Executive Voice
How Shlomo Zalman Bregman Cracked The Code of Digital Marketing
Sam (Shlomo Zalman) Bregman is widely regarded as one of the rising stars in the world of online marketing. He is the CEO of Alpha Tribe Media and has been labeled a “social media star” in his own right by the Huffington Post, Reddit, and other media outlets.
Shlomo is a regular Commentator for Fox News and The Jerusalem Post, and prior to entering the world of media full-time, he enjoyed an almost 20-year stint as an internationally recognized Rabbi, Torah scholar, and best-selling author.
Disrupt Magazine recently caught up with Shlomo to discuss his journey to success and to pick up a few gems on digital marketing.
Disrupt Magazine: Welcome! Can you please give our readers a brief background about your media business?
Alpha Tribe Media is a full-service digital agency that specializes in building massive social media followings and communities that accelerate our clients’ influence. We build our clients’ online credibility and distribution channels for their messages, allowing them to reach their desired audiences and communicate with them at scale.
The most common platforms we navigate for our clients are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Spotify, SoundCloud, and iTunes.
When appropriate, I also leverage my own personal media relationships I’ve developed over the years and serve as my client’s publicist, landing them media opportunities on premier outlets such as Fox News, TMZ, ESPN, US News & World Reports, and so many others.
Disrupt Magazine: The term ‘Digital Marketing’ is still a mystery to the public. How do you break down what you do for a layperson?
Great question! I think everyone should attempt to explain what they do professionally along the lines of “the solution you provide.” It’s that simple. What is the solution you provide?
Look, everybody out there has problems, and hopefully you’re a contributing member of society, and you’re able to solve some problems. And in an economic sense, people will give you money in exchange for solving problems for them.
Personally, the problem I solve as a Digital Marketer is that I’m ‘the attention guy.’
I’m the one who helps you build an online platform, no matter what your creative thing is. Whether you’re writing a book, making a movie, starting a business, or you want to be an actor – you need to get attention and you need to have a platform.
In today’s world, you pretty much do not exist if (i) people cannot find you on the internet and (ii) you simultaneously do not look extremely credible on the social platforms.
Moreover, when people first consider working with you – the first thing they do is look you up. They want to see, “Is this person for real? Do they have an audience? Do they have a following? Am I wasting my time with them?”
Everybody wants to work with people that other people want to work with. This is human nature. We all do it. So as a Digital Marketer, I bridge that gap….
Disrupt Magazine: At what point in their own journey should a prospective client come to you?
The time to come to me is when an individual realizes that their message, product, creative, or the ‘thing’ that they’re trying to do — is not going anywhere fast … and the missing ingredient for them is attention, eyeballs, and notoriety.
When you realize that you’re being passed over for opportunities, and the main variable in that is that people simply don’t know who you are, that’s when a person should come to me.
If you think you have ‘it,’ and that all you’re missing is attention — come to me because I can really help you!
Disrupt Magazine: Many people are reticent to put themselves online because of a fear of negative feedback. What advice do you have?
Personally, I have very thick skin that I’ve developed over time. At this point, I’m pretty much like an old, beat-up catcher’s mitt! But I know a ton of people struggle with this topic, so let’s discuss it.
No doubt – this is something everyone online needs to confront. It’s very predictable. When you put yourself on the internet, the greater the attention you receive and the more followers you have, then the more people will reach out to you or leave comments – both positive and negative.
I think a person needs to understand that there is nobody in this world who is for everybody. And there is no person, as far as I can tell, that’s ever been universally loved, liked, or admired, in all of world history.
As such, there’s nothing you can do, and there’s nobody you can be, nor is there anybody you can even pretend to be, nor is there a persona you can take on — where you will get 100% approval ratings, and only love, affection, and adoration until the end of time.
So just be yourself, embrace it, and push ‘upload’ and ‘post!’
Disrupt Magazine: Can you share with us a recent success story from one of your media clients?
Sure. Alpha Tribe Media was recently hired to give a ‘shot in the arm’ to the social media promo of the hit movie, “True To The Game 2,” to take the buzz even higher heading into Christmas weekend.
In only four days of managing the movie’s Facebook and Instagram presence, I was able to reach 4 million people, get the movie trailer watched 1 million times, and generated 60,000 new social media followers for the film as a bonus.
Perhaps best of all (from the perspective of the Director and the film’s investors) — I was also able to generate tens of thousands of visitors to the movie’s ‘rent’ and ‘buy’ pages at just a few cents per person.
This crucial data enables a film’s decision makers to measure their ROI as they aim to scale their ad costs and hit their financial targets.
Disrupt Magazine: Thank you for your time today! How can our readers follow you on social media?
