5 Keys to Virtual Fame webinar

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Hello and Welcome. I am so glad you are joining me. We’ll get started in just a minute or two...I just want to let people get logged in.(1 minute passes)Ok, let’s get things rolling. A couple of housekeeping details. Webinar technology is great, but sometimes there are glitches. If you are not able to get a clear picture or good audio, please log-out and try logging in again. You won’t hurt my feelings. This webinar technology works best if you shut down any other programs that are open on the computer, but if you just can’t make it work today… I will be sending a recording to everyone who registered, so you won’t miss out and those who are on the webinar, you don’t have to take feverish notes. Also, if you have any questions, please write them in the question box which is a gray tab on the top left of the screen and I will address them at the end. I probably won’t look at the box until then, because I am on my own here and don’t want to get distracted from delivering the content. If I do not get to your question, shoot me an email at janet@yourmediamoment.com and I will respond later.I also will make a special offer at the end so stay tuned for that.Ok, I am going to start the recording and share the screen for the presention. Here we go.

Hello and welcome. I am Janet Vasil from Your Media Moment and Beyond. I am a media expertizing coach and consultant who specializes in helping authors and subject matter experts create a Magnetic Media Expert Platform online. Here’s a little about me – my background and story… Today I want to talk to you about key ways to increase your visibility and credibility as an Expert in your field. Specifically I’ll show you how you and your business can get the expert’s edge - by growing your online presence to attract more customers and clients, boost your media appeal and of course, make more money!

Why listen to me? I’m an award-winning, EMMY-nominated TV anchor, reporter and producer. I’ve told more than 15-thousand stories on television and interviewed thousands of people from all walks of life. My work has been seen on stations of all the US TV networks, on cable networks and on WebMD and elsewhere online. I’ve written 3 books and contributed to a 4th book. I am a trained media coach and a certified social media strategist.That’s my self-promotion moment.Here are some comments from people who have worked with me…

Elizabeth Brown has a great niche as a healthy living expert. She done a lot of TV interviews and made her own videos and now she is working on her first book.

Jim is a renowned personal development expert and success coach. His books are published in 22 countries. You may wonder why a solo or small business owner would want an expert’s platform…let me explain with a little history.

During my years in TV, I was always on the hunt for experts for my stories and I interviewed lots of experts including famous people like Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hope, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and many others. About a decade ago, the growth of the Internet began shifting the power in the media world from the Mass Media Age where I’d spent my career, to a media democracy. And I noticed people were bypassing traditional media and using online media to get known on their own.

For example, Pop Star Justin Bieber was discovered after his mother posting video of him singing on YouTube which was seen by a talent manager and led to his mega-career. Another great example is Gary Vanyerchuk. He also leveraged video to get known. If you’re not familiar with his story, He’s a young man whose family owned a liquor store in New Jersey. He put together a Web TV show, Wine Library TV around 2006 to demystify wines and his knowledge and personality caught on to the point where he grew the family business into a massive success online. Gary’s Internet “fame” then led to a book deal, invitations to speak at conferences about new media and lo and behold, the main stream media began calling him!

The secret is they all had a PLATFORM which simply means their activities made them more visible than the average Joe and attracted an audience. The truth is making a name for yourself this way is a formula. Hollywood actors, politicians, business leaders and rock stars have all been following the formula offline for years. Traditional ways to create an expert platform include having a prominent position, doing public speaking, taking a leadership role in a professional organization such as serving on the board, getting media exposure in print, TV and radio, maybe even having your own newspaper or magazine column or your own radio or TV show or regular segment. Now there’s the added dimension of new media. With online tools, anyone can create an expert platform to get more attention for their talents, share ideas and information about a particular interest, sell products and services that cater to serving people with that interest, grow a fan base and build a community around the interest and around their business.

I want to be clear about what I mean about fame - Fame is personal and professional success – it’s being visible and known in a way that attracts people to you and opens doors. You can stand out from the crowd, develop recognized expert status and build a fame platform withou becoming Lady Gaga or Brad Pitt…that kind of uber-celebrity status, although like Justin Bieber took that route. What I’m talking about is personality-driven solo and small businesses – personal branding for service professionals, entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches, consultants, trainers, where people are buying YOU as much as your product or service. And an expert platform can be any size. You might be happy and successful as a big fish in a small pond – recognized as a leader in your local business community. Or using the Internet, you could become well known nationally or internationally and sell your products and services all over the world. You build the platform to the level you want. (I was at an event recently…)

I’d define a platform in 2 ways: Ione is concrete and one is more philosophicl. The platform is what you stand on – just as when people got up on a soap box to make a speech ecause a platform raises you above the crowd so you’re seen and heard more widely and more easily. It’s also who you are and what you stand for - which is online terms might be the content that spreads your message,and shows your personality,. The image you project - the whole package working to enhance your expert status and attract customers, clients, fans and followers to what you’re doing. I saw it first-hand as a local TV news anchor. The newscast was my platform and tens of thousands of people, our audience, liked and trusted me because in essence I was in their living room every night sharing valuable information. That visibility gave me recognition and influence in the community which opened up other opportunities.

As you develop your media expert platform, you’ll have some decisions to make. You want to be clear about your message – the story you tell. In fact, you want to create 3 very clear and concise media messages and develop supporting stories, statistics and sound bites to support them in a conversational way. The key is to express what problem you solve. How you’ll answer questions, even those you’d rather not answer and how you’ll slip in a subtle promo for your book or product or program. You’ll want your image to be right . There’s a trainer online who always wears a Hawaiian shirt, some women epxerts decide on a signature color and always wear that color in photos and on video and feature that color in their website design. It makes them both more memorable and more familiarr Years ago a TV talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael was know for her red framed glasses. You would be caricatures or cartoons of her simply as a hair do and those red glasses – no facial ffeatures but you knew it was her. Personal branding, a signautre style.You want to know how you look and sound on camera or in audio. Do you deliver your message clearly, is your speech free of jargon, can you speak in sound bites. You want to developthe air of authority..not arrogant or condescending but super confident in your body language and speech. I don’t mean being a phony but you want to be poised and polished and have the presence that people associate with an expert. All do-able but being media ready will take some preparation and practice.So let’s get into the 5 Keys to Virtual Fame.

They are positioning, publish, social media outreach, video content and publicity which is media exposure. Certainly, there are the offline avenues to getting better known I mentioned earlier and they still work and work well. Now you have the additional venue - when people are looking for solutions and want to find an expert, even if they’ve heard about you offline, they’re going to check you out online. So you want to be find-able, likeable and credible there too. I’ll go over each of these keys one by one.

Positioning is the foundation you build. It’s the steps you take to show you are an Expert in your field. It involves developing the mindset of becoming the go-to authority in your field which is being confident about what you know and owning your expert status.. People have said to me, I don’t like using the word expert – it’s what other people call you, not what you call yourself. But in the media world, we are looking for expert sources so you have to self-identify as one. I saw something online a few weeks ago where a reporter wanted to find an expert in buying a timeshare, another was looking for a relationship expert. You need to get comfortable with that word. It doesn’t mean you know everything in the world. No one expects that. When enough people know your story and relate to you and want more of you, the media will start noticing and come to you. Part of positioning is what I said earlier, you create your story. Your message and a strategy for weaving your online content around it.. On the technical side– you want to establish a home base which is your personal piece of real estate online. This in a place you control. The hub of your Platform is a blog. Now it used to be that a blog and a website were separate but with today’s designs blogs and websites can be one and the same. It can act as a static website with information about you and your business and you can add regular posts which can be written or photos or audio or video. Whatever type of content appeals to your target audience. You should not make your hub a facebook business page or google plus or your LinkedIn profile. These are all important to have, but they belong to somebody else. They are free to use and to grow but you don’t control them. You want to establish a place where people can find out all about you, your products and services, the problems you solve and engage with you - all on your own turf and your own terms.I recommend having a self-hosted wordpress.org blog. You have to pay for the hosting and buy a domain name but this is a relatively low cost investment. There are other options like blogger.com, wordpress.com, weebly, typepad.com. They all have pluses and minuses. I started out with a typepad blog around 2007 and in a year or so moved into a self-hosted wordpress one. Michael Hyatt who wrote an excellent book called “Platform” has a free video tutorial on his blog to show you how to set up a wordpress blog. It really is not complicated. I’ve set up dozens of them.Here’s the link: http://michaelhyatt.com/ez-wordpress-setup.html I will send a resource document along with the replay listing all the sites I mention. You will notice I am not going to give you a lot of technical advice. Why? Because I am not particularly technical, although I amaze myself at times plus my motto is J-G-I for “Just Google It.” The technology is constantly changing and you will always find the latest how-to’s on the search engines.Two things you can do to get started right after this webinar.Google yourself and yahoo and bing – this is not egotism – it’s market research to see what’s out there in your name.Register your name as a domain name – even if you have no plans to set up a blog or website in the near future, claiming your name is very little cost. I would go for dot-com, if it’s available.

Publish – When the media looks for an expert to interview – there are two kinds. There’s the credentialed expert, people with letters after their name – the MD, PhD– and there’s also the experiential expert – the person who shares their body of knowledge based on their experience. One of the top ways to opens doors for either kind of expert is with a book. There are 2 roads to take – finding a traditional publisher or various ways to self publish. But building your own platform is essential either way. I heard a literary agent say she won’t consider representing a first-time author unless they are already have a platform, the visibility and a fan base that shows the potential for selling books.Going the traditional route will take quite a bit of time and if one of your goals is to get a book deal with a major publisher that is great but don’t discount self-publishing for getting a book out quickly.I am not talking about your magnum opus, a college textbook or War and Peace – I am talking about a short and sweet book to sell for a small amount of money like a Kindle book or even to give away that acts like a business card. It’s a marketing piece that features your expert knowledge. People often throw away business cards, but will hold onto a book or pass it along to someone else. The first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was self-published, so was the first 50 Shades of Grey book – these books became wildly popular and led to traditional publishers wanting to publish their subsequent books. Imagine you were looking to hire an expert – it could be a plumber, a professional organizer or a divorce attorney – if it comes down to two candidates who are relatively equal in their qualifications, experience, prices, etc., wouldn’t the one who wrote a book about their field have an edge?Amazon has 2 programs that make self-publishing very easy – Kindle for digital books and CreateSpace which is a print on demand service so you don’t have to have a garage full of your printed books and hope you sell them. I have 3 books on Amazon that I self-published. I get regular checks from their sales. I did the work once and I keep getting paid, not enough to get rich but even traditionally published authors don’t make a living from book sales. It’s all the opportunities that can be built around their book and their expertise that brings in additional income from things like product sales, training programs, speaking gigs, joint ventures, that sort of thing.Plus in media terms - I’ve seen bloggers quoted in newspapers and magazines and interviewed on TV and I saw a Today show segment featuring an ebook author. People know it takes time and commitment to write a book, though it’s not all that difficult. And you get instant credibility and authority by being able to say I’m Janet Vasil, the author of… Later this year when I launch my training program, I’ll be able to say I am the creator of and the name of the program…for added cache.

Social Media I doubt anyone here has not heard about social media, so no need to explain what it is – but there are many, many choices and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What’s great is – you can build an audience for what you do, promote what offer, buy ads, etc. to get the word out – not thru a big ad agency or public relations firm – you can do it. And there are free and low cost tools like Hootsuite and others to manage your social media engagement and help you put a strategy in place that doesn’t take all your time.My suggestion is to figure out where your target audience hangs out, often a good indicator is where your peers and competitors are and then go there and do a little creative lurking to see what everyone is sharing and talking about and then start to add value to the conversation.

Here are the big players and their numbers. These are from October so I am sure they are higher now.Not all social media platforms are right for every business so find one or two that work for your business and dive it. At first, connection and engagement will be slow but if you keep at it, it will grow. You can add more or shift gears as you see results.The secret to success here is have a STRATEGY and be CONSISTENT. Develop a plan for what you will post, where and when, put together an editorial calendar to keep you on track and then post regularly. Block out time daily, weekly, monthly whatever kind of time it takes to create and organize your content and then schedule when it goes out. The same goes for any online activity - blog post, guest blog posts, writing articles or columns, podcasting, making videos. Setting aside blocks of time where you create more than one piece of content is the most efficient way to go. Then, you can spend real time keeping up with the trends and sharing information and commenting on influential websites and blogs in your field as events unfold. You don’t want to post and disappear or not respond and engage – you’ll seem like a robot. And use the 80/20 rule – 8 posts out of 10 should be fun or useful information and only 2 that are self-serving promotional…buy my stuff posts.As your target audience resonated with what you’re posting, some of them will share it with others and as your name pops up over and over online, your media expert platform builds.

Video. As I said earlier, both Justin Bieber and Gary Vanyerchuk used the power of online video to build an audience. Video is dear to my heart because it’s the next best thing to being face-to-face with someone. People feel as if you are talking directly to them, even though you’re not really there. And people want to do business with someone they know, like and trust. When you watch Gary V talk about wine – his expression, his gestures and animated demeanor shows the passion he has for the subject, his personality shows through in the words he uses, the jokes he makes and you get the sense of his expert knowledge. You may like his style or not, but the written word simply can’t communicate in the same way as someone looking at the camera and talking to YOU. Video helps viewers know, like and trust you FAST.I am not suggesting you go out and buy all the gear it takes to make TV-style professional videos although I love that and I offer a professional video branding package for experts in my local area.

You can shoot your own short simple videos right from a smartphone or a tablet like the iPad and with a few clicks put them on your social media stream, your blog and elsewhere. The video quality from mobile devices is just fine for the web.The secret with video presentation is to practice, practice, practice until you’re comfortable seeing yourself on video – believe me, it feels odd at first and you’ll hate how you look and sound. But these first videos don’t need to be posted – they’re practice runs – delete them and keep going until you have something you’re okay with. What kind of content can you put out? Offer tips, tricks and tactics that show your expertise. The classic structure is to write down 10 frequently asked questions – the stuff you repeat over and over as a professional. Then put on your consumer advocate hat and think of 10 questions people should be asking to find the right professional for the job, but often don’t. Now you have the content for 20 videos of about a minute or so in length. Keep it under 2 minutes, because research shows viewer attention drops off dramatically on these types of video after that. And always end with a direct call to action. Ask the viewer to do one thing for you – share this video, like our facebook page, join our mailing list – make sure it’s only one thing – because people won’t take any action, if there are too many choices. And don’t be concerned that these videos might be light on information. It’s funny that it’s often not new or unusual content that attracts an audience, it’s simply a new messenger. Best practices in many fields don’t change over time but the way you express them can be fresh and unique to you.The other thing - and I’m guilty of this too – is that we think everything we put out has to be deep and profound. But it doesn’t. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve suggested an idea to someone that I think is common knowledge and they’ve been really impressed. It’s new to them. What you are doing here is audience building, whether it’s writing a business card book or frequent blog posts or shooting short videos. Covering basic information works fine for that. When you talk to a prospect or a client and hear their specific problem, that’s when you want to pull out the deeper, more profound solutions to serve them.A step you can take right now –after this webinar - is to go to YouTube, type key words into the search box for your field and watch what others are doing. See how many views those videos have and it will give you a good idea of the kind of content most people are looking for and that you can do too.

Publicity Just building a platform is not enough – creating a blog, writing a book, is not an “if you build it, they will come” formula. You have to tell people what you have to offer. You can use your social media outreach and video to draw attention to what you are doing. You can also pitch the media, both offline and online influencers.. Ideally, your online platform draws the media to you.The value of publicity is what’s called implied 3rd party endorsement – somebody other than you is saying you’re an expert and they’re not getting paid to say so. People know you can buy advertising or commercials that will say anything you want about your business, but you cannot buy a news story. I spent my career in traditional media so I would never say getting in print or on radio or TV doesn’t have value – but it doesn’t have the power it had when it was the only game in town. You can certainly get stories in traditional media and do your own publicity outreach. Here’s what it takes: time, persistence, patience and a bit of a thick skin. You’ll face rejection and you’ll have to get the attention of the right reporter or producer at the right time with the right story pitch. The other challenge is – it’s usually a boom or bust scenario. You work hard to get what’s called a media “hit” and get in print or on the air but it’s a once and done and the glow doesn’t last long. Let’s say you are in a feature article in a newspaper business section or a magazine or in a story on TV – they’re not likely to do another story with you anytime soon.Sure, you want to leverage it to the hilt – link your media hit to your blog, crow about it on social media, put a copy of the article or video clip in your marketing materials, whatever it takes. Then get back to work pitching new angles and finding other media outlets. I will say it can get easier - once you break through and are featured in one media outlet, other media may pick up the story or want to do a different story with you. So a print story can lead to a TV story or a radio reporter calling you.

Here are 4 resources – these are free email lists you sign up for that will show you what stories reporters are working on and what kind of experts they’re looking for. You can contact the reporters and pitch yourself as an expert.HARO and Reporter Connection generally list print and broadcast possibilities, radio guest list is for getting radio and podcast or Internet radio interviews, blogger link up focuses on bloggers looking for expert sources and experts looking to contribute guest posts to blogs, etc. Again, I will be emailing a resources list so don’t worry about taking all this down.

Online activities. Your blog/website should have a media kit. This is a page that contains materials that help reporters work with you. It can be take many forms and include many things. It should contain your bio in short and long form, at least one downloadable photo – ideally a high resolution professional headshot and perhaps an action shot or two of you, plus photos of your product or book cover or anything else a reporter might want to include in a story. Provide complete contact information and be sure all the contacts are accurate and are regularly monitored to respond to media inquiries quickly. Include product descriptions, suggested questions for interviewers, video clips of you speaking or answering questions, past media coverage,press releases, a list of your upcoming events. The list can be endless. You can get your name appearing on major online news sites like the New York Times by posting insightful comments and sharing opinions about what’s going on in the news. You can follow journalists on twitter and other social media networks who cover your industry, engage with them about their work, suggest resources or story ideas… the way media relations professionals do. Make yourself part of the conversation which again gets your name out there and may lead to traditional media mentions and interview requests. You can write and circulate your own online press releases, not necessarily to get traditional media attention but to get picked up on blogs and other news aggregators that will link back to your blog. My business coach has mentioned to me many times that marketing never ends and that often it’s not the product or service that is the problem if you’re not getting attention or sales are down, it’s the marketing and promotion that needs to be fixed.

There’s so much more I could tell you but we have to stop somewhere so this is the end of the presentation. I hope it’s been helpful, and I really appreciate the time you took to be here with me today.Research show knowledge sinks in best if you take one action step immediately after you learn something. So I would urge you to do one thing after we wrap up – even if it’s just googling your name to see what comes up – as a way to help this stick in your mind. Of course, this webinar only scratches the surface of what you can do to stand out from the crowd and create a “virtual fame” platform. For example you can produce your own podcasts and syndicate them on iTunes, do a web TV show, record interviews with other experts to post on your blog and much much more. These activities could be the core of your business or simply an additional marketing tool. None of it is hard to do, but you need a plan. As I said earlier, I will offer a course later this year to dive deeper into creating your media expert platform.For this webinar, I have a special offer.tohelpyou get going or make what you’re doing more effective. As this image says, the longest journey begins with a single step.

For now, I have a SPECIAL OFFER. I will do a 1 to 1 strategy session with you for an hour by telephone or by skype. We’ll review your current online visibility and platform or if you don’t have a platform yet, your ideas for building one. We’ll talk about your media story and possible hooks. We’ll map out an online media plan to get you where you want to go, talk about tools and technologies you can use and evaluate what can wait and what to do to get started right away.

This consultation is a 250-dollar value that I don’t offer separately – it’s part of a larger package. But I will offer it today for 99-dollars. You can use the link on the screen to sign up – http://bit.ly/fameplatform

Now let’s open it up to your questions. Fire away!(Either have a few questions “in the can” to answer at this point, or just tell people that you are short on time and will be addressing any questions that came in via chat in direct follow up with them)

I threw a lot of information at you but it’s rocket science – Getting known is a formula, customized in certain ways to be sure, but there’s a basic roadmap every recognized expert followsMaking a name in your niche won’t happen overnight but new possibilities to spread your message and make a profit from it will open up as you build out your platform over time.

Here is my contact information. Connect with me on social media and if a question comes up after this webinar, you can shoot me an email and I will be happy to answer it. Once again, I’ll put up the link if you would like to take advantage of the personal strategy session.

One more reminder that if you want to speak with me specifically about your business, getting a review of your platform or to figure out a roadmap for creating a platform for your business, we can do that. Just follow the bit.ly link for the fame platform to sign up.

Again thank you so much for joining me. I’ll send the recording and resource list in a day or so. I know if you apply this formula to your situation and take action, you will be on your way to becoming a recognized expert online. See you in the spotlight.Bye for now.