Social Network Movie Review

A Look at The Social Network Movie from the Mindset of An Entrepreneur

To all of those social network fans out there, the movie, The Social Network, (aka #SocialNetwork for the Tweeples) about facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to billionaire status, has been the buzz for several weeks now.  On opening day, my facebook news feed was filled with post after post from people buzzing about the movie.  OK, I get it.  Facebook is a complete social phenomenon and a ton of people, entrepreneur’s included, use the massive social networking site to develop relationships with new “friends” from around the globe.

As an entrepreneur, I actually practice and teach social media marketing principles, so I admit I was a little bit interested to see how this movie was going to play out and what entrepreneurial elements I may be able to take away from it.

In this review of The Social Network, I want to share a few focus points that entrepreneur’s can take away from the film and apply to their own business for growth and success.

Be Laser Focused

The movie version of Zuckerberg was intense and laser focused.  When he “wired in” working on the facebook code he was completely oblivious to the things going on around him.  Headphones on, focus targeted to the project at hand.  At several points in the movie, it was very apparent that regardless of where he was or what he was doing, his thoughts were focused on the project at hand.

The movie portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of facebook, is said to be fictional by in large and Zuckerberg  is reported to have told Oprah, that he is actually much more hard working than the movie version of him.  If that is true, then I am impressed because the movie version of Zuckerberg was intensely and almost obsessively focused on his work.

Take Fast Action

There is one scene in the movie where Zuckerberg’s character was speaking with a friend about the relationship status of one of the students when the idea hit him to add relationship status’ to the facebook profile specs.  Zuckerberg, stopped mid-sentence, with a look of epiphany plastered across his face, gathered his belongings and raced to his dorm room where he furiously enters the code to add relationship status.  This reminds me of the importance of taking fast action on not only your ideas as an entrepreneur, but on implementing the new information you learn.

Know How to Recognize the Right Timing

As the popularity of “the facebook” (as it was called in the beginning), grows, the movie demonstrates that Zuckerberg’s friend and business associate Eduardo Saverin began to press him to monetize the site.  Zuckerberg was not comfortable with that and wanted to wait for it to spread more and gain popularity.

He wasn’t willing to compromise the “coolness” of the facebook in order to make a quick buck.  Zuckerberg recognized, it was far more important to wait for the right time, grow the audience, and fan base before monetizing.  This turned out to lead to facebook being a multi-billion dollar corporation rather than a multi-million dollar corporation.

Millions are good, but billions are better. 

I see a lot of on-line entrepreneurs make the same mistake, they come out of the gate eager (or desperate…haven’t really decided which it is yet) to make money fast on-line.  What many fail to realize is that before you can generate a business partner or a customer, you must first have earned their trust and respect.  People are generally skeptical about on-line opportunities because of the massive amount of “scams” out there.  So building the relationship with others should definitely come first.  Sometimes waiting for the right time to “pitch your opportunity” to someone can make the difference between a “yes” and a “no”.  You must carefully monitor and understand timing.

Keep Your Priorities In Line

This lesson from the movie comes, not from what the fictional Zuckerberg did correctly, but what he did wrong.  Now I can’t speak to the character or the personality of the real Zuckerberg because I have never met him, nor have I done much research on him.  He could totally be a super nice guy in “real life”.  Only he and those closest to him know that.  All I know is I’m glad he invented facebook. 

The fictional Zuckerberg, however, was a complete sell out when it came to relationships and well….frankly, he screwed over just about everybody who crossed his path.   The movie portrays him as a guy with no “real friends” left at the end of the day.  (that’s not a spoiler either).  So, this leads me to my last and final take away from the movie – keep your priorities in line.

Your friends, your family, your relationships with those who love and care about you should always, always, always, take precedence over your ambitions.

You can have billions upon billions of dollars but if you don’t have the peace, joy, and satisfaction that comes from doing the right thing and keeping relationships first, then it’s all in vain.

So keep it real my friends.

Go see the movie and ask yourself what elements you can take away to help you be successful in your business. Your comments, retweets and facebook (yes I said facebook ….) shares are always appreciated.  Oh…and on those “re-tweets” please use the hashtag code #SocialNetwork (that’s be extra awesome of you!)  Thanks!

Social Marketing For Your Success,

How to stay active in all your social media outlets and still be productive in your business.

It seems one of the most challenging things for any entrepreneur or busy professional is the task of effectively and efficiently managing the social media platforms while still getting “real business” done.   Honestly, social media is a HUGE key in building your business and is one of the primary places “real business” occurs, but that’s another blog post for another day! 

Today, I want to focus on your social media platforms and time management.

There is so much you can do with social media to help you grow your business or get your message out, but if not managed correctly, it can be a time eating monster!!  Social media is fun, engaging, and an awesome way to build relationships, so it’s easy to spend way too many hours on  Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube, or any of the other popular social media outlets.

Recently, a friend asked me how I manage to stay connected and active with all my social media accounts on a consistent and continual basis while still getting important things done.   I shared my secret with him, and today I am going to share it with you.  Are you ready?

It’s HOOTSUITE!!!!  And…you can see it in action in my video below…

Well, there you have it.  Hootsuite is my secret tool for staying active in social media all day long without even being in front of my computer.  A few hours on the weekend to set up and schedule my tweets, facebook status updates, facebook  business page updates (aka: “fan page”), and even my linked in updates and I’m rolling in activity and driving traffic all week long!

Now I still spend some “live time” on these sites periodically throughout the week, in the evenings and on weekends when I have some spare time.  This is when I usually have my responses, and do some re-tweets, etc.  I have another amazing tool (TweetDeck) that I use for those “live social media actions”…again, that’s another post, for another day. 

So, what do you do to manage your time on social media?

Drop down below and let me and the community here, know your tips, secrets, and tricks to being active AND productive with social media.

To YOUR Social Media Success!!!

Tribe Tuesdays? Tribe Vibe? Syndication Power Hours? Social Media Rock Stars? (or as I like to say “RockStarZ”)

If all the buzz and activity around all of this tribe talk from power bloggers and social media RockStarZ has you wondering what all the fuss is about, sit back – relax, and take a minute to read on. I’m here to share with you the scoop on the newest trend to hit the social media networks, and help you “be in the know” on what’s happening in these “syndication power hours” and what “tribe Tuesday” (or #tribetuesday for all you Tweeps out there) is all about. By the time we are finished here today, you will have answers to some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) surrounding Social Media Tribes. I believe you will want to jump in, catch the wave and ride the Tribe Vibe by the time we are finished here. In fact, I’m sure of it.

What is A Tribe?

A tribe is a community of people with common interests and common goals. They are united with a common thread and commitment to share resources with other members of the community.
In social media, the tribe concept has taken flight and is catching on quick, thanks to a group of mastermind bloggers and marketers who have taken the concept and developed a community around it. In my opinion, the tribe concept promises to be one of the biggest things to hit the on-line social scene in a long…long…long time.

What is “Tribe Tuesday” (or #tribetuesday) and Syndication Power Hour?

Tribe Tuesday (#tribetuesday) is the designated day for tribe members in my community to work together syndicating each other’s content.  We have rotating teams, that connect with each other for one hour every Tuesday night on Skype.  This “designated hour” is known as the “syndication power hour” and we use that time to talk, chat, and get to know each other, while simultaneously visiting each others blogs and  syndicating the content on them.  Doing this while we are on Skype together allows us to offer feedback to our tribe members on the user friendliness of their blog and to share tips and suggestions for improvement.  It’s teamwork at it’s best!  Having a designated day creates a lot of accountability in our community and if a member is not able to attend the designated time, it is expected that he/she will “make up” that time at their convenience.

What does a Social Media Tribe do?

The tribe consists of a community of individuals who have entered into a “gentleman’s agreement” to syndicate each other’s content on the internet. They read blog posts from members of the tribe, they comment on them, they “re-tweet”, bookmark, and share the content of designated tribe members with their community of followers.  This content is shared on multiple social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, as well as multiple bookmarking sites.   In return, the other members of the tribe do the same for them.

What’s the Benefit?

OK, I know most people will want to tune in and listen to the “jamz” on W.I.I.F.M. here (What’s In It For Me). My answer is TONS!!!

First, by giving back to the community and sharing with your followers the value rich content of your tribe members, you are placing them in contact with information which will help them.  And really – isn’t that why we are out here blogging anyway…to share information and help people!!!

Second, what you give will be given back to you, it’s the Law of Reciprocity and it works!!!  (see Luke 6:38) There is no way around it.  Call it “karma”, call it “good fortune”, call it “generosity”, call it “seed time and harvest”, what-ever you want to call it – fine with me.  The bottom line is this – it is an eternal truth that has been in existence since the beginning of time, and it works whether you want it to or not!   What you give, will be returned to you. In the tribe culture, You promote their stuff, they promote yours.  Win/Win.  I like win/win outcomes!  Don’t you? 

Third, it provides an opportunity for massive exposure and increased traffic to your site.  Think about it, if you have 1,500 followers and you promote your own content, then the most you can get is 1,500 plus whoever those folks might want to share your stuff with.  BUT!!!  If you have 5 tribe members who all have followers, you not only get your 1,500, but you get their numbers too.

An example of what your exposure could end up looking like follows:

Your Followers = 1,500

Tribe Member #1 Followers = 5,000

Tribe Member #2 Followers = 7,000

Tribe Member # 3 Followers = 10,000

Tribe Member #4 Followers = 800

Tribe Member #5 Followers = 25,000

TOTAL EXPOSURE VALUE = 49,300 potential viewers / site visits!!!

Granted, this is only an example, but  when you do the math, the ROI (Return On Investment) of syndicating your tribe members content is HUGE!!!  Looking at the options -  1,500 or 49,300 (for this example) - who wouldn’t want to have an increase in exposure and traffic at that rate??

There are MANY MORE benefits, but I will save those for another day, and stop with these essential three for now.  That being said, only one question remains?

How can you get involved with a Tribe?

There are options.

1.  You could contact those people in your market that you already have relationships with and talk to them about it, and create your own tribe group to syndicate with.

2.  You could search social networks and find other people with like vision and begin building relationships with them and start working with them to syndicate.

3.  You could connect with me and some of my tribe mates and work with us on our rotating teams for Tribe Tuesday (#tribetuesday) and Syndication Power Hour.  I have had the honor of connecting with some of the leaders in social media marketing today, and they are rockin’ the tribe vibe.  (You can check them out below).

Whichever path you choose to take, just make sure you are maximizing it by making sure you and your team have a full understanding of what the tribe time is all about .

If you want to learn more, I am available for one on one coaching or group webinars, contact me here.

So, what do you say?  You ready to Catch the Tribe Vibe?

Yours in Success,