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SPRING CLEANING THE SOCIAL WEB

Over the course of this month, I have been cleaning out the clutter from my online world. Consider it a form of weeding, making room for my important relationships to grow and new relationships to take root. Here’s what I did:

1. Unfollowed most Tweeters who don’t follow me back on Twitter.
2. Used the “Hide” option on the Facebook Pages I “fan” because their message is irrelevant to me, personally and professionally. I was trying to help them get enough fans to secure their unique name but I know I will never buy their products and/or they send me too much marketing.
3. Deleted LinkedIn contacts I do not know who have only sent me invitations to social media webinars. Decided to reconsider my open invitation status on LinkedIn and ensured all my contacts there were private.
4. Checked on all the FB friends whose status I have hidden because their marketing or Farmville activities were annoying. If all they do is market, I consider “unfriending” them or kept them hidden. For Farmville fans, I unhide the friends and hide Farmville – thanks to FB for providing this ability.
5. Unsubscribed to Blogs and RSS feeds that clutter my Google Reader and Netvibes dashboard.
6. Canceled all Google email alerts except essential alerts which require immediate attention.
7. Unsubscribed to all the email newsletters I never read.
8. Withdrew from LinkedIn and Facebook groups that long lost their value.
9. Unsubscribed to paid membership forums that I never visit.
10. Deleted profiles on a few social networks I never use so I can focus on just a few communities.

I feel better already but plan to take a few more steps in the coming week:

1. Create Twitter Lists to make it easier to support and appreciate my important relationships.
2. Organize groups of friends on Facebook so I can be certain to check the status of key people in my network and engage with them.
3. Update my social marketing planning calendar to make sure I prioritize time for essential communities and people. Now that the weeding is done, my important relationships have room to grow and I have more time to nurture them.
4. Create a set of guidelines for deciding whether or not to join groups, fan pages, communities, and social networks in the future.
5. Create an email address dedicated only to web subscriptions. Many times, I give my name and email address to someone in return for a report or e-book, etc and end up on the mailing list. I will only give out my daily priority email addresses to people I meet in person or want to meet in person.

How about you? What can you do to weed out online distractions to focus on your most significant relationships and profitable activities?

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The Social Web and Competition: Respect the Game

Traveling home from a soccer game with my son yesterday, we discussed a few incidents from his game. I noticed my son seemed to have a good relationship with the player on the opposing team who was playing mid-field against him. I observed a few occasions when they shook hands or exchanged a few friendly words after one or the other had a particularly good tackle against the other.

I asked my son if he knew the young man. He said he never met him but “that kid had sick skills, Mom. It was fun competing against him today.” We discussed another incident where an opposing player executed a slide tackle from behind one of my son’s teammates causing our player to be removed from the game with an injury and the offending player to be removed with a “red card” foul. When comparing the two incidents, my 16 year old son said, “You have to respect the player. You have to respect the game.”

Recently, I have been working with a few clients who are competing in a very tough market and trying to implement new social media marketing plans. In one case, my client has been the target of another local business that has been using the power of ‘anonymous’ rating services to make disparaging comments about my clients’ products and services on the internet.

In another case, a client became “a friend” with a rival through an online community only to have the competitor use their access to “friend” my clients contact list, misrepresent himself as an affiliate and then begin to market to his “friend’s friends” with competing products.

Colleagues have complained about having “competitors” disguised as “friends” market competing products that looked suspiciously like the same content without attribution (i.e. copied).

The openness of social networking can leave small businesses open and vulnerable to attack by opponents without the creativity to develop their own markets and products and who decide all is fair in business.

I love competition! I agree with the proverb “Competition is the whetstone of talent” and I do believe competition gives all of us as entrepreneurs an opportunity to innovate, to make our products and services even better for our customers. We live in an imperfect world so competition brings out the best spirit of innovation in some entrepreneurs while exacerbating the worst character flaws in others.

Henry Ford said, “The competitor to be feared is the one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” I agree with Ford’s statement but never turn a blind eye to my competitors, even while my main focus is on my customers and on my own plan for innovation. Monitoring your competitors prepares you to capitalize on opportunities and weaknesses, maximize your strengths and head off impending threats.

With that being understood, “Respect the player, respect the game.”

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Facebook Land Rush: What happened to “Hello”?

You know how it goes in a face-to-face networking event. Someone calls you over and says, “Sue, I want to introduce you to Tim. Tim has his own printing company and I have worked with him for years. He is looking for a business consultant to help him develop a new strategic plan.”

Then to Tim, he says, “Sue is a consultant and told me she is looking for a new graphics and printing company to replace the standard solutions from the Big Box retailer…”

What a nice introduction and endorsement!

The same kind of courtesies should be extended on online social networks. If you want someone to become a “fan” of a business, shouldn’t you introduce them first? Are you being a good “friend”, “connection” or “colleague” when the only communication you have with someone on your contacts list is to spam them with requests that they endorse or “fan” another business? How about an introduction first? A personal note?

In a hurry to claim their Facebook vanity url’s that began last week, many well-meaning online networkers have made Facebook look like one of the Land Rushes in the late 1800’s. It was truly wild. I was inundated with requests and my status stream was clogged with messages about new Fan pages.

I am more than willing to help all my colleagues and friends, those with whom I have relationships, by “fanning” their Facebook pages or writing recommendations. I know them. We are in groups together. We email and we chat. We have coffee or plan to meet when in the same city. We exchange leads and information to help each other’s businesses.

Becoming a “fan” has meaning. It means you endorse the product, service or business owner. It means if someone calls and asks you why you are a fan, you can give them specific reasons. It means you would recognize them at a live networking event and introduce them to someone else and have a depth of understanding of their businesses and issues. Becoming a “fan” is equivalent to giving someone permission to send you marketing and sales messages.

What is your endorsement worth?

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Twitter-fied?

I must admit I was a little perplexed. Everyone was talking about Twitter so I had to check it out. Twitter is a social networking utility that allows you to join and invite friends and colleagues. Twitter provides you with a profile page and the capability to broadcast a 140 words or less to the entire “twittersphere” of members on the Twitter site. I began as a complete lurker with a non-descript logon id so I could watch the action and I never linked to my professional email. Initially I thought this was a tool that would be more interesting for social networking among the under-24 age group. I was hugely skeptical about the application for my clients and my own business. To be honest, I thought being on Twitter was like getting junk mail ALL DAY LONG!! I wasn’t ready to put myself out there.

But I watched and learned and began to see how Twitter could fit into my short and long-range marketing plans. I started to see how others were using Twitter for business and I began seeing the possibilities for my clients. I took the plunge and found some tools and techniques that I suggest you adopt as a Twitter-newbie.

1. Sign up at twitter.com and set up a profile. Link to your business website.

2. Invite colleagues and clients to follow you.

3. Search for topics that interest you at search.twitter.com. Watch the stream of “tweets” and you will find people who are interesting to you so add them to your follow list. I follow small business, social media, local cities, news outlets and favorite bloggers, positive people with good vibes, political pundits and other topics that catch my interest. You can also see the top trending topics and follow along.

My favorite day of the week is “Follow Friday” when you will see a stream of tweets with the hashtag of #followfriday. It is a great way to give a shout out and recommend folks you think others should follow as well as a way to start following others recommended by the masses.

4. Join chats that are of interest. By watching keywords that interest me, I learned of several “tweet chats” on small business topics. I join the chats at Tweetchat.com and have met some great people who I network with on Twitter and my other social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

5. You don’t have to watch Twitter all day long and catch every conversation. I use Tweetdeck and check it a few times per day for items of interest. Tweetdeck allows you to follow your favorite people, phrases and topics. It helps create a more organized approach for me so I don’t get caught up in the constant stream of consciousness.

6. Once you understand how you plan to weave Twitter into your marketing strategy, offer information to your followers in the form of tips, referrals, links and content that your target market would find beneficial. Don’t spam but do make your followers aware of targeted special promotions and products. Ask yourself, “How can I add value?”

7. If you google Twitter, you will find an array of products and classes available over the web. Here are a few sources I recommend to further your Twitter education.

For a quick guide for the beginning and intermediate Twitter user:
http://johnjantsch.com/TwitterforBusiness.pdf

For a brief screencast video with tips for small businesses:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2008/10/how-why-twitter-small-businesses.html

In my own business I see Twitter as a great way to participate with and serve my target market. I find it invaluable for researching my brand, my competitors and industry leaders. I have made great contacts and hope to use Twitter to identify new markets, identify potential alliances and business partners.

Did I mention you can follow me on Twitter @garrbarrgroup? See you in the twittersphere.

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Is Social Media a Waste of Time for Small Business?

I am the first to admit that I have easily lost days of my life investigating the features and benefits of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media sites. Yes, they can be time wasters for the small business owner, the last person with extra time on his or her hands. But, I think the opportunities for new and developing markets far outweighs the risk of lost time as long as you surf with purpose. Remember, if we are mesmerized with the new media (just as we previously have been with web surfing and the greatest time waster of all, the television), doesn’t that mean hordes of customers will be wasting their time there? So, if you can remain slightly detached in your interactions, just enough to look at the new mediums as potential new markets, you may unearth a new possibility for profit for your business. My suggestions are the following:

1. Become a purposeful lurker. Surf without guilt for a specific period of time. Consider it “brainstorming” time, market research. Observe who is in the social media world and what they are doing. How are other businesses using YouTube, podcasting, blogging, social networks?
2. Keep notes on whether your customers are currently using social media and consider new ways they might be interested in using it.
3. If your customers aren’t there, are there potential new markets for you? Perhaps Facebook doesn’t reflect your current demographics, but have you ever considered how you could reach out to that market?
4. Get involved in the discussion. Join some of the small business groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and Ning. Follow Twitter conversations regarding small business or your products (I use tweetchat.com to monitor certain phrases). It’s a virtual chamber of commerce out there so join the conversation.
5. Start small. Blog. Create a newsletter. Podcast. Test market. Evaluate results.

Remember social media is all about the conversation. What message do you want to communicate to your customers? How do your customers want to engage in conversation with you? Introduce yourself!

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