Any major sporting event these days will attract big sponsors, and the Olympics has always been an event where global giants like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Kodak, et al can flaunt their wares. With social media, you could say that brands are just using the Internet to find ever more ingenious ways to promote their brand – and that the Olympics is just a prop for that. McDonald’s clever alternate reality game is proof of that. Lenovo’s blog for schwag promotion for athletes is a more overt example.  Still, we think it’s good usage of social media tools and it shows just how far the Web has come that big brands are pumping money into it as part of their Olympics marketing. What do you think of these social media marketing efforts? What others have you come across?

via The Olympics & Social Media Marketing.

The Olympics are an athletic event

The Olympics should be about the athletes and the sacrifices, training and drive that has gotten them to this international level in their sports.  If we wanted an Olympics of herculean marketing efforts I think we should create that separately.  Having said that, I recognize that none of this could go on at all without big corporations who want to get their name attached to some of these athletes, as well as get the mindshare and marketshare of the international audience that the Olympics draws.

Social media can educate

I would like to focus on a different perspective on using social media. Social Media is a channel to provide conversation using Internet technology.  I much prefer to hear about the athletes who recognize that without the sacrifice of family members, friends and co-workers, they could not afford the time nor the financial commitment it takes. I like to hear the personal stories.  I like to understand how real these athletes are by having them tell their stories. This is the best use of social media, creating places where the athletes can write, share video, share pictures with family, friends and fans.  Let’s create that conversation. Let’s consider this an educational experience that teaches goal setting, multicultural understanding, sportsmanship, ethics and drive.

Tracy Sachtjen shares her thoughts

I recently interviewed Tracy Sachtjen who is the 5th on the USA Women’s Curling team now in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. The entire team decided together that using social media tools like blogging, Facebook, and skype would allow them to share their training and Olympic experiences with their entire family, and their communities.  Not everyone can afford to go to see an Olympic event.  Even fewer will ever reach that pinnacle to compete. What better way to share the moments than to use tools that easily do so.

During the interview with Tracy, she commented on how her 9 year-old son and his 3rd/4th grade multi-age classroom had made a class project out of the Olympics. They are writing a weekly article for the local paper. They have researched the events and the different countries. They are interviewing other area Olympic athletes.  Her son will be reporting live using Skype on the event he attends and different athletes he gets a chance to interview while in Vancouver. They entire town is engaged thru Tracy’s blog posts on the local online news site Lodi Valley News.

In the following video, Tracy talks about how her son and his class are using social media to enhance their educational experience.

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Crafting a connection policy may save you time delinking later.

Networking is the pillar of the NCP Model promoted and developed by the Social Media Academy.  It reflects that any sound social media engagement consists of  growing your network, contributing to the value of the social ecosystem and participation in the conversation. My personal effort to contribute and participate is with reading and commenting on blogs posts by people in my industry, profession and my clients.

Andrew Baker is one of the leading relationship builders on Xeesm.com and an active networker on LinkedIn.  In a blog post on his Website he has a stated policy for networking and his LinkedIn profile.  He puts into writing how he manages his connections on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  He defines his social web for connection points as follows:

• Business / Professional Networking
• Social / Personal Networking

Taking the time to develop your personal policy on how, when and why you connect with others as well as reasons for disconnecting from people will help with your network growth in the long run.

###

Here is my response to his post:

This is exactly the kind of info I have been pondering for a connection policy/guideline. We both seem to be in the B2B space so I
have a high degree of comfort level with how you talk about LinkedIn and how you connect.

Business Networking. I have worked hard at customizing my invitations to reflect my intentions.  However, the majority of people sending me invites do not.  I have tolerance for those with few connections since they are just getting started or have made a strategic decision to maintain a small network.  Because  I do training on LinkedIn, I prefer to offer help and guidance from time to time.

I am however at the point on LI that I need to craft some sort of guideline.   I figure I can’t get mad if I don’t state my terms up front.

Social/Business Networking.  Facebook is another story.  As more business are rushing to this social space to create fan pages, others are just using personal connections to do their peddling for them. I am frustrated with the sales pitch frenzy of many MLM and info marketers on Facebook that have connected with me in the guise of learning and sharing.  Little did I know what they intended to share.  I feel that I can’t be an open networker on Facebook without getting bombed with sales stuff multiple times/day.

I have given people 5 free chances.  Meaning if the first 5 posts from you are only a pitch, I will defriend, deconnect, delink.

On Twitter – it’s the pictures that get you off my list and blocked for sure at least those of the risque nature.  And Swearing.

Do you have a social media connection guideline you have posted?  Why don’t you paste a link in the comments and share?

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This is my continued effort to follow the Social Media Academy NCP Model (Network Contribute  Participate). I choose to visit various blogs on B2B strategies, marketing, customer focused strategies, business development, engineering, product development and social media. From these collected comments, I create a post of what are the best of the week.  I hope you enjoy.

What makes a successful blog – Real Time Marketer

I believe that the #1 factor for blog success, is the frequency of your posts.  Mashable and TechCrunch, are respectably the #1 and #2 most popular social media blogs.  They average over 20 posts per day.  I understand they both have teams of paid writers to continuously spit out post after post…but I am constantly checking out their sites because I know they have good quality, and I know
that information will be new and constant. It is not realistic and probably not appropriate for you to be writing 20 articles per day, but you do need to consistently be writing new content.  Social Media, more than ever, is truly an out of sight out of mind medium.  If you aren’t continuously contributing content, or posts, or tweets…you do not exist.

#####

In response to the above statement I, Wendy Soucie,  commented:

I also believe consistency is a factor – although if you do nothing to promote the blog it won’t matter how regular you are if no one knows it.  Making sure you understand title and keywords and the role they play to get found are also high on the list.

I have done the following to generate a consistent pattern in my posting for my social media blogs:

1. Sunday is a Twitter weekly update – I generate this automatically but go back in, edit generate a tweet cloud picture and add tags, and review.

2. Monday is a Wisconsin Social Media day where I post to my secondary blog on Wisconsin business and social media issue.  I also  comment on some news activity from the past week or weekend.  I will start posting a monthly case study interview of Wisconsin companies that are using social media, their strategies and success measurements.

3. Tuesday is a Tip and Technique day that I offer on one of the social media tools I use or train on.

4.  Wednesdays are a participation and contribute day where I search for topics and comment on other peoples blogs.  I either visit blogs I follow or use Google Alerts on keywords and phrases to find new conversations in the social ecosystem.  I collect these comments – pick a theme and post this as a collection later on in the week.

5. Wednesday and Thursday are opinion post days.  I add one to my personal blog and I add another to a column on social media I have on Madison Social Media Examiner.com (this one at least monthly)

6. Friday is thoughts on blogs day – so I take my comment compilation and post that.

7. Weekends I work on the start of articles for the next week or future.

8. Sundays I look at the posts for the week and consider some for repost on places I guest blog  such as Customer Think, Social Media Today, Social Media Academy, or End Result Marketing.

I don’t always make all my deadlines, but I am hitting my minimum target of three posts a week.

###

Social Competition – Social Media Today

Axel Schultze had an interesting post on social competition.

“The discussions whether Social Media is a fad or why corporate executives don’t see the opportunity are pretty much history. With the inception of reporting tools, methods to measure success and models and frameworks to articulate strategies – social media entered the board rooms. And pretty quickly social media became a competitive weapon.

Competition for mind share, competition for group or community members, competition for influence. And it is also competition for better solutions co-created with the users who establish a sense of ownership and help promote the products they at least influenced. It is a competition for the more engaged support community where user support user and augment to company support team. It is competition for the smarter sales teams which may quickly develop larger and more influential social networks, with better customer relationships in those networks.”

Axel,
Here are my thoughts for the class based on some of my experiences with business over the past 6 months.  Many of the SMB that I call on are waiting to see case studies, ROI, and have “prove it to me stances”. The are very reactive in their thinking. Conversations about social competition might me the best Ah ha moments to move these organizations into action. For many, they are programed to react not lead.

Teaching people to lead by engaging in social media where listening to customers sets the trends for what they do is an important aspect of this potential class.

If SMBs have this perspective, white papers and ebooks developed thru such a leadership class would be incredibly effective. I know the past classes offered did this but were they promoted enough?  I think this should be a core result of each class.  A recent research survey on what info c-level executives find the most value: WhitePapers and ebooks.

Another piece of information from the various presentations I have given is the concern by company execs about how much email will be in their mailbox if they engage in any social media efforts.  Somehow they don’t equate social media personal connections with valid email from customers or potential customers.  This needs to change if execs are to understand the much bigger picture of their customer mindset.

In such a class,  I would also like to see significant time spent on benchmarking competitive intelligence, market info and strategies to manage the information that you do collect in a logical way.

###

Social Media 401: Vince Muzik Case Study – Social Media University Global

Lee Aase speaks and teaches others about social media at Social Media University Global. I love visiting his blog because I can learn something new and because I find Lee very encouraging to me personally (he is willing to share knowledge of value).  He answers my comment posts (he is listening), he provides real examples (shares his experiences), he tries things himself and reports (shows us what works for him and Mayo Clinic). In this recent post, he is encouraging of using video to contribute to the blog experience. He highlighted a friend, Vince Muzik,  who is doing a social media documentary on the No 1 football recruit Seantrel Henderson.

In response to his post I added:
Lee,
I wish some of my video projects were about someone as exciting as the number one recruit.  They are me video blogging right now.  Although my friends (via their comments) are visibly entertained by not so much my content – but how I am doing it.

I just don’t think I am that interesting.  However, I am going to start interviewing people who are using social media in a business setting. Capture what they think worked and what didn’t as an alternative. My first one is going to start in January and will be on a startup called Cupcakes A-GoGo. They are using Facebook and Twitter along with traditional print advertising to get the word out. They were great fun (tasty too) to interview.

Its likely not something that a national publications would latch on to my stream but its all I have right now. SMUG still a good deal to make me use the tools and practice.

And since Lee is very engaged, he responded to my comment:

Don’t sell yourself short, Wendy. The whole idea of social media is that you don’t need to appeal to a mass audience. Your goal should be to provide relevant, helpful information and connect with a community. You’re doing some great things with your blog, tying some other platforms together. And it all comes down to using the tools to accomplish your goals. Vince is doing some interesting things,
and I just told his story because I’ve known him for a long time and he’s been stopping by for some tips and inspiration. I would welcome others doing posts here in the 400 series about how they’re using social media practically, whether others would think it’s “glamorous” or not.

Where have you engaged with others in the social ecosystem this week?

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Do you know the way?

In an effort to follow the NCP Model from Social Media Academy for connecting to the social ecosystem, I am sharing with you my comments and participation in the social web. The NCP Model stresses networking, contribution and participation in the social ecosystem.

Social Relationship Management (SRM)

Where to start in Social Media? A fresh look from a different angle.

Axel Schultze had this to say after speaking and consulting with 100 executives on social media  in all industries. The number one reaction has been: “I get it, I know we gotta do something – but where do we begin?”

The answer: “Find out what your customers do in the social web”.
The biggest fear: “They are probably NOT using social media”.
The response: “Find it out”.

####
In response to this post by Axel Schultze on addressing the fear companies have in trying to get started in social media:

Over the past 6 months I have given over 25 presentations on social media, strategy, tools, local search strategies, Internet marketing, and LinkedIn. I have been trying to educate the business to business (B2B) crowd, manufacturers and professional service consultants on what and why they should be educating themselves and looking into social media.

The biggest fear I hear is “I don’t need anymore email coming into my inbox from social media.”

Many of my emails go into a folder that I end up deleting. It is from companies and people I don’t know.  The emails I pay attention to are replies from people I am trying to get to know on various social media sites.  I can delete the other 60% because its sales pitches from companies.  75% of the ones I keep are emails from people who are  either LinkedIn contacts or direct emails from people who are clients, partners, or contacts from Linkedin who have progressed to direct email with me. The point is, we like getting emails from people we know.  We don’t always like getting emails from companies and people we don’t. Let’s welcome the email from our connections on social media

The point is I pay attention to people and that is what social media helps me to do. Social Media Relationship Management is the step that allows me to be more methodical, more goal oriented in accomplishing that task.

I am getting better at asking people where they prefer to socialize in our conversation. I have used the xeesm.com tool to help track that process better and it helps give me a point of reference on when the last time I contacted someone and in what place. Good tool that I need to dig deeper on.  I also need to encourage more Linkedin users to use it so we can both benefit.

Social Media Strategy

Harvard Business.org had a post by Alexandra Samuel on Three Instantly Effective Social Media Ideas.  The perspective was to provide ideas that an organization who lacked the time, budget or experience could do. This social media strategy might allow them to start small, work with a smaller budget and not take risks by using existing free (or at little cost) social media tools. Her suggestions included

1. Suggestion Box

Examples: Dell Ideastorm , MyStarbucks Idea, Threadless

2. Widgets

Examples: innocent drinks, Dove Fresh Takes, Ask Your Lawmaker

3. Deal-of-the-day

Examples: United Airline “Twares”, Future Shop, Pizza Hut’s Facebook page

####

Alexandra,

I wish you had posted the business goal that might match the reasons to use any of your three suggestions.  For instance one of the goals of Zappos is to “Deliver Happiness.” That high level goal, drove them to integrate sales and customer service online as a strategy. They wanted to humanize the people and company behind the shoes. With that in mind and after assessing that their clients were online they built a strategy.  They found that many of the “ideal buyers” were fashion sensitive and liked to read about it, they were mobile and used texting, mobile phone apps, and multiple social media sites.  Now they could select the right social media tools.

Zappos determined that the tactic they would employ to speak and engage its audience were blogs, Twitter and facebook. The rest is history as  198 employees are active on Twitter.

These steps, I believe, are important for people just trying to get started in social media. Don’t feed the panic that says “we have to do something” and the approach is not given any time to qualify.

——————

Questionable LinkedIn Strategy

I received the following email from a Internet Marketing contact on the East Coast.  Our connection has been the same Alma Mater and an interest in social media.  I have felt some concerns on how he is using this connection for his work.  I have posted his question and my response

Original email:

I’ve just finished another web site for the Christmas Season. It has several FREE videos and articles about making the season more enjoyable and less stressful. ** Just completed this site, so would like feedback on the layout and content.

What I mean by “those who hate Christmas” is of course those of us who “hate” the unhealthy stress that results from “having to please” so many people, with diverse interests in the next 25 days. Not, the holiday itself.

–> Please pass the below web site link along to anyone who you know that may want to enjoy Christmas this year with LESS STRESS . . . . .and lots of Free information and Tips.
Thanks for your feedback.  {email link not included}

####

My response: On 11/28/09 11:56 AM, Wendy Soucie wrote:

I hope that you are truly looking for input and this is not a veiled attempt to drive traffic to a site.  In that light I will take the time to respond.

1. For input back on your site. If your target audience is predominantly female, I think your colors will be well suited. To me they are a little pinkish and a turn off for me, but I don’t think I am normal.

2. Your articles on stress reduction are not very obvious – site is mostly or it strikes me as a ecommerce site with bigger narrative on each product. Articles should be front and center if they really are there. I spent less time because I didn’t see them. I would create a section highlighting articles and have a side bar with products that could reduce stress because you don’t have to make them.

3. I am usually suspicious of request for feedback on websites since in the Internet Marketing world, its just another way to drive people to your website.

If you are trying to drive traffic there here is my reaction to that:
4. I did go because of your email about stress and plea for feedback so I guess the LinkedIn email worked. I trust you as a URI Alumni etc.

5. I did not find what you stated in your email so now I am feeling a little less trusting.

Just thought I would take the time to share.

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What Bloggers Want

Incorporating social media into events, conferences, and entertainment is the latest hot topic. In response to Lindy Dreyer of Social Fish talking about what bloggers want at a conference at Engage365 a new community. She says she and other bloggers want:

1. Free WIFI that actually works
2. Strong AT&T data network coverage
3. Plenty of outlets
4. Tags and
5. Access to photos/videos you create
6. Access to speakers
7. Access to each other
8. Boundaries specified

#####

I recently attended the Social Media and PR Summit at University of Whitewater. WIFI was available with some initial trouble logging on – I decided ultimately to use my Broadband card.

They didn’t have enough outlets.  I had to sit on the far edge of the room and not leave because of outlets and I wanted to tweet the conference. I did leave once to see a presentation upstairs, but ran out of battery near the end.

They should have seen this list by Social Fish before that time  and prepared better. Also there should be a blog room provided as there has historically been press and media rooms for writers to get away and “do their thing.” A screen was posted for live tweets but it was at the front of the room and not really accessible if you didn’t have a plug or binoculars.

25 Social Media Blogs You Should Read

Freelance Folder

A pretty interesting list of 25 social media blogs that Freelance Folder recommends reading. Some keep you current on new trends and others give you advice on how to leverage social media to your advantage.

#####

In response:

Your selection was excellent and I appreciate your brief intro since it allowed me to quickly go to some of these sites and add them to my blog role.  I picked some new I started to follow.

1. Social Media Explorer – one I added
2. Dosh Dosh – I added this one as I found it pretty interesting.
3. Conversation Agent
4. All Facebook – good place to collect updates on Facebook tips and updates
5. SmartBrief On SocialMedia – added this because of its social media news aggregation
6. Web-Strategist
7. Dan Zarrella – added along with deciding to buy his new book which is available in an audio version
8. Twitip – added this one to round out some Twitter info

PeopleBrowsr Opens Up In Public Beta, Unifying Social Activity

In response to a review of PeopleBrowser by Louis Gray on his blog.

####

Your description makes me wonder if this tool, like so many others, is a following tool that does not let you actively pursue relationships.  Social Relationship Management is really the direction that I would like to see as this type of tool develops.

While CRM is internal to the organization SRM manages the social relationships outside the organization. I like what CRM helps me do in building business relationships, tracking my conversations, notes, current and future business potential.  I like that several people across my organization could share this data so we were all on the same page.

On the social side of business I don’t want to just follow people and only catch them from time to time. I want to set up goals about my relationships with people and business I wish to pursue. I want to track how the relationship is developing.  Have I interacted with them on many levels and many sites?  When was the last time I offered some value to this contact?

What I really want is to engage a very select few at very targeted times, while the rest that I am following continue within my social ecosystem.  I don’t think even PeopleBrowser does this.

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2. Social Media Tools |Thoughts on Blogs | Week of 11-06-2009
3. The Olympics & Social Media Marketing | Thoughts on Blogs | Wendy Soucie Social Media Examiner

On going participation in the NCP Model from the Social Media Academy.  Network Growth, Contribution in the Social Web, and Participation in the conversation.  What kind of opinions did you offer your favorite blogs this week?

LinkedIn Groups – 48 Hour Networking

Questions by Judy Bennett

Wendy as a LinkedIn trainer, can you help me to understand what is it about getting tons of connections? Now that I am getting linked all around the world, I find it muddies up my connections that I actually spend time networking with. I am struggling with the relevance?
###

Hi Judy,

One of the biggest reasons to have many connections is that when you search for new clients, or connections in a specific industry, it opens up more connections for you to view.  The statement “its who you know and who know you” is very important in that regard.  The latest feature added to LinkedIn for profile management should help you since it allows you to put your most important contacts that you want to watch in an organized area.  Unfortunately you have to pay for that ability. No free version yet.

When you have something to promote, having a network to shoot it out to can really help, i.e. lets say you wrote a book or an event you would like people to come to.

Sometimes groups can be your extended messaging network and you don’t need to connect directly with so many people. This doesn’t get you the same extended search capabilities as direct connections.   In a group like 48-hour Networking, the goal is to connect directly.  Others are merely for conversations.

One tip I give people is that after you join a group direct connect with the manager, who is typically the most connected person in the group and likely connecting directly to everyone in the group.  That way you have extended your network.

Some people just don’t need a huge network and want to keep it at a very high executive level and with only people they know very well.  That’s OK too.  Just decide what your business goals are and what you want to do here and move forward.  Maybe your big extended network is better served on another location like Facebook.

I believe lists will become a feature on all social sites.  Twitter just came up with one, Facebook has them, and LinkedIn will likely have something in the future that supports this type of option.

One blog to follow for all types of advice and tips is the Integrated Alliances Blog.  IA is a national company focused on user training for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to name a few. As I regional Director in Wisconsin for IA (disclosure) I reference this blog first in searching for tips or a work around.  Follow if you are interested in further discussion on LinkedIn strategy.

Warning! Unfriend is officially a word you don’t want used on you
by Steve Gasser

In regards to Steve’s post discussing the friending and unfriending on various social media sites.

###

Steve, back in June 09 I was “pruned from a social media manager’ s LinkedIn connections.  He runs a creative blog and works for a very large Insurance company in Madison, WI.  We had connected on LinkedIn about 3 months prior to his moving to a new position and had not met -only exchanged some conversation.

I looked forward to learning and following this person, whom I felt was a thought leader.  He wrote a post on his very visible blog  about pruning branches on LinkedIn.  Then he saw fit to publish every name he removed.  I eagerly read the list and found that I knew 30 of the 50 names he pruned —And there was my name as well.

The post enticed me to ask the question – Is it good etiquette when you realize you have been removed (or when the list was posted in a public blog with growing readership) from someones contact list to nicely ask for constructive reasons why? Its nice to have input on how you can work on aspects of our “Connectivity Index” to improve the reasons for connection or de-connection. In many cases its just lack of knowledge.

He never said specifically why he pruned me.  In fact he only mentioned that he got to know me a little better since I posted a response comment on his blog about this along with others.  I also notified the people I knew from his list and they all called him directly and asked him to remove their names from his public list.  He finally removed the names of everyone from the post.

Unrequited Linked-Love. When one side doesn’t need the relationship but the other side found value in it (no not just to see all the connections).  How do you help them.

Social media to me is about sharing knowledge, mentoring helping etc in the communities you participate in or the communities your create.   Its not always all about you.

I have removed two individuals so far – mostly due to leaving a job. They may never know. I believe that is why LinkedIn lets you do it without notification.

Linkedin Questions and Answers

Question by Scott Danish, Principal at BayCreative

What have been the best performing “2.0″ joint marketing programs you’ve done with your channel/business partners for lead generation? Email, telemarketing, webcasts and direct mail are so last year. What are some innovative joint marketing programs that have succeeded for you and your channel/business partners?
###
Response:
You might want to investigate nurture marketing as a technique.  Doug Tangwall of End Result Marketing is an experienced professional, a market researcher, writer and analyst.

I have worked with him (disclosure – strategic alliance) on the social media component to get the content he creates more visible for clients.

He is a long time practitioner of this tactic and has some very good results in working with a variety of firms prior to forming his own company.  He see 14-17 times more targeted leads generated by nurture marketing.  he started his own firm to provide broader industries with nurture marketing.
It fits well with today’s change in sales process with the driver being the customer is educating them selves first before making a call to any “sales’ contact at a firm. People on line are asking “Whom do you recommend?” If they can find educational material and value added content online that directs them to you – the success of contacts is impressive.

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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?
###

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”?

#####

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.

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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.

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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!

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Participation on the social web following the Social Media Academy’s NCP Model.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for business leaders in the next 12 months.

LinkedIn Questions -Dan Paulson C level executive adviser.  CEO of InVision.

In response:

Corporate websites are doomed.  Buyers are not going to these sites for information. They are using online readers, social sites, product sites and forums to learn the “real story” and share reviews on products and services.
Leaders need to find ways for buyers to personally connect with you  while integrating them into your business. This allows you to establish lasting connections.

Leaders need to recognize that buyers (both consumers and B2B) have fundamentally changed their buying process. Therefore they must change the sales process.  Trust is the biggest issue.  Those suppliers who  are open and share information,  are active in marketplace, and engaged in community of professionals will standout and can be trusted sooner.

Having customer evangelists who are freely recommending your product and service based on their customer experience being outstanding is the most important thing to move you up the recommendation chain. Your goal should be to provide the best customer experience and engagement.

Your online presence should integrate with social sites in various forms.  Build your platforms across your organizations to integrate with the social web.

Does your company have a Social Media Policy for employees?

Social Media Marketing Group – LinkedIn Questions & Answers

Can employees blog about your company? Tweet about it? Can they RT something about the company that someone has already said?

In response:

I also agree with Ryan that social media policies and guidelines are helpful to both employees and senior management.  It provides the structure for employees to follow so they know when they are out of line.  It reassures senior management that they have escalation paths in place should conversations go haywire and it documents for legal reasons grounds for inappropriate actions.

I recently heard Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic speak and they have a policy statement on their blog.

I have started to see policy statements by social media professionals such as chrisbrogan.com that include disclaimers, linking policies, connection policies, and disclaimers.

Privacy Begins at Home.

Lee Aase on the use of Skype and various social media tools.

In response:

Lee, thanks for making yourself oh so human.When we see people from big organizations talking about using social media, its easy to assume that they know everything.

Its easy to be intimidated by the conversations that’s ongoing or in trying to start one yourself.

I appreciated the very real presentation you gave on your own humble beginnings recently in Madison WI for the AAF. It helps even to those of us firmly entrenched in the world of social media, It also helps us be creative with how we implement social media.

You provided great incentive to use Flip video for interviews and capturing content in new ways. So I did a video blog post while I was traveling to a soccer game in the car. I will try and be brave and post it today on my blog. Note to everyone, its easier to do this with some type of velcro on the dashboard so you don’t have to hold the camera.

Thanks again for the great presentation and for your blog and SMUG university.

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