3 Steps To Foster Business Evangelists: Beat Your Competition Silly

It is one thing to understand the vitally important benefits of consumer evangelists for your business. It is quite another to understand how to give recognition and nourish these business assets. The biggest mistake being made by corporate America is simple: they are not listening or participating in social media. How do you recognize and nourish your consumer evangelists when you are not there (within social networks like blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) to hear them describe their positive experiences with your product? You don’t and as a result companies nationwide are missing an opportunity to grow their businesses and survive this economy

How Do You Recognize Your Evangelists?

Step 1: Show Up

• Create a Facebook profile and business page
• Create a fully functional Twitter account; no lame placeholders
• Create  fully keyword optimized individual and company profiles on Linkedin

Step 2: Go Where Your Evangelists Go

• Join Groups on Linkedin and Facebook
• Ask and Answer Questions on Linkedin
• Participate in #FollowFriday and other hastag discussions on Twitter
• Become Friends or Fans of your evangelists on Facebook

Step 3: Speak to Your Evangelists

• Thank them personally, by using their name, and publicly
• Showcase their own business by sharing a link to your evangelist’s blog, website, or profile
• Offer them a perk for their constant support

Step 3

You Can Not Win In Business Without Evangelists: 10 Game Changing Benefits

Consumer “evangelists” are one of the most important components to a businesses’ success. But what do “evangelists” really mean to your business? The following is a list of benefits a evangelist can mean to your business. No matter how well branded your business may be, the lifeblood of your business future is advocacy by consumer evangelists.

10 Benefits of Evangelists

1. Early Adoption: they are the early adopters of your new products and services
2. Legitimize: they legitimize your products and services by using them first
3. Reviews: they almost always provide positive reviews on your products and services
4. Eyes and Ears: they are your eyes and ears. Eevangelists will often learn about important opportunities for your brand before you will. When they find something that needs to be addressed by their “favorite” company they inform them of where to look, show up, and provide answers
5. Opinion Makers: they can often sway public opinion in your favor
6. Reputation Management: evangelists will often defend your company’s reputation when under attack by other consumers
7. Crowdsourcing: they often can provide valuable feedback that can lead to improvements in your products or services
8. Broadcasting: they often lead the charge to popularize a new product or service by messaging across all social networks
9. Barometer: evangelists will often be the first people to tell you when you have done something wrong. They will often message you privately, if you have engaged with them correctly, in order to help you gauge your products and services
10. Niche: according to David Armano unlike mass media “the web drives the niche” and in so doing it is perfect for evangelists who can effect a brand on many different fronts and at many different levels

Social Media Strategies: Hobby Sites A Source of Business

Courtesy Flickr.com

Computer Shopper published this deansguide article 8-14-2009

Social media strategies often ignore one of the most important aspects of networking to produce leads: hobbies. Your hobby or passion can produce leads and new networking connections if you understand how to leverage Web 2.0 Social Media site. As a new fan to photography, equipped with a real camera, I am about to begin a life long desire to produce quality pictures. I am going to do both black and white and color shots concentrating on the beauty of Northern California. My social media tool of choice will be Flickr.com the photo sharing social network.

Social Niche Networking: Hobbyist

1. Make a list of your hobbies

2. Choose one hobby that you would like to write about for a community

3. Choose the right Social Media site for you

4. Provide articles, photos, podcasts, or video that communicates within the community

5. Link your work on this site to your blog, website, and your profiles around the Social Media System

Many times we connect through liked minded beliefs, hobbies, and interests. These efforts can lead to a business relationship as people begin to become more comfortable with new friends and the different ways to connect.

Okun Sentenced to 100 Years: Guilty on 23 Counts of Fraud

The final chapter is over for the prosecution portion of the Ed Okun 1031 Tax Group rip off. The victims continue to watch their restitution go down the drain but in a show of force Ed Okun, the architect of a $126 million ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 100 years in prison today. Okun’s lawyers were seeking a sentence of 10-15 years. Thankfully Okun’s attorneys had no power in making that sentence a reality.

The Richmond Dispatch Times article.

The article that started it all 1031 Advance Private Exchange Company Missing In Action In Silicon Valley.

Top deansguide Ed Okun articles from the archives:

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/one-of-the-350-victims-of-ed-okuns-bankrupt-1031-exchange-empire-speaks-outthe-most-compelling-case-yet-for-action-to-be-taken/

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/okun-juror-speaks-out-okun-guilty-could-face-400-years-deansguide-odyssey-ends/

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/usa-vs-ed-okun-amended-preliminary-restitution-report/

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/ed-okun-victim-cautions-landamerica-victims-challenges-government-admonishes-1031-exchange-industry/

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/mystery-caller-claims-okun-broke-without-representation-gordon-gecko-a-cautionary-tale/

https://deansguide.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/ed-okun-promises-to-make-good-is-this-a-checks-in-the-mail-statement/

Thanks to Leanne Follis for her timely tip to the Okun verdict. Here is Leanne’s comment:

Dean,
Have you seen this?
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/OKUNGAT04_20090804-142201/283992/

Ed Okun.. sentenced to 100 years!!! Finally, some justice. Now we wait to see Lara Coleman and the
others to rec. their new sentences, what they pled to.

Check it out!!!

from: a former employee