One of the most important elements of social networking is creating your brand and being consistent with it across your various network communities.  Your brand represents your company, defining its identity and making it possible for consumers to easily identify and find you.  People also recall images easier than text so make sure your logo is on everything!

Once you have created and established your Brand, register your username on as many social media sites as possible.   This is a good practice for several reasons; by tying up your username you are controlling your identity, thus reducing the chance of somebody stealing it and damaging your reputation.  You’re also establishing trust by consistently making yourself present and available in multiple communities, and you’re making it easy for people to find you.

We all have a favorite site we spend the majority of our social networking time on,  so don’t limit your potential audience by being selective.  Be present everywhere, but syndicate your sites for less administration.

Your social media strategy should always start with an understanding of what social media is, what you want to get out of it, and how you’re going to get it.  If you don’t know the answer to those three questions, STOP – you’re not ready start.  As with any goal, you need a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish, then you can plan your path to get there.

So what are your social media goals, what do you want to get out of it?  What does success look like to you, is it to:

• Increase customer base?
• Build overall brand awareness?
• Educate your customers?
• Reach new customers?
• Drive more traffic?
• Increase sales?

Before putting your social media strategy in place and heading down the path to achieve your goals, we need to develop an understanding of what they mean, and how we’re going to reach them.

So let’s talk about a few concepts and key points we need to keep in mind as we move forward:

• Results from Social Media Marketing (SMM) take effort, time and consistency.
• Always keep the big picture in mind to ensure you stay focused and keep your momentum going.  Social Media (SM) is incredibly addicting so keep track of the amount of time you spend on it, if you drift, remember your goals and bring yourself back.
• SM is not selling, it’s listening and engaging.  Nothing turns people off more than somebody jumping up and down saying “look at me, buy my stuff…buy my stuff!”  Be relevant, be credible and build relationships, but also be transparent.  In other words, don’t pretend you not selling something, because you are, and you should state that…just don’t be pushy and bring something more to the table than just your product or service.
• Don’t take what isn’t personal, personal.  People will come and go, some will love you, and some won’t.  Respond to everybody but look at every comment or post as an opportunity to be relevant and credible.

You’ve defined your online objectives, now let’s make achieving those objective simple by breaking SMM down into three major parts; establishing, communicating and listening.

Stay tuned for Part 2 — Establishing your Brand

In hopes of promoting my new business, I’ve spent months developing my “brand” and presence in the Social Media universe. In the process I have made some great contacts, built solid relationships and have learned the power and benefits of Social Networking. To know that I can connect with millions of people all over the world for free is truly amazing and what’s even more amazing is that more businesses are not taking advantage of it.

While I was making friends and familiarizing the world with my name, I was not building my business.  So I read more articles, followed more people, and posted more often but I still wasn’t getting the publicity I wanted and needed.  Then I asked myself…what is my target audience and how can I get in front of them to pitch my business? Well, since my target audience is local small businesses the best way to introduce my services to them would be to meet them face to face…what a concept!

The next day I scoured our local paper looking for business socials coming up and saw that the Chamber of Commerce was having a mixer.  I called a couple friends that are active in the community and asked if they would meet me there to introduce me to anybody they knew, to my delight they both agreed! At that mixer I met a gentleman that pretty much spends all his time at local business events and asked if I could tag along to some of them, amazingly he also agreed.  I spent the next two weeks going to mixers almost nightly and was introduced to what seemed like half the town.  I traded cards with people, generally asking questions about their business and always followed up with an email simply saying “it was a pleasure to meet you last night at the…”.

The response to my efforts was immediate and surprising.  I’d gotten farther with a few handshakes than I did with hundreds of hours on-line.  The phenomenon brought to mind how authors do signing tours after their books hit the shelves, and movie stars run the talk show circuit when their movies debut.  So why do they do that, if we like them we’re going to buy the book or see their movie regardless right?  They do it because they want us to connect with ‘them’ and not the character they’re playing or writing about.  Business is no different, we want to build a relationship with the people we do business with and we need to develop a trust.

So am I saying social networking isn’t worthwhile? Not at all, I’m saying you have to do both.  With social media you have a voice that spans the world enabling you to connect to people you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, but nothing will ever replace the power of a handshake and a smile.

This email went out to a group of parents whose kids are involved in organization that hosts band workshops.  We’ve been in the program for a couple of years and maybe get an email update once every couple of months; they definitely aren’t spammers and its always relevant info.

The original email was addressed to a single group in the “to” field, just moments after the email went out the first response came back; what happened after that can only be described as electronic mass hysteria.

Original Email:

Hi Everybody,

We’re excited to announce that the Pro band, <band>, will be hosting their first CD Release Party!  Their CD “<CD Name>” was recorded this past summer and contains five original songs that really rock! (There was a flyer attached but this was really pretty much it…no big deal right?

Responses in order of appearance and exactly as they were written (with the occasional comment from me in red):

1.      Please unsubscribe me. Thank you.

2.      Why am I getting all of these notices that people want to unsubscribe?

3.      Me also

4.      Me too, thank.s

5.      “Reply” – replies to the whomever sent the email.  “Reply All” – replies to EVERYBODY on the mailing list.  Please use accordingly.

6.      I did not send this.

7.      I know – me too!?!

8.      (ill stay subscribed..)

9.      Me too!  Please stop hitting reply to all everyone.

10.  Bloody hell would you guys give it a rest?

11.  Please take me off too.

12.  Can everyone just stop this thread now and send her a message individually and seperate from this one if you wanna unsubscribe?

13.  Please unsusbcribe me

14.  Me also

15.  My ? As well

16.  because people are hitting “reply all”!!!  thanks for including EVERYONE on your unsubscribe requests….jeez.  the whole world doesn’t wanna know.

17.  You guys have the wrong email, I’m receiving all these email in error! please remove me from your list.

18.  Pls take me off your email list.  This is too scary. (Scary? As in conspiracy theory scary?)

19.  Please remove me from your list! (this is the same guy that wrote #17)

20.  This is a huge email address population…stop replying and go directly to their website to unsubscribe.

21.  PLEASE UNSUBSCRIBE ME. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE OF EMAILS.

22.  this is ridiculous on how you have sent a massive email please unsubscribe!

23.  would all please refrain from hitting “reply all”  with their unsubscription request – adding insult to injury…  Thanks. (I like it, making your point by doing exactly what you are asking people not to do)

24.  Stop replying to all if you want to stop receiving emails from other people!

25.  NO NEED TO REPLY TO EVERYONE PEOPLE!

26.  Yes please!!!! Do not reply to all!! I’ve recieved 20 emails within 10 minutes. (And…you just sent yourself another one, awesome)

27.  Thank you.

28.  Sheesh, people! This is just a nice announcement about a great event concerning some very talented kids. Just delete and move on if you don’t care. Give me a break.

29.  You too (who me?)

30.  Actually, it’s amusing to see how many of you get so upset about these emails. I agree with Emily. Delete, move on and put your passion into something that makes a difference. I know…work on feeding the poor! or something. PLEASE! (Yes, because there are people all over the world that don’t even have the internet!)

31.  I have only sent mine to “groupname@emailaddress.com“…yet you are all still getting?

32.  I think a virus may be causing this to happen. Maybe the <organization> server is infected or something? (Scary)

33.  Me too (oh, you)

34.  I think the ‘groupname@emailaddress.com‘ is actually an email list.  When I initially replied to ONLY that email, it went to everyone apparently, including me.

35.  GET A LIFE PEOPLE! At some point, you or your child was involved in <organization>, which is why you are on the list. Just be happy for these kids and move on.  Stop the animosity. It’s a simple DELETE button.

36.  LOL Hello everybody. Welcome to SpamWorld!

37.  Clearly THIS is the case!

38.  groupname@emailaddress.com is a mailing list, with all students and, it seems, anyone who has ever sent an email to <organization>.

39.  I have tears rolling down my cheeks I’m laughing so hard…thank you all for this string, it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time! (This is mine…I couldn’t resist, and I really was crying)

40.  I believe this is correct. They surely have a ‘group’ list of all previous and current students and upon receiving the email, someone, (you know who you are) accidently pushed ‘reply all’ which copied each and everyone EVER affiliated with <organization>.

41.  Please take me off this list

42.  I think its swine flu! (Had to be said)

43.  I have no idea why I am getting all these emails – has nothing to do with me–

44.  i have to agree. it is so silly! enjoy the evening. i am!

This person got creative and started a new subject…

45.  please unsubscribe me right away.  Thanks,

Yet another new subject…

46.  get me off please! stop emailing me! for anything please remove me for anything stop emailing me!

47.  Remove me from this list–I am getting constant emails.

48.  get me off please! stop emailing me! for anything please remove me for anything stop emailing me! (so this person copied #46 and sent it as their own)

49.  What the hell is going on!!! STOP THE EMAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

50.  get me off please! stop emailing me! for anything please remove me (such a great post this person also copied #46 and sent it as their own)

51.  for anything stop emailing me!

52.  Just everyone stop with the emails. If you want to be taken of the mailing list, do it later. She got the message. COME ON PEOPLE!!! (I like it, email everybody to say stop emailing everybody after 51 people have already done the same thing…very creative)

53.  I HAVE 68 EMAILS FROM THE <ORGANIZATION>… COULD YOU FRICKING DELETE THE <FAMILY> EMAIL ADDRESS. WE NO LONGER INTERESTED. WHO THE F…. SENT ALL THESE 68 SAME <BLEEP> INFO  EMAIL AND HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO SEND AN EMAIL THROUGH THE BLACK BERRY…

54.  Hi Guys, Really, must you get so annoyed at a simple e-mail accident when there is war in Iraq & Afghanistan, no healthcare plan for the U.S., global warming, education cuts, overpopulated prisons, etc…Grow up!!  By the way, is Angelina Jolie really on this email list? If so keep me subscribed!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Seriously? You’re in the group, have you ever seen her or brad?)

55.  Nice Noah! Angelina…it that you?

And yet another new subject…

56.  Please unsubsribe me too.

And another…

57.  Did you guys just get the internet today?  <BLEEP> you, breeders. (and there it is…Wait, don’t you have a kid in this group?)

58.  No, it is I who will tell YOU to stop sending useless email.

59.  No! It is I who will tell YOU  . . . . Viva Useless Emails!   Viva Donna!   Viva <organization>!  Parents . . . grow up thyselves! (nice use of the Shakespearean language)

And another…but this one was started by the original sender…

60.  Hello Everybody, This is <Sender> from <The group>, emailing you from my home email address.

Our email server recently “upgraded” their system, and in the process obliterated our email list.  When we re-built it this afternoon & sent the message many of you have responded to, it apparently did not include the functionality that disabled all of you from receiving messages from each other.

If you want to respond to the original message you sent, please just do a reply to sender@emailaddress.com.  Please do not do a “reply all” as that will send your message to everybody on our list.

In the meantime, we will be contacting our email provider to ensure that this does not happen again. (Excellent, your email provider is going LOVE this!)

61.  Is that really angelina jolie? Keep me subscribed! (Even funnier the second time, right?)

62.  No I am not Angelina Jolie it is only my display name! remove me loll,,,

63.  stop emailing me! (this is from Angelina Jolie)

64.  That’s exactly what the real Angelina Jolie would say! LOL sorry couldn’t resist. No more emails from me I promise!

65.  me, too. please unsubscribe me as well!!!!

66.  I would also appreciate being taken off this as well.

67.  Folks, there is something wrong with the <organization> email distribution. It appears that many people are telling them to take their names off the list, but those requests are going to lots of people like me, who have nothing to do with <organization> except being on their email list. I plan to call them in the morning to let them know they have a problem. But in the meantime, please don’t reply by email to <organization>, because that appears to be perpetuating and exacrebating the problem of unwat=nted emails.  (and it only took you 67 email to come to this conclusion)

68.  PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS LIST!!! YOU HAVE INADVERTENTLY CREATED A SITUATION WHERE EVERYONE IS SEEING EVERYONE ELSE’S RESPONSE TO THIS EMAIL. (excellent use of all caps, I’m really feeling it)

69.  Hahaha damn you guys this is so funny I really can’t stop laughing.  But jeez you parents really need to chill out about all this.  This is exactly why adults should not use the internet! Just kidding. It’s just funny to watch people get so hyped up over something so unimportant. (Love him)

70.  Well said John! Where are our priorities today people…hit delete…no big deal…isn’t this supposed to be kick back…open and understanding San Francisco? Have a good night…

71.  Here here! Let’s take this moment to stop thinking that we’re so dang important. Rock on, <organization>!

72.  Well said!!!

So 72 email and approximately 12 hours later the hysteria subsided.  The breeders and the one other parent went to bed exhausted after a very scary evening of responding to a group email.

When I first began working from home I’d shower and dress first thing every morning, reminded of the saying “if you look successful, you’ll feel successful and people will see you as successful” but after a couple months of that I said “ah screw it, I’ll just visualize myself as successful and call it good”.  As a result I haven’t done my hair, worn makeup, gotten dressed or put on deodorant in months…how do you ever get back from that?  Will my family ever again tell me I look nice without preceding it with “WOW!”

Anyway, I make my way to the kitchen, poor myself a cup of coffee, start making lunches and map out the timing of my day, this particular day I have to drive my son to school and go for a run…big day.  Now, it would be silly to change clothes if I’m just going to be sitting in my office all day so I take my son to school in my boxers, a big shirt and slippers.  Occasionally I spruce up a little and throw on some sweats if I know I have to stop for gas or something.

Once back at the house I fill my mug with a second cup of coffee and head up to the office to start my day.  The next couple hours are spent replying to email, TweetDecking, reading recommended articles, commenting on LinkedIn, and writing witty replies to my Facebook friends.

At this point I need to get serious and add some “relevant content” to my blog, cause I’ve gotta build my brand, be an authority, connect, drive traffic and build relationships! But I’m stuck…I’m not feeling relevant or creative at all.  I decide a good run will clear my mind and when I get back I’ll clean up, put on some actual clothes and I’ll be ready to take on the blogiverse.

You would think that taking a shower after a hard run on a hot day seems like the only acceptable thing to do right?  Well, I live in California and we’re in a drought so to be environmentally conscious I wait as long as possible so I don’t have to wash my face before bed.  You gentlemen don’t have the same concerns since you don’t have a 20 minute face cleaning/exfoliating/moisturizing regime morning and night…be thankful!

So before heading back upstairs to the office I make a nice lunch and grab a drink.  This time I’m inspired and write a great article comparing unemployed workers to lepers.  It’s actually pretty funny; we’re all living on this colony together because we’re unemployed and nobody wants to talk to us…

As I’m writing the article though I smell something terrible, I look through the trash and under the desk, smell the cat…nothing.  It’s then that I realize that I’m the awful odor, I’ve been writing for hours, I haven’t showered, everybody’s going to be home soon, the house is a disaster and I haven’t even thought about dinner!  Without delay, I finish up my article, close the 600 tabs I have open on my browser, shower, put on my mom/house Frau hat and off I go.

As I lay in bed that night watching the Daily Show, waiting for sleep to consume me, I contemplate my schedule tomorrow, “coffee, lunches, ride to school, finish my article, finish that business plan, find a Twitter contest so I can win a free Starbucks card… maybe I can mix it up a bit tomorrow, I’ll check my TweetDeck before my email…I dunno, maybe I’ll get really crazy and put on some pants!

Brand: Create a personal brand and be consistent with it across your various network communities. Make sure it clearly communicates who you are and what you do. In your words “what do you do and what sets you apart from everybody else that does it?”

URL: Your LinkedIn URL should appear as http://linkedin.com/in/yourfullname, if it doesn’t change, otherwise you’re missing out on your profile ranking higher in Google and making it easy for people to find you.

Summary: include a brief paragraph with no typo’s and proper grammar summarizing your work experience or business.

Keywords: With Search Engines, Pipes, and RSS feeds keywords are essential for being found so take advantage by sprinkling them throughout your profile.

Applications: If you have a Blog add the Blog Link or WordPress Application. Another great one is Box.net, share content and collaborate.

Groups: Join groups that you can be a resource for and learn from. Identify yourself as a leader by asking and answering questions in your group.

Links: LinkedIn allows 3 links, I recommend your business website, and/or your Blog and your Twitter profile.

Contacts: The bigger your network the more marketing leverage you have so import those contacts. LinkedIn makes importing extremely easy with Windows Live, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL (if you still have an AOL account for your business…dump it!). Beware though because if the people you’re inviting don’t remember you and 5 of them say they don’t know you, LinkedIn will blacklist you. If you are unsure, send an email in advance letting them know who you are and that you want to join their network.

Status: Update your status occasionally, let your network know what you’re up to, it will appear in their weekly updates so they will be reminded of you each week.

Twitter

Profile: Design a page that stands out a bit with an attractive background and a picture. Again keep in mind your “personal brand”, your Bio should be similar to your LinkedIn profile.

Build: Search for people with similar interests and/or people you would like to target.

Some good sites to find people to follow:

http://www.twellow.com/
http://www.whoshouldifollow.com/
Google Twitter+career consultants= see what comes up

Tweet: Be a consistent tweeter (at least once a day) and provide good tweet content. Your comments should be relevant to your business; don’t to turn people off by giving sales pitches or tweeting about what you had for lunch.

Promote: Add your Twitter handle to your Email signature, Website, Blog, LinkedIn profile, and Facebook profile.

Understand: Read this very simple guide to getting started with Twitter: http://www.deannazandt.com/2009/02/26/a-non-fanatical-beginners-guide-to-twitter/

Contest: The idea behind a Twitter contest is to create more exposure so the contests are always based around the contestants following the host and re-tweeting about the contest. You can offer almost anything, people love free stuff and they love helping out a friend.

Facebook

Profile: Create a Profile page specifically for your business keeping it consistent with your Business Brand. Be sure to fill out your profile with as much information as possible; email address, pictures, etc.

Community: Invite all your friends and business contacts, even those that are not yet involved. Facebook allows you to easily import email addresses from Windows Live, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL.

Fan Page: Create a Facebook Fan Page to network with your business contacts and reach your target market: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Ad Space: You can create an Ad on Facebook that allows you to target your specific audience, track your progress, who’s clicking on your ad and choose how you would like to pay for it. It is a highly effective and inexpensive way to reach hundreds of thousands of people. You can also promote your business for free in the Facebook Marketplace.

Blog: Facebook has an application that will automatically import all your blog articles into the “Notes” field on your profile. As you post articles to your blog, your Facebook profile will automatically be updated with an update on your wall.

Events: Promote your meetings, conferences, sales, promotions etc., by creating an event and inviting your network.

Promote: Add your Facebook profile to Twitter, Email signature, Website, Blog, and LinkedIn profile.

Blog

Create: There are many free Blog host sites that offer a vast range of themes to choose from. WorPress and Blogger are industry leaders that offer may plugins to link with Facebook, Twitter, etc. The theme you choose should be conducive to the type of content you need to manage. Example: if you own a travel business Blogabond offers map integration.

Talk: Once your blog is “live” start talking; create a more personal relationship with your customers by sharing your personal insight, thoughts and ideas. Talk about the issues surrounding your business, your town, products, services, etc. Sharing the “you” side of you will build trust with your readers and keep them coming back for more.

Keywords: Use descriptive keywords throughout your post to increase traffic. The more text you have describing your content the better the chance your readers will have

RSS: Give your visitors the option to subscribe to your blog via RSS feeds. If they subscribe they won’t forget to come back and read your recent posts.

Read: Seth Godin’s article “How to get traffic for your blog” http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/06/how_to_get_traf.html

Promote: Add your Blog link to Twitter, Email signature, Website, and LinkedIn profile.

Marketing Collateral

Promote: Let your audience know where to find you. Add all your Social Network profile links to your email signature, business cards, flyers, etc.

A couple days ago I went to our local city college with my daughter to meet with the “Student Aid Specialist” to inquire about Obama’s education stimulus for the unemployed.  The “specialist” said “our office has never heard of anything like that”.  Well, unless you’re a troll.  Living under a rock.  On an ashram.  It’s beyond me how you could not have heard about the Obama initiatives.  And, if you’re a “specialist” wouldn’t it be in your best interest to be current in the area of which you specialize?  Ya think?

Another head shaker happened when I walked into a store, asked if they had a certain item in stock and the “customer service” (I put that in quotes to emphasize the irony) person said “no, I don’t think we carry that”.  To which I respond “you don’t think you carry it or you know you don’t carry it?”…they didn’t know.

Now, there have been very few people I’ve had the pleasure to work with that have a “do whatever needs to be done” attitude regardless of their job description.  They thrive on a challenge, take pride in their achievements and believe in the moral benefit of work…something crazy I like to call, work ethic.  So what happened to the rest of our American workers?  Are we breeding generations of lazy people who think the minimum is enough?  Do these people they feel that if they do more they’re changing the curve, disturbing the natural order of hierarchy?  Or, are we as employers repressing our employees from flourishing professionally because we fear they will do our jobs better than we can?   Is it just me, or is it them, I really wonder?

I used to work for a large corporation that gave annual company wide reviews and pay raises.  My first review will forever be forged in my mind; my supervisor sat me down and explained that performances were rated on a scale of 1-5 however they’re discouraged from going over a 3 since everyone gets the same 4% pay raise.  Wait…what?  Oh yeah, that’s right, we’ve got a whole new take on it, no more rewarding people for working hard, abolish meritocracy I say, slackers shall rule the world!

Regardless of why workers are lazy and uninspired, there are over 14 million people in America out of work, you would think that just maybe, these minimalist workers would step up to the plate to ensure they have a job tomorrow.   They might notice the company that pays them bi-weekly is struggling just to stay in business and more than ever they need a dedicated hard working staff.  The unfortunate reality is that the majority of workers just don’t get it. Instead of being thankful they have a job they seem resentful because they no longer have Friday barbecues or they have to take an unpaid day off every month.  Well guess what, one day a month with no pay is a whole lot better than 20 and I’m bettin’ there are quite a few people out there willing to trade with you.

Time and time again I have stepped into an IT department and nothing is documented.  There’s always the one “guy” that has it all in his head, unfortunately that guy can never take a vacation and if he did and something did go wrong business could come to a screeching halt.

Make it standard practice to have a policies and procedures suite in place and keep it current.  Document everything, create your organization so that any employee could leave at a moments notice with little to no impact on business flow and productivity.

I don’t know about you but I’m obsessive about my iTune library, I don’t add anything to it until the album, songs and tags are configured to my standard format. Recently we’ve been cleaning up the music library on the server and I’ve been transferring albums over to iTunes little by little. In the past when I wanted to transfer music or data from one location to another I would open Windows Explorer, grab it from one location and drag it over to another, simple right? Well what if you have a really long way to drag and drop or your using a tiny laptop with a touch pad, pain in the patootie right? Not so fast! What if you could just right click and “Sendto” the folder your working with? Here’s how:

“Right Click” [Start] Click [Explorer]
Navigate to the drive where Windows XP is installed (Usually your “C” drive)
Expand (click on the Plus sign) the Documents and Settings folder
Expand the folder of the User whose SendTo menu will be modified (Generally your computer user name)
Expand the SendTo folder
(If the Send To folder isn’t visible, click [Tools] [Folder Options] [View] tab and check [Show Hidden Files and Folders])
“Right click” any item you want to add, drag and drop it on the Send To folder and click [Create Shortcuts Here]

In my case I wanted to create a shortcut in my Sendto folder for “My Music” so every time I grabbed an album off the server I could just right click and send it over. So with Explorer open I navigated to my iTunes folder, right clicked and dragged it to C:Documents and Settings\Lorann\SendTo…BAM!

“Making a choice to view conflict in the office as professional rather than personal accomplishes two key things. First, it ensures that you don’t accidentally overreact and see a personal component where there is none. Second, it effectively defuses any personality conflict that might really exist” – Cathie Black, President of Hearst Enterprise