Many of you know me on here, and I've hopefully helped a few of you - now I'm going to ask for a little help from you!

At the advice of many people I've decided to jump into the social media party (I know I'm late) to help "brand" my teaching and increase my business. I have a FB page (Rob Stocke PGA if you want to "friend" me - I also have a "personal" page as well, so I'm pretty familiar w/FB), and just opened a twitter page (I feel like a 13 year old saying that!!). I have a website that is still being constructed, but it's up: www.robstocke.com I don't have a clue about the twitter stuff - I haven't posted anything & I'm still not sure if I'll actually use it. I know many of you on here are pretty savvy when it comes to that stuff, so I thought I'd see if anyone had any suggestions. Do you think it's worthwhile to do the twitter thing? Can I link it to stuff like my site & the forum? What would you as a student want to see on twitter? Tips? Q & A?

I'm pretty busy as it is, so I'm trying to figure out where I'll get the time to do everything, but I've heard I can link some stuff together. As I said, I'm completely clueless as far as twitter goes. I'm good w/technology, but not with that stuff. I know I can search the internet, or ask one of the high-school students I teach, but I figured before I go through the trouble, I wanted to ask if those of you who post on here think it's worth it. Would it be beneficial to students & possibly help increase business?

Any advice/suggestions are welcome & feel free to call me an idiot (I feel like one!). FWIW, my twitter page is golfdr1 (which is my email addy - should I change that to my name?). As you can see I'm clueless, and open to any help! My goal would be able to link most stuff together so students could see youtube, websites, forums, ask Q&A and I could do most from 1 or 2 places. Is that possible?

I'm on a mini-vaca w/my kids to the beach until Wed so I have time to answer posts & get some stuff setup before I hit the road for a couple weeks, so I'd like to get stuff done while I have some time.

Also, I know this is probably not the proper forum for this (as this is the golf forum), but since this is the only one I post in, and I feel like I "know" a lot of you & it is related to golf (my profession), I'd hope the admins allow it to stay in this thread, if not, just delete.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions for topics/content and any advice on whether you think it would be worth the time/effort to do the "twitter" thingy.

I would probably send a PM to the tuq/cwice about linking to your sites on here. 2p2 tends to be pretty straightforward about not allowing that kind of stuff, but since this is such a low traffic forum the mods might make an exception.

One suggestion on an easy way to get you some "brand." Every week of the PGA Tour season do a 5 minute analysis of the winners swing, or putting stroke, or whatever. Host that on youtube, embed it in your website, and link it on Twitter. Easy way to get people visiting your site.

I love the idea about discussing the winners swing! Very cool!

I wasn't really thinking about linking my sites to 2+2, but more how could I get non-2+2 students to visit here - that way I don't have to re-type tips etc. Although I'd love to be linked with 2+2 from the golf side - the forum has some great people who post!

Thanks for the great suggestion!

I work for a sports-tech company that designs websites for HS and collegiate athletic teams, as well as large media companies.

Whenever I deal with a new client who asks similar questions, I always tell them at this point that it is not a choice...If you want to be competitive in your space, you have to use the internet and try and stay on top of emerging technologies. The internet is the new (now somewhat older) "word of mouth". If you depend on word of mouth (viral marketing) to grow your business, then it is a necessity.

The main thing you should keep in mind is that your website should be your central portal. This meaning that you want your Facebook page and your Twitter posts to drive traffic back to your website, where you get more information about potential students, or use some of the interactivity of the website to get them coming back.

I use our facebook page as a daily news update for what we are doing, who has excelled (HS athletes), new promotions, and any contests that we are running. I will normally include a link back to a website in each post I make, and if you can include a picture it goes a long way in catching peoples eye.

I am admittedly not a twitter guru, but I do know that the name you choose goes a long way in branding. Ive heard of some bloggers whom are now known by their twitter handle because they gained so much popularity from it, that it was advantageous to keep it. DagolfDoc is a pretty cool handle, I would consider that, or you can also use GolfDocStocke or something to that effect.

You have done so much to help us here, please let me know if I can help any further. Ill get some more thoughts together, I imagine you will get some great feedback from others on the site, as this is a breeding ground for people who are awesome at this type of stuff.

I think for a golf instructor youtube is mandatory to gaining a web presence. Between the winners analysis video I mentioned you can do things like swing theory videos, quick tips, student before and afters, etc. And like I said, embedding it in your own site and linking to stuff you do via twitter is really simple as well. I'm sure you know this already, but look at guys like Manzella, Clement, Defrancesco, etc to see how they have developed their online business.

And yeah, I knew what you meant about linking to 2p2, I am just a little concerned about the link to your site in the OP. 2p2 admins are real sticklers about that kind of stuff, so it was more just a heads up that I would PM the forum mods about it.

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk is a pretty good book about how to use twitter and blogs to brand yourself. There is a lot of instruction on how to operate them but also a lot of good ideas on how to best use them strategically. It's a pretty quick and easy read too.

With how much you have helped all of us here I wish I could help.

But Im the only 20-something on the face of the planet that has internet access and doesn't have a FB or twitter.

hank haney is a big time twitterer and whatever your thoughts are on him, it's pretty cool that you can upload a twitvid of your swing and he can tell you what's wrong with it....one of the cooler uses of social media for golf at least.

Are you my brother?

Linking all the stuff together will be the least problem I guess.
IMO you should think more about the content and how would you like to gain many visitors to the site. Nowadays it’s not that easy

I think the more videos you make the better for you. Swing analysis is a great idea. You can use swings you recorder during tournaments (the ones you put on 2+2), your students swings etc.

Video tips are also great. I know it takes much more time to do it rather than write about it, but people definitely prefer watching than reading. I mean videos like you did for golfchanel (?). There are many video on youtube but most of them are boring and not that interesting. If you can do it quite similar to the ones I already mentioned I think you can get many followers.

Of course some articles will be also great, mostly about things you don’t have to make videos, like let’s say stock shots you write on 2+2. etc

I don’t use twitter so can’t say anything about that (I guess it’s not that popular In Europe). Also I think it’s good for celebrities, so the fans can know almost everything about their life. But really who the F cares if they are drinking tea or coffee in starbucks or costa, who cares if they are watching Titanic for the 12th time.

Guys, thanks so much for the great advice! I love hearing what would interest you & how to structure things so it can help build my business. I'm definitely going to use the suggestions! Please keep 'em coming!

thanks
rob

You've got a boat load of great advice already written out in this forum and you have a blog on your website.

A really easy, effective way to use facebook/twitter to drive traffic to your site is to use material you already have(like the posts in here) to preview on your facebook or twitter and link to your blog with the full post or an expanded version or just a one or two sentence tip with a mini life update or whatever.

Another twitter tip. One of the big keys to getting popular on twitter is getting people who already have a large group of followers to retweet(quote) something you tweeted. This will almost always get you more followers. For example if you could get ian poulter or any other big pga pro who uses twitter alot to retweet one of your tips, hello more traffic to your site!

I think your hook should be that you give golf tips on YouTube and your students in the videos are all smokin' hot girls in bikinis.

People will be like "Wow, this guy is gimmicky" and they'll of course watch for the T&A and then realize that you're actually pretty damn good.



(I just want to see hot Georgia peaches in bikinis)

Not bad, Rob. Was there a ranking at the end of the competition or did they just pick a winner? I didn't see any of the other videos but I'd imagine they're all similar. I liked the vid. You even channeled a little Billy Mays there in the beginning.

I really enjoyed that coaching video, the little putting drill at the end could be really useful for my game!!