I recently had the honor of presenting a seminar to local job seekers in my home town of Tampa Bay. I presented five strategies for social networking that I truly believe can turbo charge a job search. Here’s a summary of the five strategies I presented.

Develop the Mindset of a Triathlete

Triathletes are elite athletes. Most are amateur, which means they juggle work and family while training for triathlons. What makes triathletes so special is their devotion and discipline to their training. The mental side of their sport is as important as their physical game plan. A job seeker would be well served to study the mindset of triathletes and adopt it. Having a documented plan, an accountability coach and a commitment to working on techniques are all part of the mindset of a triathlete.

Social Networking Basics

For many people social networking basics are, well, just that….basics. But, for many some of the basics are surprisingly overlooked. Simple things like having a profile picture in all your social networking accounts…Having your profile in LinkedIn completely filled out, not just partially filled out. Seeking new connections on an ongoing basis (as in everyday). And, following companies of interest and making recommendations of people you’ve worked with in the past. Too many people (surprisingly) think that just having a LinkedIn profile constitutes social networking. I advise job seekers to update their LinkedIn status every day. And, I advise job seekers to develop their professional and social credibility through social networking.

Advanced Social Networking

For those who have their basics covered, I offered several tips to accelerate their job search. First, I urge all job seekers to actively engage with like minded people in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I emphasized being active in all three social networking platforms. Overwhelmingly, many job seekers only think of LinkedIn as the social network of choice.  I advised that connecting with like minded people on Twitter and Facebook should also be part of the plan.  Friending people on Facebook who are business colleagues and building lists so you can segment your notes between personal and business relationships is advisable. Following companies of interest on their business (fan) page and engaging with those companies is advisable. Sharing your expertise on Facebook and Twitter is also advisable. And, selectively promoting others across all three social networks to build relationships is advisable. Another tip I offer is to seek out and attempt to connect with influential people in their industry. Then, don’t hit on them. Rather, let your content paint a picture of you. Post intelligent comments about their content. All in all, the concept of building both your professional and social credibility is one that many job seekers have not considered. But based on feedback I received from many seminar attendees, they got it.

Become an Entrepreneur in Your Job Search

For some job seekers, their industry is in decline and demand for their skills are just not enough in comparison to supply. Regardless, all job seekers are advised to become entrepreneurial. In fact, I go a step further and suggest job seekers should become opportunistic. I advise job seekers to pursue an area of interest outside their work history and create a blog, write an e-book, a physical book, produce video or podcast or all of the above. Essentially, I advise job seekers to monetize their passion by becoming content creators and using the availability of affiliate marketing aggregators or Google Adsense to monetize their content. In many cases, this can result in redefining the meaning of a “J O B” for job seekers.

Good Enough Isn’t

For too many people, a habitual routine of a job search plan can create the illusion of a good job search plan. In a tight economy where competition is so fierce, it’s often not good enough. I shared the results of a recent survey from Cross Tab that shows that 84% of U.S. recruiters believe that your online reputation is critical to your job search. I advise job seekers to commit to producing ten pieces of intelligent content per week and sharing it with their network. I advise job seekers to use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to build both their professional and their social credibility. I advise to set up a dashboard through an RSS reader to get fed relevant content from blogs and research queries. I advise job seekers to “mine” people’s profiles and company profiles in LinkedIn to uncover golden nuggets of insights about people, new connections and job opportunities.

Download a copy of my presentation on Social Networking for Job Seekers.

LinkedIn has become the defacto standard in business social networking. It has over 70 million members from over 200 countries including the Fortune list of enterprises. Unlike Facebook and Twitter where many use it for personal social networking or business or both, people use LinkedIn exclusively for business social networking.  The general idea behind LinkedIn is to build connections, then nurture them to create opportunities. Many sales and marketing professionals who actively use LinkedIn have produced measurable business development opportunities.

Since there is so much content and education around how to get the most out of Facebook and Twitter, I thought I’d put together a partial list of ways to get the most out of LinkedIn for business social networking.

1. Complete your profile 100%. The LinkedIn meter tells you how far your profile is completed. Many people overlook this simple tip.

2. Add a recent photo to your profile to humanize your profile. Likewise, many people have no photo in their profile.

3. Include links to your company website and new blog in the “my website” and “my blog” section. Note: use keywords like: “My internet marketing website” and “my internet marketing blog” which you can link to each respective site and create SEO value.

4. Build your connections methodically and consistently. You can send invitations to people based on recommendations from LinkedIn, your own professional network and even by uploading your contact email list.

5. Add a short note that personalizes your invitations to connect. The extra touch can make an impression.

6. Visit the LinkedIn application directory (under the More tab) and connect applications of interest to your profile. Applications give others insights into your interests and professional activities. Some applications to consider are:

WordPress application: In the set up, insert the RSS feed URL of your blog if you have one.  Each time you publish a blog post it appears in your LinkedIn profile.

Slideshare application: Likewise, each of the presentations you’ve uploaded to Slideshare will appear in your profile.

Amazon Reading List: Displays the books you choose to display. This allows your network to see your reading list.

Twitter: Displays your Twitter stream and allows you to isolate your LinkedIn network’s Twitter stream. You can also post directly to Twitter from LinkedIn.

There are many other applications to consider that can give people insight into your business interests and activities.

7. Update your status in LinkedIn frequently. It’s advisable to update it daily, but not more than once or twice per day. I wouldn’t use LinkedIn the same as Twitter with frequent updates. People will see your updates in their stream.

8. Visit the Answers section (under More) and search out questions being asked in your industry and contribute with your answers. You can uncover people asking relevant questions. Get involved in those conversations.

9. Join Groups in your industry. Search for groups by keyword and find relevant groups to join. Visit the discussions and get involved with your contribution. Add value to these discussions. Don’t sell.

10. LinkedIn has a “recommendations” feature. People can write recommendations about you and vice versa. Write unsolicited recommendations about people you’ve worked with in the past. It will be appreciated.  Your recommendations will show up in the stream of updates from LinkedIn.

11. Follow companies of interest to get updates from them. Consider following your customers or prospective customers. Just search out companies and click “follow.” You’ll receive updates from LinkedIn about these companies’ activities. And, you can keep track of new hires and former employees.

Above all, consider LinkedIn a professional networking environment. Use common sense. Do NOT be salesey or spammy. Be useful. Offer value to your network. You can find opportunities if you engage with your network and if you mine the data to uncover intelligence about people and companies.  Just be wise about how you use that data.  Consider the parallel common sense rule of offline networking at an event. You wouldn’t approach a group of people and slap your business card at them and give them a sales pitch. LinkedIn is all about making connections and building online relationships through professional credibility. LinkedIn can be a very valuable online tool for business development if you use it wisely regardless if you’re in B2B or B2C.

Do you have a LinkedIn social networking success story to share? Add it in the comments section below.

Are you up for the challenge? Marketing 2.0 is a mindset. It’s all about Inbound Marketing! Think like a publisher and a collaborator.  The two pillars are content marketing and relationship building. Social media is a communication channel, not a magic wand. But, without a strategy you’ll fail!

The questions in the Marketing 2.0 Challenge are designed to challenge and inspire you. After you review them add your comments below and engage with your peers around the world who are invited to participate in this conversation. When adding a comment preface it with Q#. For example, Q3 for question 3.

Let’s get started…

Q1. What is your Inbound Marketing strategy?

Your Inbound Marketing strategy should uniquely comprise of online and offline strategies that engage your target customers through content and relationship building so that they will be attracted to your business. Tactics may include SEO, SEM, blogging, social networking and other forms of engaging content that produces trust and appeal to your target buyer.

Q2. What are the staffing implications of an Inbound Marketing strategy?

The staffing implications of your Inbound Marketing strategy are huge. Staff must have a mindset for Inbound Marketing. Applying the outdated style of shouting at customers doesn’t work in the new Marketing 2.0 model. Your staff must think like publishers and collaborators.

Q3. How do you manage social media in your business?

Manage social media in your business first by listening and engaging in relevant communities. Develop a strategy and assign social media platforms to staff according to strengths and interests. If necessary get outside help but always maintain an authentic and human voice in social media.

Q4. What is your content marketing strategy?

Your content marketing strategy should be unique to your business. Produce and re-purpose content that meets the criteria of the three E’s; educate, enlighten, entertain. Your content marketing strategy should never end. Content marketing is an ongoing process. Share content on and offline with your community.

Q5. How much emphasis do you place on building relationships online?

The emphasis of building relationships online is an important factor. It comes back to the mindset. Building relationships online with relevant people builds trust and strengthens your brand. Relationships create fans, loyalty and spreads the word about your content your products and your people, all of which produces positive results.

Q6. How do you measure results of your Inbound Marketing strategy?

To measure Inbound Marketing results start by setting goals. Create a baseline picture of “today.” Over time measure the results of your inbound marketing activities. Frequently measure details such as subscriptions, company mentions, referring traffic, sentiment of your brand and of course, progress on your goals.

Q7. What are the risks of an Inbound Marketing strategy?

There are risks in an Inbound Marketing strategy. The biggest risk is not doing it and falling behind your competition. Another big risk is applying yesterday’s mindset to it. This is Marketing 2.0. Avoid doing it the same way you did it in 1.0. Think like a publisher and build relationships and you’ll minimize all risks.

Q8. What are the roles of SEO and SEM in your Inbound Marketing strategy?

Use best practices to develop a sound SEO strategy. Similarly use SEM best practices to avoid over spending. Create landing pages around very specific themes. Test different versions of your landing pages. Measure everything to determine what works and cut non performing keywords and landing pages.

Q9. How do you integrate offline marketing with online marketing in your business?

Integrate offline marketing with online marketing by creating content that can be used in both media channels. The same principles apply. Take this blog post as an example. It is also available as a physical booklet. But the most value you’ll get from it is the user generated conversation on all these questions below.

Q10. What is your Inbound Marketing strategy if your customers don’t spend a lot of time online?

If your customers don’t spend a lot of time online your Inbound Marketing strategy is exactly the same in mindset. The tactics will differ through offline media. You should still aim to educate, enlighten and entertain with your content and be trustworthy and attractive to your community. You can think like a publisher and collaborator offline as well as online.

Add your comments below. Remember to precede each comment with the question number.

This podcast provides an introduction and overview of my new book, Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyers through Social Media Marketing, now available on Amazon.

Background

I wrote the book between late 2008 and early/mid 2009. My motivation came primarily from my experience running my inbound marketing agency, Find and Convert. We work mostly with small and medium size businesses (SMBs). Our clients are mostly niche companies. During the course of running my agency I have met many businesses who have not yet embraced social media marketing. I realized there is a gap between the seller and the buyer in today’s digital economy. Today’s buyer doesn’t want to be engaged the same way that sellers have engaged them for many years. This book sets out to help SMB business executives think of marketing 2.0 as a mindset.

Foreword

The foreword was written by Mike Volpe, V.P. Inbound Marketing at HubSpot.  Mike mentions that he and I met online and exchanged a lot of content before we met in person. He speaks about inbound marketing as being the new way for businesses to engage buyers and convert them to customers. When he researched me, he found all of my content on the web where he could get to know me and my value proposition and to begin to build a relationship with me. By the time he shook my hand the first time we met, he felt he knew me. He says he had a connection with me. This is exactly how buyers want to feel when they do business with a company.

Testimonials

I am fortunate to go to print with two terrific testimonials on the back cover. Joe Pulizzi, CEO of Junta42 and co-author of Get Content, Get Customers and Gary Katz, CEO of Marketing Operations Partners. Both Joe and Gary are outstanding marketers who were gracious enough to provide testimonials on the back cover.

Chapter Summaries

Following are some of the chapter topics and summaries. For a complete listing of the chapters visit the book table of contents.

Buyers Want to Consume Seller’s Content

Business executives should set out to produce great content, all kinds of content and present it to buyers so they can engage with you on their terms so they can begin to build a relationship with you online.

When buyers seek out new product vendors they have these two habits (hint: the same as you):

1. They search online. They may start at a search engine, but as they click around they find content across the web in blogs, forums, videos, photos, articles, white papers, directories, webinars, slide presentations, etc. None of these aforementioned locations may necessarily be your website.

2. They ask for referrals. They are influenced by other people’s opinions even if they don’t know them.

Content Marketing & Relationship Building

Outbound marketing doesn’t work anymore…In the near future the decades-old form of interruptive marketing will become obsolete. Buyers can already filter out the seller’s outbound marketing tactics. It’s only a matter of time before outbound marketing as we know it today is totally obsolete.

Significance of 2.0

In my book I provide insight into the significance of “2.0.” I provide other examples of major leaps from 1.0 to 2.0. Some of the examples I provide include:

• World 1.0 was flat. World 2.0 obsoleted a flat world when it was discovered the world was round.
• Software 1.0 was installed from from a disc or tape.  Software 2.0 is not installed. It’s accessed from the web and paid by subscription.
• Music 1.0 was purchased physically on a vinyl or CD format. Music 2.0 is downloaded from iTunes and other music sharing sites.

Technology and Social Drivers

We didn’t get to marketing 2.0 overnight. There are many technology and social drivers that have evolved us to where we are now. People under 35 in the workforce are accustomed to using the social web. In time as the workforce ages the marketing 2.0 mindset will be commonplace. At this moment in history, there is still a transition underway.

Developing Communities and Engaging Conversations

Buyers are in control. Sellers must understand this to engage buyers successfully. Buyer perception is what counts. Buyers want to engage with sellers through authentic converstations, not sales pitches. Buyers want to engage through communities where people help each other. The role of the brand has evolved from marketer to collaborator.

Developing a Social Media Strategy

I provide SMBs guidelines to develop a social media marketing strategy. I call it “old school meets new school.” There is research required to devleop an effective SMM plan.

Think Like a Publisher: Content Marketing

A big aspect of Marketing 2.0 is the mindset of thinking like a publisher. Sellers should strive to produce relevant content for buyers so they will engage with your content.

Lifecycle of Interaction

There are four stages in the lifecycle of interacting with community on the web. Sellers must understand these stages in order to understand how to engage people based on the stage they are in.

Measuring Results

Measuring results in a marketing 2.0 strategy is not the same as in years past. First, it is possible. But, the methods and the metrics are different. Some web analytics apply. Sentiment monitoring also comes into play. Measuring qualitative and quantitative results are both important.

Risks of Social Media Marketing

There are many risks in a marketing 2.0 strategy. Though I list more than ten risks in my book, the biggest one is what I refer to as social media abstinence. Understanding the risks will minimize mistakes and minimize failures.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

There are many benefits to a marketing 2.0 strategy. This chapter outlines the many benefits and how to reap the rewards. One such benefit is the opportunity to build a strong brand even if you compete with a large conglomerate who has a huge budget. The social web levels the playing field.

Staffing Implications.

There are many staffing implications to consider in your marketing 2.0 strategy. This chapter discusses how social media marketing impacts your current staff and possibly future staff. The decisions you make to staff your marketing 2.0 strategy may be different than in years past.

Social Web Platforms

I devoted individual chapters to SEO, blogging, social networking, Twitter, podcasting, video and photos. Each of these is discussed in the context that they are enablers and tools.  None of these alone is the answer.  They enable us to create content and build relationships. Of course, SEO is not a platform. I discuss the role your content on the social web can contribute to your SEO results.

Marketing Operations:

Gary Katz, CEO of Marketing Operations Partners contributed a chapter on marketing operations. Gary explains how to make the marketing department a profit center, not a cost center.

Case Studies

My favorite section of the book is the case study section near the end of the book. I researched and wrote about real world examples of SMBs and solopreneurs who are succeeding with marketing 2.0 and their learning process. Each is learning and each is succeeding. I think you’ll find the diversity of industries and approaches very interesting and inspiring.

It’s About Content and Relationships

In the final chapter, I reiterate a key point I stressed throughout the book. The new mindset of marketing 2.0 is to engage buyers through great content and to build relationships with them. This mindset is a process. The old style of marketing is on its way out. Marketing on the social web can be integrated with offline marketing using the same principles of content and relationship building.

Resources

I put together a list of good books, blogs and podcasts on social media marketing. You’ll find plenty of great resources to further your education and insights into marketing 2.0.

Bernie Borges Live at Your Events

I enjoy speaking on Internet marketing topics at industry conferences and private events. Anyone interested in bringing me in to speak can contact me.

Special Offer

At the end of the podcast,  I offer a free copy of my book. But, you must listen to the podcast to learn how you can get a free copy. No gimmicks. No form to fill out. My offer is a free copy of my book. Listen to the podcast to learn how to get it. Click to play above, or visit iTunes and search for it by my name or by “inbound marketing,” or “social media marketing.”

I sincerely hope my book is a valuable resource to you. I look forward to getting your comments through my blog or the various ways you can contact me:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/berniebay
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/bernieborges
Facebook: http://profile.to/bernieborges
Facebook Fan Page: http://companies.to/findandconvert/

This podcast is a discussion about a guest blog post I recently wrote on Hubspot entitled: The Lines are Blurring between Social Networks…Let Them!

As we spend time on social networks, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc., the lines are blurring between them.

As I’m sure you know there are three types of social media destination sites

Content Publishing sites – Blogs, YouTube, Twitter
Content Sharing – DIGG, Reddit, Mashable, etc.
Networking – Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.

But, most of these are starting to cross over into each other. For example, people show their updates on social networks. LinkedIn and Facebook both have a “what are you working on now?” status which you can update or you can link to your Twitter account.

The social media lines are blurring….

Is Facebook just a social networking site? What is Twitter?

Twitter is a communication tool as evidenced by how many companies and non profits are using it including Apple, Jet Blue Airways, Zappos, Tampa Bay Red Cross, ABC Action News, etc. The list of enterprise Twitter users is growing every day.

Twitter allows you to have a mini-profile similar to social networks. It’s a very brief profile, nonetheless it has a similar characteristic to a social network profile, just shorter.

What about YouTube? What is it? It’s part social networking and part content sharing. Any business can create a channel in YouTube. It’s free. Just open your channel account, select the type of account you want. I like the “guru” account type for subject matter expertise. You can aggragate video content from any source including your own and any other video in YouTube. If you sell “blue suede shoes” provide a link to Elvis singing “blue suede shoes” video.

If you aggregate interesting video content, promote it to your following in Twitter and to your Facebook friends. So, is YouTube content sharing or social networking? You decide…

If I share ten new videos with you and only one or two of them are actually my videos, you’ll still give me credit for all the relevant videos I sent to you (assuming I’m sending you relevant video content). In this example, I would be a source of good video content, even if I didn’t create all of the videos.

The social media lines are blurring…

As marketers we need to harness all the content and all the platforms that are relevant to our communities. The social web platforms overlap with each other, but that’s ok. Let them. We can use them all.

I predict that in Web 3.0 the lines will be less blurry. We’ll be able to create a common profile that travels with us from platform to platform. This movement is already in progress called OpenSocial led by Google but it’s not ready for prime time yet. Just stay tuned on that…

In the meantime let’s enjoy the fact we can use Twitter as a social networking tool and a communication tool. Ditto for other social web platforms.

One of my favorite examples is the Twitter stream. By using a hashmark with your Tweets, e.g., #rays for Tampa Bay Rays, you can communicate in a real time stream to anyone (anywhere) that wants to follow that stream. I just returned from my favorite Internet marketing conference – Pubcon. People around the world who didn’t attend the conference were following along the comments made by more than half the attendees using the #pubcon Twitter stream.

The BusinessWeek cover story in May 2005 was focused on blogs in business. In the follow up story May 2008 the article discussed all the social platforms and said “the new resume is 140 characters” in a reference to how Twitter is a communication tool.

As marketers we can use all the social web tools to engage our buyers, our community, listen to them and build relationships with them without concern over whether you’re in a blog, social networking site, a media outlet or wherever you may be online.

The market place is busy and crowded. And, the social web opens up doors for conversations. Just get engaged in the conversations even if the lines are blurred. Let them…

Bernie Borges
http://twitter.com/berniebay

As social media continues evolve, grow, blossom and even mature among both personal users and businesses, the lines are beginning to blur among them.

Well known social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn are now being used in the same sentence as Twitter and Flickr.  Isn’t Twitter a micro-blogging tool?  Isn’t Flickr a photo content sharing tool?

What about YouTube?  Is YouTube a social networking site?

I don’t intend to give you a concrete answer to these questions.  Who am I to define these platforms? The user community is defining them.  But I will offer some offline comparisons to consider as you ponder this question.

If you belong to a health club, you joined it (presumably) to exercise.  On the surface, that is the purpose of a health club (or gym).  If you belong to a business organization such as a chamber or local business club, each of these organizations has a defined charter.  When you join any of these organizations mentioned here as examples, the premise of your membership is to participate in their charter.

Even if you joined any of the above for pure networking, you have to play by their rules.  You can’t go to your gym and hand out fliers and a business card in street clothes.  You’ll annoy so many patrons you’ll get kicked out. 

I have developed some very good relationships at my health club that carry into my personal and professional life.  I can say the same for a local non-profit business club I belong to (TBTF).  In both cases, my intent has been sincere.  I go to my healthclub to workout.  I go to TBTF functions to get involved, give of my time and talents and meet smart people.  Because both of these examples are local to me, I occasionally overlap.  I see people at my healthclub that belong to TBTF and vice versa.

The same can be said of social networking, even though the local aspect is much less a factor.  I know people in Facebook whom I also know in LinkedIn and Twitter, and vice versa.

So, what’s the benefit to this cross platform networking online?  I submit there are many benefits.  At a minimum I can meet other smart and interesting people through both platforms, and I really enjoy meeting smart people.

Since my profession is Internet marketing, and in particular we do search engine optimization (SEO) for our clients, another benefit is exposure to the content I produce.  Such exposure can result in content being shared among the network resulting in quality links.  Some content exposure can be incidental and some can be intentional. 

As I continue to network in the online social media world, I’m amazed at how the mutual benefits of social, networking and relationship building coincide with SEO value through the propagation of content and organic link building that occurs.

What’s your experience on social networks?  Which platforms do you use the most?  Which platforms mentioned here are social networking sites and which are (fill in the blank)?

Last week I gave an updated presentation on “What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Web 2.0.” The venue was TechSelect in Las Vegas (a private conference put on by TechData). The audience was VARs and Systems Integrators who purchase products through TechData. I presented once each on Friday and Saturday.

In both sessions I encountered many similar questions and concerns. Many people had limited knowledge of Web 2.0. Some attendees had profiles in LinkedIn, Facebook and a few in MySpace. Some were familiar with blogging, but surprisingly few. A few attendees had corporate blogs. Most were very interested in learning how to implement a blog strategy.

My advice to those interested in blogging was to start an internal blog first. Even for a small business that can include extensions of the company such as partners, suppliers, customers, etc. This is a relatively safe way to experience the dynamics of a blog. Beyond that, starting a public blog starts with studying the industry landscape to determine a sound blog strategy.

We also discussed micro blogging (Twitter), podcasting and social networking. There was very little awareness of Twitter, but we had interesting discussions around Twitter’s potential business applications.

There was particular interest in podcasting, especially as we discussed how technology buyers often rely on podcast content to help shape their opinions of products and services they consider before making a purchase decision.

We also discussed SEO at a very high level.  In particular we reviewed the growing importance of delivering content through social media platforms to help create links and to contribute to organic rankings. 

I provided up to the minute statistics on most of the topics mentioned above.  The two presentations were very interactive and were interesting and enjoyable for me to deliver.  Based on feedback I received it was informative for the attendees.

The full presentation can be accessed here.  I welcome comments.