Category Archives: LinkedIn

My Laney College students are participating in social media to build writing and reading skills. For many of them, however, this is a significantly new experience, i.e., creating blogs and signing up for Twitter.

What is Social Media and why is it important?

and . . . here are many of their other questions:

Where can and will SM take me?

How did Social Media get so big?

Is it possible to become famous on SM?

What percentage of SM is business?

How much time do/should people spend on SM?

Who started SM?

What makes SM important?

Why are people addicted to SM?

Can SM help better the world?

Is SM safe?

What are the most popular blogs?

Who can read my blog?

Are all SM sites free?

Why has SM become popular?

What is the average age of a person using SM?

What is the main reason for using SM?

How can you detect if someone is insincere?

Today I am conducting an introductory Social Media workshop for a Mass Media & Society course at Laney. I will begin asking them to tell me which of those questions they would most like answered.

Then I will chat and show the slideshow below.

And, finally, I will ask THEM to answer any of those questions . . . and I’ll be posting their responses.

Here is the slideshow on

Making Sense of Social Media

Making Sense Of Social Media 2010

View more presentations from sharisax.

NOW . . . FOR THOSE ANSWERS: from the students AND from any of you readers. Please do add your thoughts.

photo credit Howard Blum

Blogging, Guest Post, LinkedIn

Avoid These 9 Blogging Blunders: Guest Post by Suzanne Vara

January 28, 2010 Shari Weiss 1 Comment

“Blogging is a way to share your thoughts, knowledge and information like never before. We blog for many reasons which are unique to us as people, but yet share a community that is a part of us.” — Suzanne Vara

Suzanne Vara is one of my new online friends/collaborators/role models, whom I mentioned in a recent article about How To Choose A Blog To Read.

Suzanne and I participate in many of the same LinkedIn groups and have built a very supportive relationship, which includes reading and commenting on each other’s blogs and group discussions — truly one of the great values of the Social Web.

Her online marketing agency, Kherize5, Builds Big Brands for Small Business and her blog offers consistently great advice and guidelines for reaping great rewards through social media marketing. We have such similar interests and goals that I look forward to each one of her posts.

Today’s article on my blog actually ran a few days ago on Suzanne’s, but her thoughtful insights regarding some commonly discussed blogging tips is definitely worth passing along to new bloggers — and experienced ones as well.

How to Improve your Blog — or start a new one

Guest Post by Suzanne Vara

As a new blogger who is trying to gain new readership we look for new ways to get as many eyes (readers) and fingers to the keys (comments) to drive us to continue to write. Seasoned vets who have been blogging for upwards of 8 years still look for new avenues as technology changes.

Technology is a tool that we utilize to gain new eyes and fingers but the means by which we determine how, what and why we will blog have not really changed over the years. The same fundamentals that were incorporated to be a success still hold true today:

Provide useful and valuable content
Acknowledge those who read and comment with a comment back
Reach out to other bloggers
Comment there as we are all in this together.

Pretty basic but yet there seems to be a disconnect at some point as we get busier or feel that we are not gaining traction as we believed we should. This is not to say that veering off course from time to time is disastrous but falling off the radar is in a sense waiving the white flag of setting unrealistic goals and expectations of yourself. Blogging is not always easy as the what if no-one reads or am I a great writer or do I really have the time to commit to this do come into play as the post itself is just a part of blogging.

Everyone makes mistakes and how we identify and correct them builds that confidence and a better blog.

9 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

1. Inconsistency: In the beginning new bloggers have the energy and set out to post every day, even 2x a day. Great strategy if you have planned for it and reasonably set aside time to keep up with this. As a new blogger it is advantageous to have 20 or so blogs posted when you start to promote. Set a schedule of when you will post so that readers expect it and do return to see what is next. Being inconsistent leads to lack of trust as you were supposed to be here but you were not.

2. Lack of Focus: As a new blogger trying different things to determine where you fit in is what is so unique to a new blogger. An opportunity to establish yourself and determine your niche. Meet the expectations of readers to develop a loyalty. It is inviting to then try and branch out from your niche and expand. There is opportunity to do so but not always on the main blog. Seek new ways to expand on your style with guest posting or publishing on other sites. Grow within yourself while maintaining focus on what you are trying to accomplish with the main blog or in some cases multiple blogs.

3. Burnout: Blogger burnout is an excuse, an enabler, a way to throw your arms up and admit defeat. There is always something to post. A quote, an opinion on another blog, a post why you feel burnt out. The ideas are endless. Physical limitations are a factor and being unable to even pull a post from the “can” is completely understandable (life happens) but outside that it is setting a standard for not being committed to yourself and audience.

4. Boxed Comments: We hear over and over again to comment on comments to our blog and comment on other blogs, and we all do, so this is not a mistake in that aspect. But, what happens when the comment is “Great post, found it useful.” Commenting back at first thought is the “Thanks for reading and finding this useful.” Expand on that by seeing if they have a blog and refer to their blog in your comment back. Thank them of course but also include how you liked a certain post as it relates back to yours. What happens if they do not have a post that relates to yours, either respectfully thank them as above or ask them a question of some sort that relates a post of theirs.

5. Fear of First: First to post or first to comment. Why? If you find something and see that no-one else has written about write about it. Being the first to comment on a blog is an opportunity to be able to share your thoughts without influence of others. After you comment share the post as it meant enough to you to comment so why not share?

6. Complacency: Developing your niche and readership that meet your personal goals is wonderful but not a time to sit back. What happens when you do not meet your goals or even expansion. Complacency is convenient and assumes loyalty. That warm jacket is nice but yet decreases in size each year.

7. Closure: Closure as it relates to the lack of putting a piece of you and who you are into the post. When providing tips or relating a strategy, throw in what has worked for you (ie this blog) something you want to or are learning more about or something personal that connects people to you. Going outside a comfort zone is not always easy but yet it is welcomed. Whether we deem ourselves as an introvert or extrovert, we all are a part of both. We tell people what we want them to know whether this be sharing knowledge from people we admire or exposing things about ourselves. ie every so often my son becomes a part of this blog. As a mom first instinct is to shelter and protect but yet he is a big part of my life and actually inspires my writing though his curiosity of learning all that he can.

8. Lack Luster Headlines: Think linkbait. The headline is the what gets the article read. The content can be so valuable but if the headline is not enticing enough to read, many overlook. Headlines for some are the easy part where with others we struggle. Look at others that enticed you to read and incorporate.

9. Blinders to Community Expansion: This somewhat goes back to complacency, the expansion of your community is almost endless. Commenting on blogs is great but not looking at the blogs of other commentors or the blog roll of people you read is not expanding upon your community. The opportunity exists but time does not always but at the same time, we make time for what is important to us.

As a blogger who is blogging for the betterment of the business, exposure of the business or just to share thoughts we all have our reasons but all make mistakes. The way to get around the mistakes is to acknowledge them and improve. So, tell me how you are improving instead of identifying with the mistakes you have made?

Learn anything new here?

Tell us in a comment below.

One of the new tips for me was #4 “Boxed comments.” You can read my comment about that on Suzanne’s original post here.

Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Use this Checklist for Managing Online Presence

December 26, 2009 Shari Weiss 8 Comments

CHART YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROGRESS:

Want to manage your social media sites? Yesterday’s post reviewed Chris Brogan‘s 19 tips: Resolve to Manage your Online Presence.

Today you’ll find a handy spreadsheet to use for weekly check-offs. And there’s space to add other tasks . . . like writing your blog post 🙂

Now you can Check-off when you Do-It

Click HERE for a JPG of the chart

Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn

1,734 Uses for Social Media – Look ’em Up in Tamar’s “Text”

December 20, 2009 Shari Weiss 1 Comment

You’ve got to be more than a Social Media Newbie to appreciate the depth and breadth of research that went into compiling the 334-page compendium The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.

Author Tamar Weinberg is a community manager for Mashable, clearly the best source for Social Media news on the Net —

She knows her stuff AND you will, too, if you get a copy of this book, read it, and follow up by trying our just a small portion of the platforms and strategies described in careful detail . . . just one example:

There are more than ten pages just on social bookmarking sites Delicious and StumbleUpon.

Tamar’s Top Seven Reasons to be on the Web:

Establish your expertise.
Bring more traffic to your website.
Raise search engine rankings.
Increase sales.
Manage your reputation.
Enhance brand awareness.
Build relationships.

Here are Nine Strategies for Social Media Marketing Success:

1) Establish goals for your social media marketing campaigns.

2) Create a strategy for executing your social marketing efforts.

3) Communicate effectively with the communities you intend to target.

4) Take charge of the conversation, even if it’s not on your website.

5) Gain exposure from participating among many social channels.

6) Utilize social media to handle a reputation management crisis.

7) Utilize blogs and bloggers to send messages to larger groups of individuals.

8] Leverage existing sites to market your products.

9) Craft content that is currently “hot” within many social media circles.

Some quotes to “get your hands around”:

“You can’t manage something you can’t measure.”

“On the Social Web, conversations happen WITH or WITHOUT you.”

“A Community Manager’s key function is humanizing an organization.”

“Strategy requires teamwork and idea generation.”

“Communities flourish because people are helping people.”

“If you consistently Listen, AND Give Back to your social media community, you will be miles ahead of the competition.”

12 different Online Reputations you should monitor:

Your name
Your company name
Your brand names
Your company executives
Your company’s media spokespeople
Your slogan or marketing message
The competition
Your industry
Your weaknesses
Your business partners
Your clients
Your intellectual property

Personally, I’ve made a list of [a] more than a dozen sites I’m going to check out in more depth, [b] a half dozen communities I’m going to join, and [c] 10 specific tips I’ve already started to adopt.

PS I really didn’t count, but I’m willing to bet there are MORE THAN 1,734 facts you’ll learn about social media from Tamar’s invaluable text.

For those of you who’ve already read it, let us know how it helped you.

FURTHER INFO FROM TAMAR:

Social Media Strategies

10 Social Media sites to get answers to your questions

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Social Media Marketing 101: More strategies to get you started

November 27, 2009 Shari Weiss 7 Comments

It almost doesn’t make a difference where you are on the Social Media learning curve, there’s always more to discover and integrate into your strategy . . . even if you are just getting started.

"I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn how to do it." -- Picasso

STRATEGY is the key word of the day

i.e., what do you do first, second, third, and so on . . .

As a teacher for umpteen years, I subscribe to a learning philosophy, which is introduced to my students on their first day of class.

It’s so simple, I break it down to these Four Words:

Confusion
Silence
Focus
Effort

Confusion: Accept it. If you already KNEW what you were studying, you wouldn’t need to be in the class, workshop, consulting session, etc.

Silence: Stop worrying, i.e., quiet the FEAR [False Expectations Appearing Real] or you’ll never be able to Listen and Learn.

Focus: Multitasking is the ruination of perfection [according to Suze Orman . . . and me]. So concentrate on one thing at a time.

Effort: Without work and persistence, nothing will be produced or achieved.

Therefore, STEP ONE is to get past your feelings that there is too much to learn, and it takes too much time, and you’ll never get a handle on it.

You are correct: there is a lot to learn; it does take time; BUT you can get a handle on it if you can Listen, Focus, and do the Work.

So what should you do today?

Well, reading through the rest of this article could get you headed in the right direction: I’m going to list some of the “lessons” I heard in a webinar called “Capitalizing on the Conversation” that was sponsored by Social Media Magic, a firm that offers free webinars and fee-based courses and coaching.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write about them, but I found their information extremely useful.

During the first 40 minutes of the online presentation, I tweeted many of the webinar insights under the hashtag #COC. [If you go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23COC , you will find all of them.]

Top Ten Lessons from Social Media Magic Webinar:

1. Social Media is a complex Organic Conversation.

2. Your customers and prospective customers are “out there” talking — and they may be talking about you.

3. Not having a presence in Social Media means not having a Brand out there.

4. The three MAIN sites to establish a profile on are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

5. Optimizing your profile on each of these sites will have a huge impact. What you say about yourself is one of the key ways that people find you and connect with you — and then buy from you.

6. Don’t worry about numbers. Instead look for targeted users and build relationships with them.

7. The most powerful way to build relationships is to be personal, transparent, and authentic.

8. Twitter has lots of value that people either miss or don’t understand. Twitter search offers Real Time results, i.e., what people are talking about now.

9. On Twitter you can share timely information, promote contests, spread useful links, personify your brand, follow competitors, and build credibility and influence.

10. Know the goals of your company and plan your strategies around them. Then find your target audience and create messages for them.

So now, what do you do first?

Get started.

Get started where?
How?
With what?

Okay, if you are still asking these questions, then my suggestion is to set up accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter AND Optimize your profiles . . . then we’ll talk some more.

FURTHER READING:

9 Ways to Master Social Media Strategies

728 FAQ’s for LinkedIn: Who Knew?

November 20, 2009 Shari Weiss Leave a comment

Getting your LinkedIn ???s answered is a piece of cake

It all started because I couldn’t “link in” to the new Twitter/LinkedIn sync.

I checked “here” and I checked “there” and VOILA, I found that Help [in the upper right hand corner of the LinkedIn home page] has 728 Frequently Asked Questions — and the Answers.

Here are the first 30:

. . . and 698 more. Check them out.

Unfortunately I didn’t get my Twitter situation fixed, but now I’ve got lots of homework to do to learn about hundreds of LinkedIn features I can take advantage of.

If you check out this section and find an answer to one of your questions, please share the experience; after all, I can’t get through all 728 of them on my own.

Photo by Susan Ambrosini

Guest Post, LinkedIn

So you’ve joined a LinkedIn Group . . . what’s next?

November 18, 2009 Shari Weiss 1 Comment

No matter what level of social media understanding you are at, you will ALWAYS find exciting new information and ways to get the most out of your online experience.

Sometimes it’s a matter of being READY to appreciate the information.

And I, personally, am ready to dive into Group conversations.

How about you?

Joined any groups yet?
Did you know what you were doing?
Are you in the right groups?
How are you participating?

All of the above are great questions, and I’ve now joined several groups on LinkedIn BUT I’m not so sure that I (a) knew what I was doing; (b) joined the right groups; or (c) knew what was expected of participants.

So when my SOCIAL MEDIA MAVEN group included a discussion on groups, I was really intrigued.

And then when I read Delores Wilson’s article, I thought “WOW, I have to share this.”

Delores was kind enough to allow me to re-post her article on my blog, so you can read her insights on HOW GROUPS WORK – AND HOW YOU CAN MAKE THEM WORK FOR YOU:

I’ve Joined a Group….Now What?

by Delores R. Williams:

http://www.socialmediadiet.blogspot.com
You’ve finally set up all of your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and all of the other seemingly endless social media platforms. After wading through the plethora of applications, plug-ins, connections and friending, you suddenly find yourself in the world of Groups. You scratch your head, deepen your breath while you ponder this new social media frontier.
What the heck is this? Nobody told me about this “group” thing! Do I join a group? Host a group? Does this require more time? …I don’t remember signing up for this! Now what?

Understanding how communities REALLY behave is important to know BEFORE you either join or/and host a group.

People that join groups may have agendas/goals that may/may not align with those of the host or other group members. Making the mistake of assuming that community members are all on the same page – that once someone joins a community, they are going to abide by the rules & guidelines- could be further from the truth.

How do you get around the daggers that may put holes in the successful functioning of your group?

Best solution – a discussion of objectives, goal and rules for, both, the group and its community. In essence, what I refer to as – THE ROLL CALL. Short and sweet, this is it:

The Moderator:
aka, Host, Admin, Organizer. The Moderator is the ‘mayor’ of the community. It is the job of the Moderator to ensure that the goals, objectives and rules are abided by all of the community members. Monitoring and enforcing group guidelines ensures that the group runs smoothly and that community members feel ‘safe’ and have their basic needs met at all times.

The Influencers:
These are members who, naturally, take on roles like policing ‘bad’ behavior, welcoming new members, inviting other new members and attributing to group discussions. Influencers are self-motivated, enthusiastic community members who are invested in the success of the group.

Second Tier Influencers:
These are members who, through listening to the discussions and conversations from others in the community (usually The Influencers), are learning to appropriately utilize the group for its said purpose. Second Tier Influencers often times are converted into becoming Influencers themselves.

The Individual:
The individual, despite being aware of the guidelines, objectives and rules, has his/her own agenda for joining the group. Behavior is often times contrary to the rules set by The Moderator and results in creating discomfort within the community. These members push the envelope by constantly testing the rules (i.e., blatant product advertising instead of discussing brand/industry standards). The ‘Individual’ keeps The Influencers busy and definitely requires prompt intervention from The Moderator.

That’s it! Social Media Communities…in more than 140 characters.

Tell me your thoughts? Did I hit the mark? or am I way off?
I’d like to hear from the community….

Click on photos to link to other Howard Blum photos or go to his website

Blogging, Facebook, Guest Post, LinkedIn

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

October 23, 2009 Shari Weiss 7 Comments

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:

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.

Guest Post, LinkedIn

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

October 18, 2009 Shari Weiss 5 Comments

I 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, LinkedIn, Twitter

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

October 14, 2009 Shari Weiss 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”?

“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

“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

“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."

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."

“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

“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
“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

“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

“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
“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.

The Magic of LinkedIn: Making your PROFILE work for you

October 6, 2009 Shari Weiss 12 Comments

LinkedIn is so much more than a “resume repository” advised Dean Guadagni and Susan Hanshaw in a presentation to Marin Professionals.

The two social media marketing strategists outlined a host of ways that online networking on this Web platform can play a significant role in your professional life.

One tip sent me home to update my profile . . .

But, first, three facts for you:

1 – LinkedIn provides a pathway for users to connect with the right people beyond their own network connections.

2 – A large network increases your ability to rank high in searches.

3 – 75% of employers are checking out LinkedIn profiles on prospective employees.

Below is my LinkedIn profile page:

I’ll show you what I changed — and how:

The “change” was on the bottom of the profile page — the SUMMARY portion:

My summary had only been a few key words until Dean & Susan told me what to do:

FIRST PARAGRAPH: Communicate quickly and clearly the type of opportunities you are seeking.

SECOND PARAGRAPH: Highlight 3 or 4 key career accomplishments that demonstrate your qualifications. [Don’t use bullet points. Make it a friendly narrative.]

THIRD PARAGRAPH: Answer the question: How are you UNIQUE? How are you DIFFERENT?

Finally, there is the SPECIALTIES section which is hugely important. Here you put the KEY WORDS that employers are looking for when they search the LinkedIn site.

When you draft your own LinkedIn Summary, think about this quote from Susan:

“Consider your career as a tapestry of different threads of activities and jobs that you have had.”

Facebook, Guest Post, LinkedIn

Marketing student compares Facebook & LinkedIn for class back in 2009

May 8, 2009 Shari Weiss 2 Comments

**GUEST POST** San Francisco State University senior Roxanne Cobbs has been an active member of this semester’s public relations class — and has functioned as a very responsible leader for two small groups, the 2nd of which investigated the topic of “Facebook for Business.”

Roxanne’s group put together an excellent power point presentation, and she agreed to write a Guest Post for my blog. She told me she’s having fun observing the social media craze and hopes to play a role in changing the world of advertising.

Facebook is COOL, but it has a way to go to reach the polish and professionalism of LinkedIn

As the world of SM keeps growing, so does my desire to obtain more knowledge about it. Every day I learn something new, enforcing the message that I need SM in my life if I want to be cutting-edge in the business world.

Having just completed a group project advocating the use of Facebook for business, I’ve gathered some interesting tidbits to add to my ever-growing list of SM need-to-knows.

So why use Facebook for business?

One key reason is its viral nature. Facebook can further assist companies in finding their target market by browsing or searching personal profiles through keyword usage. It’s also great for advertising because of its amazing reach — 276 million members and growing daily.

Facebook has a huge assortment of business applications like the demographic filtering which allows extreme precision in targeting your desired market. Of the more than 15 apps we researched, I chose my top three to help you and your business:

RSS Connect

Promote your blog — with RSS feed you can add your blog or any RSS feeds to your wall, with feeds being updated automatically and easily shared.

IEndorse

Use this app to help build relationships and your personal reputation by sending and collecting endorsements, and then post them on your Facebook Professional Profile.

My LinkedIn Profile

Keep the networking system flowing with the use of this cross-promotion app. Input your LinkedIn url or profile name and a LinkedIn badge will appear on your Facebook profile.

Though my research taught me that Facebook can be a good SNS for business purposes, I remain by my opinion that LinkedIn is much superior. LinkedIn is a polished site that resonates professionalism. It lacks the clutter and distractions of Facebook, focusing solely on professional connections — and the experts available on the site. It is not a personal, social site with information about your friends and families, but rather a site where you can network with other professionals who can aid you in your business endeavors.

by Roxanne Cobbs

Click link for an upclose and personal view of the team’s research on Facebook for Business.

Next post: Social Media Strategy works in everyday life, too.

Sharisax Is Out There