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3 It's Always Been About the Relationship

Marketing podcast with Mari Smith (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Mari SmithLots of marketers question the ROI of this tool or the impact of using social media in this way, when the real filter in marketing is and always has been the ability to create and foster relationships.

In fact, you can make decisions about which social media platform you should dive deeper into by simply asking this question – could this platform help us build deeper relationships with our customers? If you can answer yes to that question than you should jump in and figure out how to use it for this purpose.

I think the proliferation of social media and the accompanying ease at which you can build “friends” muddies the fact that the foundational elements of true relationship are platform neutral – the real payoff comes from the relationship mindset.

I visit with master relationship builder and author of The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web, Mari Smith for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast and I can think of few people online or off that work as hard as she applying the elements of relationship building.

The new relationship building refers to best ways to employ the new social tool set to do the kind of relationship building that’s always been a crucial aspect of effective marketing.

Mari has built an international business on the back of social media tools by understanding like few others just how powerful these tools can be in the hands of someone that gets it’s all about the relationship. (Okay, she also works her tail off too.)

There is much to learn about how to use the new breed of online tools for good by reading The New Relationship Marketing, but I would urge you to also pay great attention to what Smith does online and off and she’s such a great example of practicing what she preaches.

You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Weekend Favs May Seven

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr.

Image YiShian | Photography via Flickr

Good stuff I found this week:

How to monitor social media mentions in five minutes a day – step by step directions for setting up a powerful listening station.

Top Facebook Marketing Resources – Mari Smith uses another cool tool, Storiy, to curate a list of Facebook marketing tools.

Draw It Live – a free application that makes it simple for you to draw with others online. No download simply launch and invite and you can draw out concepts and art with your friends.

21 Two Facebook Page Apps for Doing Business

Facebook pages are pretty hot right now as businesses strive to take advantage of the growing audience and influence that is Facebook. As with any gold rush, there are those that seek the gold and those that equip the miners. Today I would like to share a handful of tools, or apps, designed to make business use of Facebook easier and more profitable.

1) Storefront Social – The Storefront app makes it pretty darn simple to put a storefront of products on your Facebook pages. Storefront is not an ecommerce platform, it’s simply allows you to transfer product from a store you already have to your Facebook pages. The process is relatively painless. You can add products individually or import a CSV file or your Google Base listings. (Google Base is another place you should be listing your products by the way.)

Here’s an example of a very large General Store. As you can see other social features such as retweeting and sharing are added to each product, products can be grouped by category and, in this case, hundreds of products can be listed in the store. Since the products retain your original shopping cart links this could be a nice option for eBay and etsy sellers as well.

Storefront Social charges a monthly fee based on the number of products listed in your store. Starter programs that allow you to upload 36 items go for $4.95/mo and range up to 3000 items for $19.95. The ease of store set-up, particularly for someone with a large store and ability to export store listings, makes the potential exposure inside the Facebook walls well worth the monthly fee.

2) The second Facebook application I would like to showcase today is called Facebook Fanpage Engine. This tool allows you to easily create custom fan pages using pre-designed templates and the static FBML Facebook application.

Facebook Fanpage EngineEverything done by the template can be accomplished by someone that knows a bit of HTML or wants to use an HTML editor, like Dreamweaver, but for ease of use it’s tough to beat these templates and editor. Packages run from $37 all the way to $497 if you want customer header design help. If you’ve got your own custom graphics, or know how to create the precise sized graphics for the templates, you can get the entire package of templates for $67. Templates include various column and block layouts including templates for video and opt-in forms from services like Constant Contact and AWeber.

If you’re providing Facebook consulting or design services for clients you can use the templates over and over again for any pages you administer or are working on for clients once you purchase the license. I recommend this tool because it’s easy to use and a great time saver that allows you to create a custom branded feel for your Facebook pages.

Bonus: Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day – Mari Smith and Chris Treadaway show you step by step how to use Facebook as a Marketing tool in this just released new book.

46 Free Live Training Facebook for Small Business

Seems like Twitter did a great deal of the headline grabbing last year, while Facebook steadily pushed on to become one of the most visited sites in the world – surpassing Yahoo and even eclipsing Google on day in day out traffic some days.

Everyone knows Facebook has become a powerful business tool, right? Well, maybe, but what I find now is that most small businesses want to know how to tap the power of this new platform with practical methods that get results. I’ve rounded up three Facebook and social media experts and put together a free live Facebook training session just to help small businesses that are new to Facebook or those that want to find ways to make Facebook pay for business and take it to the next level

Join me January 21st at Noon CST as I host a panel discussion and training with Dave Kerpen, Mari Smith, and Nick O’Neill in a live webinar discussion.

Listen to the archive recording from the event here. (All participants will also receive a free Facebook for Business Greatest Hits, a pdf ebook featuring articles from each of the panel participants.)

Panelists include:

Dave Kerpen

Dave Kerpen is the CEO of theKbuzz, a social media and word of mouth marketing firm. Dave is one of the leading experts on social media and Facebook marketing. Dave and his work have been featured on CNBC’s “On the Money”, ABC World News Tonight, the CBS Early Show, and the New York Times, and countless blogs. In 2009, Dave spoke at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Conference, Print Services and Distribution Association (PSDA) Conference, Yale Club of New York, and Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit, just to name a few. .

Mari Smith

Mari Smith is President of the International Social Media Association and has been dubbed the Pied Piper of the Online World by FastCompany.com. She is most known for her Facebook marketing expertise and her emphasis on relationships first, business second. Mari has been a passionate leader in the social media world since 2007 and is an in-demand Social Media Keynote Speaker; she travels the United States and internationally to provide keynotes and in-depth training for her clients and students.

Jesse Stay

Jesse Stay, the self-proclaimed “Social” Geek, is a speaker, author, blogger, and entrepreneur, who writes and consults on the topics of social media and new media, bridging the gap between “technical” and “social” for both marketers and developers. Jesse wrote two books, his first book, “I’m on Facebook–Now What???“, discusses the possibilities of improving your career, family, business, and life through Facebook

Register here for Jan 21 Facebook Event

GoToWebinar LogoThis webinar is presented by GoToWebinar as part one of a three part series