10 Actionable, Slam-Dunk Suggestions to improve and build upon your social media presence and brand.

1. 10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
Brian Vickery – EVP & Principal Mantis Technology Group

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
1. Get scientific about your Social Media Fitness
• Research platforms
• Develop “Tribe”
• Curate *other* great
content
• Microblog (Twitter) and
work to longer forms
• Publish / Speak

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
Batman did not have super powers – he just
had…
 cool technology (Triberr, Buffer, Feedly,
Hootsuite, BundlePost, Pulse Analytics)
 a crusty/wise mentor
 and a cause
(and a billion dollars never hurt anyone)!!
“Always be yourself, unless you can be
Batman, always be Batman” ~ Andy
Biersack
Photo Credit: nanny snowflake, on Flickr
2. Be Batman

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Do not be a clone or poser
• Do not get lost in the noise
• Try courteously contrarian –
world has enough “yes men”
• Too much of “the same” drives
the buying decision to bigger
or “cheaper”
”It's a nice surprise to see the Bellas
mixing it up. It's refreshing, yet
displeasing to the eye” ~ Pitch Perfect
Photo via Darik60 on Flickr
3. Develop your own voice

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Do you really want to be
influential in coffee or
cats?
• LinkedIn recommendations
trumps endorsements
• Get SEO savvy with blog
posts
• Remember IRL part of
influence
4. Cultivate – without gaming - your influence

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Be a student of the game
• Win with fundamentals
• Get other players involved
• Be an Iron Man
”YMCA Your Competition” ~ Brian
Vickery
Basketball Feature 2 by JSmith Photo, on Flickr
5. Focus on fundamentals and work ethic

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
”When you dish out an assist for an
alley-oop, both players fill the stat sheet”
~ Brian Vickery
Alley-oop by Nathan Wind as Cochese, on Flickr
• Best business opportunities still
come from referrals / warm
introductions
• Learn about your tribemates –
Taboo for them to sell, not taboo
for you to ASK for more
information
• Engage and collaborate
6. Assist your tribe

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Trust relationships grow
through sharing
• Your “reach” grows as your
tribe’s reach grows
• Sharing does not guarantee
reciprocity, but have the
generosity start with you!
” Without promotion something terrible
happens…nothing!” ~ P.T. Barnum
Sharing is Caring by maichan-art
7. Sharing is caring

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• People already talking about you and the
topics you care about – find those
conversations through active listening
• Listen FIRST to gain context
• Get familiar with Google Alerts, Hootsuite
streams based upon keywords, and social
monitoring tools
"We have two ears and one mouth so
that we can listen twice as much as we
speak.” ~ Epictetus
Stop Look Listen by gregwake, on Flickr
8. Listen

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Social media monitoring -
without engagement - is like
diagnosing an illness and
refusing the cure.
• Not just about listening – also
have to be agile with
engagement…especially in
“crisis mode”
“If you can dodge a wrench, you can
dodge a ball” ~ Patches O'Houlihan
Dodgeball
U.S. Navy photo via Wikimedia Commons
9. Engage courteously and within context

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10 Slam-Dunk Social Suggestions
• Favored Kansas up by 5 over
Michigan with 21 seconds to play in
2013 March Madness…Kansas
loses!
• Heavily favored Denver Broncos up
by 7 over Baltimore Ravens, on home
field, with 1:08 to play…Denver
Broncos lose in overtime!
• Incumbent Invincible
That’s why we play the game to the
last whistle…
Lewis vs. Manning by Jeffrey Beall, on Flickr
10. Take the field regardless of the odds

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THANK YOU
Contact information:
Brian Vickery – EVP and Principal, Mantis Technology Group
Email: brian.vickery@mantis-tgi.com
Blog: http://brianvickery.com
Twitter: dbvickery
Pulse: http://pulse.mantis-tgi.com