All posts by Shari Weiss

I have been writing and teaching most of my life -- and have enjoyed both vocations. However, the advent of the Social Media Revolution has turned my life around in the most exciting fashion. Rather than think about retirement, I want to help change the world -- particularly the business world -- into a "kinder," more ethical, transparent, and authentic place to help solve people's problems.
Sharisax Is Out There, Twitter

List-O-Rama: Not included on many Twitter Lists yet?

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for listing purposesFeeling left out because everyone’s buzzing about Twitter Lists . . . and you’re not?

Reminds me of how one of my good friends has had two dinner parties at her home in the last few weeks, and I wasn’t invited to either. But she did ask me for this weekend, so maybe there’s hope for all of us.

Fresh from a 30-minute webinar on Twitter Lists by Hubspot, I have decided to weigh in with my own . . .

List on Twitter Lists:

1. First off, Twitter Lists is a brand new social media/Twitter feature, so by the time we learn all there is to know, many aspects will change. And that’s OK. Really. Getting your feet wet in the evolving new technology makes it so much easier to capitalize on the opportunities you will find along the way — this is ESPECIALLY TRUE for businesses who’ve feared jumping onto the social media bandwagon.

a. COROLLARY: That means that the rest of this “List” may — or may not — be useful tomorrow/next week/next month . . .

2. Twitter is like a fire hydrant, according to the webinar, so Twitter Lists are like hoses, according to me.

b. COROLLARY: You can focus your Twitter streams and increase your Reach.

3. Webinar’s HOW-TO: (a) Follow the Lists of people you respect; (b) Create some of your own by going to your Follower list; and (c) Promote your lists via widget, FB, FF, and Twitter itself.

c. COROLLARY: Check out more lists on Listorious and add yours to this directory

4. Instead of number of Twitter Followers to measure your popularity, the new gauge will be how many Lists you are on.

d. COROLLARY: Using either of these analytics is “interesting” — to use the term many English teachers write when we can’t think of something positive to say about a student’s paper/thesis.

5. You can not [now] SPAM the people on a Twitter List

e. COROLLARY: A critical component to Success with Social Media Marketing [SMM} is to personalize relationships and service. Automatic anything is so un-SMM.

6. Teachers can make Twitter Lists for individual courses for in-class or homework discussions

f. I won’t have to use TweetChat which was giving us some trouble when students replied directly to other students, e.g., these discussions sometimes did not appear in the stream.

Posts re: Twitter Lists from the blogosphere:

7. Four clever uses for lists: includes creating mini-communities where every listee follows the list and uses hashtags for discussions.

8. 10 ways you can use Twitter Lists: includes making lists to keep tabs on your industry and your employees.

9. Twitter lists and real-time journalism: Pete Cashmere says we can use our friends as filters:

“For those cast adrift in a sea of content, good news: A “curation” economy is beginning to take shape, tweet by tweet, list by list.”

10. Robert Scoble:

“Twitter Lists are for people crazy about tech news. Techmeme is for lazy people who want all their news in 10 minutes? Heheh. Very fun!” in response to a comment on his post “Techmeme vs Twitter Lists“

— BTW, Scoble is the ONLY “listee” on Steve Rubel’s “List/faves”

Time to “get off the couch” and start LISTING — or at least reading about them. It really is “All about the Buzz”

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Media Relations — by the Book

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where the people areLet’s continue chatting about some of the tips from David E. Henderson’s “Making News in the Digital Era.”   [overview of David’s book provided in previous post]

“The practice of influential communications with the media comes from realistic knowledge of what makes appealing news, what is and is not a story identifying the best news outlet to reach your audiences, finding a reporter to develop a story with which you will be pleased. The goal is to reach and engage audiences.” [p. 7]

Just what is news anyway?

“News” is more than whatever information an organization or individual wants to share.

In journalism classes, we teach about “newsworthiness,” i.e., the elements that make facts into a story: (a) timeliness and (b) local relevance are two helpful elements, but more compelling components would be stories about (c) important topics that affect peoples’ lives; (d) well known people; (e) competing sides [as in sports]; and (f) human interest subjects that tug at the heart strings.

David emphasizes two key “newsworthy” points throughout the book: ** Tell stories **Make those stories about how readers will benefit — NOT about how great your company/product/service is.

“If you want to achieve outstanding coverage by the media — whether a daily newspaper, cable news, blog, or online news service — it only makes sense to speak their language and understand what they need.” [p. 158]

A primary tenet of information distribution in this new media world is that you “narrowcast” rather than “broadcast.” In other words, mass distribution of press releases is a waste of time.

What do you do instead?

First you find out where your audience is, i.e., where do they get their information?

  • If offline in traditional media, you will need to cultivate personal relationships with the reporters and writers who cover your industry.
  • If online, you will need to listen & engage with customers/clients/employees on the sites and platforms they prefer AND read & comment on the blogs they read.

David’s tips and rules for media interviews

  1. Never guess when you don’t know.
  2. Always tell the truth.
  3. Know when to stop talking and just listen.
  4. Strive to communicate three clear messages and use facts and statistics to back them up.
  5. Answer questions that are asked.
  6. Remember that eye contact and how you say things is as important as what you say.
  7. Never say anything you do not want to see in print; media interviews are not conversations.

WHEN ON CAMERA: Look straight into the lens —  and be as natural and friendly as you can be.

“Audiences do not care to hear an organization talk about itself. People only want to know how an organization’s products or services benefit them and bring value to their lives.” [p. 170 – last page of the book]

FURTHER READING:

Creating messages for the media

Core values to build trust and value

Sharisax Is Out There

Handbook to guide your success in social media and more effective Public Relations efforts

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Cabo Arch

As both a PR teacher and professional journalist for many years,

I was blown away when I found the perfect new text:

Making News in the Digital Era

by David E. Henderson

If elections were held today for Social Media Expert, David gets my vote. His 2009  narrative/guidebook is perfect for helping learners on all levels understand — and properly apply — Best Communication Practices in this whole new social media world of ours.

Technology is changing our lifestyles on a daily basis . . .

so many would agree that claiming “Expert” status has to be “qualified,” i.e., conditional based on the newest data.

But let’s consider “qualified” in its other sense as well.

If anyone has built the chops to thoroughly discuss the news business, journalism, public relations, and social media marketing, then David Henderson qualifies:

  • Emmy Award–winning CBS News correspondent and public relations executive for dozens of years, David has been online with his blog www.DavidHenderson.com since 2003.

Some of David’s best advice:

  1. Let go of Old Ways and embrace Change.
  2. Present ideas for developing a company’s reputation with communication approaches that underscore transparency, openness, and credibility.
  3. Messages need to focus on audience benefits, not talking about the greatness of an organization.
  4. Avoid jargon and “gobbledygook” and use clear, direct, easy-to-understand language.
  5. Key communication practices: Listening, engaging, story-telling, and always speaking the truth.
  6. Today’s executives must be involved in online strategies that require inspiration, passion, purpose, and focus.
  7. Forego Mission Statements and carefully create a concise and appropriate Positioning Statement.

“Strategic communications in today’s fiercely competitive world mandates clever positioning, understanding audience needs and knowing how to craft timely and meaningful messages that excite people and create results” [p. 23]

My opinion: This is a book that ought to be used both in university public relations/communications courses as well as in the offices of every public relations organization and department.

Further posts from David E. Henderson’s book will feature tips, best practices, and insights on the following topics:

A)     Media relations

B)      CEO blogging

C)      Online newsrooms and other PR 2.0 strategies

Thanks, David, we need this handbook. Lots of PR and business execs don’t know where to start, and your book will surely help them.

Related stories:

David Henderson’s post on what he learned writing the book

My next post on Media Relations

Squidoo lens Discussing Social Media books

Social Media Biz review

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter

From creating Buzz to real-time Trends: Reading my favorite blogs is just like taking out toys and playing with them

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Vegas stripComing back from vacation is Hard Work, but if that “work” is “play,” then it can be a lot of fun — albeit different from three days in Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday.

So my “coming back plan” is to catch up on my blog-reading and blog-writing at the same time.

Where to start?

At the top of the inbox?

Where I left off last?

Any email title that catches my eye?

I decided to start with Adam Singer’s The Future Buzz [my favorite blog]. Adam is only 26, but his depth of experience and passion is amazing. Today he wrote about speaking at PubCon Nov 10-13, so any of my readers who can get back to Las Vegas, please say HI to Adam for me.

Adam’s post Understanding your audience is underrated touched a few chords for me. Here was my comment:

Two responses come to mind upon reading this post:
(1) As a writing teacher, I am reminded of my advice to students to imagine the reader and it makes the writing task so much easier.
Here was a cool example that worked this past summer: Imagine writing an essay about “Why you should exercise.” With no one person/reader in mind, where do you start? Now imagine the reader is your lazy overweight uncle sitting in front of the TV, drinking beer and playing with his remote. Easier to get started . . . and easier to write.

(2) As a marketing teacher, I’d want to share all of your insights with my students to show them the power of intelligent thinking. In this particular post, your five strategy questions provided a great “lesson.” I especially liked the suggestion to find promotions that work and make those your own.

Have you tried a “News Update Network”?

I like social|median for news updates. It’s cool to read “Sharisax’s News Updates” in my email box every day on these five topics: (a) Tech News, (b) Social Networking, (c) Social Media Watch, (d) Media&Technology, and (e) Twitter.

(b) Social Networking news was of particular interest:

“Why I don’t use Google Reader anymore” posted on Robert Scoble‘s Posterous stream — from his Friendfeed account.

The title of the post appealed to me because — although I have a Google Reader account, I much prefer the blogs and news that comes straight to my mailbox. Here’s why Robert dislikes Google Reader: (1) it’s slow [misspelled “slog” at first; appropriate? :-)]; (2) the UI (user interface)  is confusing; (3) too many items to read, which he doesn’t get to; (4) social networking aspects too slow; (5+++) Twitter is so much better!

Robert’s post goes on to show the versatility of Twitter’s new LIST feature, which will soon be open to all. Robert ends his post in the “recommended” fashion to ask how readers view Google Reader. The first commentor suggested that Twitter doesn’t have an RSS feeder like Google Reader. Robert’s response: Everyone he wants to read posts their info on Twitter.

Checking out Seth Godin’s latest “words of wisdom”:

1) Big ideas . . . are little ideas that no one killed too soon

2) Opt-in or opt-out: a thought-provoking consideration of how personal choices should/shouldn’t be automatic, e.g., organ donation [a public good] is “opt-out” while spammy messages are a definite “opt-in.”

3) What you buy when you buy a lottery ticket: The title alone got me. Seth says that buying a lottery ticket is a lot like writing a blog post, and that the motivation is “the thrill of possibility.”

Seth’s Blog is a great one to check out (a) if you are just starting a blog and you want to have a role model who posts short sharp insights very consistently, i.e., at least daily AND/OR (b) if you want to see how a writer can say a whole lot with very few words AND/OR (c) if you simply want to think about some idea of value.

Where to end . . .

Since this is “play,” I could go on and on. But I’m sure I’d lose too many of you. So I’ll quit this post with one last article glimpse, and what better source than Mashable, the premiere aggregator of tech savvy contributors, the ultimate “Social Media Guide”:

One of the stories that caught my attention was the 4 Emerging Trends of the Real-Time Web: (a) Individuals working together [i.e. collaborating] online via specially designed Web platforms; (b) real-time data on shopping, health info and a host of other categories; (c) more valuable search findings that filter out old information; (d) the BEST prices at any one moment in time — WOW!!

If you check out any of these stories, let me know what you got out of them.

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Blogging, Facebook, Guest Post, LinkedIn

Web designers more in demand now — even with the ease of blogging and pre-made themes

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Migrating from wordpress.com to wp.org was one tough challenge — and then finding my ideal template was an even bigger one.

Thank heavens for all the support available online — especially via the LinkedIn Q&A feature. [See previous guest post.]

One question led to another once Australian problem solver James Hilton offered me his expertise to fix some early errors. When I found out that James had quit his job as Audio Visual Technician to focus on building websites, I wondered . . . and asked:

to the rescue

How will the ease of creating blogs affect businesses that build websites?

James’ answer surprised me in many ways — but mostly in how much effort and detail he put into his response.

Not wanting to keep all this knowledge and wisdom to myself, I asked James if I could republish his information as a GUEST POST on my blog. Fortunately for all of us, he said YES, and here we go:

Designers will be needed to “Make-over” pre-made blog themes

by James Hilton

I quit my last job so I could focus on building websites. I figured I should be doing what I’m passionate about regardless of whether I’m making money or not. If I’m good at it the money will come to me.

To answer your question, I believe the ease of creating blogs has increased the amount of jobs out there for web designers.

The easier blogs are to start, the more people will be starting blogs, and while there’s tens of thousands of premade themes out there to use, it’s so hard to find one that perfectly fits your idea for the blog so a lot of people hire designers to give their blog a make-over.

I’ve started many blogs and spent hours looking for the perfect theme but I can never find it. In some cases I find one that looks similar to what I envision then spend days modifying it to suit my needs.

What has changed is that web designers are leaning towards graphic design more these days

Anyone can code a basic website, and anyone can set up a website and put a basic theme on, so the web designer’s job is just to make a custom visual design that looks pretty, and that is the biggest job when it comes to building a website.

Personally, I can program a whole website in minutes. But doing the graphic design for it, now that takes many hours or days or even weeks!

I believe many graphic design courses are now including a bit of programming in them simply because the highest demand for graphic designers is on the internet!

Another way that easy blog creation will affect some web design businesses is that they will not have a future income from a client. In the past, a designer might charge a yearly or monthly fee to maintain the website and update it, but now with all these fancy blogging systems like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and many others, the people who own the website can now update it themselves.

Can websites make money?

The type of websites I build are money making ones, but having said that, they’re not making much money!! When I started learning web design 2 years ago I built a website called www.Icanhasmotivation.com which was just about funny pictures. I was so proud about it and knew I was going to hit it big and be raking in the money. On the first day I showed my friends and they loved it and I made $1.50 from advertising income. The next day I made $2, the next day $1, the next day 50 cents, then 20cents, then nothing…

I gave up on that, and started working on other projects but none of them really hit it off. A year later my friend wanted to run a site so we had a go at running the motivational site again and we made it really really popular and got it a lot of traffic. But at the peak it was only making 50 cents per day. 15,000 people visited it in one day and we made $1. So far it’s made $65 so I can safely say it was a failure. (I just checked and it’s made $2 in the last 7 days from roughly 15000pv and 3000uv)

My latest project is the one I have the highest hopes for

I’m pretty confident that this one will hit it big and make me rich. I just need to finish it!!!

www.localendar.com.au is going to be a community calendar that will list every event in Australia and give anyone the opportunity to see what’s happening in their home town on any given day. Or even if they’re holidaying in another town they can see what events are happening. In the one month that I’ve been working on it I’ve changed the visual appearance sooo much! If you view it on Firefox or Safari it will look good but on Internet Explorer there’s a few glitches I need to fix. So far I’ve put about 40 hours into this project and most of that has been towards fixing glitches with the different browsers. Every time I change something about the site I need to fix a damn glitch.

I should be finished with the visual appearance in another few hours then be finished with all the behind the scenes programming in a week or two and I’ll be ready to market this website to the masses. I’m going to fill it up with every event in my home town then expand to the next town then to the next. If it becomes popular and well used I’ll expand it to every town in Australia. If it becomes popular throughout Australia I’ll be expanding to NZ UK USA etc.

So like I said, I have VERY HIGH hopes for this one. If you’ve got some time, (And you’re using any browser other than internet explorer) check it out and tell me what you think. 🙂

New website building options all over the Net

By the way, relating to your question, there are a bunch of new website building websites popping up all over the net. They allow you to create a website in flash format, and they seem pretty good. Although I disagree with the use of flash, I think the future for website building will be in online WYSIWYG editors. (just in case you haven’t heard of it, that just means What You See Is What You Get, and it’s a common term for a program where you drag shapes, text and images around a page and it automatically converts that into a website that anyone can view)

Ideally, what someone will have to create is a website like wordpress where you sign up and get your own page like http://wordpress.com/shari and you will then have an online editor like dreamweaver or front page, where you can paste boxes, text, and pictures onto the page and it will appear like that to other viewers. Of course you can already do that with dreamweaver and front page, but doing it all online so it’s instantly accessible will take it to the next level. From there you would be able to buy a domain name and link it directly to this page so that it appears as though you built it ON the domain that you’ve bought.

The secret will be in using position:absolute; in your CSS. This allows an item to appear ANYWHERE on the webpage and it can be layered below or above any other item you choose. Once someone creates a world wide standard doctype that makes every website appear the same on every browser, this will be possible and I reckon someone is going to get insanely rich from it. (that’ll be me if I have the time to do it! lol)

THX, James, from all of us.

Blogging

To BLOG? . . . or Not To BLOG? . . . That’s a good First Question

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The MORE of YOU, the better!
The MORE of YOU, the better!

Tomorrow I’ll be meeting with 10-12 friends to teach them HOW TO START A BLOG.

The first question I could ask — but won’t — is WHY do they want to start a blog.

I won’t ask because I suspect two things: (1) most of them know little about blogging at all and (2) the majority are most likely hungry for any social media knowledge they can get.

And I love that!

. . . more for me to teach.

So let’s consider that First Question:

SHOULD YOU START A BLOG?

Take a look at these nine questions before you decide:

1) Are you really really passionate about something?

2) Do you have either a personal desire to speak your mind OR a business need to put your brand presence online?

3) Can you commit to some degree of consistency — whether it is once a week, three times a week, or three times a day?

4) Do you like to do like Picasso, i.e., Always Do What You Do Not Know How To Do In Order To Learn How To Do It?

5) If you make a mistake, can you admit it, accept it, and move on?

6) Can you be patient about gaining a larger readership?

7) Will you take time to read and comment on other bloggers’ articles?

8- Can you participate in a conversation where you could get criticized?

9) Would you like to be an authentic, honest, interesting voice in the Blogosphere?

If you can give a sincere YES to each of those questions, then I say GO FOR IT!

And to help you get started, you can check out my post on HOW TO START A BLOG and another post by my favorite blogger Adam Singer 50 Blogging Lessons To Know If You’re Starting Today

Sharisax Is Out There

Circle of Reciprocity begins with FREE: My take-aways from this morning’s no-cost webinar with George Kao

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Yosemite May 2008 009

Raise your hand if you’ve signed up for a free webinar lately?

If you haven’t, then you’re not really using the Web broadly enough to learn new tips & tricks that can enhance your own knowledge base AND your ability to deliver value to others.

All that being said: How many of us SIGN UP for the Webinars and then either [1]  forget about them or [2] wait for the archive version that will likely be filed away . . . and forgotten?

YUP, Guilty as charged . . .

But not this morning.I listened and participated in one that was so good, it needed its own blog post: I wanted to share the information and, at the same time, review the lessons for myself.

My good friend Ann had forwarded me an email last week from George Kao, who offers free webinars [and subsequent coaching programs] — to discuss social media AND how to deliver information-packed webinars that will help build business success. George’s WebinarMethod.com caught my interest as I build my own coach/consultant business model — and the fact that his email said it WOULD NOT BE ARCHIVED was the impetus I needed to skip my yoga class this morning . . . because I wouldn’t be able to catch it later.

Can I say, once again, how valuable the entire experience was . . .

  1. The initial approach, i.e., the fact that this would NOT be archived, worked to get me focused on getting the most from this one-hour experience.
  2. The discussion of FREE: what to “give away” and what to hold back. George suggests:

    • giving away too much for free inundates people . . . and will keep them from buying/hiring you.
    • “catchy content” in a free event should require engagement that will inspire them to action, i.e., buying more from you,
  3. When people buy from you, “You Change the World”: this becomes an “investment” rather than mere entertainment
  4. On the “Hierarchy of Engagement for Content” — In-person speaking engagements ranked highest for emotional engagement and the least likely to allow for procrastination. Here is the rest of the list from Highest Engagement to Lowest:
    • Video webinars
    • Webinars with telephone and visuals
    • Teleseminars with conference call
    • Instant messaging and/or chat room
    • Dedicated Video [DVD]
    • Dedicated Audio [CD]
    • Email [including newsletters/ezines]
    • Mass email via social media [groups]
    • Linkable text [PDF w/links; online articles, blogs]
    • Social sites [e.g. Yahoo answers, forums]
    • Offline text [book, magazine]

Thinking about the hierarchy list above . . . and social media lessons . . .

The beauty of what “we” are all doing online is ENGAGING with one another and supporting one another on our respective quests to improve our lives and our society.

I’d genuinely like to go on and on . . . but so many times “Less is More” as my students have heard me say so many times. Besides, George gives these free webinars all the time, so there’ll be a lot more you can discover for yourselves. And, of course, I do need to say, “NO, no one paid me anything for this endorsement.” It was just that well done.

By way of sparking conversation, I’m going to try to get the other participants [whom I met on “Savor Chat”] to add their take-aways as well, and, yes, George, I hope you see this and add your TWO CENTS as well.

Blogging, Twitter

Top Trends in Blogging & Twitter via Mashable

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This morning as I was catching up with some of the blog posts I missed yesterday, I stopped for a deeper look at the Mashable article on Five Top Trends from experts attending  the recent BlogWorld Expo.

One of my intentions is to find at least one post a day to write a comment or two on — and this article had both “thoughtful” opinions from well-known “thought leaders” as well as some pretty good comments from the “peanut gallery.”

Big Bloggers Tweeting More, Blogging Less

. . . according to Chris Pirillo [whose YouTube video on blogging I showed to my PR students], Twitter allows people to say more “pithy” things with less time and energy . . . pithy, maybe, but “more valuable”? — I think not. Here was the comment made by Micheline and my response:

Micheline Hazou 22 hours ago
Very interesting piece. As someone who is thinking of setting up and starting a blog, I identify with Chris Pirillo ‘s [@chrispirillo] view that “more and more bloggers are tweeting instead of blogging…” The challenge of expressing thoughts, ideas and chit-chat in 140 characters is quite refreshing.
Micheline, as someone who has only been blogging about six months — and also a Twitter fan — I continue to see these social media platforms as two entirely different communication tools. The writer in me may “tease” and/or “direct” people with a TWEET [like an appetizer, I suspect] but the real meal is in the blog post. BTW, if you have not yet started your blog AND would like a tutorial, please check my blog post on HOW TO START YOUR OWN BLOG: http://tinyurl.com/yahjdxk

The Evolution of Twitter as a Platform

Guy Kawasaki, who moderated a panel I covered in a recent report on “Does PR Suck?’, suggested the future value of Twitter was mainly for Business by pointing to the Kobi BBQ success story.

Here Nick and I weigh in on our favorite uses for Twitter:
Nick D. 21 hours ago
The real value of Twitter trends lies in their predictive value – the extent to which they are reliable leading indicators of broader business or social trends. There is some surprising evidence to the contrary coming in – i.e. that Twitter is in fact a lagging indicator in many cases. You can find out more here: http://blog.vanno.com/
Nick, I like Twitter mainly for Search. For example, I have a running list of tweets on my Tweetdeck for “Twitter for business”; “Facebook for business”; “Future of Advertising” and various #hashtags.

Semantic Intelligence

Brian Solis —  one of my “heroes” ever since he brought his PR 2.0 philosophy to my PR students last spring — has the statistics to prove that Twitter is driving towards more intelligent, filtered [and thus USEFUL ?] conversation:

Twitter Curation

Steve Rubel — who was on an HP panel discussing Social Media Roadmap this past summer — suggests that the New Media companies will be filtering and aggregating Tweets of Value and that editors will have a host of opportunities. [Call on me guys :-)]

User Generated Twitter Lists

Leo Laporte, whom I have not had the good fortune to meet yet, echoes the praise for Twitter Lists — new functionality for Twitter that allows people to generate lists for others to follow.

Join the conversation. It’s FUN and INSTRUCTIVE. Read up on these trends and others . . . and then put in your own TWO CENTS!

Guest Post, LinkedIn

Why re-invent the wheel? Maria Marsala wrote GREAT post on LinkedIn Q & A: THX, Maria, from me & my readers :-)

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woman sculptureI was talking with my brother Chuck yesterday about how many features LinkedIn offered that so many people were still unaware of — AND one of the big ones was the ANSWERS [and Questions] section.

Chuck said I should write a post about it, and VOILA, one already written appeared in my mailbox. It would have been awhile before I was going to do it AND Maria Marsala invited readers to re-post it, so THX Maria . . . and here you all have it:

LinkedIn Answers: Proven Tactics To Get The Biggest Bang For Your Time

By Maria | October 2, 2009

If your ideal clients are on LinkedIn, then you want to be there, too. So create a keyword driven profile on LinkedIn for yourself. Complete every area possible, take a look at the apps (applications/programs) you might want to add, and you’re done… right?

Wrong.

One of the best ways to dip your feet into a community of new business owners and executives, like LinkedIn, is to ask or answer questions. ANSWERS is a community where other members ask or answer questions to learn and connect with others. When you answer a question, chances are good that people you “don’t yet know from a hole in the wall” will see your answer, go to your profile and want, in someway, to connect with you.

Being a very eclectic businessperson with a brain like a sponge I looked at LinkedIn Answers and was overwhelmed when I looked at all the questions I “could” answer.

How do you determine which questions to answer?

Many of us can answer several questions in a variety of business arenas. However, since time is money, I’m sure you’ll agree that doing so may take a few hours a day to do! What’s a business owner to do?

Prioritize. Use your Ideal Client Profile to determine which categories or sub-categories would best highlight your company and it’s services, (once someone learns about you). Example: If I looked at my company, the two main services that bring me the most amount of clients in the least amount of time are business planning and pricing. So I joined those two ANSWER areas first.
Then I joined a few others “just because” I’d like to learn more about those areas, or I have a few things on my mind I’d like to say about those things from time to time.

How do you answer questions, to connect with others who value what you’re saying WHILE not giving away your knowledge for free?

Carefully of course. You want to say enough to help the person, without giving away the bank. I use the Links area of the answers to post links to an article or resource on my website or the website of others that answers the question. I use affiliate links when I recommend a product for someone to use, too. BUT I never post affiliate links or any links “just because”. Make sure that the links are 100% meaningful to the answer or someone will FLAG you as a spammer.

With 21 main categories on LinkedIn, which questions do you answer?

Take a look at who your ideal clients are. Where would they be asking questions? What’s your expertise? Choose those categories or sub-categories.

I’ll answer questions whose answers are simple to answer, i.e. I can answer them in 1 sentence, some bullets or less than two paragraphs. Sometimes I write more than two paragraphs, but not often. HINT: If you’re continually answering similar questions because your company has answers to those questions, keep a MS Word file with your answers. Then cut/paste.

Sometimes when I view a question to answer, I’ll take the time to look at the requestors profile to see if I think they’re my ideal clients. I stay away from answering questions from students, or individuals in India, for example, because that’s NOT who my clients are. I move quickly to answer questions from women who own service businesses, independent service providers, etc. (my niche) And I will answer some questions that I feel I can contribute to when I have the time or the answer is a “quickie”.

How do you easily determine which questions to answer from the tons of questions asked each day?

First, I chose each category that I felt I could contribute my knowledge to; places of course where my ideal clients hang out.

Next I downloaded each of those categories or sub-category’s RSS feeds. To learn more about RSS feeds click this link . So the first two RSS feeds I downloaded were Business Plan and Pricing. Then I added 10 other categories or subcategories that I might be able to answer questions.

Also consider the RSS feeds for areas of business you want to do better. I’m learning so much by seeing the ideas and thoughts of others.

My RSS feeds download into OUTLOOK which keeps each of them very organized. But I can tell you that at first I was reading way too many subject lines in each category and wasted time. So much so that I just stopped answering questions.

I thought there had to be an easier way. And I found one that I use every day.

How to easily sort through tons of LinkedIn Answers each day
How to easily sort through hundreds of LinkedIn Answers each day
The directions I’m about to provide you uses a feature in MS Outlook. If you use another email program or search program, see if you can do something similar with what you use.
1. Set up the RSS feeds in all the categories or sub-categories you choose to answer to download to your email program. When you download your email, it will also download any new ANSWERS

2. Open MS Outlook. Under the RSS Feeds (small orange graphic under Outbox) you’ll find Send Items and then Search Folders

3. Right click and add a new search (we’re going to customize it) using the word LINKEDIN.

4. Listen to this training module and create a SEARCH that searches through all your LinkedIn RSS feeds for keywords you’ve deemed important to growing your business. To listen click here

5. When new ANSWERS come through the RSS feed that contain those keywords, they’ll show up in your new LINKEDIN Search.

6. Look through the LINKEDIN Search file for subject lines and if you want to answer the message, click on “view article”.

7. You’ll now be online and can answer the question.

8. AFTER you answer the question(s) you want, scan the original RSS feeds to see that you didn’t miss important keywords (and therefore questions to answer). If some were missed, go back to your LINKEDIN Search and add more keywords. If none, move to #10.

9. OR, if you end up with too many items showing up in the LINKEDIN Search, then remove or change some keywords.

10. Once you think or feel that your search is A-OK, and you’ve answered the questions you want to answer, you can delete all the questions that weren’t filtered to your LINKEDIN Search in confidence.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG, OR WEB SITE? If you want me to change anything before you print it, you must ask for permission. And you are welcome to use it anytime in its entirety, with the following author/copyright information:

©2009 Maria Marsala, Profitability Specialist at Elevating Your Business. We provide insightful input to high-achieving women business owners looking for powerful results. Specializing in boosting the productivity, profitability and performance of their company simpler, easier, and faster! Will you be next? Visit www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com today and take our free Business Checkup.

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter

Reading: Social Media tips, stats, and updates. What are people talking about?

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What are they all talking about
What are they all talking about

My friend and colleague Zahid Lilani recently posted links to eight articles he’d found interesting. So I thought I’d do the same — and get through some of my emails at the same time. If you read any of the suggested articles, please feel free to comment below — that “tip” is also recommended in a few of these articles.

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Social Media success depends on more than developing an online presence. Taylor Ellwood offers five tips on how to “Network” and Build Community using social media. Basically he suggests (1) Comment on peoples’ tweets and posts; (2) Pay attention to what people need; (3) Post personal info, but be careful that you talk about things that would promote interaction; (4) Try to connect people with one another; (5) Treat people as people, more than just prospective clients.

Friendfeed losing steam: Some SM influentials like Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang, Louis Gray and Steve Rubel have lost faith in Friendfeed, especially since its acquisition by Facebook. [Also, if you check the Oct 14 post on Steve Rubel’s stream in the link above, you can access a great basic Handbook for Twitter.]

Deleting Duplicates: Are you bothered by seeing the same Tweet Twice? Twitter is doing something about that, but some people are upset because they schedule the same tweet to be broadcast 3 different times during the day. Sorry, but you’ll have to make a small change and that will be enough to “delete the delete.”

Technorati Update: The name “Technorati” was one I’d heard early on as The Blog Directory. Apparently the site has not updated its offerings until lately — and the changes will no doubt affect the Blogosphere. Read this article if you want to familiarize with what’s happening with this Big Name.

How-to Plan an Event on Facebook: Many of my friends and prospective clients want to know how to use Facebook Fanpages for their businesses. Here is a Step-by-Step guide to broadcasting news about an event on Facebook. Who doesn’t like Step-by-Step guides?

For Techies – Resources to build Apps: To be honest, this article is a bit over my head, but some readers may be thinking of building applications for FOUR of the most popular SM sites, i.e. Facebook, Flckr, Google Maps, and Twitter. Interesting reading [and stats] even for some of less tech-types.

Make money blogging?: Final reading selection of the day is a Roadmap to Turn Blogging into Your Business. Read Darren Rowse’s [Problogger] Roadmap after his wife told him “You have six months to make blogging full-time.”

Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Social Media Victories: presentation by Patrick Schwerdtfeger for Bay Area Consultants — BACN

17 Comments

As a Bay Area Consultant myself, I was thrilled to attend my first BACN breakfast meeting and hear Patrick Schwerdtfeger tell 80 of us all about his “Social Media Victories.”

Patrick’s one-hour talk featured case studies where organizations leveraged Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube to increase revenue and brand awareness . . . but what most enlivened the audience were Patrick’s own experiences and lessons along Social Media Revolutionary Road.

Below are my videos from the morning as well as reactions from some of the attendees.

Video 1

Social Media Sites are Raging Rivers

  • People are on the “raging rivers” of the Web, and they are looking for things.
  • Are you putting things out there that they can find?
  • If you do it right, people in New Zealand will find you.
  • Demonstrate your expertise.

Video 2

Driving traffic to a website is expensive

  • Use a blog as a Hub and social media platforms as spokes.
  • Twitter studies show lots of “babble.”
  • It’s not difficult to stand out as a valuable resource.

Video 3

Twitter is about getting out the right TITLES

  • Twitter allows consumers to “sample” the goods
  • 4 reasons to tweet: Community; Business; Expertise; Life
  • Corporate success stories: Whole Foods, Dell, Jet Blue

Video 4

Get the most out of Twitter & LinkedIn

  • Twitter tools: Tweetlater, Twellow, Tweetdeck
  • Kogi BBQ story
  • LinkedIn: people are 7 times more likely to open a LinkedIn email than a regular email
  • Join LinkedIn Groups to be able to email members “without” being connected.

Video 5

LinkedIn & Facebook: overcoming hurdles

  • Write recommendations for LinkedIn connections and they may reciprocate
  • Learn from the best; use model Linked profiles to design your own profile
  • Use Advanced Search in LinkedIn to send business proposals
  • Learn the different opportunities offered by Facebook Profiles, Groups, and Fanpages

Video 6

Create a Facebook Fanpage

  • Post and promote cool events
  • Take photos and tag people
  • Video events and post them

Video 7

Facebook and YouTube

  • Facebook all about Engaging your community.
  • YouTube: authentic videos are the ones that get watched.
  • Case study about The Best Job in the World

Video 8

Don’t have time for social media? Integrate Everything

What did the attendees “take away”?

BACN founder Harry Chapman
BACN founder Harry Chapman

“The session on social networking prompted me to look more deeply into using iTunes as another vehicle for providing though leadership about my practice. I am seriously looking into this and planning to FINALLY actively use at least iTunes to get more visibility to the Bay Area Consulting Group LLC and our deep expertise in IT management.” — Harry Chapman,  BACN founder


Follow Kerry Rego @kregobiz on Twitter
Follow Kerry Rego @kregobiz on Twitter

“I learned that I had underestimated the power of YouTube and its rightful place at the Big Kids table of social media. It is in fact now part of the Big Four: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn AND YouTube.” — Kerry Rego, Kerry Rego Consulting

Dr. Maynard Brusman, Consulting Psychologist
Dr. Maynard Brusman, Consulting Psychologist

“WOW! Patrick Schwerdtfeger presented a one-hour energy Social Media workshop packed with scores of tips and tricks to create social media success. He motivated me to take action and create Executive Coaching YouTube videos to attract more clients.” — Dr. Maynard Brusman

Sallie Goetsch - "If podcasting is driving you crazy, we can help."
Sallie Goetsch - "If podcasting is driving you crazy, we can help."

Patrick did a great job of presenting the core information about Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. The material was all familiar to me, but I appreciated his arrangement of these four social networks as spokes around the hub of your blog. What stuck with me most was the advantage of going where your prospects already are, rather than strugling to build up traffic on your own website.” — Sallie Goetsch, The Podcast Asylum

Susan Bercu, "Let's talk. I'm a good listerner."
Susan Bercu, "Let's talk. I'm a good listerner."

“My take-away from Patrick’s lively, easy-to-follow presentation was his emphasis on the integration of social with your marketing strategy. I especially liked the tips on using YouTube. Very smart.” — Susan Bercu, graphic design and illustration

David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services
David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services

“The content of the presentation was thought-provoking and useful. The speaker was very knowledgeable, and I definitely intend to use the information to positon and promote my business services in a more effective manner.” — David Weissman, Bay Area Paralegal Services

Alice Cochran, Fast Forward Facilitation
Alice Cochran, Fast Forward Facilitation

“Everything in the presentation seemed so practical that I wanted to learn it in a step-by-step process, so I bought Patrick’s book Webify your Business. I particularly liked his approach which came from being self-taught — and convinced me that I could learn from him.” — Alice Cochran, author of Roberta’s Rules

Neil Schaffer, Windmill Networking
Neil Schaffer, Windmill Networking

“The one take-away I had was the “raging water” symbolism. It really does give justice to how viral and quick the pace of things in social media — and how you  need to throw yourself into the water and go with the flow. I also liked his case studies, which really drove home his points.” — Neil Schaeffer, Windmill Networking

“Patrick’s enthusiasm and passion for social media tools are infectious. Many thanks to BACN for a wonderful presentation which has inspired me to ACT.” — Yael Schy,  Dramatic Strides Consulting

Marla Rosner @ManagementMavin on Twitter
Marla Rosner @ManagementMavin on Twitter

“I loved listening to Patrick. He’s a font of wisdom about social networking. I’m close to posting my first YouTube video and I got some great ideas about tagging.” — Marla Rosner, Helping teams listen, learn, and lead.

Steven Tulsky, Financial Experts for Nonprofit Sector
Steven Tulsky, Financial Experts for Nonprofit Sector

“What I liked about Patrick was that he comes to this stuff with the same scepticism as I do. He doesn’t preach, but rather shares his amazement that using Web 2.0 can actually be very helpful in establishing one’s personal visibility and respectability, and therefore ultimately one’s business. The credibility of his low-key, easy-going style made me want to look further into what he was telling us about–and buy his book!” — Steven Tulsky, The Benemetrics Consulting Group

BACN Mission: To improve business and professional development success through networking and programs for consultants.

Members of BACN are independent consultants who are interested in expanding their professional practices through effective networking and professional development programs sponsored by BACN. Attend a BACN meeting to become a member.

Blogging

Want a cool, fancy, free design for your blog? Check out my students’ new blogs

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Jack's first blog page

Way back when . . . I first started blogging with WordPress.com in April of this year, I never changed my background from the Kubrick default theme. So for four months, my blog looked exactly like my husband Jack’s above.

HOWEVER, now that I know how EASY and how much FUN it is to see a more distinctive looking page, I wanted to help you beautiful your blogs as well. Take a look below at several of the student blogs created in ONE HOUR during class using these instructions and then STEP TWO: Choosing the Theme [or background].

You can click on any of the images below to get a closer look at the blogs. Below you’ll find directions how you can spice up your own Online Persona.

Lucie's blog
Lucie
Diana's blog
Diana

Nghia's blog
Nghia
Keil's blog
Keil
Toni's blog
Toni
Rhonesia's blog
Rhonesia

HERE ARE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sign into WordPress.com. [If you have not yet registered, then you’ll need to start with the previous post.]

2. The screen that pops up is the portal to your dashboard, i.e. where you make ALL the changes and additions to your blog. Here is Jack’s portal:

Jack's portal

3. Click on the word DASHBOARD [beneath the title and to the lower right of the photo icon]. And the screen below appears:

Jack's real dashboard

4. On the left of this screen is a sidebar filled with great categories to explore, but for now Scroll Down to the word APPEARANCE. A little arrow brings a drop down box. Click on the word Themes. This brings the screen shown below where you will find 77  fancy free designs for your blog.

Jack's Manage Themes

5. This step may take some time.

  • You can use the “Random” search,
  • an alphabetical listing of blog titles [which may only be helpful if you already KNOW the title of a blog design,
  • or do what post people do, select the “Popular” category.

When you see an icon that “talks to you,” click on the Kubrick theme or check out an entirely new theme. Below you can see the part of the Manage Theme screen with the “Preview” option below each thumbnail:

Jack's themes 2HAVE FUN!!

6. Here’s the one I picked for Jack ALTHOUGH he’ll probably change it later 🙂

I chose Ocean Mist because Jack likes Blue, and there is a Header Photo, which Jack can customize. Here is the way his Dashboard Manage Theme page looks now:

Jack Ocean Mist Theme


7. When you click on the “View Site” link on the top banner next to your Blog Title, you will get your new design. Here is Jack’s:

Jack's new Ocean Mist site

That’s all . . . for blogging Lesson Two.

In the future we will look at topics like (a) what to blog about, (b) what to put in your sidebar, and (c) features on your dashboard.

Of course you can already find tons of information on these topics all over the Web AND you can read WordPress.com Documents AND you can ask questions on the site Forums.

Lots of information is out there BUT here’s a caution: DON’T JUST READ . . . JUST “DO IT”