Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.

I see that Trisha has already given a really good outline of the topics covered by Peter, so I will just briefly mention a few things that I got out of it.

This was one of the most entertaining, insightful, and inspirational speeches given at the Summit.  I really enjoyed how Peter was able to engage the entire audience by using current examples mixed in with examples from his own experience.  One of his key points was that you can not make something go viral; you can make something good, and if people like it, it will go viral.  This keynote (along with all that I learned at Affiliate Summit) has given me the inspiration to continue on with a couple of projects I had been thinking of for a while.

That’s the mark of a good keynote.

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

I’m a lover of both Chris Brogan and Peter Shankman, but I have to say that I took more from this keynote than Chris’.  I was surprised that Peter wasn’t TOO hyperactive, but was still incredibly entertaining and engaging.

• Peter Shankman, Founder & CEO, The Geek Factory (Twitter @skydiver)

Bullet Point Review!

• HARO has grown to just under 100,000 subscribers in 14 months.
• It’s helped 24,000 journalists.
• $0 to just over $1,000,000 revenue in 14 months.
• Peter worked at AOL News launching their digital news.
• You can’t make anything viral, but you can make something good.
• Social media is trust.
• Social media is the ability to screw up to a bigger audience in a faster amount of time.
• We’re a society that loves to be finders.
• Doing something to be nice gets you remembered, not just recalled.
• We covet what we know.
• 4 Ideals of Social Media
  • Transparency -> Immediate Trust -> Viral
  • Relevant
  • Brevity
  • Top of Mind Presence
• Social media is 2 way communication – you must be prepared to talk and listen and respond.
• Giving people what they want, when they want it.
• Have you ever asked your audience how they like to get their information?
• The average attention span is 2.7 seconds, or 140 characters.  (Coincidence, Twitter?)
• There are three categories email falls into
  • Ones you can answer immediately and delete.
  • Ones you have to wait until you get back to the office to reply to.
  • Ones that aren’t getting to the point and require too much attention to figure out what it is they want or need from you.
• Learn how to write; take a class if you need to.
• You have 1 paragraph to get someone’s attention and keep them interested.
• Paramount Studios CEO Barry Diller was known for getting to the office 30 minutes early and opening his Rolodex and calling 4 or 5 people randomly just to say hi -> this created good will and helped build relationships that could later be leveraged.
• Peter checks Facebook every day and sends people a short note when it’s their birthday – this is his version of the Barry Diller method.

I know that now I have to find a Poken since they just look so cool and really start to think more about the altruism of business, something I don’t think most people think about.  As an added bonus, Peter showed us a video that was just GOOD and so it went viral.  Here it is – it’s a bit longer than a video I’d normally watch, but it’s worth it.  Funny yet touching.  Enjoy!

Here’s the recording of Peter’s Keynote as well for your viewing pleasure:

 Powered by Max Banner Ads