About ten years ago, I wanted to see if I could make $24,000 in 24 hours on the Internet.  I more than succeeded, and that was when the Internet was still a relatively new tool for marketers.  It was just getting going around 1995, with the launch of major online retailers like Amazon, and search engines like Google soon thereafter.  Email became one of many online activities, and to this day remains a significant way to communicate.  Now the Internet is the biggest electronic vehicle in our lifetime.  Communication with the world has entered a whole new dimension with social media.  This game-changer has gone from nowhere to the most important activity on the net in just the last three years.

Many marketers are still using email to blast marketing messages out to name lists, including to those that can be rented.  But the future of marketing will happen through social media, which is like word-of-mouth marketing on steroids.  Word-of-mouth marketing is already the most powerful marketing tool of all, due to its believability.  Using social media, the spread of your interesting message is quickly exponential. The average Facebook user has about 150 friends.  So if you make a suggestion to your 150 friends who have learned to trust you, they will then open the portal to their own respective collection of friends.  Build a strong relationship with your initial group and they will expand your connections for you. 150 x 150 is a number getting pretty amazing, and can continue to expand into the millions – all from a simple message from you that was believed in by your friends.

The ‘old style’ word-of-mouth could take months to develop a head of steam, as people would share the word verbally.  But now it can take just seconds.  I myself, had never even heard the word ‘Twitter’ prior to a year ago, when I tried my first Tweet.  Now I’m topping 40,000 followers on Twitter.  We’re probably going to launch a new challenge in a few weeks: How to get 100,000 followers in 100 days!  We don’t know how long Twitter will last in this ever-changing Internet.  It’s not as ubiquitous or useful as Facebook, in my opinion.  I’m slow to really get excited about the possibilities, mostly just because I’m still attached to old ways.  It seems like the last thing I need is another “inbox”, but I also know that the time invested to communicate with the world this way is worth it.  2009 was the year that social media seemed to hit critical mass.  We should all be dipping our toe in it now.

As I’m learning in a book called Socialnomics by Erik Qualman, social media is a way for people to personally demonstrate who they are, through the kinds of posts they choose to share with the world.  Readers are getting a very specific and subjective representation of you.  So you find yourself forced to reevaluate your life and how you are projecting it.  Are you interesting or important enough to follow?  How are you showing that?  You quickly become aware of the need to share more good than bad, to represent yourself in a more exciting way, to actually be what you want to be perceived as.  If you go back and read a collection of your recent posts, you’ll get a clear picture of how you are representing yourself, and how you are spending what precious time you have.  Many people are finding that active social media-use inspires them to improve themselves.  We are becoming more connected and less isolated.  There is inherent peer pressure in social media, as we see vividly how we are comparing to the personal lives of others.

Even if people don’t always live the exciting lives they might be projecting on social media, we think they are, so we look for ways to better ourselves.  We all experience life cycles or patterns of brilliance and then dullness.  How you translate the dull moments should remain positive and uplifting.  This past weekend, I experienced some extravagant excitement at my agent’s annual fundraiser party.  Then I returned home to the drudgery of my routine.  How I post about all this tells people what I feel about my life, and how interesting it might be, or not.  Social media transforms how we live and do business. It gives us a peek into other people’s worlds, which inspires us to make something of our own.  We are being subtly influenced to improve our lives.  This ubiquitous connection we have with the world now is nudging us to live better lives. 

We also have a prime opportunity to market and even launch businesses on  social media vehicles.  Two guys from Seattle were able to sell 600,000 bottles of bacon salt, through an inquiry process started on MySpace.  By simply focusing on MySpace users who might have an interest, these guys starting getting orders before they even had the product made!  By continuing to respond to posted feedback about the product, they have clenched their success.  There are other such examples of how social media is verifying the interest before a business is even started.  It’s a remarkable marketing tool, using word-of-mouth at an amazing speed.

In Chapter six of Multiple Streams of Internet Income, I describe six ways of creating funnels of clientele, pulled from what I call the “great ocean of fish”.  Search engines, ads online, ads offline, PR, word of ‘mouse’, and building your web presence — are all methods for attracting people to you.  Now there is a seventh: social media.  Facebook, for example, makes it easy to launch your own page in a matter of minutes, with no experience.  This template or platform has become very familiar and trusted in the world, since over 300 million people are using it now.  It is a widely-known system with lingo everyone now seems to understand.  You can even list your personal web sites there, for people who want to study you further.  Facebook can easily bring people into your world through this methodology becoming world-class. 

From this “great ocean of fish”, otherwise known as 2 billion Internet users, your goal is to attract at least 10,000 into your “maybe lake”.  These are fish drawn in by subject matter in your various social network postings.  They are now roaming around your life to see how interesting you are.  They may be a source of referrals, information or other connections.  They may decide to become customers.  We used to drive these “maybe” people directly to our own websites displaying our wares, and although this is still important, the trend is moving toward doing business primarily through social media.  From your “maybe lake”, some will then enter your “yes pond”, by responding to your offers.  Even if only 1% respond, that’s 100 people you now have as customers. And your 10,000 “maybe” people are already fans of yours, so almost all of them will try something from you starting on a small scale – such as more free samples, leading to small purchases, etc.  Then a few of your “yes people” will want the best you’ve got.  The “closer” they get to you, the more valuable the experience is, so they’re willing to pay.  The funnel attracting customers is about the level of experience.  They may want to go beyond the book or CD, or even seminar.  They are ready to pay for personalized coaching from you.  I myself, have provided this for a small handful of people at my home.  The bonding experience actually becomes unforgettable for all of us.  These are people who enter your “whale pool”.  They not only spend the most money, but they also develop the closest relationship with you.

My friend, Jeffrey Gitomer the sales expert, had successfully gathered a “whale pool”.  He would charge $15,000 for personal time with him, during which he would teach you about his publishing business and how to be an effective speaker.  I also recently shared a story about a woman who mastered the use of Twitter, and upwards of 20 people paid $15,000 each to spend personal time with her, learning about her secrets.  Even the guys who sold bacon salt on MySpace could create a “whale pool” if they wanted to.  They could teach others how they succeeded, from seminars and then onward to personalized coaching.  There are people who will pay top dollar to learn their secrets, although most people will be happy just buying the bacon salt.  The point is that anyone can attract even the whales.  Just get your marketing message out there to gauge the interest, and find a way to meet the demand on multiple levels of experience.  Ultimately you can teach how you succeeded.  A few really focused entrepreneurs will want everything you’ve got.  Your marketing mindset is to funnel people from the “great ocean of fish” into your “maybe lake”, leading into your “yes pond”, and then a few into your “whale pool”.

Over the years, I have learned about the many ways to draw people into my “yes pond”.  And I have even experimented successfully with high-end private training sessions.  As I am currently building a new home in southern California, it is a goal of mine to invite small groups to this home for such personalized coaching, on a regular basis.  My home theater is being built right next to my office, and there is an amphitheater on the hillside below, all of which can be enjoyed as part of this “University of Bob”.  The marketing for these intense sessions is still in the future, but using social media, I anticipate it will be easy to find people who are interested.

Your ambition is to attract people from the two billion Internet users to visit your social media sites and/or web sites.  Once you start gathering their contact information and building a caring relationship with them, you’re in business, even if you start by simply offering free advice.  Next week we’ll talk about all the ways you can actually make money from your sites.  It’s not just about selling products and services.