Amazing AI Chatbot Kidnaps TikTok As It Takes Over the Written World

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It’s like Google and Siri had a baby, and she’s a genius!

Have you heard the massive buzz about this breakthrough AI tool?

I’ve been using the latest new AI tool, ChatGPT, for a few days now and it’s seriously impressive. People are finding it so mind-blowing that it’s taken over my TikTok feed with unsolicited endorsements. The latest rant was from @garyvee.

A key benefit is that ChatGPT’s dialog-based chatbot approach makes it super-easy to use. 

It also doesn’t suck that ChatGPT is free, non-commercial, and no strings attached (at least for now). I highly recommend that you give it a try. Access & more info here: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

Here’s my Top 3 Reasons that I think ChatGBT is a game changer, via TikTok:

@joncombridges

It’s not every day that we get a new tool that we can immediately understand how it make our work more easeful and powerful. That’s why I’m excited about chatgpt, chatgptforcreators. It opens a window on the #future of how we will all someday very soon be using #AI and #AITools to be more Creative. #creativity

♬ Inspirational Background Music ( warm, motivation, determined, cinematic ) – four_track

Pro Tip: The better you get at asking questions, the better the output you’ll get. So take some time to think about what you want to ask and ask it in a clear and concise way.

COMING SOON: THE VIDEO MOJO CREATIVITY SANDBOX

Join Jon on a 3-Week learning adventure to ensure that you don’t die with your Creative Joy still stuck inside. This program is for you if you want to unleash your joyous, creative freedom. You will want to play in this “sandbox” in order to have a breakthrough in your creative self-expression.

Transform your creative life from a “want-to-have” into a valuable, ongoing practice. Register or learn more at: https://www.videocreator.me/

Please connect with Jon and/or subscribe to his free & informative email blasts here: https://play.combridges.com/links

Thanks for reading!

[Rant] How Social Media Playfulness Leads to Meaningful Connections

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Social media often gets a bad rap, and it often deserves it. 

On the other hand, social media may well be the biggest, most fun playground ever. 🙂  

And, I’m not just talking about frivolous fun. I’m talking about an AWESOME playground with creative superpowers and unprecedented opportunities to develop meaningful connections.

Amongst social media’s creative superpowers, my favorite (as you may well know) is video. Social media is constantly reinventing video in a morphing media form that most currently spans a spectrum from TikTok and IGTV (and, yes, Reels) to Facebook Live, YouTube, Zoom, and Loom, just to name a few. 

Has there ever been a video playground so abundant with creative opportunities to experiment and try new things? And, when you try new things, there’s no telling what will happen. That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!

One of those things that might happen, perhaps serendipitously, is that you might make some meaningful connections with like minds who resonate with your creations.

It’s in making these kinds of authentic connections that you can, if you are willing to play and experiment, make social media meaningful. And, I hope you know that I’m not talking about my thousands of Facebook “friends.” 

I’m talking about authentic long-term relationships that are sustained through an Engaging Social Media Presence (my new acronym is ESMP). Because nothing meaningful is ever built with a single click, these kinds of social media connections require nurturing through the values that I champion, specifically, consistency and authenticity, as well as (and I know I’m getting a bit circular here) playfulness and video.

So, when someone makes you aware of how truly evil Facebook (and others) can be, please don’t forget that there’s a flip side that is also true. 

When you use social media with a spirit of playfulness and experimentation it leads to expanded creativity and connections.

And, oh yeah, this quote (that’s on the social media graphic that’s attached to this post) came out of my recent webinar, “Beyond the Hype: Social Media Marketing That Really Works!” 

If you’re interested, you can check out that webinar for free, no registration required, here: https://www.combridges.com/free-social-media-marketing-webinar/

Thanks for reading!

Blab: The New Social Video Streaming Platform ROCKS!

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This is a quickie post to let you know about a surprisingly good new video streaming conversation platform called Blab. I just did my first Blab session and had 39 viewers from around the world. The recorded segment is embedded below. I was joined on-screen by video participants from Brazil, Argentina, and Philadelphia. 😉

I think this application is more user-friendly for multi-user video than anything I’ve seen (Spreecast, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc.) It is also way better than Periscope or Meerkat because it’s two-way. Those video streaming tools are really only one-way.

Blab now has a mobile app as well as desktop. And, now that I think about it, it’s not only two-way, it’s up to four-way, four simultaneous video participants. And that’s nicely complemented by a fully functional chat stream where you can paste URL’s and animated GIF’s as well as very nice Twitter integration.

One of the people who jumped in, Richard Berger, had this to say about our conversation:

[testimonial author=”Richard Berger, English Teacher”]”In just those few minutes my awareness of new social media/video streaming/website development was exploded, and now you got me “back at the drawing board”, thinking of applications for my teaching work. Thanks again!”[/testimonial]

Here’s my first session which was a spontaneous “Ask Me Anything” about websites, social media marketing, video, etc. Pretty dang fun! Please click “Watch Now” button on the image below to watch this Blab session, and feel free to scroll ahead to see the multiple participants. And, please let me know what you think. And stay tuned for a special Blab next week with Twitter Power author, Joel Comm, at 4pm PT on Friday, August 28th. Thanks!

Learning from Meerkat: If You Don’t Understand the Social Graph, You Don’t Get Social Media Marketing

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The Social Graph is About Relationships, Not Followers

Perhaps the most frequently asked question in the whole social media and online marketing arena is, “Where’s the ROI?” As Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee points out in the animated, educational story that he tells in the video below, the true answer to this question requires thinking that goes deeper than a financial statement. To make his point, he ends up asking, “What’s the ROI of my mother?”
Warning: If “the f-bomb” i.e. “foul” language offends you, you should NEVER listen to anything Gary says.

Of course, he’s right. There is a whole lot more to life, to business, and to marketing (in the social media-powered world) than trackable metrics. In other words, when you build authentic, sustainable long term relationships—not only with customers but with prospects—you are building an asset that has real long term value. That’s the true meaning behind the literal meaning of “the social graph.” That’s the point of this post. Please allow me to explain.

Missing the Point

Over and over, we miss the point about so many things. We think abundance is about money when, as we all know (I hope), there are much more important things in life. To me, these more important things are “true abundance.” And yet, we think social media marketing can be encapsulated by how many “Likes” we get on our Facebook page, or even by how many zeros there are at the end of the bottom line number at the bottom of this month’s revenue report.
In a similar way, we get impatient and dissatisfied with our online marketing efforts and miss the point regarding how amazing our world of innovative digital communications truly is. Gratitude really should be ruling the day. Louis C.K.’s famous video, “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy” sets a nice tone for thinking differently about all this:

The Social Graph Defines Your Influence

I like to ask (presuming that you are doing some kind of social media marketing), “Are you building sustainable, long term relationships based on authentic human connections, or not?” (This subject is dear to my heart because it’s this kind of focus that puts the “humanity” in my calling myself a Humanistic Marketing Wizard.)

The “social graph” is the more geeky, technical term for your “tribe” or your network of influence which, in my view, is something that one builds by “leading with value” via social media and email marketing. Yet, we think the bottom line is the money, not the people. Wrong!

The bottom line, assuming you want to stay in business for the long term, is the real relationships that you are able to create and maintain. That’s why understanding the social graph is so important. In fact, it’s so important that, just last week, it become the leverage point in a high profile business kerfuffle between Twitter and the hottest app at SXSW, a live video streaming mobile app called Meerkat.

Twitter withheld social graph access from Meerkat thus underscoring the value of the graph.

What’s Meerkat Got to Do With It?

The Twitter vs. Meerkat story is an interesting business story because direct access to Twitter’s user base, i.e. its social graph is what Twitter withdrew from Meercat. They did that because Twitter’s social graph is one of its most crucial assets.
Likewise, so are your true followers, authentically engaged “fans,” and the email list subscribers, especially the ones who actually read and occasionally click on your emails. Their attention and TRUST are priceless/precious.
It’s a complex issue how we all access each other’s social graphs and it’s debatable what is appropriate use for a start up app. Along these lines, I really appreciated the thoughtful analysis of VC/entrepreneur Mark Suster @msuster in his blog post: “Some Perspective on Twitter vs. Meerkat.” I think he explains the business issues involved quite well.
In terms of authenticity, I also appreciate the fact that Suster is walking his talk, not only as a Meerkat user and venture capitalist, but also with how he thinks through this kind of issue. As he mentioned, “I have my social network in Twitter to thank for the public debate that clarified my thinking on this topic.”
And, that’s where the rubber really hits the road… not in terms of bottom line financials, but in terms of meaningful dialog, authentic give-and-take conversations where both parties listen as well as pontificate.
Straight-up social media communications like this not only make for more effective marketing and sustainable long term relationships, but more importantly, they make this a better world!
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Thanks in part to all the blog comment spammers, comments are turned off on this blog (at least for now). However, PLEASE, I would LOVE to hear from you, including any comments, criticisms, suggestions or whatever, via any of the social networks linked at the very top of this page. Thanks.[/alert]

Learn How Compelling Visual Content Can Increase Your Social Media Marketing ROI

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In a blog post over two years ago (see Social Media Goes Visual: Why Pinterest is More Than You Think), I started calling the next frontier of social media marketing, “The Visual Web. This morning, I extended this conversation with a Google Hangout interview with Ekaterina Walter, the author of “The Power of Visual Storytelling.” Here’s that 30 minute conversation:

Fundamentally, humans are predominantly visual creatures, and according to a study from National Formosa University in Taiwan, this is reflected in our computer environments—especially in this age of social media!

Bottom line, you may produce the most compelling written content for your business blog and social media marketing efforts, but if you don’t have the right visual content to make it more engaging, you may never see decent conversion rates.

Here are some basic tips (with more to come) as to how to effectively use visual content to engage readers and get a better ROI:

Vary Your Media

To effectively promote content in social media, mix up what kind of visual content you’re using.

  • Photos. Whether you’re using your own photographs, stock photography or a digital vector, you’re going to need a relevant image(s) to go along with your content. Case in point: Marketing blogger Jeff Bullas reports that articles with images get 94 percent more views, and on Facebook, photos get 84 percent more click-throughs than their counterpart text-based posts, according to Kissmetrics. Failing to add a photo can mean a major loss of conversion. Also, let’s face it—the article just looks nicer with an image or two.
  • Video. Integrating video into your social media campaign not only grabs people’s attention, but it helps you stand out as an authority in your field. To create customized video about your area of expertise, use a marketing service like ComBridges or just shoot and upload via YouTube, or use Google Hangouts On-Air as I have done above. If you simply need royalty-free stock video, try a site like Shutterstock.
  • Animated GIFs. Sites like Buzzfeed, Distractify and Tumblr use animated GIFs frequently. These sites get shares into the tens of thousands and views into the millions. With the widespread use of broadband, these kinds of images are far more high-tech and user-friendly than they used to be. They’re a great way to market pop culture events or tutorials without requiring the user to watch a video. If you’re trying to get a quick point across, use a GIF.
  • Infographics. Your target audience may not want to read a wall of text. Instead, offer them quick and easily accessible information (with credible sources) in the form of a visually engaging infographic. In fact, infographics have become so popular in recent years, you can search for just about any topic you’re interested in followed by the word “infographic,” and chances are, there is one available.

And all of this is just the beginning. In future posts, I’ll write more about things like Instagram, Pinterest, SlideShare and more. Please subscribe via the links above to be notified.

Keep Color Psychology in Mind

Because “The Visual Web” is all about graphics and images, color is key. Color sets off certain signals in your brain, even if you’re not aware of it. For example, the color red is exciting and stimulating, while blue is considered calming and trustworthy. Take a look at different business logos and advertisements as you’re driving down the street. Note what kind of an emotional appeal they have for you. Use this same type of approach in your social media efforts. Depending on the emotional response you want to convey, choose your imagery and colors within the content carefully. Visual.ly has a great infographic on the psychology of color that can help you make good color choices for your social content.

More to come! I look forward to your feedback and your shares. 😉

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3 Surprisingly Useful Marketing Strategies to Make a Real Difference, Insights from Top Experts

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Amidst all of the on-going changes, there’s always a need to learn more. Social media is not necessarily easy, nor is it just one thing. However, as almost everyone has realized by now, it is a serious, mission critical component of every company and organization’s marketing communications strategy.

social media is much more than one thing

As I continue to learn and follow the rapid changes in social media marketing strategy, I have recently come across three very valuable insights from which almost anyone can benefit. They come from Internet marketing leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk, Clay Collins and the Content Crafter for the social media sharing app, Buffer.
 
I’m sharing these strategies because I think I’ve got three very useful ones here. All you have to do is put them into practice. 😉 The first tip will boost your visibility. The second will enhance your lead capture/list building initiatives. The third will fuel your effectiveness with passion. I hope you can put these to use and I would love to hear what you think and how they work for you.

1. BufferApp: Share Your Blog Posts More Than Once

It may sound spammy; but it not only works, it makes good sense. Belle Beth Cooper, the Content Crafter for the blog of my favorite social media sharing app, Buffer, put together a thoughtful, analytical post to explain why the likes of Guy Kawasaki swear by the strategy of sharing your blog posts more than once. “One and done” just doesn’t cut it. Hey, we all put some serious time and effort into making our blog posts as valuable as possible (don’t we all?). For this reason, it makes enormous sense to make them even more available. After all, various people are in various time zones and no one sees everything you post only once on social media anyway. There are lots of good reasons to make this a regular practice. Read Belle Beth’s case for reposting content, including recommended best practice strategies. You will thank me.

2. Clay Collins: Offer More Than One Opt-In Opportunity

Clay Collins is an Internet marketing success story in his own right having built LeadPages into what he says is now “a multiple seven figure” online software business. I’m a customer and plan to expand my use of his platform. I recently did a webinar with Clay (who seems to be a tireless creator of valuable content) and I found myself sharing one of his insights in particular with a number of my associates and clients.

During this particular webinar, Clay shared his quest for a goal of doubling his company’s revenue through online marketing (of course). Briefly, his first thought was increasing traffic. Too tough. Then, he took a shot at doubling conversion rates which was a very tough way to meet his ambitious requirement. Finally, he realized, tried, and succeeded by dramatically increasing the number of opt-in opportunities that he was offering his visitors. Stated simply you could call this creating many more points of interactivity.

I am now adding this error-of-ommission to my list of common mistakes that I see most businesses making. To tell you the truth, this is something that I am currently doing, but will be changing soon. The single and only real opt-in form on my site and on most websites is some kind of offer in exchange for subscribing to an email newsletter. I now realize that this is no way to do Internet marketing.

List building is crucial. (More in another post about how to use your lists effectively.) And, just making one offer is an extremely weak strategy. Clay recommended having an opt-in offer of some kind at the end of every blog post and building out multiple (as in “as many as possible”) landing pages with opt-in offers. Webinar offers. Resource guide offers. And so on. It makes sense. Make specific offers in exchange for opt-ins that are as relevant to your content and as valuable possible. Why do so many of us stop at only one offer?

No one said that social media marketing was easy, and it does take time and effort. But when you do it well, it works. Clay’s success is proof of that.

3. Gary Vaynerchuk: Triple Down on What You Do Best

I’ve started reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World.” In case you don’t know, Gary is the real deal as far as “social media gurus” go. I’m a fan. So, it was to my delight when I suddenly discovered last Tuesday that he was speaking live at the Book Passage, our local independent book seller. The last time I heard Gary live was at InfusionCon where he keynoted to about 2,000 people. This was going to be much smaller crowd and in my back yard; so of course I went.

I even got to ask Gary for specifics about how he has grown his new company, VaynerMedia, from 30 to 300 employees in only 2 years. This is a fascinating business story on its own. But the bottom line that Gary underscored was the fuel for his fire is the way that he “triples down” on what he does best. While this may not sound like a profound insight to some of you, to me it’s something that very few of us do well. And, personally, I think it’s something that I need to do better.

I’ll say it for myself (knowing that I’m not alone here), the thing I love to do most is Internet marketing strategy. It’s what I think I do best and where I offer the most value to my clients. Yet, I spend a lot of my time on operations and implementation, not to mention website development. I’m going to take this guidance to heart and I hope you will too. Triple down (or spend far more time and resources) on what you do best and everyone will benefit. You will find yourself with more energy as well as effectiveness.

 And, if you want to learn more about my services as an Internet Marketing Strategist, please click here 😉

FYI, the picture of Gary Vaynerchuk and friends below is via Instagram and @annaontheweb. It was taken at the Book Passage event discussed above.

Take Advantage: Social Media & Mobile Marketing Lead the Way for Black Friday, Cyber Monday Offers & Deals

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Are you taking advantage of the major trends in online e-commerce by connecting with your customers where and when they want to do business?

Social media and mobile lead this seasons's online shopping

The year-over-year growth in the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals illustrates why your mobile and social marketing strategies are more important than ever!

As the venture capitalist, Fred Wilson recently said in a blog post (with chart) showing how “Mobile is Eating the World“:

“The jump from 2012 to 2013 should be terrifying to anyone who has a business based anywhere but mobile.”

As we enter this year’s holiday season, there’s no doubt that online shopping will play a bigger role. Last year, the big Cyber Monday sales climbed 30 percent higher (2012 compared to 2011). In fact, in 2012, Cyber Monday ranked as the best day of the year for online shopping, besting any day in December. This is largely due to people using their smartphones to shop. Approximately 12 percent more users bought items from a smartphone in 2012 than 2011, while 18 percent of total Cyber Monday sales came from smart phones, as reported by the 2012 IBM Software Report.

Mobile Friendly Marketing

People are discovering and ultimately buying products and services from what they see on the smartphone. They may text a friend just after visiting a marketer’s Facebook page and/or after viewing a new online store. And social media platforms are becoming synonymous with phone usage. In actuality, 78 percent of Facebook users are accessing the social media platform from a mobile device, and Facebook earns 40 percent of its revenue from mobile users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told TechCrunch. This confirms the importance of merging Cyber Monday promotions with the popularity and widespread use of social media. How is your business doing in this regard?

And, perhaps even more importantly, social media is built on sharing. Some 2.5 billion pieces of content are shared each and every day on Facebook. Only through effective, authentic social media marketing can marketers hope to get a small piece of this lucrative pie.

Directly Targeted Social Media

Popular, successful online specialty retailers set the pace by directly engaging with Cyber Monday via guerilla style marketing campaigns. For example, Tanga showcases a line-up of half-off products, and its direct social media efforts, including a staff of members posting about the savings, is just one method employed in the company’s completely online effort.

Integrating the power of “bricks and clicks,” the popular retailer Macy’s is taking full advantage of social media. Its popular ‘buy one, see another donated’ campaign is bringing increased attention to its social media feeds. Thousands are sharing the donation campaign to their respective followers on Facebook.

Twitter Hashags Push the Envelope

Facebook is not getting all the attention. Here’s an actionable tip for you: Cyber Monday marketers are also using the #blackfriday Twitter hashtag for added exposure. Going a step further, Shopping Blog has even implemented a distinct Black Friday Twitter account to fully realize the potential of its Cyber Monday and Black Friday promotions.

Strategic Marketing Plans Benefit All

Many companies have taken their long term social media strategies to a new level by thinking strategically about holiday shoppers. As we advocate and do when help companies with their marketing strategies, many online marketers have outlined detailed plans. For example, ReadWrite details how brands create a social media playbook that gives explicit ‘why’ answers and builds a goal plan hierarchy for continued success. Because social media has so many facets, companies need to outline exact strategies for harnessing its potential. Otherwise, the old axiom comes true:

“A failure to plan is a plan to fail.”

Cyber Monday, in particular, only accounts for a small component of the much larger Internet marketing, social media and mobile game plans. But it’s a great place to start. Please let us know if we can help.

Wishing you every success as well as a peaceful, nurturing and satisfying holiday season.

Great Video Underscores the Mobile, Multi-Screen Marketing Revolution

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One of my mantras seems to be “it’s hard to keep track of how fast things are changing when things are changing this fast.” 

It really is hard to ‘grok’ 67 million iPads being sold in just two years, isn’t it?

The question as posed by this video is “Are You Adapting?” That’s a great question given that mobile web traffic was 1% is 2009 and it was about 12% in 2012 and that’s rising rapidly. I highly recommend this highly visual video via the Associated Press and the international sports video agency, SNTV as a wake up call. (And, if you will please forgive a brief moment of shameless self-promotion, we would love to help your company or organization adapt to and take advantage of these changes. I think it’s safe to say that they will effect every organization either as an opportunity… or an opportunity missed because someone else in your niche got there first… or adapted more effectively.)

“It’s a Wonderful Web” ENewsletter Highlights Facebook Pages, Google AdWords and Luscious Links

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The March 2013 edition of our “It’s a Wonderful Web” e-newsletter is out. It includes:

  • social media puzzleWhy a Basic Facebook Page is Not Effective Marketing
  • Get QuickStarted with Google AdWords, the World’s Biggest Ad Platform
  • Luscious Links including where to find great images for your blog, why Google+ is a must, and Twitter’s Vine video app

If you’re not already a subscriber, click here to read it online.