So youʼve been doing the local open-mic night circuit for a while now, youʼve just recorded
your first EP or album and are ready to start getting the word out about your brand. Hereʼs
a quick music marketing check-list to help you get on your way:

_
1. Define your brand – Ensure you branding is clear, consistent and professional across all
your online and offline platforms. Define your identity who/where you target
audience are.  Go to your fans, donʼt expect them to come to you.
2. Collect “currency” – Email addresses, mobile numbers and zip codes are the new
currency of the music industry. Email is one the most effective direct marketing
channels to fans. Make sure you are collecting fan data wherever you are both online
and offline.  Two great newsletter services are mailchimp.com or fanbridge.com
3. Create a website – having your own website instantly create a professional brand. It
also acts as a uniting hub for all your other social networking sites. Remember, if
Myspace or Facebook died tomorrow, all your fan data would be lost. Having a website
ensure you are in total control of your brand and fan data. If you canʼt afford a website
yet, then just get a holding page with a newsletter sign-up on it and links to your social
networking sites.
4. Prioritize quality over quantity – Prioritize connecting with fans one by one over
applications that “autobot” fans onto your social networking sites. This will inspire
loyalty in your fan base and will ultimately be the most effective way in turning potential
fans into super fans.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   Our company is the leader in corporate, web, and online video production services to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

5. Be media ready – Ensure you have both physical and digital copies of your music
available, and a biography and/or press release too. Many journalists still want to
receive physical product in order to judge the professionalism of an artist. However
make sure you also have your full album available for download via a hidden website. I
recommend Soundcloud for this.
6. Donʼt forget about offline marketing – Online marketing has made connecting with fans
on a global level so much easier. We can now communicate with people in real time all
over the world. However, donʼt forget about your offline marketing. Your live
performance, fan interaction at gigs, and face to face networking are still fundamental.
Be aggressive (but nice!) in BOTH your offline and online marketing.
7. Know your rights – Ensure you aware of the different ways of earning money online and
offline. Make sure you sign up to SoundExchange (itʼs free!) in order to collect your
digital royalties and keep up to date with issues affecting musicians by checking in with
The Future of Music Coalition.
8. Be creative, be personal - Donʼt be afraid to ask your fans for input into your creative
process. If they see you are listening to them, it will incentivize their loyalty and you will
create word-of-mouth buzz.
_

Jem Bahaijoub is the founder of imaginePR, a music PR and marketing company based in
Washington, DC. You can connect with her on twitter @jembahaijoub or Facebook
www.facebook.com/imaginePR

“Green Buzz Agency has been very easy to work with throughout the entire production process, from developing creative concepts to the receipt of deliverables. Open and clear communication can be difficult to find with out-sourced help, but it is definitely something that Green Buzz values and works hard to maintain. Their diligent work and quick turn-around makes them stand out from other agencies.”

Crystal Hudson, Game Operations & New Media Manager: Washington Mystics

A Facebook presence is becoming an increasingly complex part of a marketers strategy to understand an engage with fans and customers alike.  Clearly the objective is not to start a page and hope fans will find you.  Because as we all know, hope is not a strategy. You need to plan for success. It is important to understand the unique aspects of Facebook’s functionality to deliver the best experience for your fans which should beget more fans. Facebook can help drive brand awareness, loyalty, engagement, and ultimately, benefit to your bottom line.

Having a seat at the table with clients for the last 4 years, below is a 3-step condensed reference guide for using Facebook as a strategic marketing channel:

Step 1 – Develop a Creative Brief: Take the good ole fashioned creative brief, and make it work for you in social media.  Here are a few questions you should ask as you develop your strategy:

• Why do you want to be on Facebook? (And the answer isn’t because everyone is doing it!)
• What role will Facebook play for the brand or business?  Customer loyalty? Customer service?  Product development?  Drive awareness of new sales or special offers? A hybrid?  Nail this down – it will matter in every aspect going forward.
• What type of business are you?  Who are your target customers?  Are there new voices you want to engage with to expand or maximize your understanding of their needs?
• How expansive is your current digital strategy?  How does social media fit into your marketing mix and budget – and consider the priority of Facebook to determine budgets, timing, manpower, etc
• Who will be handling the administrative aspects and ongoing communication via your Facebook page? Are there multiple internal constituents that will want to sign off on posts?   You should also plan for the inevitable real time need to respond to help requests or issues with your product or service.  Lastly, check to see if your company has a social media policy.  It will likely need to be modified to reflect the real time nature of Facebook and your publishing strategy.
• What is your brand personality and messaging tone?  Consider adapting that for a social media environment where character limitations will challenge the traditional messaging architecture.
• What other social media tools should you use; and how will those differ in message, tone and purpose from your Facebook page?  i.e. Twitter, LinkedIn, company blog)
• How will you handle spam and response management to make your Facebook page a safe destination? As spam has increased, what words or terms do you want to track and moderate? Facebook provides the basic ability to delete unwanted comments and report or block users who violate Facebook’s Statements of Rights and Responsibilities.  Page administrators tend to use these functions while going through whichever moderation process they use, which brings us to the three moderation methods:  manual, automatic and one that combines the previous two.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   Our company is the leader in corporate, web, and online video production services to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

Step 2 – Create an Engaging, Ongoing Experience

• Speak in your brand or business voice, but respect the Facebook platform for length of post.  Also, look to how your fans comment to adjust for tone and approachability.  Vary first and third person to relfect the conversational approach that is appropriate for a particular piece of content.
• Plan to vary your posts to include multimedia posts: Vary and keep posts engaging and eye-catching.  Consider polls or quizzes to engage your fans in a two-way conversation.
• Utilize the power of the news feed:  Vitrue has found the news feed to be 110 times greater reach, and for instance, including a URL on a wall post allows “shares” by your fans which is just one way to drive more engagement through the news feed.
• Optimize and customize Tab content that can be used periodically in conjunction with your news feed.  With the news feed moving so rapidly you should include compelling, informative and engaging content or promotions via a coupon that harnesses the ongoing constant presence of a Tab.
• Target your posts:  Segment your fans through geo-location and language for relevancy using Open Graph objects.
• Use custom URL to shorten links:  Give your links authenticity and protect your analytics from competitors by using a custom or branded shortening tool for long URLs.

Step 3 – Develop a Conversational Calendar:

• Start with a 14 or 30-day advanced planning to layout events, topics and content that might be meaningful to your brand advocates.  Planning in advance will maximize the time you have to create meaningful and appropriate content
• Evaluate the number of posts for optimal reception by your fans.  We currently recommend staggering messaging for most businesses to 2-3 times a day.  This should vary if you are a media outlet publishing real time news content versus a B2B product or service.
• Time of day/day of week matters.  Consider the context of your business and when it makes sense to communicate.  For example, if you are a restaurant, before lunch and early evening prior to dinner might be optimal times for posting.
• Remember and capitalize on special events, holidays, news or milestones that are specific to your business that might be of interest to your followers, i.e. Labor Day is prime time for sales of consumer home goods
• Lastly, but not least:  measure to manage.  Track responses to your post by type, day, time as well as plays and shares.  This will help you iterate your calendar, post type and posting schedule.

This post is intended to be a high-level summary to get you started and moving in the right direction. Clearly social media is vast and requires ongoing refinement and thinking.  Please leave your thoughts or comments below on what has worked well for you in using Facebook as a Strategic Marketing Channel.

Erika Jolly Brookes is Vice President, Marketing at Vitrue. Follow her on twitter @ebrookes or email her at erika@vitrue.com.

Follow the Green Buzz Agency Facebook Page.

You’re probably familiar with the basics of search engines and Google rankings…but did you know that LinkedIn lets you manipulate your profile information to achieve higher rank?

LinkedIn profiles rank high on Google organic search. If you want to influence ‘getting found’ on Google, an optimized LinkedIn profile will get you there.

Here’s how it’s done:

1.   Create your public profile

2.   Select Full View – very important

3.   Create a ‘vanity’ URL…i.e., instead of the default URL, customize your profile with your name. For example, mine is www.LinkedIn.com/in/VictoriaIpri

4.   Use this link in your email signature, on your web page, when you comment on a blog, and other places across the web to boost your visibility

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   Our company is the leader in corporate, web, and online video production services to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

Along with optimizing your vanity URL, promote your website to Google and other search engines through the links right there on your profile page. You know that spot that says “My Website”? Don’t leave it that way! Edit the tag by clicking on ‘Edit’, then ‘Other’, then type in your actual website name so it appears on your profile page.

As well, if you have a blog, use the new blog App to link your blog posts to your profile page. Then be sure to add the URL of your blog in the additional available line back where you modified your website URL a second ago.

Ta Da! Instant Optimization!

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is not difficult if you know what to do. We know what to do…so let us help you. Contact me, Victoria Ipri, at 800-614-4619, or email me at ModelloMedia@gmail.com to learn more about affordable, professional profile optimization that can bring stunning results.

Victoria Ipri is CEO of Ontogeny, Inc., a full service Internet marketing firm with an emphasis on copywriting and social media. She welcomes your questions and comments about optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Look around  the Green Buzz Agency Blog for her other excellent articles on Linkedin.

Feel free to send an invite to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Tod Plotkin, Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, Brittney Grove, and Jennie Ryon. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.

You can see them just up ahead, glimmering in the social media sun like gold nuggets—your potential clients. You may know who you wish to target, but how do you entice them to get to know you…without fruitless cold-calling and a potentially obnoxious hard-sell?

Social networking allows you to establish camaraderie and build a rapport, literally from scratch, without ever leaving your desk. It’s never been easier to get in front of your dream client…if you know how to leverage the power of LinkedIn.

Grab Your Prospecting Pan…We’re Going IN!

During the gold prospecting days of the 1800s, the gold pan was the tool of choice, used to sample the soil to find the richest areas. But a pan was only a pan if you didn’t know how to use it correctly. The skilled prospector had to shake the pan just so, to allow gravel to slough away, revealing any valuable gold nestled beneath.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people    We deliver corporate video production to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

Fast forward to 2010. You are the prospector. LinkedIn is the gold pan… excellent for prospecting, but only if you know how to shake away the time-wasters and find the gold… people who are looking for your products and services.

How do you demonstrate your value? By optimizing your profile. Here are four ways to make your profile work for you:

• Tagline: Found right under your name on your profile page, the ‘tagline’ tells people what you do, who you are, and the value you provide.
• Web links: Link to your website, blog or articles to show, not tell, what you’re all about. Perception is reality, right? Don’t make people dig for what they want to know. Put it out there where they can easily see it.
• Summary: Tell your story! Let your potential clients know who you are, how you can solve their problems and what differentiates you from the competition.
• Recommendations: Satisfied clients will tell your story many times over, and more effectively than when it comes from you. Let others sing your praises.

Bring Home the Gold

You’ve got the right pan. You’ve shaken and sifted and sampled the soil. Now it’s time to bring home the gold!  Social networks like LinkedIn are great for prospecting, establishing common ground and starting wonderful business relationships. Of course, not every pan-full will yield gold, but like the prospectors of old who hiked to the hills day after day to make that one valuable find, don’t give up. With time, patience and perseverance, fields of gold can be yours.

Victoria Ipri is CEO of Ontogeny, Inc., a full service Internet marketing firm with an emphasis on copywriting and social media. She welcomes your questions and comments about optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Look around  the Green Buzz Agency Blog for her other excellent articles on Linkedin.

Feel free to send an invite to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, Tod Plotkin, Brittney Grove, and Jennie Ryon. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.

We all know the old philosophy question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it did it still make a sound?”  Regardless of where you come out on the question, if you’re a technology marketer about to bring a new product out the answer is a resounding “NO.”  Back in the day a launch was pretty straightforward, varying only by scale: put out a press release, get your media prepped, coordinate your advertising, mailings and coordinate customer updates, tradeshows, collateral.  There were natural gathering points for announcements and people waited eagerly to see what was new and exciting.

That was then.

Now, a marketer has to cut through the fog of information, find the audience hiding inside, and figure out how to get the attention of the attention-challenged long enough for it to register in their consciousness.  In a few hundred words I can’t guide you through the intricacies of building out a multi-channel launch plan but I can share what I’ve learned to help you off in the right direction:  First, know your target and why they will care.

Second, know your space.  That is, don’t make people work at understanding where your product fits.  This is not the time to create a market—that comes later with the analysts, press, broader marketing activities.  Find the world the product lives in and place it at the top of the heap.  Tout its value and advantages over others in the space.

Third, find out “where they live.”  That still means knowing what your targets read, where they go for information, what events they attend, but it also now means what blogs they read, who they follow on Twitter, who they know and what groups they participate in on LinkedIn among others.

Fourth, message frequently—but more briefly– adjust your message to your different audiences, and invite dialog.  Product launches today are not the one way flow of the past; it can’t be a fire hose of information because people won’t stay still long enough to get soaked.  Use social media liberally, but don’t use it rashly.  There’s a fine but definite line between social media spam and real announcements.  There have been enough books and seminars built on the topic that I won’t even attempt to educate on that topic, but I will urge you to either hire an expert, learn from an expert, or leave it to an expert.

Fifth, work out early looks by journalists, bloggers, even analysts.  Most can be trusted to keep your confidentiality if there’s a time sensitivity to the launch.  Otherwise, letting them leak out a first look can start generating buzz for you ahead of your own efforts.  And, if they don’t like what they see that informs you how you need to proceed BEFORE you launch and someone seagulls on you.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We deliver corporate Video Production to Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!

Sixth, email isn’t a dirty word.  Used well it’s still a key vehicle for reaching large numbers of targeted potential customers, and new product introductions rank high on the list of things interested parties will open an email to learn about.  And stick with it.  With spam rules in mind, work your lists and database thoughtfully.  And as an aside, don’t be shy about cleaning your list up.  It’s false comfort to have a 20k database of names, 15k of whom have never opened a thing you’ve sent them or about which you know very little if anything.  Better to have a clean, targeted database of 5k interested parties to which you can add more.  Don’t worry about opt-outs either: they’re telling you they’re not interested in what you’re telling them, so save yourself the trouble.

Seventh, wherever possible, use whatever customer information you can.  Whether it’s an anonymized case study or a full-fledged testimonial, or  even a single quote from a beta customer, that adds dramatic credibility to your efforts.  If they’ll talk to the press or analysts, all the better.  If they’ll appear on your behalf at an event, better still.  Regardless of how much or how little, find someone other than your own people who will say something about what you’ve brought out to market.

Finally, keep it fresh by tying the launch into the larger business or technology issues the product serves.  Share information with your targets, involve them, even passively, in your community building.  Familiarity breeds interest (another old saw notwithstanding), and the more you wrap around the product through its launch period and beyond, the more noise that tree will make when it falls.

Alan E. Gold is the  Chief Marketing Officer at TradeStone Software, Inc. Follow him on twitter @alanegold or email him at agold@tradestonesoftware.com or reach him on skype by his handle: alan.gold

Unless you’re living in Turkmenistan, you’ve repeatedly read or heard that success on social media is closely linked to engagement. What do we mean by engagement? Definitions abound, but I like this one from a marketing page on Wikipedia: “Engagement measures the extent to which a consumer has a meaningful brand experience when exposed to commercial advertising, sponsorship, television contact, or other experience.”

Ah yes. There it is. “Meaningful brand experience.” If you’re a sole proprietor working from a home office, you might not think of yourself as having a brand. In terms of social media though, you do. And nowhere among social media sites is this realization more important than on LinkedIn.

If, despite your best efforts at engaging with others on LinkedIn, you’re going nowhere fast, something is clearly wrong. What could it be? In most cases, it’s not your effort…it’s your approach.

Let’s pretend for a moment:

You’re standing in line at the store. You hear a voice saying your name. You turn around to see a good friend standing behind you. You smile big, your eyes widen, your voice rises as you exclaim, “Hey!”…in fact, a host of physical changes take place automatically which generally signal, “I’m happy to see you!”

You’re standing in line at the store. You hear a voice saying your name. You turn around to see someone you don’t recognize. You step back slightly with a quizzical look on your face. Who is this guy? How does he know your name? Oooh, this is creepy. You begin to sweat. Your body is screaming “Danger!” as your brain kicks into high alert and looks for a way out.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We are a Washington DC based Agency specializing in effective corporate video production!

Moral of the story? People talk to friends. People buy from friends. People tell friends about friends. Your friend in line at the store comes with ‘built in’ value that immediately puts a smile on your face. The stranger…not so much.

Ergo…while your job on LinkedIn is to network, you must do so with real value behind it. How can you add value? The easiest way is to drop the canned LinkedIn messages. You know, the one that says “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”, or, “I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile.”

Is that how you talk to your friends? These canned messages have all the pizzazz and personality of dry toast. When you choose to invite someone to join you on your network, tell the person why. Explain who you are and why you believe there is reason to connect. Something like, “Dear John, I noted you are employed with ABC Company. My company, XYZ, does business with ABC. Let’s connect!” Isn’t this more enticing than a canned message? Or, if you’re asking for a recommendation, wouldn’t you rather receive, “Mary, I’d be honored to receive a recommendation from you based on our collaboration on the JKL project.”

Word of Caution: don’t go overboard and send your entire resume! A few sentences will get the conversation started and put you on the path to creating a deeper connection.

It takes only seconds to write something fresh and meaningful! Next time you feel like you’re in a pickle on LinkedIn, review your approach. Look for ways to entice others to be part of your network. If you run out of ideas, think of Elvis, who once said, “I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.”

Alternatively, call me at 800-614-4619, and let’s brainstorm on other great ways to strengthen your LinkedIn profile and get more business.

Victoria Ipri is CEO of Ontogeny, Inc., a full service Internet marketing firm with an emphasis on copywriting and social media. She welcomes your questions and comments about optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Look around  the Green Buzz Agency Blog for her other excellent articles on Linkedin.

Feel free to send an invite to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, Tod Plotkin, Brittney Grove, and Jennie Ryon. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.

Due to the current economic uncertainty, government contracting is looking more and more secure and lucrative so it’s not surprising that even commercial businesses are vying for more government contracts. Yet a government customer can be more difficult to acquire because of the bureaucracy and formal bidding process. For companies selling products and services to the federal government, traditional marketing strategies may not work. The challenges for marketers are made even more difficult when dealing with government decision- makers who are difficult to engage via conventional means. When doing business with commercial clients, one does not have to navigate through all the federal requirements necessary when bidding a contract. However, the best kept secret is that when doing business with the federal government, it is still about relationship building, just as much as it is about meeting the requirements in the RFP.

The concept that the government customer is the ultimate target for customer relationship management (CRM) is gaining traction among government marketers. For government contractors, we must shift the spotlight to our customers rather than focusing on our products and services. The reason is that the government customer expects to be in control and is in control more than ever before. The development of a CRM strategy for a government-serving company could lead to increased sales leads and relationship-building within the federal government while increasing market share. The challenge for many companies is without a clear understanding of how to execute a CRM strategy for government customers, it would be unwise to implement a CRM strategy, since substantial resources are needed.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We are a Washington DC based Agency specializing in effective corporate video production!

Companies should first develop and publish a CRM strategy, and develop a long-term implementation plan to achieve the CRM best practices for the government IT sector. The CRM strategy should include a description of the corporate strategy, corporate business goals, organizational structure of the CRM effort and a communications plan. Shortly after finalizing the CRM strategy section, the internal communications plan for the company can be developed and published. It is vital that the internal staff be aware of the benefits of CRM for it to work. To do so, the best way is to conduct a pilot program before officially launching the full-scale program.

A CRM Pilot Program is a long-term goal and only viable once the processes are in place. Prior to the pilot program, the marketing team must prove to the executive staff that the organizational departments are able to function properly with a small margin for error. This will be determined based on interviews with managers of the departments involved and also by doing test runs and shadow plans for a span of 3 months. The customer for the pilot program will be chosen from a list of customers provided by senior sales staff. Once agreed upon, marketing will create marketing materials including a brochure, microsite and e-commerce center specifically for the customer. The pilot program will span six months to gather enough data to make unforeseen tactical changes, evaluate processes, and assess additional supporting areas which may be needed. Once the pilot is closed to the customer, the marketing team and strategy executives will create an extensive report and incorporate lessons learned into the original CRM strategy. Then, the final report will be presented to all staff.

In conclusion, take a cautious stance when developing CRM plan and consider implementation to avoid costly pitfalls. If a company decides to implement a CMR strategy for government customers, the marketing team must be able to measure the results to tie it to profits, provide value for the customer and engage the customers. The government customer is unique and providing products and services to the government can be problematic. Fortunately for established companies, they have the expertise and history of serving the government. However, there is sometimes a lack the operational means to capture the customer needs. Without doing their due diligence, companies will not be able to implement a successful CRM program.

Victoria Schmidt is the Marketing Manager at Avaya Government Solutions. Follow her @Phishskins or email her at victoria.schmidt@ymail.com

As a marketer, chances are you’ve found one, if not several ways to segment your target audiences – age, gender, education, household income, home ownership or other key demographic characteristics.  Demographics can tell you the “who” about your target audience, but they fall short in giving you the insights to “what, how, and why” audiences react the way they do. Enter the field of psychographics that offers more valuable insights about interests, opinions and activities of defined segments of people.  Let’s get you started with one of the easiest ways to gain these insights: generational profiling.  Right now, the majority of your target audiences will fall into the four active generations: Civics, Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials.

Civics (now ages 65-85) Born prior to 1945, Civics also are referred to as the Greatest Generation and “Masters of the American Dream.” These men and women were raised in an era of American progress, economic growth, highlighted by traditional families, safe schooling and a new world order.   This generation came of age during the post-depression, World War II era – when they were called on to serve a cause greater than themselves, this generation responded in whatever way they could (think: war effort work, war bonds, victory gardens, etc.). They entered a job market eager for their contribution and found company structures that supported the traditional 30- or 40-year career.  They are the last generation to have a healthy savings account and the post-retirement support of a traditional pension system.

Baby Boomers (now ages 46-64) Born between 1946 and 1964, the Boomers were the largest generation in American history numbering more than 75 million. Raised in an era of extreme optimism, opportunity and progress, most Boomers grew up in two-parent households, with safe schools, and job security.  As a group, this generation is characterized by a deep reaction to all forms of tradition – religious, familial, cultural, musical, societal.  We can credit Boomers with the rise of rock-n-roll, the mass entry of women into the workforce and the societal upheaval necessary to achieve desegregation. However, while achieving much, Boomers are a self-absorbed generation that demands personal recognition and fulfillment. As evidence, we can look at Boomers sky-high divorce rates, their quest to “never be old” (or perceived as being/acting old), and their hunger for personal wealth and materialistic gain. The popular phrase, “He who has the most toys when he dies, wins!” is distinctly a Boomer mentality. Their focus on personal fulfillment has left deep impressions with their children (Gen Xers and Millennials) and on the shape of our current culture.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We are a Washington DC based Agency specializing in effective corporate video production!

Gen Xers (now ages 31-45) Born between 1965 and 1979, this is the smallest generation in modern American history, numbering slightly less than 50 million. Considered to be the most ignored and most misunderstood generation, Xers are the first in American history that will not do better than the previous generation. They grew up in two-career families with rapidly rising divorce rates, downsizing, the dawning of the high-tech and information age and the introduction of the entertainment culture.  As the first generation to be marketed to as youth, they seek truth as a countermeasure to the “hype” of empty promises. For Xers, there never was a notion of “job security” and most credit the initial and subsequent dot-com booms from the entrepreneurial drive of this generation.  Driven by a quest for balance and security, Gen X seeks to counter the instability of their youth with a drive to achieve balance both at work and at home.

Millennials (now ages 10-30) Born between 1980 and 2000, Millennials (also called Gen Y) are the largest generation in American history at more than 100 million. They are the most diverse (1 in 3 is not white), most educated, most marketed to, most medicated, and most cared for generation in history.  Nearly half of Millennials were raised by divorced parents, 33% lived with a single parent, and nearly 75% had working mothers.  Millennials have come of age during a time of rapid technological and social shifts. The advent of SMS (texting) created whole new paradigms of communication and interaction. More than 95% of Millennials have an account on at least one social networking site. Characterized as impatient and with a high need for immediate response, Millennials reflect the shift to real-time information and sharing. This generation began in an era of rapid American economic growth and prosperity and the presence of America as the lone global superpower, but they lacked security of safe school environments or stable home environments. Interestingly, despite the shifts around them, Millennials exhibit confidence, connectedness and values similar to Civics, with a deep sense of being called to a cause greater than themselves. Today, only half of Millennials have entered the workforce but they are being highly studied and are certain to have a dramatic impact in how we define “work, play and pray.”

What’s this mean to you as a marketer?

Move beyond the known demographics and push to better understand your audiences (and your co-workers) based on their generational affiliation. Revisit your marketing channels, your messages, and your calls-to-action and view them through the generational lens. Add depth to your demographics with generational profiling and you’ll gain a better understanding of your audiences’ values and motivations – and you can apply that kind of knowledge to your brand and its bottom line.

Note: data on generations can be found through the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Labor, Pew Research, Nielsen Research, Forrester Research, Cone Research, and others.

Jenny Schmitt is the Senior Spark at CloudSpark, an award-winning communications strategy company based in Atlanta. A frequent speaker and media contributor, Jenny has been quoted in BrandWeek, Nielsen’s Small Business, and USA Today among others; she regularly contributes to blogs relating to comnmunications and social media. She can be reached at jschmitt(at)cloudspark(dot)com or on Twitter @cloudspark.

As I help LinkedIn members strengthen their profiles, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “How can I get more connections?” You probably know LI is quite strict about the invite process. As the rule goes, “Don’t connect with people you don’t know.” This is why you generally have to know a member’s email address to connect with him or her.

Lately, LI has been rather overrun with spam. Clearly, some people aren’t getting the message. But for those of us who want to play by the rules and connect legitimately with others, what are the strategies?

Here with 6 tips for legitimately connecting on LinkedIn:

1. The first, and most obvious, connection strategy is to search for family members, friends, old classmates, current or past coworkers, etc. This may take a bit of time, but it’s a good way to get started. Remember…everyone you know knows a lot of other people! But you’ve got to have their email addresses, in most cases, to connect this way.

2. Visit a member’s profile and click the Add to My Network button to the right of the member’s picture. This offers the opportunity to add a personal note as well…and as we all know, social media is nothing if it’s not about engagement!

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We are a Washington DC based Agency specializing in corporate video production!

3. Click on Contacts, then My Connections. It will bring up an alphabetized list of all your connections, which you can then go through to send individual messages or requests for a recommendation.

4. Click on Contacts, then Imported Contacts. From here you can pick and choose people who are connected to you in ways other than LI, and invite them to not only join you, but to recommend your work.

5. Click on Contacts, then Add Connections. This will ask you for your LI login, then will allow you to search your email contacts to find people you know on LI, who you can then ask for recommendations.

6. Join up to 50 groups, and as many subgroups as those groups offer, and invite every group member to connect with you. You don’t need an email address, because you’re already connected through the group.

Hmmm…I’m sensing a trend here. Yes, people, look up once in a while! Play around with all those great drop-down menus across the top of your page. You’ll be surprised what you find.

For example, did you know that the more recommendations you have, the higher up you move in the LI list for your industry? Even if a competitor has done a better job of optimizing their profile for keywords? We’ll chat about this next time…but it’s a true fact, and another terrific strategy for optimizing your LinkedIn presence.

Questions? Comments? Please contact me at www.LinkedIn.com/in/VictoriaIpri. For the timid or the super-busy, we offer L.I.P.O. (LinkedIn Profile Optimization) that really cuts the fat from your profile. It’s affordable and the results are stunning!

Victoria Ipri is CEO of Ontogeny, Inc., a full service Internet marketing firm with an emphasis on copywriting and social media. She welcomes your questions and comments about optimizing your LinkedIn profile.

Feel free to send an invite to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Tod Plotkin, Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, and Brittney Grove. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.

We all know what lipo is – a cosmetic surgery procedure that reduces stubborn fat deposits. So how about a little L.I.P.O.™ of a different kind? I mean LinkedIn Profile Optimization, aimed at cutting the fat from your profile and tightening up those marketing muscles.

If you’ve ever wondered how professional profile optimization is done…well, I can’t spill all the secrets, but I’ll share a few:

Status Updates

You know that little status bar underneath your picture? If you’re not using it, you should be.  The best status updates are pertinent to your industry and reach out to people with a message of value. Status updates should be rather narrow in focus and say something more than, “Hey! Look what I did!” Instead, engage others by letting people know about that conference you’re attending or the group you just joined. Ask people if they’re involved as well.  “Going to the Chicago SuperConference on June 12. If you’re attending, let’s connect!?” You’ll share a piece of your world and show your connections you care about what they’re doing as well. And by the way, if you have 500 or more connections, you should be updating your status at least three times a week. Reach out and touch someone!

Summary

This isn’t merely a listing of accomplishments or a flat resume. It’s an opportunity to reveal who you are and how you can help. People like to do business with those they feel comfortable with – that’s what networking is all about. Let YOU come through. Highlight your experiences, what drives you, and maybe a little of the journey that got you here so others can know you on a deeper level, allowing you to move from casual acquaintance to someone they “trust”.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people  We are a Washington DC based Agency specializing in corporate video production!

Title

How can people find you if they don’t know you by name? By keyword search. The right keywords bring people to your virtual door. Make sure your title is descriptive; not just your actual job title, but what you can do for others. Think about how someone (not in your field) might look for you on LinkedIn.  Use long-tailed keywords to help you stand out – if you’re buried on page 6 of the search results, you won’t be found. The title tag is the single most important string of words impacting optimization, and there is a formula for creating a terrific title. Want to know the secret? Drop me a line: Victoria@TheConfidentCopywriter.com

Recommendations

Remember to ask for recommendations. But to get them, you must connect to people in your industry, people that have seen your work, either side-by-side or serving under or over you. Having your neighbor on LI might be fine for expanding connections, but it won’t be relevant as a recommendation. Make a potential employer or client’s job easier by providing recommendations that are positive, plentiful and pertain to your current position. The more recommendations, the better you’ll rank within your industry.

Groups

Joining groups on LI is imperative to your success. Groups allow you to cast a wider net by permitting you to connect with group members by invite, without knowing the individual email addresses.  Groups establish your expertise, let you share your knowledge, make an impression and solve a problem for someone else – all keys to lead generation.

Don’t forget: Optimization + Engagement = Lead Generation. Isn’t that what we all want?

Victoria is CEO of Ontogeny, Inc., a full service Internet marketing firm with an emphasis on copywriting and social media. She welcomes your questions and comments about optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Please contact her at www.LinkedIn.com/In/VictoriaIpri