Written by Mike Ellsworth   

In an earlier post , you may remember, I promised to follow one of those hype-filled, hard-sell, pitches to build Twitter followers and make millions:

“How To Get *48,828* Followers On Twitter Automatically With Just A Simple Click Of Your Mouse?”

So I signed up for Twitter List Builder about a month ago, and what happened? I got maybe 20 new follows, about a third of which I subsequently unfollowed, including several naughty girls, Penthouse, and a really high-volume spammer from Australia.

Of course, I also got lots of come ons from Twitter List Builder to upgrade my account, but I definitely expected that.

I had my doubts right from the start. The scheme appears to work just like those chain letters you got in junior high school. Well, maybe you’re too young to have gotten a snail mail chain letter, but the email versions work pretty much the same: you remove the top name in a list of seven or so, and send the chain letter out to the other six, after adding your name to the bottom. After lots of other chainers do this, like the Chinese inventor of chess who asked the emperor pay him only in grains of rice , you’ve got ungodly amounts of follower. (Don’t diss the exponent!)

Now while some may argue that I broke the chain by ditching the comely young things who wanted to sell me Webcam time, I seriously doubt that had anything to do with it. And, besides @deaffondvbb1, @Fea1eeg (a shill for a scheme that will make me $171,168.06 Per Month (and doggone it, that 6 cents is important!)), and @JessicaTrommler (who shills for survey-taking at home) still follow me, among several others who came aboard via Twitter List Builder.

At about the same time, I signed up with Perry Belcher and Tellman and Shawn, who promise I can make money on autopilot. The jury’s still out on these dudes. Belcher sure is an interesting guy, and he really does know his stuff. The two hour Webinar I attended (along with like 16,000 others, according to Perry) had about 45 minutes of killer Internet marketing techniques. If you want to see it without getting on his list, I can hook you up. Just email vids@linkedinsolutions.com .

So I plan to explore a variety of other moneymaking systems such as Hits2U, Maverick Money Makers Club,  and such.

There’s one thing for certain, however: Somebody is making money using this stuff, if only the shillers themselves. Perry claims to have sold out of 500 $1K/month memberships, 250 $2K/month memberships, and 250 $3K per month memberships after the Webinar.

So it could happen to me!

Written by Mike Ellsworth   

Social media like Twitter not only blur the lines between public relations, marketing, and brand building, but they require a completely different approach than the traditional media. While brands and companies thought they could control the message and their image before, they must give up that illusion of control to maximize the use of social media.

People are talking about you (if you’re lucky). You can engage them, or you can message them. Engaging wins you evangelists and instant feedback. Messaging (massaging) them yields frustration and a feeling that social media doesn’t work.

Master Yoda said, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” Be a person, not an artificial brand.

Learn how: socialmediaperformancegroup.com