can also download a high resolution version of your Snapcode from the web version of your account so you can customize it. Just follow the guidelines and make sure you test it a lot before you print it or share it, sometimes you could break the functionality and make your snapcode useless.

Where do I find people to follow on Snapchat?

Some people consider the lack of discoverability in Snapchat a curse while others see it as a blessing. Regardless of how you feel about it, the reality is that you can't browse through a directory or category listing to find other people, there are no "recommended" sections, and there is no way to find people on Snapchat.

You have to know your friends on Snapchat already, so that means you need to be in contact with them somehow before you get to connect with them on Snapchat. Then you can share each other's usernames. The only discovery feature on Snapchat is that it can scan through your contact list and let you know if any of your contacts are already on Snapchat, see the next question.

But you pretty much have to go out and find new people on your own. 

As more people get on Snapchat and it becomes more popular, you'll see the snapcode will start showing up in various places. Some companies, like LA Print & Design are printing them on t-shirts and hoodies. You'll also notice them in the news, online, on blogs, on Twitter, but you have to be on the lookout for that and be ready.

There's a better way though, there are two websites I use to discover amazing people.

One is called Ghostcodes. Ghostcodes acts as a directory and lets you browse through tons of people that you may find interesting based on different categories. Thanks to Carolina for the tip on this.

The other website is called Snapdex. Snapdex is both a directory and a rating system for snapchatters, and thanks to @Stringstory for bringing this to my attention.

There's also a huge opportunity to find new people to add when you meet in person, like at a conference or workshop or a class. See: Add Nearby option below, in the next question.

How do I add somebody on Snapchat?

To connect with somebody on Snapchat, you need to find them (see previous question), then you can add them like you do on any other network. Adding someone on Snapchat is the same thing as "following" them. There are four methods you can use to add somebody on Snapchat, let me explain each one:

Add by Username - This lets you add somebody if you know their username, just type it in and voila!

Add from Address Book - This option will let you add people from your contacts list that are already using Snapchat. You'll see two sections when you pick this option, the first part will show you all the people that are already using Snapchat and are part of your address book; you can click on the button next to their name to add them. The second part will show you the rest of the people in your address book and allow you to invite them to join Snapchat.

Add by Snapcode - There are two ways of adding people by using their Snapcodes. First, if you see a Snapcode on a magazine, or a t-shirt, a sticker, or TV, you can take a picture of it. Then you can use the "add by Snapcode" option to scan that code directly from your phone gallery. You can also take a screenshot of a Snapcode.

The second option is to use the Snapchat camera to do a "live scan" of the Snapcode instead of taking a picture to scan later. See "How do I scan a Snapcode?" below for more details.

Add Nearby - If you're in a room with a lot of other people using Snapchat, like a classroom, or a conference, you can ask people to activate this option and then you'll see them when you click on it yourself. This is by far the easiest way to have a group of people connect with each other on Snapchat if they meet in person.

Share Username - This is about having other people add you and it is how you can get your own link to share with other people. When you click on this option, you'll be asked to share your snapchat link with any app you want, like Twitter, or email, or just text so you can copy and paste it anywhere you want. You can also just write your own link by following this format:

https://www.snapchat.com/add/thepapidaddy

Just replace "thepapidaddy" with your own name.

How do I scan a Snapcode?

There are two ways to follow somebody by their snapcode. One is to take a picture of a snapcode, or a screenshot with your phone, then scan that from the Snapchat add friends menu. The other option is to do a live scan of a snapcode using the camera in snapchat.

Here are detailed instructions on how to do both:

Add from Snapcode:

1. Take a picture or a screenshot of the snapcode so it saves to your phone's picture gallery.

2. Go to the "ghost" icon at the top of your Snapchat app.

3. Click on Add Friends

4. Click on Add by Snapcode.

5. This will bring up your camera roll, and you can then double-tap the snapcode to add that person. A quick note about this, in my experience sometimes this doesn't work the first time around and sometimes you have to tap the snapcode a few times rapidly for it to work.

Add using the live scan option on a Snapcode

1. Open Snapchat and go to the camera (rear facing).
2. Find the Snapcode you want to add, tap and hold. After a second or so, Snapchat will bring up a dialog box for you to add that person.

This animated image from Snapchat explains it well:

If you use Snapchat, are you a Snapper? or a Snapchatter? Or...

This is a funny question, but I think the best answer I found to this was from Quora, the answer is: Snapchatter.

What are Snapchat points?

When you start using Snapchat, you start accumulating points. This is called your Snapchat score. Right now, the points are calculated by some secret formula that Snapchat hasn't released and probably won't release anytime soon. But this is what Snapchat says about your score:

Your Snapchat score is a special equation combining the number of Snaps you've sent and received, Stories you've posted, and other factors.

What I know is that you get points for sending snaps to friends and having them open them. It seems that you also get points for adding and getting people to add you. It seems that using the various features in the app also help you get more points, like stickers, geofilters, etc.

Sometimes you'll see your score jump significantly and sometimes it seems to increase slower than the stock market during the recession. As of right now, the Snapchat score might be the biggest vanity metric in social media.

Wrapping it up

There are so many other questions I have and I'm sure new ones will come up, but I hope these will help you get started with Snapchat. Please let me know your thoughts or any other questions below in the comments or on Twitter.

The post Snapchat Tips, Questions and Answers appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Here's an example of my social media links using my blog:

• http://notagrouch.com/facebook
• http://notagrouch.com/snapchat
• http://notagrouch.com/twitter
• http://notagrouch.com/instagram
• http://notagrouch.com/fitbit

Managing your links like this makes you look professional. As a side effect, this helps people learn about your website without you having to send them the link to it. Another benefit is that you never have to look up any link that you setup like this; the perfect example is my fitbit address. Who would remember that? But I don't have to remember it, I just type it and voila, it works!

Use Cases:

These are ideal when you want to send links to people via SMS, or Snapchat, or just in regular messenger conversations. These are great to put in your business card too, or a banner, or a brochure. It helps you brand yourself better and also lets you control the traffic.

If you ever want to change where that link goes, you can. Just edit the redirect and change it wherever you want it to go. Perfect if you get a new Twitter account, or a different Facebook page. Ok, here's the video:

You can use this for affiliate links, or social media profiles, or specific blogposts. This video shows you how you can create redirects using your WordPress blog, and a very popular plugin. The plugin is called Redirection and it's available here. There are a few other plugins you could use or if you are feeling adventurous, you could do this at the server level using Apache redirects, but we'll leave that for another tutorial.

Video: How To Create Custom Social Media Links Using Your Blog

This same method can be used to create links to anything you want, like a specific blogpost or an affiliate product. It's very similar to using a custom short link like bit.ly or j.mp or even your own like I described in another blogpost.

Ultimately, this is up to you to get creative and use it however you want. The custom social media links is the easiest and most common place use of this. How would you use this?

The post How To Create Custom Social Media Links With Your Blog appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

But a quote caught my eye and I thought I'd make a quick graphic for it and share it with you. Here you go:

If you want to tweet this out use the link below and it should come through with the image when you post it.

[bctt tweet="There is no sale without the story; no knockout without the setup. -- Gary Vaynerchuk " username="notagrouch"]

The post No Story, No Sale. No setup, No Sale. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I don't care how you feel about it, when you use it correctly it can be an effective marketing tool. You can meet new people that align with your point of views and you can also find challenging ideas that make you think outside the box.

You can find prospects, leads and clients on Twitter. You can find new partnerships. You can learn about your competition. You can even advertise. I have met dozens of people that became my friends, Twitter has enriched my life financially and emotionally, probably more than any other social network.

I think Twitter has a lot of potential and to ignore it seems like a foolish proposition. If you aren't using Twitter already, I encourage you to start today. If you are using it and you aren't getting results then I encourage you to try new strategies and tactics to make Twitter fuel your path to achieving your goals.

Here is the thing with Twitter. Twitter is noisy, twitter is busy, it's a crowded space. You need to stand above the rest if you want to garner attention and develop trust.

If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, you'll find me here: @Notagrouch.

But HOW do I stand above the crowd?

One of the easiest way to do this is to grow the number of followers you have. Many people will tell you that it's not about quantity. It's "all about quality" they say, and they will tell you that it's better to have 10 really engaged people following you than having 100 quasi-engaged followers.

This is false. All things considered, the more followers you have the better. This is true for ALL networks, this is true for all businesses.

To stand above the crowd, you also need to be different. You need to offer value, you need to interact and you need to make the experience of following YOU, a special one; I'll cover that in a subsequent blogpost.

Today I want to show you how to increase your followers. In the tech community, we use the acronym: YMMV. YMMV means your mile may vary. What I'm about to show you works and is incredibly effective, but YMMV.

How To Get More Followers on Twitter

The first thing you need to do to get more followers on Twitter is to have the basics of using Twitter nailed down. If you don't do this, your results will not be optimal. Here's a quick list that covers some of those basic things:

• Have a complete profile. Profile picture, profile banner and a bio.
• Make your bio interesting, appealing, intriguing, or funny, but stay away from dry boring descriptions about what you do.
• Consistently post a variety of content of interest to you. This shows some of your interests.
• Post content that is informative and, or entertaining to your target audience. This shows you understand what your audience wants or needs.
• And last but not least ENGAGE with followers as much as you possibly can. This means that you care.

With those basic elements out of the way then you can follow what I'm about to show you to rapidly grow your followers.

When you follow somebody on Twitter, they receive at least one notification that you have followed them in the Twitter app. The notification looks like the one below:

Sometimes they receive additional notifications via email, sms, or via 3rd party apps if they have turned those notifications on.

This is important because it is an easy opportunity for you to let somebody know that you're interested in them. If they are paying attention to their Twitter account, then this is a good "first touch" outreach to them.

Just as a matter of fact, many of the people that you follow, will follow you back. You can then confirm that they have noticed you. This opens up a channel of communication that could be stronger than other alternatives like emailing them out of the blue.

Unfortunately, if an account follows you back automatically or quickly after you followed them, it could be an indicator that the account is not really being managed by a person but instead it is set to automatically follow back anybody that follows it. -- You don't want to follow these accounts.

To weed out the fake accounts, or those accounts that don't really want to engage, you can then look at those accounts that followed you back and analyze them, then engage with them.

Using these techniques, in just over 2 weeks, I went from roughly 3000 followers to a little over 5000. My goal is to get to 7500 followers before my birthday on August 6. It's a lofty goal, but I think it is doable.

How do you engage with Twitter accounts?

First, avoid the old, tired and boring "thank you for following me" message. This message is useless and makes most people go "ugh." Instead, thank your new followers by asking them a question about their profile, or one of their latest tweets, or visit their blog and acknowledge one of their posts.

This is infinitely more effective than just saying "thanks." Whatever you do, DO NOT pitch them your product or service in your first couple of interactions. And do not direct message them to pitch them either.

Based on their response to your approach, you'll be able to determine if you should continue to follow them.

For example, if you see that they have posted links in the past few minutes or hours, but they take 2 days to respond to you or don't respond at all, then most likely they are just posting links automatically. Maybe they are not a great account to follow.

So how do you find new (good) accounts to follow?

There are a few ways to find good new accounts.

One way is to use the search feature in Twitter to look for keywords and topics that are in line with you and your purposes on Twitter. Another way is to look at the accounts that are the leaders in your niche and look at their followers, then try to attract those followers.

You can also look for the trending topics on Twitter and find people you may find interesting there.

The numbers matter. The numbers matter a lot.

Twitter is a lot about talking to each other and learning from each other, but by definition, Twitter establishes that there are "followers" and there are leaders.

You want to be a leader in your space or niche, so you need to keep an eye on those numbers. The numbers I'm talking about are the number of people you follow vs the number of people that follow you.

You should aim to have more followers than the number of people you follow (following).

For example, if you only have a couple hundred followers, you should not be following 1000 accounts. At the time of this writing for example, I follow around 2700 people and I have just over 5500 people following me.

This approach does two things, it helps other people follow me more easily because from a psychological perspective they think "well, all these people follow him, so I probably want to follow him too." But it also demonstrates that you care about the well being and maintenance of your own account. And a third unintended consequence is that you are seen as an authority.

[bctt tweet="In business, being an authority is not important, it is imperative." username="notagrouch"]

If you simply follow back every account that follows you, by definition you will be following a lot of junk accounts, a lot of spammers and this will just clutter up your Twitter feed. Eventually you'll get tired of all that junk, then you'll find ways to automate your own activity on Twitter and then you'll be contributing to the noise without getting any real benefit, or creating any value. Don't "followback" just because.

If you follow everybody that you find, and you never revisit them, people will see that you follow lots more people than follow you and this will come across as a "needy" or "begging" behavior. Don't do this, remember, numbers matter.

How to clean up and lower the number of accounts you follow

I explained how to vet accounts, and how to find accounts to follow. So how do you determine which accounts to unfollow?

Look for spammy behavior. When you follow an account that seems interesting, see how they respond to your interactions. Do they immediately invite you to like their Facebook page, or sing up for their list, or do they immediately send you an automatic direct message?

Many accounts have automatic messages that you get immediately after following them, 98% of the time these are junk accounts. Take a look at their posts and you will notice that they have the same message going out to all their followers all day long.

If you believe that they just made a mistake and don't know what they're doing and you really want to follow them, then ask them a question. Engage with them and see how they respond. I am willing to bet most of them will never respond, because they have the account doing all that stuff automatically, they probably haven't been on Twitter for weeks or months.

This sounds like a lot of work does it not?

This is what I've been teaching people. Twitter is not easy. It can be really rewarding if you put in the time and effort. But you don't have to do all this by hand.

I would like to introduce you to Rewst. This will show you How to grow your Twitter account.

This is a new tool that helps with all the stuff I've mentioned above. It helps you find new people to connect with on Twitter and it helps you boost your numbers, organically. It hasn't officially been launched, but soon you will see it everywhere.

In addition to managing your account numbers, Rewst (pronounced like roost) also lets you schedule your tweets in advance, suggests the best time to post and has a lot of other goodies that will make your life easier.

Finding followers with Rewst

If you want to find new people to follow, you can use Rewst to help you do this. There are a few different ways that you can do this.

You can find your Fans, people that follow you but you don't or haven't followed back. You can find all the people that are new followers as well.

Also, you can copy followers, and find new people by searching for keywords in their bios or follow the suggestions provided by Rewst.

The copy followers feature works like I mentioned earlier. You enter a username that is in your niche and that has a number of followers, then you'll be able to follow all the people that follow that account. This initiates the first contact interaction that I mentioned above.

Cleaning up your Twitter account with Rewst.

I mentioned before that you should keep a ratio favoring the number of people that follow you vs the number of people you follow. This is easily managed with the Unfollow menu in Rewst.

The three main ways to unfollow people provided by Rewst follow the principles I mentioned earlier.

Unfollow inactive accounts, you can also unfollow accounts that are not following you back and you don't necessarily want to follow anymore, or non-followers, and you can also unfollow accounts that recently unfollowed you.

Don't get into a habit of following people and then unfollowing them, this is not considered good practice but in some cases it may be necessary, YMMV.

If you find people that you don't want to see anymore on your searches, or copy followers function, you can blacklist them so they don't show up again. The blacklist only applies inside the Rewst app.

For those times when you still want to use the unfollowing features in Rewst, but you want to avoid unfollowing certain people, you can use the whitelist function to exclude them from this screen.

Hope this introduction to Rewst was helpful and I hope you give it a try. If you want to grow your Twitter following, you definitely have to try this. It has been the most helpful tool in helping me grow my following and I believe it can do the same for you. Check out Rewst here to get started.

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