Jeff Korhan

Planning Now for a Futuristic Web

There are some amazing developments exploding on this social Web that are pointing to an increasingly human experience.  Right now the buzz is about real-time search and location-based services.  The only certainty is that these developments will be followed by others.

You can try to predict what is coming next, or you can just accept the fact that the inevitable will happen.  As a small business owner and user of this technology, I believe the smart thing to do is to assume that the Web will continue to evolve into an experience that enhances, extends, and in many ways, mirrors our everyday human experiences. And then plan for that.

Shouldn't we be working now with an eye on the inevitable Web that will become reality in 10, 20, or even 50 years into the future?  If you have been on this planet for a while, you know the future seems to arrive much more quickly than you would have otherwise imagined, so you may as well start planning for it.

The Past

The early days of modern marketing in the '50's and '60's gave us an imagined experience.  Products and services were marketed to make us feel younger, run faster and jump higher, and otherwise live a Utopian life of eternal youth.  And surprisingly, we believed it all.  

The Near Past

Then the '70's and '80's came along and we discovered some truths about people, companies, and governments.  We realized that the party just couldn't last.

The Present

The '90's and early years of this century brought us down to earth as globalization became reality.  Not only is our world not perfect, there are quite a few problems that demand our attention - both locally and across the globe.

What If

Imagine what social media would have been like during these periods.  It would have mirrored the times, just as blogging and the social media network mirror where we are at today. 

Social media reflects what is going on in the world today.  It captures and records everything.  And that data is then analyzed, although not necessarily very well at this time.  Though the day of accurate measurement, analysis, and feedback will come.  You can count on it.

The Future - Here and Now

Knowing this, you have to now consider how you will use the Web of the future.  That's right, you can choose how to use the Web, or you can sit back passively and wait for it to use you, which of course is what is already happening.

The Web is indexing information with amazing speed and accuracy, and that trend is sure to continue.  Knowing that, it is wise to consider what a world will be like where there is a perfect Web, one with nearly perfect information that mirrors your every move, and those of everyone else.  How will you respond?

As small business owners, how will you shape your business to adapt your company to the inevitable future of marketing?  One thing I'm sure of is it will not at all resemble what we have seen in the past.  Some of my ideas are to imagine complete knowledge of competitive pricing, reputation, quality, and customer experience, to name just a few. 

I believe in 30 years we will laugh at how we do things today.  I believe we will be surrounded by solutions that were either out of our reach, or that we had to work extremely hard for.

Human Solutions

If there was ever a time to consider the future by thinking beyond what you considered to be normal or possible, especially as it involves the human aspects of your business, this is that time.   It's time to think about what is possible when you seamlessly connect millions of people in ways that are unimaginable, because the unimaginable will indeed arrive soon enough. 

Some Ideas to Consider

What if you knew exactly what was on your customers minds?  What if you knew their every thought concerning your product and service?  How would you use this information to deliver a better experience - not just better overall, but optimized for each and every customer.

Is this possible?  You bet it is.  And we should all start preparing for that possibility.

In a future post I'll share one amazing technology that gives a glimpse into these possibilities.  The great thing about amazing possibilities is you don't have to predict them.

You just have to be ready.

Photo Credit: night86mare

Using Foursquare to Maximize Engagement at Conventions

Move over Twitter, Foursquare is now the hot social media tool for maximizing engagement at conventions, meetings, and events.

I've attended more conventions, meetings, and events than I could ever recount.  How about you?  Why do we continue to attend these events?  For the engagement with like-minded professionals, influencers, associates, and friends.  

I have also sat on boards and committees that planned them.  And while I would like to believe that speakers and presenters like me are what make these events successful, the truth is the engagement between industry peers is consistently the number one reason members attend their association conventions.

Meeting planners know this.  They know association members show for networking, and that is why they need to start getting familiar with Foursquare. 

Foursquare is a location-based (LB) social media tool that brings people together to connect, communicate, and collaborate about what is going on in their businesses, and to better share the experience of the event they are attending. It doesn't replace other engagement tools such as Twitter, rather it works in conjunction with them to enhance their effectiveness.

How Foursquare Works

Foursquare works by encouraging you to check-in at specific locations or venues.  It is used every day by users who check into restaurants, coffee shops, airports, and just about any location you can imagine.  Your LB or location-based status is announced to your friends who then have the opportunity to engage with you if they happen to be nearby.  

Imagine participating in a huge convention where you have colleagues and friends who also may be attending.  Instead of randomly calling or texting to determine everyone's whereabouts, everyone knows what is happening instantly with Foursquare.

What if your friends are not presently connected to Foursquare?  No problem, because each time you check in you have the option to not only announce your location to your Foursquare friends, but to also push that message out to your Twitter and Facebook connections.  Odds are if you do that you will soon get a group together for productive networking.

Foursquare is now available on virtually all mobile devices, including Blackberry, Android, Palm, and my preferred device, the iPhone.

How Foursquare Can Work for Conventions

In the real world, Foursquare is used by restaurants, as one example, to crown their most frequent visitors as Mayors by providing them with their Mayor Badge.  I've seen promotions from some establishments that declare Foursquare Mayors Drink for Free.  There can only be one mayor, but the whole idea is to build a buzz that gets everyone involved and interacting.

I can envision using Foursquare at conventions to have an Expo or Trade Show Mayor, an Education Session Mayor, and a Host Hotel Mayor.  To take this further, how about having Mayors for each exhibitor in the Trade Show?  I don't believe the technology for this is here now, but we are told it is coming.  And in social media time, that may well mean sometime next week!

Tips You Should Know

When I first started experimenting with Foursquare a few months ago, I succumbed to the suggestion that it was going to be the next Twitter.  However, recently I discovered that my phone number and email address is shared with all of my 'friends.'  Knowing this, I now reserve my Foursquare friendships on a more selective basis along the lines of Facebook, as opposed to Twitter.  

Successful association conventions involve an ecosystem of the association itself, along with the members, vendors, and other friends that support the association - and in turn support each other.  This interdependency is what will make Foursquare a viable tool for more effectively accomplishing everyone's convention objectives.

Networking is about people engaging to accomplish mutual objectives.  The critical success factor is bringing them together into a common location.

This is what Foursquare can do to enhance the effectiveness of your convention, trade show, meeting, or event.

If you are interested in learning more about Aligning Social Media Strategy for Association Events, I will be doing two FREE webinars in April with my friend, green industry colleague, and association executive with the Snow and Ice Management Association, Brian Birch.   These webinars will be hosted by Engage365, an online knowledge community for association and corporate meeting professionals.

You can connect with me on Foursquare by searching for Jeff Korhan.

A Big Social Media Mistake

Also happens to be the easiest one to fix - Inconsistency.

Consistency of Effort

If you study the habits of those who have been - and still are, very successful with social media, you will discover they are committed to this craft.  They have blogs that go back many years that are visible evidence of their willingness to consistently serve their readers.  

They will all give slightly different reason for this consistency.  Mostly, you will discover they simply enjoy what they do.  They enjoy sharing and adding value to a community.  Notable examples are Seth Godin, Brian Clark and Sonia Simone, and Chris Brogan.  Social media is work if you are going to be consistent, so you need a reason for doing that if you plan to go the distance.

Consistency of Innovation

Unfortunately, it is possible to work consistently and still accomplish little.  The effort may be there, but something is missing.   All good bloggers are compelled to be relevant to their audience by innovating.  You can do more research, change your topic, or just try new blogging strategies. Here are 27 blogging tips that will help you find your sweet spot.

If you read of few of Seth Godin's recent posts, you will discover they are quite short, sometimes only a dozen sentences.  Yet, if you go back to his work before 2005, his posts were easily 300 - 500 words.  Is the value still there?  Absolutely.  In fact, Seth's recent economy of words is a means of adding more value for time-starved readers.  That's innovation.

Consistency of Application

If you are applying what you recommend in your blog or social media work, then you are being not just consistent, but congruent as well.  

Have you ever noticed how many social media experts can talk up all of the new technology, but they can't quite seem to show you how its used - and most importantly, how YOU can use it to get results in your business.  You begin to wonder if they indeed know how.

That's a big mistake for my audience of small businesses owners and entrepreneurs.  So, if I'm not giving you enough how-to in this blog, which is what I try to consistently do, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Proof

For several months I have been playing around with Foursquare, the location based social networking service.  You haven't seen me comment on it in detail because I wanted to learn more than how it works.  I especially wanted to learn how it can work for small businesses owners like you. 

Today I made a breakthrough in my thinking that supports my hunch that this service will be valuable new tool in your social media toolbox.  What I'm trying to say is this:  I'm not one to say, "Hey kids, Foursquare is cool!!!  Check it out."  There's no value in that.  So, look for an insightful post on Foursquare this week, if not tomorrow.

I know a blog doesn't have to be perfect, and most aren't, including this one.  However, when you have standards, I believe you should consistently live by them.

To do otherwise on this social platform that amplifies who we are can be a big mistake.

Photo Credit:  Ohad

Facebook Tips You Should Know

Here are a few Facebook tips we were talking about today that will make for some light reading on a this Friday afternoon.

Facebook Uses a BFF Meter

In a recent update, Facebook took the liberty of keeping the flow of your friends' news to a manageable level.  I'm not sure if its to keep your little brain from exploding or to help Facebook manage the traffic of now over 400 million users. 

Here's the fix: 

1. Click on the Home feed in the upper right hand corner of your screen. 
2. Then click on Most Recent just below that.
3. Then scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on Edit Options. 
4. Now you can change the 250 or whatever is in that Number of Friends box to the maximum of 5,000. 

You can also use those boxes to Show More or Hide certain friends.  That's one way.

The other more simple and less mechanical method of ensuring all of your friends show up in your stream is to engage with them!  Make a post on their wall.  Facebook uses that activity to rank your BFFs  (best friends forever) for priority.  

Facebook Has a Sense of Humor

Not long ago when the iPad frenzy was at its peak, I glanced upon the above Facebook ad.  Holy crap I thought, they are looking for a select group of people to try out the new iPad - 52 year-olds just just like me!  So, I clicked on the ad.

Then it hit me - and I felt like a complete idiot.  Just as Facebook runs metrics to determine which of your friends are your BFF's, they are using the same technology to sell to you.  Pretty smart, huh? 

Now consider what can happen when Facebook combines all of this information about what's in our profiles with our friend activity?  Think of the demographic picture they can create for targeting specific consumers?  Every word you use, every post you make (..sounds like Sting), they all accumulate to create a razor sharp profile of who you are.  It boggles the mind to think of where this can go.

Facebook Isn't Vegas - Links are Public

What happens on your Facebook wall indeed is like what happens in Vegas.  It stays among you and the friends you let into your circle.  However, that is not the case with links, which includes what happens on Notes pages, such as this example.

This information came to me today via Google Alerts,and it really gave me a laugh.  My son had made a post (more of a plea) on Facebook in an attempt to get a free pair of tickets to a Jay-Z concert.  Thankfully, he represented himself well, because Google has now indexed that information, which means its here to stay.

Hey, I'm sure my son still looks up to me.  It just appears that for the moment Jay-Z is the front runner in his world.  This much I know - he certainly has a career ahead of him in sales!

There are a lot of people that freak out about all of this.  They are obsessed with privacy settings.  You can't fight the fact that there are powerful forces (search engines) - who are working against your privacy efforts.  Here's a better approach.

Just be a good human being.

Subscribe to this blog's feed to continue receiving tips and advice to help you with your social media marketing efforts.

Using Social Media as Your Business Laboratory

One of the most powerful uses of social media is testing new ideas, surveying your marketplace, and otherwise experimenting with new ideas to build a knowledgebase for succeeding.

As a chemistry major in college, I spent more time in the lab than I care to remember. Chemistry trials and experiments take time - hours, days, and sometimes even weeks.  But if you expect to prove your hypothesis for achieving a particular result, you have to do the work. 

You have to experiment to learn.  In a business experiment, your laboratory is a marketplace.  Social media allows you to tap into that market to get almost instantaneous feedback.  And that allows you to make adjustments to improve how you serve your customers better. Here are some ideas for doing that.

Learn from Experience

If you have an hypothesis - an idea, and your customer base rejects it, you have to respond to that.  Is the problem with the validity of the idea, or your ability to communicate it?  Your marketplace will let you know if you ask them.

In my work with social media marketing, I find my ability to communicate is essential.  My small business clients are not prepared to invest as much time into this as I would like.  I have to show them how they can get results with minimal effort.  What is your greatest challenge? 

Every Problem Has a Solution

As with those arduously drawn-out experiments we conducted in the chemistry lab, you have to be persistent to find solutions that work.  Fortunately, the social networks operate with great speed.  This rapid-fire feedback allows you to experiment with multiple possibilities in a short period of time.  

Experimentation is trying new tactics and waiting for a result.  It's a form of listening. Listen well to your customers and they will lead you to the solutions that will make your company relevant - the logical choice.  In most circumstances, this means doing what others are not able or willing to do. 

Experiments Can Blow Up in Your Face

Life would be great if everything worked out as we planned. But it just doesn't work that way, does it?  If you can be willing to accept failure without emotion, then you are better equipped to move to on what does work.

We have all succumbed to the realization that our genius is not always appreciated.  Get over it.  Find what works and deliver on that.   But don't abandon your genius ideas.  This just may not be the right time for them.  Come back to them later.

Experiments Take Time

This week I hit a home-run with several clients.  Those moments of gratification are the result of losing sleep over the failures that preceded them.  If you believe your ideas are good, you owe it to yourself to stay the course.

Blogging is a perfect example of this.  For years I was asked why I was wasting my time with this nonsense.  Those challenges still ring in my mind from time to time.  While I still occasionally consider them, its up to me to make the final decision.  Sometimes quitting is the right thing to do.  Just make sure you have given your work sufficient time to prove its worth. 

Finding a Catalyst

A catalyst is a substance that accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.  On the social media networks, a catalyst for your company may be nothing more than a friend that recommends your work.  

Just because your hypothesis is not working, does not mean it is not valid.  You may only need one customer to prove it for your future customers.  Use this approach to assuage their doubts and catalyze a new mindset.

One of the greatest values of the social media networks is aggregating a community of fans that validate what you do - your price, your process, or whatever else needs to be validated. You cannot do this by collecting thousands of followers on Twitter.  Better to nurture a small group of fans that firmly stand behind you.

What This Means

Business success is a process.  It's an ongoing experiment.  It take time.  And sometimes it requires a catalyst to jump-start that process to get it moving.

Consider how you can use your social media networks as your laboratory.  Experiments fail - it's no big deal. If you continue to learn from those failures, and you are willing to stay the course, while also courageously realizing when its time to quit a bad proposition, you will more consistently achieve the results you are looking for.

My belief is most small businesses that give up on social media marketing do so because they have not fully considered all of their options. 

Social media marketing is a process. 

Work with it.  It's your laboratory.

Let me know how I can help you with your social media laboratory. Leave a comment and I'll respond.

Photo Credit: tk-link

Show Google Some SEO Love

Google has been on a tear.  In the last year they have:

• Added Google Profile
• Enhanced Google Local
• Launched Google Social Search
• Introduced Google Wave and Google Buzz
• And just this week, they have ramped up Google Apps with Google Marketplace

I'm sure most people are taking a wait and see approach to much of this.  Is that a wise strategy if you are trying to maximize your SEO (search engine optimization)?

What I Know

Google dominates the Web in terms of search.  They have virtually unlimited resources that allow them to take risks.  Will they come out on top in every one of these situations?  Maybe.  And maybe not. 

However, what you and I have to consider is that this increasingly humanized Web is changing with lighting speed.  While some of Google's introductions and enhancements still leave much to be desired, you have to consider their track record.

Google is a force.  They understand that risk is necessary to stay on top of your game.  While I cannot profess to understand their strategy, I suspect it involves placing tools in the hands of the social media practitioners - that's you and me - to see if we can do something productive with them.

The Old Model

Those of us that have been formally trained in marketing were taught to find a need and exploit it.  While those words seem to be opportunistic, that is how marketers like me were trained to think.  That's old school thinking that takes time and money.  I'm sure Google is more concerned with time.

Everything is moving fast on this Web. Speed is everything.  Google understands if you show up early to the party you have the first shot at the pretty girls.  Better than that is to not even wait for that party, but to be the one that throws it!

Some Telling Examples of a New Model

Certainly, Google Wave was met with a great deal of dismay, but it is getting better.  We are learning to make it work - slowly.  And there is no doubt Google Wave needs some work.  Google just allowed us to adjust our settings so that we get email notification when changes are made to our Waves. That's nice.

When Google Profiles were introduced I had a hunch that this was intended to create a social media hub of sorts.  So I loaded up a good many of my social media networks to it.  Then I patiently waited.

Then I tried to get comfortable with Google Buzz, which happens to be linked to your gmail account.  For me, gmail is my secondary email platform.  Nevertheless, I activated Buzz to see what's what.  Mostly I just waited.

Here's The Love

Even though I didn't completely understand Buzz, I set a means to update Google Buzz with Ping.fm.  Ping allows me to update Buzz along with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other networks - all with one push of a button.

Today I happened upon my Google Profile and noticed a stream of Buzz -links to my daily blog posts. You don't have to be a rocket scientist from MIT to discern that those links are going to introduce your work to people searching the Web.

Stay with me.  Your Google Profile usually lands on the FIRST PAGE of a GOOGLE SEARCH!  Until the introduction of Buzz, this was essentially a static page.  Now it is alive with a steady stream of new links that lead back to you - provided you are using Google Buzz

The Message

Show Google some love and they will return the favor.  Take some risks.  Bet on their unproven features and you just may be as surprised - as I was, with the result.

The Web is not a linear game.  That's why all of the left-brain thinkers just don't get it. They are still living in that tired world of Pay-Per-Click.  All they see is a linear game of - do something to get something.  And we all know that's not how love works.

Today's Web is humanized - and it is circular.  You place your bets and maybe you get lucky.  There are no guarantees.  Are you in or out?

You can sit back and wait, or you can show up early to the party and take your chances.  No guarantees.  

I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue to show up early and share in the love.  If you join me, we can help each other.  Find me at my Google Profile.

Photo Credit: Laura May

Feng Shui Productivity from the Web

Here's a productivity tip that will save you time and energy.  And it's so simple.  Which is exactly why it works.

You have a recycle bin on your laptop that you use to discard unnecessary computer files.  You toss them into the recycle bin and empty it periodically. 

Why not do the same with your paper files? 

Instead of anguishing over whether or not to read industry periodicals because you are afraid you will not be fully informed, why not forget about them for a while.  Get them off your desk.  Toss them into a "Feng Shui Recycle Bin" in the back of your desk file drawer. 

Here's what is going to happen.  You will get them out of the way. This frees up your attention - and energy, so that you can now focus on more important matters.  You can do the same with faxes you have recently sent, and so many other documents that suck up your energy through unnecessary attention.

Your Feng Shui Recycle Bin will clear a space that frees your mind, and in the process, increases your productivity.  It works because in the back of your mind you know that paper is there if you need it, but you will find that 99% of the time you never will!   

Do you half-read industry publications because you feel you must.  Stop!  Put them into your Feng Shui Recycle Bin and you will feel safe.  They are there if you need them.  That's the power of this tool.

Just like the recycle bin on your laptop, you can periodically empty this one.  This practice will remind you that you don't need that junk - and that alone will energize you even more.  Amazing, isn't it?

If you are not familiar with Feng Shui, it is a science that helps human beings harmonize with their environment.  You can interpret that in many ways.  In the work environment, this means productivity. 

Since selling my landscape business two years ago, I no longer practice Feng Shui as I did when I designed meditation and healing gardens.  Nevertheless, I still respect and honor these principles that enable me to be more effective in my work with social media marketing.

Some people think of Feng Shui as an esoteric science.  Here's the thing; you don't have to be trained in it to understand it.  It is common sense.  As a landscape architect, I understood that good design was good Feng Shui.

If you are really interested in Feng Shui, I highly recommend The American Feng Shui Institute.  This is where I learned and earned my certification with Master Larry Sang and Chris and Sophia Shaul, - more years ago than I care to mention.

Social media and Feng Shui have one thing in common.

They are about people, and how they interact in a shared environment to accomplish more - more easily.

 Photo Credit: dycmo

12 iPhone Apps for Small Business Efficiency, Learning, and Sharing

These are my favorite iPhone apps that help me as a marketer, entrepreneur, and small business owner. 

I have organized them by category. I hope you find a few you can use.  Most of them are free.  Please leave a comment to share your favorites so we can learn from your personal experience. 

The name of each app will link to the website of the application.  No link means the website is not necessarily complementary, and you should just search from the iPhone app store. 

Other links will take you to previous posts where I have described in detail how the app has been successfully used by me or a colleague.

Efficiency

Evernote - This app is invaluable for capturing ideas on the fly, especially for taking action on ideas from the Web.

Batchbook - You can save a great deal of time by having your contacts readily available on the Web.  Batchbook is my choice.  It is especially geared for those of us who actively use social media.  I've commented numerous times on how I'm using Batcbook to simplify my social media work - most recently to insert a form in your blog.  Use the Google search box on this blog to search for others.

It's one thing to access contacts from the cloud.  It's another to have full access to deals in progress and notes from recent conference calls.

Dragon Dictation - This is an amazingly accurate app for capturing notes when paper and pen are not handy - think bedside and bathtub!  It will transcribe your words very accurately.  Then you just email them to yourself.

Tripit - If you travel much at all, you need Tripit.  Just forward all of those confirming emails for air, hotels, and travel to plans@tripit.com.  It consolidates them into an itinerary that you carry with you on your iPhone.  No more scraps of paper to lose.

You can share your Tripit schedule with colleagues who may wish to meet with you when you are in their area.  In this respect, it is a viable productivity app too.

Learning

Google - The Google app brings in much more than search.  This is where I read dozens of blogs by using the Google Reader.  You can also access your Google Docs, Calendar, and most of the other applications Google provides.

RedLaser - Have you ever been ready to make an impulse purchase and wondered if the price was fair?  No problem, Redlaser uses a barcode scan to give you off and online price comparisons.  It costs a few bucks, but is much more reliable than the free apps I have tried.

Siri - This new and free app uses the latest geolocation technology and more to serve as your virtual assistant.  You simply dictate what you need in common language and it serves up appropriate options.  We used it recently while on a family road trip.  It helped me find a Starbucks on one of the upcoming exits.  Nice!

This is the future of apps on this humanized web.  Think of Siri as Google search, Google Maps, UrbanSquare, and Dragon Dictation,  combined with others, and all rolled into one. 

Jeffkorhan -  Are you thinking of creating your own app?  It is easier than you may realize.  I previously described how I created an app for this blog, JeffKorhan.com, so that you can easily access the latest on social media marketing for your small business.

Sharing

Hootsuite - This is my current favorite for using Twitter from my iPhone.  It is especially helpful for accessing your Twitter lists and hashtags.

Documents To Go - I just learned of this powerful app today.  My college roommate is an executive with a Fortune 500 corporation and travels the world to audit financial systems for his company.  He uses this app to have full functionality for Excel spreadsheets and Word docs.

I plan to use this app to do the same with a current project.  I'm co-writing a book with a marketing colleague and we'll be collaborating through Google Docs to hit our 90 day timeline.  You'll need to pay $15 for the premium version, but it is worth the investment.

Facebook - The Facebook app allows you to do most everything you can from your laptop.  And it's free.  I only wish LinkedIn would follow suit and add the same capabilities to theirs.

Typepad - Frequently I notice a typo on this blog while reading a post in the smallest room in my house.  Think privacy and you'll know which room I'm talking about!  Using a few keystrokes and some scrolling I can fix the mistake.

These are my favorites.  How about you?  Leave a comment to share your favs.  And use the buttons below to share these with your networks.

Photo Credit: macmuc

Using Google Alerts More Effectively

 
Google Alerts are an invaluable tool for monitoring your online presence or a very specific topic. 

The most common use of Google Alerts is staying on top of the Web presence of the most important person in our lives - ME!  And on this increasingly humanized Web, that is certainly a recommended practice to take advantage of positive mentions of your personal brand, and also to manage those negative comments.

The Web is a big place and specificity is the key to effectively using this tool.  Here are some tips for doing that.

Getting Started

The first step in using Google Alerts is to get a gmail address that establishes your Google Account.  Then simply go to Alerts in their menu of services and start setting up the words or phrases that you wished to be informed on.  You have a choice for being informed via email or with an RSS feed to your Google Reader, which you can use more easily with iGoogle.

Use ALL of Your Names

You have more "names" than you may realize.  Traditionally, we think of having a legal name and a nickname.  However, the Internet has created a need for more names that you should also be monitoring.  This includes usernames, addresses, and URL's. 

Because you do not know which name will be indexed, or sometimes which portion, you will be wise to establish a complete system of alerts that aims to go fishing for all them.

Your Name

Mostly I go by Jeff Korhan, but my legal name is Jeffrey J. Korhan, so I have alerts set for both. 

If there happens to be a famous persona that shares your name, use the minus sign to exclude them from the data sent to you.  For example, if your name is Bill Gates.

Set the alert like this in quotes to exclude (subtract) the famous namesake by using an associative term, such as: "Bill Gates - Bill Gates Microsoft." 

Social Media UserName

To simplify your life, it is best to choose one username and stick with it on all of your networks.  Mine is jeffkorhan - which is my name without spaces.  Yet, as far as Google is concerned, that one little space makes a difference.

Twitter UserName

Once again, one little symbol makes a huge difference.  @jeffkorhan is my Twitter username.  The key is to include the @ symbol.

Incidentally, Google is not going to index all of your Tweets.  However, once in a while one gets indexed.  You may as well know which ones those are. 

Website Name

For me this is jeffkorhan.com.  The key is the .com.  Because whether  your URL is indexed as http://, or www, or both together, because they are all contiguous, it is going to be the "yourURL.com" - or whatever extension applies, that distinguishes your site.

Company Name

If you are a small business owner, your personal name and company name are practically synonymous.  Setting alerts for your company name keeps you informed on any mentions on the Web so that you can encourage positive comments, and address any negative  talk.  

Plus, if you happen to have a registered or trademarked name or names, you are obligated to respond to infringing uses to protect your rights. 

Related Names

Related to your work as a small business are the products and services you provide, key customers, your competitors and what they are up to, and industry associations you are a member of.

In this area especially, you will have to discriminate and suspend Alerts if the content gets too overwhelming.  While I do a lot of work in the green industry, there is more content there than I have time to digest, so I discontinued those alerts.

Take a Drink

Google alerts just bring you to the trough of water.  It's up to you to take drink.  The important thing is to click through the indexed links and see where they take you.  When appropriate, make a response.  There is one thing other bloggers appreciate, and that is when a mentioned source shows up to participate in the conversation.

For example, I was recently mentioned in a post by the Social Media Club of France.  I discovered the link through Google Alerts and dropped down an appreciative comment, to which they graciously responded.  You won't see the comments in the link above because they have not yet been indexed.

Going beyond analytics to use Google Alerts for human interaction and building community is the highest use of this sometimes tedious work of monitoring your personal and company brands. 

It Works Fast

So, how fast do Google Alerts work?  This post went live at 11:54 a.m. CDT.  As you can see from the image below, at 12:19 p.m. - just 25 minutes later,  this post was indexed and an email sent to me.  Very nice, huh?!

If you have enjoyed this post, please leave a comment below.  Let me know other topics you would like covered and I'll do my best.  And feel free to use the buttons below to share this post with your community.

Photo Credit: Floeschie

The Risk and Reward of Social Media

Yesterday we had a lively discussion about how to be fearless with your social media marketing, and in the process, to keep getting better every day.

As most of know, the process of getting better occasionally involves some obstacles.  That's the way life works, but it can be managed.  I've recently been observing an example of this through the conversation surrounding a well-known blogger who has stirred up a small controversy with his substantial audience. 

The issue and the blogger are irrelevant, so I will not mention either.  What is relevant is the fact that if you expect to build a substantial fan base or audience for your blog, you are going to have to take some risks.  And along with those risks comes not just the potential reward, but also the occasional heat or fallout.

Let's look at some ways this can be strategically managed to achieve your small business objectives.

Being Agreeable - Low Risk

This is a good strategy if you are just getting started with blogging, or possibly if you are at the peak of your career and have nothing to prove.  In both of those situations, you don't need to or want to be controversial.  This may also be the right approach if you work in a small town or a corporate environment.

You have to decide how much risk you are comfortable with. Naturally, we all want to achieve more.  Although, you had better expect to endure some stress in achieving your lofty goals because you will encounter plenty of people who will challenge you - some for no reason at all, and others because they sincerely want to help you.  It can be difficult to discern between the two.

Agreeing to Disagree - Moderate Risk

When you Agree to Disagree with someone in your target market, you are basically saying you don't agree with them but you would rather not get into a big tussle over it.  You think you are right, and I think I'm right, but for the sake of doing business together, or at least co-existing in the same market, let's just agree to disagree and move on.

The problem with this stance is its not too far removed from Being Agreeable.  You are taking more risk here and as a result, you will occasionally catch a nice wave.  But the street-smart in your market will define you as spineless - someone who will back down as soon as you are challenged. I would rather be known as a pleasant and agreeable blogger, because while there is lower risk and reward, there is also a nobility to knowing who you are.

Taking a Stand - High Risk

This is where most of us are - or think we are.  The true test, of course, is to honestly ask yourself how often you compromise when the current gets a little choppy.  The aforementioned blogger hasn't backed down once.  It doesn't matter if he is right or wrong.  What's important is he has developed a base from which he can back up his position.

That is exactly why this is the wrong approach if you are being controversial just for the effect, which is not uncommon with some youthful bloggers who have scored one success and are emboldened by it.  What they don't realize is the seasoned professionals don't think very much of their irrational exuberance. Why?  The world is littered with one-hit wonders!

Standing the test of time is the ultimate proof.  You will take some heat to get there, but that is also what makes you wiser.  You have built up a legacy through your social media work that backs up your talk. 

The Best Approach

Get clear in advance about what is acceptable and what isn't.  Write it down if you have to.  And have a value system that you live by.  When you get get clear about just those two parameters, you will be very comfortable with your chosen strategy - and the risk that accompanies it.

Knowing that most of us want to accomplish more, I made a decision this week to share what I know on this topic by co-writing a book with a marketing friend.  I will keep you informed on the progress.  However, I can already assure you it will be heavily weighted towards taking the apparent risks - to get the real rewards that come with authenticity. 

Sometimes the true risk is holding back.

Take a chance, you only live once.

Photo Credit:  Holotone

Using Video to Sell Creatively

Relationships Selling

When most of us think of using video on the social networks, it is often with the vision of having that video go viral.  Not that we necessarily want to be worldwide celebrities - or do we? 

That's exactly what can hold you back. If it happens, that's wonderful and something to celebrate. Until then, think about what's important here.  You just want to be known in your market.   

Today I was ready to turn a proposal loose to a new client.  At the last minute I realized that taking an extra 15 minutes to shoot a 2 minute video introduction for anyone who might be involved in the decision-making process would be a good idea.  Is it worth that to get the business?  You know it is.  

We're talking about relationships here.  You obviously cannot develop a relationship with a video, but you can help give someone a glimpse into your personality - what it may be like to work with you.  That is something you cannot do in words.  And that is a powerful use of social media.   

How It's Done

When I tried to load up the aforementioned video to YouTube, I discovered (for the first time) that YouTube was down.   So, I strolled on over to Vimeo.  For one thing, I know the quality of a video presentation is better with Vimeo.  It may not have the audience of YouTube, but the quality is exceptional.

What I didn't know is their system of password protecting a video is very nice indeed.  With just one click they will email the link of your video, along with your personal message and the necessary password to view it.

Time to Think Better

There is tendency among marketers to think bigger - we are trained to reach for more customers.  While social media can help you with that, it also is ideal for helping you to better communicate with that small circle of prospects and customers that know you, that understand you, and are therefore more likely to do business with you.  

There is an energy to marketing.  You know it and I know it.  However, at some point you need to get off of the energy train and focus on the opportunities that are right in front of you.

You understand the tools. Just consider how you can use them to more effectively get results now. 

When we have access to the same tools, and similar skills for using them, it is often creativity that separates us.

You've got that creativity.  How can you use it to differentiate your business?

Photo Credit: Scott Kinmartin

Why So Many Bloggers Quit

Because they do not understand the process. 

The reason they do not understand the process is they do not trust it.  They don't trust it because they cannot see how it works.   When you cannot see, you get impatient.  And the more impatient one gets, the more you fight for control.  Before long, you stop fighting and quit.

The Hidden Element

During the early days of computing we referred to computers as a black box because we could not fathom what was going on inside of that unit.  All we knew is that mysteriously something called software made it work.  We had to trust that software to do its job.

The blogger is the software. 

That human element is what makes it work.  And for it to work, you have to trust it.

Unrealistic Expectations

Successful bloggers will tell you that their success took much longer than they expected.  Yet, they persisted because they believed in what they were doing.  They accepted the fact that they might only help a few people.  Then  somehow it all magically started to click, seemingly overnight.

There is a tipping point to every blog.

All of your work is cumulative.  You have to keep building value for your market until you hit that critical mass.  Progress will be slow, but if you keep learning working, you'll get closer.

A Need for Control

With virtually every form of traditional marketing, including Internet marketing, size seems to matter.  Size and power combine to create a desire to control.   Blogging resists every effort to control it.  Sure, you can control the technology to some extent, but it is that human element again that dictates whether or not your message will go viral.  You have to coax that.

Blogs are like flowing water - difficult to control, but very powerful once they get moving.

The way I see this, you have three choices.

1.  Quit

2.  Resist

3.  Trust the process.

If you choose number 3, you will join the tribe that smiles when it blogs, because they know. 

My Favorite Social Media Action Tools

Listening may be the most valuable social media activity for your business.  However, listening is a form of learning that only matters if you then take action.

In this time of information overload, you have to grab information when you see it- so that you can take action when you need to.  These are my favorite tools for applying what I learn from the social networks - or any source.  I hope you find them useful in your business.

Checkvist

Checkvist is one of my favorite tools for staying focused. It's an online, collaborative tool that is easy to use.  And most importantly, it's simple and fast.  That's why I like it. 

You all know what a checklist is.  Checkvist is more than an online checklist that you can access from any computer, including your iPhone.  It's really a means of instantly cataloging all of those ideas that you must get done now, should get done soon, or will get done when you get around to it.  I maintain a list for each one of those categories.

My favorite Checkvist tool is their bookmarklet in my Firefox browser toolbar.  One click opens a small screen that allows me to plug an item into the appropriate list for taking action later.  You don't even have to wait the few additional nanoseconds to open the list, but that is an option.   

Imagine a project you have to complete next month. As ideas randomly come to mind, just tuck them away in a list for later action.  Then when you have to get the job done, its a snap. Here's a post that will explain how I use Checkvist to collaborate with clients.

Evernote

Evernote grabs urls and even complete Web pages with one click.  You use tags to organize these notes, and that makes them easily findable.

Evernote also has an iPhone app that makes your notes portable.  This works outside of business too.  When I go to my favorite sushi restaurant, I note which of their creations I enjoyed most so that I can enjoy them again.  Maybe you can remember Mango Tango, Green Turtle, and Tokyo Style maki, but I can't. 

Today Problogger posted a great page on SEO for blogs.  I'll study it when I have time, including all of the associated SEO links.  For now, it's safely tucked away in Evernote.

Twitter Favorites

The social networks move fast.  If you see a useful idea, save it.  On Twitter, just make full use of the favorites option.  Click on that star beside any Tweet and you have secured a resource that you won't have to spend 20 minutes searching for when you need it.

Typepad Links

I'm not sure what is available on Wordpress, but here on Typepad I get analytics that I can click through to see who is appreciating the work I put into this blog.  My action step is to acknowledge that through a Tweet or Facebook comment. Now I've not only made a new friend, but have also learned what is resonating with someone in my target market.

Library Card

Yes, I'm serious.  This may seem old school, but often we learn of a great book from the social networks.  Then our thriftiness kicks in and we fail to take action.  You don't have to buy every book you read. Take advantage of this free resource to learn more about the experts in your field.

I can take action with my local library by placing an online hold on a book. Think of this as another bookmarking tool that captures a valuable resource that you can explore later.

Moleskine

I've saved the low-tech solution for last.  Ideas are transient.  You need to keep a journal of some kind with you at all times to capture inspirational thoughts.  Today I spoke with Trent, an honors student at my alma mater who connected with me through the Miami University LinkedIn group.  He asked me how I maintain a steady stream of ideas for my daily blog posts. 

My response was from daily conversations with customers - and people like him.  I jot them down into my Moleskine notebook.  They have countless styles and sizes, and all of them are very affordable. Plus, writing is an action itself that tends to imprint a seed of an idea.  You can not only make notes, but draw, associate, and otherwise let those ideas grow.

The only thing left to do is to take action.

Photo Credit: seanmcgrath

Why Your Marketing Needs Video

For one thing, it's so easy even a high school kid can do it.

It's Happening

The New York Times published this article today that shows you that video is becoming a viable communication tool for college applicants.  Why?  It only takes a $100 camcorder, a little bit of ingenuity, and a commitment to getting it done.  Plus, it's fun!

Video is engaging.  It shows us your personality.  And when you combine it with words that elaborate further, you have a rich-media experience that comes awfully close to the real thing.  The video above is one excellent student submission for application into Tufts University.

This my friends is what social media is all about!

I'm not surprised that colleges are accepting videos as part of application process.  In fact, last fall I suggested to my son Zak that he should consider starting a blog so that he could point to it from one of his essays - something to give more texture to his application.  He started alright.  Though, like many others, he just didn't stick with it.  

What's interesting is Zak has created several video and audio pieces for different school projects throughout this senior year that could easily be worked into more descriptive blog posts.  I'm hoping this gives you an idea that social media marketing isn't a project - it's a process.  One that if you get going with it will eventually merge with your daily activities.  That's the idea.  It represents you to your customers - as you really are.

In case you haven't started your blog yet, take a look at Zak's.  It took us 30 minutes to build on Typepad.  That's it.  So what are you waiting for?

The System is Ripe for This

Are colleges and universities ready for this?  I can only tell you that Zak applied to major universities, mostly in the Big Ten, and it still seems that test scores (the ACT and SAT) and grade point averages (GPA) still rule - if not 100%.  He put a great deal of time into his essays, and had a lot of fun doing it, but I seriously doubt they matter just yet. 

If those essays really matter, it begs the question: Why are Honors Programs and Academic Scholarships still based solely on test scores and GPA?   If college is intended to develop well-rounded young adults, shouldn't we be measuring that at the start? 

Kudos to Tufts for at least introducing this into the process.  But, we need to see more participation. 

Think about this; we applaud great film directors, actors, and musicians every year at the Academy Awards and the Grammys, but we still cling to a standardized academic system that largely ignores their emerging talents.

Now ask the same question from the point of view of your customers.

Are they just interested in results, or in a complete experience of working with a company that personalizes the process, makes it interesting, and fun?

Get to Know the New Google

Google is Much More Than Search

Google is proving again and again that they will continue to be a force on the Web.  As a small business owner, I tend to cheer for entrepreneurs and small businesses, not behemoths like Google.  However, as this Web continues to evolve, Google is proving they are very capable at staying in touch with, and occasionally even leading the trends, with the recent introduction of Google Buzz being a prime example.

10 Google Tools You Should Know

1. Gmail

Even if you don't use Gmail regularly, it is handy to have a Web based email service, just in case your server or other email services go down. 

Gmail is more than email.  Your Gmail address is essentially your username into the array of Google's services.  For this reason, get in there and claim usernames that match the ones you are using on the other social services.  In fact, I recommend locking several of them up to have a few spares.

I only use gmail for my Facebook account.  So, all of those notices get read separately when I have stepped out of my business mode, or when the work is done.

2. Google Alerts

You absolutely need to be setting Google Alerts to monitor your company's brand, your personal reputation, and your markets.  I use a few paid Web-monitoring services, but this one is completely free.

3. Google Profile

Your Google Profile is practically a mini-website that brings in the feeds of nearly all of your social media networks, while also providing a profile that helps you to promote you and your business using images, maps, links, and more.  And because Google owns it, it gets ranked high in the search rankings.  Here's my profile to give you an example.

4. Google Buzz

This one is brand new.  Some of us are not sure what to make of Google Buzz.  However, it is becoming apparent that it is an emerging social networking tool that will be a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook. 

This makes perfect sense because while Google has tried to play ball with Facebook, they have largely shut Google out.  What did Google do? They set the stage last year by encouraging all of us to add our social network feeds to our  Google Profiles.  Now they have made a strong link between those profiles and Google Buzz.

What's their plan?  To make Google Buzz your social media hub!  I'm still trying to figure out how it can work, but for now it looks like it is here to stay.

5.  Google Wave

Google Wave was the latest Google tool just before Buzz.  While it has been slow getting off the ground, I'm using it more to collaborate with my tech savvy colleagues.

Brian Birch, an executive with the Snow and Ice Management Association and I are using it to brainstorm for an upcoming webinar we will be doing for Engage365, an online community for increasing awareness, attendance, and effectiveness of conferences and meetings.

I think Google Wave is still in beta and you need an invitation to try it out.  I have some, so if need one just leave a comment on this blog with your email, or somehow get in touch with me and I'll send it to you.

6. Google Docs

Google Docs is another collaborative tool where you share documents.  Many prefer it over Google Wave because it has more structure.  It minimizes emails and makes it easy to ensure everyone is working with the one current version of a document - without confusion.  Being Web-based, you can access your docs from any computer.

There is a good chance that once Brian and I flesh out our webinar outline and move it into a Powerpoint format, we'll take our collaboration over to Google Docs.  You can also create forms in Google Docs to capture data from your blog subscribers that goes right into a spreadsheet.

7. and 8.  Google Reader and iGoogle

Google Reader is the easiest way to manage multiple blog subscriptions without cluttering up you email inbox.  iGoogle is a platform that can host most of these Google services, including Google Reader.  I use iGoogle as my home page because it makes the Reader easier to use.  This blog post explains with videos how to use Google Reader with iGoogle.

9. Google Local Business

This service is a must if you have a physical location where you do most of your business.   As other social networks like Foursquare become less about entertainment and more about functionality, Google Local Business will become even more powerful. 

Here's a post that details how to use Google Local Business to grow you business in tight economies like this one.

10. Google Calendar

There are many other Google services that you may find useful.  I also use Google Calendar, which is Google's ical or web-based calendar that keeps me current with my personal bills.  It has a drop down menu that shows what's coming up so I don't get surprised.  Because it's Web-based, I can send it to my iPhone.

There are many other Google services that you may find useful, such as their Talk, Adwords, Analytics, and Voice.  I foresee big things for Google Voice, which is why I reserved my number months ago.  I just have not yet taken the time to explore its use. 

Needless to say there is a lot Google has to offer.  The main thing is to be aware of what's out there. 

If you don't do anything else, at least snag your preferred gmail addresses while they are still available.  If you operate a business, I would suggest Google Alerts is also on the 'must do' list.

Beyond that, just get familiar with these and know they can really help make your business more transportable by making it more web-based. 

Photo Credit:  Tashland

One Funny Customer Relationship Metric

My accountant has taken care of my tax returns for over twenty years.  During that stretch we have been through a lot together.   I did some work for him when I owned my contracting business, and he has done plenty of work for me, including successfully navigating an extensive IRS audit that involved all of my businesses. 

If you are actively involved with your customers, you get to know them well.  We call this engagement on the social networks.  This relationship building process takes time.  There aren't any shortcuts.  It is a process of discovering what works and what doesn't. 

After you achieve a certain level of trust, everything is easy.  You take it all in stride.

When I did that landscape work for Scott's new home, everything worked out great.  Then he hired me to do the maintenance to keep everything looking sharp.  After a few years he just had me deliver materials and he provided his own labor.  Over time, he did it all himself.  I thought he was a bit thrifty, but I figured it was part of his DNA.  He's an accountant!

My landscape and snow-plowing businesses were sold a couple of years ago.  The timing was perfect, as the following year was a tough one for most contractors.  Although, it hasn't been bad at all lately for snow contractors.  It seems everyone is getting snow.

It takes time to shut down a business, but the expenses seem to keep rolling in from longstanding commitments.  That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see this "Recession Discount" on the invoice from Scott for preparing the tax returns.

A year later I am focused on only one business - helping entrepreneurs and small businesses with their online marketing through speaking, consulting and some new information products and services that are in the making.  Despite the recession 2009 turned out to be a year I was proud of, and that was my goal - to the letter.   

This year is shaping up well, so I gave Scott a visit last week to get my 2009 returns done so I can stay focused on work.  Everything went much more smoothly this year thanks to some new relationships and services, such as Shoeboxed, that are helping to keep me organized. 

Nevertheless, and this is most important, I reminded this thrifty CPA to be sure to include my recession discount again.  He did that, while also sending me a message that speaks volumes about our relationship.

How do you know you have a strong business relationship with someone?  When its not all business.  When you can kid around with them as your would any other friend.

Humor is another form of trust.  There is risk with humor, so it is only used when the relationship allows for it.  It doesn't include numbers, but it is a valuable metric that you can have confidence in.

And it makes any relationship stronger.

Two Words of Brillance

Ship it!

This is a brilliant way of reminding yourself to get something done.  Here's why.

You Feel Good About Yourself

When you get something done, you feel good about yourself.  This predisposes you to getting more done.

We all procrastinate.  In some cases we do so because we can, and in other cases because we fear consequences, whether we admit to them or not.  Just ship it.

Your Progress is Easier

You may be thinking this sounds a lot like "getting it done."  Yes, it does.  The problem with getting it done, for many of us, is it is negative programming. 

It reminds us of overbearing teachers or parents that pressured us, instead of guiding us to use our own initiative, which would have allowed us to feel good about ourselves. Ship it paints a picture in your mind that makes progress easier.

You Are More Likely To Remember

Tonight I attended my son Zak's banquet to celebrate his achievement of the Eagle Scout rank. That's him just below the keynote speaker with his head cocked and a strange look in his eye!

Zak shared this honor with 357 other young men from the area.  Most people know the Eagle Scout rank is the highest accomplishment a Boy Scout can achieve, and it is the result of years of accomplishments and building skills that they will use the rest of their lives. 

Significant projects, achievements, and other milestones are memorable because hard work was applied that resulted in a positive result.  The final step is shipping.  We forget about the hard work and the challenges, but we remember that we shipped.

The idea of shipping is not mine.  I learned it from reading Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin.  You've heard me talk about it before.  I promise this will be the last time as I've finished it, and will be starting a new book tomorrow. However, I encourage you to check it out. Here's the link to get Linchpin from Amazon.

I'm sure they'll be happy to ship it to you!

How To Attract the Right Customers with Social Media

Just be honest.

Some people will like your message, and others won't. That's OK, because you are only interested in the ones that do. 

Brutally Honest

My friend Dr Marc Swerdlick is a brilliant marketer - but his message is not for everyone.  And that is exactly why he is so successful as a marketer, and as a small business owner.  He doesn't compromise.  He doesn't water down his message to attract a larger audience. 

When you know Dr Marc personally, you understand his brash style of marketing reflects exactly who he is.  He's not trying be controversial; he just is.  Many are offended by his style.  And many others laud his pragmatic approach because it has helped them to get results.  Customers choose what they like.

One Size Doesn't Fit All

If you blog long enough, you will get comments that your content is either too general or too specific.  This is the Goldilocks syndrome.  It's never just right! 

You will be appreciated most when you do what you believe is right. That's all you can do.  Great artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan understood this. That's honesty.

There is a range of capabilities and experience with any group, market, or audience.  And it is easy to respond to that by adjusting your message.  When you do that, everyone loses - both you and your customers.

Yesterday my post gave my 27 favorite blogging tips.  I wrote them for those that were saying I don't give enough practical steps for getting results.  I could have given them 101 tips!  I get them, because when I sit in on presentations by those that do what I do, I am often thinking that while they may know a lot about what works for them, I need to know how to get results with my business. 

One size doesn't fit all.  Having consulted with many small businesses, I can assure you they are all different - different markets, different capabilities, and different goals.  That is why I try help my audience understand the larger picture so that they can then better help themselves - without me, by learning with me.

Help the Ones You Can Help

I can't help everyone and neither can you.  Your style, your message, and your experience will only work with those that you understand, and that understand you.  

Read Seth Godin's new book - Linchpin.  He covers at length those fears that we all deal with that compromise our work.  And he provides some great insights and practical tips for exorcising those demons.

If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner who wants to learn how to use social media well, I believe you are at the right place - one of them anyway.

Stick around for a while.  Subscribe to this blog and I will help you to enhance your Web visibility, enhance your reputation, and attract more of the right customers.

The ones that are right for you.

Photo Credit: Mimax

My 27 Favorite Blogging Tips

Ideas, Organization, and Writing (1-13)

Links and Tags (14-19)

Comments and Community (20-27)

1. Don't force an idea.  If it's not happening, that idea is not ready.  Move on to another.
2. Trust yourself and the idea will come.
3. Shorter is always better.  This means titles, sentences, paragraphs, and the entire post.  The more you work at it, the easier it gets.  This gives us a speedier read - pure content!
4. Everyone loves lists.  Just don't fall into the "list-mania" trap. Use it sparingly.
5. Complete the loop.  I like to have my final thought tie in with the initial one.  It feels complete to me, as opposed to being a fragment of a conversation.
6. Start in the middle.  We don't need a long-winded lead in.  Cut out anything that doesn't add to your story.
7. Write with a purpose. My formula is to tell a story that has a learning purpose. 
8. Break your posts into short and easy to read paragraphs.  A fast read is better than none.
9. Keep a log of ideas that you occasionally glance at.  As you know, sometimes you get your best ideas in the shower!  If you have already written the core idea down, your mind will fill in the details over time.  
10. Do it again!  Good ideas never go out of style.  If you can clarify with new information, you are serving your audience, especially the new readers. We all need a reminder once in a while to take action.
11. Change up your how you present your ideas.  Use images, videos, audio, and screenshots.  Try lists, a series, interviews and commentaries.
12. Get emotional.  It humanizes your content.  Just try not to rant, unless that is your thing.
13. Organize your posts into sections or categories to make them more digestible.
14. Ping.fm will post to multiple sites with just one click.  And now that Seesmic purchased Ping, it is sure to become even more functional.
15. Tbuzz creates a shortened bit.ly link with one push from the bookmarklet in your Firefox browser. Or you can use bit.ly to benefit from the analytics.
16. Linking to your previous blog posts encourages more click-throughs.  Set-up a Google search for your site to quickly find the links through keywords.
17. When your create links, be mindful of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Never create a link that says: Click here.  Use your keywords for the link.
18. Don't use a shortened url for a link when that link is invisible.  My reason for this is you never know if a link a shortened link will work in a few years if the company goes out of business.  Shortened links are for the social media sites. 
19. Tag your posts for your audience and yourself.  It makes finding a post much easier with that Google search.
20. Encourage comments.  Recently Chris Brogan asked everyone who had never commented to do so.  He encouraged nearly 1000 comments, which even for him is easily 10 times the usual!  This has to be some kind of record.  A very cool idea.
21. Read the blogs of people that comment.  It builds community and a greater depth of understanding.
22. Set up an account with Disqus.  This ensures your image and blog or website links are automatically included with you comment on other blogs.
23. When you get an insightful comment, write the next post from that idea.  More community building!
24. Build expectations.  When I started blogging in 2006, I blogged every Friday and included video. Now I blog daily.  However you do it, we just need an idea of when to tune-in to your channel.
25. Subscribe to blogs you enjoy with Google Reader.  Then embed that into iGoogle for a quick - at-a-glance view of what's happening with other blogs in your community.
26. Keep the faith. Google is always reading your blog, which means others will get the same opportunity when they happen upon that link.
27. Blog for your audience.  Show them you understand them, that you care about them, and that your blog is not about you - rather its by you for them.

  Now its your turn to share your your favorites with a comment.

The Highest Use of Your Blog

multiplies your ability to better serve your market.

A few days ago I was talking with a new client.   In our brief conversation regarding the social media strategy for his green industry business, he casually mentioned a specific concern that was the inspiration for my previous post on managing negative comments on the Web.

That post generated a surprising level of interest, on a weekend no less, which reminded me to share with you how I use my blog for its highest use.  While I have previously written about what you should blog about, today I will give you specific methods that you are probably familiar with, but that you may not have developed into a productive blogging strategy.

Listen

Your prospects and customers are a rich source of information that can help you serve them better - provided you are willing to take action.  Your customers presumably share the same issues, concerns, and problems.  Yet, only a few of them will truthfully open up and share their feelings with you.  This is one of the challenges with direct-selling.

One generally underused means of acquiring this information is through online surveys.  You may be able to get more reliable feedback by experimenting with acknowledging the participants identity and keeping them anonymous.  Compare the results and the response rate. Then compare those results with what your clients are telling you in casual conversation. 

One reason I am an advocate of comparing and tracking is that it is easy for a small business with a generally small client base to make false assumptions.  It's easy to assume the minority of vocal clients represent the whole.  It's also easy to assume all of your clients will tell you the truth.   Why would they lie?  A couple of reasons include protecting your feelings and their ego or reputation. 

Have you ever had a client tell you how good you are and then switch to a competitor without warning?  Often the reason is you were not listening.  Or you did listen but didn't take action.

Take Action

Use your blog as an extension of your conversations to show your clients how you can solve the problems you believe are the most relevant.  If it is indeed a relevant problem, you have now enhanced your credibility in a number of ways.  You have demonstrated you are a listener who takes action, and you have provided proof of your capabilities to other customers who may share that same problem.

This may even result in previously silent customers stepping forward to acknowledge your wisdom, which builds your relationship with them, and every other customer who happens to be reading.

Learn

Your blog provides you with incredibly valuable information that you cannot get anywhere else, and certainly not at the low cost of free.   The beauty of blog analytics is they are more likely to be valid because the audience is invisible  They have no reason to give you anything other than the unvarnished truth.  Look for spikes in your traffic and analyze the heck out of them.  Then look for patterns with the posts that created those spikes.

When you are blogging, you are not going to hit the mark as often as you you will wish.  This is why it pays to blog as often as possible.  I find that I consistently score well with every 3 to 4 posts, and exceptionally well about every 7 or eight.  That means I hit a home run nearly every week, which may be every year or so for the undisciplined blogger.  The simple lesson is you have to both listen and take consistent action.

All of this may seem to be tedious, and it can be.  What keeps me interested is the thrill of the hunt.  I love the challenge of helping my customers and those future customers in my market.  If that is tedious and boring for you, then maybe you should switch from the marketing department to something more exciting like accounting.  :)

Photo Credit:  Zoltan Papp

Managing Negative Comments on the Web

starts with being the first to find them.

You will eventually find an an unflattering comments made about you or your work.  In virtually every situation, those comments can be managed. 

Most of them are the result of a misunderstanding.  And once in a while, you run into someone that loves to throw stones.  Regardless of the reason, the prescription is the same.

Be the First on the Scene

It is surprising how many businesses do not take advantage of Google Alerts to monitor their personal Web reputation, and that of their business.  When you do this, you can be the first on the scene to make an appropriate response.   And speed is of the essence when your reputation is at stake.

Being first on the scene gives you authority, just as it does the eye-witness of an accident.  You have the chance to shape future opinion and stop an errant commenter in their tracks.

Build a Strong Base

When you build a base of information that helps a community, it creates a body of knowledge that continues to grow over time to strengthen your reputation.  Reasonable people, and especially your fans,  will always weigh this against a solitary comment to draw the logical conclusion. 

You have earned your reputation, and one little scratch is not going to bring it tumbling down.  If you handle this well, you will find that it can actually enhance your reputation, because it gives you the opportunity to use the situation to reinforce your credibility.  Treat it as an opportunity! 

Diffuse

Suggest to the commenter that they do not have a complete understanding of the situation.  And above all, never be defensive.  I like to start with affirming their perspective.  "I can understand how one (not you) may come to that conclusion if they were not familiar with ...."  Just fill in the blank with the content that clarifies why one could come to that unfounded conclusion.  You've just provided an out that allows them to save face.

Even better is to start off your response by thanking them.  Why?  They are giving you the opportunity to address a concern that others probably have.  Now you have potentially turned the other silent naysayers who may have agreed with the negative comment into fans - or at least interested followers.

Clarify

It is usually not appropriate to give a lengthy or self-important response.  Sometimes people are venting and you just happened to be the recipient.  It is often best to keep your response short and to the point.  Writing lengthy paragraphs makes you appear defensive - and that just fans the flames.

Inquire

This can be risky, but if you have confidence in your community, end your response with an open-ended question to encourage a response from your community.  Just don't ask them if they agree with you - ask them what they think.  If your community does not agree with you, then you need to respond again to further illuminate the truth.

Illuminate

Most situations will never come to this.  However, sometimes you will need to create a blog post that consolidates all of the information on the topic and adds new perspectives from additional research.  In other words, use your blog to create an informal  'press release' that articulates an upbeat and clever response that gets everybody feeling good again. 

This also gives you the opportunity to create something that you can point to should there be further discussion down the road.  Rumors and innuendo can spread and arise at the worst time.  When you have this in your back pocket, you can calmly refer everyone to it and go about your business with aplomb.   

Let it Go

Once everyone feels the topic has been fully exercised, be the first one to let it go.  Rest your case.  Some people love a fight.  Skillful negotiators will always tell you that it takes two to fight.  Your approach shapes the environment.  Whether you are respectful, professional, casual, or humorous, that is the type of conversation you will tend to encourage.

You choose.

By the way, when a negative comment comes from someone with an avatar image that is other than their own, such as a cartoon character, discount them, because others will do the same.  They will challenge your reputation, even though they are not willing be be 100% authentic by putting a face on their social media presence.

Photo Credit:  compujeramey

The Only Writing and Speaking Tip You Need

Trust yourself and the right words will come.

We are Different, and the Same

Today I had a conversation with a green industry peer about how to speed up the process of writing a good quality blog post.

I had a similar conversation with my son Zak about giving his next presentation in his high school speech class without notes.

And to be honest, even though I speak professionally, I have to remind myself of this in preparation for my speech to tree care professionals tomorrow.  Yep, I get anxious before a big talk - and sometimes even a small writing project.

Learn, then Forget

Here is a post I wrote on speed blogging.  There are links in there to several other sources.  This will help you to build your skills.  But that isn't what I'm talking about here.  You can have all the skills in the world and still struggle.  You actually have to learn to go beyond those skills.  You have to trust.

If you sweat the details, seek perfection, and do all of the things you and I were trained to do through our formal education, then you still may fall short of your capabilities.  I'm suggesting you may want to learn to forget - not what you know, but how you apply what you know.

Here is a personal example that may help you.

Get in the Groove

I have some time this evening to practice more for my presentation tomorrow - and I will.  However, I am confident I know the material.  I just need to get off to a good start and I will be fine.  More practice is just going to wind me up and increase the anxiety.  So what is my secret? I'm doing it now.  Blogging!

I discovered by accident that writing settles me down before a presentation.  What works for you?  What will help you hammer out your blog posts in record time. It may be as simple as the right piece of inspirational music that gets you jazzed. 

Give it a try.

But more importantly, learn to trust yourself. 

My friend shared this quote from Mark Twain that is insightful and humorous - and true.

" I know my worrying pays off and helps fix things because any problem I worry about never comes about!"

Photo Credit:  WallyG

The Science of Viral Messaging

Microbiology is the study of viruses - the real ones.  It can provide some insights into creating a viral message on the social media networks.

Strength and Vitality

When you grow a virus in the laboratory, your first have to start with a healthy sample.  This seed virus has to be strong, just as your message has to be strong.  Much of the noise on the social networks is devoid of original content.  It has been repurposed so many times that the original value was lost long ago. 

The surest way to be relevant is to be good.  If you aren't sure, compare your work to those in your space that are building authority. 

As with anything else in this world, usefulness to a targeted audience is a measure of the strength of your content.  When you are creating any kind of content, whether it be written, video or audio, it has to be well crafted, and also serve a vital need of a specific community.  For tips on doing this well, check out the Best Of tab of this blog.

Proper Medium to Grow

A virus will only grow in an appropriate medium that has the proper nutrients to feed the virus.  Without this, everything stops.  For our purposes of social networking or marketing, this means choosing the right channels or networks - and tracking your results. 

If the source of your content is a blog, then this is easily accomplished.  Click on those links to see where they lead.  As for networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, consider the audience and how well they represent your targeted market.  If the response rate if low, you may have the wrong channel.

Ideal Environment

One of the standard procedures behind laboratory experiments is to control the variability of the environment to determine how it affects the results.  What's too hot and what's too cold?  You need to test to find out?  It is just like those Bud Light television commercials.  You don't want to be too heavy or too light.

What does environment translate to on the social networks?   Consider the time of day, day of the week, or even the concurrent buzz of other news.  Contrary to what others may suggest, I have found that posting at night can be very effective.  This is a global platform.  Late night in the US can be approaching prime time in the UK.  Which is exactly when this post is going to hit the Web.

A Catalyst

Even when the medium and environmental conditions are just right, the results may be only average.  A catalyst can make the difference.  A reTweet by an influential member of your community can do wonders to set your message on its viral journey.

Unfortunately, this is where many people start.  They are looking for the shortcut, the quick fix, the magic bullet.  It is highly unlikely that you will get a favorable nod from a top blogger in the form of a link, comment, or reTweet if your content isn't strong.  Focus on quality and the rest will happen on its own time.

While going viral seems to be a random occurrence, there really is a science behind it.

You just have to study it, work at it, and believe in what you are doing enough to do it well.

Photo Credit: PNNL

Back-Up Your Blog

Or risk losing thousands of hours of inspiration, perspiration, and motivation.

Today I deleted two blogs.  It was tough to do this because these blogs were my foray into the world of blogging.  However, both were specific to my landscape business, which I sold two years ago next week.  And while I extensively speak and consult to the green industry, from a subject matter standpoint, this blog is where my focus is.

Deleting those blogs was just as easy as deleting a document.  One push to get to the "Are you sure?" level, and then one more to get rid of them forever.  I did the same with the RSS feeds at Feedburner, which was equally scary.  Why? 

I just wanted to be absolutely certain that this blog - jeffkorhan.com, is here for as long as I'm on this planet, and maybe longer.  So, that got me thinking about safeguarding my inspiration and hard work.  After all, this blog is my legacy of hard work.

Back It Up

Do yourself a favor - back up your blog.  And then back that back-up to the cloud.  I personally find Jungledisk to be a joy to use.  Unlike other Web based back-up services such as Mozy, Jungledisk is a virtual hard-drive.  This means you get your data back within minutes.  With Mozy and others like it, plan on approximately 4 hours or more.  That just isn't acceptable if I have a crisis just before a presentation.

WordPress Back-Up

Sometime soon I am going to write a post that will give an objective side-by-side comparison of the blogging platform I use and recommend, which is TypePad, and the other one with legions of fans - WordPress.  I use both now, as I'm a guest blogger on several WordPress platforms.  I will write that post after I build a WordPress blog next week, which will allow me to objectively compare with the dozens of TypePad blogs I've built.

Let's first look at the method for backing up a WordPress blog.  (Click on both images to enlarge.)

This is step one of approximately ten necessary steps.  While it is laid out very clearly, you can see from the sidebar that you will still have to answer questions related to SQL, plug-ins, and things like that.  If you don't know what those are, then you get my point.   

Most important is what is written at the top of this screenshot.  "It is strongly recommended you back-up your blog at regular intervals and before an upgrade."  As you can imagine, you can actually lose all of your data when making an upgrade to your Wordpress blog, which is something you have to do to stay ahead of viruses and the like.

I covered this in detail after Mashable broke a trending story on a WordPress virus last year.  Here's my post recommending Wordpress users take action.

TypePad Back-Up

As you may have surmised, I prefer TypePad.  I don't have to worry about upgrades or viruses.  TypePad takes care of that.  Better yet, the procedure for backing up your TypePad blog is extremely simple. 

You push one button and that's it!  You are presented with a .txt file that you then save to your hard drive.  As long as you do that every now and then, Jungledisk automatically takes care of the rest. 

 
Furthermore, you can see it is also a simple matter to import your blog to TypePad.  If you decide to do so, please click on the banner on the bottom of the center blue column of this blog to get a free 14 day Typepad trial.  Yes, I get a commission if you sign up.

I suppose that is my reward for recommending a blog platform that will make your blogging life a little easier --

And safer.

What Social Media can Learn from Television

Television and social media are two mediums that share some remarkable similarities, and at least one major difference.  Looking back at the evolution of the television networks may give you some insights into where the social media networks are going, and how you can plan now for the inevitable.

Free Never Lasts

In the '50's and '60's, the early days of television, everything was free.   Advertisers paid for the programming that you received for free.  Then, in the '70's, cable television gained greater acceptance.  There was no advertising, but you had to pay for the programming.  And we all gladly paid for it because it was a dream to be able to watch commercial-free programming. 

We are still in the stage of free programming with the social media networks. However, there is a shift in the social media winds that tells me we cannot expect this party to last forever.  We are already seeing Rupert Murdoch pushing back on free access to The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.   These are the pure news sites. But don't be surprised if some entertainment sites such as ESPN.com follow suit.

What about the social sites that provide you with news, entertainment, and education.  These include monsters like Facebook, YouTube, and even Twitter.  Do you think they are going to be free forever?  I don't.  The better they get, the more likely there will be a charge to use their service. 

Facebook now has 400 million users.  Let's say they start charging $1/month - and in the process lose 50% of their user base - which is unlikely.  They just picked up $200,000,000/month, or 2.4 BILLION dollars a year.  You have to see that coming, don't you think?

The People Difference

Social media is quickly becoming the medium of choice for many of us.  The news is better, the entertainment is better, and the flexibility is better.  Television is very inflexible.  It's one feed that you cannot adjust.  You can only turn it off or on, like an RSS feed.  And depending upon how deep your pockets are, you have only so many channels you can switch to.

Human beings love interaction, connectivity, and engagement.  For this reason, I believe some of the social media networks will be able to pull off much more than the television networks were able to. Nevertheless, it is a slippery slope to start charging for what has "traditionally" been free. 

I keep coming back to the human connection that social media gives us.  That's powerful, and I believe will be the critical factor in how the social media networks charge for their services.  You should consider the same.  You should think about what you plan to give away and what you should (or can) charge for.  Even if you never charge, this is a good exercise to get a better handle on your true value.

I guarantee you that the investors in the social networks are searching for lessons from television.  Look at your own behavior.  When the programming on TV sucks, don't you jump on Facebook or Twitter?  Social media is a powerful medium.  It gives us choices we didn't have before, and that raises its value. 

And You

Will you start charging for readership of your blog?  Let me rephrase that.  Would you like to get paid for the wisdom and hard work that goes into building a blog that delivers value to your readers?  Or is it better to repurpose that information into other formats that you can profit from?

I subscribe to about 20 blogs that I receive a great deal of value - and enjoyment from.  The more traditional looking they become, and the larger that subscriber base gets, the more I suspect they will start mining that subscriber base.  And those massive numbers are what will make this possible, because that will allow them to charge a reasonable rate that will still generate some serious income.

As for the rest of us, we'll have to continue making our income elsewhere. 

For me, my work as a professional speaker is my paid-for-programming.  And just like the better social networks, my speaking is part news, part entertainment, and part education, which is one reason I get paid for it.  Another reason is it is extremely targeted for a specific audience.

Nevertheless, be advised that the major players in the social networks are sending signals that they will soon be getting serious about monetizing. 

Just in case, maybe you should consider how you can do the same.

If you have enjoyed this post, consider pushing it to your networks, subscribing to the feed, or leaving an interesting comment.

Photo Credit:  Luke Redmond

The Simplest Social Media Strategy

involves the application of two skills: Attention and Intention.

Attention

Are you noticing any changes in the social networks?  I am.  I'm noticing that it is very quiet on Twitter.  This may seem like an odd thing to say because the number of people using Twitter it is huge.  However, unlike when it was young, Twitter is becoming so crowded with business messages looking to go viral that there is very little conversation. 

You can notice a lot if you use your attention.  Then you can adjust your strategy, and possibly put more effort into other networks.  That conversation on the early Twitter is exactly why I was able to achieve what I did back then. 

Now I'm giving more thought to LinkedIn.  This is where I recommend anyone new to social media should get started.  Although, I have to admit I haven't used it much over the years.  Lately, however, the functionality of LinkedIn has improved, and I'm finding more ways to engage with like-minded colleagues.

Look around and experiment a little.  I'm thinking of starting a LinkedIn group to work in conjunction with a new series with this blog on the small business challenges that many of us share.  I'm still not quite sure how I can be most effective, so I'm keeping my attention on it, with the intention of making it work.

Intention

When you make a commitment to accomplish a result, and you stick to your commitments, two things happen.  First, you tend to achieve your objective.  But more importantly, you tend to grow, which makes the next goal that much easier.

Whether you are here to learn, to help a community, or to build a business, or like me - all three, then you have to be willing to do the work.  And that is where we are going.

My belief is we are now entering a period where the social media networks are seeing a shift towards achieving practical results.  The more clear you are about what you wish to accomplish, the more likely the effort you make will connect you with those that you should be working with.

These are exciting times for anyone that is active with social media.  Many of us have worked through the various forms of technology to achieve a comfort level.  We now have our favorites tools.  We've settled in with the technology.  Now is the time to use those skills to be productive.

The logical question is this:  Why are you here?

I know that I am committed to helping other entrepreneurs and small businesses use this amazing platform to build a business that is stronger and more sustainable.  How I will do that will evolve over time and get better as long as I am doing two things:

1.  Paying attention to the what people in the small business communities want to do.

2.  Having the intention to apply my abilities to make it happen for them.

This simple two-step strategy can work for anyone.

And I love simple!

How about you?

Photo Credit:  Caro's Lines

Markets Do Not Like Heavy Hands

In fact, they will fight your heavy-handed tactics with all their might.

No Take-Backs

Once a condition is introduced to a market, it cannot be taken back - not easily, anyway.   One example is airlines that charge for an extra piece of luggage.  Passengers are discovering creative ways to resist.  One innovative tactic that is working is to gate-check your bag.  Not only does it avoid the charge, but it's usually one of the first bags to be unloaded.  Imagine that!

Southwest Airlines evidently understands the psychology of the markets, and is therefore embracing what everyone has come to expect.  Between you and me, they have inched up their airfares, but that is acceptable behavior.  Taking back what has always been part of the deal is just not cool, so by not doing so, Southwest is adeptly positioned as cool.

We Call The Shots

What inspired this post is Macmillan Publishers' decision to charge you and me essentially the same price for an eBook as the printed version.  Does this make sense?  Of course not.  We may not be publishing experts, but we intuitively understand the cost of an eBook is pretty close to zero.  An eBook is like computer software.  And look at all of the useful software that is absolutely free.

So, why is Macmillan doing this?  Because they can.  They are telling the markets that they are in charge.  Yet, the markets will have their say.  They will call the shots.  The truth is this is a complex game that involves not just traditional publishers, but also players such as Amazon and Apple, who also have a stake in this.  It's a classic confrontation between the old model and the new one. 

Social Media Rules Apply

You can learn from this.  A variety of conditions are creating an economy that is more about people than companies.  And the companies that stand strong and ignore what the markets are saying are challenging this shift.  You can learn from this by evaluating your marketing messages.  Here's the question your customers may be considering:  Are You Asking Us or Telling Us?

Any parent knows you can get a child to do more of what you want them to do if you make it their idea.  Or you just can make them do it and endure a lot of kicking and screaming.  Let's face it - there is still plenty of child left in most of us, but we are adult children.  We want to have our way, and as adults, we will figure out how to get it. 

The Relationship Economy

You cannot expect customers to be raving fans if you do not listen to them.  And as long as you are listening, why not engage with them.  Find ways to collaborate with your customers and you will find ways to make money in this or any other economy.   Publish your views in your blog and encourage feedback.  Eavesdrop on Twitter.  And above all else, pay attention to what your friends are saying on Facebook and other social media sites.

You can learn a great deal from a hands-on approach.

Especially if you apply a light touch.

Photo Credit:  Needoptic

Blog Clues That Get You Hired or Fired

During the commentary of the NFC Championship game between the Vikings and the Saints, it was mentioned that Brett Favre's greatest gift is his ability to read defenses.  He has seen so much action that he is able to identify clues less experienced quarterbacks might overlook. 

The readers of your blog are using their experience in the same way - to either hire you, or fire you.

Your Blog is Not Your Website

When customers are strolling through your blog they are sizing you up.  They are reading your blog like a quarterback reads defenses - looking for proof you can get the job done.  And that is where many bloggers focus their efforts - telling everyone how good they.  Unfortunately, that objective is better handled with your website.

Your blog is not your website!  It's focus is deeper and more personal.  Your blog is a window to those down and dirty clues that aren't readily apparent within a polished website.  Your customers are using this less formal and conversational venue to study you, just as Favre studies defenses.  And like him, it all happens in a few seconds.  What are they looking for?

Proof You Have Been There

Anyone who is looking to hire you wants some assurance that you have been there - a lot.   And they get their answer not from your core message, but from the insignificant and seemingly innocuous details that some will overlook. 

For example, have you seen testimonials from people that don't really exist, such as "Robert F. from Peoria," or worse, "satisfied customer?"  If these are the best testimonials you've got, then you haven't been there, and a buyer with Favre-like experience just saw right through your smoke-screen.   You need verifiable names, job titles, and the organizations they represent.

If the breadth or depth of your experience is thin, then it is.  Just give fewer details, because the more you reveal, the more you disclose your inexperience.  Now if you happen to have a lot of experience, don't overdue it.  If you really have been there, then you don't need to give your full and complete client list.  This is another danger signal.  Trying too hard to prove you've been there is a clue that maybe you haven't.

Explain How You Can Be Hired

Your blog should have a place where you describe your process for getting results for your ideal customers - so that they can understand how you can do that for them.  The Internet does a great job of educating buyers about process.  If one of your competitors has one, it is logical to assume that you should too.  Your blog should be clear about what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and how new customers can hire you to get some of it.

Today I updated the Speaking page of JeffKorhan.com - this blog.  While I feel pretty good about it, it could be better, and soon will be.   My next step is to include current and relevant videos so that meeting planners and speaker bureaus can see me in action.  In the meantime, I have acknowledged this, while also giving a date when it will be completed.  This demonstrates that I've been there. 

Your process for getting hired must acknowledge everything that a prospective buyer may logically need, or provide an explanation about why you do things differently.  Being different, and having a valid reason for it, definitely shows you are not following the crowd.  It may even be the best way to show you've been there!

Be Different

In my opinion, the best way to be different is to be focused, because most people aren't.

It is very common to cast a wide net that says you can help anyone.  Resist that temptation and use your blog to comment on who you have really helped and how, even if it has been just a few customers.  You will then attract more like them.  Before long, you'll have a solid base of experience to talk about, along with valid clues that prove you have been there.

It comes down to this.  Your blog either leaves clues that get you hired, or that get you fired.  These days the playing field is crowded and the competition is fierce.  Authenticity is something that works for you or against you.  When in doubt, leave it out.

For the record, I am not necessarily a Brett Favre fan.

I'm just a fan of experience.

Besides, I live in Naperville, Il, the hometown of Sean Payton, who also had a brief coaching stint at my alma mater, Miami University.  Needless to say, I'm backing the Saints in the Superbowl. :)

Photo Credit:  !borghetti

Your Favorite Social Media Channel

is the one that will yield your greatest social media ROI.

Marketing Style

If you have been reading this blog for the past year or so, you know I consider your blog to be the center of your social media universe.  This is where you have the largest body of information that speaks favorably about you and your company.  It is where you develop new ideas, and capture those stories that are the legacy of your business.

There are many top bloggers who will agree with me.  We all love to blog, and as a result, we get practical results from our blogs.

That said, I have recently been collaborating with Shawn Doyle, another professional speaker who uses a different approach that works equally well for him.  He uses LinkedIn as his hub, and the strength of his LinkedIn presence is the private group he created to collaborate with others who are interested in motivation and leadership. He calls his group Motivation Nation!

What is interesting about Shawn's LinkedIn group is he can manage the content, just as I manage the content of this blog.  Using different channels, we are both accomplishing our business objectives.  You should consider which channel works best for you and why.  Of course, there are still other channels to consider, such as Facebook and Twitter, which have micro-blogging capabilities much like LinkedIn.  

Blogging is the perfect channel for me because it fits my storytelling style of marketing. However, the ability of a LinkedIn group to connect people with common interests and objectives is working exceptionally well for Shawn.  The point is there is no right or wrong here.  The question is what is right for you and your target audience.

When choosing your favorite social media channel, you should consider your communication style, your audience, and most importantly, where you feel most comfortable investing your time.

I'll be honest, in the early days of Twitter, I really enjoyed using Twitter to collaborate with a wide range of people around the globe.  For that reason, it produced the greatest ROI for me.  As Twitter became more impersonal, I shifted my focus to this blog.

Extending Your Channel

Regardless of where you decide to cast your anchor to establish the hub of your social media presence, you still need to use other social media channels to encourage more people to engage with your community.   Just as your company website can benefit from an active blog that points to it, so can that blog benefit from the cross-connections of Facebook, Twitter, and many other channels.

Professional speakers often talk about meeting the audience where they are.  By that we mean connecting with them on a topic through a relevant mindset.  The mindset on Facebook is clearly more loose and open than it is on LinkedIn. 

And there is no telling what the mindset is on Twitter from day to day, but we know with certainty that it has an incredible reach, and is therefore quite valuable for extending the message that you cultivate within your hub - your favorite social media channel.

I'm really looking forward to sharing the stage with Shawn this summer at a convention where we will work together to help others learn how to apply the respective methods that have worked for us. We may even help them to develop hybrid methods that will work best for them and their community.

When it comes to social networking and marketing, there is not one size that fits all. Find a channel that allows you and your community to best do what they most want to do.

Tuning into that channel is something your will look forward to.

A positive ROI will be the natural result.

Photo Credit:  Leo™

Small Business DNA

You either have it or you don't.

Operating a small business takes a certain mindset.   It's not so much about skills, but how you think.  You need to be intensely interested in learning, and willing to take action.  Most importantly, you must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure the success of your business.   

These qualities of successful small business owners seem to be congruent with the characteristics of the more proficient social media players.  A closer look suggests some of us are hard-wired for social media, just as we are for small business. 

You can distill the small business DNA, and social media hard-wiring down to just a few words:  being interested, inquisitive, and interactive.  Here's the story that inspired this understanding. 

Interested

Entrepreneurs especially, and small business owners too, are always learning.  That's how they keep their edge.  They are naturally interested in other small businesses.  I was thinking of this tonight while I waited for my dinner to be served.  It was guys night out in the Korhan family, so Zak and I went over to MeatHeads for a gourmet burger.  

We placed our order and then sat down while they prepared it.  My mind immediately drifted to sizing up this particular business.  I wondered about the seating.  The seat bottoms are hard wood, but the back cushions of the booths are soft.  Is this a compromise for cleaning and comfort?  The lighting is more like a fine restaurant, so the atmosphere feels right.  I was wondering.

Checking Out the Community

What I was intuitively doing was checking out this particular business to determine what is intentional, what may have been random, and even what could be improved.  This is part of the small business DNA. it can't be helped!

This is no different than what many of us do when listening in on a social media network.  We use our skills of observation.  We are curious, yes - but for a purpose.  We use our observation skills to learn how we can apply what we learn to our situation - to our business, our community, or our other networks. 

Inquisitive

The tab at MeatHeads was a bit under $19 for the two of us.  Is that a fair amount for a freshly made to order burger?  I began to compare with what we would have spent had we ordered a pizza, or possibly gone out for sushi.  You do learn a great deal about something by comparing it to what it isn't. 

This is one way we understand our social networks.  The early success of Twitter was due to the free-form interactivity.   Facebook took notice first, and soon LinkedIn followed suit to a lessor degree.  As you monitor your brand on the social networks,  I would hope you are taking notice of what the leaders are doing that seems to be working for them.

Comparing Businesses and Communities

I also find myself comparing social media businesses, such as Techcrunch and Mashable, especially today with the launch of the iPad.  Mashable was the first to validate its existence, with their bold TRENDING post, which has become a signature of the Mashable brand.

USAToday, however, chronicled Steve Jobs every move by the minute, which proved to be the most complete coverage.  What's interesting is while Mashable has become more CNN-like in their recent approach (with the addition of more writers and expanded coverage),  USAToday pulled an end-around on them and Techcrunch to give the best front-end technology coverage on this piece of news.  It appears the playing field may be changing.  How about yours?

Interactive

We all know you learn the most be getting involved and interacting with other people.  When our food was served, we were greeted by a big smile.  "My name is Jimmy.  If you need anything else, just let me know."  Jimmy greeted everyone like this.  And he smiled the same way when he mopped up.  You could tell he really enjoyed his work.

Engaging with People to Encourage Opportunities

I wanted to say a few words to Jimmy, but I didn't make it a priority.  Bad for me, because I believe I could have learned something.  And this is precisely how the social networks operate.  That stream rolls by, and if we hesitate, we miss the opportunity. 

DNA is one thing, but we are still human.

Photo Credit:  Pascal.Charest

Stitching Together Your Social Media Gaps

Disconnectedness

The challenge with social media is your communities can become disconnected.  Friends can seem to randomly come and go.  This leads to frustration and blaming everything from the technology to your lack of time for keeping it all together.

To be productive in any endeavor, you have to have your "head in one place."  Or if you have ever practiced yoga or meditation, you would say you need your mind and body connected.  And there is a cure for that.  If you have practiced meditation or yoga, then you are probably familiar with the term 'sutra.'

A sutra is a word or sound that links together aspects of the body and the mind.  In fact, the word sutra really means stitch.  It helps you acheive Yoga, which essentially means union - of the mind and body.

The Social Media Stitch

When you stitch together the energies of the mind and the body, everything works better.  When you stitch your social communities together, it stands to reason they will function better as well.  It may be more accurate to say you will function better.  You are the keeper of your communities. 

Twitter and Facebook both give us the capability to subdivide our friends into smaller groups.  This does make everything more manageable.  It's easier to focus on a smaller group.  Nevertheless, those friends are all still associated together under the umbrella of your respective Facebook or Twitter community.  So, there is cohesiveness among the subgroups.  Yet, what about the gaps between your social networks.

Friends Fill The Gaps

Wouldn't it make sense to introduce your "Twitter Friends" to your "Facebook Friends?"  This stitches together some of the inherent gaps.  And doesn't a great deal happen in those gaps between communities.  Aren't your best friends the ones that understand you at all levels - professionally, socially, and personally? 

Gaps can drive a person insane.  Your real friends fill the gaps between your communities, don't they?  They add a sense of continuity to your life.  It's interesting how much disconnectedness there can be on the social networks when everyone is working so hard at making connections.   

If you want a greater connection, consider the gaps.

Then once in a while bring together friends that might not otherwise connect.  It may surprise you.

Google calls it a Wave, I'm calling it a stitch that closes a gap.  It's nothing more than an opportunity to bring people together to create new perspectives - and better collaboration and friendships.

Photo Credit:  on2wheelz

Pushing the Limits of Late-Night Decorum

Late Night Broadcasting

The NBC late-night show shuffle may be giving us some signals of behavioral trends on the social Web.  Let's face it, the social networks are the late-night broadcasting medium of choice for most of us.  And if the comments by Jay Leno and Conan on their shows are any indication of what is to come, some companies may want to consider putting some guidelines in place.

This insight comes just one day after I discussed why it is easy for small business owners to be open and authentic on the social networks, and why it may not be a great idea for larger organizations.  While I stand by those comments, I'm wanting to elaborate to suggest we should all consider the larger picture as it pertains to our business communities.

Employers Take Notice

Conan and Jay have mostly thrown some friendly barbs at NBC that have not only livened up their shows,  but that NBC clearly deserved.  That's part of the shtick. Yet, as those comments have persisted, the tempo is now getting to be more divisive.  I'm specifically referring to Jay's comments about his hands being tied last year when the first switch was made. 

Imagine you had an employee, or a colleague, or even a customer making comments that are not entirely flattering to your business.  If they are truthful, you have to deal with it, at least with the customer and the colleague.  However, do you lay down future guidelines for the employee?  I'm just wondering. 

In Jay Leno's case, it is entirely possible this was planned. He may have told NBC this: "Do you want ratings or a yes man?  Because I have to come clean with my audience if I am going to be any good for you."  Fair enough, that I can understand.  Though keep in mind NBC is a faceless corporation, and not a "real" business brand with an owner that has a family.

The Real World

Blogging in the real world for people like you and me is more personal.  This is where we live. And for that reason, I believe it is necessary to have an element of decorum.  For the most part, that is what I see and what I love about the blogging community. You can have fun and still respect the next guy.

Bloggers are real people who aren't afraid to tell the truth, such as admitting they are taking their first shower of the day at 4:00 p.m. only because they are going out for dinner.  Yes, its alright to to make fun of your own quirky behaviors, and sometimes even those of your friends and colleagues.  This keeps this as real as it can get.

Just don't push those social limits too hard without considering the larger picture.

And keep it funny. 

That's the best way to preserve late-night decorum. :)

Photo Credit:  rmlowe

Haiti Reminds Us

we all live on one planet where all communities merge together.

Awareness is a quality of social media that is working right now to engage people for a common purpose.  Normally, our awareness is localized to what is familiar to us, and that is typically what is local to us. 

Yet, social media works nicely to expand that awareness. And sometimes the consequences are not as pleasant as we may have liked.  Nevertheless, it is working to mobilize people and resources in ways that would otherwise have been impossible, or inconceivable.  

The simple truth is that if something is happening on this globe today, it will be felt in some way, however small, by each and every one of us. This is the nature of our greater connectivity. 

We all live, work, and play in our respective communities.  Yet, because we all share the same physical location, we now know with certainty that our communities connect and overlap.  This means if you are having a problem, then so am I.

Haiti was suffering long before this earthquake, but most of us were focused on other matters.  As social media continues to amplify world events, it will be impossible not to be aware of what is happening on our planet - everywhere, all of the time.

This will surely create interesting scenarios regarding the distribution of resources, such as talent, raw materials, food, and wealth, to name a few. 

I cannot even imagine how this will play out in future political situations.  The skill, training, and commitment that will be necessary to solve these global problems is going to be incredibly challenging.  How will leaders best work to allocate resources where they are needed most?

For some time we have been saying that social media is all about giving value and sharing.  The current circumstances in Haiti make us especially aware of this.  Now we know for sure.  It is.

We now realize our greater connectivity brings not just opportunity, but responsibility, too.

So when the day comes that we forget about the circumstances in Haiti, there will be other events that will bring our awareness together with millions of others who happen to share the same community that we think of as our own - this planet.

While we cannot yet predict tragedies like this, it is very possible the next time we will be more prepared.

That may be the lesson that Haiti reminds us.

 

Social Media Lessons from Jimi Hendrix

Rock's most iconic guitarist is about to be rediscovered when Valleys of Neptune is released on March 9th. As reported in USAToday, it will contain unreleased studio tracks, including a frenzied version of Fire, a sprawling cover of Cream's Sunshine of Your Love, and retooled originals such as Lover Man, Red House and Crying Blue Rain.

Of course, Jimi will demonstrate his usual virtuosity. 

Here are some new media lessons inspired by how Jimi favorably shaped his brief career.

1.  Develop a Unique and Consistent Username and Image

There are several ways to spell his common name, but there is only one man identified with the spelling 'Jimi'.  When you see that spelling, you know who we are talking about.  He made it his own.   

While it's nice to have interesting or descriptive usernames, I believe short and memorable is best. Some of us are fortunate that our original names are unique.  All we have to do is use them consistently, just as Jimi also developed a unique style of dress that he was consistently recognized for.  Other musicians like Prince have borrowed from it, but but we all know who is the original.

2.  Transform Your Content for Consumption

If there was anyone who could turn sound into something more, it was Jimi.  His sound was so original that even peers such as Pete Townsend were awestruck. 

Jimi took the same content that everyone else was working with and and transformed it.  He rearranged it into colors and emotions - through his music, his stage presence, and his relationship with the instrument of his music - the guitar.  He turned it upside down, played with his teeth, and yes, he even set it on fire a time or two.  What can you do that a community finds interesting?

3.  Focus on Communities That are Right for You

The United States was not particularly impressed with the early Jimi Hendrix.  So, off he went to London, where he honed his craft within a more artistically receptive community.  Soon, word spread to the US.  You could say he built his sound in a local community and then let that community spread it virally.  So, if you missed Twitter, why not become known in more localized social networks that better fit your style?

4.  Capture Your Legacy

Just a few days ago I wrote about building your business legacy with your blog.  I feel very strongly that any business, and especially any small business, can benefit enormously from this practice.  Most small business have a wealth of knowledge and little of it is written down.

Some day you may wish to sell your business, and that information will be a vibrant record of your successful track record.  The engineers said in the USA article that "Hendrix left a wealth of pristine studio and live tapes."  That's exciting.  As a fan I can't wait to listen to them - just as your fans and future employees need to hear about your best work.

I suppose applying all of this comes down to this:  Are You Experienced?

Then try some of these ideas to help your communities learn about that.

Feel free to leave a comment below.  If you've enjoyed this, share it with your social networks, and consider subscribing to the feed of this blog.

The Craziest Rules of Social Media

are the ones that work.  

Here are my favorites, and why they work so well.

1.  Share personal stories about your life with complete strangers.

You can't just talk about authenticity; you have to reveal it.  This is the only way you will build a fan base for your blog or social media pages.  This is your reality show.  Sure, you can be shocking and over the top, which is entertaining.  But unless your name is Fred and your audience is little kids, my recommendation is to just use some social media wizardy and pull back the curtain.  

2.  Blog consistently when you know nobody is reading.

I did this.  Virtually no stats after well over a year.  Though to be honest, knowing that Google was reading helped to keep me in the game.  Every once in a while a post would get indexed.  It was very exciting stuff back then.  These days it seems Google will index just about anything.

Nevertheless, after achieving critical mass, I can now play with those numbers as subscribers leap on or drop off based upon new strategies that I am constantly tinkering with.  There are indeed subtle nuances to blogging that make a big difference.  Besides, the game is constantly changing, so you may as well get in and learn now because we'll soon enough be learning yet unproven ways to accomplish our objectives.

3.  Share confidential information with your competitors.

In some industries the competition is especially fierce. Yet, when you freely share information with your marketplace, it is bound to fall into the hands of your competitors.  In fact, I have no doubt my competitors subscribe to my blog as I do theirs. 

C'mon, get over yourself.  First, nobody is that good.  And if you really are, you have no worries.  Read Seth Godin's blog.  Do you think he's worried that I borrow an idea or two every now and then?   I doubt it, because he knows there are plenty more where that came from!  Today he had a great post about lemonade stands.  Those are real stories you can't make up. (See rule No. 1 above again.)

4.  Study the rules of grammar that you've ignored your entire life.

I've always considered myself to be a good writer.  The truth is I wasn't.  I was just better than most of the people that I was studying or working with.  Learn how to write for your blog.  Subscribe to blogs like Copyblogger that focus specifically on this component of this social media craziness.  I especially like Sonia Simone's work there.

When you study your writing, you'll start realizing you'll need to learn a few of those rules of grammar most of us have ignored, save for that year of Freshman English.  A helpful exercise is to read a page or two daily from the Elements of Style.  Then read it again.  I don't know what they charge for it now, but my copy shows a handsome investment of $1.25 that is paying off nicely, thank you - now that I'm actually using it!

5, Agree with viewpoints that are completely opposed to yours.

If you can step back and look for points of agreement with anyone, you will find them - guaranteed.  That agreement may simply be that you understand how one could have such a perspective.  Now, that you have opened their mind, you have an opportunity to restate your point from a fresher and more thoughtful perspective.

This discipline is excellent for helping you to shape your viewpoints to achieve even better levels of interest. No tension means no interest, and that means no audience.  You don't have to be controversial, but it is helpful to have something to say that hasn't quite been said like that before.  (See rule No. 1 above again.)

You know what's really crazy?   Continuing to spend heavily on traditional marketing without giving this a try.

If you have enjoyed this post, consider adding a comment or subscribing to it.  I'm happy to have you around.  Jeff

Can You Handle The Truth?

Then start blogging.

Stretch the truth.  Why not?  It is guaranteed to attract multiple perspectives, and if you are lucky, some lively controversy, too.

Don't fear the negative comments.  Embrace them as an opportunity to clarify your own position.  Go ahead, push the envelope a bit.  Cross the line.  It's o.k.

You are free to say what you wish, and so is your audience.  That's what is so liberating about this platform.  You just have to give everyone the opportunity to freely comment without moderation.  And make it easy by ditching that annoying captcha system.  I can barely read my own writing, much less that scribble. 

Yesterday I was strolling through Facebook and found a link to my friend Ron Culberson's blog.  So, I made a comment and then redirected him over to my blog to show off some of my recent work.  Since Ron is a professional humorist, I thought he would enjoy my post on social media callbacks.  He did.  Then he set me straight on the true definition of a callback.

He said this, "...technically speaking, in the world of comedy, a "call back" is not so much a brand that identifies someone but a comment that refers back to a previous joke in the routine.  It's a circular construction of a joke so that another punch line comes later in the routine by referring back to a previous bit."

Guess what?  I knew that.  Although I could never have articulated it that well!  I actually find this quite humorous because when I wrote it I knew there was a chance that I would get thrown under the bus for stretching the truth to fit the point of my post.

Isn't this what we all do?  Don't we guard our area of expertise, our truth,  a little too closely?  We see everyone else clearly, but then we think those rules don't really apply to us. That's what is great about the social media communities.  There is a self-correcting mechanism that keeps us all reasonably truthful.

I can handle that.

But I'm not saying I won't cross the line again. :)

Photo Credit:  Bixentro

Rules Don't Apply to Me

Yes, I agree.

If this statement accurately describes you, then it is safe to say that freedom frees you?

You greet the blank social media status box with excitement.  You are probably also a prolific blogger.

Your challenge is to use your free-wheeling mind to accomplish a purpose.   Everyone is using social media for a purpose.  And it is that purpose that truly drives your efforts.  I have friends who are using social media to simply make new friends.  There is nothing at all wrong with that.  That is the core purpose of these networks.

However, since this blog is targeted to small business owners and entrepreneurs, I'm going to assume that while you are having fun building your friend and fan base, you wouldn't mind occasionally going a little deeper to grow your business too.

If you are a free-thinker, you intuitively understand that social media rarely accomplishes a direct business purpose - but it does do that indirectly. And that feels alright to the "rules don't apply to me" crowd. 

That's why they love Twitter.  Building a large Twitter community requires an open and free-thinking mindset.  It recognizes that friends can indirectly help your business just through your association with them.  That's what friends do.  They want you succeed. 

Friends are willing to give you honest feedback on your products and services.  They'll send you new and relevant information you can use. They will even tell you about those little things that matter, such as how your office can better answer the telephone. And yes, they'll stop by your blog just to say hello, just when you start wondering if anyone is out there reading.

There aren't many rules about how this works.  It just does. 

No, I disagree.

If this statement describes you, then too much freedom doesn't make you free - it makes you freeze. 

You like rules.  Rules give you structure.  You may prefer not to call them rules.  You are more comfortable using words such as code or values or principles.  You enjoy the comfort of boundaries that keep everyone in line, and you prefer that others obey those boundaries for the benefit of the entire community.  This keeps it all fair.

You probably don't "get" Twitter, because it is the one social media platform that works predominantly because there are very few restrictions associated with it, other than good old number 140.  And oh man, how the rule breakers love to push the limits of that one!

My guess is you enjoy getting things accomplished through LinkedIn.  If you do have a blog, you probably don't update it often because you are convinced nobody is reading it anyway.  It is more important to you to keep your "list" up to date so that you can connect with people through a well crafted and prepared newsletter.  You care about your customers.  You are cautious about sharing them with anyone.

Facebook may work for you, especially if you focus on your company Fan Page.  This gives you that same feeling of control that you have with your website.  You have nearly complete control over what happens in your Facebook Fan Page community.  If people don't obey the rules, there are consequences.

The Truth

There is no wrong or right here.  This is about style and personality, and maybe even culture.  It's about how you are wired.  You have to get what you want according to how you work most effectively.  If there has to be a rule, that may be the only one you need.

Social media isn't about rules, but how you interpret everything - including the technology, the communities, and what you can or should do with any - or all of it. 

You are free to choose.

Photo Credit:  g.originals

How To Make Your Blog Better

Be Memorable.

How do you do that?

1. Take Inventory
2. Take Risks
3. Take Action

Taking Inventory

Take inventory of what you do well. Mine the skills that have always worked for you.  Then show us how you do it. 

Most of us underestimate what we do well.  I suggest you overestimate yourself.  Why?  What you do well comes naturally to you.  For the rest of us, it may be a huge challenge. 

I really appreciate the effective use of humor as a communication skill.  Who can show me how?  Do you often see what others tend to miss?  If so, use those observation skills to help the rest of us learn how to see as you do.  You have talent.  Take inventory of it - and overestimate its value.  Then you will understand its true value for others.

Taking Risks

Your blog is an opportunity to take your community where they want to go.  It is a presentation - a performance.  You need to think in those terms.  If people show up, you have to be ready to give them your best.  Sometimes this means taking a leap and hoping the net will appear. 

Taking Action

When you do this, you respect the time and attention of your audience.  And you will build your blogging skills in the process.  Remember that we showed up for a performance.  Give it to us.  I recently commented on the skills of George Carlin in a post about why I blog. Learn from the masters. 

You can't help anyone by sitting back and thinking about it.  You have to measure your skills, focus them for your audience, and then take action.

Help us remember.

Photo Credit:  Addicted Eyes

 

A New Year of Opportunity - Once in a Blue Moon

You will only be able to greet a New Year like this one - well, once in a Blue Moon.

Like me, you may never have actually understood what a Blue Moon is - other than a span of time that your mother promised you would pass until the nearly impossible would occur!

Well, guess what?  You will be able to see that Blue Moon tonight.  And take a good look because you won't see it again on New Year's Eve until the year 2028.

There is a great deal of folklore about the Blue Moon.  Though, the simple definition is the Blue Moon is the second full moon in a single calendar month. 

I'll leave it to the scientists to have fun with what makes all of this possible every few years in general, and every few decades on New Year's Eve.  I'm more interested in what this metaphor represents.

The mere existence of a Blue Moon, something that truly was full of mystery to me as a kid, represents the unexpected  - a New Year of new opportunities.

And after the challenging times the residents of this planet have recently experienced, I cannot think of a better time to have a reason to take an especially fresh look ahead. 

Happy New Year!

Photo Credit:  Shenghung_Lin

A Social Media Channel with Unlimited Bandwidth

It's meditation.  Stay with me and I'll show you how.

Yesterday, I made a post on how to improve and extend  your vision to accomplish more in 2010.  Near the end of that post I made a recommendation that you should consider learning meditation.  Today I will explain why.  And if you are a social media practitioner, you may be surprised at how meditation is functionally very much like it, if not identical to it.

Meditation is not just this woo woo thing that belongs to the yoga crowd.  It is a tool that can help you to better connect with the people that can help you do what you want to do better - in your business, or anywhere else. 

When you practice most forms of meditation, you use a mantra.  Mantra literally translates to "instrument of the mind."  A mantra is a sound that connects you with a field of consciousness that is shared by other people.  In that sense, consciousness is a network - just as social media connects you with other people through channels you know as networks.  It both circumstances, it all happens electronically.

Try This

Imagine you are having a dream and in that dream you are dying of thirst.  And right on your nightstand is a glass of water, which of course is exactly what need to quench that thirst and solve your immediate problem.  Unfortunately, while you are in the dream, you are in one state of consciousness, and the glass of water is in another.  Both are states of reality.  One is virtual and one is real.  Which is which depends upon your perspective.  If only there was a way to connect them.  You guessed right; there is!

Social media works in exactly the same way as meditation.  You are communicating with people virtually through an electronic network, just as you would if you were having a face-to-face conversation.  And what is connecting the virtual with the real is your mind. Your mind transcends both states of consciousness.  If something is real in the mind, it is real.  A dream is real if you are dreaming. And social media is real if you are immersed in it.  And both are just as real as a physical experience - at least in your mind.

The Future of Social Media

The day will come when the virtual reality of social media begins to seamlessly merge with what we have come to understand as reality. The truth is, it's already happening with social media applications that augment reality.  However, it only works if you are willing to suspend your belief about what is real.

Does this sound woo woo?  Well, what are you doing when you go to the movies.  You are buying into the dream, the augmented reality, the story of the film - it's a meditation!  It's all the same.

So if you are overwhelmed with the fact that you are too connected in this world of advancing technology, why not take it to another level and learn to meditate so that you can transcend all of it?  Being too connected really means you are disconnected - from yourself. When you get connected with that, you have magically expanded your bandwidth for any and all forms of communication.  Pretty cool, huh?

The Truth

There is no computer more powerful than the one sitting right on your shoulders.  And the software that runs it is your mind.  That software needs to be refreshed or updated just like any other.   One way of doing that is through meditation. 

Consider this. Your iPhone communicates with your Macbook electronically - through 'the cloud.'  Your mind connects with other minds, call that other computers, through another, and arguably identical, electronic cloud. 

The last time I checked we all have just one shot at this.  You have to make that original issue hardware function by doing the work to improve your ability to connect through that universal network that we are all using, all of the time.  Meditation is a simple practice that enhances your ability to connect by gradually removing the clutter, and in the process, expanding the bandwidth.

Think about it - when you Tweet, you are sending out micro-messages through a network with the hope that they will reach an appropriate destination.  You are using the cloud in the same way that meditation uses the field of consciousness cloud.  

It boils down to the fact that people are people and we connect through our minds.  Whether that connection is visual, or tactile, or electronic - it is all the same. It's electric.

Maybe it helps to consider the order of these communications.  First you have a thought, then you send a Tweet that reflects that thought, and after you make the right connection, you get together to have a conversation and potentially discuss business.  In short, your thoughts manifest into reality.

Given that, doesn't it make sense to start at the beginning and do the work to ensure your mind is operating just as well as your Macbook?

It's not woo woo.  In social media circles we hear about eco-systems, augmented reality, the cloud, and more.  These are all metaphors for what is really happening:  many minds connecting through an electronic network we know as consciousness.

You just have to suspend your conditioned disbelief and give it a try.

Whatever you want to call it, and however you choose to do it, I look forward to connecting with you.

As far as I'm concerned, it's all social media.

Photo Credit: Adhiwus.com

How To Improve Your Vision

Make it younger.  It's a game.

Yesterday I went to the optometrist.  His testing indicated my vision has actually improved.  Now that may be a shock to some people, due to the fact that we are all advancing in age, but not to me.  I've always contended that your physical vision is a direct function of your mindset.  If you want to see, you will!  It works the same way with your business.

When you were younger, didn't you have a vision that was practically unlimited?  Didn't you think that pretty much anything was possible?  Well, it was and still is.  What gets in the way of that is the simple fact that the fulfillment of any vision requires the willingness to do the necessary work. That can't be changed, no matter how many books you read about the Secrets of the universe.  You know what I'm talking about.

If you are six years old, you have no concept of the duration of a lifespan, so your vision is limitless.  As you get older, you associate with people who educate you on the realities of life.  They teach you not to see.

First you disagree with them, then you get comfortable with the idea.  And pretty soon, you become one of them. Yep, when you start following the herd your vision is only as good as those people you have come to believe.

Trust Your Gut

My business started to improve when I stopped  listening to how things should be done, and started doing what I felt was right.  This approach does not by any means guarantee results, but it frees you from at least some of the shackles that limit the thinking that restricts your vision.

The key to making this work is not to be a contrarian, although that helps, but to quietly go about your business.  When you talk up your wild ideas you will meet with many obstacles.  Play dumb if you have to.  Do whatever it takes to stretch your vision to what is mentally and physically possible.  It's that easy.  And its a safe bet that we were all put on this planet to have a mind of our own.

Do The Work

When I started blogging and learning about social media a few years ago, the people around me thought I was out of my mind.  The truth is I was just out of their mind, that collective mind that said this social media crap just isn't going to work.

Nevertheless, something told me I was on the right path, and I now I am building a business that helps others learn what I have learned.  How about you?  How is your business or industry changing?  That is a question we should all be asking ourselves.

Given the economic, technological, and social influences we are all witnessing, you would be insane to think that dramatic changes are not imminent.  Just look farther, wider, and in the places where the masses are not looking and you will likely find some invaluable insights.  It will take some work, which is exactly why most people aren't doing it.

Keep Doing the Work

We have been conditioned to think that technology will make our lives easier.  Marketing has encouraged this.  Yet, how often do you learn that regardless of talent, the hard workers always seem to succeed.  This formula is an old one, but it always works.  These days it may even become fashionable.  Imagine that? 

Here's my little secret.  I love to work.  It energizes me.  I can't say that I have always felt that way, but when I look back over my career, I have accomplished the most when I have been excited about what I am doing.  I have no doubts that many of you feel the same way.  If you don't, try to remember when you did.

When you were younger, you had boundless energy.  That energy is what made your wild dreams and visions possible. It's also what made you capable of working hard enough to bring your goals and objectives to fruition.

Here are some ideas for maximizing your energy, your vision,  and your results.

• Be Thankful - When you appreciate what's working, you feed your energy into more of it.
• Have Goals - They give meaning to what you are doing now, and that focuses your actions.
• Clear a Space - You cannot accomplish more if your life is cluttered.  Simplify it.
• Visualize - This is where we started.  A vision is a mental picture that holds a great deal of energy for its accomplishment.  This is the science of quantum mechanics - the body and the mind are linked.  If you can make it real in your mind, the body will figure out a way to make it happen.
• Learn to Meditate - I can honestly say that meditation is a discipline I fell into.  And after 15 years of practicing it - I know with certainty that it works.  Maybe I should do my next post on this, because in my opinion it is the ultimate tool for succeeding in business.  Meditation increases your focus; it helps you clear a space, and all of that leads to greater clarity for seeing what you know at a gut level to be real.

It's all a game.  See it.  Feel it .  Do it. 

That's what you did without effort when you were younger. 

Photo Credit:  Clairity

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How to Simplify Your 2010 Planning and Collaboration

Make a list.  Simple.

Or is it?  In this time of new media augmented reality, it is easy to go gaga over what technology can do for you.  Before you know it, you are so wrapped up in a loop of systems you forget the basics that got you here, namely, the venerable to-do list.

The to-do list has always been the gold standard for getting things done, regardless of your area of specialty, level of skill with technology, or hierarchy within your organization.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a simple tool that makes the to-do list better.  Stay with me.  It makes it better by making it simpler, by sharing it, and by accomplishing all of that in real time. 

Simple 

Checkvist is the social media inspired application that I have come to love, especially at this time of the year when we are all making plans. 

I'm using Checkvist to capture all kinds of thoughts and ideas that I can then tackle one-at-a-time.  The simplicity of the keystrokes is what makes it work so well.  Once you memorize a handful of simple keystrokes, you can build your list in a few seconds and manage it accordingly, by adding a short note, prioritizing, and even color-coding - all with the flick of the finger.

Here's how it works:  A slap of the space bar strikes an item to show it as completed.   A simple 'enter' keystroke adds a new item to the list, two e's edits the field, and two n's opens a field for notes.  Simple.  Now tell me this won't make it a snap to create a list in less than 60 seconds?  You can also create cascading lists within a larger list that can be assigned to different members of your team.

And this brings me to what really makes this FREE site sing.

Sharing

I'm using Checkvist to collaborate with my consulting clients.  And they love it!  Checkvist allows me to share my lists by inviting others in to not just view the list online, but also to give them the ability to  participate in the creation, progress, and completion of those tasks.  My clients can now manage their budget by completing easier tasks on their own time, or if they choose, they can delegate it all to me. 

The feedback I'm receiving from clients is they enjoy seeing the list to get a sense of the agenda - what is necessary to get to the finish line.  They don't have to wonder what's next.  It's right in front of them.  If they have comments to make, that is easily done.  And it can be done on their own time.

Real-Time Collaboration

Much like Google Wave, Checkvist allows me and a client to collaborate, in this case by building a list together.  As soon as one of us adds something to the list, it is right there for all of us to see.  And if one of us decides to modify the list during the wee hours of the night, that information is readily shared.  Here's how:

Checkvist will send you an email to let you know that progress has been made by the other users.  This particular feature is only available with the paid version, which costs a nominal $15 for six months.  If you still want to keep it free, no worries.  You can also accomplish this through a self-generated email to the other users - all straight from the Checkvist platform. 

Here are some lists I'm working on that will give you ideas for getting started.

• 2010 Goals and Objectives - This is THE list we are all working on.
• Dr Bill Dean - A client who is an expert in the science of energy healing.
• Cody Landscape - Another client who is a top landscaping firm in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Week of January 4th - Just what I need to hit the ground running.
• Whenever List - Those things I want to do whenever I get the time.
• Motivation - Thoughts to remind me to be thankful, how to stay focused, and things like that.  I take a peek at it every morning just before my daily meditation, right from my iPhone. 

Checkvist does not yet have an iPhone or Android app, but for the time being, you can use Checkvist.com/m.

I've been communicating with the folks at Checkvist on Twitter.  You can do the same by following @checkvist_news on Twitter. 

Are you ready to make a list?

Try this:  What is the one problem your clients most need solved?

Now break it down, share it, and get it done!

Photo Credit:  Ebby

The Best Community

It's what you share with just one other human being.

Today I did some very last minute Christmas shopping with my daughter Ali who is home on her college break.  When our Holiday shopping mission was accomplished, I realized something.  When you can spend a day, one-on-one, with someone you care about, that is a gift you should not take for granted.

I also learned something else.  Last minute Christmas shopping can be a lot of fun!  By mid-afternoon there was hardly a crowd at most of the places we visited.  We enjoyed an unhurried lunch, stopped for an afternoon coffee, and strolled from shop to shop while having some quality time to just be with each other. 

Needless to say, you can't do that when you are shopping online.

While we did manage to snag one nice bargain, the most pleasant surprise for me occurred when we took a shortcut through a neighborhood where the kids played sports when they were much younger.  This gave us a moment to revisit some of those memories.  That is a gift you cannot measure.  Though it sure makes you aware of the value of your time together - and that time is right now.

I made a promise yesterday to comment on sustainable communities, the last segment of my short series on small business trends for next year.  While I like to keep my promises, that just did not seem to be appropriate at this time.

So for now, I'm just sharing this brief experience.  That's all.  There will be plenty of time to explore how our business communities are changing for the better. 

Until that time, I'm going to enjoy the best community of all - one on one.  I hope you are able to do the same.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best to you and your family!

 

Proof We are Not Overly Connected

Do you get a response to all of your emails, Tweets, and Facebook posts?

How about 50%.  That is a more accurate estimate, isn't it?  Do I hear 25%?  You know what I'm talking about. As many of us give our perspectives on the high points of 2009, as well as the trends we see shaping up for 2010, a common theme that you are hearing is 'connectivity overload.'  Incidentally, tomorrow I will be wrapping up my three part series on 2010 Trends for Small Businesses when I focus in on sustainable communities. As you may expect, I'll discuss how social media is strongly influencing these trends.

For now, one thing I am emphatic about is that we are far from being 'overly connected.'  My belief is we are overly disconnected - from people.  Hey, I am just as guilty of this from time to time as many of you are.   Yes, I have my face in this computer more than I should.  I will even go so far as to say I am addicted to media, to news, to the next thing.  It's fun to learn, isn't it? 

Nevertheless, if you are a friend of mine, you can bet that I will return your email, your Tweet, and even your Facebook wall post.  That seems like the right thing to do.  This is what builds relationships.  It says you care enough about the sender to respond in kind. 

I've always said that social media will make you a better marketer because it puts a spotlight on your communications, and in the process, places some accountability on those communications.  Yet, this doesn't seem to matter to a lot of people.  Do you agree? 

Take a look at some of the mega social media marketers like Chris Brogan and Seth Godin.  They respond! A friend of mine was surprised that Seth returned his emails.  I'm not.  I cannot say I'm a friend of Chris Brogan, but I follow his blog that gets upwards of 100 comments a day.  And you know what, he responds.  Yes, he even responds to people like me.  I appreciate that.  And I guarantee if you do the same, you will build a larger community of friends, prospects, and customers too.

You would think that people would be over-communicating these days.  Why?  Because the economy sucks.  Why else?  Because social media makes it so easy to do so.  Guess what?  They aren't!  It honestly boggles the mind.

Click!  Light bulb.  That's right, this means there is an open field of opportunity just waiting for you and me.  All we have to do is connect, communicate, and build community through the simple action of being responsive.  O.K., I suppose that is technically a series of actions.  OMG, that sounds like work.  The question then is how badly do you wish to succeed.

You don't have to be a marketing genius like Seth Godin, or a an uber-multi-tasker like Brogan to build a successful business.  You just need to do something reasonably well, and do it consistently.  My belief is this is a vital ingredient in any marketing plan.  Marketing is synonymous with communication, and these days, it's all about personal communication. 

This the undercurrent of new media marketing.

Social media marketing doesn't do a anything for you that you are not already doing well.  What it does give you is the power to do everything better - by connecting you with people who are aligned with your message, your product and service, your personality and character, and your energy and spirit.

That's a big promise. 

Tune in tomorrow and I'll deliver on it.

Did I just make a promise? 

Yes. 

Photo Credit:  Mickal

What is Collaboration?

To work together, cooperate, join forces, unite.

Yesterday I elaborated on collaboration, the second of three trends for small businesses for 2010 that are being encouraged by a variety of converging influences, with social media being one of them. 

I've been wondering if we can harness the power of these converging influences by uniting the talents of the people in the markets where we work by capitalizing on this increased collaboration.  Maybe you have considered the same.  Here's a perspective you may not have considered.

Yoga 

When I began practicing yoga about 15 years ago, it was still an anomaly here in the Midwest.  These days its as common as going to the gym to push some iron.  To each his own.  I prefer to do both, so in a way that is my yoga. 

The word yoga is derived from the word yoke - which means union.  Yoga is the union of the mind and body, and if you believe in spirit, that too.  It's really a way of saying that everything works best when it works well together.  That is collaboration.

Where the body stops and the mind or spirit begins is subject of some debate.  It's enough to understand they are inextricably joined together.  That is most true when you have a high level of awareness.  That's one thing that yoga does for you.  It brings your awareness back to your body, which means it brings your mind and body together.  That awareness is key to the art of building solid business relationships.

There are actually eight "limbs" of yoga, according to the traditional definition.  Those postures you know as yoga are just one limb.  Meditation, the management of the mind, is another limb, along with other practices that are beyond the scope of this article. Just know that they all seek to build more refined levels of awareness.  And that is something you understand in all areas of your life, including the business side.

Social Yoga

I'm going to take some liberties here with this self-created definition.  When you think of collaborating with your markets, your customers, your business and social communities, you should be considering a balance of mind and body. In other words, collaboration in mind, such as on the social networks, should be balanced with personal, face-to-face collaboration - in body, so to speak.

The yoga tradition teaches us that when you achieve higher states of yoga, the mind and the body both disappear, with nothing left but pure awareness. This is where you have a spiritual experience.  This of course is not going to happen on a practical business level.  However, what is possible, if not entirely likely, is that the right balance of collaboration with the people you care about will lead to a higher level of creativity and accomplishment.  That's collaboration.

Collaborative Communities

No worries; you don't need to have a group hug with your customers!  Although, it's a nice thing when it happens, isn't it?  In a business context it may be surprising at times, yet it is welcome.  You and your customers should care a great deal about the success of your joint venture.  Quite simply, you can enjoy your collaborative work with others who are like-minded.

My suggestion is to think about your collaborative efforts with your customers as not necessarily work, but as uniting together as one mind.  To say someone has a mind of their own usually indicates they have ideas that are different from the norm, or at least different from yours.  Why not take those leading edge ideas and collaborate to make them work for the larger community.  

That's what we'll talk about when we wrap up our series on small business trends. We are living and working in uncharted waters these days. We have to think of new ways to accomplish in these tough times what may have been easy when the economy was easier.

In other words it's time to stretch - yoga metaphor and pun intended!

I'm up for it.  How about you?

Photo Credit: Myyogaonline

Why Tiger Woods Will Save His Marriage

It's a competition.

And this is one contest he needs to win.  Tiger knows there is no way to easily regain his confidence on the golf course without rebuilding the foundation that supports it. 

The Tiger Woods brand was formed when his primary relationship was with golf and himself.  That has changed.  Clearly, he will be making some dramatic changes in his life.  When he does emerge in the public domain, you can bet it will not involve golf, but his relationship with his family.

What defines Tiger Woods is his relentless ability to succeed in competitive situations, despite the odds, and maybe even because of the odds.  The odds are against him on this one, and that will only intensify the focus he needs to succeed.  If he can win this one, it helps him immensely in every other endeavor.  And  unlike it, those other challenges will always be waiting for him.

Despite pressure from sponsors and the PGA Tour, he will not relent until he has this part of his game under control.  The sponsors and the Tour understand this.  And so they will wait to the extent that they can.  Life is messy, but it is interesting.  And this scenario proves to be all of that.

What This Means for the Rest of Us

If there is anything this episode teaches us, it is that business is about relationships -  all of them.  Today social media is connecting communities with lighting speed and great accuracy.   Search engines now use real-time search to index everything we do.  With the social networks eavesdropping on more of our conversations than we know, like Tiger, we need to get comfortable with what the social networks do very well.

If Abraham Maslow is correct in his famous theory of the hierarchy of needs and desires, Tiger will do what every business or brand should be doing in this or any other economy.  He will focus on what matters most - those core relationships that we depend on every single day, and that we may sometimes take for granted.

I am frequently asked about the ROI of social media.  There are a number of ways to measure the value social media brings to your business.  Yet, while you can fairly easily measure the value a key customer brings to the table, it is exceedingly difficult to quantify this thing we call reputation. 

This much we now know:  Whether you are a celebrity or not, reputation may be immeasurable, but it is represents a drive down the middle of the fairway.  

That's something any of us can build on.

Photo Credit:  MarkLarson

Getting Comfortable with Authenticity

Show me what you can do?

These words are typical of what you may hear from a coach, your boss, or a prospect and customer.  These words are intended to reveal what makes you worth being a member of a team, a community, or an organization. This is the  foundation that shapes your personal brand.  It is based upon your performance, your reputation, and sometimes a good dose of self-promotion or marketing, which these days is strongly influenced by social media marketing.

Yesterday I gave a presentation on business trends that are being shaped by social media.  Naturally, one of the topics that came up is the increasing visibility that social media is bringing to all of us, whether we pursue that visibility or not. 

The truth is we have very little control over our reputation, other than of course how we play the game.  What's the game? The game is not just your performance on the athletic field, or in your business if you are an entrepreneur, but everything you do in every community that you are a member of. 

Today social media is connecting communities with lighting speed and with great accuracy.  Search engines and recent innovations that include real-time search are indexing everything we do, including where, when, and how we connect with other people.  It's time to get comfortable with that.

You and I have to get comfortable with the fact that our society is evolving into an open book. And there is at least one championship golfer who is painfully aware of this.  What remains to be seen is what can be salvaged of his personal brand.  My belief is the best strategy is to go straight to that inevitable destination that seems to arrive more quickly, and with greater regularity than ever - authenticity.

This past weekend I discovered a discussion string from Facebook that occurred over two years ago.  It was a discussion among my daughter's friends while she was in high school.  Since we share the same last name, it was inevitable that I would discover this discourse involving dozens of students. While the information contained within that stream of comments was innocuous, it was indeed interesting.  Most interesting to me is that Google is cracking through the "great wall of Facebook," and indexing some of that content that gives us clues to character, capabilities, aspirations, and much more.

You may not be a celebrity, or even a Web celebrity, but you are a human being.  And the increasingly humanized Web is eavesdropping on your conversations more than you know.  This is a trend that is sure to gain momentum as the social media networks do what they do best.  Some people fear this, but fear never results in anything positive.  So, you have to get comfortable with this.

The good news is good news travels well.  Some may disagree, but when the day is done, we want to hear the good news. We want to know how you are  helping your communities.  We want to know how your product and service will solve our problems. Human beings naturally seek the high road.  The rest is just noise.

Getting comfortable with the authenticity of this Web is going to change your business and mine for the better. Here's why.

Your customers, your markets, and your communities only want to know one thing: What can you do?

Do that, and do it well, from tee to green, and the social Web will treat you like a champion.

That's the only score we really care about.

Photo Credit:  PocketWiley

Do You Trust Advertising or Friends?

What's the first thing you do when you see an interesting ad?

You call a friend to see if they will validate the product or service.  We have always looked to our friends to get their opinions because we know their frame of reference and we trust them.  With the advent of social media this inquiry is more easily accomplished than ever. 

Why then would anyone consider advertising?  Awareness is what comes to my mind.  Advertising is a suggestion to get or keep the buying process moving.  I seriously doubt in these times it results in a stand alone sale, unless of course the price point is so low that there is very little risk.  Or possibly if the purchase is one where, shall we say, getting a friend's opinion may be a bit awkward!

Our personal experiences and those of our friends are shaping new business models that are sure to include the most valuable advertising there is: the wisdom of friends.  If you are a business owner, you need real friends who can validate the value you bring to the marketplace.  I'm talking real friends here, no t the fake friends that you may be frantically collecting on Twitter. 

A few years ago I spoke to Caterpillar dealers at their Superbowl celebration in Orlando, an experience that I enjoyed immensely.  It is always a pleasure to be with a group of professionals who are genuinely interested in learning. There were dealers from across the country who converged to share best practices and learn how to connect with new markets.  One of those markets being the green industry that I was there to represent with my twenty years of experience. 

As I said, it was several years ago, long before social media had really found its legs.  The news I shared with them was the green industry is a market in excess of 50 billion dollars, yet a very fragmented one.  This is typical of most industries that are dominated by smaller, entrepreneurial businesses. 

If I were speaking to them today, I would strongly encourage strategic marketing initiatives for engaging with those entrepreneurs through the social media networks.  I would suggest a combination of advertising for awareness with a healthy component of engagement to get to know one business owner at at time.

That's how we share information. We all talk.  We trade notes.  And we value each others opinions because we know our friends understand how to get things done in the trenches just as we do.

I don't think advertising is dead by any means.

It just needs to be, hmm..friendlier.

Photo Credit: RoadsidePictures

The Easiest Internet Marketing Mistake to Fix

It's your signature.

While many of us communicate more than we ever imagined via messages on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and many other networks, we still rely on email as our main communication stream. 

Regardless of your social media savvy, you will surely agree that you still send more business proposals via email than any other means, short of possibly doing so with snail mail, or my preference, the original real-time method, face-to-face.

Why then are so many people shooting themselves in the foot by sporting email signatures that are laden with logos and buttons that connect to their Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles?  My guess is they do not understand these HTML images practically guarantee their vital communication will be pushed into the junk folder of the intended recipient. Of course, the same goes for their e-newsletters, which have a variety of other problems that drive away customers.

I understand this tendency so I make a conscious effort to regularly check my junk folder.  Is this something you can count on your prospects to do?  I don't think so. It's not worth it!  For the sake of time we all move forward.  And that is what your prospects are doing.  They are moving ahead with what is clearly in front of them, which is your competitor's proposal.

As a former landscape architect, I am tuned into design.  And as an art lover, I appreciate color and the wonderful things designers can do with it.  However, as a businessman, I know that I have to temper my creative urges with my need to convey a message, as raw and stripped-down as it may have to be to safely arrive within the inbox of my targeted decision maker.

This is not an economy where you want to take a chance on missing an opportunity.  I know, because I recently missed one because I assumed my client would be sure to include me in their mix for an upcoming event.  I was wrong.  I am sorry and so are they, but that doesn't change anything.  All I can do is look ahead to their 2011 event. 

Do yourself a huge favor and stop sending emails that include anything other than text, links,and attachments.  If you need to send graphic images, they will normally arrive safely as attachments, but a link is still the surest method.  If  you have images embedded in your email signature or the body of your email correspondence, which includes your pretty logo and "follow me on Twitter" badge, you run the risk of missing your target up to 50% of the time. 

This is one of those "you don't know what you don't know" things, but it is easy enough to fix. Go green -  lighten up your signature to only text and links.  That's the solution.  Now you can sleep well knowing that you have effectively communicated, which was your initial intention, wasn't it?

With that said, how good do you want to be?  It is always a good practice to follow-up.  Ask for a confirmation of receipt at the close of your email.  If you don't get one.  Make a telephone call.

You will thank yourself for it.  

I guarantee it.

Photo Credit: Narisa

 

Engaging with Communities

Many of us in the United States will be reengaging with our regular business communities after nearly a week of visiting or hosting family for the Thanksgiving holiday.  This ritual will again be repeated for a number of upcoming holidays, depending upon your faith, upbringing and background, and if you travel to warmer climates during the winter season, your geographic location.

Transportation methods, flexible work schedules and discretionary income have all contributed to the formation of more communities that we easily move in and out of.  The social media networks are increasingly taking this to another level, as communities of all kinds are now represented both on an offline.

How many different kinds of communities are there in your world?  More than you probably realize if you take the time to consider this.  These communities shape how you do everything in your life - how you work, how you enjoy your leisure, and how you make new friends.  So, this is my first challenge:  make a list of all of the communities that you engage with.  Think about work, play, education, clubs, activities, and associations and partnerships, and that list will quickly grow. 

Moving forward, you are going to become more aware of these communities and their value to your life and lifestyle.  You will start to measure that value.  Truth is you already do in some respects.  Why do many people join a health club when they can easily purchase the equipment to workout in their own home?  Why does anyone join a club?  As with most inquiries, the best answer is often that it depends.  Does it raise the quality of the experience?  If so, it  helps to answer the question:  "Why are you here?"

This past Thanksgiving week I engaged with dozens of communities that mostly involved family and friends.  This took me away from my usual business communities where I will be spending most of my time this week.  And I am looking forward to reengaging with those communities.  This variety is essential to leading a fulfilling life that grows and leads to new opportunities. However, it also makes me realize I need to start considering how I balance my participation, contribution, and engagement in every respective community.

It is interesting to notice how some communities overlap and others do not.  Most of my family members do not know a great deal about the type of work I do as a professional speaker.  They are mostly interested in how I am doing as a person - period.  Information in some communities seems to be transferred on a need to know basis?  This is just one aspect of how you can simplify your engagement with communities to maximize the value you receive and give to the other members.

How else can you  order your communities.  Please leave a comment below and share your ideas?  Here are some ideas that come to my mind that I am considering to balance out my online and offline community participation. 

Balance/Focus/Value

Boundaries/Rules/Exclusivity

Inclusiveness/Diversity

Trust/Acceptance/Friendship

Contribution/Participation/Integration

Education

Stability/Flexibility

Receptivity/Appreciation

Risk

Our time is valuable, and with the increased functionality of social media, it is possible to share nearly everything with everybody.  Anyone can do this, and it certainly encourages a great deal of discussion.  But will that discussion be as productive if  it were more ordered to encourage a desired result that is highly valued by the majority of the community? 

There is no wrong or right here.  You may believe there is no need at all to order your communities.  To that I will only suggest -  It all depends.

Photo Credit: Will Lion

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