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You Subscribe And We Give!

Our official launch is today, February 9, 2015 and it’s Heart Month, Valentine’s Day and, yep, Jayme Soulati’s birthday. There’s a special promo we’d like to share. When you subscribe to our podcast in iTunes (Stitcher is coming soon!) and (see below how to do that), John and I will donate $1 per subscriber up to $500 to The American Heart Association! W00t!

When you listen and give us a rating (we like 5 stars!) and review, there very likely could be a special something saying thanks and we love you coming your way. Of course, that’s not a definitive because that would be like buying votes! Gahh!

Open For Suggestions

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There is so much we can talk about in our 30-minute show, but it’s no fun coming up with the topics without your input. So, please, in the comments below or via my contact form on my site, send along your suggestions for show topics.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, feel free to send along a pitch, too.

The OMGosh we did it still amazes us both. Our show has been in the works since September 2014. While the barrier to entry is pretty high for a podcast, the medium is so fun and natural for us both, and we’re really jazzed to share with you.

How to Rate, Review, Subscribe to The Heart Of Marketing Podcast

1.Click on this link in iTunes.com to get to the home page of our podcast. Open in iTunes via the app.

2. Listen to an episode — I like Episode 000 above (introductions), and I also like Episode 001 about Taylor Swift.

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3. Click on the ratings and reviews section (we like 5 stars if you can afford them!) and drop in a few words in the reviews section.

4. Click Subscribe and you won’t miss an episode!

Spoiler alert: the secret to making people like you on social media is to stop trying to make them like you on social media. Letting go of that desire can cause some amazing things to happen. I was reminded of this principle recently.

One morning I started my day doing two things I do not do enough.

The first was to look through my Twitter stream. Usually I see links to the same articles I find on Triberr, my RSS feed and other content discovery sources. This time was different.

Immediately I spotted a tweet from Jayme with a link to a new post: “Thoughts On Love In Business.” It’s a topic I have blogged about, and I was thinking about it again for another post.

Clicks And Comments

I clicked the link that led to this blog. That’s when I did the second thing I do not do enough.

I left a comment. Just a quick response to the question posed and a “thank you” for opening the discussion. Those two things, a Twitter discovery and a comment, triggered a series of unexpected events that amazed me.

First, Jayme replied to my comment asking me to leave links to the articles I’ve written. Then a chain reaction:

• She read my posts and liked them. A lot.
• She left comments.
• She shared them on Twitter and Facebook.
• We connected on LinkedIn and Facebook.
• She encouraged her community to visit my blog.
• Some community members left comments and subscribed.
• We had an awesome phone conversation the next day.

All of that happened within 24 hours of my leaving that comment. Jayme asked if I’d be interested in writing a guest post about this experience. And so here we are.

Social Media Serendipity

Some would describe this chain of events as the law of attraction at work. Some would call it good Karma. Others would use the word “grace.” Whatever your orientation, the common idea is serendipity.

Serendipity is most commonly defined as luck or good fortune and the aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. But when I looked it up, I found a new wrinkle to its meaning.

The word originates from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip whose heroes had a gift for making accidental discoveries of things they were not in a quest for.

Which brings me back to the beginning.

What I learned from this experience is that ‘happy accidents’ can happen on social media when you are not trying too hard to make them happen. When I started the day, I wasn’t on a quest to make power connections or drive traffic to my blog. I didn’t even leave a link in my comment until being asked.

You could argue that is not savvy marketing. But in that moment I was not in a self-promote mindset. I was just following a discovery I stumbled into by accident.

And wow. At the end of the day I got a wonderful lesson on the power of a tweet and a comment to open up serendipitous opportunities on social media.

Thank you Jayme and community.

About The Author

John Gregory Olson is a B2B marketing consultant and freelance copywriter. He writes about marketing strategy and leadership on his blog. Follow him on Twitter @John_G_Olson .