Businesses and individuals are all seeking innovative ways to leverage social media for currency, whether actual revenue or goodwill. They see social media as a robust way to add reach and richness to their marketing efforts; however, what is less obvious is how to do it?
How to effectively apply social technology to reach specific markets of conversations and subsequently create the exchange has become the Holy Grail of social media as a process.
For companies to arrive at a more competitive, more advantageous position the route begins by acquiring essential knowledge leading to innovative practices that result in conversational currency. To arrive at your destination you first need to construct a map: A series of initiatives and actions aimed at accelerating your progress towards achieving our ultimate goal. Essential knowledge must first be acquired and translated into a strategic plan that will allow you to set the proper course for your journey.
Most businesses are more focused on the cost and results than gaining an understanding of the process of social media. But in order to effectively leverage social media to produce the intended results it is vitally important to “learn” the art and science of conversations in order to effectively apply the methods of creating conversational currency. Think of this investment in education as a “knowledge transfer process” that may initially require time and money to accomplish but the value it creates far exceeds the cost. The results of effectively enabling individuals and businesses to gain from this transfer of knowledge ultimately will be reflected in the future through significant savings in time and effort. In other words, an investment in essential knowledge leads directly to an increase in overall productivity. Finding the Holy Grail of conversational currency requires safe passage through the hallowed grounds of essential knowledge. No matter what your learning to leverage and give by actively participating in conversations with your markets, it is knowledge that fuels the result.
Each day more businesses are awakening to the power of the social web and there is one thing separating the successful from the unsuccessful: Knowledge. Without knowledge a business can quickly get lost in the “sea of social technology” losing precious time doing unproductive activities without achieving a desired result. Money is a derivative of knowledge. The lack of knowledge is a derivative of cost.
Social Media Funnels Knowledge
The landscape of social media is changing daily. The speed of change creates new dynamics, new knowledge and disruption for those that don’t “know”. Keeping track of these changes requires an investment in time and the application of knowledge. Time cost money. Without gaining the required knowledge you lose time and productivity. Gaining and internalizing “knowledge” is the means for gaining time and improving productivity. Leveraging time and productivity is what produces results.
An individual or business can save time and money by using “knowledge resources”. A knowledge resource is someone or an organization that can either transfer the knowledge of “how to create results from social media” to your internal resources. The other alternative is to partner with knowledge resources that can facilitate your pursuit of social currency on your behalf. However allowing an outside knowledge resource to facilitate the required actions for you means you never internalize or own the knowledge. So, which is better then to outsource or to own?
Ownership enables you to become self sufficient. Outsourcing makes you co-dependent. Co-dependency is problematic: It results in a dysfunctional enterprise. In order to run a functional business you must learn to gain, leverage, create and own knowledge. Using social media to achieve results is a paradigm shift for all of us. Understanding that social media functions as a vast reservoir of information about your markets, your customers, your employees is important. Understanding how to funnel and filter that information into essential knowledge is the key to your success. Monitoring the transitions yet to come is crucial to meeting the challenges these sea changes threaten to have upon your business.
The good news is that you can learn how to ride the wave rather than drown. By valuing the process of learning you can discover innovative ways to generate conversational currency. An old proverb teaches that people perish due to a lack of knowledge. Your company can either prosper or perish. What produces results? Knowledge. Got it? No, then get it! The choice is yours.
Attention Small Biz - Get Ready for New Technology & Social Media Tools
I come as a messenger, and I come in peace.
Please remember this as I now announce to you that there is yet more stuff you’re going to have to learn about, adopt and maybe even embrace in the world of technology and social media. There’re new search engines, communications platforms, gadgets and an endless array of applications on the horizon, some of which you won’t be able to ignore.
I know, I know...
You already attempted Twitter, and the endeavor involved three simple steps: open account, get confused, abandon quietly. Maybe you can ditto that cycle for the blog you were briefly committed to for your business. You can’t even remember the password for your LinkedIn profile, and you’ve decreed Facebook a mind zap for adolescents. Heck, you may even secretly harbor the opinion that texting is a misuse of opposable thumbs.
Nonetheless, as the messenger it’s my job to provide fair warning that there is more to come. It’s a Web 2.0 world we live in (yes, there was a Web 1.0, and 3.0 is on its way; at least the chronology is easy to follow), and technology is evolving at he speed of, well, technology. You’d be well served to invest some brain power on the current iterations; it’ll make for a good prep course for the next round.
So you know how to brace, here’s a quick list of some up-and-comers. Trust me, there’s more where these came from, but let’s ease into this...
Google Wave: real-time communication platform from Google; synthesizes and aggregates a bevy of work functions, social media feeds and core communications functions; created to be a one-stop command center; will have its own lexicon of terms and icons; in previews now--coming later this year
Mobile readiness: setting your sights on standard sites is no longer enough; you’ve got to join the move to mobile technology; plan now for communications and functions that are mobile-device friendly, including site redesign and payment capabilities
Hulu desktop: the new Hulu desktop-ready interface is not so much about the joys of TV watching combined with computer usage; this newbie spotlights the reality that TV and Internet are melding even more; we're watching and getting entertained in new, more definable ways—a fact biz people and communicators cannot ignore
Group mentality: email becomes less necessary as the Twitter model infiltrates the workplace in customized platforms such as Yammer.com or socialcast.com; this allows for real-time interconnectivity within defined environments; we’re breeding new generations of employees attuned to communicate and percolate via microblogs
Even if you averted your eyes or skimmed over those items, your avoidance won’t lead to the list’s disappearance. This stuff isn’t going anywhere, and if you don’t keep up, you may not be going anywhere either.
Last night I dreamed I was being chased (and subsequently bitten) by an Indonesian Komodo dragon while at the home a friend from high school.
I’ve never seen a Komodo dragon ‘in person’ (is it even possible to see a lizard in person?...but I digress...), and I haven’t been in the same room with this particular friend for, oh, 20-ish years. Yet thanks to an online report I read a couple days ago about Komodo dragon attacks in Indonesia and last night’s Facebook posting by that high school friend, I had the mental makings for an interesting dream—starring some unlikely characters.
That’s the power of online content and social media!
Admittedly, this is an outlandish example. Does a dream about a venomous lizard and a pal from high school really reflect any usable truths about the messaging power of the Web? Wacky though it may be, I contend it’s a good example of what can happen when we use online communications to make daily connections.
It’s about “top of mind awareness,” after all.
When we’re looking for information, making selections or seeking interaction, we refer to the first few search results, grab the package at the front of the fridge or call somebody in our Top 5. (Why else would shelf placement at the grocery store be such an issue? Brands will do what it takes to be front, center, eye-level and easy to reach.) Sometimes we actively choose what’s placed at the top of our minds; other times, someone or some brand vies for the position, and we award it accordingly.
Social media is the ultimate battleground for attention; it’s ongoing, personal, interactive and accessible. It puts companies and customers in close range, in tight proximity to invite relationship-building. Online, we all have the ability to put our message—and our merchandise—within reach of our target audiences. Yet it’s the effective marketers who’re creating prime opportunities to earn high ranking places in customers’ mental spaces.
Earning—and holding rank—is no small feat. It’s one thing to make a trumpet call to get attention; it’s a whole other deal to keep customers’ interest and engage them long enough to bring measurable results. For traditional advertising tactics, we speak of “frequency;” in online advertising, we refer to “impressions.” In social media, it’s about long term relationships and ongoing conversations.
Remember the fellow who tweeted photos of the airliner that landed in the Hudson River? He beat the news media to the punch with his instinctive photo-sharing and was hailed as The Example of citizen journalism of the new era. For a blip of time after that frenzy, I heard tale of people following this guy on Twitter as if he was going to miraculously be present at the onset of every major national news story. Yet after the moment of glory in the Hudson, the guy went back to tweeting about needing to lose weight and other mundane things of his daily existence. And the followers trailed off...back to life as usual. Yawn.
The lesson for small business owners? Be present; be purposeful. Don’t be the “Komodo dragon dream” or the Hudson River photographer; aim for more than a one-time run and be more than a single-event sensation. Let some other business try the crashing symbols or speech-making through a megaphone. Those tactics are not only hard to sustain, they’ll turn customers away.
Instead, use social media to become a daily, reliable, personable presence with your audiences. Tweet meaningfully. Blog consistently. Respond honestly. Interact sincerely. Earn your position at the top of customers’ minds, and strive to provide something so useful and enjoyable—ideas, interactions, amusements, information—they’d surely miss you if you weren’t there.
A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy is different from tactics.
Every business, whether planned or not, has and acts on a strategy to both engage in market opportunities and to provide offerings. The process and thinking about strategy has changed overtime as the market conditions change.
When market conditions change such changes can turn old strategies on their head and subsequently a business finds that what they were doing in the past is no longer valid and they begin to lose market share.
Are The Market Conditions Changing?
Have you watched the headlines? Everywhere we turn we can see market disruption. This is especially true within the field of media, the advertising field, our entire economic market has changed and in case you haven’t noticed the market of conversations is fueling disruption in every market. For companies to adapt to these changes they must pursue alternative strategies. However the pursuit of alternative strategies means that everything changes including how your new strategy is formed.
Strategy 2.0 is a new process that is required to create new plans of action in order to stay in the game and thrive. The marketplace is at war for consumer attention and spending. The war is not fought with traditional tactics rather it is fought using methods of engaging markets, the conversation.
In his book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, (1999) Doc Searls speaks to the point that “markets are conversations.” He supports this thesis with a thorough discussion on how the growth and widespread use of the Internet is facilitating conversations that defy the traditional boundaries of corporations and countries. What was once a prophecy has now become a fact – and at an unprecedented rate of speed. This movement has not only influenced existing markets and how consumers engage in transactions, it has created new markets and new methods of exchange.
Searls notes that three things happen in all “natural” markets: transaction, conversation and relationship. The conventional thinking of almost all corporate cultures is that they understand transaction excessively – focusing intensely on the ultimate result: The “bottom line.” Thus, their understanding of the value of genuine conversations and healthy relationships is woefully deficient. Corporate America rationalizes almost all her decisions in terms of transactional value alone. This mindset will not continue to be successful in the new economy.
Cycles of Strategic Transformation
According to Doc Searls, the acceleration of conversations creates cycles of transformation. These cycles have blazed the trail to a new frontier for commerce: Relationship. The networked marketplace can only be improved upon and enlarged through relationships. Those who are grasping this recognize the opportunity to expand a current market and/or lead to the creation of a new one. How does this happen? It begins with a conversation.
Strategy 2.0 is about applying knowledge of this dynamic marketplace and implementing a plan to maximize your competitiveness in the marketplace of conversations. Strategy 2.0 is about anticipating the evolution of your intended strategy into an emerging strategy whose cycle of transformation doesn’t occur at a tidy annual corporate planning retreat; rather, it is an ongoing, everyday occurrence.
Strategy 2.0 doesn’t wait for quarterly and annual reports to be compiled; it is being discussed and formed among the daily conversations between employees and customers. But Strategy 2.0 is not only about the use of an advancing technology. Actually, it’s more basic than that. Strategy 2.0 begins and ends as a conversation. Get it?
Haven't You Heard? Great Marketers are Great Listeners
“It’s not about selling; it’s about conversation.” “Marketing is a series of conversations.” “Join the conversation.” “It’s the era of conversation marketing.”
I read phrases like this all the time in the online banter about social media. Do a quick search on Twitter for the words “marketing” and “conversation,” and you’ll get an endless bounty of relevant tweets. There’s certainly lots of conversing about conversations these days.
Nearly everyone acts as if consumer conversation is an original tact for great marketing, as if social media has lowered the veil between marketers and consumers. Not so. Successful marketers have always known how to engage their audiences, and effective salespeople have always relied on relationships.
Social media is a tool (a pretty amazing one, no doubt!) that can be used to achieve undeniable results in the hands of capable people. In the hands of the unskilled, social media is nothing but a vortex of time and energy.
It’s ironic to read about the art of conversation from some people who never stop to listen. By definition, a conversation is an exchange of ideas between parties, not the conveyance of ideas from one party to another without reply.
I recently encountered someone who was jazzed by social media because she’d have “more ways to get the message out.” She was poised to use Twitter as a non-stop classified ad, a LinkedIn group as her captive audience and a blog as a means of lobbing selling messages. In a humorous twist this was her interpretation of “joining the conversation.” Her ideas were really conversation stoppers, but she was too busy prattling on to realize that fact.
I just watched a clip on AdAge.com about Del Monte’s recent social media success in the pet food realm. To develop a new product for dogs, the company invited conversations with pet owners—or “pet parents” might be the more operative term. They asked questions that evoked honest responses. And from the consumer interaction, they invented and launched a product that’s making bacon, so to speak.
If you listen, your market will tell you what it needs and wants. That’s why you simply can’t come to social media as if you’re walking up to a podium. If all you can hear is yourself talking, you’re in for one boring and fruitless conversation. The best way to get down to business is to listen up.
Car Magnet or Facebook Fan Page? Old School Meets New Technology for a Rural-Based New Biz
I recently took a road less traveled to meet up with two fellows who’ve launched a new business. I interviewed them for the next webisode of “Small Biz Big Time.” Scott and Joe want—and need—their business, Eco-Clean, to succeed, and since they’re both go-getting and hard working entrepreneurs, they're already making strides and booking biz just a couple months in.
Eco-Clean is an environmentally-friendly cleaning service (commercial and residential, primarily for hard surfaces), and Scott and Joe’s initial geographic market is a blend of small city and rural areas. It’s so rural, in fact, Scott can’t get high speed Internet connection at his own home; he uses a connection through his cell phone to get online at the house. Not to mention, many of the potential Eco-Clean customers may not tend to be Internet users, even if they’ve got reliable service.
All that said, how can this new business benefit from new technology and social media? What role does online marketing and virtual relationship-building play for a business located in a rural area, targeting a customer base with hit-or-miss connectivity and usage?
This is a very interesting case study for someone like me. I live with fingers affixed to computer keyboard. For eight+ years, I’ve worked from home, successfully serving clients across the country thanks to seamless technology. With the onset of social media, I’m now absorbed in discussions about web-based communities, and my daily life is a swirl of tweeting, status updating and online marketing.
My interview with Scott and Joe was a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Life still happens at a local level. Scott and Joe are using online and social media tools—most certainly. Yet they’re also making cold calls, shaking hands and meeting face-to-face with prospects. Right now, both methods are proving effective; to grow a business like Eco-Clean, online and in-person marketing tactics are essential.
While I was on site for the interview, Joe got a call from a man he’d done an estimate for just that morning. It was good news. Eco-Clean won the bid and got the job, and Scott and Joe were ecstatic. I asked how they’d generated this lead, and Joe immediately got a just-ate-the-canary grin. A friend of the man who booked the job had seen Joe’s wife’s Eco-Clean car magnet! The custom car magnet had just paid for itself 25-times over, and Joe’s in-person estimate—at which he cleaned a corner of the man’s dirty marble floor to entice him with the possibilities of a full cleaning—had sealed the deal.
While the old school tactics merited high fives that day, Scott and Joe did go on to report that their Facebook business page had caught the attention of a local facility manager who was interested in some ongoing services. Obviously, that one lead, earned from a page that cost nothing and took just a little time to create, could also pay dividends down the line. But the pay-off will only come once Scott and Joe make the in-person connection and sell the value of their services face-to-face.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
Look for the full story on the upcoming webisode of “Small Biz Big Time!”! I’ll be editing the story over the long weekend coming up, and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Social Media - The Harder You Work, The Luckier You'll Be
I just got an email touting a live webinar on social media. The message was in my spam filter (which I check occasionally for potential topics for my “misADventures” group on Facebook), which is where it belonged. For just $69, I can log on later today to learn the “magic mix” for using social media to build my business. Only a few spots are left, so I should register now!
Magic mix for social media. $69.
Really?
Ladies and gents, there is not a “magic mix.” And if more people charge $69 to tell you there is, we’re in the midst of a “massive mix-up.” Social media, like any PR or marketing effort, comes with a gestation period. Sure, there are always those businesses that defy the odds and enjoy near-magical kismet. But for most of us in the work-a-day world, there’s not a social media lotto for which we can spend $69 to get the winning numbers, a.k.a. the effortless “magic mix.”
I’ve only recently had the chance to create social media proposals for some of my clients. Down in the foxhole, many of the businesses I work with have been intrigued by social media but hesitant to venture out. Honestly, as strongly as I feel about the need to move forward with social media as part of a full marketing plan, I’d rather coax a company that’s hesitant than try to reign in a company jazzed to gulp the “magic mix.”
Who wouldn’t want magically quick ROI, fast responses, immediate sales, increased market share? Especially in our present economic state, some clients already known to tap their feet and look at their watches awaiting results are displaying even less patience. The last thing I want is for those clients to hear there’s a “magic mix” and expect me to hold the wand.
Social media, much like traditional PR, takes time. The seeds must be planted properly and nurtured consistently in order for fruit to come in season. Much like I’ve long managed clients’ expectations about the pay-off of PR, I’m now advising the same for social media. In every proposal I’m writing, I include a statement about the need for long term commitment to make social media truly effective.
Two weeks ago, a client who’d pulled their PR retainer at the start of ’09 due to an economy-related budget freeze called to let me know that she’s hearing great buzz about “the PR I’ve been doing.” She’s finding that the PR is having a positive impact this year, as customers chime in and sales reps benefit from the good news. Obviously, I’ve not done any PR for her since the first of the year. What this client is presently experiencing is the hard-earned results of a PR campaign that occurred late summer ’08. Some things just take a while to bear fruit.
The famous Thomas Jefferson quote comes to mind now. “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
If you’re ready to leap into social media because you believe there’s magic mix, you’re out of luck. However, if you’re committed to the work it will take, by all means get in the mix.
Is it just me or does it seem like lots of people use social media tools like virtual popularity contests?
Of course, Ashton and Oprah—the cool kids—have their prolific legions of followers on Twitter. Yet I get tweets all the time from other Twitter users, direct messaging me about how they got “2,000 followers in 5 days and you can, too.” I click on their heads out of vague curiosity, and sure enough, some of these tweet-masters have upwards of 20,000 followers. And apparently, I ended up as one of ‘em (because I set up auto-follow on TweetLater.com, back when I was convinced numbers were everything, too).
The head counting doesn’t stop at Twitter. There’s the friend count on Facebook, the connections count on LinkedIn, the number of fans on business/fan pages or members in an online group and total hits per day for blogs. I observe some of my LinkedIn connections getting 10, 15, 20 new connections a day. Other than my colleague whose business is leading LinkedIn training sessions and a few others with nationally known profiles, I can’t fathom how these people are collecting other people with such rapidity—let alone finding any usefulness in it.
Mind you, I write a blog about social media. I work with some genuine gurus in this realm, and they’ve earned followings of hundreds or thousands because of their consistent offerings of useful knowledge. But as I observe the growing ranks of count collectors, I’m reminded why I focused this blog on the needs of small business. Most of us in the trenches are mere mortals who will only have time for social media if it brings legitimate results.
I consult daily with clients who would typically rather have a handful of committed customers than a sea of disinterested acquaintances. Sure, there are times you need to cast a net in the sea to find the loyal clientele. Still, most of us can’t realistically grow business while being tossed about in the current; we need to net our catch and bring it on board.
How do we discern when the count counts? Here are some thought starters.
Numbers matter when
...you are selling a product or service with mass appeal (consumer or b-to-b).
...you are seeking to build a reputation with a very large audience or with multiple audiences.
...you are building a social media-based business, in which numbers of followers validates your status as an expert.
...you are seeking advertising or sponsorship for your online endeavor.
...you are building online buzz that will affect the validity of an offline venture.
...you are casting the aforementioned wide net in order to catch a fresh round of committed customers.
The acquisition of lots of people online is not innately greedy. But it can be time consuming, and in some cases it may actually intrude on business goals.
Everybody raves how Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh uses Twitter (621,029 followers as of this morning) and social media so effectively. He’s getting loads of press for his effective if not obsessive tweeting, and many equate Zappos popularity to Hsieh’s online bantering. I don’t know about that.
All I know is, long before anybody was tweeting, I emoted old school style to all my friends about ordering a pair of snazzy heels at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday and having them on my doorstep by noon Wednesday. If Zappos can satisfy my shoe obsession in less than 24 hours, I couldn’t care less about the CEO’s Twitter tally. I know what really counts.
My brain isn’t always the sharpest and it takes time for me to grasp information and its relative meaning. Words carry lots of meaning and unless we really “read and listen to comprehend” we can miss the true value of someone’s work. If you’ve ever listen to or read something from someone smarter than you then you know what I mean.
Three years ago I read Doc Searls work and in particular The Cluetrain Manifesto. The theme of the Cluetrain is “Markets are Conversations” and the book discussed how the internet was propagating conversations at rates never before experienced and subsequently creating and influencing markets.
Recently I read The Cluetrain Manifesto yet again for the fourth time. This time I think my brain cells finally connected and I saw exactly how the acceleration of conversations create cycles of transformation that lead to expansion of existing or creation of brand new markets. All generated from conversations.
Cycles of Transformation
Conversations are filled with information which is shared with others. The internet, in its current stage, enables the propagation of conversations from one to one to millions at the click of a mouse. The acceleration of conversations at rates beyond past experiences facilitates the transformation of information into knowledge. Subsequently a few people discern the knowledge gained and move to the creation of innovation in product, service and delivery (marketing, service and reach).
From the creation of innovative approaches in product, service and delivery market leaders create currency. Currency comes in many different forms. Time, productivity and monetization of both create new capital. Subsequently the introduction of new innovation gets disseminated as information contained in conversations which now becomes known to the masses thanks to the internet.
At each and every point in the dissemination process, content can be vetted by the community of peers, colleagues, and other participants. This is extremely important because content that survived extreme vetting becomes a factual addition to the marketplace of knowledge. This is the highest order and the most valuable outcome of the social media exchange. Every notice how valuable conversations are those that facilitate the creation of new value and subsequently are passed on to ultimately create innovation that attracts the masses? Microsoft, IBM, Google, Facebook, Linkedin all the Fortune 500 and every business born on the landscape of commerce was born out of a conversation. Those that survive are those that continue the conversation aiming at increasing value through innovative developments that the market wants or consumes.
The value of social media is relative to the cycle of social media transformation that is vetted through the marketplace of peers. Past industries were started, enabled and created by conversations that led to innovation. Consider a few examples:
Manufacturing innovations that fueled production of products that consumers wanted. (examine any product currently manufactured)
Service innovations that helped organizations and consumers improve productivty. (examine any service you use and consider its value)
Technological innovation that fuels productivity, communications and creativity. (examine Google, IBM, Microsoft, Wireless, Internet, Broadcasting etc etc.)
In each case billions of new capital and currency was created.
Now we are witnessing conversations from the marketplace that confirm that the cycles illustrated are indeed the process of transformation aimed at creation of new value. The difference between today and yesterday is the rate of change created by and through the conversations propagated through social media.
Consider recent stories about KFC and Oprah, Target & Non Profits and the how Twitter is helping local businesses improve sales. You don’t have to look too far to see other examples and you can bet we’ll see a lot more who understand this cycle, whether consciously or not, and apply the thinking to create new markets or serving existing ones better. Those that serve or create markets best win. Did I get it?
What say you?
The phenomenon of social media is producing results. People are empowered with options related to how they accept, deny, share, and pursue information. Social Media has become the “magnate” of attraction to individuals, businesses and institutions.
It is no longer sufficient to speak at people solely through traditional means; they must be engaged in conversation and attracted into a relationship. There is no institution which can avoid these new conditions and to deny the influence is to deny people’s need and right to communicate.
The rate of conversations relative to the impact and implications of social media are accelerating. Consider the trends illustrated in the Google trends graph in this post. In less than three years there has been over a 300% increase in Google searches for the term social media. Can you find another subject matter on Google that has sustained this rate of acceleration? Even if you could there is no denying that the “pull” of social media is in hyper speed with accelerated rates fueling the interest and curiosity in 2009.
What Does A Search Imply?
Searches imply an awareness, an interest and desire to learn and understand something. When we search we’re looking for something or somebody. The frequency of a term on Google implies interest, influence and when the rate of searches for a certain term increases it implies relevance to people’s interest and desire to learn about something or someone. The rate at which things change is more important than the change itself. A Bank does not care about money – A bank only cares about the rate of change in money – it’s called “interest”. Is the term “interest” the same for money as it is for human search behavior? “Is the presence of the concept of “interest” therefore the basis of a currency?”
Interest on money is supposed to compensate the lender for “risk”. When money devalues, there is a negative “interest” but can there ever be a negative risk? Of course not. The reason we need to print more money is because negative risk cannot exist. Therefore, such currency is inadequate. Social currency on the other hand can manage negative interest rates with ease and therefore may act as a superior currency
Based on the data illustrated in the above graph one may conclude that the relevance, interest and desire to learn more about social media is accelerating. The acceleration also aligns itself with the growth rate of social networks and use of social media. So again the phenomenon of social media is “pulling” attention (interest) to the medium and means. One may conclude that a new paradigm is shaping if not creating the new means for human interaction.
Statistically speaking the implications illustrated in the graph above indicated a “systemic change”. A systemic change happens when data suggest a process has or is out of “control” and no longer stable. Predictions become difficult because the “process data” shows significant changes. Changes to a process are reflected in the inputs: people, methods, machines and influences. When inputs change a process changes and subsequently the results change as well.
What Results Will Change?
Personal and professional results vary based on an aim. If the aim is to learn something then the data suggest social media is fueling learning. If the aim is money then in order to gain more money one must be where their market, their audience is conversing.
People are suppliers and consumers of currency. When conversations propagate the currency of the conversation accelerates. Propagation can refer to reproduction, and other forms of multiplication or increase. Conversations, and the propagation of conversations, are the fuel which creates value for others if the conversations adds value. Every kind of result is influenced by the currency of a conversation, whether factual or not.
If you want to improve a result then you must engage in the conversations that impact your results. Changing a result starts with a conversation that perpetuates the needed changes. Let’s see how well the currency of this conversation, if it adds value, gets propagated. The measures are reflected in the references to this post through tweets, retweets and diggs otherwise referred to as passing along ( a process) the social currency (the value) contained in this conversation.
If the value of this conversation is high enough then it will be passed one to one to millions. Let’s see what happens to this one. The more it gets passed along the greater the attention (interest) becomes to the content . The content then becomes vetted as valuable to the marketplace of conversations and it becomes an exchange of knowledge currency that may create innovation for someone.
Group Scoop - Do's & Don'ts of Creating a Social Media Group
Want to create a group on Facebook or LinkedIn? Groups are a great way to engage your key constituencies in discussion, trade ideas, gain insights and share resources. We all want to belong—to find places where we fit, and groups in social networking environments bring people with shared interests together. Group conversations can lead to meaningful connections.
Those who create and administrate groups on Facebook and LinkedIn enjoy some specific benefits. Most importantly, they have the chance to establish the angle of the conversations, to guide the direction so the resulting interactions provide great insight. Also, group administrators have access to member contact information and can message those members at their discretion. This latter benefit should be very secondary because groups are not—and should never be—direct selling platforms.
Of course, LinkedIn groups are typically business-to-business, colleague-to-colleague forums. Facebook is the better place to start business-to-consumer groups, though it certainly could be plausible to maintain a b-to-b forum as well. It’s wise to have spent time as a group member before launching your own, just so you know how it all works from the inside out.
Ask yourself a few key questions.
Get your bearings before you get going. Picture your ideal advisory council. Who would you want to be a part? Customers and potential customers, colleagues from related industries? Would you want a national or regional perspective? What do you want to gain from the group? Is there already a group out there that meets my need? If so, how can you start something equally as useful yet unique enough to stand alone? Answer all these questions before you launch.
Create a topic that’s deep and narrow.
A group with too broad a focus will easily go off topic and off course. A group too shallow is limited and will not attract interest let alone useful discussion. More than likely, you don’t want to start a group that’s so specific it only attracts existing customers or competitors and vendors within your product category. You want to engage a variety of people for the most useful and fruitful conversations.
Unless you’re dominant in your category (i.e. - Microsoft or Apple), a major player with many offshoots (i.e. - Burger King to brand franchisees, buying groups with regional retailers) or have a vast customer base, you probably shouldn’t start a group under your own business name. For that matter, you likely need to think deeper than just your product category to attract a variety of people and interactions.
For example, say your business, “XYZ Widget Repair,” can service a 200-mile radius of the company headquarters in Boston. To start a group under the heading of your business name would be limiting, as you’d likely attract only existing customers and business partners/vendors. You’d be better off with a fan page or business profile. Start a group for “widget repair,” and the net will be cast too wide or only attract competitors in your category. The better tact may be to create a “Widget Care & Maintenance - Boston” to make the topic more inclusive yet regionally targeted.
Commit to being a discussion starter.
As keeper of the group, it’s your job to help it bring value to those who join. Without some nurturing, a group is inert, an inanimate object that collects dust and is forgotten by those who’ve joined. In the early stages, you may find yourself responsible for posting discussion topics, posting news stories, etc. Do this with true commitment, so that you are consistently in front of your membership. If you fall silent, the group may fall to the wayside.
Guide group dynamics.
One of the age old challenges for group leaders is encouraging good dynamics. It seems there’s always a talker in the group, the one who always has to interject. Then there are other group members who prefer to just listen. As keeper of the group, it’s in your court to observe and guide. If someone is treating the group as a selling ground, take action to discourage that. If the same three people dominate the postings, direct some discussion starters to purposely engage others beyond the trio of constant responders.
Share the leadership.
You may even consider adding some customers or colleagues to co-manage the group to spark new dimensions. If you’ve set the topic deep yet narrow enough, others will also have great insight to gain from being part of the group leadership. Bringing more into the leadership fold can help expand the potential members list, delegate responsibilities for nurturing the group and multiply the usefulness of the group while staying true to the topic.
Look at the long term.
As with most social media efforts, the return on investment of your time and effort will come in the long term. You can set up the group and invite the first round of members in no time, but it takes a while to attract diverse participants, set the tone and culminate useful interactions. Be patient, and your group will grow to be truly dynamic.
Dan Ryan here from the Human Capital Connection on the Social Media Connection Broadcast Network. I have a blog of my own at http:that-danryan.com where I post almost every day, but I wanted to pass along some crucial information for those of you in the Greater Nashville area.
NewsChannel5 and Lipscomb University will be sponsoring the "Safe and Sound Career Expo" on Thursday May 28 at the Allen Arena on the Lipscomb campus. The Career Expo will begin at 10:00 am and end at 3:00 pm or later.
I have enclosed a video in this post that will give you more details about the event.
I encourage you to attend and to invite your friends. This will be much more than a hiring event. It will also be a way to "sharpen the saw" by attending one of the many workshops offered that day.
A list of the workshops is also in this post.
Contact me at dan@smcbn.com if you have any questions or comments about this event.
See you there!
Career Expo Presentations
Hall of Fame Room:
10 and 11 am: Matt LeBlanc: Resume Writing
12 noon: Deborah Chapman: Networking
1 pm: Laura Paddock: Interviewing
2 pm: Ed Condon: Sales Strategies for Interviewing
Big room:
10 and 11 am: Joe Morrell: Interviewing skills
12 noon: David Jones: Job Search Plan
1pm and 2pm; Dan Ryan: Online networking
Know anybody who’s ever attempted a newsletter yet never had any news? What about blogs; ever seen a stale blog on a company’s site? And I don’t even have to ask about news pages on web sites, as I’m sure you happen upon the occasional page-as-time-capsule in your surfing. These businesses had the best intentions of keeping content fresh; instead they posted a perpetual press release circa 2005 or hiccuped out 3 issues of what could’ve been a lovely newsletter.
Some day in my vast amounts of spare time (insert rimshot and laugh track), I’d love to try to tally the number of newsletters I’ve helped name and launch...which will closely parallel the number I’ve seen fizzle. Ditto that for website news pages. I could start a communications museum with all the well-intentioned projects I’ve seen preserved in amber—locked, motionless, ancient history.
Seems many companies love the idea of communicating but lack the stamina to follow through. Sound familiar?
I eventually became the voice of reason anytime a client decrees it was “time to launch a newsletter” or “add a news page to the website.” The term “monthly” or (God forbid) “weekly” often comes with the decree. Now similar decrees are coming for blogs and other social media tools. Since I know I’ll typically be responsible for producing said newsletter, web page or blog, I talk the client through the ins and outs of what it takes to sustain these efforts.
Even if the client laments that everybody else has a newsletter, news page or blog and they didn’t want to get “left behind,” I remind them that they still needed to look ahead.
While I stand to make money anytime a client wants to produce ‘stuff,’ I prefer to guide clients to substantive, long term success. That’s how we all win. You don’t get long term success by being reactionary or by placating the desire for a momentary sense of accomplishment. You don’t sprint a marathon on the heels of competitors, lest you tire out and trip up. Not to mention, it’s really boring to have nothing to write about.
I rarely advise clients to not get in the game. I always advise that they get in the game at a manageable pace.
Maybe the monthly newsletter should start quarterly or be a twice-annual mini-magazine. Perhaps we hold off on the site news section and just create a temporary spot on the home page when there’s a release to post. Let’s begin a blog slowly without fanfare or promotion, to allow time to establish a rhythm and system for success.
Companies worried about being left behind are typically too busy looking at the backsides of the competition. It’s more effective to find a good pace and fix the gaze up—and ahead. The leader has the best view.
Where is Everybirdy? It's Time to Fill Your Feeder!
I just got a hummingbird feeder. It’s my first one, and I’m not up to speed on hummingbird feeder protocol. When should I put it up? What’s the scoop on filling and cleaning? Where should I place it?
I emailed a fellow bird nerd this morning to inquire about timing, and he replied that the hummers are already hanging around. He and his wife have had their feeders out for a little while now.
Gasp. Here I am, excited about my new form of “cheep” entertainment, and I’m already tardy. What if the hummingbirds in my zip code have already staked claim on other feeders? Will they every come my way? Is there anything I can do to earn their attention once I do get this feeder filled and situated? And I better keep extra feed on hand, in case they do come. I wouldn’t want them to trust my feeder as a food source only to find it empty one day. Time is nigh, or my birds will fly!
So it is with our online marketing efforts.
Your customers are already out there, looking for your product or service. If your feeder isn’t out—and filled to the brim, they will fly on to a feeder that does have something to offer. Even if you were planning to serve the sweetest nectar on the planet, your customers need solutions now. They’ll settle for lesser than wait for nothing.
A website without social media connectivity is like an empty feeder. Maybe your customers can dine on the content they find on an initial visit to your site. But that won’t sustain them long term; they won’t keep them coming back in the future if there’s nothing new to savor.
Do you need to make time to tend to your feeder? Should you ante up and hire some help to get things done? You could be in the midst of building a reputation right now, instead of fretting over how or when to dive in.
For me, it would’ve been wise to buy the nectar when I purchased the feeder, then I would’ve been ready to host the hummingbirds. If you’re looking to launch a site or refresh an existing one, you should build in ways to continuously feed that site. Add a blog. Include direct connects to your Twitter or Facebook accounts. Offer a subscription to a newsletter. Do something to keep ‘em coming back.
I’ll certainly have my feeder up by day’s end; the thought that there’s a hungry hummingbird out there in my neighborhood is motivation. What’s your next move to attract somebirdy to your feeder?
People follow people who have more contacts, followers, blog post and overall activity on the web. The web provides numerous data points to indicate a persons attractiveness to potential followers.
From Tweet analyzer, Adage Power 150, Twitter Score, Google rank, Page Rank, Technocrati and the list of different metrics goes on and one. One must ask themselves whether the current scoreboards are any indication of true leadership or just an indication of activity.
The word follow implies : to go, proceed, or come after pursue, to walk or proceed along, to accept as authority, to pursue in an effort to overtake and to seek to attain. The pull of social media is currently designed around “following” people, brands and products that get our attention. Looking at the rate of change we can surmise how different external events may affect social media data and the betting markets of conversations that create influence.
The rate of change is nano seconds. The current metrics are constantly changing because most of the measures are centric to people and events that cause massive attention, gains in terms of followers and the media’s fascination with whomever is at the top of the heap at any given moment.
Do The Numbers Reflect Real leadership?
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Alan Keith of Genentech says “Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.
KFC and Oprah made something extraordinary happen, they caused a rush on KFC stores like never before and the media became fascinated with the event. Ashton Kutcher made something extraordinary happen by getting the most followers on twitter in a short period of time and the media became fascinated with the event. The extraordinary piece of each of these events and others is reflected by the “attention and attraction“of people and the media. The relative issues that gained the attention and attraction reflect the fascination with the power of social media to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Even is the task is as simple as gaining peoples attention for no specific purpose or value added accomplishment.
Social media participants (individuals and brands) have a vested interest in quickly understanding the nuances of newsworthy events that develop into mainstream news stories. However, some events still appear to impact the public very quickly – in the past month or so the newsworthiness of social media events has gained considerable traction within main stream media. As more and more people and businesses learn how to convert social media attention into currency, that is reflected by either monetary gain or value added results, then the power of conversations and connections will reveal the extraordinary results everyone is chasing.
Today the extraordinary events are relative to what people are learning about the power of social media. Tomorrow the extraordinary events will be driven by leaders who learn to convert the knowledge gained into innovation that fuels the exchange of social currency, an exchange of value that creates the unimaginable. Those whom learn the fastest will lead the market and set the bar as to what can be accomplished beyond gaining followers and getting the attention of the day.
You can either be blinded by the buzz and follow the crowd nowhere or you can step back and see what is the real opportunity and lead. Get it?
Feeling Scattered & Smothered by Social Media? One Question is The Answer You Need
Years ago I had a client who exemplified the idea of “eye on the prize.” I was part of the agency team selected to help this client’s business, a national sports association, increase membership. This respected organization had excellent programs and benefits; all the good news was there. We just needed to share that good news with potential members and inspire them to join.
At every meeting and over every decision, this client would ask “will this increase membership?” We considered logo revisions, and the client asked “will this increase membership?”. We talked about a PR campaign, and the client asked “will this increase membership?”. We planned events, and the client asked...well...you get the point.
That one question was the beacon for everything we did, and it was very effective. The client would not allow herself to get mired in minutia that didn’t matter. She refused to donate time or brainpower to anything that was off point, and she never made a decision based solely on her preference. With that perspective, we certainly kept our budget and tactics well-directed.
What’s the prize—the singular goal—for your small business? What’s the one question you should ask before making any decision or taking on any project?
You’ve got to know that answer before you dive into any social media tactics lest your precious time and energies be misdirected or wasted. I see it all the time, the business owners and entrepreneurs who feel they must “get on Twitter” or “make a Facebook fan page” yet can’t articulate how or why to use those tools. Social media tools can be immensely effective, but only if you use them as answers to your key question.
Is your goal to increase your business? Then ask yourself “will this grow my business?” constantly. The truth is, you can likely use an array of social media tools to bolster business, but until you can explain how or why, it’s all for naught. However if you choose to join Twitter or use Facebook in answer to your core question, you will do so effectively.
It’s amazing how one simple question can help take a small biz big time...
Thanks!
The Handyman's New Tool: Web Ideas for Even the Smallest Businesses
When your neighborhood handyman gives you his web address and talks up his online promotion, you know something’s drastically changed in the marketing universe. It’ll never be the same “sell” again.
And I gotta say, the handyman hit the nail on the head.
Mind you, the site was nothing lovely to behold, but I’m not grading on web design here. I was impressed that (1) the handyman has a website, (2) the site contains pertinent information, (3) there was an online promotion by which the handyman can gauge response and grow business and (4) the handyman drove traffic to his online presence with traditional communications. If he’d had (5), a mechanism to capture my information and a social media component to engage me further, the handyman would have closed the loop nicely.
I repeat. This is a handyman—the rough and tumble guy who fixes toilets, washes windows, patches dry wall and eats lunch in the cab of his pick-up while listening to AM radio. If he is a computer user, he clearly doesn’t log hours online like most of his customers do. But that’s the beauty of it! The handyman looked beyond his own daily perspective (curled copy of the Yellow Pages on the dashboard and news/talk AM for weather updates) and did his best to get in the heads of his customers—and potential customers—who are online all the time.
The handyman’s formula is a basic starter kit for any small business. Be online. Let customers know you’re online, and give them a “something’s-in-it-for-them” reason to visit your website. However, he’ll need to take this Web 1.0 model to 2.0 to really tap into the potential to grow his customer base. Now it’s not enough to just be on the web; you’ve got to engage customers to stay top of mind. Word of mouth is now conducted by click of mouse, after all!
For example, the handyman could rock it out with a Facebook fan page. It wouldn’t matter the number of fans, but the quality of them. If my local Facebook friends saw that I was a fan of an area handyman, I believe that would serve as a resounding endorsement. Couple the fan page with geographically targeted ads on Facebook, timed to run during peak home improvement seasons, and I think the handyman would welcome new business.
(Sounds like a candidate for a “Small Biz Big Time” social media makeover...hmmm!...)
Nonetheless, he’s on the right track and looking in the right direction, and I applaud and laud his smarts as a business person to get in the game in real way. He’s proof that no matter how small the business, there’s always room to think big. I’m glad the handyman’s found a new tool!
A Niche and A Pitch - Two Keys to Biz Success Online and Off
It was a great Italian restaurant, tucked in an end unit of a scruffy strip mall. Every night, the tiny establishment was packed with the loyal patrons who indulged on great eats in close quarters. Eventually the owner found a sleek, stand alone building on a busy corner and moved the restaurant to welcome the throngs.
Within a year, that great Italian restaurant was closed for business...forever.
What happened? In a quest to expand, Mr. Italian Restaurant Owner sacrificed the undefinable charm and kismet of his first location. You can’t fault him for wanting to grow. As busy as he was in the tiny spot, we all anticipated success for him in the new location. Yet when the magic’s gone, it’s gone.
You’ve likely seen similar examples in your corner of the world. A great boutique opens multiple locations only to over-extend and go bust. A bustling service business beefs up staff then folds under the weight of more overhead. A company doing gangbusters selling Widget A tries to sell Widget B with poor results.
Everybody knows the most successful small business owners are big thinkers. So how do you think big and stay focused? How do you identify new opportunities without redefining your brand? How do you make bold leaps yet stay grounded?
Online marketing will help you answer those questions. Dive into social media and web-based communications, and I assure you, you will be motivated to define and constantly refine your brand, product/service offerings, target audience(s) and areas of expertise. Establishing your virtual reputation and maintaining an effective online presence will propel you to keep messages tight and on target.
You’ll become very focused on your niche and your pitch when you’re online to win.
You can’t be all over the map when creating online profiles, microblogging about your biz in 140 characters or less, or seeking customers in a sea of websites and social media networks. You’ve got to sniper shot with the best of ‘em online to get attention, develop attraction and establish affinity with your customers.
Of course, a niche can be big, so big that there may be segments within the niche. Each niche needs a specific pitch. We often hear of the “elevator pitch,” and that’s a good reference point to start. You really need to know who you are and what your business does in 50 words or less, and those few words must resonate with your niche to be effective.
Once you’ve established your niche and your pitch, use extreme caution before considering redefining or expanding either. Don’t get so hungry that bite off more than you can chew for your business. Establish roots before you try to grow branches.
I’ve posted this interview with Mom blogger Lindsay Ferrier previously, but this topic inspires me to do so again. Lindsay is an example of somebody who organically found her niche and has enjoyed great success as a result. As a small business owner, you’ll have much to gain from Lindsay’s insights on targeting marketing messages to core customer groups.
Here’s hoping this inspires your itch to define your niche and pitch!
As always, thanks!
I received a call from the local news television station asking to interview me concerning the recent Twitter campaign initiated between Oprah and KFC. Oprah put out and offer to her twitter followers and to her web site visitors that offered a coupon, printed from her site, in which participants would get a free two piece chicken lunch with two side dishes, no drink. The campaign started on May 5 and ends May 19th.
The second day of the campaign showed KFC's in Chicago and New York running out of chicken to serve. My local KFC, which I visited with the news reporter, had put up a sign limiting the offer to a time period, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm. When the store manager was asked why he simply said "we can't handle the volume of people showing up wanting their free meal." Now just imagine what was going on at the hundreds of KFC stores all over the country......a traffic spike unimaginable and unthinkable.
So How Does KFC Make Any Money?
The local reporter asked me "how does KFC make any money giving away free meals?". This type of question is the very issue that perplexes the minds of traditional business leaders and the market at large. How can a business make money from "free". Now really think about it and consider the following:
The rush on KFC is being tweeted daily at the rate of 1,200 tweets per hour
Main street media is writing about this campaign everywhere
Broadcast news is featuring this story during the peak news hours all over the US
The story will bleed for months after the campaign as the media learns the results
The unique approach, using social media to launch such a campaign, has millions watching, conversing and waiting for the results
When I took my coupon, given to me by the news station, up to the counter I also ordered a drink, get it? $$$$
I observed almost 90% of the others doing the same when they turned in their coupon $$$$$
The campaign was launched during the month in which many schools will be closing for the season. Ever heard of repeat business?
The "buzz" and continued "buzz" of the campaign could never be duplicated through traditional advertising means, never.
The cost of the two pieces of chicken and two sides was nothing compared to the value of the "pull into the local KFC"
KFC introduced a new version of chicken which got introduced to, who knows, many millions
Oprah got her name pushed out everywhere by everyone and thus got significant spikes in traffic to her web site
Her web site offers a lot more than coupons for a free chicken meal, get it?
The story ranked #5 on Twitter just three days into the campaign, do you think it got attention?
The "free meal" drew an attraction to an old brand that needed to build a new affinity to its audience, old and new
The draw created action, try our new chicken and buy a drink, oh yeah, come on back sometime and try our other meals
Do you get it yet? You should by now. Word of mouth, creativity and social exchange and content distribution create social currency that turns into revenue. Now do you get it? If not stay tuned for the new wave of brands creating social currency simply by leveraging conversations. Get it? If not read the five strategic elements of social media. Still don't get it? No, oh well I tried.
What’s in the Google Toolbox? An Intro for Small Biz DIYers & Google Newbies
Google. It’s not just a company, it’s a constant presence for any web user. Google is so prevalent, it’s the Coke of the search engine world. It’s even evolved to be a verb, like “Xerox” for making copies. We don’t just search a topic on the Internet; we Google it.
A common question oft repeated by business people far and wide is “where do we show up on Google?”. Everyone wants to rank high on Google’s search results, and certainly that’s the nexus of the company’s integration into daily business speak. With over 2.6 billion search results for its own name—as found by its own search engine, Google is the standard bearer of online success.
Sounds a bit overwhelming for small business people, doesn’t it? Especially for us website DIYers! I personally felt like I was about to set up a lemonade stand in front of the Taj Mahal the first time I dared peak inside the Google toolbox. Who was I to touch those tools? I was just a novice, a mid-grade techie at best. Dare I join the Wizard behind the curtain?
Truth is, behind the curtain, there are plenty of Google tools that fit just fine in the hands of everyday folks like me and you. Certainly, I’ve come across some fancier paraphernalia that either exceeded or expanded my knowledge, but I’m very thankful to have the basics on my own tool belt.
If you’ve never peaked behind the curtain, here are a couple of things to do and some key things to look for during your first rummage through the Google toolbox. Create a Google account. The account set-up is like stepping up to the welcome mat at the front door. From the context of your own account, you’ll be invited into the various ‘rooms’ of the house.
Set up your Google profile. Yes, this is yet another place online for you to create a profile. But it’s Google we’re talking about here, so go ahead and set one up. Let’s hope your preferred name isn’t taken (I’m “smallbizbigtime” because all obvious variations of my name were long since gone). I’ve heard murmurs that Google is scheming to convert us all over to their social networking platform, away from Facebook and other such sites. While that remains to be seen, having your Google profile set up at least puts you ahead of the game. NOTE - Opening an account doesn’t automatically create your profile, FYI.
AdWords - Promote your business through targeted text ads on the sidebar of Google search pages or via sponsored links at top. I suggest any small business owner go through the process of setting up an ad, even if there’s no plan to actually run it. Even a dry run of the process will help clarify search terms, hone your business’ ‘short pitch’ and identify some interesting aspects of how Google works.
iGoogle - Create a customized home page for your web browser, with news feeds, gadgets and features that you choose. I recommend setting iGoogle up on a weekend or a lazy morning, when you can play with all the goodies at your leisure.
Web History - This allows you to keep track of your Internet searches, sites visited, etc.
Alerts - Alerts are handy tools for business owners. Set up alerts to capture mentions of your selected search terms, be they brand or product names, your own name, common search phrases your customers are likely to use, etc. You can include more than one search term in any given alert. Bear in mind these alerts will come in daily, so look for them in your email inbox.
Reader - Cull all the sites and news feeds you subscribe to in one place. There are many services that can aggregate information like this for you (such as alltop.com), but of course, Google is in just about any game to be played online.
Webmaster Tools - Dig in here, with the forewarning that you may find some things out of your realm of knowledge. Again, just as I suggest for the AdWords, I think it’s wise for any small business owner with a website to get acquainted with these inner working—the terminology, the various pieces and parts. Even if you ultimately entrust someone else to handle all these tools for you, you’ll be well served to have a working knowledge.
Feedburner - This is a tool you can use to add subscription capabilities to your blog/site to encourage ongoing site usage by visitors, as well as to track activities of visitors.
AdSense - This is Google’s solution for website owners who want to make some money off their sites. You can potentially “add cents” to your bottom line through the placement of targeted Google ads on your home page, based on valid clicks or impressions. Certainly, this is a great option for some and not an option for those who want to keep their site and brand really pristine.
Beyond “Gmail” (Google’s free email service), there is an endless array of additional tools on the other side of “More>>.” Google may be the king of the industry, but you should always be master of your domain (yes, I acknowledge the Seinfeld reference). Get to know the Google tools to set your sites on success!
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A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy is different from tactics.
My brain isn’t always the sharpest and it takes time for me to grasp information and its relative meaning. Words carry lots of meaning and unless we really “read and listen to comprehend” we can miss the true value of someone’s work. If you’ve ever listen to or read something from someone smarter than you then you know what I mean.
The phenomenon of social media is producing results. People are empowered with options related to how they accept, deny, share, and pursue information. Social Media has become the “magnate” of attraction to individuals, businesses and institutions.
People follow people who have more contacts, followers, blog post and overall activity on the web. The web provides numerous data points to indicate a persons attractiveness to potential followers.
I received a call from the local news television station asking to interview me concerning the recent Twitter campaign initiated between Oprah and KFC. Oprah put out and offer to her twitter followers and to her web site visitors that offered a coupon, printed from her site, in which participants would get a free two piece chicken lunch with two side dishes, no drink. The campaign started on May 5 and ends May 19th.
