SOCIAL
The Three Marketing Musketeers

Robert J. Smith, BBA, MBA, MFA, Ph.D., is a business consultant and founder of Robert J. Smith Productions and Smith Profits.
In the 1948 film The Three Musketeers, starring Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, Van Heflin and Vincent Price, the IMDb logline reads, “D’Artagnan and his Musketeer comrades thwart the plans of Cardinal Richelieu to usurp King Louis XIII’s power.” Lucky for us, we don’t have to thwart a political uprising with brilliant swordplay. We merely have to beat our competition with proven marketing. Thankfully, just like D’Artagnan, we have three musketeers by our side. Those three marketing musketeers are LinkedIn, the media and the internet movie database (IMDb).
Those three marketing musketeers are the very same three that helped us improve our networking efforts in my previous article, “Network Like Your Business Depends On It.” Now that we’ve improved your networking efforts, let’s leverage those gains. By definition, let’s use those newfound gains to your maximum advantage.
Leverage your upgraded LinkedIn credibility.
How much have you already been able to increase your LinkedIn social selling index since reading my most recent article? Where do you rank in your industry and network now?
Your upgraded credibility on LinkedIn will help you make more and better connections. As stated in my previous article, my LinkedIn SSI ranks me in the top 1% of my industry and network. Yes, I’ve worked to maintain those rankings with media additions to my profile. It’s never enough for your marketing efforts to reach optimal performance; your marketing efforts have to stay optimized.
With a polished profile, I’ve been able to make many gains recently, such as locating a quality graphic arts team, for which I had been searching for quite some time; received a book publishing offer; received quality referrals for my company’s services and more.
While that may look like luck, I’ve found that the harder we work, the luckier we get.
Hopefully, you’ve seen vast improvements in both your industry and network rankings by improving your profile through the media that you’ve been featured in over the past month. If your media relations were handled properly, you’ve gained visibility in all major TV networks through hundreds of affiliates from coast to coast and border to border. Hopefully, you’ve completed at least one live television interview or podcast over the past month and featured it in your LinkedIn profile as well.
If you haven’t seen vast improvements in your SSI, here’s how you can improve your profile to quickly make those gains:
1. Your LinkedIn profile serves as your landing page for potential connections. Make sure it closely reflects your brand.
2. Your name should reflect any professional designations or academic degrees you would like featured (e.g., MBA for business analysis or MFA for creative work).
3. Make certain that your images are clear, and use them to give your audience some insight into you at work.
4. Use your company slogan as your headline if you have one. If not, simply create a compelling headline that lets readers know what to expect from you and your business.
5. Rather than “YourCompany.com,” consider a hyperlink to your site that gives prospective clients a reason to visit (e.g., “Increase profits with Smith!” with a link directly to your site).
6. Create a custom LinkedIn URL. Detailed instructions are found here.
7. List publications, projects, volunteer work, etc.
8. If you haven’t yet received any recommendations, provide them to others. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how well the law of reciprocity will work for you.
Leverage your upgraded media credibility.
As our company website states, “Profit begins with PR!” I don’t recommend that anyone discontinues their business advertising. Our advertising did very well for us when we wanted to get off to a fast start. Now, however, we rarely advertise our services. There are four reasons for this:
1. We’ve created systems that provide us with a steady stream of never-ending referrals. If your business provides products and services that exceed customer and client expectations, you should be able to do the same. I certainly hope that you do.
2. We leverage our media credibility with every one of our hard-earned referrals, and you can do the same with yours.
3. Our public relations efforts have virtually eliminated our need to advertise. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to remember the last time that we ran any advertising.
4. We leverage our media credibility to earn even more media appearances for ourselves and for our clients. You will find this to be the case for both you and your business if you haven’t already.
Leverage your upgraded IMDb credibility.
In “Network Like Your Business Depends On It,” I shared the fact that your podcasts, television and film appearances (more on how business executives may acquire these in a future article) can qualify you for your very own IMDb profile, which will add to your credibility. I’ve picked up plenty of business as a direct result of my IMDb profile. Hopefully, you have as well. If you haven’t set your profile up yet, what are you waiting for? Your competition won’t create it for you.
As you learned last month, professionally created and well-written IMDb profiles can help improve Google search rankings and positioning. Hopefully, your IMDb profile has already earned you and your business No. 1 Google search rankings. If your listings have not reached No. 1 yet, you can work toward those rankings. Hopefully, you have at least reached the coveted “front page” of Google searches.
We all know that the majority of people who Google search products and services never leave the front page. In fact, the majority of people never leave the top of the front page. That’s where all the click-throughs are. Human behavior dictates that most people will never take the time to even look past the first few results. As an example, how often do you scroll down to the bottom of the front page? How often do you look past the front page — if ever?
Put these three marketing musketeers to work for you in your business. Watch your customer/client base, your sales, your revenues and your profits grow as a direct result. Cardinal Richelieu never had a chance against The Three Musketeers. Your competition won’t stand a chance against you, your business and the three marketing musketeers either. As Alexandre Dumas penned, “All for one and one for all!”
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
SOCIAL
TikTok stars are using Fanova to generate income from social media

Image courtesy of Fanova
Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.
In recent years, Latin American influencers and content creators have witnessed a remarkable surge in popularity. Despite boasting substantial and highly engaged fan bases, these influencers often find themselves in the shadows, overlooked for lucrative brand deals and partnerships. This oversight is especially pronounced, given their substantial influence over a diverse, global audience.
The moment is ripe for these creators to carve out a dedicated space where they can effectively monetize their exceptional talents. Such a platform would empower Latin American influencers and create fresh opportunities for profound collaborations and enhanced engagement with audiences worldwide.
This is where Fanova comes into play, revolutionizing the Latin American creator economy. In an environment where the creator market is still in its nascent stage, and many talented individuals remain underserved, Fanova is pioneering a new era for creators to make real money doing what they love.
Latin America’s creative minds have often found their potential hindered by a lack of opportunities. Fanova is here to break the barriers and provide a platform that allows them to monetize their content and recognize the value of their unique talents. The creator economy in the region is brimming with untapped potential, and Fanova seeks to unleash it. Creators with massive, loyal followings often find themselves unable to monetize their social media presence effectively or are overlooked by brand deals. Fanova aims to change that narrative.
With Fanova, creators have the freedom to set their monthly subscription prices, giving them the ability to provide exclusive content to their most devoted fans while ensuring a steady, reliable income month after month. Additionally, they have the flexibility to establish their own pricing for direct messages, creating a direct avenue for intimate one-on-one interactions with their followers.
By using Fanova, creators can deepen their connection with their audience by sharing a wide range of captivating content, such as behind-the-scenes glimpses, travel adventures, workout routines, insightful blogs, engaging podcasts, exclusive photos, and much more. It’s a dynamic platform that enables creators to monetize their craft and foster a stronger, more personal bond with their fan base.
Fanova is attracting top talent in the Latin American creator economy. Melissa Andress recently joined the platform. Renowned as @melissaandress on Instagram and @melipandaa on TikTok, Melissa boasts a significant and dedicated following of 1.6M and 13.7M followers, respectively. She uses Fanova to share daily behind-the-scenes of her life with her followers, treating it like a private story.
“I was immediately interested in the general concept of this platform: having a place to document behind-the-scenes content and not relying solely on brand deals seemed great to me,” Melissa explained.
Her impressive online presence has contributed to Fanova’s success in a significant way. Her engagement and credibility have introduced countless new creators and users to the platform.
Fanova is already leaving its mark in the Latin American creator economy, having attracted 150 creators. Even more impressive, Fanova has paid out over $100,000 to these creators. This is not just a promise; it’s a proven reality.
Fanova is a clean subscription platform, so nudity and explicit content is not permitted. The platform employs a team of moderators as well as artificial intelligence to monitor content.
For creators in Latin America, Fanova represents a new beginning. It’s an opportunity to be part of a transformative journey where your passion can be your paycheck. It’s a place where talent meets technology, and creators are valued. The new application is leading the charge to monetize content in Latin America, one passion at a time. For more information, visit www.fanova.io.
SOCIAL
Merriam-Webster’s 2023 Word of the Year

The wordsmiths over at Merriam-Webster have announced their official “Word of the Year for 2023,” they say it’s something we are “thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more” than ever.
The word is authentic.
According to the dictionary, the most common definitions of authentic are “not false or imitation,” “being true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character,” and “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.”
Merriam-Webster says the word saw a “substantial increase” in lookups this year. That’s probably because we now live in a world where artificial intelligence, deepfake technology and questionable memes challenge our basic notions of reality.
Authenticity is also seen as a commodity at a time when influencers build their brands on social media while attempting to seamlessly pitch their “favorite” products. These days, the average person scrolls through over 43 feet of content every day on social media. After being exposed to countless images of people, it becomes easier to spot the phonies from those who are being their authentic selves.
“When we look at common threads across the thousands of influencer marketing campaigns we’ve run at The Outloud Group over the last 15 years, the similarity between all of our best-performing brand creator partnerships is pretty simple: true authenticity,” Bradley Hoos, CEO of The Outland Group, a full-service influencer marketing agency, writes in Forbes.
Merriam-Webster adds that authenticity is a trait people strove to find for themselves in 2023.
“Celebrities like singers Lainey Wilson, Sam Smith, and especially Taylor Swift all made headlines in 2023 with statements about seeking their ‘authentic voice’ and ‘authentic self,” Merriam-Webster writes. “Headlines like Three Ways To Tap Into Taylor Swift’s Authenticity And Build An Eras-Like Workplace associate this quality with pop-culture superpower.”
The dictionary also highlighted more words that trended in 2023, including:
“Rizz” — Internet slang for “romantic appeal or charm” (noun) or “to charm, seduce” (verb), popularized by YouTuber Kai Cenat, was added to the dictionary.
“Deepfake” — Altered images or recordings that convincingly misrepresent someone’s actions or words, making it hard to distinguish between real and fake.
“Coronation” — The crowning of a new British monarch, King Charles III, sent people to the dictionary’s website to learn the term’s meaning.
“Dystopian” — In 2023, “dystopian” was a verb applied to many frightening real-world issues and was used to describe the trend in video games, books and movies depicting a dark future.
“EGOT” — Lookups for “EGOT” spiked in February when Viola Davis won a Grammy for the audiobook version of her memoir. That made her one of the 18 people to become an EGOT, or winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.
“X” — When Twitter was rebranded as X on July 23, searches for the term spiked at Merriam-Webster.com, where curious people went to discover more about the mysterious letter.
“Implode” — When a submersible that went to visit the remains of the Titanic in June imploded, the term had a considerable spike as people attempted to learn more about the passengers’ fate.
“Doppelgänger” — This term got hot multiple times in 2023. It trended twice due to stories out of Germany and New York involving the attempted murder or suicide of someone’s lookalike. Further, September saw the release of Naomi Klein’s book, “Doppelgänger: A Trip Into the Mirror World.”
SOCIAL
X Experiments with New Grok AI Access Buttons In-Stream

I’m not sure that X’s “Grok” AI chatbot is ever going to become a major element of the in-app experience. But owner Elon Musk has invested a lot into the new tool, so soon, it’ll be added to a lot more surfaces in the app, as X looks to make it a bigger enticement to get more subscribers to its X Premium+ subscription offering.
Last week, Musk noted that, soon, Grok would be available to analyze X posts in-stream.
In order to facilitate this, X is now looking to add a new Grok button to the lower function bar in the app, seemingly, at this stage a least, replacing the current Communities shortcut.
As you can see in this example, posted by X News Daily, a new Grok button may soon be displayed in prominent position, right in the middle of the bottom tray. Which would then make it easier to consult Grok for analysis of content, or potentially to assist in post creation, while there’s also another Grok tab in the sidebar, providing alternative access.

All of this is still in flux, as X works out the best placement for the option. But one way or another, Grok is coming to the main X UI, which could see a lot more content being pumped out by Elon’s sarcasm-focused AI bot, which is trained on real-time X conversation and data.
Though, presumably, access will remain limited.
Right now, Grok is only available to selected users who have subscribed to X’s highest-priced “X Premium+” monthly subscription package, which currently costs $US16 per month. X is rolling out Grok access to Premium+ subscribers based on when they signed up to the program, as it gradually expands the presence of its AI chatbot tool.
You would assume, then, that these new buttons and Grok analysis options will only be made available to those who are paying a premium for the app, though whether that’s actually worth the $US168 a year (annual plan) to gain access is another question.
But then again, millions of people have signed up to ChatGPT, and Elon seems confident that Grok will be as good, if not better than that. And in that sense, maybe Grok will prove to be a winner, which could then help X to maximize its subscription revenue intake, and broaden its income streams.
It’s impossible to say, because Grok is only in limited access, and as such, there’s not a lot of insight as to its potential value, or not, as yet.
But Elon wants to ensure that there remains a generative AI option that’s not biased, and not censored, a market gap that he believes Grok can fill. And again, given his investment in the required technology (Elon reportedly spent “tens of millions of dollars” on GPUs for his alternative AI project), he’ll also be looking to glean some return on that outlay, which will likely see X looking to make as big a push on Grok as it can to maximize interest.
Whether that’s a positive or negative, we’ll soon find out.
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