Daniel J. Lewis

Internet entrepreneur, award-winning podcaster, podcast consultant, keynote speaker

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Review of Scott Stratten’s Book, UnMarketing

June 20, 2016 by Daniel J. Lewis Leave a Comment

Business-owners and content-creators need marketing, at least until that can be delegated to someone else. Scott Stratten's book, UnMarketing, is a concise reference for modern marketing as well as a challenge to overhyped ideas.

UnMarketing may not be your most marked-up book. There aren't amazing quotations on every page. But it does contain page after page of actionable advice, case studies, and inspiration to help anyone who needs to “Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.” (That's the book's subtitle.)

I've seen Scott Stratten speak a couple times before and I greatly enjoy his style. He's straightforward, honest, and filled with insight. But he never takes himself too seriously and his presentations are always fun.

Stratten's writing style is no different. It's both authoritative and entertaining. You'll get great marketing information as well as plenty of laughs, especially from the footnotes. Of course, a book called “UnMarketing” would be a very different approach from most dry marketing books!

While reading UnMarketing, I didn't highlight a lot of things Scott Stratten said, but I did find plenty of new inspiration and ideas I can apply in marketing my own business and content.

Scott Stratten is good at representing common human feelings about marketing and customer service. With that understanding, he's able to present marketing ideas that will truly connect with other people. Some of the ideas seem so obvious that I would think, “Of course that would work!” But most of us have our heads so buried in our work that we miss these obvious opportunities to stand out.

“UnMarketing” is the perfect title. It's like zombies who move like they're alive, but behave like they're dead. That's why we call them “undead.” Stratton's work is the same. It's about marketing, but it's about not marketing. It's really a book secretly about amazing customer service and relationships disguised as a book with “marketing” in the title.

I read UnMarketing within a week and have plenty of ideas to last for years. My favorite chapters were “Hierarchy of Buying,” “Pull and Stay,” and especially “Viral Marketing.” These chapters do have highlights in my copy!

Inside, you'll learn about engaging online and offline; in-person and over the Internet; and attending events and hosting your own events.

I highly recommend UnMarketing, by Scott Stratten. I suggest you read it straight through, and then re-read the chapters that inspired you the most. Most of the chapters are short enough to read in only a few minutes. Scott clearly knew UnMarketing would be a great reference book, too, because he includes a helpful index in the back.

This isn't the “SELL SELL SELL” kind of overhyped marketing. It's practical, effective, and engaging.Get your own copy of UnMarketing and tell me the biggest insights you gained!

Filed Under: Business, Social Media Tagged With: book, business, marketing, review, social media, social networking

How to change Twitter IDs without losing your followers

July 13, 2012 by Daniel J. Lewis 9 Comments

Unless you have excellent foresight, or managed to be one of those lucky people to get your real name on Twitter, you've probably entertained the idea of changing your Twitter ID at some point. I'll explain how you can do this without losing your followers.

Consider first

Changing Twitter IDs can be a risky process. You risk confusing followers, missing messages, and possibly damaging your hard-earned reputation.

But then again, changing your branding on Twitter could gain more followers, better position yourself in your market, and make more sense for your current and future endeavors.

This process is really easy, but keep in mind that you'll have to keep doing cleanup and monitoring for a long time. Just think about how many people still call the “siffy” channel “Sci-Fi.”

Grab the ID early

Make sure the Twitter ID you want to use is actually available. Take it! You don't want someone else to grab it while you prepare or announce your change. We'll call this @NewName.

Warn your followers ahead of time

If you change your twitter ID without warning anyone, people will start wondering, “Who is this person? And how did I start following them? Why am I still following them?”

And remember that a single Tweet won't do. Take a week or so and Tweet at different times throughout the day. Let your followers know what your new ID will be, but that they won't have to do anything to remain your followers.

Change Twitter IDs

Let's assume you have two Twitter IDs: @OldName and @NewName.

  1. Login to @NewName and visit your account settings.
  2. Change the username to “TEMPName” (or anything at this point).
  3. Logout of Twitter.
  4. Login to @OldName and visit your account settings.
  5. Change the username to “NewName.”
  6. Logout of Twitter.
  7. Login again to @TEMPName and visit your account settings.
  8. Change the username to “OldName.”
  9. Logout of Twitter.
  10. Login again as your normal account, which is now @NewName.

Tweet from your old account

There will always be links to your old Twitter ID. To make sure people follow your new account, I recommend that you:

  1. Change the profile name to “Follow @NewName.”
  2. Keep the profile picture.
  3. Write a bio to redirect people to @NewName, but make sure you acknowledge that they found you (and not someone else they were looking for).
  4. Delete all Tweets (optional) and make one Tweet to tell visitors to follow @NewName instead.

Monitor Tweets to your old account

No matter how hard you work on this process, people will still direct message and mention your old account. Use a good Twitter client to login to your @OldName so you can receive these messages, but reply from @NewName and remind them of your change.

Don't change your picture for a while

Changing your ID will confuse some people. But changing your profile picture will completely confuse your followers and may cause people to unfollow you.

For as long as possible, keep your profile picture and name the same as they were before the switch.

Remind followers that you've changed

Every now and then, Tweet to remind followers what your old ID was and that you're using the new one. Don't do this too often, but maybe once every few days.

You're a new person!

And you've done it! You switched Twitter IDs and didn't lose all your followers, lose your position in lists, and hopefully didn't confuse everyone.

If you change your Twitter ID, please let me know how it goes!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: social media, tutorials, Twitter

This is what happens when I stop blogging for a day

April 19, 2012 by Daniel J. Lewis Leave a Comment

This image represents my daily visitors since launching and publicizing my new personal blog. As you can see, my daily blogging with interesting information and compelling titles has caused a significant boost in my daily traffic.

Now look at the left end of the chart. That drop was yesterday, when I forgot to blog anything.

Oops. Did I just let it slip that I'm trying to blog every day? If you didn't already get that impression, get it now, and maybe it'll help hold me accountable.

I'm very much a communicator, as you know from my podcast network. But until I had launched danieljlewis.com, I felt like I had so many things to say, but not the right place to say them.

Now I have me—I mean danieljlewis.com—which can be anything I want it to be.

No, this doesn't mean I'll blog pointless nonsense. (That's what Twitter and Facebook are for, right?) I want danieljlewis.com to be content worth reading and resharing. Stuff that will help you or someone you know.

I'll generally blog on freelancing, social media, technology, and web design.

Let's see if that makes the blue line happy again.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: blogging, Google Analytics, social media

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