As you can see from my twitter update this week I spent some time at the Midwest Internet Marketing Super Conference investing in Internet Marketing and Social Media education. I attended because the CEO and VP of Integrated Alliances were presenting on “How to Make Money Using Social Media with LinkedIn.”

Mike O'Neil and Lori Ruff of Integrated Alliances during their presentation

Another reason that I wanted to attend was to hear one particular speak named Joel Bauer.  The benefit I got this weekend was also hearing Perry Belcher talk about Twitter and his approach as well as Dr. Harlan Kilstein talking about NLP Copywriting. This was my first opportunity to tweet live during a meeting about key points.  By following the Twitter hashtag #MSC I could follow what points others were making as well.

I can see where some of the new Twitter conference applications coming out can really make this more of a social experience and let the group attending exchange even more thoughts before during and after a conference of this type.  Recently OmniPress in Madison introduced Conference 2.0 – a community conference Web 2.0 introduction that should bring an improvement to the conference circuit on a communication level.

I recently had the opportunity to view a demo of this new software and was impressed  with the feature that lets you connect with the speakers ahead of time as well as to ask questions afterward.  The benefits of that feature are pretty obvious.  Have ever been to a large conference with multiple presentations that you feel you must attend?  Plenty of times I have been unable or unwilling to wait in the line to ask a more private question of the speaker. This would give me the chance to send it later, or for those of us who might bring our laptop, Iphone, or smartphone to the conference – email, tweet or post a question for the speaker immediately.

Back to the conference, and of particular interest to me, were the variety of approaches and ways to incorporate social media tools into a particular business strategy. The top point everyone made was absolutely to have a strategy that fits your business goals, pick the tools that help you, and build your network in a meaningful way.

Related posts:

1. How does cause marketing benefit business?
2. The Olympics & Social Media Marketing | Thoughts on Blogs | Wendy Soucie Social Media Examiner
3. How to Simplify Your Social Media Links

Has your social media link list been growing as you become more engaged in social media of all types and sizes? How do you choose which ones to put on your email, list on your website, attach to your blog, or link on Twitter?

New software is available and making these decisions easier every day. Recently I have had the opportunity to be part of a group using a BETA software called www.xeesm.com which is providing me a place to consolidate my growing number of social media links.

What to do about business cards

I was just beginning to sweat about my new business cards and how to read everything I wanted to put on them.  Somehow a 5×7 card to hand out just doesn’t fit as well in a  pocket.

The email links in my signature line was growing from just a website and LinkedIn profile, to 5 or 6 I thought were important. My glasses weren’t helping either.

I now have a new option from www.xeesm.com. They even seem to listen to suggestions because already 2 or 3 of the sticky points I pointed out have already been taken care of.  One of my suggestions was prefilling the social media configuration for each common social media link.  I can’t always remember how each URL is setup and the change made it easier to fill in just my profile name.

Social Media Link Consolidation

So far I have just ten links added here. The effort actually made me review all my social media profiles and begin to clean up a few so they were consistent.  I also had to decide if I do want every one located there.  I guess some are ones that people just don’t need to find.  Easy enough to add over time when I have time.

Reporting

I like the reporting, although basic,  because it allows me to see my changes over time.

Wendy Soucie www.xeesm.com report

Since I started the test, they have added more networking functions but I am just beginning to explore those.

Another review of this software on Talent Zoo by Jeff Cotrupe (www.xeesm.com/Jeff) highlighted the fact that you can’t reorganize the social media sites in the list.  I also found that I couldn’t add my own that weren’t already in the list.  I am sure they are working on some of that but we will see.

In the meantime, my contacts have been giving me good feedback on my links and thoughts on the site.  Many have chosen to sign up as well.

I will update my report once a month to check out my visits.

Related posts:

1. Want a social media education? Five reasons you should!
2. Citrix/Webex Social Media Assessment by Social Media Academy Alumni
3. How can social media help my business? Part 2

Creating a blog for your business is an important social media tool. While its not for everyone, it can really set you apart in your market and generates new content for and about you, your industry, your clients or news. But does your blog have a personality? Does it reflect who you are? Think about that when you consider building a blog and start writing.  Its not easy to find your voice within social media and sometimes you have to write for a while to uncover it.

There are a lot of characters blogging these days.  We love them because their unique personalities show through.  Controversial, sweet, corny, businesslike, rogue, newsy, sarcastic, full of wit, dry as a bone.  Whatever it is, we link, RSS, sign up, read because it provides value to us in some very human way.  We connect with the tone, the person, the words, the opinion and the comments that are left. That after all is the intrigue of social media.  This also applies to businesses who are thinking of adding their voice to the web.  Consider Will It Blend?

Chris Brogan, who generally has a very human and caring tone in his posts,  recently wrote a couple of  very sarcastic post about generating Twitter followers.  He meant to make a case at how absurd the entire cash mongering situation it is about getting more followers. Apparently, those that were very trusting of his consistent tone, were upset and believed these to be real.  It generated apologizes, promises of consistency in the future.  Some of his readers shot back that he could be who he wanted, sarcastic or not, when he wanted.  Goes to show you the downside of consistency.

I am working on my blog tone,  editorial calendar topics, strategy etc.  I have some video interviews planned, and guest bloggers from the Social Media Academy.  In the meantime,  its a work in progress. I did however think that blog personality could be compared with dog personalities and their owners. Let me know what you think after looking  at the video…

Lets Consider Our Dogs

All of these look like their owners. I wonder if the dogs personality matches as well.  I think my personality matches my dog’s.  I even think we look similar, at least when we smile….

Here’s my dog Boone.  He has a very corporate name Leaping Spirits Boondoggle – but to me he is just Boone. Does he look like me? Here is how we are alike:

• We both smile alot
• We are very social animals, we like those that are like us and those that are really different
• We are very accepting of strangers after making a little noise to see their muster
• We have high energy levels
• We like to play but not too much and we like to rest a bit after doing it
• We have trouble focusing at times unless its a deer or rabbit we want to chase
• We like and need to exercise a lot to stay happy
• Being with people is what makes us the most content
• We generally obey the rules around the house
• We both like cats and are tolerant of them laying on us

• 

  Wendy Soucie, Blogger

My Dog Boone

Related posts:

1. New Guest Author on Social Media Academy Blog
2. What Makes a Blog Successful | Thoughts on Blogs 12-18-09
3. How to Simplify Your Social Media Links

RT @tweetmeme 10 Reasons Why Your Business Should be Using Twitter http://u.mavrev.com/anzz

No related posts.