Interview with entrepreneur Erin Blaskie - part 2

To read part 1, click here. 

Cendrine Marrouat: You are currently working on your first book. What is the topic? And when will it be released?

Erin Blaskie: The book that I am writing is on the psychology of the entrepreneur and why some entrepreneurs never become successful and how they can change that. One of the things we see a lot in working with entrepreneurs is the need to jump from one thing to another and it usually becomes a problem. Lack of focus is the #1 business killer so we are exploring why, from the psychological perspective, entrepreneurs are prone to this.  We are working on a release date now.

CM: Why did you create eThusiasm and Ask Erin Live?

EB: I love video and I love community. So, eThusiasm and Ask Erin Live allowed me to merge those things together and share what I know with my community via video.

CM: You are an online video host for Butterscotch.tv and Tucows, and you co-host the Macgasm video podcast. You have also worked with companies like Ogilvy & Mather and Travelocity. And I could go on and on about your achievements. Is there anything you have not done in social media?

EB: There are still many things that I have not yet done but the list is definitely growing smaller.

CM: According to you, what are some of the most basic steps a business/entrepreneur should take before launching a social media campaign?

EB: You want to make sure that your foundation is set and ready to handle the influx of people from your social media campaign. Make sure that you think about the process people are going to take. If they are coming from Twitter or Facebook to a web page on your site, what do you want them to do once they get there? Make sure to think about the conversion and don’t ask someone to do something big too soon.

The best thing to do is setup a landing page with a simple opt-in box and give something away for free. This will bring them in and onto your list without asking them to commit to something bigger. Then, setup autoresponders that will go out automatically to the people who opt-in to upsell them on other offerings as time goes on.

The way to make this super successful is to make it feel as custom as possible. Reference the fact that the person came via Twitter and keep it relevant to that relationship. Once you have your foundation ready to go and tested, start with one site and tweak the message, if needed, before you hit the next site. A tool that I highly recommend for social media campaign management is www.arkli.com. Set everything up in there and share it with your colleagues ahead of time.

CM: How can people get in touch with you? 

EB: I always joke that all people have to do is Google me but to make it easy, here are a few of my key sites. You can read my business blogs and learn more about my history, etc. at www.erinblaskie.com. You can find out more about our creative, professional outsourcing team at www.bsetc.com. Lastly, you can follow me on Twitter or find me on any of the other social media websites.

CM: Any last words?

EB: Love what you do, do what you love and be as authentic as possible.

End of the interview.

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Cendrine Marrouat may be contacted for potential interviews, reviews and general enquiries at info@cendrinemarrouat.com