Erik Qualman's Blog, page 615

10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Social media can be an excellent opportunity for small businesses because of its high return on investment.

The ten tips below can help your small business succeed on social media and help you identify a wide range of resources available.

1. Set goals. Goals will help you to understand where you need to direct your efforts and how you hope to measure your success. Be as concrete as possible; for example, instead of saying “increase sales,” say “increase sales by 50 percent.”

2. Be personal. One of the great values of social media is the ability to put a personal spin on interactions. As a small business, your opportunity to do this is even greater. Interacting with customers in a way that makes them feel like they are dealing with other humans inspires a greater feeling of loyalty toward a business.

3. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Find out where your customers are and spend your time and energy there. It can be too tempting to try to succeed on every social network, but that will only lead to spreading yourself too thin particularly as a small business.

4. Incorporate video. Instructional video, customer testimonials, tours of your offices or retail spaces – anything you can think of that your customers might find useful or interesting that can be expressed through video will make you stand out. You can upload videos easily on YouTube and embed them on other social media as well as on your company website.

5. Provide valuable content. Think about the questions you hear most often from your customers; search the web for the problems in your field that tend to go unanswered. This will point you to content you can provide that no one else has, and your value to customers will skyrocket.

6. Visit other homes and neighborhoods. “Social” is a key aspect of social media. It means that you don’t just wait for people to come to you; you need to go out and engage with customers, comment on blogs, respond to tweets and more depending on the channels you have chosen. This is an excellent way to draw in new customers as well.

7. Seize the local advantage. Get yourself listed on Google places, and be sure that you have accounts at places like Yelp and Foursquare. Talk to your customers; remember that complaints and dissatisfied customers are an opportunity. Leverage your advantage as a local business to stand out from large corporations that don’t have the same stake in the community.

8. Stay consistent. Maintain consistency with your brand and message, and try to post at regular times each day and each week.

9. Be generous. Social media is no time to be guarded. Share information, share discounts and push promotions. You can even identify other complementary businesses and help to promote them. This makes you look like a member of a wider community as well.

10. Measure success. Based on your goals, use Google analytics and other tools to measure your ROI and see what approaches are producing the best results.

For not very much money, small businesses can builder a larger and more loyal customer base through savvy use of social media.

If you are a small business, in what other ways do you use social media and how much success have you had with it? Can you add to the ten tips above?

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How Grafix Softech will Revolutionize E-Commerce in 2014

E-commerce is becoming big business for many entrepreneurs. There are many reasons for this. In the United States in 2013, there were an estimated 189 million online consumers. With so many people purchasing both goods and services online, it’s no surprise that businesses are interested in creating an online presence. More people are also paying for goods and services with their credit or debit cards, and not carrying cash. All of this comes together to create a need for the perfect payment processor.

Customized to Your Company

One of the biggest ways that Grafix Softech will help change the world of e-commerce in 2014 is simply the way that they customize their software. No matter what you’re looking for, whether your company is large or small, Grafix Softech is able to ensure that you have the payment solutions you need. This will help ensure that not only your needs are met, but that your customer’s needs and expectations are, as well. The architects behind the software have created it to be as highly customizable as you need.

Whether your business is located in a brick and mortar location or it’s solely online, it’s important that you’re able to take mobile payments. There are several options for this, from accepting credit cards to allowing customers to pay with their smartphones. If your company is only online, you’re not going to need to be able to accept a smartphone tap. On the other hand, if you’re traveling to conventions and shows, being able to accept credit card and smartphone payments can keep your business going.

Fraud Solutions

While most payment solutions offer some sort of fraud protection and risk solution, not all options are created equal. You need to ensure that customers are protected from fraud, but you also need to ensure that you are. Without proper protection, you can easily be taken advantage of, and end up losing a lot of money. The technology used in Grafix Softech allows e-commerce businesses peace of mind when it comes to their risk and fraud protection.

With this software, you can not only identify patterns of questionable behavior, which points out fraud, but you can also screen transactions before they finish processing. This allows you to catch problems before they happen. In addition to this, the software allows for filters, ensuring that you only allow certain transaction types through the payment processor. With fully optimized fraud protection, you’ll feel more comfortable taking your business to the next level with an e-commerce site.

Manage Your Payments Easily

One of the biggest problems with other payment processing solutions is that they take weeks or longer to set up, and it’s an extremely frustrating process. On top of that, when you’re trying to manage your payment processor it gets confusing. With the management tools available from Grafix Softech, you’re guaranteed to be able to process and place orders immediately after the software is implemented. In addition, the software is quick and easy to set up, and works seamlessly with existing payment systems.

Most payment companies offer restricted hours for support. However, with Grafix Softech you can get the help you need at any time. This ensures that if there is a problem on your website at 3am, you can contact the 24/7 support team and get the problem resolved. Having support any time of the day or night allows you to manage the system in the best way you see fit. When you want to run your business your way, this is a crucial step.

Innovations to E-commerce

The way that e-commerce and even the way that brick and mortar stores run is going to change significantly because of the innovations and technology used by Grafix Softech. Being able to pick and choose the payment processing options you want for your business is something new that has been needed in the industry. Not only will this allow current businesses to have better, more personalized options, it will also pave the way for newer businesses.

While there are many e-commerce businesses out there, some people are concerned about how they will accept payments. This is a barrier to entry into the e-commerce world. With the technological and design options from Grafix Softech, there are going to be more efficient online stores. The company is always striving to ensure that they have the newest, best technology available to keep customers happy and protected when taking payments.

Plus, companies will be able to scale up when their company gets bigger. This is not an option with most payment processing companies. Instead of being locked into a binding contract that doesn’t allow you to change your options, you’re able to grow and expand, and keep the same payment processing. The best part about this is that you don’t have to worry about hidden fees or overpaying. You always only pay for what you are getting.

Then and Now

In the past, it has been a difficult and frustrating process to get the payments you need for your products and services. Many small businesses could only accept cash, making it difficult to move to an online business. In addition, taking payments at all became difficult, because many people simply don’t carry cash anymore.

Today, with payment options to fit your business and your needs, growing your company becomes much easier. You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to accept payments – whether you take cash, credit, or smartphone payments.

Behind the Tech

The CEO of Grafix Softech, Tej Kohli guides the company and also leads the management team. He ensures that the innovations of the system is everything that consumers need. In addition, the international businessman works with a variety of both charities and investment options. Tej’s work with The Tej Kohli Foundation ensures that children in Costa Rica get the food, education, and support that they need.

When you’re looking for a new way to accept payments, or you’re trying to decide whether or not to take your company online, remember the flexibility and innovations of Grafix Softech.

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Cyberbullying: Which 3 Social Networks Are the Worst?

Social media sites are one of the leading places that pre-teens and teens experience bullying, whether they are being bullied, bullying someone or witnessing it.  What is staggering is that 90% of those who witnessed bullying on their social media sites have ignored the behavior.  

Detective Sgt Thomas Rich and Todd Shobel, President of STOPit, which launched on January 22nd 2014, have provided below the three worst social media networks for bullying as well as signs that your loved one is being bullied. STOPit is the first app of its kind that puts the power in the hands of cyber savvy kids to take a stand against cyberbullying and stomp out this devastating epidemic.

Facebook  – Of course, cyberbullying is happening on Facebook, and despite the network’s recent decline in popularity among teens, millions still congregate there. One of the most common forms of bullying on Facebook is harsh commenting on users’ self-photos (selfies). It’s a vicious circle, really, as teens who post photos are often looking for positive affirmation and end up getting the opposite.
Instagram  – An unfortunate byproduct of the rise of Instagram is the popularity of “rate me” posts or impromptu beauty contests. Teens, most frequently girls (but boys get into the act too), post pictures of themselves with a hashtag (#rateme, #hotornot) or referencing a contest (#custestteen) looking for likes or positive comments. Not surprisingly, many of the comments are anything but positive. Instagram users who set their accounts to private can avoid unwanted comments from strangers.
Ask.fm  – From what we’ve seen, the ratio of negative comments to positive ones is highest on Ask.fm, for a very straightforward reason. “Good” kids usually sign up for Ask.fm using their real name, but are not required to do so. Bullies are free to sign up for a fully anonymous account, and therefore can bully without fear of their real identity being uncovered. Ask.fm has been linked to 9 teen suicides in the past year.


Signs That Point to Bullying Problems:

Sudden loss of friends or avoidance of social situations
Frequent headaches or stomach aches, feeling sick or faking illness
Changes in eating habits, like suddenly skipping meals or binge eating.
Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
Unexpectedly stops using phone or computer
Appears nervous or jumpy when an Instant Message, text message, or Email appears 
Appears to be angry, depressed, or frustrated after using phone or computer 
Becomes abnormally withdrawn from usual friends and family members
Self-destructive behaviors such as running away from home, harming themselves, or talking about suicide
Expresses reluctance or refuses to participate in activities previously enjoyed


Editor’s note: This content was sent to the Socialnomics team from Alexandra Attanasio. While we don’t typically post on someone else’s behalf, we felt these facts about Cyberbullying we’re very important to share with our readers. We hope you will check out STOPit and support Thomas and Todd in their endeavor to end cyberbullying!
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Social Sales: Three Hard & Fast Resources for the C-Suite

Let’s jump right in to the Social Sales debate and debunk three myths  that many executives believe about Social Selling. 
Debunked Myth #1
The C-Suite isn’t on Twitter
Last week I spoke with an executive who said his target customer, B2B CFOs, were not on the Social Web.  Then he added “well, maybe on LinkedIn.”  I’m here to tell you that not only are CFOs on the Social Web,  the entire C-Suite is on the social web.  
Let’s take Twitter for example.  Twitter users can be compiled into lists, or specific user groups,  that enable you to  join the conversation or simply listen and observe what they are saying via their tweets.  Here are five Twitter lists you might find interesting if you’re selling to the C-Suite:  

CEOs on Twitter
CMOs on Twitter
CIOs on Twitter
CFOs on Twitter
CTOs on Twitter

Debunked Myth #2
Social Selling isn’t for B2B
There are many B2B companies leveraging this platform to increase sales revenue, improve the customer experience and reduce marketing costs, etc.  Who’s doing it right?
​IBM Turns it’s sales staff social media savvy
B2B Social Media: Cisco Case Study
How Intel uses Social Media To Transform The Way They Do Business
Debunked Myth #3
The C-Suite is not all that interested in Social Media.
Not true…
FedEx Hires Board Member with Social Network Background
From the Wall Street Journal, Bosses Learn Not To Be So Clueless
Social Media empowers CEOs to be more effective leaders:  Get Your CEO to Tweet
The bottom line… word of mouth is universally acknowledged as the most powerful and effective marketing force there is.  
Social Media turns  WORD of mouth into WORLD of mouth (thank you @Equalman).
what’s more…
Conversations build relationships, relationships build trust, trust builds your business.
Building a Social Selling strategy might be worth further consideration if  you believe the above statement is true.
If you’re a believer in a Social Sales model, let us know.  We’d welcome the opportunity to interview you and learn why you adopted a social selling strategy, what results have been achieved and how it was received by your leadership teams.  Contact us Adam@SocialBrandU.net or 770.241.0102
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Social Sales: Three Hard & Fast Resources for the C-Suite

Let’s jump right in to the Social Sales debate and debunk three myths  that many executives believe about Social Selling. 
Debunked Myth #1
The C-Suite isn’t on Twitter
Last week I spoke with an executive who said his target customer, B2B CFOs, were not on the Social Web.  Then he added “well, maybe on LinkedIn.”  I’m here to tell you that not only are CFOs on the Social Web,  the entire C-Suite is on the social web.  
Let’s take Twitter for example.  Twitter users can be compiled into lists, or specific user groups,  that enable you to  join the conversation or simply listen and observe what they are saying via their tweets.  Here are five Twitter lists you might find interesting if you’re selling to the C-Suite:  

CEOs on Twitter
CMOs on Twitter
CIOs on Twitter
CFOs on Twitter
CTOs on Twitter

Debunked Myth #2
Social Selling isn’t for B2B
There are many B2B companies leveraging this platform to increase sales revenue, improve the customer experience and reduce marketing costs, etc.  Who’s doing it right?
​IBM Turns it’s sales staff social media savvy
B2B Social Media: Cisco Case Study
How Intel uses Social Media To Transform The Way They Do Business
Debunked Myth #3
The C-Suite is not all that interested in Social Media.
Not true…
FedEx Hires Board Member with Social Network Background
From the Wall Street Journal, Bosses Learn Not To Be So Clueless
Social Media empowers CEOs to be more effective leaders:  Get Your CEO to Tweet
The bottom line… word of mouth is universally acknowledged as the most powerful and effective marketing force there is.  
Social Media turns  WORD of mouth into WORLD of mouth (thank you @Equalman).
what’s more…
Conversations build relationships, relationships build trust, trust builds your business.
Building a Social Selling strategy might be worth further consideration if  you believe the above statement is true.
If you’re a believer in a Social Sales model, let us know.  We’d welcome the opportunity to interview you and learn why you adopted a social selling strategy, what results have been achieved and how it was received by your leadership teams.  Contact us Adam@SocialBrandU.net or 770.241.0102
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Internet Meets TV: The Value of the Second Screen

Americans are increasingly using laptops, smartphones and tablets when watching TV. The second screen is creating unique opportunities for companies to enhance engagement between the audience and their favorite shows. Check out the infographic below to see just how users are engaging via social…

 

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Is Facebook Your Company’s Best Social Option?

Companies are leaning more and more into the world of social media for their marketing endeavors.

Whether it’s a new company trying to get its feet wet, a semi established business working on broadening its customer base, or a successful one reaching out with social media for not only marketing, but also community and public relations, social media is a must have for businesses, and the old standby Facebook should not be overlooked.

Selecting the Best Social Choices

With options in social media, including more business centered ones like LinkedIn, business owners may wonder if Facebook is as important as it once was.

The answer is a resounding yes and here’s why:

• Facebook has more than a billion users.

• Millions of these are business pages, from small business to major corporations.

• People still use Facebook as one of their main sources of social media, checking it multiple times a day, despite the other social media sites.

•  Facebook provides a venue for direct interaction and communication with customers, followers and friends.

•  Businesses can hone in on the precise demographics they want to reach.

•  Small and midsize companies can get a lot of bang for their buck using Facebook. With sharing and connections to web pages, a Facebook page is a great way to link back to the actual website, like Tieks by Gavrieli and Bob Parsons Facebook Pages.

What to do on Facebook for the most success?

• Create an attractive page that showcases and personalizes your business – Set the tone with your posts (is it fun, upbeat, formal, young, traditional … ) and let the profile pic and cover photo tell about your business (think logo as pic and depictive cover photo telling a story with your product).

• Connect – Let your customers know about your Facebook page. If you have a storefront, make sure your Facebook page address is in plain view. Same thing goes for business cards, your web page and any other media and marketing about your business.

• Post shareable content – The more your posts are shared, the more users will learn about you. Create posts that not only tell about your business, but also ones that are catchy and visual – that makes up good shares.

• Have giveaways and contests – Run contests or giveaways that only Facebook fans can enter. When they enter or like your page, it will show up on their feed encouraging their friends to visit you. Word of mouth is key.

• Set up the Location feature – Make sure fans can update their status by using the location feature on Facebook. What better advertising to have people all over Facebook posting they were at your business?

Facebook may seem like an old timer in the social media world, but it’s still going strong.

It’s a major player with stability to back it up. Users of all ages, demographics and geographical locations are spending time on Facebook.

So if you are business looking to grow and maintain customers, you should be spending some time on Facebook as well.

Photo credit: dailytech.com

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Riding The News: Cicada Hunt 2014

If you do a Google search for the term “cicada 2014”, you will find my that my blog post comes up first page. This is not a fluke. I used a technique that I call “Riding the News” in order generate massive traffic and  to jump my site up to the top of the SERP.

What is the Cicada Hunt?

If you’re  not interested in code-breaking and complex puzzles, you might not know about the annual Cicada 3301 hunt. It’s an online scavenger hunt, open to anyone, that began in January, 2012, and was repeated in January, 2013. The 2014 hunt is currently underway, launched by a clue on Twitter on January 6th.

The puzzles are distributed by an anonymous group known only as Cicada 3301, and their purpose is equally as mysterious. No company or official organization has ever claimed responsibility. There appears to be no attempt to monetize it.  Some have speculated that the puzzles entice truly gifted individuals for hiring purposes, and some people think it’s a recruiting tool for a government agency like the NSA (National Security Agency in the United States) or the MI6 (in the U.K.).

The puzzles have been called “the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age” and generally incorporate elements of data security, cryptography, and steganography (a type of encryption so well hidden that only the sender and the receiver know that there is a message.).

The initial message in 2013 read: ‘Hello. We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. To find them, we have devised a test. There is a message hidden in this image. Find it, and it will lead you on the road to finding us. We look forward to meeting the few that will make it all the way through. Good luck.’

Newer theories relate the Cicada 3301 hunt to the digital currency Bitcoin, which has gained popularity in the past twelve months. Bitcoins are “created” through a series of complex computations and have to be extracted, or “mined”.  Richard Rigby, director of intelligence at Cadre Consultants, a London-based IT security company, suggests: ‘Now, if the top puzzles breakers in the world are found, it’s my belief that they are then recruited under a non-disclosure agreement to become Bitcoin miners.’

Riding the Cicada

I’ve been a Cicada hunter since the beginning and I’ve developed a pretty good set of guidelines that I call a “starter package” for newbies. I wrote an article about it for my blog in early January, right before this year’s hunt began.

This is all well and good but I’m also an online marketing professional and for me “Cicada 3301″ is first and foremost a trending keyword and a good business opportunity. To capitalize on the Cicada phenomenon, which was covered by many of the top news sites I turned to a form of discussion marketing, which I call “riding the news”.

I participated in many Cicada-focused discussions across the web, focusing on the comments section of news websites covering the Cicada 3301, where I made comments and suggestions, and linked back to my own website. This activity – which is called discussion marketing – is a low-cost but extremely effective way to generate natural links and traffic to your site, as well as to establish yourself as a credible authority on a particular subject.

If you look at the blog post in question: http://simonsblogpark.com/personal/prepare-cicada-3301-hunt-january-5th-2014-solve-puzzles/ you can see it became really popular (for a personal blog) receiving over 100 social signals in 2 days and 18 comments.

Over 9000 unique visitors read the blog post in 3 days (a huge increase compared to an average of 30 visitors per day on my personal blog) spending an average 7 minutes reading it and I received over 800 clickthroughs on the ads on my site. I made a substantial amount of money in affiliate sales. This is a neat way to monetize trending keywords like this and to “ride the news” and actually make money while you are doing it.

How to Ride the News to Success

As an online marketing professional, you have to be an “opportunistic bastard” and take advantage of everything that comes your way. When you see a “comments” section, wherever it is, think of it as free advertising. But be sure to bring value to the conversation, and don’t just spam your link, because it will just get deleted and you will be banned. Spamming just won’t work.

As an online marketing professional, you need to be current, opportunistic, adaptive and innovative. Be willing to try new techniques; you never know which is the one that will strike it big for your particular situation.

No matter what your market, everyone can “ride the news;”  it works even for clients in difficult niches -which is my specialty-.

If you are not an online marketing professional yourself but you are willing to cooperate closely with an online marketing agency and are  willing to post “breaking” content very quickly on your site you too can monetize trending keywords.

Riding the news can be a very effective and low-cost way of getting attention, traffic and natural, editorial links to your website, but you have to be fast enough to take advantage of it when the opportunity presents itself. You have to be willing to keep yourself informed and to act quickly, using the chance to both include the news on your site in the form of an article or a blog post, and to insert yourself into discussions on other sites.

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Marketing and Social Media Go Hand-in-Hand

According to Forrester Research, approximately 53 percent of around 300 Internet marketers were increasing how much they were using social media for marketing, as well as increasing the amount they would pay for this type of advertising.

With this type of statistic, it shouldn’t be surprising that marketing and social media tend to go hand-in-hand. Much of the draw to social media for marketers is how many people they can reach.

Millions of users are checking in to sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube and Pinterest every day. This leaves a lot of great opportunities that marketers can explore.

Setting Social Media Goals

If you are a marketer who intends to begin using social media more often, you should start by setting goals.

Social media can be very time consuming, often taking several hours a week just to keep up with your updates and networking. So it helps to have a plan from the very beginning, even if it means hiring help to manage your social media.

Generally, the larger your business is, the more social media work you are going to have. You may be using it for advertising, getting fans or followers, networking, or all of the above. This should all be in your final plan.

Business to Business Networking

Aside from being able to reach potential consumers, social media also benefits marketers with business to business (B2B) marketing and networking.

Networking is essential in today’s marketing world, especially when the majority of marketing you do is online. By networking with related businesses, you can lend resources, help and even business to each other by connecting through the top social media sites.

Choosing Social Media Sites

A common mistake when marketers first start out with social media is by trying to do too much, too quickly.

This becomes very distracting and makes it hard to focus on any one thing. You will be much better off if you only focus on a single social media site in the beginning, and then gradually move on to other sites.

If you simply start with Twitter, all you need to learn is Twitter and you have more time to dedicate your efforts to this one site.

Online Influence

Not only can you reach other businesses for networking and grow your business with more consumers’ attention, but using social media also allows you to become an online influence.

Many times, when you want to know more about a business, you look them up on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or other sites. This gives them some type of authority, letting you learn more about them, outside of their own website.

If you use social media regularly, you may find that new customers are more willing to stick around with your business because of your online influence.

If they are looking for the top 10 article writing companies, they begin their search through social media.

In many online circles, social media is considered mandatory for marketers and Internet users in general.

If you have not yet started using it, selecting at least one of the top social media networks will be advantageous.

Photo credit: marketingsavant.com

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Evolution of social media music challenging the mainstream music

Since last five years the influence of putting up cover songs on social media has really reached heights. Websites like Youtube, Dailymotion, Vimeo etc have provided underground artists to show off their talents. These platforms continue to attract more users to sign up and provide entertainment in innovative ways we never thought we could have. In less than five years audience on the second biggest search engine Youtube has made so many ordinary people with extraordinary skills celebrities and now they have huge fan following. These promotions over the social media have attracted the main stream media and celebrities. The situation is such that the celebrities who don’t exist on the social media pretty much don’t exist anywhere on people’s playlist.

Out of these random musicians the genre that stands out the most is evidently rock and metal music, it seems hard to believe that rock rules out the pop music. Their how to videos has a huge audience and the number of subscribers grow to huge numbers even after short intervals. Some of the famous social media rock stars that have literally crushed the main stream celebrities include Killrbuck Eye, Trace Bundy, Sunga Jung, Ewan Dobson all of them pretty much began over a similar scenario. Their live performance was put up on Youtube and in a week half of the world knew their names. Social media has literally made their fortune and with over million views these social media artists continue to multiply their fame via the number of views and subscribers.

The significant approach about rock genre is such that they are all played on guitars and their covers played by the random people. The acoustic versions build the bridge and was later transformed into covers, today you can find 99% of the famous songs covered on Youtube. This trend is the next big thing even on the radio stations, biggest charts like billboards and euro music charts also follow these subscriptions and based on these results a song is labelled as a big hit or not. Since social media provides difficult statistics. Its remarkable that initially songs are always mastered and edited for the social media now and based on the progress instantly they are put into mainstream media charts. Social media has become a launching platform for new music. Songs like “the rising” by Killrbuck Eye are such examples, since a solo composition evolved into an individual metal track that has been viewed and subscribed to over thousands time.

This way social media is really evolving the nature of main stream music. Now individual musicians hold the power to introduce the world to such diverse music, that has huge fan following. Experimental and ethnic music has also found its niche market. Based on this growth of music even the radio stations have shows entirely based on music from social media. A simple word uploading has changed the music scenario ruling the media now and now has added to the evolution of music where artists have no longer have to rely on MTV to know the music.

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