The Merrill Dubrow Blog

Like most of you I am on the social networking bandwagon. Yes I post on a blog, tweet, use Facebook and LinkedIn. Last week I noticed I got my 800th connection. First of all I am really excited about that! Here are a few reasons that I am excited:

• Industry contacts are changing/losing jobs at a record pace and with LinkedIn I find out about it really fast
   
• I can see what conferences people are attending in the future
   
• I find that contacts in social networking communities respond faster than regular email. I actually tested this last month and sent out the same email to 20 people in LinkedIn and 20 regular emails. I was amazed that everyone responded on LinkedIn while only 55% responded through regular email.
   
• In a fast and changing economy I find speed really important right now and I use LinkedIn to contact people about what is going on in the industry and the economy.
   
• It’s a great prospecting tool for new business
   
• It’s a great resource to find contacts you have lost touch with

Now your turn:

• Do you use LinkedIn?
   
• Do you like the community?
   
• What changes or enhancements would you like to see them make?
   
• How many connections do you have?

I look forward to reading your comments.

P.S. In case you were wondering, LinkedIn is not a CLIENT OF OURS AND DIDN’T PAY ME TO WRITE THIS BLOG.

Posted in Social Networking | Post Comments (10) »

I was reading the paper the other day and came across an interesting article about Kim Kardashian that I thought I would share. First of all I actually know who she is even though I don’t watch her show "Keeping Up with The Kardashians". The article mentioned that Kim has 2.7 million followers on Twitter. In terms of ranking that puts her 10th according to twitterholic.com — just ahead of Shaquille O’Neil. The article talks about how much Kim is paid for her tweets. Take a few seconds to think about it and then read on.  Kim is paid $10,000 every time she mentions a product in one of her tweets. Imagine if she said, "Hey I just stopped at a 7-11, bought a Coke and a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup."  I wonder if she gets $30,000?

Ok $10,000 seems like a lot of money to me but the real question is – is it worth it?

• Do consumers who are following Kim run out and buy products she buys?
   
• Since followers are getting Kim’s "Tweets" real time is there a bump in revenue after she tweets?
   
• What famous people do you follow?
   
• Have you personally bought any products based on people you are following on Twitter?
   
• Do you think this trend will be successful?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Social Networking | Post Comments (7) »