Bauer Nutrition

Monday, December 15, 2008

Marketing Prank Proves the Power of Social Media

Guru marketer Frank Kern recently shocked himself by creating a scam to spook his friend John Reese and discovered the awesome power of social media.

He created a bogus marketing course that closely emulated that of his friend John Reese. He then started a Facebook group to co-opt his followers to post to the new fake site, comment on specially created youtube videos, tweet to their friends about the course and post in forums.

It was started as a joke but soon spread far out past the social media network and people started taking it seriously, even talking about legal proceedings against 'Don Fleece'.

Of course Frank stepped in and owned up way before it got out of hand but I got a mail this morning from him saying he had been frankly shocked at the results and how quickly the message had spread via the social media network and beyond. And for an internet marketer of near 'guru' status that is saying something.

Social media has broken down the formal barriers and encourages people to communicate on their own level and where their passion lies and that is always going to have powerful consequences.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

How To Be Like A Secret Millionaire

The Secret Millionaire is a TV programme where millionaires go undercover into deprived areas, become involved in the community then give cheques to individuals who they feel would benefit, or who have an idea that needs some cash to realise, or just because they are great people they want to help.

The Secret Millionaires are philanthropists and use money to change the world but you have a mountainous resource somewhere too, something you can take out there and share with the world to make a real change.

Think now what your passion or resource might be. It could be a skill that you take for granted but nonetheless would impact greatly on someone's life should you choose to take the time to share it freely.

Giving is a great way to take the focus of attention away from your own troubles. It is extremely therapeutic which makes the concept a win win situation.

A local man with a passion for sport set up a club so that disabled children could play football too and he has now won the support of Sir Paul McCartney. What started as a small idea has now grown and is putting smiles on many youngsters faces.

If you are in business it doesn't take much to offer a part of your services for free to the community. Again, you can make a huge difference and also raise your profile locally. The internet marketing model of giving away free content really works and can easily be mapped over to the 'real world'.

If you're a therapist there are local clubs or meeting places that would gladly let you give a talk and some free treatments.

If you do printing and copying how about approaching a local charity and offering to print a run of fliers for free?

If you're upgrading your computer think about donating your old one to a worthy cause. My husband helps out in a day care centre and was giving a resident a reflexology treatment. The man had had a stroke a while back and was unable to speak or barely move and was looking very sad so my husband wheeled him over to the computer and gently laid one of his hands on the keyboard and the man slowly typed “Thank you Tim, this is the first time I have felt human in ages”.

Take some time today to think what you could give that would make a change to you and your community too.

And by all means leave a comment if you have some suggestions or if this is something you are already doing.