Social Media Academy

Social Media Tools Week – Review Video

November 23, 2009 By Wendy Soucie Leave a Comment

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During the week of November 16-20, I attended and participated in the Social Media Tools Week. I only wish I could have taken the entire week as vacation so I could have attended every minute of the presentations. All of the speakers are active social media practitioners and were from both the USA and abroad. With over 30 speakers there were many topics to cover and the sessions ran from 8 AM to 8 PM.

There were presentations strictly on strategy, social media overviews, and tools, tools and more tools. I thought it was well balanced on the strategy and tool side. There were some excellent examples used about real companies and their successes. On the tool side, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook had some excellent step by step use presentations. They were the kind you would typically have to pay for to get 45 minutes of the behind the scene tips and techniques.

On Thursday, the reporting tools were presented with a very knowledgeable resource from Techrigy, Sysomos, ScoutLabs, and Filtrbox

Image via CrunchBase

On Tuesday November 17, 2009, I gave a presentation titled Social Media Tool Selection Strategies. If you are interested in seeing my slide presentation take a look on Slideshare for the slidedeck. I talked about the selection of the tactical tools such as LinkedIn, Youtube, Slideshare, Facebook, etc. My approach was to share with everyone reasons for doing an assessment first to fully understand the social landscape as the core to making the selection of the right starting tools. This is especially important if you have a finite budget, limited resources and time constraints.

I used some good examples such as Dell, Zappos, Mayo Clinic, Louis E. Page Company, and Project Girl to highlight goals/objectives, strategies and tools selected.

I have included a quick video post of my personal impressions about giving a webinar for an international virtual conference with over 2000 attendees:

Did you attend Social Media Tools Week (#smtw)? What was your favorite presentation?

Most important social media tool? Listening. (socialwebschool.com)

Filed Under: Social Media Academy, Social Media Tools Tagged With: Linkedin, Social Media Academy, Social Media Tools, strategy

Blogging Basics | Thoughts on Blogs | Week of 11-13-2009

November 23, 2009 By Wendy Soucie Leave a Comment

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: Image of Axel Schultze, Social Media Academy

This is my continuing contribution to the social ecosystem using the Social Media Academy’s NCP Model for engagement. Contributing and participating in social media is essential for growing your network. Where have you been this week?

Blogging Basics: Creating an Editorial Calendar

Deborah L. Smith

In regards to Deborah’s very detailed discussion on an editorial calendar as a way to increase efficiencies when working on a blog.

I have used the Google calendar idea. I send reminders to myself about core activities. I have not picked up a good system for creating and recording blog ideas however and I may try yours.

Here is what I do now. I post an automated twitter weekly update on Sunday. Monday is a post comprised of collected comments I added to other blogs and record. These can be a source for new ideas. Tuesday is a tips and technique day. Wednesday is a day for reading other blogs and commenting. Thursday is an opinion post day. While Friday is idea collection day by talking to other people in my targeted field and market places.

On the weekends I reformat and revise my other posts in order to contribute to additional blogs I guest post on. I also use that time to work on video posts.

What I lack is the structured idea creation and writing phase. The above works well if I have ideas. I use Delicious to gather articles and cool blog posts, but I need a more creative way to review and write. Ideas anyone?

Linkedin Q & A

Question from Mark Gee: Social Media for B2B, Any suggestions on sites that give a more focused slant on social media for B2B?
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My response:
Some of the interest in social media for B2B is the belief by the customer that they are different and therefore need a different approach.

A manufacturer for example, likes to work with someone who understand their markets, products, and challenges they face. The business to business market is a little slower to get up to speed on social media. Unlike the large enterprise (i.e. Dell) who has the funding to try something new, the midsized companies like to see multiple examples, like the products to be tested and shaken not stirred by other users before they are willing to try. They research more and longer, create budgets and agonize about moving forward at times.

They want to be the recommended company but they do need to see what Axel Schultze, founder of Social Media Academy, has pointed out in his repl. They can learn more, solve more problems, and connect better to the user base using social media.

Inbound marketing should be the best place to start. If you are interested in do it yourself work – try Hubspot.com.

Linkedin In Q&A

Question by Jonathan Streeter
Where have you seen examples of companies that participate in social media by commenting on others’ blogs?
My clients are often told that they should be actively commenting on blogs. My concern is that setting up a profile is something individuals do, not companies. Does this mean a specific employee is the one putting her/his name on the comments? What are specific examples of comments that can be made which aren’t simply product appeals or pitches?
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Yes, it does mean that a specific employee would have to be the “spokesperson.” That is often why it does not work to hire an outside firm to be your blogger/commenter. That person needs to be vested and passionate about the product or service he represents. He/she can provide commentary and opinions on trends in the industry. If they are a thought leader, then they can review and contribute to challenges users are faced with and help solve problems. Social media users don’t want to talk with companies. They want to talk to people who can give them good recommendations, tell them how to fix something, provide help, and answer questions.

Zappos as an example, may be overused but only because they are a good example of company individuals representing a company on social media. It is a big commitment but the last time I checked, its paying off for them on the bottom line.

The Mystery Business

Post by Beth Gasser

Every town has one; a mysterious business that nobody seems to know what they do. No one seems to know another person who works there, and the mysterious business seems to elude social events and sponsorships that other area businesses use to thrive.Are you now self-conscious and wondering if your business is “one of THOSE businesses”?

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Beth, I live in a small town (3000) and this hit so close to home for many of the owners. Small business doesn’t think they need or can do a blog. I beg to differ. In fact they are more of need of it than anyone. I review local directory sites like MerchantCircle that offer a blog area with each listing – you don ‘t even have to have a site. They offer the entrepreneur and retail business owner the perfect place to offer gift suggestions, new products descriptions stories and musings.

With so many places to get free blog platforms – wordpress, typepad, blogger – does any one really have an excuse not to write? I put it this way, if I can write (I am an engineer who can talk a good line, but writing was an effort) then most anyone can.

All it takes to blog is a passion about what you do, a desire to share knowledge and a willingness to help. As business owners, if that is not something we want to do, maybe we should rethink our occupations.

Begin your participation in the social web by commenting here or on your favorite blog.

Building a career with blogging (opencircle.co.za)

Filed Under: Linkedin, NCP Model - Social Media Academy, Social Media Academy, Thoughts on Blogs Tagged With: Axel Schultze, blog, blogs, Business Blogging, Linkedin, NCP model, Social Media

Social Media Tools |Thoughts on Blogs | Week of 11-06-2009

November 10, 2009 By Wendy Soucie Leave a Comment

: Image by HubSpot via Flickr

Getting on board with social media

Social Media and Brand Strategy in Europe by Susan Rice Lincoln, Master the New Net

In regards to the Susan’s commentary about business in Europe and the almost panic to get advice on how to best integrate social media into companies’ brand strategy.

Susan,
I am not sure that business in Europe is that far behind the business to business organizations that I call on. Recently one B2B manufacturer that I met with said they had only heard about it 3 months ago. The marketing director said that she didn’t understand how social media could possible help them.

Lo and behold, 7 people in sales and marketing were already on LinkedIn. I did a quick search to show how a few of their competitors were already positioned with profiles on other social media sites. This Director of Marketing was not on any social media sites herself.

Yes indeed, no matter the country, people are actively engaged on these social sites. Our goal should be to get in the recommendation chain. We as business developers, can’t do it in our traditional ways if companies don’t take our calls, or allow us to talk with them.

Several months ago I connected with two people on LinkedIn by answering questions for them. We stayed in touch, with quick comments on each others updates. A project just came up and together we pulled a team together for a proposal. The potential players on the team are in Paris, Australia Malta, Texas, Atlanta, Illinois, California and Wisconsin. Social media brought us together. Now how cool is that!

You are right when you say that”the social media revolution has been led by PEOPLE, not by technology.” We should be where they are in active conversation.

LinkedIn as a valued resource

LinkedIn Is a Waste Of a Sales Person’s Time! by Lee Salz, The Customer Collective

In response to comments about the value that LinkedIn brings to business as a lead source.

Lee,

Thanks for writing a post on Linkedin from the users perspective. As a lifetime sales person with business development a part of every job, I feel your tips on the use of LinkedIn are right on. I have recently received an opportunity to bring together an international team of professional for a project. These contacts found me on Linkedin. This is not something I would have had the chance to do without Linkedin to extend my network.

However, your advice on the size of groups might be limiting for someone trying to extend their network, or business opportunities geographically. Understanding your strategy for LinkedIn might be an important factor. For targeted niche products or services; or local and regional efforts I would agree that the size of the groups would be better smaller (1,000 – 5,000) for the points you mentioned. However, for extending your reach and growing connections, the larger groups have much more to offer.

Measuring social media ROI

When Measuring Social Media’s ROI For B2B Don’t Chase The Wrong Goals By Kipp Bodnar, Social Media B2B

In regards to Kipp’s post on measuring ROI for social media.

Kipp,

Consider looking at the ROI of social media by considering and benchmarking the initial social ecosystem, current clients and contacts. After building a strategy and action plan to achieve business goals, and implementing the strategy, tracking those connections that become clients. This brings the ROI to a basic level.

They were not a client or contact before the effort began, they are when you get done. In social media we know so much about the people we connect with from their profiles. ROI at its most simplistic level is social contact and then moving to a customer.

To tweet or blog is the question

A Blog is a Better Social Media Hub Than Twitter by Joel Postman, Social Media Today

In regards to Joel’s post on the importance of a blog over twitter as a business hub.

For social media, its very important to have a “home” to send readers and connections to when they experience you on a social media site. Twitter says so little about who you are that it is important to send them to a more complete location (linkedin profile, website or blog).

I like using WordPress as a blog and website. You can create the pages you need for your static pages and you have the benefit on creating a blog that the rest of your site benefits from as your traffic grows. If someone searches for and finds my blog, they can easily extend the relationship by reading more and getting my blog directly into email or their reader.

I like Twitter and Tweetdeck , but unless you are on it for some time, its hard to follow any conversation. I did try to have my mobile phone get tweets, but that lasted on one weekend. Its not the place to become a thought leader and those of us trying to write blogs have strategies that extend well beyond the 140 character limit. Twitter has its place but my blog/website is my “home” and my hub.

Facebook fanpages aren’t for fans anymore (thecauseisthehabit.com)
Forbes Launches Online Version in Russia, Forgets Russian Users (profy.com)

Filed Under: Business Blogging, Linkedin, NCP Model - Social Media Academy, Social Media Academy, Social Media Tools, Thoughts on Blogs, Twitter Tagged With: Linkedin, Social network, Thoughts on Blogs, Tweetdeck, Twitter

Working with social media | Thoughts on Blogs | Week October 30, 2009

November 2, 2009 By Wendy Soucie Leave a Comment

: Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

Activities and participation on the social web following Social Media Academy’s NCP Model.

To be or not to be… on a social network by loriruff in Ask an Expert, LinkedIn, Social Media

In regards to conversation about whether someone needed to invest his time (gain ROI) by participating in the LinkedIn community since he had such a strong referral network.

Lori, I had a similar conversation with a professional who got top notch referrals. We had almost concluded that it wasn’t worth his time, when I asked him if he thought that his contacts would always be at their present jobs, or firms. Would they be smart enough to leave with their outlook contacts? Have you ever left a job, only to begin the long process of re-entering business contacts from collected cards.

As an online location to collect your business associates, that allows the contact to updates his data, Linkedin can’t be beat. Even if you do the bare minimum and you don’t need people to find you – it helps you have emails and contact data for your best contacts. The result was he had never thought about it this way. And no, he had not recently backed up his outlook files. He also tossed business cards after his assistant added them to Outlook. He ended up creating a profile and had his admin, start sending invites so he could have a backup, web based location at the least.

Although there are several online contact databases, none have the added functionality of LinkedIn. Perhaps your contact should reconsider his profile on LinkedIn?

Using Social Media for B2B Marketing.

Linkedin Questions, Ellen Martin, Receptionist at Campbell & Chadwick PC

Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word of Mouth and Buzz Innovators Group

In regards to a question on how can you can use social media to find and develop business contacts into clients for a professional services firm?

Ellen,
First understand the business goals of your firm, then do an assessment of the social ecosystem to see where the possible customers are and what they are talking about. Build a strategy and action
plan after getting an understanding of the spaces and issues. Only then can you figure out how to solve the problem, build a action plan and then select the right tools. You may find that customer support is the best place to use social media that leads to leads for your firm. Hitting marketing and sales too early without a clear understanding of how to participate in the social web can backfire on you.

Other steps would be part of the action plan along with resource allocation – time, personnel and budgets.

COMMERCIAL OVER-POSTING IS PROHIBITED, PERIOD!

Linkedin Group Social Media Marketing (with over 50,000 members)

In regards to Mike Crosson vigilant policing of spammers in the group. His policy is clear and I have included it in this post since I think it has great value for other group managers.

From Mike Crosson: Hello, everyone – there have been a number of people who have ignored the clear directive that spam and straight commercial messages are NOT appropriate for this forum. I have warned these people and banned two from the list as a result. Here are the simple common sense rules so that everyone gets real value out of our Social Media Marketing group:

1. You can post something you feel will benefit the group, even if it is somewhat self-serving or has reasonable costs associated with it. There will undoubtedly be a number of people who might
your product or service beneficial. What you CANNOT do is post the same thing over and over. That becomes spam and benefits no one.

2. Try to provide something of VALUE in every posting – a resource you have or found, a relevant article to a discussion, a presentation or research that is useful.

3. Be transparent and honest – a lot of very smart people are in this group and can see through flimsy or sales-y materials. We all benefit from sharing knowledge and resources, and respecting the value of people’s time.

Here’s to 2009, a great year for our business!

Cheers,
Mike Crosson

Here is my reply:

I have used this group and your techniques as a moderator on more than one occasion to showcase a great moderator and the type of group that is worthwhile. I have used your suggestion to keep the same spammer out of two other groups I participate in. Feels like a blog topic coming on.

However, face it, people have spammed email forever and continue to do it in spite of software to reduce it. So I am afraid that spamming social media is here to stay. In fact it chokes up Twitter all the time.

That doesn’t mean we should stop these efforts and we need to continually remind ourselves and new users in our social ecosystems what is consider good and bad form and what we will allow in our groups that we can control.

Take out the light sabers and may the force be with us!

New Star Wars Products Catch Food Going in and Coming Out (wired.com)
Chamber of Commerce B2B – Social Marketing Expo (wiredprworks.com)

Filed Under: Business Blogging, Reputation Management, Social Media Academy, Social Media Strategy, Thoughts on Blogs Tagged With: Business, Linkedin, policy, Social Media Marketing, Social network

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