How My Son Increased His Band's FB Fans by 570% (Without Spending a Dime)

It's no secret I want to kill Social Media. I consider 72.3% of it a cocktail party with no end and even less of a point. Yet the remaining percentage has some viability for business. The more we experiment, the more we "throw out" the useless, and the more I see a twinkle of marketing light at the end of the tunnel.

No need to send the "But you're a caveman" argument my way; service businesses rank barely above funeral homes and municipal services in number of "likes". True. So this ain't about fixing me. It's about finding a fix for the losers who are selling YOU this current crock that Social Media is the "answer" to your marketing ills. Hardly. It is the answer to their marketing ills.

Last month's Coaching Call with Sheila Lathan (www.snappysocialmedia.com) showed a path that has worked for us and clients. In another call, we found intelligence and strategy in the approach from www.marketinghardware.com. Those traits are mystifyingly lacking in most other presentations.

Yet, as the formula continues to change, and we continue to throw money and brain cells at the answer, I mentioned we were also experimenting with:

1. Facebook ads. Yeah, I know Social Media is all about peace, love, and understanding but somebody mentioned "ad revenue" in a meeting and Zuckerberg clearly liked it. Though I would personally like to torture him for lowering the collective IQ of those addicted to FB, our ad experiment increased "likes" from 104 to 822 in 21 days. A 790% increase.
   
   Calm yourself. An upcoming Coaching Call and later SMI will cover this technique. For now, focus on this no-cost gem...
   
   
2. Bribery. Oh whatever. There are groups out there who you can pay to generate "likes". Sure, it sounds like digital prostitution to me too, so I didn't go that route. Then my son discovered a way (actually "re" discovered an old principle forged anew) to earn likes and shares, deceptively simple, and astoundingly effective.

He was doing it the "old" way that everybody tells you to do - very slowly, gaining single digit additions after each effort. He then made one change and fans went up 570%. Click to see how (plus get free music, really) ...

"What's So Valuable About THAT?"

Mood, Money, and Meaning during Christmas

To me, trampling fellow shoppers to save another $10 on a flat screen TV is not in the true spirit of Christmas. Even if the price tag has a smiley face, and the significantly over-nourished counter attendant is wearing a Santa hat.

This one scene contains the elements that Christmas forces us to ponder: mood, money and meaning. Yes, I just used the word "Christmas" instead of the very PC "Holidays". The day signifies Christ's birth, so the celebrant's name is used for the day. Same reason we call it George Washington's Birthday on - oddly enough - his birthday (although advertisers have used it to mean, "Get a great buy on bed linens!").

Since I'm not adept at rewriting history, "Christmas" it is. So let's change the mood. This time of year calls to our very core to "be of good cheer". The embittered feel that this is fakey or insincere if you don't really "feel" it. That's great if the Grinch is your hero, but most neurologists would disagree.

The scientific community (many of whom are embarrassed to be in this editorial) contend that if you do smile, if you do utter affirmatively, if youdo flood your mind with pleasant thoughts, the "pattern interrupt" redirects endorphins causing at least a tinge of euphoria. If those feelings are supported (by others, music, doing a pleasant chore) then the tinge becomes a mood. Thus giving the only credence you'll ever hear to the phrase 'Fake it til you make it'.

The corollary is also true, since bleakness fed is bleakness strengthened. Reminds me of Arthur Miller's fine comment: "Some people brighten a room when they enter it; others when they leave." So, without a hint of fakery or insincerity, I encourage and wish for you to be of good cheer. Beats the alternative.

Now for the real mood changer: money. Today this comprises 3 groups: the "haves", the "have nots", and the "haven't quite paid for the haves yet". The last two groups ain't all that happy about their money situation. Been there.

However, years ago in my earlier quest to absorb every mental stimuli known as "self help" I remember that Robert Allen and Dr. Joe Vitale both alluded to a startling, very different way to view money that changed my perspective forever.

"OU812?"

Some of you will recognize the above as the 8^th album by Van Halen released 1988. I offer my own version of 8's and bulges below, starting with everyone's favorite food-induced coma day...

8 Things of Thanks

1. I'm thankful that after eating lethal quantities of oyster dressing that my belly button didn't actually shoot off of my personhood and hit someone. That would be hard to explain, but would reduce the number of family members I'd have to talk to next year.
   
   
2. I'm thankful that I took an extra day off before Thanksgiving, though I couldn't quite figure out what to do with that time slot known as "nothing". I'm a failure at relaxing.
   
   
3. I'm thankful that it never, ever, ever crossed my mind to "occupy" a city in protest of greed. I do oppose greed, as most do. Yet others help disempower it through charity, works, example andnot focusing on it. Second point here and I'll shut up: If greed is amassing unearned bounty, how is demanding equally unearned bounty supposed to offset it? Sorry. Maybe it's the Oyster Dressing talking.
   
   
4. I'm thankful that my daughter is involved in looking at college choices. And getting a scholarship. At her age, I have a fleeting recollection that when the first college accepted me, I was on the way there before they recalculated admission standards.

And if you can stand anymore, here are 4 more,

which includes at least one rather embarrassing admission. Hide your children's eyes...