[MUSIC] Stan Smith, is the head of Pushing Social, an organization dedicated to helping companies build their social persona. When Stan talks to my social marketing class, I really like his discussion on thinking about the professional persona you want to develop. Since that is one of your assignments in mook one, I wanted to have Stan give us his success tips. Stan, welcome to our social marketing specialization. >> Thank you for having me. >> Will you tell me a bit about yourself, and about Pushing Social? >> Sure. I always say there's three things you need to know about me. One is that I love my boys, I love my barbecue, and I love fishing. So that's the three top things. And Pushing Social is a company that solves tough marketing problems with content and blogging. One of things I really like, in terms of the message you deliver to my social marketing class, is the idea that a lot of times people think of themselves in terms of a specific sort of media. Like, I'm a blogger. >> Mm-hm. >> And you say, no, no, you're not a blogger. Think bigger. >> Right. >> Can you tell us a little bit about that approach? >> Sure. And that approach starts with knowing your valuable skill. In our economy and in marketing you really have to understand who you are as a person and what's your valuable skill. And I like to say you need to know how to connect who you are and what you know to a enthusiastic group of supporters. Okay? So if you have those pieces, then you have a good start. And then from there we can go into really three areas that you want to focus on. The very first thing you want to do is you want to be unique. Now, my role models are Beyonce and Jay Z. Simply because they have figured out a way to be more than just a pop singer, and a rapper. Everyone knows that Beyonce is much more than a singer, she's a force of nature, right? She's a pop icon. Same thing with Jay Z. And the reason why they're able to do that is because they are able to reimagine themselves. Now, you don't have to be Jay Z or Beyonce to reimagine yourself. You can just take what you're doing today, and just push it just a bit. And see how you can move outside of that role. So for example, you can be a blogger or, let me give you an example, you can be a person who blogs about restaurants and how restaurants run. You should blog about that, but try to take a one step further and talk about how your content can help that restaurateur be more successful. So think of yourself as a dining content strategist. Not just a blogger, but dining content strategist. Another example is, you write your blog posts but you can do blog posts, plus push it a bit and do YouTube videos. DishContent.tv if you will. So that way you are moving into a different area and your being more unique in that way. And I really encourage people not to think of their readers as just an audience, but think of them as a cult following. People that you want to encourage and nurture in an audience, you want to grow over time. Who are enthusiastic supporters of what you do. >> So then it's like push out in something new, like going to YouTube. And actually pushing in to probably a little bit different audience and get more enthusiastic followers. >> Right. That's exactly it. And you know, it expands your read so you're getting in a diverse group of people and on platforms that they may have never known about you. It's a lot easier to differentiate yourself there. So that's what I would do there. The next thing you want to think about, is how do you add value? And really to separate yourself as an authority brand, you have to be able to always add value to the conversation. And how you go about doing that is number one. Start making good relationships out there. I know when I started I reached out to as many influencers are I could, you even mentioned this in your class. About reaching out to influencers and really approaching the relationship with the mindset of how can I give versus, hi my name is Stan, you're an influencer, what can I take? You want to give them something. Figure out how you can add value to that relationship. And one tip I would give people is that, once you find an influencer, spend six months invested in that relationship before you ask for something. After that point, it'll be much easier for them to want to promote you. >> One of the things we're going to do in moot two, is we're going to give the participants tools that will allow them to find the influencers in the markets that they want to develop. And once they have that list, that's what we recommend as well. Don't start bothering them, just retweet them and support them. >> Right. >> And in doing so, you're going to set the foundation that will let them help you market when you're ready to go. >> Absolutely. The quickest way to get on someone's radar is to be helpful, so I think that's super important. And the third piece is diversify your platform. Don't be a one trick pony. Now, you can start off with blogging but look for ways that you can expand your content and what you talk about entail those other areas. So we're really going deeper into that area. So specifically you can talk about, let's say you're in business and you know Slideshare which is a great community and they actually aggregate presentations for the business community. So you can write Slideshare content for that community. You can go on Facebook and do Facebook communities. You can have podcast and have it out on iTunes. So there's a lot of different ways that you can take your content, your blog content for example, and repurpose it for those other platforms. >> For me, personally, that was the biggest tip. >> Mm-hm. >> Because I do that myself. I'll write a blog. >> Mm-hm. >> But then I'll take my blog and I'll make a series of bullet points and I'll put it out on Slide Share. >> Yes, absolutely. >> And then I might record it and put it out as an audio for other people. Each one gets me to a different audience with people of the same interest. >> The one blog post can turn into four different pieces of content. So that's a great thing. And the next this is that. There's always a new platform out there. Now I'm going to give you the right to not have to deal with every single platform that's out there. But pay attention to opportunities in which you can take your content and reach another audience. You know you have Meerkat, Periscope, for me you know I wasn't big into pinterest, until I got onto the platform, I was like wow, this is really great and this the new way to share what I know. So look at those new platforms, and look for those opportunities to really get ahead of your competition and to continue to differentiate yourself. >> Well, these are fantastic tips and it's very important because as we're doing our first assignment, we want people to think of a market they want to develop. But I think it's very important to think beyond that. How am I going to become an authority brand in there. I really want to thank you for providing us these valuable tips, thanks Stan. >> Thank you for having me. [MUSIC]
