Relationship Marketing: How to Build Meaningful Connections that Lead to Business

Do you want to develop relationships that will lead to business?
Are you wondering how you can use social media to build valuable connections?
To learn about the importance of relationships in business, I interview Ted Rubin for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.
It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.
The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).
In this episode, I interview Ted Rubin, co-author of Return on Relationship. He’s also the former chief social marketing officer for Collective Bias and OpenSky. Prior to that, Ted was the CMO for e.l.f. Cosmetics.
Ted shares the best ways to start to grow your online connections via social media.
You’ll learn what you need to include in your profile and why return on relationship is the most important thing for a business or brand.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.
Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Relationship Marketing

Recently I attended New Media Expo (NMX) in Las Vegas, where I was not only embraced by fellow podcasters, I was overwhelmed by the number of people who came up to me to thank me for this show. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you.
Since I had a mission for this conference, I didn’t announce that I would be attending. My hope is that you will be inspired by the story of why I did this, and that you will try it for yourself.
How to build relationships in person, that often start online
In my second book, Launch, I talk about the power of other people. I coined the phrase “Elevation Principle,” which consists of great content plus other people minus marketing messages equals growth.
For podcasters, the “other people” include listeners—a segment of whom I call “power users,” or people with extreme influence. Without them, it’s really hard to grow your business.
I went to NMX with two purposes. I wanted to build relationships with the podcasting community and the parenting community, since I’m a newbie in both of these spaces.

New Media Expo was a great event to connect with fellow podcasters.

You’ll discover why I only attended a few sessions, and made it a priority to hang around at the end of each session.
One of the best places to meet the speakers is out in the halls, or where the speakers gather to network with each other. They don’t seem to attend any sessions other than their own. It’s an opportunity to have amazing conversations with influential people.
You’ll hear the types of questions I asked to get people engaged, which can develop into real relationships. This is one of the secrets to the success of my business, and it can be for you too.
My take-home lesson is to get involved in real life through face-to-face encounters. One of the best places to do this is at a conference. Our upcoming conference, Social Media Marketing World, is a great place to start.
Are relationships still important AND achievable with social media?
Ted Rubin likes to say that “relationships are the new currency.” With all of the different social media channels available, you can reach the world 24/7, without ever leaving your home. It used to be that you had to wait until you were at a company meeting or an event to meet people.
The problem today is that when people click your name or check a box to follow you, they immediately think they have a real relationship with you or your brand.

Just by clicking like, people think that they have a real relationship with you.

A lot of brands believe that they need to get as many likes and followers as possible so they can broadcast to them. It’s not about broadcasting, though—it’s about building relationships.
Listen to the show to find out why building a relationship online is no different to a regular relationship offline.
How to make people feel like you’re giving them your full attention with social media
Ted says that you have to start with what he calls “looking people in the eye digitally.” An easy way to do this is to look at their profile and learn something about them.
He often quotes Dale Carnegie‘s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, as one of the best social media books ever written.

The book was written in 1936.

The most important part of the book is on how to connect with people. One of Dale’s statements is, ”A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.”
One of the simplest ways to get someone to totally focus on you is to call him or her by name. You can easily get a person’s name from their profile and you should always have your name easily accessible as well.

Always make sure that your name and a few personal details are accessible on your profile.

You’ll hear the advantages of calling someone by his or her name and how to pick up on personal things that you can then use to make a connection.
Ted says there is no excuse in this digital world for failing to find out something about the person you are talking to. It’s these little things that set you apart from everybody else.
Listen to the show to learn why it goes a long way for people to know who you are as a person.
The phrase “Return on Relationship”
Ted says that when he first started to use the phrase in 2009, he thought he had coined it, but soon discovered that back in 2001, there had been a white paper called “Return on Relationship.”
He first started to use the expression when he worked at e.l.f. Cosmetics. When Ted joined the family-owned business, they had no marketing budget. This was a huge challenge for him.
Within four years, e.l.f. had grown to a $10 million business, and had about 2.4 million people in their database. Ted saw this as a great opportunity to do promotions and leverage the data with social media.

The number of names in e.l.f.’s database increased from 600,000 to 2.4 million, from the use of promotions and social media.

The owners found it hard to understand why he wasn’t doing something that led directly to revenue. Ted found a way to get them to understand. It wasn’t about return on investment (ROI), it was about return on relationship.
You’ll discover what platform Ted used back in 2008-2009 that made him realize he was on to something. At the same time, he had built the first aggregated content site. The blog was very active and it really connected with people.
Listen to the show to learn why the return on relationship today is about the connection, loyalty and sharing you have with people.
Examples of brands that have done this well
Ted is a huge fan of Jet Blue because they listen. They let you know that they care when you have a problem and that they are doing something about it.

Jet Blue does a great job of listening to customers.

Ted likes to say that brands are from Mars and consumers are from Venus. Brands say one thing, and consumers hear it differently. Consumers want to be heard. You can go a lot further if you show that you listen.
You’ll hear what happened when Jet Blue’s reputation took a hit back in 2009, and how they used social media to overcome it.
Duane Reade is another company that does an amazing job at building relationships. When Ted worked at Collective Bias, he helped build Duane Reade’s social presence from 900 to 1.7 million Twitter followers.
You’ll find out the strategy and what people associate the brand with.
Listen to the show to find out why critics are very valuable to your business.
The importance of brand advocates
Ted feels that in today’s digital world, recommendations and comments made by people are held in high regard. A lot of relationship building and interaction are vicarious—not necessarily resulting from a direct conversation.
Some people watch others’ conversations on Twitter or visit a person’s Facebook page every day just to get a feel for who they are.
For Ted, advocacy is about people who share and make recommendations. He feels that the comments people make to their friends via social media are more important than reviews.
You’ll hear about the best ways to build brand advocates and how their suggestions can help you form a connection with your community.
The best advocates you can have are your employees. A company called Dynamic Signal does a great job of helping company employees build their personal brands.

You should give your employees a place where they can talk about you on your platform.

Listen to the show to find out how you can pay attention to your advocates.

Other Show Mentions

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Social Media Marketing World.
Social Media Marketing World 2014 is our physical mega-conference, which is set to return to San Diego, California on March 26, 27 and 28.
The conference features more than 80 sessions in four major tracks: social tactics, social strategy, community management and content marketing.
A small sampling of some of the marketers speaking are from brands such as LinkedIn, Discover, Marriott, Huffington Post, H&R Block, Humana and Adobe, among many others.
To reinforce the networking value of this conference, here’s a clip from Chris Brogan.
If you want to take your relationship marketing to the next level, this is where you need to be. Be sure to check it out.
Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Ted Rubin on his blog or on Return on Relationship.
• Read Ted’s co-authored book, Return on Relationship.
• Check out New Media Expo (NMX) as a great place to network.
• Read more about the Elevation Principle in the book, Launch.
• Check out Dale Carnegie‘s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People.
• Try the Refresh app to find out more about people in your contact file.
• Head over to e.l.f. Cosmetics and check them out on Twitter and Facebook.
• Take a look at Jet Blue and Duane Reade on Twitter to see how they develop relationships with customers.
• See how American Airlines and Delta have followed in Jet Blue’s footsteps on Twitter.
• Check out Dynamic Signal, an employee advocacy service.
• Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2014.
• Contact Emily at emily@socialmediaexaminer.com if you are interested in corporate sponsorships for Social Media Marketing World 2014.

Help Us Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.
If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe. And if you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.

Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
• Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed).
• You can also subscribe via Stitcher and Blackberry.

What do you think? What are your thoughts on building meaningful connections? Please leave your comments below.

Story as Strategy: How Social Storytelling Leads to Business

Do you use storytelling in your business?

Are you wondering how to use stories in your social strategy?

To learn how you can use stories to sell, I interview Gary Vaynerchuk for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It! andThe Thank You Economy. He’s also the CEO of VaynerMedia. His newest book is Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World.

Gary shares why storytelling is important for your business.

You’ll learn how to discover deeper data and why analytics are an essential part of your social strategy.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Story as Strategy

The story behind Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Gary explains how he had an epiphany that he might have let people down by over-indexing the act of giving in The Thank You Economy. Although he knew his readers would understand that to give is great, they wouldn’t necessarily understand that at some stage you have to ask.

The book title, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, stands for Give, Give, Give, Ask. You have to remember to give value, which eventually leads to putting out a good call to action, which leads to business. Gary says that even some of the best social media people don’t know how to ask for business.

Gary's new book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World.

The idea behind the book was for it to be a utility for people. It looks at individual pieces of content as case studies.

You’ll hear why Gary wanted to write a how-to book and why the title is a boxing metaphor.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary looks at social media as a science.

What boxing teaches us about social media marketing

Gary explains that it’s the crossroads of the analytics and being creative to create business results.

He feels like a lot of social media experts don’t put enough effort into analyzing data. Gary didn’t put in the effort either until he started VaynerMedia. Now he has seven full-time analysts. This has given him a much deeper insight into the black-and-white of it all.

VaynerMedia on Facebook.

There are also people who think it’s all algorithmic. They underestimate the value of the human touch and creative, which is the art. Analysis is the science. It’s the crossroads of the two.

Most social media marketers don’t look deep into their analytics because of time or capacity. Most are consumed by speaking, consulting and selling content. Gary feels that it’s time and money that hold most people back. This is why he wanted to share his ideas.

Gary recommends that you use Facebook analytics to test for deeper data. It’s a great tool that has a ton of uses.

You need to think about and test what you put on your Facebook page and Twitter.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary likes to isolate himself into ‘doing’ versus ‘consuming.’

Common traps marketers fall into when it comes to social media

Gary advises that you need to be careful and be able to back up what you say.

He believes that he gets away with a lot of stuff because of the huge success he has had with Wine Library TV. Plus VaynerMedia is an eight-figure business already, where the number of employees has grown from 25 to 300.

Gary has had huge success with Wine Library TV.

You’ll find out why self-awareness is important and what else you need to consider when you want to help people.

Listen to the show to find out why execution matters.

Why storytelling is important

Gary says that storytelling matters because stories are powerful and everlasting and they are what turn a commodity into a business. He believes that a story matters more than anything else.

It’s brand equity. It’s why we buy name-brand products. It’s why fashion works. It’s what cool is about. It’s our sense of place in the world.

The best way to do it is contextually. His book includes 86 case studies that show individual pieces of content that are good and bad. Gary’s biggest goal for the new book is for it to be on everyone’s desk as a reference for when they want to put content out there.

You’ll hear why Gary always starts his talks with his own personal story and whyYouTube and Twitter were the two platforms that became important to him.

A recent New York Times article talks about how Gary and his team at VaynerMedia helped Nilla Wafers exponentially grow their business results with content only onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The New York Times recently featured Gary and his team at VaynerMedia.

You’ll learn about what type of content works best for each platform and the importance of having respect for the context of the platform you tell your story on.

Listen to the show to find out what you need to ask yourself to turn a boring product into an interesting one.

What is micro-content? 

When it comes to storytelling, Gary explains that “micro” means fast. When you think about how quickly content is consumed on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram from a mobile device, then you need to put content out there that can capture attention in about 1/100th of a second.

It has to be lightweight and can include memes, animated GIFs and Vines.

You’ll learn about the different types of stories you can tell and why it’s important totalk about your value proposition.

In Gary’s book, he talks about the formula, micro-content + community management = effective social media marketing. When it comes to the community management component, Gary says it’s the proudest aspect of who he is in the social media space. He says that 90% of his tweets are @replies. You don’t just throw your content out there, you have to engage.

You have to engage with your audience.

You’ll discover why Gary chooses engagement over consumption and entertainment.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary believes that Twitter is the one true social network.

How to use a story effectively to drive conversions and sales

Gary says it’s important to engage, engage, engage and create context, so when you ask someone to buy from you, they feel like they owe you something.

Listen to the show to find out why it’s important to continue to deliver.

The importance of effort

You have to put in the effort and the time. A lot of people know what to do, but don’t follow through and actually implement. Gary believes there are a lot of thought leaders who put out blueprint without doing what they are teaching.

It’s part of the opportunity for these leaders to separate themselves from the pack.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary’s latest book is still gaining momentum in presales.

This Week’s Social Media Question

Doug, who is starting a social media strategy company helping small businesses in the Orlando, Florida area, asks, “What is the most effective way to manage usernames, passwords and logins for my clients?”

The good news for the most part is that there’s no need for your clients to give away their passwords to all of their social media accounts for you to manage. For example, with a Facebook page, LinkedIn account or a Google+ account, it will allow you to add administrators.

However, Twitter is slightly different. You’ll need a management app such asSocialOomph or HootSuite, where within the app you can delegate control. Twitter doesn’t make it easy for multiple people to manage accounts because they have a single email address tied to every account.

With Pinterest, I don’t think they have as robust of a management strategy.

If you’re in a position where you need to share (or a client needs to share with you) an ID and password for a social network, I strongly recommend that you make sure whoever is managing your account uses a secure password management tool such as1Password.

1Password is a great password storage system for managing multiple accounts for clients.

Whatever you do, don’t use your web browser to store IDs and passwords. If your laptop gets stolen, someone can pull up the web browser and essentially take over your accounts.

If you have given away your ID and password, then change them. If there are quite a few of you who share the same ID and password, then 1Password is a robust password storage system that works great across every platform.

Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you.

Other Show Mentions

Social Media Marketing World 2014 is our physical mega-conference, which is set to return to San Diego, California on March 26, 27 and 28.

The conference is an incredible opportunity for small business owners and marketers who work for corporations. It features more than 60 sessions across four major tracks, including social tactics, social strategy, community management and content marketing.

There are a lot of big brands that will be presenting, so if you work for a brand, you can go nonstop from brand panel to brand panel. There is also plenty of non-brand stuff for those of you who are not part of a big brand.

Representatives from IBM, Whole Foods, Century 21, SAP, Citrix, Aetna, Experian, Intercontinental Hotels and Kelly Services PLUS moderators from Cisco and Price Waterhouse Coopers will be speaking or participating in the conference.

The list of brands is growing on a regular basis, so be sure to check it out.

Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Gary Vaynerchuk on his website or Twitter.
• Check out Gary’s books: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World, Crush It! and The Thank You Economy.
• Learn more about Facebook Insights to help you dig for deeper data.
• Head over to Wine Library TV.
• Check out Gary on YouTube.
• Read the recent New York Times article featuring Gary and his team at VaynerMedia.
• Take a look at Nilla Wafers’ accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Check out SocialOomph and HootSuite as management tools for Twitter.
• Try 1Password as a secure password management tool.
• Contact Emily at emily@socialmediaexaminer.com if you are interested in corporate sponsorships for Social Media Marketing World 2014.
• Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2014.

Help Us Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.

Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
• Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed).
• You can also subscribe via Stitcher and Blackberry.

What do you think? What are your thoughts on social storytelling? Please leave your comments below.

Becoming a Media Company: How to Turn Your Business Into a Platform

Do you use content to capture the attention of consumers?

Are you wondering how to reach out to a larger audience?

To learn about how any business can become a media outlet, I interview Michael Brito for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Michael Brito, author of Smart Business, Social Business and his latest book, Your Brand: The Next Media Company.

Michael shares the reasons why your business should become a media outlet.

You’ll learn the five characteristics behind a successful media company and how to get started.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Becoming a Media Company

Why you should become “the media”

Historically the media has always captured the attention of consumers. Successful media companies produce great content and Michael says that brands need to think the same way.

If you think about traditional media companies such as Condé Nast, it has a very diverse story and narrative. No matter what the subject is, a consistent story is shared across paid, earned and owned media.

Condé Nast remains consistent throughout all of its channels.

When you start to dissect what they do at Condé Nast, they are actually storytellers.

As a brand, you need to figure out what story you want to tell and then figure out how to tell it. It’s not just for social platforms, but across every form of the customer experience. This can include paid advertising.

You have to think of every customer touch point for your business. Media companies are very good at having a consistent story across each touch point.

You’ll hear how brands have a lot of power within their own companies to tell a story. You just need to figure out the right operational framework to make it come to life.

Listen to the show to find out what Forbes did that started to grab Michael’s attention 3-4 years ago.

Businesses that have become media via their content and platform

Michael gives an example of a brand in the consumer space, B2B space and small business space.

A company that’s in the consumer space is Red Bull. Red Bull is definitely a media company that has a very diverse narrative, and it’s not about energy drinks. It’s more to do with epic events and empowerment. It’s another brand that is consistent across all channels.

Red Bull empowers people to be able to do what they want.

Red Bull has its own in-house media agency that creates compelling content day in and day out, with the consistent message, “Red Bull Gives You Wings.”

When Red Bull helped Felix Baumgartner do a space dive, the brand was mentioned for months after the event. The story was told through visual content and long-form content, both paid and owned media.

You’ll hear why Michael believes that brands should capitalize on long-form content.

Intel, a company in the B2B space, capitalized on its employees’ passion for Intel’s products. Today it’s referred to as brand journalism. Consumers trust employees of a company, which especially helps when it comes to purchases.

The small business example is a company based in San Francisco called Visage that does enterprise mobility software. Its Chief Mobility Officer blog talks about enterprise mobility and not about the company. Some of the writers are on staff and others are outside contributors.

Writers create content 3-5 times a week in long form.

The story affects the way consumers view the brand. It’s all value-added content tohelp non-consumers solve their problems. Michael says this is how brands need to think.

Listen to the show to find out why long form is so powerful for any brand or company.

What it takes to become a media company

After five months of research, which included Michael’s own experience and several interviews from traditional media companies, Michael identified five characteristics.

1. Storytelling
2. Content
3. Relevance
4. Ubiquitous
5. Agile

Media companies have workflows that facilitate the entire content supply chain—from the initial idea to the time the story is produced, distributed and then integrated into paid or owned media. They have software, editors and proofers.

All of these controls make sure the story is consistent across all channels. It’s what pumps and feeds the content engine every day.

Listen to the show to learn why HubSpot is a role model for businesses.

How to determine your focus

Michael states that there are several factors that brands should consider as they think about their narrative.

The first one is your brand’s message and what the complete value proposition is. You’ll discover why most companies fail on the social side.

A few other factors are the way the media perceives the brand and how they talk about the brand. You need to be aware of how people talk about your brand and make sure it’s in line with what you want them to say.

Another important factor is search. You have to understand the way consumers search for your brand.

Michael talks about 10 inputs to determining your focus in his new book, Your Brand: The Next Media Company.

All 10 inputs are covered in depth in Michael's book.

Once you understand all of the inputs, the right story will come to life. The next step is to figure out where you want to tell your stories.

Listen to the show to find out how you can have a different storyline for each platform.

Tips for small businesses that think it’s beyond their reach

Michael says that the number-one point is to understand your audience. You need to know what their interests are other than your brand.

There are inexpensive tools available that can help you identify your audience’s interests and understand their complete social graph. This allows you to provide more relevancy to your message.

A tool that Michael and his team use to deliver content strategies for clients isDemographics Pro. You can get a complete analysis of your Twitter followers for around $200.

Part of the analysis includes where your audience members eat and shop.

Another company is the Wisdom App, which does a very similar thing within Facebook.

Listen to the show to discover another app that you can use to gather intelligence.

Where to start if you want to become a media company

Michael states that first of all, your brand needs to define its content strategy. There are three points to consider and you’ll hear him give an example for each.

1. What is it that you want to say?
2. How do you want to say it?
3. Where do you want to say it?

You can become a media company on all of the social channels you are already active on.

Listen to the show to find out why you don’t need to develop a blog from scratch to become a media company.

Hire special people or use existing employees

The resource side is a huge challenge. A lot of businesses don’t have the resources available to hire an agency.

There are platforms out there, including Contently and Ebyline, that have a network of journalists, bloggers and influencers. You need to write the creative brief and then hire writers to write the content on your behalf.

Use Ebyline to hire credible freelance writers to create your content.

You’ll find out who American Express OpenForum uses to create its content.

It’s good for business to have a combination of employees and third-party journalists.

Listen to the show to find out how you can discover your best internal people for writing content.

This Week’s Social Media Question

Jose Milgar, a graphic designer, asks, “I am about to launch my website called ProyectaPrint. A lot of my colleagues use Facebook to promote themselves as freelancers and I see a lot of local businesses that use Twitter to try to force-feed you their products and services. I am definitely thinking about using social networks to promote my services, but should I address my audience as my business name or my own name? In other words, should I interact with my audience as a business or as a person?”

ProyectaPrint is coming soon.

This is the very question I struggled with when I started Social Media Examiner. I had a Twitter account, which is @Mike_Stelzner, and I wasn’t sure if I should set up another Twitter account for the brand. I had the same situation with Facebook too.

Since you have a business that transcends Jose the graphic designer and it’s not just about you, it’s about your business, I strongly recommend you consider both.

With both your business accounts for Twitter and Facebook, you can focus on the brand and business. In particular, the things that your prospects and clients will be interested in.

On your personal profiles, you can do a little bit of both. Sometimes people want to know the man behind the brand, and sometimes people want to connect with you as a human. It’s very hard to connect with a brand, but it’s very easy to connect with a person. You can even cross-promote between the two.

I think to have both is more work, but it’s definitely worth it.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you.

Other Show Mentions

Social Media Marketing World 2014 is our physical mega-conference, which is set to return to San Diego, California on March 26, 27 and 28.

Join 60 experts (including Chris Brogan, Mari Smith, Michael Hyatt, Jay Baer, John Jantsch, Amy Porterfield, Mark Schaefer and experts from more than a dozen brands) as they help you master social media marketing at Social Media Marketing World 2014.

Social Media Marketing World 2014.

In April of this year, over 1100 marketers from 31 countries attended Social Media Marketing World 2013. You’ll hear a clip from Neal Schaffer, who spoke at the conference this year, to give you a taste of what it’s all about.

I strongly recommend that you check it out.

Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Michael Brito on his website or on Twitter.
• Check out the book Your Brand: The Next Media Company, and receive free downloads for each chapter, plus interviews and videos.
• Take a look at Condé Nast, a traditional media company.
• Learn more about Fast Company and Forbes.
• Head over to Red Bull to see how consistent its message is.
• Learn more about Felix Baumgartner‘s space dive for Red Bull.
• See how Intel‘s employees create content.
• Check out Visage‘s long-form content on its Chief Mobility Officer blog.
• Try these analytic tools: Demographics Pro, Wisdom App and SurveyMonkey to gather audience intelligence.
• Head over to Contently and Ebyline to find freelance writers.
• Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2014.

Help Us Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.

Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
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What do you think? What are your thoughts on becoming a media company?Please leave your comments below.