Use Social Media to Follow March Madness 2014

More than ever before, social media has made it incredibly easy to follow March Madness 2014. Selection Sunday is this Sunday March 16th and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament gets underway with the play-in games on Tuesday March 18th. The Tournament itself begins Thursday March 20th around 12:00 Noon EST.

With that, March Madness will be officially underway. I love this time of year and to recognize our clients and friends we’ve just rolled out our Second Annual prize giveaway. I couldn’t wait until next week! Just Like our Facebook Page to sign up to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card, then share with all your friends using the hashtag #TFGMadness to increase your chances to win.

Image by: Gabriel Suits

Articles are being posted everywhere describing in great detail the time we spend watching games, attending parties and pretending to work while we watch games and catch up on scores with our smartphones, tablets and computers. Here at The Friedman Group we’re all about the tournament and I’m just hoping to get a couple hours of work in every day until April 7th when it’s all over.

This year, there’s even more excitement about the bracket challenges many of us participate it at work and elsewhere. Warren Buffet has teamed up with Quicken Loans and Yahoo Sports to offer the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge. Feeling lucky? All you have to do is submit a perfect bracket to win the billion dollars. Not feeling so lucky> The 20 highest scoring imperfect brackets win $100,000 and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

College basketball fans around the world have found social media to be a way they can keep up with their favorite teams. And when they can’t watch the games live, they can keep up with the action just by looking at their smartphone or tablet and checking their favorite social network. Here’s some ways you can stay engaged with the NCAA Tournament while remaining mobile.

This year, the NCAA March Madness Live app will broadcast live games. Games broadcast on CBS can be seen on the app and Saturday’s Final Four games (televised on TBS this year) will also be available online and on your mobile device via the NCAA March Madness Live app.

There are lots of ways to keep up with the Tournament scores, including the ESPN SportsCenter app on iTunes and for Android devices.

You’re going to find Facebook pages dedicated to March Madness and Pinterest boards for the visual amongst us. YouTube will also be filled with highlight clips throughout the Tournament.

Interested in filling out a bracket or hosting your own competition? There are many options to choose from including the bracket challenge hosted by CBSSports and Coke Zero just to name two.

Twitter is going to be buzzing with March Madness info and millions will be using and following the #MarchMadness, #ESPN, #CBSSports and #NCAA hashtags to keep up with everything they can. For some of the best tournament information, I’d suggest you have a look at @MarchMadnessTV the official home of March Madness TV, TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

Some of my other favorite people and teams to follow on Twitter are:

• ESPN Basketball Insider Jeff Goodman @GoodmanESPN.
• Being a student of history and a fan of Duke basketball I follow @dukeblueplanet to keep up with everything Blue Devil.
• I can’t mention Duke basketball without mentioning another one of my favorite teams, the Kansas Jayhawks. Follow Kansas Basketball at @KU_Hoops and “Rock Chalk Jayhawks!”
• This year I’m also looking for Wichita Stateto shock everyone, so I’ll be following them on Twitter too.
• Jay Bilas is an ESPN Analyst, former Duke player and President of Hair Club for Men. Follow him at @JayBilas to get his take on the tournament.
• Rob Dauster @RobDauster is the Head Writer for NBCSports.com’s college hoops coverage at College Basketball Talk and always has some great insight to share.
• ESPN.com Senior Writer Andy Katz @ESPNAndyKatz covers college basketball for ESPN while populating his Twitter stream with the day’s breaking news, trivia and his own analysis.
• Are you interested in the smaller conferences? Looking for the next upset pick in your bracket challenge? Check out The Mid-Majority @midmajority in its tenth and final season.
• College basketball reporter/analyst/author for Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports Seth Davis @SethDavisHoops believes “Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”
• Need some serious stats on your favorite team? Check out Sports Illustrated and SI.com writer Luke Winn @lukewinn. The guy is a statistics machine!
• While we’re talking about statistics gurus, check out Ken Pomeroy @kenpomeroy for team metrics and statistical analysis you’re not likely to find elsewhere.

By no means is this an exhaustive list of March Madness social media sites. It’s just some of my personal favorites. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Tell me who you follow on any of the social networks to get your March Madness fix.

5 Steps to Building Quality LinkedIn Connections

Are you trying to find quality leads for your business on LinkedIn?

Are you rising above the noise with quality engagement?

Using your LinkedIn profile to connect with market influencers and potential clients is smart–when done right.

In this article, you’ll discover a five-step process for building the solid relationships you need to generate a steady flow of leads from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a great marketing tool if you create relationships based on trust. Image source: iStockPhoto.com.

#1: Get Your House in Order

 

Before you start looking for leads on LinkedIn, it’s important to understand LinkedIn basics and the expectations of its users.

Take a few minutes to make sure you have a professional profile and picture, and join a few groups to get a feel for how they work. Go a step further and figure out the best engagement times to post on LinkedIn.

Even little details, like a completed profile, affect how potential leads respond to you.

When you’re confident you have the basics down and are ready to start meeting others and creating leads, make a spreadsheet to track your progress and connections.

I like to keep track of current personal connections, new connections, groups my target influencers and customers are in, popular group topics, how many members are in a group and which members are most active.

#2: Find Your Market Influencers on LinkedIn

 

Before you post and push content to your intended audience, be crystal-clear about their interests. Only then can you create ads or messages that speak directly to them.

As you look for market leaders, review your personal connections and existing clients, then find them on LinkedIn. You most likely already have a priority list of companies and people whom you want to connect with. Next, go to LinkedIn and search for other companies and people who are active in your market.

Search for all of the companies you’d like to follow.

When you connect with people, don’t send network invitations with “Hey, we’re in the same network, I thought that…” or “I liked your website, I have a question…” types of messages to connect with them. They’ll get deleted, ignored or flagged.

#3: Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups

 

It’s not enough to find the leading voices in your market, you have to know where they hang out and what topics they find interesting. LinkedIn groups are a good place to get a feel for this.

Look at which LinkedIn groups market leaders are participating in, then join the ones that fit your needs.

Look at your list of influencers, then visit their LinkedIn profiles and scroll down the page to see their Groups section. Here you can see all of the groups they’re part of.
Visit these groups and join the ones that fit your needs.

#4: Create an Editorial Calendar

 

When you visit a group, you can sort the conversations by Popular and Recent to see which questions and content are most relevant to members (and who offers the most responses). These conversations are your target areas of opportunity. Let those topics guide your own contributions.
Make a note in your spreadsheet about popular topics and the names of the most active group members. Use that information to develop an editorial calendar.

As you create your calendar, remember that generic content won’t get you the attention you deserve and want. Instead, ask intriguing questions and share thoughtful, useful information to build a high-converting customer/client-building funnel.

In one of my market-relevant groups, the topic of tools for writers came up, so I shared an article I’d written that has related tips and detailed information about writing resources and tools. The content was relevant and it linked to my blog; I added value to the group and drove traffic to my website.

Create engaging posts that speak to your audience.

#5: Post the Right Kind of Content

 

Your content should address the issues being discussed in the group and offer help or more information without being a sales message in disguise.

When you publish new online content, use your website’s social sharing widget or plugin to push the post to your targeted LinkedIn groups. When you click the LinkedIn Share option, check the Post to Groups checkbox and enter an intriguing question as the title.

Target your message directly from your blog via the LinkedIn Share plugin.

If you post and share often, keep both shared content and your question relevant to each group’s discussions to avoid looking like spam. When visitors hop over to your blog post or website, rely on the conversion tactics you have in place to capture your new leads.

Make sure you have notifications turned on so you’ll know when you get a LinkedIn comment. You don’t want to miss a chance to respond.

Conclusion

Hard sells (e.g., self-serving emails and posts) just don’t work on LinkedIn. Comments, likes and direct responses to your content aren’t permission to pitch. Instead, continue the conversation and carefully consider the content you share and how you present it.

Research what each group wants, then offer yourself as a resource. Ask more questions, make recommendations and offer solutions—or if you can’t help, refer people to someone who can. You can rise above the noise with quality engagement that makes you stand out.

What do you think? How do you generate leads from LinkedIn? Are you happy with the quality of your interactions? Is there a tactic that has worked well for you? Leave a comment with your advice or questions below.

Unlimited Pinterest Secret Boards: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Pinterest Announces Unlimited Secret Boards: “With unlimited secret boards, there’s no limit to the number of ways for you to plan, contemplate, practice and explore all of the things you want to do.”

“You can always invite friends to your secret boards so you can hatch plots together in private.”

LinkedIn Introduces All-New People You May Know Page: “The new People You May Know simplifies the experience of growing your network. It does that by bringing all of your pending invitations and suggestions to connect together in one place.”

“The sleek new design features beautiful cards with larger photos for an easier-to-read, streamlined experience.”

Disqus Adds Featured Comments: This new addition allows moderators “to feature a comment, placing it proudly at the top of the Comments section.”

“You can feature any comment within the discussion. When you feature a comment, it will be displayed prominently at the top of the thread.”

Getty Images Introduces Embed Tool: This “new Embed feature makes it easy, legal and free for anybody to share (Getty) images on websites, blogs and social media platforms.”

You can easily share Getty images on blogs and social media.

Evernote Adds Handwriting for Android: You can “easily move from writing to typing to taking photos and back all within a single note.”


Facebook Releases Updates to Paper App: You can now “share articles via Facebook Messages, text message or email.”

“Experience other improvements that make Paper even more reliable and—hopefully—that much more fun to use!”

Google Redesigns Hangouts App: This new version is “fully optimized for the iPad, including picture-in-picture video calling.” And you can “record and send video messages up to 10 seconds long.”

You can use “animated stickers that help you share exactly how you’re feeling.”

Facebook Messenger Arrives for Windows Phone: “You can now download Facebook Messenger from the Windows Phone Store.”

“With Facebook Messenger, you will be able to see who’s online for a private or group chat, send a private message and bring messages to life with pictures and stickers.”

Here are a few social media tools worth checking out:

Sharalike: “With an easy-to-use, highly personalized approach to image management, Sharalike users can store, edit, enjoy and share gorgeous slideshows with just a few clicks.”

“A single application for all image/video saving and sharing (instead of the multiple applications you currently need to use!).”

StoryBox: “StoryBox aggregates all forms of earned media—tweets; YouTube videos; posts; Instagram photos and videos; and content created directly through VideoGenie technology—on your site, which is then optimized based on (StoryBox’s) proprietary engagement algorithm.”

“Easily collect new videos and photos from your community as part of your site experience.”

Swiftype: “The easiest way to add great search to your website or mobile application.”

“Powerful features in one simple package.”

Here’s a cool social media marketing ebook:

Other Mentions

Introducing Social Media Marketing World: 60+ pros help you master social media marketing! Join Chris Brogan (co-author of The Impact Equation), Mari Smith (co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day), Michael Hyatt (author of Platform), Jay Baer (author of Youtility), John Jantsch (author of Duct Tape Marketing), Amy Porterfield (co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies), Mark Schaefer (author of Tao of Twitter), Michael Stelzner (author of Launch) and experts from more than a dozen brands as they reveal proven social media marketing tactics at Social Media Marketing World 2014—Social Media Examiner’s mega-conference in beautiful San Diego, California.

Check out this overview of the conference or click here for more details.

What do you think? Please share your comments below.