A friend recently shared details about a new client.  She landed a contract to market the services of an expert in her industry – alongside several trainings that she already promotes within her target market.

I congratulated her on landing the client and asked how she was using social media to market her client.

She openly admitted that she hadn’t used it much within her own business.  However, she was interested in learning.  Her biggest concern was where to start.  The amount of options was overwhelming to her as she manages the day to day logistics and now realized she needed to learn several new marketing platforms.  She asked for advice on where to start.  Continue Reading »

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So do you need a strategy for social media? Or can you just wing it? Well it depends. Having a Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook fan page without knowing why is really pointless. I’ve been asked by friends and acquaintances if they need to be on a specific social networking site. And the answer is no. Pick what works for you and forget the rest. There isn’t time in the world to be on every network.

What are your goals and objectives
First understand why social media matters to you; what are your goals and objectives also how they tie into your overall career goals. Use S.M.A.R.T – (Keep it Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Timely) goals as a starting point.

The next step for creating an effective social media strategy is research.
Make a note of which social media sites you would like to engage with people. The list will most likely consist of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and some select blogs and forums. Review each of the social media sites on your list and do additional research to determine how relevant looking for your competitors, your target keywords and people/businesses you’d like to work with.

Have conversations
They build relationships. Respond to blog posts. Answer questions on LinkedIn, Twitter or Quora. Start developing relationships by following and friending influencers and those in your industry. Quality not quantity is what matters. Tons of followers without a “real” connection isn’t going to enhance your life. Because ultimately it isn’t only about what you do but who you are.

Strictly Business or Personal?
Personal choice really. I know some people who only connect with friends and family on Facebook and keep networks like LinkedIn and Twitter for all other connections. I connect with 99% of the people who send me invites on LinkedIn. However, I don’t give recommendations to people I’ve never done business with.

Create stronger connections
Take the relationships offline. Have a tweetup – an in-person meeting of Twitter users. HOW TO: Organize a Successful Tweetup has some great tips and ideas on how to setup an event. Can’t meet in-person have an online meeting. Virtual options are only limited by your imagination – dinner, coffee, maybe even a movie night.

Measuring your success
Well increased site traffic, more true partners are all indications of success. More referrals from your network. Positive feedback from others.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. Failure to adapt kills many an idea.

If you want to know what others are doing in social media then take a look at the Social Media Marketing Report from 2010.

It’s all about connection so reach out and touch someone in a way that works with your personality not against it.

Part of the challenge of growing a business or your professional brand is developing a system to organize all of the mountains of information that you receive daily.

• Emails sent with upcoming events.  Can I attend?  What’s on my calendar that week?
• Tweets with cool links that you want to read…but you’ll need 20 min and that’s going to derail you from your other work.
• And let’s not forget webinars and video content with their funny stories or valuable information.  They are great but who has 20-30 min to sit in front of a screen and watch and listen?

This was my story yesterday.  And it’s pretty typical daily.  Before sitting down to work, there are 50 emails and 2 voice mails.  And many of them do deserve my attention.   That’s a minimum of an hour  -  not counting the research to answer the questions.  How are you supposed to fit it all in?  Continue Reading »

(c) iStockPhoto/alexsl

As more companies create an online presence the issue of what employees of those companies can do online either at work or on their own time is cause for debate. If you run your own company and have others working for you, it is definitely something you should give some thought to. Since I work as a freelancer I am often asked to sign non-disclosure agreements but lately more and more companies are asking me to sign social media policy documents as well. So don’t be surprised at your next new job that someone puts a piece of paper in front of you that’s your new employers’ social media policy.

It’s important to know about these policies as people have gotten fired after committing what their companies deemed violations. CNN’s senior editor of Middle Eastern affairs Octavia Nasr was fired over a tweet. CNN has a very comprehensive corporate social media policy regarding what employees can say on Twitter, Facebook and other social destinations. A former employee of CNN has a pretty comprehensive copy of the document on his site on a post called On Notice. It’s worth a read to see how far reaching it is. Fast Company also has an article published in July called Corporate Social Media Policies: The Good, the Mediocre, and the Ugly. It includes excerpts of the CNN policy as well as several other companies.

It goes without saying that if you wouldn’t say something in person don’t say it online. There is that temptation to ignore boundaries and say whatever is on your mind and forget that what you say can have consequences.

If you have a website or any other online presence, if you work for someone else make sure that it’s clear that your opinions are yours alone and don’t reflect that of your employer. If your company has a policy make sure you keep a copy if you are asked to sign such a document.

On my personal website I address the notion that I alone am responsible for what I say since not every company I’ve worked for or will work for has a social media policy. Below is what I chose to say -

This site is Shelley’s alone, so that means that it doesn’t represent the thoughts, views, opinions or practices of past or future employers/clients, friends, family, pets, children, or that irritating neighbor who likes to play music at 7am when you’re trying to sleep late on the weekends

Some social media policies address the idea that all social media sites are blocked on company computers. Personally, I don’t think it is a very effective strategy. There are too many people with smartphones for employee access to social media to be 100 percent cut off. Unless they plan to make the office a deadzone! And let’s not forget the people who bring their own computers to work or have an iPad.

Just as social media is evolving…so are the policies governing their use in the workplace.