Today is Friday, which means that on Twitter it’s a #FollowFriday or #FF as some folks have started hashtagging it. If you aren’t familiar with Follow Friday, read this post on Mashable for the details.

This Friday, I want to share a few folks with you who I think of as “Smart Marketers” – but who are actively teaching and sharing with the rest of us how to do it better. Some of these folks are expected follows if you’re in our industry, but this week I’ve run into several people who had never even HEARD of some of these folks – which means it’s time to review my short list of very smart people for you…

Here’s who I recommend you follow this #FollowFriday… and here’s the why on all of them: they share their own stuff that they write which is always really valuable AND they share lots of other stuff that is valuable. They are a wide open fire hydrant of valuable marketing information that will make you think – and hopefully ACT revolutionary! Yes, it applies to local business. Yes, it applies to small business. Be revolutionary and pay attention to what these folks are saying:

(In no particular order, of course.)

Chris Brogan – @chrisbrogan + @broganmedia – I knew he was a great guy, but last week we connected over this post about the great things happening in Michigan because he had been there and seen it, too. A family-loving guy who is smart, human and positive. (Plus, I think he’s about to unveil some things through his new venture, Human Business Works, that will be valuable for small businesses. Keep an eye on that.)

Jason Falls – @jasonfalls – We hung out with Jason last fall at a conference where we both presented, and he has proven to be accessible and just plain smart. I like the way his brain operates, his angst with impracticality and his passion for practical solutions that move the bottom line needle. He’s a roll-up-your-sleeves and make things happen kinda guy.

Becky McCray – @beckymccray – Becky is someone who I want to be friends with off-line, but who has encouraged me along the way on-line. She’s also a farm-girl who shares my passion for rural communities, community development in general, small business and cultural tourism (among other things). One day soon I hope to give her a hug in person.

Sheila Scarborough – @sheilas – I follow Sheila because she works on Tourism Currents with Becky McCray. And I figure if she’s good enough for Becky, she’s good enough for me. So far, so good. Great stuff especially when it comes to tourism, CVB’s and ideas for the smallish versions of the same among us.

Seth Godin’s blog posts – @sethsblog – A must read. Twitter feed is a good way to not forget to pay attention to Seth. He’s the master and shouldn’t be ignored.

Ann Handley – @marketingprofs – Funny. Pithy. Thoughtful. Exceptionally smart and forward thinking yet immensely practical. She shares great stuff. Best of all, very well respected in her field.

Darren Rowse – @problogger – Owner of ProBlogger and the very helpful Digital Photography School. Constant stream of valuble information that you can use.

Brian Clark – @copyblogger – Founder of Copyblogger and also a fire hose of exceptionally valuable information. As a journalism student who was always accused by teachers of writing with an agenda in mind, I appreciate this guy a lot. And I am humbled at how much I still have to learn. I can’t keep up with these folks, but I soak it up and try.

Sonia Simone – @soniasimone (also of Copyblogger fame) – Love to watch her interact. Shares good stuff. See above comments about quality of content.

Robert Scoble – @scobleizer – a very, very smart guy who now works at our server company, Rackspace. Rackspace has the best customer support and uptime in the business with one of the smartest guys as a voice.

Chris Penn – @cspenn – Genius when it comes to customer service and building human relationships. I love the format of his e-mail newsletter. He works for @blueskyfactory with new daddy @djwaldow who I also really like to chat with and learn from.

Justin Levy – @justinlevy – a very accessible guy who is smart about all things Facebook marketing (and much, much more) over at New Marketing Labs (of which Chris Brogan is president). Also a restaurateur.

Ike Pigott – @ikepigott – a smart and funny fellow working for a power company in Birmingham. He lives in the South so points for that, but he’s also insanely smart (and I think that despite the fact that he hasn’t publicly outed @eatbhm yet). His profile sums it up: “I make complex things simpler.” There’s not enough of that in the world.

Michael Hyatt – @MichaelHyatt – CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and a really smart networker and authentic person. I massively enjoy watching his stream and connecting with he and his company. He shares smart stuff, and I wonder how he gets it all done.

Peter Shankman – @petershankman – founder of the Help a Reporter out service and a funny guy to follow. Worth connecting with. Just ask my friend, Grace Bateman (@perupaper).

Who do you follow on this Follow Friday? I’d love you to follow me, too, @resultsrev. I love to learn and love to share.

Many times our restaurants and small business clients will talk about how they “killed it” with Twitter marketing. Why does it work so well for some, and abysmally for others? Well, I firmly believe that it’s this little thing we call strategy.

So here’s a little strategy for you – a great tip to add some pizzazz to your Twitter contests. Instead of having a contest where there is a simple “answer the question and win” as your most advanced Twitter marketing plan, try mixing it up using a hashtag (that’s a way to track a trend or topic by posting the # sign and a name – like #RRTV in every post) or having them win if they can retweet your message AND get their own tweet re-tweeted.

The re-tweeting angle gives you a larger reach with your audience. Have a short message ready for them to retweet. Or create a business hashtag and use it to lengthen your marketing message.

This is just one simple tip to add a little pizzazz to your Twitter marketing and contest efforts.

With social media usage and marketing efforts growing by leaps and bounds, it’s not only important for your small business to be on social media – it’s important to say the right thing. How can you tell when you are saying the right thing?

Here are some of my tried and true tips for improving what you say – and therefore the engagement and resulting sales – from social and new media marketing.

What’s wrong with ordinary?

We live in a world with thousands of messages coming at us daily. Is your message boring? Possibly. For example, I received an e-mail from a statewide organization this morning. The subject line simply said “May e-newsletter XYZ organization.” I had no reason to open it.

We recently helped (through HALO Business Advisors) with an e-mail campaign on a weekend when snow hit Mississippi. This doesn’t happen often, and when it does—our world shuts down. For this small business owner, restaurateur, client and good friend of mine, closing on the weekend wasn’t an option. With little time to make it happen, his text message to me went something like this. “We have to send an email – let folks know we are open!!”

I could have sent an e-mail with a simple subject line stating “WE ARE OPEN.” Instead, we sent an e-mail out that said: “Who won the ROCA snowball fight?”

This e-mail had the highest open rate of any email we’ve ever sent. Significantly north of 40% of the list opened it within 12 hours, and sales that weekend were very strong. (The body of the e-mail message showed a picture of the chef throwing snowballs with his boys with the announcement that the restaurant was open that night.)

Traditional newspaper folks are losing steam in some areas, but they know how important a headline is to sell a newspaper.  The same thing is equally important to having a tweet read or an e-mail opened. Words matter. Pick a few good headline concepts from the major media outlets or note their style – and copy them!

Here are a few more of my tried and true tips for improving what you say – and therefore improving the engagement and resulting sales – from social media and marketing. These rules apply especially well for both e-mail subject lines and for tweets with pictures:

1. Shorter is better. People are reading 20 characters on their Blackberries and iPhones in the subject line. It’s becoming the tool that more e-mails are opened on. Shorter subject lines will work better than long ones, but you have to also follow rule #2.

2. Make me open it. If you can tease me with a question or factoid or humor, I’m going to invest the extra 10 seconds to read about it. Just tonight I sent out four different photo tweets. The one with a short title and a little humor had 35% more opens in the first 10 minutes than the rest of the tweets.

3. Grow a personality. If you aren’t witty or funny, find someone who is. That class clown or guy that always makes folks laugh is probably a good person to help you figure out the subject line of an e-mail campaign. Use teasers like: “Why didn’t Joe Smith eat supper here last night??” (Joe Smith can be interchanged with the name of a local celebrity or local news anchor.) More people will open that e-mail to find out that Joe is coming TOMORROW for a special event that THEY should plan to attend as well.

4. Follow through. Having a great subject line is important. Test it out on your staff or friends for some quick feedback. This shouldn’t be a 2 hour process, but maybe 20 minutes. Remember that spending an extra 20 minutes on a subject line that gets 10-20% more opens on an e-mail campaign is probably well worth the time. Look at the numbers. Let’s say you have a moderately sized 2000 person e-mail list for your small business with a nominal 8% open rate. This means 160 people confirmed opening your email. If you can fix your subject line problems and get that number to 20%, you’ve more than doubled the number of people who open your e-mails therefore improving the overall ROI of your e-mail marketing campaign.

5. Check for typos. Send your e-mail to a select group of your staff or friends who will promise to catch errors. We try and make sure EVERYTHING that goes out has 2 sets of eyes on it. It’s too easy to look at something for an hour and miss a glaring typo because you just aren’t focused anymore.

In closing, I’ll leave you with these sample social media messages that could work for different types of businesses.

Retail Menswear: “What can $250 buy at our store?”
Most people will want to know exactly what you are talking about — they’ll open.

Woman’s fashion line: “Your mother wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this…”
Wonder what that’s all about? I better check and see… They’ll open.

Restaurant: “The best lookin’ plate of food you’ve ever seen… details inside”
Hrmm, wonder what’s so special about the plate of food?

Retail Store: “The ONE thing you need to see from our trip to Market last week.”
Wonder what that one thing is?

You guessed it, they’ll open.

Interview with Serial Entrepreneur & Publisher, Jack Criss

Jack Criss chatting with ResultsRevTV hostess, Marianna Hayes Chapman.

Yesterday, I interviewed 20-year publishing industry veteran and serial entrepreneur, Jack Criss. Criss is currently publisher of locally-owned and operated Greater Jackson Business magazine. Here are some of the questions we discussed and my paraphrases to his answers. For precise quotes, please watch the full interview on ResultsRevTV here (30 minute video).

Marianna: As a news insider, explain how small businesses can get their business covered in the media? What approach would you recommend?

Jack: Realize that the media love to be contacted and love to have their ego stroked. Recognize their work. For example, “Dear Jack, I read the article you wrote about the Two Lakes project – incredibly well written piece! I love what you’re doing with the new magazine… I have a story idea I think would fit well…” Address press releases or story ideas to specific people. Find their real name and correct spelling and send a personalized e-mail directly to that person’s e-mail address.  Be personal and find ways to connect with them unrelated to the need. Don’t mass send information to 50 journalists and address it to “Dear Sir/Madam” – those messages get trashed immediately.  If you don’t personalize a press release at least make sure it’s well written and correct and keep the information to one page as much as possible.

Marianna: How has technology played into having a successful business?

Jack: The demographic that the magazine is geared towards calls for a print magazine in addition to the website.  Jackson isn’t ready for a 100% online magazine yet, in my opinion. However, corrections can be made online within hours instead of waiting for the next edition to be printed.  We can supplement the print magazine stories, post video and photos not in the magazine and much more. Also, GJB is really a multi-media effort with the print magazine as the cornerstone providing readers and advertisers with a valuable and interesting long shelf life. But we supplement that with Facebook, a weekly radio show and vide on the web site.

Marianna: How have you overcome your fear of technology to keep up with the speed of news?

Jack: Facebook is often primarily used to communicate, network and make deals, in many cases more than e-mail. You have to get over your fear and get on Facebook.  Your competitors are on and you have to be too.

Marianna: How do you use Facebook to network while balancing your personal and professional life?

Jack: I’ve used it in incorporating my business and personal life. I’m just an ordinary guy who likes to run and has two daughters. I love being a father and a runner and a member of the community. I think being who I really am on Facebook helps me connect with others who share my interests and builds deeper relationships.

Marianna: How do you make time to do it all? Facebook, web site updates, sales, writing, events, networking and Twitter, too?

Jack: One way is that I’m leveraging the technology so that some things just happen automatically without me spending any time at all. For example, whenever a news article is posted to the web site, Facebook and Twitter are automatically updated with that information. You can leverage technology to make time to do it all without a big staff.   Facebook and Twitter all point to the magazine and help promote it.

Marianna: What do you do in your business to give back, even when cash is tight?

Jack: I can’t always give cash, but I can always give space in the magazine. Of course, certain “restrictions apply,” but non-profits that need advertising get free advertising in Greater Jackson Business – always. You’ve talked a lot about generosity in recent weeks, and this is how we do it at Greater Jackson Business – it’s important.

Marianna: What have you learned from failure?

Jack: Learn from your failures and be humble. You have to appreciate your customers more than ever.  Make friends with them and take time to develop a friendship. See them face to face on a daily or weekly basis as much as possible. Also, know when to say no and know when not to expand.

Jack talks much more on each point in the 30 minute ResultsRevTV broadcast…watch it now.

Butterfly Thank You Card from Peru Paper (www.perupaper.com)

I’ve been thinking a lot about being thankful lately. Here are a few random ideas that will hopefully spark more of your own. Please post YOUR ideas or expansion on these ideas or your experience with using thankfulness in business in the comments section…

Here are a few of my ideas for customer appreciation and showing thanks in your local small business:

1. A local restaurant could give out free dessert gift cards that say “Thank You!” in random check presenters throughout an evening. At the beginning of the evening, stuff random check presenters with the gift cards for a fun twist on a thank you. With slight alteration, this same principle can apply to your locally owned small business.

2. Write thank you notes. Use the handwritten note, an e-mail or a Facebook private message. Any way you do it, the effort to say a specific “thank you” is always appreciated. No matter how small or time-limited your business, you can do this one.

3. Conduct a non-advertised “thank-you” promotion. Pick a random day each week to offer customers a discount upon checkout. Keep it a secret until the moment of checkout, then say something like “Guess what? We are having a secret sale today to say ‘thank you’ to our customers. Just for shopping with us today, we’d like to say ‘thank you’ with a 10% discount.” It’s not a big discount, and the discount didn’t motivate their shopping. This keeps your business from being positioned as a “discounter.” Instead it uses the discount as a happy surprise and a genuine “thank you.”

4. Publicly post a list of things you are thankful for in your business on your Facebook wall weekly. Tag people, places or just list the little things that make you thankful. Good weather, smiling faces, loyal customers, new merchandise, popular items, a community event, a person, place or thing that you love. Thankfulness is contagious, and your customers will catch it quickly!

5. Participate in thankfulness on Twitter by saying what you are thankful for in 140 characters or less on Thursdays and applying the hashtag #thankfulthursday. You will join others who are thankful around the globe and promote your business at the same time.

Bonus story:
Last night, our client and Results Revolution sponsor, Patty Peck Honda, gave us FOUR tickets to the Mississippi Braves baseball game. Andy and I used two of the tickets. When we arrived at the game, we walked up to the ticket counter area where there was a pretty good crowd waiting to purchase tickets. We walked to the rear of the line and Andy said, “Excuse me, does anyone here drive a Honda?” A young college aged guy turned around and pointed to his friend, “He does.” The young gentleman, looking a bit confused, said, “Yes, I drive a Honda.” Andy said, “Sir, you just won two tickets to tonight’s game. You don’t have to stand in line any more. Patty Peck Honda wants to say ‘thank you’ for driving a Honda.” After a quick snap of the camera to document the event, we were on to find our seats while overhearing a wake of rumbles through the crowd “That guy just won free tickets from Patty Peck Honda… Who?… Patty Peck Honda just gave away tickets… Patty Peck Honda… Cool… That’s great… Great folks over there at Patty Peck Honda… He won free tickets to the game… Nice…”

What random acts of kindness can you do today in your business? How can you show thanks today? Post ideas in the comments section – and more than that, go be thankful! (I have a feeling it will pay you back…)

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

The most important thing to remember is that social media is still a media. Which means it is still a marketing TOOL – not an end to itself. However, in contrast to both traditional media and new media tools, such as web sites and e-mail, social media is used differently. By name and nature, it is SOCIAL which dictates a relationship. At the very least, this demands a TWO-SIDED conversation/interaction format.

More specifically, social media differs from traditional media in that anyone can create, comment and add to social media. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images and communities. Traditional media doesn’t let you PROVE how many visitors or engaged customers you really have (Yes, I know all about Neilson ratings and circulation numbers – How many of you really believe all of that?). Social media shows you REAL numbers for your audience – or at least a more “real” number than any other media that’s ever existed for small business marketing purposes. Social media also allows you to track and know information about your audience – not just know that they’re there.

WHO USES SOCIAL MEDIA & NEW MEDIA?

1. Practically everyone uses Google and other search engines regularly, and the searches frequently return blog posts, YouTube videos or other social media content high in the search ranks. So even people who say they don’t use social media are actually consuming social media content without knowing it.
2. 63% of consumers turn to the Internet FIRST to find a local business. (Yet a whopping 80% of business owners reported spending LESS THAN 10% of their marketing budget on web-based marketing.) – Source USA Today Snapshots, March 5, 2009 – cited Neilson Online/Web Visible survey of small business owners.
3. When people who are NOT social media users ask their non-social media networks for advice (usually via e-mail or phone call), the answers come back include URLs to blog posts and other social media content.
4. There are more than now 400 million active users of Facebook (up 150 million from one year ago). More use Facebook than any other existing media (including television). The fastest growing demographic are those 35 and older. More than 2/3 of the users are outside of college age. By nature of the beast, those users are also at least semi-educated, literate and computer literate – making them far more likely than average radio or television listeners to have a decent income.
5. YouTube statistics – Recently, I got to inform a client that 74% of his target audience visited YouTube at least once every two weeks and often multiple times a day. They were shocked. They where even more surprised when I told them that a significant number of those visitors used YouTube on a daily basis to research products and services, view product demonstrations, and find information for work purposes. But, when I told them that visitors to YouTube actually based their buying decisions on what they saw on YouTube, well, they were shocked and couldn’t wait to hear more.
6. On October 9, 2009, the third anniversary of the acquisition by Google, Chad Hurley announced in a blog posting that YouTube was serving “well over a billion views a day” worldwide. comScore had previously reported that the number was actually over 10 billion per month. In September 2009, and the average video viewer watched more than 10 hours of video during that month. That’s pretty significant.

Those are just a few reasons why social media is critical to your business. This doesn’t tell you how or when or how often to use social media. (Strategically is a good start – it’s not a waste of time play tool anymore! And it’s getting crowded, so you have to stand out in the crowd by doing it smartly.) But hopefully, if you’re a business owner or community leader trying to convince yourself or your fellow locally owned, independent small business owner friends and colleagues to network with you, promote your business and your community using social media tools, this will give you some ammunition to open some eyes during that conversation.

Here are a few quick tips and reminders about how NOT to use social media (that is Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube and the like) when promoting your locally owned, independent small business. If you want to upset customers in your store – ignore them. The same goes for the web. Your customers REALLY don’t see a huge difference in the reality of the web and the brick and mortar… maybe you still do, but I promise – they don’t. So, use the web to leverage your time and your customer relationships. And by all means – don’t turn your back on anyone at the party. It’s not nice…

Here are some specific tips. Let me know what you think and add your own in the comments section!

Do NOT Use Social Media as…

• An outlet for traditional media – For example, don’t post the graphic from your recent direct mail campaign blindly and expect that people will care.
• An online billboard – Don’t constantly announce and scream promotions and push an offer or even a subtle marketing message towards your fans/followers exclusively. This is not a billboard for you to spit out information and no one to talk back to you.
• A 100% free tool – While New Media TOOLS are often free to use, the time, strategy development, and even some elements of advanced use cost money. The point is that $100 goes a long way on New Media—web sites are cheaper and more social; strategy development is more straightforward; and the results are all but immediate. For FAR less investment, you can gain impressive and quick returns.
• A magic wand – It’s not a “build it and they will come” sort of media any more than a web site is. You must promote your social media presence elsewhere and engage in its use strategically or your use of the tools will fail. It’s more about HOW you use it – just being “on” social media doesn’t mean you will improve your results.
• A place to ignore other humans – Rude is no more popular or socially acceptable online than off. It’s still rude to ignore someone standing in the same room with you or to slam a door in someone’s face. The same applies on social media. Whether you know them or not, kindness and respect for other humans is always in good taste.
• A platform to be distasteful – Don’t post or allow employees to post anything negative towards other humans or anything that is distasteful. If your grandmother would have so much as given you a sideways glance, don’t post it. Big personalities are welcome – as long as they’re clean personalities.