With Jonathan Christian

Having briefly looked at using mobile phones for social media let’s continue to discuss how you can maximize the use of your smart phone in other ways.

What? At our Meetup last Saturday we asked how many members used a smart phone – about half the room. We then asked how many use their phone for anything other than talking – again another half of the group. It would seem that sending or receiving email, texting, updating Facebook or Twitter is still “out there” for many users. This reaction had me thinking back to my first cell phone in the early 90’s (which was the size of a brick and almost as useful), and how much I have come to value my phone today as my mobile computer.

Why? Many of us are in and out of meetings, presenting to clients and traveling away from our offices. For me, being without my cell would be like being without my wallet — it’s worth that much to me. It’s a tool like no other, that helps me perform and promote my business – while being able to communicate effectively wherever and whenever I want or need to.

How? I have client’s who are realtors – who often work 7 days a week and every so often take a luxury vacation. What happens to their business while their away? They take it with them! Their Blackberry and laptop is all they need to make and receive offer.  Sure they can’t do showings but they’re findings solutions to that challenge too.

Most of us try to find balance between family events such as school concerts and work – and using our smart phones can really help. And today, without even being in my office, I was able to respond to several emails and complete two deals. While there’s nothing like  a face to face meeting – my smart phone is proving that it isn’t always necessary to get the job done.

Tipzntrix: Make sure your smart phone email is in sync with your computer. If you’re not on an exchange server (which can act on two devices simultaneously), simply read on your phone and file on your laptop. If you receive multiple emails per day, you can set up several email accounts and separate which emails you need to read by sharing a private email address with those who you need to stay in constant contact with.  These are just a few of the ways to make your mobile device work for you – without becoming enslaved to it.  Need some help? Email me at jonathan@neilgodin.com and I’ll get right back to you (via Blackberry of course!)
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Welcome to the 90-Day Marketing Dangerously Social Media Challenge

Where we are doing our best to answer one simple question: Can social media work for business?

For the 90 days of our social media challenge, Marketing Dangerously is running blog posts and newsletter articles three days a week that relate specifically to using social media to build business (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we continue to run our T’nT (Tuesday and Thursday) articles on how to promote your business generally.

Why are we focusing on social media for 90 days?

If you’re in business you’ve been told you “have” to be on Facebook…you’ve “got” to be on Twitter – or at least on LinkedIn – not to mention YouTube, Digg, Squidoo, Reddit, MeetUp, Naymes, Plaxo, MySpace. STOP.

And, if you’re like most of the business people we talk to, you don’t “want” to be on any of these sites. You don’t want to hear that someone’s heading out for coffee — or how (badly) they golfed on the weekend. But. Is tweeting nuisance messages “really” using social media effectively? What about using Twitter (and Facebook) for nothing but sending and receiving valuable business messages? What about joining customer groups on these sites – handing out helpful advice.  And providing links to your website or blog – and links to sources of other helpful advice – positioning yourself as an expert?

Would that work? Or would it just be a waste of time?

During this 90 day challenge we are posting three times a week to our Marketing Dangerously blog (and newsletter), challenging you each time with a new social media task — in our quest to answer that question. By the time we’ve completed the challenge we (and you) will know if using social media — of every kind — and in every way — can generate sales of our products and services. And, of course, we will share what we learn with blow by blow descriptions of what we tried; how it worked (or wallowed) and what you can do to implement these ideas in your own business. Our blog is at: http://www.neilgodin.com/marketingdangerouslyblog/

20% of all sales go to Kiva, our favorite non-profit!

Yes. Fully twenty percent of all product and service sales during the campaign are being contributed to Kiva, the world wide organization that arranges micro-loans to micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world. Entrepreneurship is our passion. Promoting entrepreneurship (vs. charity) in the developing world goes beyond passion. We are darn near fanatic about supporting and promoting this cause. And we hope you stay with us.

Neil Godin, Jonathan Christian, and The Marketing Dangerously Tribe
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