Vincent Dignan – From welfare cheques to $250k+ in 3 months using social media
Date: August 29, 2016
Name: Vincent Dignan – From welfare cheques to $250k+ in 3 months using social media
Presenter: Vincent Dignan
Many entrepreneurs are utilizing many social media platforms for their businesses; however, many of them are struggling on their social media strategies. Internet Mastermind invites Vincent Dignan, the Founder of Magnific, to discuss his success strategy on making profit with social media. Vincent Dignan will share his secret of growing online communities. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn his perfect pre-launch strategy. Moreover, Vincent Dignan will share his recommended tools for entrepreneurs to increase sales, marketing and productivity.
Vincent Dignan is the Founder of Magnific. He is also the Founder of Planet Ivy and Screen Robot. His ultimate social media strategies impact his business over millions views. He refers his strategy as “growth hacks”, which demonstrates his vision and success. Overall, he is featured in many media, including Inc, New Statesman, TechCrunch, and The London Economist. His speech in SXSW V2V 2015 was voted the best talk in conference. He published his book, Secret Sauce: A Growth Hacking Playbook”, to help entrepreneurs who are looking for a direction in the digital marketing.
With over 150 millions of total page views, 50 million visitors, 200 thousand likes, 50 thousand followers and over 1000 signups, Vincent Dignan is now one of the major influencers in social media platform. His strategy converts traffic from zero to 50 thousand visitors per month and 100 to 200 app downloads in first month. Dignan believes anyone can do it with the right training, right coaching and right consultancy.
Dignan defines growth hacking means a marketing technique initially employed in tech startups that uses creativity, social metrics and analytical thinking as well as tools to sell products and gain exposure. The golden rules of growth are scalable, repeatable and predictable.
Dignan reveals the 10 rules of growth hacking
- You do not talk about growth hacking
- You do not talk about growth hacking (investors / public)
- Speak to customers and define messaging before you go viral
- Investigate and map channels from easiest to hardest
- Set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) goals
- Read the basics for your channel
- Do not sweat the small things on day one
- Be a mixture of mad men and math men
- Pour more resources into the ones that work
- Rinse and repeat
Dignan emphasizes if the user cannot use it, it does not work. The key is to keep everything simple, especially the signup. Website should have the ability to do auto login after signup and send personal email within 24 hours. Entrepreneurs must keep in mind that they need to deliver what they promise. Dignan believes to receive successful user experience, entrepreneurs need to pay attention to these 6 elements: competitive analysis, user stories, data analysis, user flows, user feedback, and red routes. Entrepreneurs should test their website with 5 different people.
Dignan introduces a couple websites that can help entrepreneurs simplified their online platforms.
| Tailerbrands.com | Create a free logo |
| Uxmyths.com | Build website based on evidence |
| Balsamiq | Create mockup website |
| Crazyegg | See where visitors went |
| Optimizely | Help A/B testing |
| Qualaroo | What visitor do on the website |
| Usersthink.com | Test website with real users |
| Bestaboutpages.com | List of About Page layout |
Every entrepreneur should plan out every single user. Dignan shares a list that shows all the social media platform with visitors expected, conversion rate and total signups. The analysis will help entrepreneurs to keep track their performance.
When users decide to unsubscribe website, many entrepreneurs direct them to signup page. Dignan reveals many websites will shrink the cancelation button and enlarge more membership options.
Dignan mentions entrepreneurs can import their address book on LinkedIn to extract massive number of new users. Entrepreneurs can utilize StoreMaven to do A/B testing on App Store and Google Play page. In addition, entrepreneurs can use AppTweak to optimize App Store. Dignan shares his “The $9 Marketing Stack Analytics” websites for entrepreneurs who are starting to use social media for analysis.
- Segment
- Google Analytics
- Mixpanel
- Perfect Audience
Entrepreneurs want to find ways to get users or customers from other platforms. Dignan calls it “The milkshake theory”, which means entrepreneurs should always drink other people’s milkshake first when they are thirsty. Dignan recommends some website for entrepreneurs.
| Similarweb | Spy on other people’s website |
| Import.io | Extract web data |
| Apifier | Web crawler for website |
Dignan identifies there are 5 scams on social media entrepreneurs need to be aware of.
- App store fraud
- Ad fraud
- Click fraud
- Copyright fraud
- Influencer network
The typical growth engine for app requires awareness, which leads to download. When users download the app, they will start the activation process. Lastly, they will share the app. The cycle continues. The key for entrepreneurs is to create the right attraction for users. Dignan introduces the website called “Sumome” for entrepreneurs to create widgets with no coding involve.
Dignan believes the secret formula to get returning users is “the hook”. It first needs a trigger. Then it follows actions. Users will be rewarded for actions. Users will start invest their resources. Finally, they will see the internal value of the product. Dignan uses Mandrill website to automate emailing users when there is a trigger.
There are many ways to acquire users. If entrepreneurs have no idea what they are doing, they can visit the website called “Clarity” to find and connect with experts. Entrepreneurs can use net promoter score to identify their product satisfaction status. There are 18 main channels of user acquisition that Dignan believes it is important for startups.
- Targeting blogs
- Publicity
- Unconventional PR
- SEO
- SEM
- Social and display ads
- Speaking engagement
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Business development
- Affiliate programs
- Viral marketing
- Community building
- Sales
- Existing platforms
- Trade shows
- Offline events
- Offline ads
Dignan still prefers IRL, social media, content marketing, and email marketing with bonuses. Dignan defines IRL as the type of business that is sales driven and rely on relationship. It is a great start for entrepreneurs who do not know where they can find their users. Dignan explains Mint.com used the right pre-launch strategy to increase online attraction. They utilized multiple channels to expand their awareness. They shared many content through different platforms. They asked bloggers to share their content. Every blog post had email option and they have press tour for signups. They setup the right keywords for SEO and at the end, the cost of user acquisition was under 1 dollar. Entrepreneurs can use Maitreapp.co to create their viral waiting list.
“Get your skates on and hustle”
Entrepreneurs need feedbacks. They can visit Slack Communities to get support on feedback. Dignan introduces some useful tools for entrepreneurs.
| Charlieapp | Research someone online |
| Email Hunter | Direct access to company emails |
| Voila Norbert | Find anyone’s email address |
| Mailtester.com | Email address verification |
| Discover.ly | See mutual Facebook friends on LinkedIn |
Dignan summarizes the 4 simple steps for successful social media.
- Get a following
- Broadcast to them
- Reap the benefits
- Profit
Many entrepreneurs focus too much attention about themselves; in fact, it is all about users themselves. Dignan introduces a Facebook page called “Welcome to the internet” to see what is trending for users. Ruzzit.com is a viral content aggregator, and You&snip.ly is a website to share article in entrepreneurs’ websites.
Dignan suggests entrepreneurs to use Instagram. It has ideal users and they reply and flood hashtags. It also has many click through with direct CTA. Instagram can help business to build their personal image and brand. Entrepreneurs can use Instagram to generate traffic. Entrepreneurs can use Audiense website to find followers on Instagram. They can use Canva.com or Text Cutie app to create great Instagram posts and use Hootsuite or Buffergram to schedule their posts. Moreover, they can visit websta.me/hot to find the right hashtags.
Entrepreneurs can also utilize Facebook. Entrepreneurs need to make professional profile. They need to turn on the follow option for people to follow their status. They can utilize the note function for blogging to get traffic. They can join Facebook groups as well.
Dignan shares a Facebook strategy to get 1000 members in Facebook group. Entrepreneurs can add people they know by pressing individual letters. When Facebook notifies them the group is full, they can continue on the next letter. After all the letters are used, they can use combination of letters.
The function of Facebook news feed is the impact of interest, post, creator, type and recency. Entrepreneurs can use Spaceship.rocks to customize Facebook ads. Moreover, they can use Fanpagekarma.com to track Facebook traction.
Twitter can help business double their leads. It helps business to focus on large user base. Events are great in Twitter. Entrepreneurs can use Audiense website to search companies, find customers, and influencers. Tweepi website can also help entrepreneurs get more followers. Dignan wants entrepreneurs to tweet 50-100 times per day and the same articles at least 5 times. Picture is the best for retweets.
Snapchat can have great engagement for local businesses. Pinterest aims for females above 30 of age. Dignan wants entrepreneurs to remember to find the right influencers. The right influencer can provide leads, content promotion, and find affiliates. Dignan suggests NinjaOutreach.com to find influencers. Onalytica and Famebit are also a great tool to find influencers.
Dignan provides a strategy to get first 500 users for business. First, they need to message LinkedIn contacts in batches through LinkedIn groups. Second, they need to individually message each Facebook friends. Third, tweet all the followers one by one. Lastly, email one by one. Entrepreneurs can also search their niche and find at least 10 subreddits to post.
Dignan believes entrepreneurs need to write at least 25 headlines to attract users. They can us bitly to save, share and discover links. Buffer.com is also a good way to share. Dignan suggests entrepreneurs to use it. They can block out 9pm to 12pm every Sunday night for preparation. They should post their money posts 4 times a week every morning at 10 am. Fun posts can be posted at 6pm. 3 money tweets a day at 10am, 2pm and 6pm. Entrepreneurs can use Meetedgar.com to utilize social updates.
Email is still the most effective for conversion. Dignan provides the 5 steps for emails.
- Always use first name to make email unique
- Warm up IP for new email
- Send small bursts
- Avoid the word “free”, “giveaway”, or “discount”
- Send in batch
Dignan has suggested some great tools for email marketing.
| Mailchimp | Batch email |
| Kickbox.io | Get rid ofbroken email address |
| Mail-tester.com | Test to see if email is spam |
| Really Good Emails | Copy other email format |
| Stocksnap | Free photos |
| Pixtabay | Free photos |
| Revue | Automate email newsletter |
| Wavelength | Trade email lists |
| Sidekick | See who opens and click email |
| Boomerang | Send later |
| Mailstrom | Clean up Inbox |
| Streak | CRM in your inbox |
| Rebump | Redress the power balance |
| Quickmail.io | Create cold email |
| Chartgo | Create a chart in 30 seconds |
| Docusign | Send, sign, and approve documents |
Dignan also suggest some great tools for public relations.
| PR Presshour | Get press coverage for a startup |
| Hey Press | Find any journalist anywhere |
Entrepreneurs can insert emojis into their email, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, they can insert gifs file. Dignan shares the trick that by adding “gif” in front of the YouTube link can turn YouTube video into gifs.
There are some other useful tools Dignan shares in the presentation.
| Typosaurus | Check spelling errors on the site |
| Xendpay | Send money worldwide for free |
| Trello | Organize tasks |
| f.lux | Prevent eye straining |
| leandomainsearch.com | Find domain name with keywords |
| investorlist.co | Find investors |
Dignan has suggested a list of books for entrepreneurs.
- “The 48 laws of power” by Robert Greene
- “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
- “Trust me I’m lying” by Ryan Holiday
- “Zero to one” by Peter Thiel
- “The four hour work week” by Tim Ferriss
- “The hard thing about hard things” by Ben Horowitz
Dignan suggests all entrepreneurs to make their to-do list based on distinguish of either making money or not. For startups, they should have board meeting with themselves. This will give them a time to reflect on their direction. Sometimes news and blogs can misdirect entrepreneurs. In fact, they should focus on building and selling business and growing users.