I love social media. And I love trying and testing new stuff. If there’s some new social media tool, website, or community, I’ll be one of the first ones to try it out.

But there is a limit. And I think we need to be careful. Because social media is like a drug. It can become dangerously addictive. It can even kill your business.

Social media seems to be the current fad. Everybody’s in on it like it’s one big cocktail party you just don’t want to leave.

But the way social media is currently being touted, hyped up, and used (or should I say, abused), is reminiscent of something that happened way back in the 90s.

(I’ll come back to this in a moment.)

Yesterday, I watched a brilliant video by Loren Feldman. Feldman has a tell-it-like-it-is style. While he may be blunt and use strong language to voice his opinion, he is never afraid to voice it. Regardless of what I think of his style, his video resonated with me.

In it, he drove home an important point. I believe what he talked about is not only right, but also something we need to realize and become wise about before we needlessly kill our businesses. And that’s ignoring the most important place on the web…

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A few years ago, something happened that provided incontrovertible proof of the importance of an infallible rule in copywriting. I knew it all along but never saw it proven to me in such a personal and direct way.

What am I talking about?

No, it’s not the headline. It’s not being emotional. It’s not benefits. And it’s not split-testing, either. In fact, my opening paragraph gave you a clue.

Sure, the headline, the benefits, and all those things are important. Very important. But the one element I’m referring to, the one element that can transform flimsy, “yeah-right” copy into a sales-inducing powerhouse, is…

… Proof.

Other than poor targeting and shoddy copy, the lack of proof in your copy is what probably (and most likely) causes it to fail. But when I talk about “proof,” I’m not just talking about one or two types, but seven. Yes, seven different types of proof!

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If you have been living under a rock in the past few weeks, then you might have missed one of the biggest kerfuffles in Internet history. Or so it seems.

No, I’m not talking about the contested elections in Iran.

I’m talking about the recent Facebook username frenzy, when Facebook allowed its users to register usernames, making profile addresses shorter and more memorable.

Leading up to it, they used a countdown timer. Brilliant.

Last week, I was watching a movie with my wife Sylvie Fortin. At 12:01 AM, I decided to log onto Facebook using my iPhone, just to see. And wouldn’t you know it? I managed to secure Facebook.com/michelfortin for me, and Facebook.com/licorice for our fan page.

(Sylvie also captured “sylviefortin” for herself.)

The Licorice Group, LLC is the name of our publishing company, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Obviously, “michelandsylviefortin” was way too long and would defeat the purpose of getting a shorter mnemonic. So I decided on “licorice.”

Anyway, you might be wondering why I said this was a kerfuffle. Well, hold on tight, because this one is a doozie (and there’s a marketing lesson in here, too)…

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Theodore Levitt once said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.”

This is one of the most quoted passages in marketing in trying to explain the difference between features and benefits. However, the quote is incomplete and leaving out something that, to me, is far more important.

And that is, what’s the purpose of this quarter-inch hole? What does the reader plan on doing with it? Even better, what’s the end-result the reader wants to achieve with it?

The answer to that question is, in my estimation, the real benefit. The ultimate benefit.

Not the hole. And certainly not the drill that created it.

Sure, it is a benefit to some degree. But “benefit,” defined in the dictionary, is “something that improves, enhances, or promotes well-being.” So let me ask you, how is one or one’s well-being enhanced by a quarter-inch hole?

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When I used to run a copywriters board, one of the most popular threads on the discussion forum was one started by my friend and fellow Canadian Dean Jackson.

If you don’t know Dean Jackson, he is a Torontonian, a real estate mogul, an information marketing millionaire (author of many programs, including the highly successful “Stop Your Divorce!”), and a darn-fine copywriter.

This post was extremely popular for a number of reasons.

In it, Dean shared his quick-and-dirty formula for writing salesletters really fast. Of course, I’m a big fan of Robert Plank’s Speed Copy Secrets. But this formula is a great shortcut if you want to write a barebones salesletter in less than an hour.

Above all, the idea behind this formula is to get you to start writing. Too many marketers and copywriters get stuck at the beginning, such as at the headline, and they fail to get any traction. They often blame it on “writer’s block.”

According to Dean, this formula has helped him write several million-dollar salesletters for himself and others. With his gracious permission, I’m reprinting it here, along with some of my own editorial comments and tips…

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Today, Scotty Stevens asked me the following question:

“How far would you travel to meet a potential client, if they had the deposit ready for your services? My girlfriend thinks the customer is pulling the strings if they don’t at least meet me halfway. Before, I’ve always traveled as far as it takes, even if it meant driving all the way to the customer, but is that setting a weak precedent?”

Good question, but it’s the wrong one.

“How far would you travel” is irrelevant. A better question is, do they value your time? Do they respect it enough that they are willing to pay for it? In other words, are they willing to cover your travel expenses and pay for you to go out of your way for them?

If so, then I’d be willing to travel anywhere.

I would always consider travelling to meet a prospect if the project was large enough, and provided they paid for what is commonly referred to in this industry as “TMI” (i.e., travel, meals, and incidentals). And in some cases, for my time, too.

(By the way, travel includes lodging, and incidentals include photocopying, long-distance calls, Internet connection in the hotel room, car rental, etc.)

Plus, I would ask them for an advance so I can take care of my own expenses. I would avoid getting them to handle my trip on their end. I would want to have full control over the choice of airline, hotel, restaurants, etc.

If you were driving to meet them, then the client — or, in this case, the prospect — should pay for your gas, normal wear-and-tear on your car (such as $[X] per mile), your meals, and any incidentals. And lodging too, if you were staying overnight.

There’s a very good reason for this.

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Yesterday, I had a tweet burp.

(If you’ve been living under a rock in the past year, a “tweet” is a brief, text message on micro-blogging platform Twitter.)

I call it a “tweet burp” because it’s something like a brain fart. But I prefer “brain burp.” Reason is, unlike a brain fart where one forgets something basic or says something meaningless, what I thought, and subsequently tweeted about, was surprisingly meaningful.

And for some, even profound.

They are tips on how to Twitter better. (Try to say that 10 times in a row really fast!) Let me share it with you by posting some of the highlights here.

Some of these tips are not extraordinary, of course. Most of them are common sense. But they are things I do in my own social media involvement that has proven to work well for me. I recommend you do the same…

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