Entries Tagged 'Power' ↓

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In 2006, FAST COMPANY magazine did a short report about my work online helping children with congenital heart defects. The article was titled:

“Dr.Mani - Spamming for Good”

Interesting headline, isn’t it?

Since then, I’ve also been ‘Social Networking for Good’.

And have come across some amazing human beings involved in wonderful work, in efforts to make the world a better place.

Like Rosalyn Bronstein. She’s not rich and wealthy in a financial sense, but is one of the richest people I know. Every year, on CHD Awareness Day and during the Heart Kids Blogathon, Rosalyn gets in touch with me.

Her request is always the same: “Please tell me how I can help.”

Even when temporarily struggling to pay utility bills, she accessed computers in her public library to help spread the word about CHD Awareness Day. She went around hospitals, posting printed notes on bulletin boards to help tell more people about heart birth defects.

People like Rosalyn are the reason I can continue with my work, with energy and inspiration, knowing that it WILL make a difference.

On the other end of the financial spectrum is my friend - and in a sense, my philanthropic mentor - the maverick real estate multi-millionaire Frank McKinney.

Frank builds luxury mansions for the ultra-rich. Think FIFTY MILLION dollar homes!

He also builds shelters and homes for the extremely poor in Haiti. I’m a proud sponsor of his Caring House Project, and it’s time for my annual contribution to this worthy cause.

Frank McKinney called last November and we enjoyed a 30 minute telephone conversation. One of his core philosophies resonated strongly with me -

“Of those to whom much is given, much is expected.”

And on online social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, I’ve connected with some amazing people who are doing awesome things.

On Twitter, I met Roger Carr, Beth Kanter and Anne Mitchell.

Beth recently spearheaded a fundraiser to help educate children in Cambodia. With energy and passion I haven’t seen often, she rocketed her charity to the top of the ‘America Giving’ challenge - and won an EXTRA $50,000 donation for her cause.

Anne helped raise money to help the desperately poor in Tajikistan (bet you don’t know where that is, do you?!) - by tying in with a tea-house in her home town.

Roger is currently engaged in helping children with arthritis. You can learn more about his efforts here - and help him reach his goal.

Juvenile arthritis (joint problems in children) is particularly close to my heart. My aunt had severe complications related to a condition called SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) causing severe arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis runs in my family.

The pain is compounded many times over when it hits children.

Imagine a youngster excited about being able to hold a pencil and write - because the crippling pain is under control.

Experience the ecstasy and thrill a child feels when riding a bike in the sunshine - after not even being able to step out of bed because it hurts.

Think about a little boy or girl you know who enjoys childhood - and then of another with arthritis who will now be able to do everything the ‘normal’ way.

Those are the dreams Roger Carr is helping make come true through his efforts supporting the Arthritis Foundation.

Won’t you please help him make many more of these dreams come true?

Roger has set himself what I think a very modest goal - to raise $1,000 for the Arthritis Foundation. I’m sure he’ll hit it. But I want to make sure he SHATTERS that target - and gets far more than that for the kids.

So I’m donating $100. And asking you to help, if you can.

And for anyone who donates any amount to Roger’s fundraiser, I’m going to offer a gift. NOT as a bribe, or incentive, or any such thing. As a gift… one that will help you connect with the thousands of others like Roger, Anne, Beth, Frank and Rosalyn - through social networks.

That gift is my guide, the $97.00 ‘Social Media Marketing Plan’

It will show you how to explore social networks - and do GOOD.

Thank you for joining the growing ranks of wonderful, inspiring and generous people who are ‘Social Networking for Good’.

Here’s one way to integrate your activities across various social media properties and networks, so that each leverages another and gets you incremental value from whatever you do in this space.

I use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and blogging as my primary social networking activities at this moment - and here’s how I’ve set them up to work in concert.

On my blog…

I have the Twitter widget on the sidebar, a Feedburner icon (plus email sign up link) for visitors to subscribe, and will soon add the Facebook widget too. A visitor to my blog gets instant news about what I’m doing on FB and Twitter, while reading my longer blog posts… and if s/he likes it, can subscribe for more, through RSS feed or by email.

The blog is also distributed through Aweber, with email notifications along with short summaries sent out whenever I update the blog with new content (not every time, but once every 3 posts or so).

On Twitter…

My profile links back to my blog. Through my tweets, I often link back to posts and other events of interest on my site, forum or blog - and even point to FB, LinkedIn and other social media sites I frequent.

Because my Twitter widget is on the blog and on Facebook, the latest tweets are ’syndicated’ across them too.

On Facebook…

I have the Twitter widget enabled, which means my tweets are shown to my FB Friends. I post Notes about interesting blog posts, leading some FB Friends to my blog, Twitter or MySpace to read more about them.

I have also enabled my StumbleUpon account sharing, so sites that I ’stumble’ will show up on Facebook too. And by ’stumbling’ my recent blog posts, that bit can happen ‘automatically’.

On StumbleUpon…

My profile page links back to my blog. I also stumble posts on my blog, tweets on Twitter and updates to my websites, among other interesting links I discover as I surf the Web.

I could use RSS to integrate SU more intensively into my blog, if I wanted to.

That’s just a brief overview.

It helps maximize my involvement in social media, by spreading the effort across multiple networks. Parts of my audience across these media is the same. But there are some folks who only see me on FB, some on Twitter, others on email - and by sharing and distributing content across the networks, I increase my chances of reaching them through one channel or another.

It’s why in this post titled “Oh, Twitter!” I called it a ‘channel’. In a sense, all social media is a channel - between you and your audience. Maximize it for greater value for your investment in time and effort.

How do you integrate your social media networking? Do you have any helpful tips to share? Please leave a comment explaining how you do it. Thanks.

I hardly ever tell you to try out things I have
not personally experienced, tested and found
useful.

That’s because there’s an ‘opportunity cost’ to
all stuff - even free things.

In the time you take to ‘test’ something, you may
be better off doing something ELSE - that really
works!

Though I haven’t often presented it that way,
THIS is the REAL value you get from being on
my email list.

* Not the products I create or promote to you.

* Not the cool things, events and projects I
write to you about.

* Not the people I evangelize to you.

All that is useful - but the value comes from the
TIME and EFFORT I save for you by directing you
towards what works… and NOT telling you about
the rest that is less effective, or worse, totally
INEFFECTIVE.

Social media marketing is one such thing where I
can honestly say:

“Your Mileage Will Vary”

For some folks, social media marketing will ROCK.

For most, it will be a total time drain.

I’m talking about stuff like Twitter, Sphinn,
MySpace, StumbleUpon and the latest darling of
the IM arena…Facebook!

Yes, the same Facebook that John Reese seems to
have suddenly thrust into the limelight of an
‘eager-for-the-Next-Big-Thing’ IM marketplace.

Social media marketing is something I’ve been
working on intensely, testing actively and
exploring extensively since May-June 2007.

That’s when I tested Facebook - and gave up on
it!

I also found Twitter and StumbleUpon most
exciting, useful and valuable in networking
and generating website traffic.

But here’s the thing… each social network
has potential - for specific purposes.

And like all forms of socializing, the more
you do it, the better you get at it - and
the more value you get from it.

Sadly, most marketers look at the huge crowds
that frequent these services - and see a
herd waiting to be exploited.

Just like mailing lists.

Or forum communities.

Or even blog readers.

But these are folks who don’t have a clue of
the nature of the beast we call SOCIAL media.

It’s like the difference between Web 1.0 which
was about ‘lecturing from a platform’ and even
Web 2.0 which was based on ‘user generated
content’.

Social Media Marketing is the coming Web 3.0

It’s about ENGAGEMENT and PARTICIPATION.

Not merely ‘marketing’.

Or sending out mail blasts.

Even orchestrating a ‘launch’ with JVs.

Social media marketing, to be effective,
DEMANDS YOUR INVOLVEMENT.

It cannot be ‘outsourced’.

It cannot be ‘automated’.

It cannot be ’syndicated’.

And no, you cannot ride the coat-tails, hop
on a bandwagon or piggyback on someone’s
popularity and ‘fame’ the way you can with
joint venture deals or conventional marketing.

It is the NEW MARKETING - and we’re all learning.

If you have the time, interest and curiosity to
want to learn it, and have the analytical skills,
judgement and perspective to see what it can do
for your business - and then, are willing to
COMMIT TIME, ENERGY and YOUR PERSONALITY to test
it out, then go for it.

You’ll have fun - and learn a lot - even if all
you try doesn’t work.

But if you’re looking for the BEST, most effective
and workable solutions because you are starved for
time, have too much to do, and don’t really ‘get’
this whole ‘engagement/participation’ thing -

You’re Better Off Giving Social Media
Marketing A COMPLETE MISS!

Don’t try and pervert or manipulate it.

That could be dangerous and detrimental to your
business health.

I predict quite a few ‘big name’ marketers will
find this out the HARD WAY - and quite a few
will end up with mud on their faces.

Don’t be one of them.

Play the social media marketing game the SMART
and RIGHT way - or get off the field. That’s
safer than doing it WRONG!

No one has the answers. Everyone is learning.
You can join the fun - if you have 3 things:

* Enough time to explore and experiment

* Desire to involve yourself in social
intercourse

* Curiosity to test, learn and change

All success
Dr.Mani

My main social media identities are:

* Twitter -
http://www.Twitter.com/drmani

* StumbleUpon -
http://infopreneurblog.stumbleupon.com

* MySpace -
http://www.MySpace.com/drmani

* Facebook -
http://profile.to/drmani

(I’m not listing my Gooruze, Ning, Gather,
Sphinn, Reddit and other IDs because I
don’t use them much any longer)

On Friday, I listened to an awesome interview.

Ron Bates is a Headhunter, Executive Search Consultant & Recruiter based
in San Francisco, USA. He’s also widely known as LinkedIn’s most-connected
user - with around FORTY THOUSAND direct Connections. Ron was saying he
was spending 1 to 2 hours A WEEK managing them!

Gosh! I was spending more than that networking with my
300+ ‘Friends’ on Facebook!

And it gets better. His network is COMPLETELY business
related. The folks in his group add DIRECTLY to his
bottom line.

Not like Facebook.

Because Facebook, in essence, is for KIDS!

* Look, I’ve got more ‘friends’ than you!

* Hey, I OWN you now!

* I *poked* you - now poke me back!

VERY professional, right? NOT!

Facebook was designed for kids in college.

It was intended to appeal to their tastes, interests and
ATTENTION SPANS!

College and school kids are curious. Have time to waste.
Follow trends, explore new things, are pretty much NOT
focused.

That’s appropriate for their age.

But a serious business owner or entrepreneur or professional
finds Facebook distracting. There are too many ‘rabbit
holes’ to go down and see.

And unless you know how to avoid that, you could waste
hours and hours and HOURS!

Mari Smith’s guide, “Facebook for Professionals” is of
great help in staying focused on the ‘right’ things at
FB - but it requires IRON WILL and discipline to follow
that sensible advice.

That’s why I’ve refrained from telling you about Facebook
until now. I explored it once in June 2007. And put it
through the paces again for the last 2 weeks. I like
it a little more - but it is STILL a waste of time!

Don’t get me wrong…

Facebook has a place in your social media portfolio -
but for business connections, I’ll take the ADULT
version any day… it is called

L I N K E D * I N

I created my profile on LinkedIn yesterday. See it here

I read Guy Kawasaki’s excellent guide to making the
most of LinkedIn.

I’m growing my connections - and invite you to join
my network - if you think it will add value to your
BUSINESS.

There’s very little to DISTRACT you on Linked In.
I like that. It is NOT a socializing tool, it’s a
NETWORKING tool. All the benefits, none of the
wasteful time and effort.

You can recommend people, connect with them, find
new contractors, partners and business contacts.

I do NOT know for sure that it will help you. I’m
too new to LinkedIn to say that. But I spent 3
hours setting things up and starting to network -
so that’s how much I believe in the potential.

Take a look. See if it’s right for you. And
believe me, it is NOT as distracting or time
wasting as Facebook - or even my favorite social
media app, the powerful people-connector…

TWITTER

I’ll wait for you to get LinkedIn to my network soon

Guy’s article about optimizing your LinkedIn profile
may be useful too.

See mine - and join my network - click here.

You’ll have to sign in to your account, then visit
the link above, and click the button near the top
right hand corner called “Contact Directly” -
and send me an invitation to join your network.

Once I approve it, we are ‘connected’.

Or LINKED IN!

I’m teasing my list about a ‘Google Domination’ program that’s due out on Saturday Friday called the “Authority Site Process“.

One of my readers wrote to say this:

“I am more inclined to believe that if Google wants you there it should be their decision to place you where they select rather than beating the odds to out do them. It may be Old fashioned but to me, honesty is still the best practice.”

The implication, clearly, is that trying to get to the top of Google (or any other search engine) is DISHONEST.

In other words, search engine optimization (SEO) is dishonest.

I don’t think so.

But more compelling is the argument often made that SEO is UNETHICAL.

That’s a more intricately delicate accusation, one not so easily brushed off.

And I enjoy ethical conundrums, especially because of my medical background. Medical ethics is very dogmatic and needs to be due to the nature of issues that require handling. Business ethics, I’ve found, tend to be a lot more loose, individually interpreted, and fuzzy in many instances.

Like the issue of SEO being ethical.

Driven by a profit motive, businesses that practice SEO almost always tend towards the view that any kind of SEO is just a business tool that gives them an advantage, and therefore ethical.

I have thought about it long and hard in the past, and have a viewpoint. See if you agree - or tell me why you don’t.

Ethical Theory - a primer

As far as ethics governs the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of an action, there are two schools of thought:

Deontologic Ethics can be distilled down to ‘doing your duty’ or ‘following the rules’ - and that alone determines if an action is right or wrong, NOT the consequences of the action.

Teleological Ethics can be described simply as ‘the ends justify the means’. In other words, whether an action is right or wrong is defined by the good or evil generated by it.

Every Day Examples - case studies

This theory is abstract enough that some readers may miss the point I’m about to make. So I’ll use some daily life examples to make it come alive more graphically and in easy to understand terms.

A soldier on military duty attacks a village. He is acting on the command of his officer. Unfortunately, many innocent civilians in the village are killed in the attack.

The soldier’s action is still ethical. He is obeying a command. Following rules. The consequences of his action do NOT determine the ethicality of it.

It makes sense for deontological ethics to apply in some circumstances such as soldiers on the battlefield. It would be inappropriate for someone under those circumstances to be permitted individual choice as to whether or not to follow orders.

Now take the other example of a man pointing a gun at another one - who is attacking him with a knife!

If the man shoots and kills his attacker, he would not be charged with murder, but only justifiable homicide - because he was saving his own life. The consequences of his action make them ethical.

The same ethical theory would apply to a law officer who shoots down a terrorist about to detonate a bomb in a crowded public place. Taking a life, one of the most serious ‘crimes’, in such circumstances becomes an ethical act.

One of the phrases I coined - and love to use when I get a chance - is this:

“The difference between a surgeon’s scalpel and a murderer’s knife is one of INTENTION.”

A surgeon can ethically perform actions which would put anyone else in jail - because the ‘greater good’ of his patient makes the action ethical.

The Ethics of SEO

But what has this got to do with search engine optimization?

Google (and other search engines) lay down rules.

Playing within these rules, a webmaster can ‘optimize’ a site to rank high on the directory or search engine results pages (SERPs).

This approach is called ‘White Hat SEO’.

It is manipulative. It tries to give a webmaster an advantage over competitors. It does this within the rules.

By deontological theory, white hat SEO is ethical.

Most people accept this and agree with it. But there’s another brand of SEO called ‘grey’ or ‘black’ hat SEO - and that raises furious debate whenever the question of ethics is introduced into a discussion.

Can Black Hat Be Ethical?

Every black hat is not the same!

My good friend, philosopher and guide, Paul Myers, wears a black hat. It is pointy, too. He is among the most honest, straightforward and ethical people I know from my decade of working on Internet marketing. (You can sign up to his newsletter, Talkbiz News - click here)

No, Paul Myers is NOT a black hat SEO guy. He only wears a black hat.

But there are folks who use blackhat SEO to gain an advantage in terms of high ranking on search engines, by violating the norms and breaking rules these engines have laid down for fair play.

By deontological ethics, that is unethical.

But what if… let’s take a hypothetical case study.

This guy has discovered a way to prevent cancer. It works. Many thousand people can benefit from the information. He puts it up on a website - and then runs into a problem.

The top 10 (or more) spots on search engines are occupied by websites that employ blackhat SEO to protect their rankings. There is absolutely no way to beat them out - without using blackhat SEO techniques, fighting fire with fire.

What should this webmaster do?

Using blackhat SEO is unethical, by deontology. But by failing to get the life-saving information out to thousands of people who are looking for it, the refusal to use blackhat SEO techniques is ITSELF unethical by teleology - because the consequences of such a choice lead to the death of those people!

What a dilemma to face.

It certainly is possible to make a strong argument for blackhat SEO being ethical in this situation. In fact, if I was feeling particularly argumentative, I might even go so far as to say REFUSING to use blackhat SEO in such a situation is UNETHICAL!

But…

What do YOU think?

I leave that for you to debate with me. Let’s have a spirited discussion about the Ethics of Search Engine Optimization.

And in case you were wondering, there is absolutely NOTHING close to blackhat SEO in my new “Authority Site Process“ program that launches on Saturday. Friday.

I’ve had many beta-testers put the program through the paces, and it has been possible to uniformly replicate and duplicate the results I myself experience at will from following the process.

If you’re interested in hearing about it when I launch, you can either keep up with this blog - or opt-in to my mailing list - click here

But in any case, do chime in on the debate about whether search engine optimization is ethical - or not. Leave a comment and let the sparks fly!

Every IM’er should read this.

Internet Marketers Can Change The World

And then, check out Roger Carr’s blog, Everyday Giving

It gives real meaning to the phrase:

Follow Your PASSION

I’m amazed at how many authors still don’t have blogs. And when they do, how rarely they interact with their audience.

To the layperson, it’s a huge kick to be able to communicate with a well-known author, even one who has written a best-seller.

To the author, it is a never before available opportunity to engage in a dialog with the grassroots reader of his work, to get insight and ideas and feedback that can only help in structuring future work.

There are a few best-selling authors I am able to communicate with reliably. Among them are Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki and Tim Ferriss. But even in these cases, not through their blog.

And that’s strange - because a blog is such an easy and convenient way of asynchronous two-way communication, one that lets an author connect with his/her audience in a one-to-many style through blog posts, and then extend the conversation one-to-one via comments, or even off-blog.

In my free short report, “How To Write a Book the Smart Way”, I even outlined a plan where an author can use a blog to release a new book in installments.  All along the way, you could be growing an eager reader base who will not only buy the finished book but also become one of a increasing crowd of evangelists who help spread the word.

Mark Joyner recently authored a new ebook. It’s called “The Rise of the Author”. It is available for free download… here.

The ebook reveals some interesting concepts that make you think. And there are some parts where you feel it would be nice to ask the author for more clarification.

What’s nice is that you can - through his blog.

Over the last week, Mark has been personally responding to EVERY comment left by readers of ROTA (Rise of the Author) - and the comments are quite interesting too. Take a look here, and then decide if you want to read the ebook itself (I recommend you try it out).

So, if you’re already an author, why aren’t you using your blog in a similar fashion?

Or if you are, please share how it’s working for you.

And if you aren’t yet an author, but have a blog (or want to) - well, what are you waiting for. As Mark Joyner says in ROTA, the window of opportunity for authors is wide open right now.

But who knows for how long it will stay open?

This post could have been titled: “Twitter Influence”

But I thought it looked more ‘interesting’ with this instead:

The story is as fascinating as the heading suggests. It’s a blogger’s dream. Imagine typing a few words into a box, clicking a button - and as a result, having access to 82,000 readers.Well, that’s what happened.

The first part was in late December 2007. I had just noticed Darren ‘Problogger’ Rowse had joined Twitter, the micro-blogging service that’s oh-so-much more. And ‘followed’ him.

We had a few exchanges of messages on Twitter - and not really hoping for much, I showed him a short draft I had written about ‘The Influence of Death’. He liked it, and asked if I could modify it a bit to fit the theme of his blog. The result was:

It was a thrill being featured on the busy Problogger blog’s homepage for close to a week, and getting 45 comments from the thousands of readers who saw the post.

And again, this week, I had a ‘repeat performance’ - almost identical to the first one.

I wrote a short list of “10 Reasons For Bloggers To Get Involved With a Non-Profit” - and showed it to Darren through a Twitter ‘direct message’. As you well know, Twitter limits each message to 140 characters (my message was even shorter!)

This time, Darren liked it and asked if I was happy to have him publish it ‘as is’.

I was. And yesterday the post was on Problogger’s homepage!

10 Reasons For Bloggers To Get Involved With a Non-Profit

Again, instant exposure to Problogger’s 41,000+ readers!

Better still, the context of the message is PERFECT to mention my own upcoming non-profit awareness building event, A DAY FOR HEARTS - Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day!

Why blog about this?

Because anyone can do what I did - without much work or stress. And not just with Problogger - there are many more bloggers, with busy blogs followed by thousands of readers, who will gladly post your guest content - if it is relevant, useful and fits the theme of their blogs.

How to do it?

* Get on Twitter.

* Type 140 characters into a box.

* Click on the UPDATE button.

And if the planets are in the right alignment, you too may get instant exposure to 82,000 readers - or more!

That’s Twitter Influence - and still many people will miss this opportunity and go:

“Oh, Twitter!“

Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus. He delivered a ‘Victory Speech’.

Ignore the politics, if you wish (as an Indian, they matter little to me). But listen to the message.

It’s a powerful message of hope, and applies to many people and things far beyond boundaries of nationality, creed or political beliefs.

These are words that influence and empower.

 Hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead, or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight.

Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us. By all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is. Who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

Together, ordinary people can do extra-ordinary things.

Words with influence.

Spoken by a man with influence.

Is Obama a blogger?