Social Networking for Job Seekers

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.

11 Tips for LinkedIn Business Development

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.

Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day

A podcast interview with Chris Treadaway, co author of Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day.

The timing of this podcast interview is terrific. At the time of this blog post and podcast I am putting the finishing touches on my first of three Facebook and Twitter for Marketers workshops. I read most of Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day before this interview and finished it recently. I will use this book as a reference source at my workshops and will recommended it to the attendees.

A Playbook for Facebook Marketers

The book is a practitioner’s guide for Facebook marketing. While other books are feature centric (which isn’t a bad thing), this book serves as a step-by-step roadmap for marketers. It’s written for people who’ve been given a directive to use Facebook in their marketing strategy. It literally provides a day-by-day roadmap to develop a Facebook marketing plan and how to measure results.

Chris Treadaway co-authored the book with Mari Smith. Unfortunately, Mari was not available on the day we recorded the podcast interview. Mari is an example of hype meeting reality. She has a large following and deservedly so. She has great depth of knowledge and client experience using Facebook. Her brand presence on Facebook is both authentic and expert. As a trainer and consultant Mari is encyclopedic in her practical application of Facebook for marketers.

The Seven Truths of Social Networks
Early in the book, Chris and Mari lay out these seven truths, which help a marketer put Facebook marketing in its proper perspective. They are:
1. Social media is the preferred way people in younger demographics communicate.
2. Social media is based on the concept of friends, but that term today is very loosely applied.
3. The more active a consumer is on the Internet, the more likely they participate in multiple social networks.
4. Once information is shared on a social network, it is out there and can’t easily be contained.
5. Social media is best applied to existing Internet marketing programs along side other web assets.
6. The rules are still being made. Social media etiquette is still relatively immature. Tread carefully.
7. Social media usage is motivated by basic human needs, including love, self expression, emotion, sharing, influencing, showing off, fun, escapism, humor, nostalgia and making money.

Impact of the Seven Truths on Business
Chris and Mari point out that businesses need to create passion in people to get them to be interested in their business. A marketer must create an emotional connection between their brand and the people they seek to reach. The book feeds to marketers bite size pieces of a roadmap for fan pages, ads, measuring results and more.

Defining Your Social Media Product
Facebook gives everyone the opportunity to become a publisher. For example, a fan page is a company’s published face. The content and experience becomes part of the “product.” The whole experience your company offers on Facebook is the product. Your product must explain what problem needs solving? And, how you solve it by connecting with people at these core seven truths.

Favorite Example in the Book
I asked Chris to share his favorite example of a company doing Facebook marketing well. Mad Men is a television show about advertising in 60s. Their agency created a social networking approach that combines other media experiences with experiences on the web. They allow people to create a character avatar that can be shared on Facebook. You can even create wallpaper with these characters. Facebook is their biggest component of online connection with consumers using it to pull people into other social experiences.

Practical and Measurable
People in companies need to understand what’s possible, what’s measurable and what’s not so measurable. The book guides a marketer to understand what the management team wants to see in the way of results. Identifying realistic goals is an important guidance offered in the book. Some things are measurable and some are not. For example, it’s difficult to measure what’s the lifetime value of someone who “likes” you on Facebook. But, through proper expectations a marketer can provide meaningful data such as how many people engaged with the brand, how many new fans were added, how many referrals to the website, CTA (calls-to-action) responses and more. I’m thrilled to see how Chris and Mari emphasize the importance of experimentation in social media. Management must accept experimentation in a Facebook marketing plan.

Facebook Advertising
The book points out that Facebook advertising provides the most inexpensive targeted advertising option currently available online. There is so much wasted advertising across many media platforms. But, Facebook is very targeted due to demographics details collected by users. The information people provide about themselves allows advertising to be very targeted. For example, you can target by gender, age, interests, keywords, geography, marital status and more. And, it’s currently only about $.35 per thousand. Admittedly, Facebook advertising is best for consumer advertising and for local businesses where geo targeting is important.

One Free Copy Giveaway
Chris and Mari have provided me one FREE copy of Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day to give away. I will select one winner. All you have to do is make your case for the book. Tell me why you want or need this book. Just write on my wall on my Find and Convert fan page with your pitch. For extra consideration you might want to tweet about it with a shoutout to @berniebay or leave a review of this podcast in iTunes. The more you engage with my brand, the stronger case you’ll make to receive a free copy of Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day!  I’ll announce the winner by the 14th.

See you on Facebook!

Sarasota Memorial Healthier with Social Media Marketing

Podcast Interview with Peter Taylor, Director of Marketing, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

Sarasota Memorial is a health care system (hospital) located in Sarasota, FL. I saw Peter Taylor give a presentation at a recent AMA event in Tampa. I remember that Peter pointed out that their name sounds like a funeral home.  He said they are a brand people prefer not to use. Most people don’t even want to talk about health care. But, Sarasota Memorial is recognized as one of the best hospitals in Florida. So, how does a marketer get people to engage with a brand they don’t want to engage with?

Be Likable

Peter and the rest of the management team decided they needed to give the community a reason to like them. So, about 18 months ago they embarked on a new social media strategy. They set out to attract people to their brand before the need for health care arises. After all, a medical visit to a hospital is usually not a pleasant experience. You’re usually surrounded by strange people, intimidating technology and you’re forced to dress in a gown that only covers about half your body. Social media presents the opportunity to connect with people in a pleasant, friendly setting. The consumer is in control of the situation and in a much better mood to have a conversation with Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH).

Strategic Objective – The Antithesis of a Medical Visit

The strategic objective set was to create a consumer engagement platform. The hospital does an excellent job of taking care of sick people. It’s recognized as one of America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World. They set out to transfer that persona to outside of the care environment. They realized that traditional media campaigns were not within budget reach. Social media allowed SMH to have conversations with people outside the hospital as well as on the inside. The idea is to connect with people before they need health care from SMH.  Their social media strategy is designed to be the complete opposite of a hospital visit. Rather than connecting with people when they are in a state of duress, their social media strategy engages people in their own comfortable setting.

The Social Media Strategy Launch Plan

As a public community hospital with very limited budget SMH was not in a position to hire a social media agency to help them.  But, SMH was not willing to ignore social media. So they decided to figure it out on their own. A team of 8 committed individuals aligned along their interests with social media. For example, Shawn Halls was well aligned with Twitter due to his communication style. All the social media sites were synchronized with people’s interest. Each became the “CEO ” of each social media platform at SMH.

Opening the Conversations with Twitter

Twitter was turned on first at SMH. They focused on the Sarasota Community.  From the beginning, SMH always engaged with people in the community through Twitter. They quickly realized that social media is a 24/7 communication channel. That was an adjustment for the team.  Twitter became a good way to get the word out on activities and events. It was eye opening for them to see people responding on Twitter. They quickly had to figure out how to respond to people’s Tweets. They were amazed when some patients even started Tweeting from their hospital beds. That proved to management that social media is a real communication channel. The first evidence of ROI was in “service recovery.” When patients complained about their food (imagine patients complaining about hospital food – gasp!) they reacted quickly to address patient’s complaints heard on Twitter. This level of “customer service” really made a good impression.

Facebook

SMH found Facebook to be more conversational and visual than Twitter. The SMH business page took some time to get published due to health care privacy compliance requirements. The Facebook page is mostly comprised of the public engaging with SMH. Recently, it became available internally for hospital staff to engage. They needed to establish credibility with their CEO to open it up to staff.

Delicious

Rather than have people sending out a bunch of emails with links to articles and social media connections, SMH set up a Delicious account and used it as a place to bookmark stories online. It has grown into a repository of content for media and for physicians, as well as the public to get relevant content. No email sends are necessary.

Flickr

SMH uses Flickr to store photos of the facility and special events. No patient photos! They focus mostly on showing off 13 outpatient centers and special events shared with the public. One side benefit has been a reduction in media calls by 20% simply by hosting photos on Flickr.

YouTube

Originally, they started out trying to create Hollywood style production videos. But, they took too long to produce and were too costly. They decided to scale it down and now SMH is shooting all video on a Flip camera. They realized that consumers just want authentic conversation.

Blogs

SMH has an internal blog written by the CEO. Each blog post gets over 2000 visitor sessions with many comments. The Campus Improvement blog is public and gets updated daily with photos and video keeping track of the progress on a new construction project. It’s read well both internally and externally.

Peter’s Advice to Marketing Managers

Peter quickly points out when I asked him his advice to marketers that the most fundamental aspect of a social media strategy is to position your brand in the most authentic way possible. Forget the sizzle. Be real. People want something they can believe in. No hype. It’s that simple. In other words (my words) “humanize your brand.”

I thank Peter Taylor for sharing the SMH story. It’s inspiring to me to witness a health care provider start from scratch in social media and experiment. Their progress in a short amount of time is impressive. I hope you’ll listen to the entire podcast interview with Peter. Just click the play button above.

To learn how to jump start a social media strategy, or take yours to the next level take our free Inbound Marketing Assessment.

Follow Companies on LinkedIn

Last week LinkedIn announced a feature that we’re all familiar with. Following is a social media verb that has been synonymous with Twitter and to some extent Facebook when you would “fan” company. Now you can follow a company on LinkedIn.

No Brainer for Sales

Every V.P. of Sales on the planet should hold a brief meeting with their sales team to encourage each sales person to follow companies of interest on LinkedIn. You can now follow activities of a company including new hires, promotions, announcements.  Sales people can keep tabs on activities in companies of interest. It’s especially valuable to follow activity of individuals to learn of opportunities in your relationship building and business development plans.

No Brainer for Partner Marketing

Many of us partner with other companies whose products or services we resell or support. Partner marketing is a valuable aspect of managing relationships with strategic partners. For example, we are a Certified HubSpot Partner. So, naturally I follow HubSpot on LinkedIn as shown above and here below.

In the notification settings I’ve chosen to get a weekly digest of news from HubSpot. This can be a simple reminder for me to check in on their activities so I can stay current on activities at the company.

LinkedIn doesn’t get as much hype as Facebook and Twitter. There are many people however who recognize how valuable it is for business networking, relationship building and business development. This new feature allows you to follow a company in a new way that can be very productive. It’s very simple. Anyone in a business development role should consider following companies of interest.

Which companies do you follow on LinkedIn? I invite you to follow Find and Convert on LinkedIn.

Florida Aquarium Dives into Social Media Waters

Podcast Interview with Tom Wagner, Public Relations Manager at The Florida Aquarium

When Tom Wagner joined The Florida Aquarium in 2006 there was no social media in place, just a website. They used traditional media channels for marketing including print advertising, billboards, local radio and television. In 2008, Tom attended a one day workshop on social media where he got inspired to get started.  Tom decided to get started with a focus on three social media channels: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They concentrate all their social media communication efforts in these three channels.

Expanded Target Audience

The Florida Aquarium is located in downtown Tampa, FL. They are a destination for families by offering a diverse offering of education, conservation and good old fashion fun all centered around marine life and marine eco-systems. The traditional target audience has been families. They wanted to expand into younger demographics and attract them to the aquarium. Tom speculated that perhaps by using social media they could expand their reach to a younger demographic audience.

Convincing senior management to experiment with social media wasn’t too difficult. The biggest question Tom had to answer was how much of a commitment it would take and at what cost. The only cost was Tom’s time. But, of course it was on top of his current workload.

The first thing Tom did was to start up their Twitter account. At first he sent out fun and interesting information about the marine environment. His goal using Twitter was to help people become better stewards of the environment. People responded well. Their Twitter follower count started to grow rapidly. Tom also created a Facebook business page.

Social Media Experiments

Tom convinced his boss to sponsor a Tweetup at the Florida Aquarium. Normally, free attendance events were limited to media. The Tweetup allowed anyone in the local Twitter community to attend and experience the Aquarium for free. Tom’s goal was to create buzz about the Florida Aquarium and have people talk about it on Twitter.  Over 200 people came out to the Tweetup. The top 10 attenders had a combined following of over 125,000 people. Attendance at the Florida Aquarium over the next 10 days increased by double digits over their forecast.

Early Mistakes

While the Tweetup was successful, they learned a valuable lesson. Since they didn’t create coupon codes, they couldn’t track ticket sales results directly from the Tweetup.  But, the quick increase in attendance after the Tweetup was still good evidence that it helped create buzz resulting in higher ticket sales.

It’s valuable to learn from your mistakes when experimenting with social media. Going forward all social media related activities use a coupon code. For example, they now create coupon codes for Twitter and for Facebook to track which channel drive more ticket sales. Recently, they used Facebook and Twitter exclusively to promote a show of the infamous Wiki Wachee mermaids. This event was a unique, one time event. They created unique codes for Facebook and Twitter. They didn’t use any traditional media. The local traditional media picked up on the event. They attended and took pictures which drove photo and television coverage. Many people talked about it on Twitter and Facebook.

What’s Next?

More of the same. Tom is continuing to tweak their social media plan but will continue to create buzz around Tampa Bay about upcoming events. The buzz around Tom’s office is their plan to hire another staff person to help him create more buzz on social media. Apparently, their social media plan is going swimmingly enough to increase headcount. Looks like the Florida Aquarium is keeping its head above water quite well as their social media plan continues to evolve and drive ticket sales.

Tom’s Advice to Local Businesses

Tom advises local businesses to start a social media plan by providing useful information to your target audience. Deliver on the three E’s (as I call it). Ask what information do we have that people would want from us so that when they need what we offer, they’ll think of us….That’s good advice.

If you’re in or near Tampa, you will enjoy visiting the Florida Aquarium. For the rest of you, check them out online. You’ll want to listen to my podcast interview with Tom Wagner to hear of other experiments and successes.

If you are a marketer in need of a social media strategy, check out my book, Marketing 2.0 or contact us to explore our social media strategy services.

Inbound Marketing Is All About Leverage

Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Survey

HubSpot recently released a report on the State of Inbound Lead Generation. The report is a result of interviews with more than 1,400 HubSpot customers who are mostly small and mid size businesses. A webinar delivered by Rick Burnes and Sophie Schmitt of HubSpot summarized the findings.

The findings are very interesting and very compelling especially for businesses who are either still sitting on the sidelines or are flat out skeptics of inbound marketing. I find that overwhelmingly those businesses who don’t buy into the inbound marketing mindset haven’t allowed themselves to break out of a decades-old paradigm. But, the earth is shifting and marketers simply can’t ignore the facts especially as more facts become available such as those in this report from HubSpot.

Critics of this research may say that the companies interviewed are users of the HubSpot inbound marketing software. Of course! You wouldn’t survey people sun bathing on a beach about their winter vacation habits and expect that data to be of high integrity.

HubSpot has built a customer base of more than 2,500 customers. While the degree to which each customer is using the full gamut of inbound marketing strategies to include SEO, blogging, social networking and generally a strong content marketing mindset may vary, the common denominator is they buy into the fact inbound marketing can effectively produce leads.

So, here are some of the most compelling findings from this report.

The More Google Indexed Web Pages the More Leads Produced

Businesses with 60 to 120 Google indexed pages produced a median of 7 leads per month. Those with 176 to 310 Google indexed pages produced a median of 22 leads per month. Those with 311 + Google indexed pages produced a median of 74 leads per month. This triple digit growth is achievable through a bonafide, committed, consistent blog strategy.

Business Who Blog Produce More Leads

As stated above businesses with more Google indexed web pages produce more leads. The most practical way to increase indexed page count is by having a blog connected to your website. This chart shows that companies who blog produce more leads.

Blog Size Matters
The survey proved that having a blog alone doesn’t move the needle. The more content the better. The data suggests that fewer than 10 blog posts didn’t make a difference in lead generation. But, more than 20 blog posts demonstrated more leads from those surveyed.

Twitter Matters in B2C
B2C businesses who use Twitter produce twice as many leads as those who don’t use Twitter. Though this research doesn’t account for B2B businesses on Twitter I’m a fan of Twitter due to the reach it can provide and ability to spread your content. For example, in addition to my personal Twitter account, Find and Convert also has a Twitter account.

More Keywords Ranking in Top 100 Produce More Leads

This data point proves two myths wrong. Myth #1 is that many businesses think the only ranking that matters is for a small number of keywords which typically represent their core business. Sometimes it’s just one keyword phrase. Myth #2 is that the only rank that matters is page 1. Of course, we all want to rank #1 on page 1. But, this data shows that businesses who have dozens of keywords ranking in the top 100 rankings get more leads. This translates to having dozens of keywords that rank across the first 10 pages of Google. The way to look at this is like a diversified portfolio of assets. The value is in the total portfolio, not any one asset. Having dozens of relevant longtail keywords that rank in the first 10 pages of Google will produce more leads.  These two myths are shattered in the chart below.

It’s All About Leverage

This webinar concluded with the concept of leverage. Inbound marketing allows a company to leverage content assets online to produce connections with people who have interest in your company’s products. Ignoring this leverage opportunity is very risky in a marketing economy where established competitors can surpass you with inbound marketing strategies quickly. Worse yet, newer nimble and inbound marketing savvy competitors can come out of seemingly nowhere and eat your lunch.

Get on the inbound marketing bandwagon. A good place to start is with my book, Marketing 2.0 . I wrote Marketing 2.0 for executives and their staff looking for a basic understanding of how social media and inbound marketing strategies can bridge the gap between sellers and buyers. Mike Volpe, V.P. Inbound Marketing at HubSpot wrote the foreword of my book. Those who’ve read it say it provides a good primer to get started. Check out the reviews.

Allow me to give a plug for the fact my inbound marketing agency is a certified HubSpot partner. We can help you get started producing more leads through inbound marketing or take it to the next level.

Top Reasons I Follow Back on Twitter

Let’s face it, the Twitterverse is made up of individuals and brands. While the branded Twitter accounts are staffed by people, the persona of each Twitter account is either an individual or a company or a brand. For example, General Motors has a branded Twitter account, and they also have product branded Twitter accounts.

Like you I receive new Twitter followers every day. When I plow through them, I usually make my decision to follow back (or not) in under 5 seconds. Here are the criteria I use to make my quick decision. I should point out that these are my criteria. I don’t suggest for a minute that these criteria should be yours. To each his or her own on follow back decision criteria.

I should also point out that my Twitter persona is mostly about marketing. I do very little personal tweeting. When I do it’s usually on the weekend when I may be watching a ballgame or something otherwise leisure related or an occasional random thought.

Why I Follow Back an Individual

Your Twitter account is visually appealing to me. You have more than one photo or you have a creative custom design that is unique. And, you look like an interesting or fun person I would want to meet in person. Age, gender or ethnicity do not affect my impression.

Your most recent tweet was recent (in the last 24 hours). People who don’t tweet daily are not of interest to me. Remember, these are my criteria. You may not share my follow back criteria.

Your tweets are relevant, interesting and they contain links to interesting content. Your tweets will somehow add value to me.

Your profile has a link to your blog or website. If you get my attention and I want to know more about you, you make it easy.

Your profile bio is descriptive. It paints a picture for me about who you are what you care about. It’s uniquely about you.

I get the impression (quickly) that if I met you at a dinner party, I would want to have a conversation with you.

You RT others and reply to others. The absence of either RTs or @ replies immediately tells me you’re using Twitter for one way communication.

You may use hashtags, though sparingly. This tells me you participate in Twitter conversations. This isn’t a huge factor, but I notice it.

Your follower to following ratio is greater than 1. For newer accounts (less than 1000 followers) I’m flexible on this if all other factors are compelling.

A scan of your Twitter home page generally communicates that you use Twitter conversationally, not as a promotional megaphone.

A sample individual Twitter account I like from @AmyMengel:

Why I Follow Back a Brand

The Twitter account design clearly communicates a message about the brand. Whether it’s a logo or other graphics, I get a quick understanding of the brand’s main message and persona.

The profile description clearly communicates the brand’s message and purpose. It contains a link to the website or blog where I can learn more about the brand.

When skimming the Twitter home page I see interesting content with links to more content. The tweets and links inform me, educate me or entertain me in some way.

If the brand offers promotional tweets, they are done tastefully, professionally and in a way that adds value.

The Twitter account is very transparent. You don’t B.S. me. You demonstrate interest in your followers.

You tweet with a human voice. If you’re a brand and you sound like a non-human, I’m not interested.

You engage your followers with @ replies and RTs.

If you get criticism you respond to it openly and swiftly.

You tweet daily.

A sample brand Twitter account I like: @Teddy’s Pride

Do you have other criteria you use when deciding to follow back individuals and brands? Share them below…

@berniebay

What Are You Grateful For?

What Are You Grateful For?

This Thanksgiving I, once again, marvel at how much I have to be grateful for. I have a wonderful family who loves me unconditionally. I have a loyal staff that loves me (nearly) unconditionally. I have a client base that probably loves me a little bit, too. I have many friends who put up with me. And, I have Tweetsgiving to thank for using social media to build classrooms in Tanzania.

If you’ve never heard of Tweetsgiving, get ready for goose bumps as you learn its story. Stacey Monk founded EpicChange, a 501c3 U.S. “that amplifies the voices and impact of grassroots change makers by sharing their stories in ways that raise visibility and funds to support their extraordinary efforts to create hope in our world.”

In Thanksgiving 2008, Tweetsgiving was launched two days before Thanksgiving as a 48-hour celebration of gratitude, and it became the number one trending topic on Twitter and raised over $10,000 to build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania. Anyone who contributed to Tweetsgiving had their Twitter name displayed on the wall of gratitude.

Tweetsgiving 2009 will repeat this marvelous display of gratitude only on a grander scale. This year there are more sponsors and people rallying around this wonderful cause.  This year’s event will raise funds to build an orphanage, a classroom, a cafeteria and a library at Mama Lucy’s school in Tanzania.

There are three ways you can get involved in Tweetsgiving 2009. 1) Attend a gratitude party in a city near you.  2) Spread the word. Tell your friends online and offline about it @tweetsgiving 3) Host a party. Have friends over to raise funds for Tweetsgiving 2009. Of course, you can always donate some of your hard earned money too.

The best part of Tweetsgiving (besides the smiles on kids’ faces in Arusha) is the role that social media plays. Strike that….The best part is that people (you, me and anyone who cares) can have an impact simply by using social media to spread the word. Just by a few clicks, we can help educate poor kids in a far away place.

If you don’t have goose bumps yet, you haven’t clicked through to Tweetsgiving.

Happy Tweetsgiving!

Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy

Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy
When I devoted an entire chapter in my book, Marketing 2.0, to developing a social media marketing strategy, my intent was to inspire marketers. In other words, I want marketers to avoid making the most common mistake, which is the mindset that you need a Twitter or Facebook strategy. You don’t. You need a social media marketing strategy!

Consider assembling the marketing team and your CEO and asking these questions:
•    Why do we think we need a social media strategy?
•    What is our objective?
•    What will the costs be?
•    What are the staffing requirements?
•    What are the risks?
•    What are the opportunities?
•    What are our competitors doing in social media?

Old School Meets New School
While Marketing 2.0 is a new-school marketing paradigm, there is no substitute for old-school research to gain valuable insights before you develop your social media strategy. Begin with research about your customers, target customers, competitors, resellers and influencers. Take no less than a few days (at a minimum) to study the landscape in your industry. Conduct searches in Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for the names of the CEOs of any company in your industry that is relevant. Include your competitors, your suppliers, and any other relevant company, including analysts and publications. This research should provide valuable insight into where your customers and relevant community are spending time on the social web. You’ll learn what they’re talking about and what groups exist by topic or by company. You’ll learn what your competition is doing or not doing. Eventually, you will gain valuable insight that will drive your social media strategy.

Why Do We Think We Need a Social Media Strategy?
This question is somewhat akin to asking, what business are we in? When you consider why you need a social media strategy, you should take some time and revisit this question about your core business.  A social media strategy serves one simple purpose; it enables your company to engage in authentic conversations with your community so you can improve your ability to attract, retain and serve your customers.

So Begin Your Social Media Strategy by Listening!
On one hand, it’s obvious why we should be listening. It’s the same reason we should be reading industry news—to stay informed. But remember that News 1.0 came at you from only one direction. The people whose job it was to deliver the news wrote it, and you read it. That’s where it ended. In News 2.0, we are empowered to participate in the story. When you listen to the comments made by people who react to a news story, you are listening to your market in real time.

If your top competitors are actively producing content in social media, your risk may be greater if you choose not to. Your absence from online conversations may damage your brand. In short, competitive pressures may influence your decision to become a content producer.

What is Our Objective?
You’ve done your research, and you’ve identified why you need a social media strategy. Now, it’s time to clearly define your objectives. Your objectives should fall into one of these categories:
•    Competitive differentiation
•    Market share growth
•    Expansion of your brand

Competitive Differentiation
A competitive differentiation strategy requires you to increase your visibility on the social web in your market segment through online content commenting and new content creation. Identify the best sources of web-based content in your industry, including vertical industry media and associations. Task a member of your staff to monitor the content and the conversations in these online communities. Identify the subject matter experts in your organization who can get engaged in the conversations in these online communities or contribute new content. Consider a blog strategy if you have the staff to devote to it. Find a voice for your organization that can become a consistent voice in your market, delivering a consistent message on specific topics. Allow this voice to be active and free with ideas and valuable insights into the things about which the people in your industry care. Remember, this is not a direct sales strategy, though your management team may view it this way. Your differentiation goal is to allow the market to see how you think, how you serve, how you listen, how you respond, and generally how you add value to your market. Talking about your products in ways that interest your community is advisable. Shouting to them about features is not. Your goal is to make it easy for others to learn how your organization is different from your competitors.

Market Share Growth
In setting out to grow your market share, you must be committed to proper staffing and producing diversified content on the social web. You must do proper planning and be willing to experiment, even if it means taking risk and failing some along the way. The objective is to attract more of your community to your organization. To do this, you need a bigger footprint on the web. If your differentiation strategy was primarily based on a blog, you may need to expand your strategy. You might commit to producing videos. Groups are available in social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook and can offer very easy ways to expand your reach. Similarly, you may find groups in industry-specific social sites where your staff can participate. This requires commitment, which carries with it some staffing implications. But this can be accomplished by adjusting your staffing requirements, cutting nonperforming marketing activities and reallocating staff resources to producing more social media content.

Brand Expansion
To expand your brand using social media requires a big commitment and carries some risk. The content strategy is the key to success in brand expansion! You’ll need to decide which social media platforms to use, who will create the content, and who will be the public face of your content. Presumably you’ve done your homework to find the audience you want to reach, and you’re committed to producing the content that will reach them. You’ll need to experiment to find the right mix of content and platforms to reach your desired audience. You may find that some content is more effective than others in expanding your brand. You’ll need to take some risk and measure results along the way to determine the effectiveness of expanding your brand through social media.

Let Your Content Go
The reality is that most businesses have more content than we know what to do with. We have white papers, news releases, websites, newsletters, and countless internal documents, not to mention the brilliant but often undeveloped content residing in between our ears. The power of social media marketing lies in letting it all go. Share your content with the world. So if you have good content for your community, share it, promote it, but most of all, just let it go.

Ready, Aim, Fire
Do your homework. Set your goals. Set your content strategy. Assemble the team. Cut non-performing activities to make room for a social media strategy. Then, get started. You’ll make some mistakes. But, with good planning you’ll make fewer and less costly mistakes and you’ll accelerate your results.

I’ll write a blog post soon about how to measure social media marketing results…

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