In any business venture it is ALWAYS best to have a plan. We all know that things don’t always go according to plan, but no plan is a sure bet for disaster. When approaching social media, it should be a part of your overall marketing strategy and while it has its own way of contributing, it should still move the business forward in the direction of achieving your vision. So, what does that mean? It means – don’t do anything without a purpose and without being tied to a tangible, clearly defined goal.

What is your goal with each social media platform? (Yes, goals can and should be slightly different for each.)

Facebook is a great place to get connected to your target audiences, to engage them on a daily basis and build trust and respect, as well as periodically informing and educating them about your product or service. So maybe you would link to a product page on your website for the product you are promoting that month (in your profile) – or set up a promotional page on Facebook (maybe using my favorite custom tab creator, ShortStack) that links back to your featured product page on your website, rather than just the home page.

Twitter is a succinct message (I think of it as a message in a bottle flying through the rapids with a bunch of other bottles) so it needs to be eye-catching. People generally see your profile when they click on the button from your website or search for you on Twitter. Your profile here will be more useful if you keep it interesting and shareable – according to Technorati.

Linkedin is about professionals. Make your profile reflect your professionalism – but don’t strip it of personality all together. It is always important to be authentically you, even SeoMoz (Whiteboard Fridays) agrees. People search for your company on Linkedin in order to establish your legitimacy, but give them something to comment on or inspire them in your profile and you will make many more connections than a boring resume that is just like everyone else’s.

YouTube is different than the other platforms for several reasons:  its potential to go viral is much higher, it is a more preferred medium, gets shared more often, and personality is REQUIRED. One big way to make an SEO impact on YouTube is to think about the keywords you are targeting in your SEO for your website and use them in the file names of your videos – a fantastic idea (meant for Facebook, but it still applies to any video content) from GetBusy Media - since videos are not text, only the titles and file names are crawled by search engines! Also, make sure you have your accounts set to Public – or Google won’t even see the great stuff you have to share.

Overall, social media profiles that are created correctly CAN increase your search results, direct links, spread brand awareness and funnel potential customers to your website, but they are NOT a cure-all. As awebguy.com explains in their blog post on the subject – setting up your social media profile is a beginning – not an ending. You must be active in the community that you are creating by setting up your profile, to truly reap the benefits they have to offer.

This isn’t as difficult as it seems – you can post responses in the Q&A section of Linkedin, as Technorati suggests, you can solely share your opinions on topics that are trending in Twitter (by using the “Top Tweets” sidebar on Twitter), you can share to your own site when you see a company or individual video on YouTube that inspires you, and you can interact with the things your fans are saying on facebook about your brand – or your competitors.

Content is and will always be King – so pay your dues in the Social Media kingdom, but don’t forget to make yourself stand out with targeted, specifically awesome, profiles about how wonderful and unique you and your company are. Make something worth sharing!

Once the social sharing platform began to hold interest for initial, brave online business marketers, the industry realized that it was necessary to provide clients with data to justify the time and energy being spent on Twitter.  For some time this was an unfulfilled need; then along came bit.ly – the answer to the need for Twitter metrics.

Bit.ly pioneered tracking for social interaction and link sharing on the growing social media sharing platform called Twitter.  Several companies have since popped up with similar tracking and reporting abilities, but bit.ly was one of the first and has been used by default on Twitter since 2009 (when it replaced Tiny.url.)

The way this technology works is that it creates a shortened link from your full URL (which is extremely helpful when you only have 140 characters to work with in the first place) and tracks how often that link is clicked or shared.  This service is free and you can then look at a report that explains the amount of traffic being received from Twitter to your website and how many times each of your links were clicked and sent people to your content (or your website.)

Bit.ly‘s service has been promoting Twitter by displaying its social marketing power ever since — and for FREE!  But now, Twitter has decided to get onboard and it’s new shortener (t.co) will re-shorten all links (including the ones used with bit.ly) in order to provide its own tracking dashboard.

Twitter Web Analytics, according to Christopher Golda, will provide three key benefits that include tracking sharing from your website across the Twitter network, tracking inbound links to your site from Twitter, and the effectiveness of your Twitter integration.

What does that spell out for Bit.ly?

In my opinion, users will no longer continue to use other URL shortening sites when they will be modified by Twitter’s t.co system either way and will already be tracked by Twitter.

I appreciate all the hard work you did, Bit.ly, to get this social media giant to recognize the need for analyzing it’s ability to meet our online marketing goals, and it’s unfortunate that your insight is leading to your own services becoming obsolete.  (Of course, once you and those like you have fallen by the wayside, Twitter will probably decide to begin charging for the service!)

“Hearts and minds first, wallets later” – this quote from a post on brand strategy by BiG, popped out at me as I was reading about corporate branding.

It isn’t enough these days to just have a good product or service. You have to get your customers to fall madly in love with your product or service if you want to be wildly successful.  The best companies don’t see this as a hindrance – they see it as a challenge.

As consumers, we Americans continue to demand more from our products and the companies that provide them.  We don’t just want a shirt, we want a specific design on certain fabric in a special shade of our favorite color – and we want the product and the company to have a soul. We demand ethical sourcing AND low prices but we want the company to be ethical and frugal across the board as well. We want quality in our products, our services, and our dealings with suppliers and salespeople alike.

So how does a corporation take that step and what creates the kind of fanaticism that today’s brand loyalists have in spades?

Well, the answer is that it depends. Which is a classic answer in business – and almost always true.  What it depends ON is your corporate and product or service brand.  What is it that your company stands for? How do you interact with and engage your customers? The first question to really ask yourself (corporation) is: What makes us unique and special?

Ok, so there are eight companies that sell whosiewhatsits – but what is special and unique about YOUR whosiewhatsit? Something must be causing your customers to come to you rather than your 7 other competitors – what is it?  Even if you think you know the answer – you should still ask!

Make it Personal by INVOLVING your customers in the process!

Social media channels have made this more simple than ever before – jump on your company Facebook Fan Page, or your company Twitter account – and ASK ASK ASK the questions you need answered.

Once you know why your customers pick you over your competitors, you can capitalize on this information – and the relationship you have begun by engaging your target audience.  Remember, building your brand is also about building relationships between your company and your intended customers. Relationships take time to cultivate, so don’t rush it and overwhelm your audience; provide helpful information and more of what they told you they like about your company, product or service.

Speaking from your company brand directly to the emotional engagement of your clients and customers is what will transform them into raving mad(happy?) brand loyalists.

Several of the TAI team were in attendance, but for Rachel and I it was a first time experience.  We decided to get the most from the experience and split up to cover as many of the presentations as we could.  Some of them proved to be WAY over our heads, though. By the time the lightning rounds were done, we were mentally exhausted.

Who knew there was so much to learn about one platform? Of course, WordPress is capable of more than many other platforms out there, I was still surprised by all the topics!  Some of them included: child themes, common mistakes, community involvement, using WP to create a newspaper site, security on WP, typography, integration, and our personal favorite – Drupal vs. WordPress – the illustrated version! (Kevin Jones had the best presentation of the day!)

All in all, we both enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to attending again next year!  I am even thinking maybe I can help out with some of the arrangements – that way we could have heat on in the presentation halls and coffee in the morning… (it wasn’t pretty with these things missing – people REALLY love their coffee).

Thank you to all who helped to make this event possible – it couldn’t have happened without you!  We are proud to have contributed ourselves and it was well worth the time.  See you next year!

I had a Professor, he knows who he is, who would (and has) told me that I have ‘quit’ because I haven’t been able to continue the pace that was set (admittedly by me) of blogging AT LEAST once a week. Well, we can all find our own justifications for procrastination and a lack of discipline when it comes to our own branding efforts, right?! Lol.
Contrary to my own, negligent blog posting, I love social media. It’s this Professor who first shone the light on the myriad of opportunities that SM provides absolutely anyone interested – if they only pursue it. What I find interesting is that I have been doing LOTS of social media posts – just not my own. Many busy, important and interesting people and small businesses need this kind of help – social media managing. The key to doing it well is that no-one can tell that it ISN’T the brand you are representing. Now I am not the sole contributor for my clients – they also pepper in their own ideas and opinions along the way and I work very hard to ensure their ‘voice’ is what I am projecting. What I find entertaining is that if he can’t tell when I am posting and when they are – then that only means I am doing my job extremely well. So thank you – for inspiring me to always do better and more – and for always making me smile – even if its at myself.

School was relatively easy for me (until I met Calculus anyway).  I was the weird kid reading ET at recess (yes, really).  I enjoyed sports as well, but when I started a good book I couldn’t break the need to finish it.  I became completely immersed in the world the book created.  As I grew older, I began to read less fantasy/ sci-fi and more about human interaction, psychology, relationships and even self-help books! (Total nerd, I know!).

I used to love the black and white Twilight Zone episodes on TV.  My favorite episode was the one with a man who was obsessed with books.  He wore glasses and repeatedly wished that all the people in the world would disappear so that he could be alone with his books and free from interruptions.  Of course, when he gets his wish, his glasses break and there is no one who can fix them for him – so he cannot enjoy his time with his books since he can’t read without the glasses.  An interesting message about obsession, perhaps, but I always identified with the man’s wish to have more time to read.  I definitely believe in the adage, “so many books, so little time”.

College was a natural step for me in order to continue my learning goals. However, life is important to live as well.  So it has taken me twelve years to complete my bachelor’s degree.  I originally wanted to be a court reporter (stenographer) and went to college in Utah toward that end. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it past the 180wpm mark and you have to reach 210wpm to graduate.  After being stuck at 180wpm for about a year I decided this wasn’t my path.  I moved back to Nevada and enrolled in the community college.  My father always said it was important to have a degree – probably more because he didn’t have one and it held him back in his career goals.  I still think it is solid advice to anyone.

College is less about the degree than about the journey, in my opinion. You learn about a wide array of subjects rather than only the one topic you wish to major in – this is so that we are more well-rounded individuals.  I think if I could afford it, I would be one of those lifetime students.  Instead, I will have to use my well-worn library card to learn at home (much less expensive).

In every job I have held I have made it my mission to learn as much as possible about the company I work for, how others have done the job, what could make it better (usually more efficient and productive), and what I can offer.  As I grew in job experience I began to also seek outside information about my type of job.

Now that my degree is finally completed, I am looking at my community for how I can give back and be a part of making my community better.  It is extremely rewarding and is lots of fun.  I enjoy learning about the people in my community – their stories of trials and triumph, and doing what I can to help.

My personal learning journey is far from over – there is so much to learn in life and I am learning as much as I can every day and enjoying every minute.

I would love to hear your stories of personal learning and how you manage to ‘fit it into your normal life’.

Personal learning is not a destination – it is an ongoing journey.

It will test your mettle more days than not.  Searching your own faults and weaknesses can be difficult and often painful, but it is necessary for any lasting growth.  So how do you push through the hard times and ignore the discouraging voices?  Like most things in life it comes down to the attitude you have when approaching obstacles and change.  Having a positive approach to your growth is required for the overall experience to be helpful rather than destructive.

Passion is the number one ingredient in personal learning.

It will keep you moving forward, driving you toward your goals like the getaway car in a robbery.  The passion will be your constant companion, consuming your every thought and breath – eating you alive.  However, the passion is nothing without action.  Your actions need to be planned with built in goals and rewards for all your hard work along the way.  Treat your personal growth as a personal pet project – a lifetime in the making.  Nurture your passion, but harness it into positive, productive actions that help you to narrow the creative tension gap between the you right now, and the you of the future.  You can do it.

How do you network? Where do you meet the people who can make a difference in your field? There are many places you can connect with professionals in your field. Join a club that has a local group but is a nationally known group or affiliation.  Go to networking events at your alma mater, or a local university. Most schools have a small business network in the area and can direct you to people who can be very helpful in either your search, your personal growth, or become part of your network.  Utilize the internet as often as you can for business purposes and previous co-workers. Only make solid connections with people who truly know what you can do, or who can be helped by your services.

Once you make connections, it is important to maintain them and work toward lasting, meaningful relationships based on mutual respect and understanding.  Be there for your network and do what you can for the people you are connected to – offer recommendations to them when deserved, and they will respond in kind.

A leaders learning never ends.