a) My biggest frustration is prioritization. It is not that I don't believe in the value of social media, but I want to spend time where I'm going to see the biggest bang for my buck (I own a small marketing agency that specializes in nurture marketing so my buck = my time): is it social media? is it direct mail? is it referrals? Realistically, I don't thing I can spend more than one hour a day on social media.

b) The single most important thing I would like to get from this course is a STRATEGY. In other words, how does social media impact my bottom line. I know that social media can help me achieve expert status – yeah, right – but for me it's important to know: how many new customers or how much more revenue from existing customers, or what other sources of revenue can I expect? Also, I would like to know how do define this strategy in a bilingual environment. We're based out of Quebec (Canada) and our clients are probably 50% anglophones and 50% francophones. Developing content in both languages – like we did for our eNewsletter – seems like a daunting task. I think the question of social media in a bilingual or multinlingual context could be interesting for many business owners.

I would love to be a beta tester. As a busy cataract surgeon, I have not been able to implement any effective social media marketing as (frustration) there just seems to be so many options and each one seems to suck me in for hours that I do not have to offer. As a medical doctor, I am also limited to creating the posts myself in order to avoid legal and ethical issues. Additionally, you have convinced me that the purpose of marketing is not to get more customers, but better ones. To date, most of the online chit-chat I have encountered regarding eye disease is clearly not coming from my desired demographic (age, maturity, geographic, or psychographic).

So, what I would like to learn from such a course : (1) how to manage the social media beast such that I can personally commit my limited time most effectively. Presently I am stunned into inaction by all of the options and know neither which ones to pursue or how to most effectively do so. (2) How to use social media to attract the customers I want (those who understand the value of high-tech, high-touch medicine and are willing to pay for it).

I look forward to hearing more about this course and hope to be one of your beta testers.

Sincerely,
David Richardson, MD

I have just graduated from Uni and am trying to implement social media programs to companies in Kenya. My greatest frustration is the fact that some of this concepts are new to us and are so dynamic. So, we try and keep ourselves updated using blogs such yours on new developments. I would be grateful if given such a chance. Thanks John.

The single most important thing I would hope to get from a course like this is how to move beyond the clutter and noise of social media and develop a preliminary strategy to begin to connect to the people who will resonate with what I’m offering and so that I can begin to get known and recognized. I have a lot of content to share (continually developing), and my question is: how do I use social media in this start-up phase to get it out there, where it will be seen, read, heard, absorbed, and (hopefully) enjoyed – both broadly by the long tail and narrowly by key thought leaders and potential colleagues and collaborators.

The single most important thing I would hope to get from a course like this is how to move beyond the clutter and noise of social media and develop a preliminary strategy to begin to connect to the people who will resonate with what I’m offering and so that I can begin to get known and recognized. I have a lot of content to share (continually developing), and my question is: how do I use social media in this start-up phase to get it out there, where it will be seen, read, heard, absorbed, and (hopefully) enjoyed – both broadly by the long tail and narrowly by key thought leaders and potential colleagues and collaborators.