I'm adding workflow guides, templates, swipe copy, presentations and other email and marketing sequences for our members on Jara University; they'll be added to a new section we're creating for a Jara University "toolbox." Why?
About a week or so ago I wrote about the three camps I see in the social sphere. (Ref. Three camps in the social spectrum. Which one are you in?)
- Camp A - broadcast-type information marketers ("...learn the 'system' I used to make $90,000 in 72 hours...!") Ick.
- Camp B - social media purists ("it's all about free content, relationships and trust...").
- Camp C - a growing group of folks seeking to overlay the core values and principles of Camp B with the "systems" used by Camp A to provide great content and build trust within the framework of a permission-based marketing/sales funnel.
That article suggests that I have since thrown my lot in with "Camp C."
A couple of weeks before that, I shared some frustrations about the tiring queue of social medians preaching to the choir about this "new paradigm." And yet, even as we're told about the many examples of the societal benefits of social media, I can't shake this ongoing concern that we're collectively failing in the department that offers guidance about HOW professionals leverage social media when it comes to profit-based goals. And of course, to do it while keeping true to the trust-based culture and philosophy of the social web. (Ref. The Four Overused Terms For Social Media.)
More Social Media Training Needed Around List Building and Profitability Goals
My friend Scott Schang and I had a little "paradigm shift" of our own a little while ago. During an excellent presentation he gave about list building and online lead generation (which he'll be giving again on Jara University in a couple of weeks, by the way), we were surprised to see how many people in his audience--practicing social medians and bloggers many of them--seemed to be struggling with the aspect of social media that leads to list building and financial pursuits.I mean, sure, ask the average social media practitioner--or even some social media consultants and social media trainers--how to get set up on Facebook, how to build a better blog, the top 10 things to tweet about on Twitter, or the "do's and dont's of social media engagement" and they're all over it. But, ask them for a workflow about how to implement a lead generation engine, sell a product or service online without coming across as "that guy," or define a workflow for implementing a marketing funnel from their blog, and it seems clear that more widespread training and support is needed in the department of guided uses of social media marketing tools for small business profitability.
Jara University Plan-Build-Sell Framework(TM)
So, it was in that process of brain-noodling that I revisited the social media training content we have on Jara University. I wanted to make sure that we're supporting the top tier social media practices. That is, the levels above the first two in the Plan-Build-Sell(TM) framework diagram below.( Download it: Jara University Plan-Build-Sell Definition.)
As I've explained in an increasing number of my client-partner meetings, training sessions and presentations, the whole gamut of social media enablement for business spans a much larger dimension than learning the "how tos" of: getting set up on Facebook, learning how to start a blog, understanding the value of Twitter, and so on. After you're up and running on the "Big 6" social platforms (i.e., blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and monitoring tools), business interests should quickly turn attention to best practice techniques for list-building, network growth, development of consultative content (e.g., eBooks, reports, training series, etc.) and product launch techniques.But, not readily apparent in the diagram above is the "toolbox" we also want to create so that our subscribers can benefit from using some of the very copy, templates, presentations, workflow logic, scripts and training sequences we and our mentors have used for own businesses.
Social Media Marketing Toolbox
So, here are some of the upcoming changes to Jara University. I'd really value your feedback, by the way, about any additional tools or training content we should be adding:1. Make available to our members more tools, templates and workflow diagrams that will help fastrack them with their own social media activities. Short of writing blog copy for them (which I'd never espouse except, perhaps, in the sense of having someone guest-post on your blog with all the requisite by-lines and disclosures), then if it's not a "done for you" service, then it's a "done for you" presentation or messaging sequence that they can use outright or use with rights to make customizations and modifications for their own business.
2. The second thing I also want to add is to organize a lot of the content on our site into a structured learning path. That is to not simply present all the content in a randomly accessible table of contents, but to also present the content in a view that suggests a sequence for learning. The idea being that content that is presented earlier in the learning path serves as a prerequisite of sorts for other content presented later in the learning path.
I'll obviously have more to say about all this in upcoming articles. And, as we continue building out our content and tools for our members, I'd very much appreciate feedback from you about what else should go in there, too.
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