BEST of Social Media for Biz – November/December ‘09

Here are my best discoveries for year-end 2009 in social media for business. Not every discovery necessarily originated during the months; that’s just when each hit my radar…

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Best Employee Training Program for Social Media

Telstra, the 40,000 employee Australian telecom company has definitely set the bar for training its employees in social media. If you don’t have the resources to go this far, at least visit SocialMediaGovernance.com and develop a policy for your company based on your favorite model (click image to read):

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Best Example of Twitter IRL (In Real Life)

Very funny but if this approximates your company’s Twitter strategy, you’re on the wrong track. FYI, this video is not embeddable (yes, that’s a YouTube option); just click the image to view it there.

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Best Measurement / Analysis of a Social Media Initiative

C3Presents (the folks behind Lollapalooza) worked with the team at WebShare to write the book on measuring and tracking a multifaceted social media campaign. Among other findings, visitors who engaged in social media spent twice as much as those who didn’t. Now that will motivate a CEO (click image to read):

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Best Collection of Social Media Resources for Business

There’s something here for every company (click image to read):

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Best Collection of Social Media Case Studies

J. Paul Duplantis, cofounder of Quired.com asked our LinkedIn Group, Social Media Today, for “case studies on the successful use of social media to grow a business”. He posted the best ones here (click image to read):

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Best Collection of Social Media Examples (1,000+)

If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for social media initiatives, here are more than a thousand examples. Find one that works for your company and become a fast follower down a proven path (click image to read):

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That’s it for the “BEST of Social Media for Biz” for November/December 2009. If you’d like to nominate a “Best of January” entry, leave a comment or send email to the evaluation committee (me) at dave@get121.biz!

BEST of Social Media for Biz – October ‘09

Here are my best discoveries for the month of October, 2009, in social media for business. Not every discovery necessarily originated during the month; that’s just when it hit my radar…

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Best Perspective on Negativity in Social Media

In speaking to more than 50 CEOs each month, one of the most common worries I hear is about giving voice to detractors. This post by David Cameron provides a great perspective and advice on how to handle it. The post also contains links to posts by Erik Qualman and Jeremiah Owyang on the same topic — well worth reading (click image to read):

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Best YouTube Ad of the Month (So Subtle, it’s Barely an Ad At All)

VW and their ad agency continue to innovate offline and online (click to play):

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Best Advice about Using Social Media: “The Cocktail Party Rule”

Drew McLellan crafts a rule that is so simple, it’s brilliant (click image to read):

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Best Obituary: The Wall Street Journal on Email

If you’re still using email in an attempt to connect with Gen Y, read this (click image to read):

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Best Lightning Rod: The Truth About Social Media ROI?

It takes guts to say that the emperor has no clothes, or at least that the clothes have no ROI (return on investment). This is an interesting read full of great advice. Be sure to see the subsequent item too, for a different perspective on ROI (click image to read):

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Best American Car Company* – And Their Thoughts on Social Media ROI

* – I’m still sore that we American taxpayers poured our money down the sinkhole that is GM (and to a lesser extent Chrysler). If you’re considering buying a domestic vehicle, I say reward Ford.

In this video interview, Ford’s Head of Social Media (think about the implications of a company having an executive with that title) talks about his company’s social media initiatives and his perspective on ROI (click image to access article and then click videos to watch):

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That’s it for the “BEST of Social Media for Biz” for October 2009. If you’d like to nominate a “Best of November” entry, leave a comment or send email to the evaluation committee (me) at dave@get121.biz!

TalkShoe Podcasting – Live Sound Effects and High Quality Recording

How to add live sound effects and prerecorded interviews to your TalkShoe show

(Bonus: How to make a studio quality recording)

(Note: Works for Mac-only; Cost is roughly $80)

Up front, I must admit that this was hellishly frustrating to figure out. But after roughly half-a-day plus a visit to the Genius Bar at my Shadyside Apple Store here in the Pittsburgh area (what an awesome concept — the first and last reason you’ll ever need to become an Apple fanatic; seriously, have you ever tried to visit Dell or Microsoft for help?), I’ve finally cracked the code. Equipped with this knowledge, you’ll find it to be amazingly easy to master this (after initial set-up that is — do read the following instructions very carefully).

As Stephen R. Covey (of “Seven Habits” fame) once said, begin with the end in mind. Here’s a video showing just how easy and elegant it will be for you:

Step-By-Step Instructions:

Start by downloading (and installing) your free software: X-Lite for VoIP connection (voice-over-internet-protocol) of your Mac to TalkShoe. Be sure to pick Version 4 (or later) for Mac (still in beta as I write this): http://www.counterpath.net/x-lite.html&active=4

Next, it’s time to commit by purchasing & downloading the Ubercaster software at http://www.ubercaster.com/store.shtml (cost $80). After downloading and installing it, return to the DMG folder (AKA the downloaded “master file”), click on “Extras”, and install the “PleasantConnect” program too (VERY IMPORTANT).

When finished installing Ubercaster AND PleasantConnect, plug in your USB or analog (1/8″ connector) headset(s) with mic(s) and/or headphone(s) and microphone(s). All variations will work. Now you’re ready to start configuring and testing.

Next, click on the Apple logo in the upper left screen area, then select “System Preferences” and click “Sound” (in the “Hardware” category). Select the tab for “Input”. Click on your chosen audio input device name which should look something like this (but with your specific mic choices shown instead):

Click on “Internal microphone” if you have no other option. For most people this will NOT yield satisfactory quality audio. Or choose “Line in” if you have an analog mic / headset with a 1/8″ connector. Otherwise, find and click on your mic / headset among the USB choices. Start talking to verify that the “Input Level” meter is responding. Some very important notes:

1. I discovered the hard way that some PC mics do not work with Macs. No one knows why but I got hung-up for hours with a non-functional mic that worked perfectly on my PC. Do not proceed further until you see that the input level meter is responding.
2. If you want to use multiple analog mics, you’ll need a 1/8″ splitter. If you want to use multiple USB mics (or a mix of types) we’ll get to that later during Ubercaster configuration. Just make sure that they’re all plugged in now.
   

Next, select the tab for “Output”. Click on your chosen audio output device name which should look something like this (but with your specific headset choices shown instead):

Choose “Internal Speakers” if you use ear buds or a headset that has a 1/8″ connector. Otherwise, find and click on your headset model among the USB choices.

At this point, test your output by playing an audio file (from iTunes or anywhere else) to confirm that you can hear. Some very important notes:

1. You must use ear buds or headphones regardless of your mic choice. Do not rely on your Mac’s built-in speakers because that audio will be picked up on your mic, creating echo and feedback. (To avoid confusion, allow me to repeat that you may use the setting labeled “Internal Speakers | Built-in Output” but not with your internal speakers. Instead you’ll plug ear buds or headphones into the 1/8″ jack when using this setting.)

DO NOT GO FURTHER if these steps are not working for all of your mics and headphones.

So far, so good? Cool! Onwards to…

Configuring Ubercaster

Start the program. It should open a blank untitled window with only a mic panel. It should automatically recognize the mic you selected in the previous step (Mac Sound panel). Next, populate the other controls you’ll need by clicking the blue “+” button labeled “Panels” (in the lower left). To add multiple mics, select “Microphone”. I recommend placing a Level Meter next to each one. Next, select “Clips” to add your intro and outro and any sound effects. Finally, select “Audiochat Recorder” (if this option is grayed out, you did not install “PleasantConnect” during Ubercaster installation – see above). This is for your TalkShoe connection. Optionally, add another Level Meter or two to monitor Audiochat level (AKA TalkShoe callers) and your “master” level.

Configure each panel by highlighting it and then picking the relevant target from the “Inspect” pick list (bottom center). For more help with Ubercaster, see the product details page at: http://www.ubercaster.com/details.shtml  Lots of good stuff there.

There’s also one key setting to confirm under the main menu: “Ubercaster” -> “Preferences” -> “Advanced” -> “Audio output”. Be sure to set this to your desired headset. Pick “Built in output – internal speakers” if you’re using anything with a 1/8″ connector, otherwise pick the item that matches your USB headset. A minor note here. If you plan to have two or more participants connected locally to your Mac, I recommend using analog headphones (not USB) along with a 1/8″ splitter as Ubercaster does not appear to support multiple audio outputs (inputs yes, but not outputs). An analog splitter gets around this issue. There is no comparable solution that I know of for USB. Maybe you can now understand how it took me so long to crack the code? Just follow these directions carefully and the garden of podcasting Eden will be yours.

When you get everything set up as you like it, save this file under the name “Talkcast Template”. You can then use it as a starting point each time by clicking the “File” menu and selecting “New With Recent Template”. It should look something like this:

• In orange, I’ve got a high quality version of the TalkShoe intro (download yours here: to be provided).
• In light blue, I’ve got my Talkcast intro and outro music.
• In purple, I have four different sound effects.
• In blue, green, and yellow, I’ve got two mics and the TalkShoe connection (AKA Audiochat Recorder), with a level meter next to each.
• And finally, in black, I’ve got my Master Out meter.

Onwards to…

Configuring X-Lite (AAAKKK, I’m already forgetting how I did this)

First, make sure that Ubercaster is running. Next, start X-Lite. Click the menu item labeled “X-Lite” (or “X-Lite Beta”) -> “Preferences” -> “Accounts” and fill it out as pictured below, paying special attention to the highlighted areas:

Click “Apply” and then click the “Topology” choice on this same screen and configure as below:

Click “Apply” to save changes. Thanks to “randulo” and his blog post for those last two steps (please read it if you’ve encountered any difficulties here): http://mediaminutes.net/TalkShoe/

Still on the same screen, click on the “Devices” icon and configure as below:

Just to make sure things are solid at this point, click the “Test Devices” button, select “Headset Output” and then “Play” to verify that you’ve got audio. You may now close the two open “Devices” screens by clicking the red X.

Now, you’re ready to call TalkShoe using X-Lite. Make sure you have an episode scheduled at www.talkshoe.com. Here’s the “soft phone” address: 123@66.212.134.192  For future convenience, add it to the X-Lite contacts list as “TalkShoe”; then you can simply right-click and select “Call”. When you hear the TalkShoe voice prompts on your headphones, enter your Call ID # and then your 10-digit host PIN # by clicking the numbers on the keypad.

You can do a full test at this point by also calling into TalkShoe AS A GUEST (or having a friend join) using a land line or mobile phone. Enter your Call ID # and then 1 # to join as a guest.

That’s the long and the short of it. Everything runs from your Mac, you can play music and sound effects, and even record in studio quality using Ubercaster.

Summary

Once you’ve configured everything and it’s time for your next Talkcast, here’s my recommended sequence of events:

1. Open Ubercaster, click the “File” menu and select “New With Recent Template” to open the file called “Talkcast Template”
2. Open X-Lite and call into TalkShoe, entering your Call ID and host PIN.
3. Start the TalkShoe recording so that you have a backup
4. Turn the Ubercaster dial from “Prepare” to “Record” and start recording
5. Play the high quality TalkShoe audio logo and then your own intro
6. Do your show; have a blast! Ubercaster makes it easy to sound professional
7. Use Ubercaster to “Cut” (AKA edit) and “Release” your show
8. Upload the resulting MP3 in place of the episode recorded on TalkShoe

One closing tip: I’m loving my Snowball mics; highly recommended if you’ve got a few extra bucks: http://www.bluemic.com/snowball/ By the way, everything in this post is a clean link and honest recommendation; no affiliate codes, money, or products changing hands…

If you’ve got comments, questions, or suggestions on this article, please post a comment on this blog (below) for all to see. Thanks!

BEST of Social Media for Biz – September ‘09

Here are my best discoveries for the month of September, 2009, in social media for business. As I say every time, not every discovery necessarily originated during the month; that’s just when it hit my radar…

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Best Flight Safety Briefing (AKA Ad for Southwest Airlines)

In social media, it’s “PIE” that counts: (P)ersonality that’s (I)nteresting and (E)ntertaining (an old radio DJ adage). Not only will you watch, you’ll pay attention and remember Southwest:

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Second Best Flight Safety Briefing Ever (AKA Ad for Air New Zealand)

Did I say that in social media, it’s all about “PIE”? To that, let me add “Authenticity”. Watch closely; very, very closely:

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101 Best Companies Ahead of the Curve in Setting Social Media Policies

Granted, this may be boring but it’s important for business leaders and HR types. After all, your Gen X and Gen Y employees now equal your Baby Boomer employees in number and we all know where that trend is heading. Now is the time to establish your internal and external social media use policies (click image to read):

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Best Blog Post I’ve Read – Social Media Requires Time Investment

“Debunking Social Media Myths” in Harvard Business Publishing (click image to read):

Be sure to read some of the other social media stories here too. This is a fabulous blog!

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Best Blog Post I’ve Written

“Using LinkedIn for Selling, Recruiting and More”: by Dave Nelsen (click image to read):

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Best !Wake-up! Call to Businesses Still Ignoring Social Media

Big businesses, “you are evil, thieving bastards … [who] rape and pillage… every one of you should be rotting in prison.” Consumers now have a megaphone and the playing field has been leveled. Watch out (view the video and then read the rest of the story):

What happened? After 400,000 people watched this YouTube video, it apparently scared the s**t out of Bank of America and all of their global friends. “How about we reduce your credit card interest rate to 16.99%? No? Would 12.99% work for you?” To self: We’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy (given your 400K YouTube viewers).Thank you, thank you, thank you (says B of A exec).

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Best New YouTube Interactive Feature – “Branching” – as Illustrated Here by an Interesting Ad Agency

Be sure to click on the video for “One Show” — it’s fabulous!!!

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(And Finally) Best eMail: 5 Signs You’ve Got the Wrong Social Media Consultant

I’m not sure how to share this entire email message with readers. Just email me at dave@get121.biz requesting that I forward the “Wrong Social Media Consultant” email to you and I’ll send the whole magilla.

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That’s it for the “BEST of Social Media for Biz” for September 2009. If you’d like to recommend a “Best of October” entry, leave a comment or send email to the evaluation committee (me) at dave@get121.biz!

Book in Progress – Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Connecting with 45 Million Professionals Via LinkedIn

LinkedIn is based on the idea that everyone on the planet is connected to everyone else in six or fewer steps. I know Jim; Jim knows Sue; Sue knows Bob; therefore I am three degrees away from Bob. And three degrees is as far as LinkedIn pushes it.

Still, the math is impressive. Recently, I had 674 direct LinkedIn connections. Factoring in all of those associates’ connections, I could reach 99,500 business professionals via a direct introduction (two degree connections; asking Jim to connect me with Sue). That’s 150 times more people than I know directly. If we consider three degree connections, I can connect to 5.9 million business people through a friend of a friend (three degree connections). Even without knowing anything else about LinkedIn, you can appreciate its geometric power.

Before going further, there is one extremely important concept to keep in mind when using LinkedIn and that is:

Request and accept direct connections only with known and trusted business associates.

Your network will degrade to useless (or worse) the more you connect with people you don’t know and respect. In building connections, ask yourself “Is this someone that I’d recommend, or that I’d introduce to a respected colleague?” “Is this someone I’d want to associate myself with?” If the answer is no, decline the connection request. (If you’ve already made this mistake, see the advice on unlinking at the end of this chapter.)

To eliminate concerns about declining connections, with LinkedIn a requester will not know that you declined his or her request. There’s no explicit notification or slap in the face. Still, if you have lingering doubts or if you may want to change your mind about that connection in the future, simply archive the request without acting on it. That is a little bit friendlier.

OK, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Let’s get started by signing up. Go to www.LinkedIn.com and you’ll see a very simple sign-up form. Provide your name, email address, and chosen password and you’ll be on your way.

Next, Linkedin will ask you for some basic employment information to start building your network. It takes less than a minute to provide this information.

Next, you’ll be asked to confirm your email address, and then to sign in again.

Finally, you’ll reach a screen to “Find contacts who are already on LinkedIn”. I highly recommend importing a contact list from your mail application (Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail, etc.) as this is the fastest way to jumpstart your network.

It’s also a good idea to click the yellow “Find” button on this screen to locate “Current and past colleagues”, another great source of connections.

If desired, go the full nine yards and find former classmates as well. Then you’ll be ready to get started networking.

Over time, be sure to complete the rest of your profile (LinkedIn will remind you periodically). Why? According to the company “Users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.”

Using Your LinkedIn Network

There are a variety of ways to use your LinkedIn Network including:

1. Networking and prospecting for sales
2. Gathering competitive information and developing insights about customers and prospects
3. Recruiting and reference checking (this is also a great way to find your next job but that’s a topic for a different book)
4. Participating in “Industry Groups and Discussions”

Networking and Prospecting for Sales

You’ve probably heard the expression that a warm introduction beats a cold call. You’ve also probably heard that trust is fundamental to selling. LinkedIn is the ideal vehicle for getting warm introductions through mutually trusted associates. Here’s how:

When signed in and on your home page, click the “People” link in the upper left area. This will put you into “Advanced Search” mode. Notice that you can search on virtually any combination of the following dimensions:

• First name
• Last name
• Keyword
• Company (current and/or past)
• Location (within any specified distance of a given ZIP code)
• Title (current and/or past)
• School
• Industry
• and more…

Your ability to find someone in the LinkedIn community is limited only by the combinations you’re willing to try. I strongly encourage you to experiment with this… and prepare to be amazed.

For example, using my own network and searching for “CEOs” within 50 miles of my current location, I find 1,808 matches. If that’s not an impressive result, you must know magic that I’ve never seen.

To connect, hover over any name and then click the link labeled “Get introduced”. If you have more than one possible mutual connection, select the person that you believe is most likely to go to work for you, or submit your request through multiple parties.

On the resulting “Request an Introduction” screen, provide both your email address and phone contact information along with a concise “elevator pitch” crafted for your target person, along with a friendly note to the associate(s) who’s making the introduction (“Thank you in advance for your endorsement & introduction to…”).

Now for some important expectation setting: LinkedIn has 45 million members but in a typical month less than one-third of the members visit the site. Probabilistically, that means at best just 33% of your first-degree (AKA direct) connection requests will complete in a given month. For two-degree connection requests, at most 10% will work. For three-degree requests, only 1-in-28 will work. Which brings us to the following point:

Tip: If a LinkedIn introduction request fails to consummate, use your newfound “social graph knowledge” (who is connected to whom) to send direct email message(s) outside of the system! It’s a powerful work-around.

Don’t be afraid to be creative – you will be impressed with the caliber of folks to whom you can get a warm introduction.

Competitive Information and Customers Insights

In my entire professional career, I never found anything more valuable than this technique. I ask you, would it help to get the “inside” scoop about a competitor, customer, or prospect? What if you could connect with a former employee and “just talk”, without violating any confidentiality rules of course.

In April 2005, I was starting a new company, www.TalkShoe.com. After a few weeks of market research, we discovered a competitor that had launched more than five years earlier, that had raised ten of millions of dollars in venture capital, and that was still alive but had failed to make it into orbit. The company was only marginally profitable despite a massive investment over many years.

After considering a rapid exit from the space (just briefly; entrepreneurs are nothing if not persistent, sometimes to a fault), instead I went to LinkedIn and searched for former employees of that company. Even with my smaller network at that time, I located nine ex-employees. After a LinkedIn introduction by a mutual trusted associate, Barrie “A”, their former VP of Business Development living in the UK, agreed to talk with me for 30 to 60 minutes.

I opened the conversation with “Thanks Barrie. I need your insights and advice, and please don’t share anything that is company confidential or proprietary.”

In the next hour, I was able to learn from his five years of experience what the company had done right (most things) and wrong (two critical issues). The specifics are not important to this story. Rather, these insights would have taken me perhaps 24 months to discover on our own; instead we baked them into our service on day one and by the end of 12 months had far surpassed this more established competitor in total number of customers.

What would you like to know about a key customer, competitor, or prospect? There is nothing to limit you here but your own imagination. Use LinkedIn “People Search” to find a former insider who is willing to share his or her priceless insights and guidance.

Recruiting and Reference Checking

I’ve hired dozens of high-priced salespeople in my career ($250K+ total compensation) and found that they have just one thing in common. Whether they’re god’s gift to selling or the worst thing since the Edsel, they’re all masters at selling themselves. If you combine that with the fact that the best people never have their resumes on Monster.com (they find the next great opportunity from the safety of their current position), your chance of success using traditional hiring methods approximate those of a glue horse in the Kentucky Derby.

Perhaps that’s why a reported “80% of companies are now using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees .” While I find this statistic to be incredible — it’s worth bearing in mind that 73.2% of statistics are made up — it’s likely to be in the right ballpark.

That said, here are two great techniques to locate and vet potential employees:

When looking to hire, ask your first-degree (AKA direct) connections who they know that might fill the bill. Explain that “it’s OK if the suggested person might not be looking for a job; that’s probably a good thing.” You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the quality of candidates that surface.

Make your request in two ways. First, from your LinkedIn home page, type the question into your “Status” box (AKA, “What are you working on now?”). This will post it as a “Status Update” to all of your followers.

In addition, click on your “Connections” link (in the white box in the upper left, under “Contacts”), then click on individuals that you’d like to query directly, and then “Send a message”.

For vetting potential hires, things get even more fun. First, tell me if you’ve had this experience? I strongly believe in reference checking before hiring someone. But of the literally hundreds of references I’ve called (as listed on people’s resumes and reference lists), I’ve never, ever, ever had someone give me a bad reference. Direct references are guaranteed to be good, even for serial killers. And don’t try calling the prior employer’s HR department. I can already tell you that “the employee left on good terms.”

Instead, go to LinkedIn, click on the “People” link, and then on the tab for “Reference Search”. This will likely give you numerous second-degree references who have NOT already been coached to lie through their teeth. One good connection could save you the typical $100,000+ cost of a bad sales hire.

Industry Groups and Discussions

Of all of the amazing things that you can do with LinkedIn, these days I spend more of my time in Industry Groups and Discussions. When signed in on your home page, click the “Groups” link in the white box in the upper left area.

By participating in these Groups with professional birds of a feather like yourself, you can build your reputation by answering questions, and you can get answers to virtually any question by posting it to dozens, hundreds, or possibly thousands of professionals and experts in your space.

As a social media guy, I participate in the groups “Social Media Today” and “Social Media Marketing” to interact with literally tens-of-thousands of other industry professionals.

Click the button to “Find a Group” and then jump in with professionals in your industry. On the small chance that an appropriate group does not already exist in your space, you have the opportunity to position yourself as a thought-leader / expert in your industry by clicking the “Create a Group” button and taking the lead.

Talk about accelerated learning! Whatever you might want to know, a “mastermind” group like this will provide the answer. It’s the wisdom of crowds; very smart crowds in exactly your area.

UnLinking

If along the way, you’ve made the mistake of linking to other than trusted, known associates, unlinking is an important task. Per LinkedIn’s own instructions, “to remove one or more people from your list of connections take the following steps below:

1. Click ‘Contacts’ in the left navigation bar of the homepage.
2. Click on the ‘Remove’ Connections’ link in the upper right hand corner of the ‘Connections’ view.
3. Select the people you’d like to remove from your ‘Connections’ list by clicking on the box next to their names.
4. Click on the ‘Remove Connections’ button.

Connections will NOT be notified that they have been removed from your connections list. Instead, they will be added to your list of Imported Contacts just in case you want to re-invite them to connect at a later date. Only the member that breaks the connection can re-initiate that connection.”

TEQ Magazine: Facebook for Business (Especially B2C)

Here’s my recent column from TEQ Magazine about using Facebook for business (click the image to read):

BEST of Social Media for Biz – August ‘09

In August, I presented “Social Media for Business; Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Ignore It” to 7 Vistage CEO groups in a span of 12 business days. After a typical three-hour presentation in Philadelphia, Harry Halloran,  Chairman / CEO of several companies suggested that I publish an update each month covering the newest and most interesting for business. So here it is…

Introducing the BEST of Social Media for Business – August 2009. Not every discovery necessarily originated during the month; that’s just when it hit my radar.

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Most Compelling Case for
Social Media for Business, ASAP!

Eye-opening stats and engaging video presentation by “Socialnomics” (click to play):

To build on one reviewer’s comments, Facebook may be the fourth largest country, but it’s also the poorest save for Twitter.

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Best Blog Post I’ve Read

“Should Your Business Use Twitter?” by BusinessBrief.com (click image to read):

Be sure to read some of the “related stories” too.

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Best Blog Post I’ve Written

“Writing a Business Blog” by Dave Nelsen (click image to read):

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Best B2B (Business-to-Business) Viral Ad

You, pitching Cisco telepresence (click to make your own ad):

By the way, don’t try to paste in your dog’s head (been there, done that; they use some kind of facial recognition).

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Best B2C (Business-to-Consumer) Viral Ad

Evian Roller Babies (click to play):

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Best Movie About Social Media

Blogging has officially gone mainstream with “Julie and Julia” (businesses not yet blogging are starting to look like laggards):

My wife and I went with another couple on opening night. All four of us loved it but be sure to eat first! www.RottenTomatoes.com gives it “75%” (not shabby).

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That’s it for the “BEST of Social Media for Biz” in August 2009. If you’d like to recommend a “Best of September” entry, leave a comment or send email to the evaluation committee (me) at dave@get121.biz!

Book in Progress – Chapter 7

Description: I’d be thrilled to see your comments/suggestions for my new book: Social Media Changes Everything (for Business). Read on and reply…

Chapter 7: Writing a Business Blog

An ideal social media starting point for many businesses and organizations is blogging. It’s relatively low-tech compared to podcasting or creating videos, and it can be a significant time saver in many situations.

Further, blogging is more controllable (a word I am loath to use when talking about “conversations”) than many other forms of social media. Unlike on many platforms, with a blog you can approve or block (use sparingly) readers’ comments on a case-by-case basis.

There are many reasons to write a blog and two of my favorites are:

1. It positions you as an expert in your field, bestowing upon you a “media halo”
2. It allows you to communicate with your target audience over both space and time. You can interact with them via your posts and their comments independent of geography, whether they are readers today or they discover you in the future

Consider the second point. In your business, if you answer the same questions again and again, by directing people to a blog post addressing the topic, you leverage your time. Use this for motivation when you’re first starting out and have virtually no audience. When written to be timeless and educational, every new blog post is compelling content for countless future readers.

One major recommendation: Before you start blogging, identify your target audience and decide how you will create value for them. Use this as a guidepost every time you sit down to write.

For example, for my blog www.get121.me (hosted at www.davenelsen.wordpress.com), my objectives are as follows:

Target Audience: Executives and leaders of small and medium businesses who may want to engage me as their social media consultant, and event planners for industry associations and corporate meetings who may be interested in booking me as a keynote speaker or trainer for their next event.

Value Provided: Informative, educational, and actionable information including tips, how-to’s, best practices, real-world examples, and case studies about social media and social networking for business.

By sharing relevant information with my target audience, while not overtly marketing or selling, I keep myself top of mind and perfectly positioned to connect when they need help with their company’s social media strategy. Other people may become readers and subscribers and that’s not a problem; who knows where those connections will lead.

There are many blogging platforms to choose from. For business applications, I recommend using WordPress (www.wordpress.com). It is a feature-rich, free, hosted[1] service used by tens of thousands of businesses in every industry segment. Should you ever decide to host the blog on your own servers, perhaps to further customize the platform, the WordPress software and substantial guidance is available from www.wordpress.org. This is also a good hedge against your blog provider going out of business. Not every provider has a viable business model and it’s smart to have a backup plan to preserve your intellectual investment.

To get started, go to www.wordpress.com and click the orange “Sign up now” button to create your company’s account. I recommend using your website domain name as your WordPress username (excluding “www.” and “.com”).

After signup, take a little time to complete your “Profile” and to customize the “Appearance” of your blog to give your readers the full experience.

Now you’re ready to create your first blog post on WordPress. Follow these step-by-step instructions:

• Log in to your account at www.wordpress.com
• On the left-hand side, under your blog name, click on the “Dashboard” link
• In the left-hand column, click on “Posts” (to expand the Posts list) and then click “Add New” in that sub-list
• The cursor will be positioned in the “Title” field – type a title for your new blog post
• Use the Tab key or mouse to move to the next field. Enter the text of your blog post. Notice the familiar formatting buttons for bold, italicized and underlined text, color and size of text, spellchecker, and even a handy “Paste from Word” function for those who have drafted text using Microsoft Word. Note that the rightmost button on the top line (Show/Hide Kitchen Sink) provides access to additional formatting options.
  
• Also notice icons to upload/insert images, video, and audio, as well as a button to create a poll. These functions add life and color to plain text.
• When finished (if not periodically while in progress) click the “Save Draft” button and then the “Preview” button, both in the upper right area. This will open a new window with a preview of the finished product. Close this window/tab to return to the editing window. Next, add some “tags” to help new people discover this post. On the right side in the box labeled “Post Tags”, type some words or phrases separated by commas that broadly describe the content of this specific post. For example, if this chapter were a blog post, I might use: social networking, social media, blogging, business, WordPress. Click the “Add” button when finished.
• Finally, on the right side, click the “Publish” button. Just above that button, notice that the default is set to “publish immediately”. You can set publishing for a future date/time if desired.
• Should you need to modify or delete this post in the future, execute the first three steps above to access the “Edit Posts” screen. Hover your mouse over the title of the post and you’ll see choices to edit, delete, or view it. Also note the buttons to see statistics and comments for that specific post.

Congratulations; you’re now officially a blogger!

Be sure to post regularly, meaning at least once a month but not more than a few times per week. Like Goldilocks, your readers will enjoy not too little and not too much information. Like you, they’ve got busy lives and want concise, high quality information that helps them in their pursuits.

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[1] A hosted service is run by the service provider. No computer servers or software is required on the user’s end. Facebook and Twitter are also examples of hosted services.

Book in Progress – Chapter 6

Description: I’d be thrilled to see your comments/suggestions for my new book: Social Media Changes Everything (for Business). Read on and reply…

Chapter 6: Ten Social Media Mistakes

When participating in social media, here are ten basic rules for what to do and not do:

DON’T:

1. Don’t get started in social media if you have significant product weaknesses or customer support issues. Engaging in social media makes good products more successful, and bad products… dead. But don’t delay for long; address the issues and then jump in.
2. Don’t use social media to overtly market or sell. Instead educate, enlighten, inform, and entertain your audience. In so doing, you’ll position yourself and your company as an expert in your field and benefit from the “media halo”.
3. Don’t “set it and forget it.” This makes you look worse than not showing up at all. Once started, sustain your participation and interaction.
4. Don’t go negative. Emphasize your strengths and advantages rather than claiming that a competitor has weaknesses.
5. Don’t mix personal and business accounts/personas, etc.
6. Don’t expect to fully control the conversation. Social media is not an advertisement, product brochure, newsletter, email blast, or one-way monologue; it’s a conversation. Conversations are bi-directional and can have rough edges. Even if you don’t want to participate, your customers and prospects are already talking. Join them.
7. Don’t worry about some negativity. Studies show that a little negativity increases credibility and empathy. Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln: “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Be responsive to the negative.
8. Don’t feel the need to disclose everything. Not everyone who likes sausage wants to see exactly how it’s made. Be open and honest and use discretion.
9. Don’t be a generalist. With literally hundreds of millions of blogs + videos + podcasts to choose from, every individual can precisely tailor their consumption to their interests. Focus on one topic and do it well (the narrower the better).
10. Don’t overwhelm your followers with too much information, or too frequently. Everybody’s got a busy life and nobody enjoys getting “Twitter-ria”. Focus on the highest value information and content.

DO:

1. Do the up-front planning as you would for any important business initiative. Define your target audience, detail how you intend to create value for them, and map out how you expect them to create value for you. Document your approach and objectives per medium (blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
2. Do read and listen first. In the beginning, listen and learn for a few weeks before responding. In general, spend twice as much time listening as responding.
3. Do display your Personality, and keep the content Interesting and Entertaining (the old radio adage “PIE”). Remember that people buy from people; show your professional self.
4. Do be authentic. Never before has a medium and its participants been more skilled at smelling a rat and turning against the perpetrator.
5. Do remember that social media is about two-way conversation (see “Don’t try to control” above). Conversation builds trust; trust leads to more sales.
6. Do favor timeless content over the time-sensitive (note: this varies based on the medium and there are exceptions). We live in a time-shifted “Tivo” world and there’s wonderful leverage in creating a blog post (for example) that will have value to new readers weeks, months, or even years from now.
7. Do remember that “push” is out; “pull” is in. In today’s information-rich world, people want to opt-in, choosing where they spend their time. Give them a reason to choose your content.
8. Do keep your eyes open. Use Google Alerts, search.twitter.com, relevant Linkedin Groups, Ning networks, and more to listen to the conversation about your company, your competitors, and the best practices in your industry.
9. Do exhibit the patience of Job. As the party with more power (a business relative to a customer/prospect), attacking or being critical will frequently backfire and word will propagate quickly.
10. Do learn from your audience (as they will learn from you) and rapidly evolve your products and services to meet their needs. They’ll suggest valuable ideas you’d never think of.

Book in Progress – Chapter 5

Description: I’d be thrilled to see your comments/suggestions for my new book: Social Media Changes Everything (for Business). Read on and reply…

Chapter 5: Social Media Personality…

One of the most popular videos of all time on YouTube is called “Evolution of Dance” (on www.youtube.com, search for that term). It was created by an unknown “inspirational comedian” named Judson Laipply and has been viewed more than 125,000,000 times. Devoting six minutes of your time to watch it will almost certainly be an enjoyable investment. You’ll probably want to share it with others. And that’s how it goes…

As you prepare to engage in social media of any form, understand that Judson and his ilk are your competitors for mindshare. Knowing that, keep in mind the old radio broadcaster’s adage: “PIE”.

That’s an acronym to remind you to display some Personality, and to keep your content Interesting and Entertaining for your target audience.  Of course, what constitutes PIE will vary wildly depending on your medium and your audience. What’s interesting to the airline industry following the development of Boeing’s new Dreamliner on Randy’s Journal is quite different than what will attract your followers unless you work for Airbus.

Another attribute that’s very, very, very important in social media is Authenticity. Never before has a medium or its participants made it their purpose in life that posers be exposed. Social media is about people connecting with people. Don’t have somebody ghost write for you; it would be better to not participate. Do not risk becoming an exposed poser.

“PIE + Authenticity.” Write it on the back of your hands to remind you as you type.

When participating in social media and social networking for business (and personally too), I recommend avoiding negativity. Sure, you’ll see plenty of it out there due to the relative anonymity of the Internet (more so in blog responses and product reviews; less so in identity-oriented communities like Facebook). Which is not to say that you can’t argue your point of view; have at it. But rather than directly attacking a competitor, for example, emphasize your company’s or product’s strengths. And never personally attack anybody. The higher your station, the more likely this is to backfire and to propagate widely. Take the high road even with the detractors.

Yes, there will be detractors. To slightly twist Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote about fooling some of the people some of the time, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Social media is a conversation and conversations are messy.

BIG IDEA #3: It’s no longer possible to control the conversation

If the idea of participating in social media and sharing control of your message, your brand, your image, and your company’s reputation terrifies you, consider this: In a world of pervasive social media, the conversation is already happening (remember the earlier Avis and United Airlines examples?). Choosing not to listen will give you the illusion of control, but it’s no more than that; an illusion. The bottom line is that the conversation is already happening and it will be better if you participate openly and authentically even though it won’t be as perfect as a carefully crafted product brochure.

One final point: With so many choices in social media, it is the focused and concise content that is the most compelling. You should certainly keep personal and business exploits separate, keep your audience and their interests top of mind, and don’t stray too far a field. Consider having multiple blogs for different product lines and separate business and personal accounts. No, “consider” is not strong enough a word. How about “mandatory”? That said, even in business, remember that social media is about connecting with people.

To learn more about Dave Nelsen and Dialog Group’s consulting services, visit www.get121.biz