David King, an Internet marketer focusing on social media marketing agreed to do an interview with me, where we chatted about social media marketing and David shared a lot of tips in regards of that, especially on Facebook and Twitter.
Something that made David stood out as an Internet marketer is the fact that he runs a weekly live show. This allows him to gather a loyal audience and follower base, which is in line with his other social media marketing efforts.
In this interview with David King, we touched on a few important areas which small business owners and entrepreneurs should pay attention to when it comes to social media marketing and David also offered a lot of tips which you will definitely enjoy. Let’s check out the interview that we had!
David King, The Internet Business King Interview
Wayne: Hey David, welcome to Wayne Liew Dot Com Entrepreneurs Interview. Glad to have you today!
David: Thanks for having me Wayne! it is my pleasure!
Wayne: David, I don’t know how many times you have done this but do you mind introducing yourself, talk a little bit about your background and how you got into Internet Marketing?
David: I started off in Internet marketing when I was in middle school, believe it or not. I grew up in a household with 3 siblings and money was a little tight so I always wanted to better myself in that area.
David: I was always into technology and was fascinated with computers at a young age but when I discovered how cool the Internet was, I was hooked. And when I learned that "you can make money online", I knew that was what I wanted to do for sure!
David: The first course I got was from a web marketer who actually passed away and it was called "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" by Corey Rudl. After devouring that course I just kept learning and growing, playing around creating websites and blogs and driving traffic.
Wayne: David, first of all, we now know that you are an Internet marketer and you currently focuses on social media marketing. Is that correct?
David: Yep, primarily social media.
Wayne: There are a lot of ways out there that someone can use to market their products and services on the Internet. Why social media?
David: For me I just fell in love with social media because I love interacting and meeting new people. I guess you could say that I am a "people person". I started using social media to my advantage a couple years ago on MySpace and I built a business through that. I realized it was extremely powerful and kept learning and growing with it.
David: There are a few reasons why I love social media. One of the coolest things about social media is that you can find your target market in a split second and connect with them. I don’t like wasting time with drawn out marketing that doesn’t have that. Having the "Find my target market and connect now" benefit is one of the best in social media.
David: The other reason I love social media is the viral factor of it. I can tweet something and it will get re-tweeted several times, that viral spreading continues to get me more exposure and web traffic from these types of sites.
David: I also love it because I can connect with big name marketers, authors and business builders and there aren’t any other ways to get to know some of them.
David: The other thing that I absolutely love about social media is the opportunity to build stronger business relationships. What I do personally is make sure that the people I am marketing to know that I am in social media so that they can personally connect with me.
David: I bring people from my marketing to social media to build a stronger relationship so that they get to know me better and they listen to what I am saying in my marketing messages more often. By getting to know them and their business better, I can also tailor my business to help theirs more effectively. It’s a win-win for them and me!
David: The last thing I love about social media marketing is that when I bring my readers, customers and followers to social media it provides me the opportunity to get to know their network and help even more people out. If I am doing a great job in my business these people will often recommend me and re-tweet and spread the word for me.
Wayne: There are so many benefits that a business or a business owner can get out of social media. With the reasons you laid out above, I can see why you love social media so much. Now, what makes you stand out as an Internet marketer is that you have your own live show. Tell us what the show is all about and how the idea popped up?
David: The show is all about helping people grow their business from the experiences that i have had in business so far. I cover topics from business to marketing to social media and blogging. The idea to have the live show came from realizing that i could broadcast live when USTREAM first came out!
David: I thought to myself this would be a great opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs and deliver a lot of value to help business owners and at the same time build some buzz in social media and gain new exposure for my business. My live show has provided me the opportunity to get lot’s of new exposure and re-tweets and I even got a free product from a big name marketer because his affiliate manager stopped by my show one time.
Wayne: Wow, that’s cool. Is it hard to run a live show? I know your viewership is increasing week by week but what is the hardest part of running a live show?
David: It’s really not hard to run a live show. It’s actually pretty simple. All you do is sign up for an account and then you set the time of your show to broadcast. USTREAM make’s it nice because they allow you to embed the player and chat into your website which i really like because then the show is in my website and it brings me more exposure.
David: Overall the show is getting more buzz and exposure and it is growing. The hardest part about running your own live show is the beginning when you have like 4 viewers and you work hard to impress them so that they re-tweet and get you more exposure. It get’s easier if you make the show consistent and you deliver a lot of value, you will get old viewers returning and you will get new viewers checking you out from your tweets or one of the re-tweets for the show.
Wayne: Say a business owner wanted to start a live show regarding his or her own industry, what will be the most important tip that you will give them?
David: If I had to narrow it down to one it would probably turn into a couple tips! I love to make sure I give the most value that I possibly can!
David: I would say that the first and foremost important thing to do would be to generate traffic and have exposure to your website, or social media profiles before you start the show. If you start the show without any way to "launch" it in a sense then you won’t have any viewers.
David: The second thing that I would strongly suggest is to be active in social media with your market. Twitter and Facebook would be my top to recommendations. This allows you and your show to go viral and gain new exposure every time you broadcast and that is something that you definitely do not want to miss out on!
Wayne: You mentioned Twitter and Facebook. Let’s talk about it for a while. I know that you spend a lot of time on Twitter and Facebook, like 8 hours a day? 
What do you think is the major difference between Twitter and Facebook?
David: Something like that! a few hours for sure! I would say that the main differences between Facebook and Twitter is the users and the viral factor.
David: The users on Twitter are generally older than on Facebook and MySpace too because twitter is such a simple site that you update in 140 characters and you see updates. The older generations like that and that is bringing them into social media more everyday.
David: On Facebook the crowd is a bit younger but the benefit to Facebook is starting groups, events and fan pages. With these you can grow a fan base and even mail them as well.
David: The main benefit to Facebook is the ability to start groups and fan pages that grow and give you exposure and leverage to market with and the main benefit to twitter is the viral factor where people can re-tweet you and mention you and gain you new exposure to all of there followers. Facebook doesn’t have a "Re-tweet" button! or anything like that!
Wayne: I took the approach of marketing and connecting with existing communities on social media sites but your approach is somewhat different. You actually CREATE communities on Facebook to market yourself and your product. Any tips to share regarding community building on social media sites?
David: It may appear that I just decided to create communities and people followed but it’s not that simple or easy to start although i wish it was. I have spent countless hours connecting with existing communities and networking in several social media sites. After I had networked well and made connections I then started to build my social media influence then when I created my own communities people were much more responsive because I have been interacting with them and delivering value.
David: One of the biggest tips that I would give for those who are looking to start their own community is to go out and interact with the current community. Do this to learn, network and build a network as well! By doing this you will know how to effectively start the best community that will generate the highest response from the web when you launch it and you will also have a platform to launch it to and a network to launch it from if that make’s sense.
Wayne: Another nice tip there. Let’s switch gear and talk about Twitter as well as your product, Twitter Influence. Simple question here, why Twitter for marketing and why Twitter Influence?
David: Twitter for marketing because it is the easiest way to tap into your market, connect and drive traffic.
David: Why Twitter Influence? You can either get the free videos from me or pay the other guys for the same info! the 3 free videos i created (30 minutes on-screen) were made to help you and your business get started so that you can have the highest possible chance at succeeding. The course is for those who want to know everything that i know about twitter and everything that i have learned in 15,000 updates.
Wayne: I got a first hand look at Twitter Influence and I think you have given a lot of value in terms of the quality of content in the package. Do you mind sharing 3 of the most important lessons that can be found in Twitter Influence?
David: Yeah, most definitely! I may warn you before hand though it may turn into 4 or 5 tips! 
David: I would say that the first and most important thing is your image in Twitter. There are millions of Twitter users and if your profile is not setup correctly with your background, link, bio and pictures then you are not doing two very important things which are positioning yourself and differentiating yourself.
David: The second thing is finding your target market in twitter. There are many ways to do this and tools to even help you do it. Searching for keywords that your target market would be using. Using different Twitter networking sites to find people to connect with. Finding experts already on Twitter and tapping into the market that they have already attracted are some really great ways to find your target market.
David: The third and last important piece to this puzzle is connecting with your market and getting them to KLT you, which is to know, like and trust you. People can find there target market easily but a lot of people have a hard time connecting with them, delivering value and developing themselves as a brand online. There are many ways to connect with them and I even talk about this in the third free video that I give away.
David: You want to connect with targeted people which is your target market and establish yourself as an expert and establish yourself to be there friend and someone that is there to help them with there business, health, relationships or whatever market you may be in.
David: It is extremely important to connect with people and get them to know like and trust you because like I said before, anyone can find their target market and even build up a large follower base but if they don’t listen to what you are saying and take action like clicking through the links or buying your products and services then that following that you built up will not be valuable at all.
Wayne: There’s some core lessons there on how one should really use Twitter. Last question for you, David. What are some of the books, blogs or resource sites that you recommend marketers and small business owners to read or follow?
David: Can I recommend my own blog?
Wayne: Your blog, Internet Business King and David King will appear right on top of this list. 
David: There are a couple blogs that I would recommend to entrepreneurs and web marketers. Actually, here’s a good list of all of them! I would recommend Problogger if you want to learn how to grow your blog and take it to the next level. I would also recommend Site Fling Blog if you are into web marketing and site flipping.
David: And If you are a entrepreneur that loves to meet other young entrepreneurs like Wayne and I, you should check out:
David: The above are some of my friends that are also smart web marketers and entrepreneurs.
Wayne: Nice list. I follow some of them as well. Any more tips or things that I may have left out in my questions but you would like to add?
David: One last tip because I think that this is extremely important. Stop marketing and start connecting and delivering value and your marketing will market and sell itself.
Wayne: Cool. David, tons of great social media tips that we got from you today. How can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about you, what you do or just to get more tips on social media marketing?
David: People can always connect with me on Twitter. I am @DavidBeKing. I also can be reached through Google Talk at: InternetBusinessKing and if you are interested in coaching or consulting you can call my office at: 734-331-0617.
Wayne: Noted. That’s all we have time for today as David might be holding off his bed time for this. :p Thanks for doing this interview with me and sharing all the things you know about social media marketing, David.
David: I will get to bed soon after a few more tweets! Thanks so much for the opportunity Wayne! I Love the entrepreneurial community you are developing over here at Wayne Liew Dot Com and online as a whole! I look forward to getting to know you better and helping each other grow our businesses! Take care!
Start Adding Value Through Social Media
On social media, people comes first, not sales or profits and when you have built a large and loyal following, the money will start flowing in even if you try to shut it down. And I am not exaggerating here.
David stressed a lot about value adding when you start participating in social media platforms. Some of you might think that this tip has been rehashed over and over again but think, how many auto DMs that sell BS that you receive everyday? How many marketing emails that you receive today aim to sell rather than to build relationships?
How are you adding value to your community through social media?
Share it with us in the comments section below. Can’t wait to read some interesting case studies.
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