The sad thing is nobody in the conference room has the guts to state the obvious… that there is no budget, time, or resources to implement the new random act of marketing or social media with any level of success.

So, everyone in the conference room nods their heads, takes notes and smiles as if they are excited about the project. However, in their heads they are thinking “how on earth am I going to get this #$@$%@ thing done!??  They start having nightmares in their heads of the budgets they are going to have to rob, the people they are going to tick off and the begging they are going to have to do of needed resources to pull this one off.

Sound familiar? Have you seen this scenario before?

I like to call it a bad case of the RAMMIES.  Scratching tasks and tactical to do items off your list may make you feel good. You may feel a sense of accomplishment. However, in reality too much randomness in your business is a recipe for disaster.

Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) defined:

Random Act of Marketing:

An attempt to grow market share, increase brand awareness, drive revenue or other business benefit that is NOT integrated, can not be easily measured or justified and does not integrate with other marketing and biz tactics.

RAMMIES:  

Multiple RAMS which often lead to wasted investment, little to no benefit in the form of brand awareness, revenue and often lead to lay off, market share loss, gray hairs, stress, sleepless nights, mass consumption of chocolate or other high fat foods.

We have all done them, seen them fail and regretted them…. the RAM.  It may start out as a simple Facebook page, Twitter profile or LinkedIn group. The key is what may seem like a pointless little project could eat your ROI before breakfast and lunch!

Top 4 signs of a RAM:

1. Not funded

2. Not in the plan

3. Not integrated

4. No defined metrics for success.

15 Reasons Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) Do NOT Work!:

1. No budget + no assigned resources + no plan = no results

2 Robbing Peter to Paul is not a strategy. If your planned strategy to obtain the necessary budget requires you wearing a black mask, hiding in the back alley of your office or nabbing lunch sacks of fellow employees then chances are you have a bad case of the RAMMIES.

3. RAMs cost more. Although in the short term you may think completing a RAM or two will cost you less money, in the medium and long term it will do just the opposite. Where you save money now could end up costing you double later on when you have to go back and update, fix errors or integrate with other parts of the business.

4. RAMs are not good for ROI. It may feel good for the short term to cross the random task off your list. You may even be able to impress your peers or stakeholders when you provide a snazzy presentation of all the great random tasks and accomplishments you have made.  However, over time it will inevitably become more difficult for you to prove a return on investment. The same list that delivered you a short term ego boost in the board room might just land your name on the short list for the next round of layoffs if you aren’t careful.

5. RAMs have a way of hiding the real impact. Return on investment across all marketing and social media investments is usually impacted negatively or positively by each and every task. Too many RAMs can have an exponentially negatively impact to your bottom line. Since RAMs are not within plan, budget or associated with real metrics their risk is not usually known up front. These types of projects usually come back to bite ya’ in the “RAMMIE” at some point in time.

6. Difficult to set realistic expectations with executive management and key stakeholders. Because you lack a plan, goals, objectives, assigned resources it makes it difficult to make real commitments. It becomes even more difficult to set realistic expectations with top executives and stakeholders who have a vested interest in the bottom line. I’ve seen marketing and business leaders fail over and over again in this scenario. They wind up making promises based on a hope and a prayer and wind up needing the same thing when they are later asked about the results they so foolishly promised.

7. Lack of goals and objectives makes it more difficult to align needed evangelists, partners and stakeholders. Because a RAM lacks the fundamental success elements such as basic goals and objectives, it becomes difficult to obtain the needed support from both internal and external evangelists, partners and stakeholders. Those smart to the RAMMIE can spot them from a mile away and avoid them at all cost.

8. RAMs don’t fool smart business leaders. As mentioned above in #7, the smart business and marketing leader can spot a RAMMIE from a mile away. They’ve seen them, usually been taken by them in a past job or assignment and avoid them like a spammy Twitter bot. You may be able to fool your co-workers or even a clueless boss. However, eventually you will run into a RAMMIE smart stakeholder who will blow holes in your RAMMIE plan at first glance.

9. RAM timelines are usually not accurate. Because no proper planning, resource allocation or budgeting is associated with a RAM, timelines are usually not realistic. RAMs are often chosen to solve a short term, self imposed emergency business need. Often times they are the result of an executive meeting where a key stakeholder has an idea or demands a project be completed. People scurry, make promises and before you know it a RAMMIE team is formed with a deadline all team members know is impossible to achieve. Everyone goes with the RAMMIE flow as they are either afraid to lose their job or don’t know better. Either wasy this entire scenario is a disaster in the making.

10.  Lack metrics to measure success and set expectations. Measuring success is obviously impossible without proper goals and objectives. Executives and stakeholders are going to have different expectations. Since no proper metrics are set with a RAM, it is close to impossible to manage expectations and measure success or failure.

11. Rams guarantee increased risks. Depending on your business, the risks could be associated with brand, reputation, delivery quality, customer satisfaction, and the list goes on.

12. RAMs are difficult to sustain. Because of all the reasons mentioned above, RAMs are difficult to sustain. It’s pretty hard to maintain a project of any kind without a plan, assigned resources, budget, goals, metrics, alignment of key stakeholders and time lines.

13. RAMS don’t force you to stop doing the things that you should stop doing.  Often times RAMs are taken on because nobody on the team, including executive management has the guts to say no or stop doing something on a list that should be stopped. Usually if you were to do the proper planning for a RAM it would easily uncover that you don’t have the resources or budget to be successful. This would mean that the resources and budget will need to come from another budget (rob Peter to pay Paul). As a result this means something else will have to “not get done”.  Cancelling other projects is usually avoided by the RAM lovin’ manager.

14. Working for a manager who insists you continuously implement RAMS is risky business. If you have a manager who takes on RAMs repeatedly and you repeatedly get the mess to clean up at the end, then I would look for another job or position before you are the next casualty. During my 15+ years in corporate America I saw many people lose their jobs because of RAM lovin’ managers. They may offer you a false sense of security or internal stardom in the beginning. However, your success will not last unless you deliver real results.

15. Integration brings higher return & leverage across multiple mediums. Even though it may seem more difficult if you are new to social media, marketing or business, the truth is, it isn’t. Integration across mediums, projects and plans is the best way to increase return on investment on a large scale. The more you can integrate and avoid the RAMs, the better off you will be. For a business wanting to adopt social media, be sure to focus on goals and objectives where social can have an impact. Every goal or objective is not a perfect candidate for social media or marketing. Take the time to plan and integrate for the highest results possible.

Bonus: Launching a Facebook page or Twitter profile does not equal a social media plan. If you are being asked to launch social media for your business but are only given a budget large enough to launch a basic Facebook page and generic Twitter profile, you need to go back to your boss and start over. Visit this article “41 Signs You are Not a Social Business” or Are You Ready to Be a Social Business? 10 Tips for a Zoom Start! and give it to your boss. It is more important you focus on being social from the inside out than simply launching a Facebook page with no plan to achieve results.

Get a Grip on Social Media: 

This is the first in a series titled “How to Get a Grip on Social Media.” The series will include a free newsletter, webinars, whitepapers, tips and best practices to get a handle on your business and social media.

Subscribe to stay updated and be the first to be invited to upcoming events.

Your Turn:

What are your thoughts on randomness in business? Are you guilty of random acts of marketing or social media? Remember, the fist step is admitting such. The second is doing something about it. If you have broken the RAMMIE habit, how did you do it? What tips can you share with others who can possibly learn from your experiences?

At one point in time we all still are, were or will be newbies at something. It’s funny to think back to the first day you tweeted or joined Facebook. I joined Facebook in 2006 when I worked at Sun Microsystems. We were required to get on Facebook in support of  an internal big marketing conference. I remember thinking how awkward it was to be so transaparent and have everyone from family, friends, neighbors, girlfriends, past boyfriends, teachers, boss and hubby all in one place! Yowza!

My how things have changed. Now we share our life, our ups and downs in 140 characters on Twitter, in pictures on Pinterest, on blog posts like this and of course on Facebook.

Learning all the bits, bytes, lingo and lango is not always easy. The best thing to do is ask the questions you have, answer the ones you know and have fun. Yes, we do social media for business. However, once in awhile ya’ have to laugh a little or even a lot.

Below are some quotes I have heard many newbies say including some folks close to me in life and business.  I hope you can have some fun with this and add your own. We’re working on a video to incorporate some of them with a couple clients. If your suggestion makes it in the video, we’ll give you credit for it in the video and accompanied description!

Note: By no means is this post meant to make fun of social newbies. We love newbies around these parts. We were all a newbie at some point and will be a newbie tomorrow when the next new shiny bright object launches!

58 Things Social Newbies Say & Maybe You Said Too!?  

1. None of my customers are on social, seriously.

2. I don’t have time. I’m too busy selling. I attend networking groups 3 mornings and 5 nights of the week.

3. Facebook is only for kids.

4. I have a Facebook page but nobody talks to me. My customers are all introverts.

5. I can’t do social. No way.  I like my double personality lifestyle.

6. Twitter… That sounds like the perfect platform to tweet coupon codes!

7. Twitter is for dumb birds who can’t talk in more than 140 character bytes.

8. LinkedIn is for the jobless and bored.

9. Shut up! My website is savvy! We just added a twitter button.

10. What do you mean listen on social? Where is the sound button?

11. Hashtag, hash brown same thing right? I’ll take the hash brown, thank you.

12. I tweeted!!

13. No way, no sirreee! I am not tweeting what I had for lunch!

14. What do you mean tweet you later?? I’ll call you at 4:00 pm et. Want me to setup a conference line?

15. Did I just tweet?

16. Dude, you can’t say that on twitter!

17. Ahhhh my mom doesn’t even know what twitter is. Yes!

18. Is it a tweet or a twit?

19. What is the difference between a tweet, twit, retweet and reheat?

20. Seriously, just call me. I don’t have a smart phone like you.

21. Oooh. He is giving me a hand massage. I got tweeter fingers after sending all those tweets today.

22. Said after first retweet:  “Stop, collaborate and listen I’m the tweeter who’s got their attention!”

23. DM me baby. Hey, that sounds cool, doesn’t it?

24. Why do you I look so tired? It’s that darn Twitter bird keeping me up every night.

25. I got a retweet! Woot!

26. That twitter bird is crazy!

27. Me addicted to twitter? Never!!

28. Twitter is for people who don’t have a life.

29. How am I suppose to say anything in this tiny little box and only 140 characters?

30. Said while looking at timeline: “Look! All these people sent me tweets!”

31. I tweeted again!

32. What’s my password?

33. I think I’ll go back to Facebook

34. What if my competitors see what we say?

35. Did he really just tweet that?

36. Woah! I just found out my best customer is on Twitter. Who woulda thunk?

37. Cool, I’ll just send all my tweets to Facebook & Facebook posts to tweets and will be all set!

38. How do I get one of those cool influence scores?

39. How do I get that verified badge? I’m a pretty popular guy. I’m gonna need one!

40. What’s wrong with that lil egg as my profile picture? It’s cute!

41. I need to use my real face? Why would I do that? Then I can’t stalk anyone.

42. Facebook, nobody is on Facebook anymore.

43. Google+? That’s where I go to search for stuff on the internet, right?

44. Be careful out there on that internet. I heard there are ripoff scammers.

45. Video? Why would anyone want to watch a video when we have phone & in person.

46. Blogging? That would mean I have to engage and listen!

47. Let my sales reps on social? Are you kidding?

48. My sales reps don’t have time for social. They are busy cold calling and door to door knocking.

49. We can’t let people comment on our blog. What if someone says something bad?

50. Email? Why would I want to integrate email into a social media campaign?

51. Call to action? Why would I call someone to take action? What action?

52. We are on social. We have a Twitter and Facebook account. Haven’t logged on in a few months but we are definitely a social company!

53. Community manager? What is that? Don’t need one of those as nobody talks to us.

54. What do you mean by social listening? Nobody says anything on our Facebook page so nothing to listen to!

55. Yes! I got followers! Social media success!!

56. I got 25 Facebook likes. We are rockin!

57. I seriously think Facebook might save our business this year!

58. Will you plllleeeaaase retweet this?

It is true that social media is about the people. It is something that I have preached since the minute I hopped on Twitter. However, you can’t just say it’s about the people and do nothing about it. Many people think if they just sit all day on Twitter and Facebook and talk to the “people” about “whatever” that it will bring result.

For real results both personally and professionally, you need some skin in the game. This includes having a plan, objectives, understanding your audience etc.

So assuming, you have done these things then you are ready to, well, GET SOCIAL!

It’s more important what you do for others than what you do for yourself. It may seem easy and be easy to blast coupons all day. However, chances are it’s not going to make you a lot of friends nor is it going to generate many sales.

Check out these 50 Tips to Show the Social Love and be a good friend! I wrote them in a way that I am speaking directly to you, telling you what I need, expect and want from you. Of course you don’t have to deliver it. What you do and don’t do is clearly up to you!

50 Tips to Show the Social Love and be a Good Social Friend

1. Show me your real face! No hiding behind that avatar. I don’t have any friends in real life that are one dimensional, with no eyes or mouth.

2. Listen first, then talk.

3. Speak when spoken to. Don’t ignore me, please.

4. Acknowledge I exist.

5. Acknowledge I am human, not an avatar or logo.

6. Relationships take time. I am not ready for a date night when we just met.

7. Show me the real you. There is only one you. Be that person.

8. Don’t take the fact I trusted you as a connection or friend on a social network for granted. Real friendships are based on trust and integrity.

9. Don’t spam all of my LinkedIn contacts when I trust you and connect with you.

10. If I give you my business card in real life please don’t auto opt me into your spammy enewsletter or start spamming me on LinkedIn or Facebook.

11. Don’t copy me on a Facebook message with 300 other people to invite me to your event, please.

12. Tag me in Facebook or Google+ photos where we both look good please, not just you!

13. Don’t spam my Facebook wall with your business page.

14. Don’t ask my Facebook friends or “likers” on my business page to like your Facebook page. We all need likes. Give us a reason and we just might stop by to say hi.

15. Think more about me and my needs than you and your needs.

16. Get in my head. What do I want to accomplish? How can you help me meet my business goals and objectives?

17. Be sunshine on a rainy day once in awhile. How can you make me smile and remind me there are good people in the world?

18. If you like a blog post I write, share it with your friends.

19. If you really like a blog post I write then feel free to Google+ 1 it, Stumble it, Digg it, pin it on Pinterest and of course share it with your Facebook friends.

20. Respond to my question or comment when I post on your wall or profile.

21. Introduce me to your other online friends who you think we could do go good work together.

22. Join me on a Twitter chat such as #GetRealChat that I host.

23. If I make you laugh,tell me.

24. If I made your day, tell me. It might just make mine for the simple fact that I made yours.

25. If you like my tweet, well then by all means retweet it and tell your friends about it.

26. Give me credit for my work.

27. If you love a blog post, leave a comment.

28. If you disagree with me, leave a comment or let me know. I have some amazing friends and colleagues whom I have met online via a conversation that started with a debate on a topic we were both passionate about.

29. Don’t join my private Facebook group and then spam all of us.

30.  Show advocacy for my friends and contacts as you come in contact with them. Don’t just look at them as another sales target.

31. Come over to my place sometimes. I’d love a visit from you on my Facebook wall, business page or Google+ page.

32. If I have done something good for you and helped you grow your business, then share such with your friends who mention they need the same services I offer.

33. If we are connected and in the same tribe via Triberr then give me some Triberr love in the form of tweets, bookmarking, Karma love etc.

34. LinkedIn recommendations are always warm and welcome when I’ve earned them.

35. Read the article associated with a tweet before you blast me and the writer about how wrong it is.

36. Read blogs and other content to understand not just leave a comment and brag about yourself.

37. If you have a funny joke don’t be afraid to tell me.

38. If you don’t understand something I say, write or do, then ask. I won’t know unless you tell me.

39. If you like me, my personal blog and what I do for you then check out my full service social brand, digital marketing & reputation management agency, ZoomFactor too. We might be able to help you even further.

40. Don’t spam me in my Twitter direct message box.

41. Don’t give to get.

42.  If you come on my TweetChat #GetRealChat don’t bash the guest about your bad service you had a year ago. Not the time and place.

43. Share your best stuff with me for free. Don’t always require me to opt-in or be afraid I’ll steal it. I might just tell my friends about it too.

44. Subscribe to my RSS feeds and you’ll get blog updates daily.

45. Subscribe to our email communication and newsletters and you’ll get even more cool stuff.

46. Subscribe to my YouTube channel as well as ZoomFactor, our agency channel. Hey, you can even watch a video while you’re there!

47. Want my friendship as much as you want my business.

48. Each day set aside time to engage and show your friends the social love. Hopefully that includes me?

49. Have fun. Don’t take social business, social media, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter too seriously.

50. Acknowledge I might do things different than you. The only way to do social media is the way that works for you and your business. Respect our differences and we’ll be just fine!

Bonus Tip: When all else fails… send me dark chocolate please.

Your Turn

Are you a good friend to your online connections? What do you do to show people you appreciate them? What are the best ways for others to show you they appreciate you?

Heartbeat of Social Media Series

This blog post is part of a new series titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.

Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!

I’ll be hosting a free “Facebook for Business” as well as “Rock Your Blog” webinar with focus on social media optimization which will deep dive into some of the topics discussed in this post. Subscribe to the series for updates and early invitations.

This week I received an email from a self proclaimed “social media expert.”  I’ve been subscribed to her email list for quite some time. To be honest I am not sure why I haven’t unsubscribed before now. I think it is because she always bugs me when I am at dinner and I forget about it until the next spam mail pops in my inbox.

On with the story… I opened the email and my eyeballs literally almost fell out of socket!

It was one of the worst emails I have seen from anyone in marketing, ever. No joke!

A social media smoking success gun?

This email promised a “smoking gun” to the fast track for social media success!

I couldn’t help but send her a reply and call her out on her scammin,’  dishonest ways. Read on to hear her response which is almost worse than the email itself.

I have copied a few screen captures below highlighting the wild social cowgirl tactics.  Enjoy and be careful. There are liars out there!

It’s important to note that this particular social media consultant has received local media attention in her geographical area. She positions herself as a social media expert who cares about and helps small businesses.

Worst Social Media Spam eMail this Side of Texas:

Note: I removed all content that will identify this wild social cowgirl. She can remain in hiding from all of you.

Just for fun, let’s dig a bit deeper into a few of her claims.

False Claims:

• Twitter Followers are equivalent to a stamp of approval from any credible source? Seriously? False, sorry!
• Conversion rate will dramatically be increased by a large Twitter following? Wow, does this mean we can just simply get a ton of Twitter followers and not have to worry about content? We can put an opt-in form on our website with a big graphic broadcasting how many Twitter followers we have and people are going to convert faster than we can tweet 140 characters? False – think again. 
• Give website visitors a perceived sense of trust. She states “just take a look at how use on our site.”  Hmmm… as if the use of the word “perceived” isn’t bad enough she didn’t include a link to her site? False.
• You will start ranking on the hundreds of Twitter related websites? What websites? What are these going to do for me and my business?
• Increased traffic to your blog in the tens of thousands of visitors? Hmmm… well I have 72k+ Twitter followers and can tell you it has taken a lot more than a good tweet schedule to get my website traffic in the tens of thousands. False. 
• She promotes ability to direct mail followers to promote your business. This is the only truthful statement made in the entire email. However, even though you can SPAM all of your Twitter followers with direct messages, I highly encourage you not to. Many people will automatically unfollow you if you do. I for one do not read spam DMs and would NEVER click on a link in such message.
• Wow, what a deal! Purchase 5,000 Twitter followers for only $149.
• You can also get 50% off of social media coaching and training until Friday. Purchase and listen to such advice at your own risk! Don’t say I didn’t warn ya’!

Pam Contacts the Wild Social Media Consultant

I am not one to reply to bad, scammy, lying and annoying emails. I usually just delete & unsubscribe.  However, I couldn’t hold my fast typing iPhone fingers back.

I sent her a message blatantly calling her out for her scammy ways.

Her response? “I did it for one of my clients.”

Lessons for the Wise Social Cowboys & Cowgirls: 

• There is no magic pill, magic ticket or free ride to success in social media and business.
• You will not pass go, collect $200 or see the positive side of the ROI equation for any business metric based on tactics such as these.
• Focus on building long term relationships. What happens to the business leaders who fall for her tactics one time? Do you think they’ll be back for a second time? Think they’ll tell their friends about her great services? My guess is NO.
• Do you research. Trust your gut. If it seems to good to be true, chances are it is!
• Don’t waste time looking for or learning tips and tricks sold as a smoking gun. Take the same time to build and execute a plan that will inspire and connect you with your audiences and help them meet their objectives. If you focus on the objectives of your audience and community, your objectives will be met by default.
• Social media consultants, do not sell your social business soul to any partner, client or colleague for a few bucks. Your reputation, credibility and trust factor is everything. Without it you have, well, nothing!

 What You Say? 

Have you ever ran into or been taken advantage by wild folks like this? What did you do when you found out? What would you do if a client asked you to promote a product for them that was unethical or took advantage of unknowing business owners and leaders?

From bloggers, internet marketing experts, social media gurus, social rockstars, twitterati, to a-listers someone has something that is going to rock your world with a click, like, follow and tweet.

Do you remember why you created your blog?

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the buttons, gadgets, shares, pages, videos, widgets, gidgets and gadgets. As a result it’s also easy to forget why you created your blog in the first place. Did you create your blog only for the rankings, stats, clicks, shares and likes? Or did you start blogging to help your business?

Do you remember how happy you were when you received your first tweets, retweets, likes, and comments? Remember the feeling of knowing that your content inspired someone, helped you connect with someone in a way that brought them closer to you and your brand?

How long has it been since you had that feeling? You know the feeling I am talking about.  The one that makes you want to do the “happy blog post dance” when you hit submit.

How long has it been since you knew deep in your heart and brain that you are providing value to your readers, your clients, partners, audience? If you have to think more than a few seconds on this question then it’s been too long.

Take your blog back!

A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled “Is This My Blog or Your Blog?” where I realized I was doing the same thing. I had gotten so wrapped up in the hip and hype, gidgets and gadgets that I was starting to lose “me” in my posts. When you lose yourself in posts you also start to lose the value you offer your readers.

10 tips to take your blog back from the value eating gadget, widget and share button monsters.

1. Know your objectives. Why are you blogging? Who are you blogging for? What do you want to accomplish? If you are blogging for business, how is your blog going to help you meet your business goals and objectives? What do you want to achieve from blogging from both personally and professionally?

2. Stop Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs)!  Get integrated. A blog should not be run as a silo separate from your business, online marketing, offline marketing or social media strategy. The more and better you can integrate the better your results will be. Many assume integration is more expensive. In reality integration can cost you less if done correctly. It helps minimize and often eliminate the Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) which will eat your business ROI for lunch and dinner. If it isn’t in the budget, doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t align with other efforts, campaigns and tactics then chances are it’s a RAM!

3.  Know what you have to offer. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What topics are you most familiar with that will enable you to provide the most thoughtful, comprehensive but easily understood content that can be enjoyed by your readers? Don’t try to be something that you are not. If you have not had success or spent time on Google+ then don’t write about it like you’re an expert.

4. What do you know that others don’t know? Writing a blog post every day about the latest feature that Google+, Facebook or Twitter launches is not going to differentiate you from the masses. What do you have to offer your readers that is different than the status quo blogger? How can you differentiate yourself by offering the most relevant, compelling content that will help your audience meet their business goals and objectives?

5. Know your readers.  Who reads your blog? Why do they read your blog? What content do they read most on your blog? What would they like to see more or less of?  If you don’t know the answers to the questions then find them. Dig into the analytics and viral share metrics. Ask your readers what they want. You’ll be suprised how much they’ll share with you if you simply put a little more effort into showing them that you care.

6. Know the people you wish would read your blog.  Who would you like to read your blog that isn’t reading your blog? What content do they need? What blogs are they reading? Where do they hangout online and offline? How are they engaging with other bloggers? What content are they consuming, sharing and talking about? The more you can get in the head of your readers and wanna be readers the better your results will be.

7. Know your data.  Dig into the data!  Google Analytics is a gold mine for learning how your readers engage and don’t engage with your blog. Pay close attention to top landing pages, exit pages and referral sites. What is the bounce rate, time on site, and top traffic sources? Google Analytics now supports a first level of viral share data if you install a small set of code on your blog. Our SMO team is just starting to use this as a way to easily get a snapshot of shares on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Of course it’s not perfect or as comprehensive as our other more robust paid tools, but it’s great for a close to real-time snapshot.

8. Get a reality check. If the data shows that your readers are not engaging, sharing, clicking, liking, or commenting, then it might be time for an overhaul. If it’s broken, fix it, don’t ignore it. Do a sanity check on your content, brand experience, user experience and overall success of your efforts. If you don’t like what you see in the data then have the guts to make a change. You can either waste another year doing what you’re doing or you can invest the time and money now to ensure a year from now your results are something you are proud of. If you do what ya’ always do, you’ll get what you’ve always got, period!

9. Quit making up excuses. Quit blaming your lack of success on your lack of budget, boring fans, readers and community. Maybe you are the one who is boring. Even if you have a limited budget you can still rock your blog. I started my blog with a computer, keyboard, two hands and a chick ready to rock. In less than a year my blog made the top 50 on AdAge Power 150, Top 100 Small business blogs. I didn’t pour tons of money into it. I learned what I had to learn and hired out what I needed help with. If your results look the same a year from now as they do today, you will have nobody to blame but yourself, sorry.

10. Do the gidget / gadget test. Take a look around your blog. How many buttons, widgets and gadgets do you have? Take inventory, analyze the data and determine which ones are delivering value to your audience? Which ones are helping you meet business goals and objectives? If they aren’t doing either then it might be time to say “buh bye” to some of the technical toys that are probably also slowing down your website performance big time. I did this last week and increased the speed of my blog exponentially.

11. Create an editorial calendar. After you have done your research, clearly defined your objectives, written a plan, now take the time to draft an editorial calendar. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. If you’re new to blogging or content then simply decide upon themes that will connect with your audience throughout the year.  Develop a calendar that defines by week, month and quarter what content you will develop.  Defining themes of topics helps you integrate, increase brand awareness and brand equity by hitting home key messages and value propositions. It will also simplify the integration of your blog into a supporting and pivotal component of your overall strategy.

Your Turn

So what is your blog doing for me lately? What is it doing for your readers? Is it providing value? Is it time for a reality check? If it is working, what tips can you offer others? Was there ever a time you struggled? How did you work thru it?

Heartbeat of Social Media Series

This blog post is part of a new series titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.

Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!

I’ll be hosting a free “Facebook for Business” as well as “Rock Your Blog” webinar with focus on social media optimization which will deep dive into some of the topics discussed in this post. Subscribe to the series for updates and early invitations.

Many have big hopes and dreams when it comes to social media and Facebook business pages. They dream of a blue and white platform that is going to solve all of their business problems. They dream of ROI and maybe even being the most popular kid on the block. You know the one. The one who has all the likes, comments and highest edge rank.

However, for most business leaders, it isn’t long after you setup the Facebook business page that you realize it’s not the magic genie you thought it would be.

You realize it is going to take real work. You got that right! So let’s roll up our sleeves and crack this Facebook nut!

Regardless of when you started your Facebook business page, we all have the same challenges.

• Need more likes
• Need more comments
• Wish people would come back after they click “like”
• Need people to talk to you
• Don’t know how to achieve business objectives
• Don’t know how to measure, analyze, improve
• And how about just knowing that people simply know your page exists!?

If you are not seeing results with Facebook you probably do what everyone else does, focus internally and within your Facebook page. You post, you repost. You try to post different stuff. You post photos. You post links. You post funny jokes. You may have even tried asking if your fans prefer diet coke or coke?

However, no matter what you do, you are not seeing results. You post what you think are relevant status updates. You ask questions. You provide useful content from other sources. You ask or may have even fallen to begging for likes!?  Unfortunately your methods are not working. You know it. Your boss knows it. Your customers know it.

So what is a marketer to do?

It’s easy to over analyze your content, dig deep into Facebook insights, and beg for likes. It’s easy to blame it on your fans. I’ve heard many business leaders say “our fans don’t like to talk” or “our fans are boring.” Hmmm….. maybe you are the one that is boring? Maybe you are the one who is not providing anything of value? Maybe you have never connected with them in the first place?

It’s time you try something different. Right here, right now I want you to commit to stopping the begging, desparate behavior. It’s time to get serious at driving real results.

Get off of Facebook!

Have you ever thought that maybe your answers might be outside of Facebook versus within your Facebook fan page? If you are not seeing the desired results on Facebook, I challenge you to spend a few days outside of Facebook.

Why you must get off of Facebook? 

1. There is life outside of Facebook. There is a whole other world of awesome peeps who do not eat, sleep and breathe Facebook all day. These same peeps might come visit your page if you so inspired them to do such.

2. Your fans may not be the right fans. Are they mostly the folks who did the “courtesy likes” such as family, good friends and neighbors? Sorry folks, they are family fans and they are not who you should be focusing on.

3. Facebook is only one piece of a real online marketing strategy. If you are putting all of your eggs in the blue and white Facebook basket, do so at your own risk.

4. If you are only focusing on Facebook insights data, then your data is skewed. It is only a small set of your target audience. You need to try other platforms to better research and understand your audience behavior.

5. You need to get to know your fans and target market. Since nobody is talking to you on your current page, I don’t think it’s happenin’ there.

Time for a Facebook Check-up, Outside of Facebook! 

1. Take inventory of all other online social network profiles and assets you have created. Make a list of them, document the login and password information if you have to reset everything because you haven’t been there in so long.

2. Take inventory of  the data available to you on other platforms. If you have a blog it’s time to dig deep into Google Analytics. Both LinkedIn and YouTube have good insights you can learn from.  Check the help section of each platform or do a Google search for each platform. There are plenty of blogs and people who can help you.

3. Data junkie time!  Dig into the  data and insights of each platform you have participated on. See who is connecting to you on LinkedIn? What search terms is your profile coming up in search on Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn? What videos are people watching on your YouTube channel? Do men or women watch longer? How does the demographics on one platform compare to others? If data is not your “thang” then hire an data junkie or agency who can help you.

4. Dig deep into Google Analytics. If you have a blog, the insights data can be the master social grail. Look at referring sites, top content, bounce rates. What content do people like, what pages are top exit pages. Are you providing anything of value to your audience that keeps them sticky on your blog? What content are they sharing?

5. Summarize and analyze the situation. After you research and analyzed the data you should see trends. Look for the hot and cold spots. What do people like? What do they ignore? Does anyone know you exist? Do they talk to you? Chances are you will see trends across the different platforms that will provide many answers. Compare these results to insights within Facebook. Is it similar? Different? Why is it such?

6. Are you providing anything of value? This is the most important question for you to answer honestly. The data will speak loudly to you if you can be brave enough to listen. If you provide valuable content that inspires and connects with your audience then the chances are good that people will want to come join you, connect with you, talk to you and “like” you possibly even on Facebook! A blog filled with good content is the zoom fuel for helping you achieve your business goals and seeing success online.

7. Get outside in the real world! Don’t sit all day talking to nobody on Facebook or Twitter. Get out of the walls of your corporate, virtual and home office. Go to talk to real people, in real life. Ask them questions, listen to them. The more you listen the more you will learn how you can connect with people. Chances are you might be inspired for a few new blog posts as well.

Get focused on your business. 

1. Reassess your objectives. Social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. If you want real results with social media you must understand it is not going to happen overnight.  Results are also not going to magically appear by throwing up a Facebook page. You must know what you want to achieve in your business and why.

2. Align social media where it can have an impact on business objectives. Not every objective can be solved or even improved by social media. Select goals and objectives where you think social media can help drive more engagement, increase brand awareness, improve customer service, provide insights into community of clients, partners, prospects etc.

3. Focus on business before tools. Social media is nothing more than a communication medium for you to develop better relationships, improve communication, increase brand awareness, improve customer service with your core stakeholders and audiences. Focus on more of the art of social than the science. If you go straight to the tools, then you will wind up wondering what to do with them. Know first what you want to achieve so you can implement them in the right way to drive real results.

4.  Plan yer work and work yer plan (as Granny would say.) Develop a plan that integrates with your business. Start with your audience, objectives and the why you are doing social in the first place. Business first, tools last.

5. Don’t forget the metrics. Set realistic, time bound goals. Be clear on how you are going to measure results.  Know the difference between community and social metric goals versus business results. This will help you in communicating with internal and external stakeholders.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If none of the above makes any sense to you then you may need to ask for some help. Even if you don’t have the budget right now to hire the right skillset via a direct hire, consultant or agency you need to look at the opportunity and direct cost of not doing such. What is the cost of wasting another year doing what you’re doing versus gaining the right knowledge to do it right?

Do what ya’ always do, you’ll get what ya’ always got! 

Your Turn

So where are you? Are you ready to jump off of Facebook so you can make Facebook work for your business? Have you already been there and back and are now seeing results? What tips can you offer others if you have already cracked this nut?

Heartbeat of Social Media Series

This blog post is part of a new series titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.

Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!

I’ll be hosting a free “Facebook for Business” webinar with focus on social media optimization which will deep dive into some of the topics discussed in this post. Subscribe to the series for updates and early invitations.

As I wasted my night away in social slacker land with all my fellow slacker geeks I was amazed at how many people are simply losing their mind. I guess I am so close to all of it that I forget how many business leaders, entrepreneurs and consumers are still learning.

I saw everything from spammy Facebook, Pinterest & LinkedIn pages to a landing page that guaranteed me a first page Google ranking.

However, most shocking was seeing QR codes on LinkedIn and Facebook avatars. Really folks? Come on! Why on earth would you use a “code” in the place of a branding and human connection opportunity? There is NOTHING about the QR code that is going to connect me to your brand. It takes at minimum 6-7 brand touches for me to remember anything about you. Why would you waste such valuable online real estate on a code that to the human eye and remembering brain looks no different than all the other folks doing the same thing?

I am a believer in leveraging technology, cool gadgets, widgets and even QR codes. However, I suggest only doing such when they can be used in a way that brings value to your audience and helps you better inspire and connect with them.

Even given tonight’s QR code most shocking moments and geek slacker time, I still have good news.  I am now motivated to not only finish a blog post, but also write a whole new one, thus the reason for this post.

With all this tech evolution it is important we not lose sight of why you are spending time on social in the first place! I hope most of you are spending time on the social networks to:

• Connect with real people
• Network
• Learn
• Educate
• Inspire
• Grow your business
• Increase brand awareness
• Make new friends
• And the list goes on…..

I recently wrote a post titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media” where I talk in more depth on the importance of connecting with real people. It is the human connections we make with one another that bring the greatest benefits to our time and resource spent on integrating social media into our business.

So as you work to kickoff your social program, more deeply integrate social media into your business or wherever you may be in regard to social media adoption, don’t lose sight of the art of social media. Social media is more than tools. The tech is the easy part. Figuring out how to inspire, educate and engage your audience after the Facebook like or follow is of most importance.

15 Tips to Stay Sane in a Tech Crazed Social World

1. Humanize before you codify! Your goal should be to humanize your brand, not codify your brand. Give me something I can connect to. Talk to me in words I can understand and relate to. Show me images that help me know who you are, what you do and how you can help me.

2. Know your goals and objectives. What are you doing and why? Why, why, why, should be the question you ask yourself over and over.

3. Align social media to your business not the other way around. You are destined for trouble if you try to force fit your business into a Facebook page or integrated blog platform. Instead your social media and online platform priorities should align with your business goals.

4. Select business goals where social can make a difference. Not all business goals can be positively impacted by social media. Align social as a priority where social can positively impact and move you closer to your goal.

5. Get in the head of your audiences. This includes clients, prospective clients, partners, online communities, evangelists, industry influencers etc. Learn as much as you can about them. What makes them tick, click and like? How can you inspire and connect with them? How can you help them achieve their goals and objectives?

6.What action do you want your audiences and communities to take? Where will they be when they will take such action? Will they be on a mobile phone? A PC? In their car? On a plane? Will it be morning, over lunch, late at night? I know all of these questions may sound crazy but they’re not. Think about where your audiences will be when they will be engaging with you on the social platforms. If they are going to be on a mobile phone then don’t put a QR code on the website that links to your Facebook page! How on earth will they use it?

7. WHY should your target audience take your desired action on your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile or blog? Give them a reason. Focus on the WHY more than you focus on the tech they will use. Without the why the tech is a mute conversation as they’ll never pay attention anyway.

8. Be your own social duck! Don’t get caught up in the hype. Just because your entire small business networking group is putting QR codes on their Facebook pages and sending spammy email doesn’t mean you should too. Be careful who you listen to and do your research before making decisions that impact your strategy and community member experience.

9. Trust your gut. Even if you are a newbie and your agency or consultant tells you to do something that just doesn’t “feel right,” then do some research. There are many clueless agencies and consultants that are still trying to find their way in social. They mean well but may not be giving you advice that is going to help your business. Ask them for examples. Ask them specific questions related to WHY their recommendation is a good idea. If they can’t clearly help you understand how the specific technical tactic they are recommending will help you meet a specific business goal or objective then don’t do it.

10. Quit telling me to like your page! I can’t believe how many business leaders who have been properly trained and doing social media for quite some time are still doing this. I know you want Facebook likes. We all do. What should matter more to you is that I feel inspired to click “like.”  A like is only valuable if I come back, if you make a lasting impression in my brain. When you keep asking me to “like” you or help you get to a certain number of “likes” it actually makes me question more why I liked your page to begin with and that maybe I should unlike it? Focus also on the people who have already liked your page and make it worth their time to stick around.

11. Don’t spam me, please. If I connect with you on LinkedIn, do not spam me and all of my contacts. I received three different emails via LinkedIn tonight from trusted colleagues. Someone who I connected with and accepted their LinkedIn invitation made it his priority to spam folks on my contact list. He even used my name and said he and I were friends. I told all three people the truth, and they are now all going to write back to him and inform him of his spammy ways and how unsuccessful they were. We also all reported him for spam. #FAIL

12. Don’t act desperate. Even if you are desperate for leads, new business, likes, friends, followers, don’t use behavior that makes it obvious that you are! Swap the same time you are spamming desperation posts and emails and instead focus on your own goals, objectives and market research. If you do the proper planning you’ll see better results and won’t have to beg for online friends. Trust me, it works!

13. Keep it simple. When all else fails go back to business 101. I sometimes think people are forgetting everything they ever learned. It’s not that hard folks. You are in business to sell product or service. You have a particular market you want to sell your product or service to. Social media is nothing more than a new channel for you to communicate, inspire and better connect with clients, partners, prospects and more. Don’t over think or over complicate it more than it has to be at the early stages.

14. Prioritize new tools and technology. You don’t have to be on every social network and use every social tool, gadget, plugin available.  Schedule geek time. Schedule a specific amount of time to “play with new tools” if you are a tech and shiny object geek like me.  I find that if I set specific “geek time” then I am far more productive the other parts of my week. When incorporating a new tool or technology into your social strategy be sure that you do your research first and align it to your business goals and objectives.

15. Embrace the heartbeat of social media. Don’t ever lose sight of the people of social media. Social media is nothing without communities and the people within them.  One can not breathe or last without the other. Focus on providing value, sharing your best stuff and you will see result. Focus on offering the tweet that makes someone’s day, week or month. Share the knowledge via a blog post that solves business problems, inspires change or even gives them a dose of reality in an area they need to wake up and smell the coffee. Whatever it is make it real, make it you and make it about the people!

There is hope. Even if you are guilty of all of the above, don’t freak out. You can easily pull your QR code down if it’s not justified. You can work this week on your goals and objectives. Don’t get lazy and think you’ll never be able to fix it and move forward in a positive way. Stop the spam now. Stop begging for likes today. Focus on your business and audience first and the rest will come much easier! Trust me, it really does work!

Your Turn

Are you an admitted tech addicted geek? Or a you a newbie who has fallen victim to the latest tech or codifying gadget? Remember the first step to recover is to admit publicly your faults and commit to positive action.  If you have already recovered or never had issues with tech and tool addiction, what advice do you have for others? How do you prioritize and not lose your mind in this crazy social tech geek world?

Heartbeat of Social Media Series

This blog post is the second in a new series I am kicking off titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.

Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!

It’s no wonder that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have taken off as a force to be reckoned with.

What makes Facebook and Twitter sticky?

What are the successful social networks doing better than other networks? Why do people gravitate to one social network over the other?  What makes them stick around?

Why is Facebook able to attract everything from my 70 year old mother-in-law to my 7 yr old son?

Facebook satisfies some of our basic human needs. Our needs to belong, to be provided for, to fit in.

In one simple status update or 140 character tweet we can ask for help, brag about a great day or accomplishment, or simply ask for a prayer when in need.  Within usually seconds we get a response. Someone sends a verse of inspiration, words of wisdom, a virtual pat on the back via a “like” or share.

It’s more than technology. 

It’s the power of community that makes these networks special. It’s not the network, nor the technology infrastructure that is the community. It’s not the like button or the comment box. It’s definitely not the annoying new Facebook timeline.

The social networks are simply the medium that connects people to other people. So what is it? What is that keeps the social heartbeat of Facebook? How do social networks such as Facebook and Twitter keep the healthy pulse morning, noon and night?

I host the #GetRealChat every Tuesday night at 9pm et. We get between 12-25 million impressions on a typical night. However, it’s not the impressions or opt-ins that keep the community thriving. It’s the people. People that I can remember joining a year ago who could hardly tweet or retweet. Yet today they are now leading their communities. They are helping others, and we are all succeeding together as a team, not as one. Twitter is simply the medium that lets us connect weekly with folks across the globe. Tweeters who can sometimes bring a tear to my eye in a simple 140 character tweet. To me, that is powerful and what keeps me stickin’ and tweetin’ around.

Yes, Google plus has good momentum. It is now clearly understood for businesses that depend on the search engines for web traffic to drive business leads that they can not ignore Google and Google plus. However, I question if Google will ever win the heart. I question if they will ever be able to keep up the pulse with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Forcing us to +1 something for search results is far different than someone sharing a business article to help a friend who needs a job or a picture of a new baby with a Grandma who lives across the country.

The heartbeat of social media is you and me. 

The heartbeat of social is the people. That heartbeat gets stronger, louder and becomes viral as more people feel and hear it. It’s what they see, talk about, share, listen to, watch, virtually touch and feel that keeps them coming back. It’s the emotion of good, sad, bad, frustrated, happy and grateful. It’s the ability to share all of those special times and moments with others. It’s the sharing of hopes, dreams, ups, downs, prayers, accomplishments that keep us bonded. It’s new friendships that start with a Tweet on Twitter and turn into a like or friendship on Facebook. It’s the friendship that evolves to in real life friendship.

The heartbeat of social is people sharing life together. Yes, we share business. Yes, we share blog posts, data, expertise, tips and tricks. However, at the end of the day, people buy from people. People are at the heart of communities. Communities are the heart of the social networks. You can’t have one without the other.

My question for you….  

Are you part of the beating heart? Or are you just a part of the noise contributing to the stress, confusion and disbelief in the value of social media.

I challenge you to ponder this question in your online work in 2012. Do something of value. Do something that makes people smile. Do something that creates communities doing good things together. Do something that outlives you. Focus on helping others achieve their goals and chances are achieving yours will happen by default!

Heartbeat of Social Media Series

This blog post is the first in a new series I am kicking off titled “The Heartbeat of Social Media“. It will include a deep look at how communities work, what people are doing within them and how businesses can better understand how they can fit in, provide value and derive benefit as both a business as well as individual people.

Subscribe to the series for updates and access to special videos, webinar training and more. Would love to hear your input and have you participate in discussions and debates as we challenge each other to be part of what makes the social network heartbeat healthy and alive in 2012!

It was such a breath of fresh air from the corporate high tech, late night spin sessions, writing corporate speak, helping top executives spin their decks and personal platforms for the latest high tech craze of the dot bomb era. Oh those were the days and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

However, when I took the driver seat behind the keyboard of my own blog, the freedom was indescribable. I found that the more I shared about myself and my own personal feelings, the more people read and followed my blog. The same went for Twitter. The more I shared of me, the more they followed, tweeted, retweeted, talk to and inspired me. It was truly my readers who empowered me to be me.

For me, blogging came easy. I have never been a woman short on words. It’s crazy to think I started this blog just over a year ago. I started with our agency blog. It was my readers who pushed me to having my own blog, separate from the agency. It was crazy the result once I made such a step. In less than a year my blog made it to the AdAge Power 150, Technorati Top 100 Small Business and more. I am not telling you this to brag, but telling you this because you can do the same thing. However, you can only do it if you speak and blog as “you” not what the world wants you to be.

Stuck in a rut
Over the last few months I have hit a couple walls in regard to content. I think as a blog becomes more successful with it comes additional pressure to write about certain topics and make the “crowd” happy.  I don’t usually let the pressure get to me as I am a strong believer that blogs are meant to include real opinions versus be a digital piece of collateral for me to sell you on my business or spin my content just to get rankings and traffic.

Yet, without thinking I let the “me” fall out of my last couple months of posts. I am not stating I didn’t still try to rock out the best content I possibly could. I am simply stated I hit a wall and was not able to crank out as much content as I could before, because of the “pleasing” mentality.

I made the mistake of falling prey to the mean bullies who have commented and informed me of how I was using social media or auto follow tools that I didn’t know existed. Yes, I had one guy literally tell me that I use such a tool. However, that’s a whole other blog post in itself that I am not going to give such person the glory of spending the time to write myself.

Our business is growing like crazy.  We’re going global, going deeper local and rolling out a whole new and enhanced set of services. With such craziness I have to admit I got lazy and started taking the easy way out by writing the content that is more likely to please everyone.  Yes, the blog traffic is doing great considering I have only had time to write maybe one to posts a week. However, I am not as fulfilled as I should be after I write and post a piece.

A Wake-up Call
Margie Clayman- who is a member of one of my Tribes on Triberr has had some blog posts lately that just nail this topic and the importance of being yourself. It was Margie who helped me realize I had fallen into such a trap of pleasing versus blogging. After reading her latest post lastnight “Sorry, But I’m Not Taking Sides” it really hit me. Thank you Margie!

It is one of my favorite things about being a member and proud supporter of Triberr. Because I read every post I tweet from each and every tribe member it opens my eyes to other insights, opinions and hearts I might not take the time to hear or feel if it wasn’t for such. It is the original vision that Dan Cristo and Dino Dogan had when they started Triberr. They wanted to give the “little” guys (and gals) a chance at more eyeballs. I have so loved seeing people’s business and blogs soar as a result of their hard work.  So Triberr and all my Tribe mates I want you to know that even if I have been an overall bad tribe woman lately with such little time to spend with you, please know you still are helping me grow and I appreciate you. I hope I am doing the same for you!

Taking my blog back!
So from here forward I am going to take my blog back. I hope you still come read. I promise to still post all the content you like, need and ask for.  However, I am also going to carve out more time for the content I like to write, even if it ticks you off.

For those that know me you know I welcome a good debate. I have met some amazing people via the social world that started off with a heated debate that I am proud to now call friends in real life.

I am not asking you to hold back your opinions even if they completely disagree with my thinking. I am asking however, that you do so in a way that is respectful to me, our community and yourself. Don’t pretend to know the tools that I use, the tools I don’t use or the reasons I keep or delete my connection to any influence measurement system, social network or blogging platform.

I will do as I have always done which is tell you the truth and back up my opinions, claims and recommendations. I hope you like them. However, if you don’t, then don’t read them. There are plenty of other blogs you can read and hopefully find one that you like and can support versus simply finding blogs to pick fights and gain attention for yourself. An even better recommendation would be to maybe start your own blog or start blogging more to focus on your own voice and community building.

I also ask that if you see me starting to hand my blog back over to the bullies and status quo pleaser crowd that you please call me out on it, please! I promise I will do the same to you. Deal?

Your Turn

What are your thoughts? Do you stay true to yourself on your blog? Have you ever fallen into such a trap for a season or two? When you hit writers block is it maybe for the same reason, that you have lost yourself somehow? I would love to have a healthy and forward moving discussion on this. I think we can all help one another stay true to the reasons why we started our blogs in the first place while still providing value to our readers.

I have been working on a post to define social business for a few weeks now. It’s why you haven’t seen as many posts from me lately as each evening I sit down to finish this one and I keep going round and round in my head. Each night I do a bit more research, give it some more thought and by the time an hour or so passes my mind is once again beat from the day and the deep thought that I call it a night on the blog post and move on to more easy to conquer initiatives.

However, this one is bugging me like being stuck with a spoon and a plate of pasta. I honestly didn’t think it would be so hard to put my arms around the term social business.

What is a social business, really?
As we spend time with businesses large and small, there is one common theme. They all know they want the the social spaghetti. The advanced businesses know they need to use a fork versus the spoon.  However, when it comes to the art of what to do when and how much they struggle.

What is a social business really?  Can we point to even one business, any business and state “yes, that organization is the perfect example of a social business!”?

How can we define something that we don’t have a template for? How can we truly define something that keeps moving. Just as we get our finger on a part of it, the game changes.

Yes, there are common foundation considerations for becoming a social business.  However, the truth is the transformation to a social business is different for every business. The frameworks for how to become a social business are being worked real time in an ecosystem that is moving faster than we can keep up with.

It really is about the people.
With social media we are dealing with people. People that have opinions, moods, likes and dislikes. They have voices, sometimes loud voices that will say things we love and say things we hate. When we do right we hope they will tell a few people about it. When we do wrong we know they will tell many people about it. One tweet can reach millions.

Your audience, partners, clients, and communities of people are different than my people. My people are different than my neighbors people, and your people are different than your competitors people. People are attracted to our brands and businessess for different reasons. They are going to engage with each of us differently. Our internal teams are going to engage with them, service them and communicate with them different.  It’s the reason why you can’t use my exact template for social business success and I can’t use yours. It’s also the reason why I can’t give you the same template my other customers are using as there is no cookie cutter for becoming a social business.

Becoming a social business is about your people engaging, communicating, sharing with and helping the people in a way brings value to the people and supports your brand promise. 

Do you have the right mindset?
So what is the business leader, business owner, social strategist, CEO, CFO, community manager to do? How do you define what type of social business you want to be when you grow up? What templates are you going to use? How do you know how much pasta to put on your fork and when?

Are you hoping that I will provide you the answers to these questions somewhere in this blog post? If you do, well then you are using the wrong utensil. The blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts, webinars, training seminars are the fork and the spoon. They are a utensil, nothing more. What you need is your own plan. You need to know how big your budget is, how ready your staff is to embrace social. Do you have the right mindset? Do you have the stakeholder and executive buy-in that you need to succeed? Do you have business and marketing goals? Do you know enough about social media to know how to align social to the business objectives where social can have the greatest impact?

Is your business ready?
The first step is assessing the readiness of your business. How much pasta should you put on your fork? How big of a bite are you prepared to take and swallow?

If you don’t have business goals or objectives and can’t tell me your top three market segments without having to think really hard about it, then chances are you are not ready to embrace social in a big way.

Social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. Even one million Facebook likes are not going to magically energize your lazy sales team. A boat load of Twitter followers is not going to stop your customer service team from being rude on the phone to your clients. Even a rockin’ and integrated blog, custom Facebook page and a growing community is not going to change the mindset of the executive stakeholder who is out to stomp your social media efforts in 2012 because you are moving his cheese.

Social business doesn’t start on Facebook.
The truth is social business starts in the inside. It doesn’t start on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Pinterest, or even your blog. It starts on the inside of your walls. It starts in the hearts and minds of the people within your organization. Of course the social networks, tools and ecosystem as a whole must be understood. My point is that you can learn the tools and technology. The most important thing is that you understand the integrated art and science of becoming a social business.  It takes both as you must bring together the people with the technologies and social networks.

Think integration, not silos.
Stop looking at social as a separate effort. Social business must start deep within your process, teams and communication. Chances are your business is not easily divided up into nice little squares that look like ravioli. You can’t separate your products and services from the billing systems, marketing, sales team, and customer service.  Often times when you make one change to any one of these teams, processes or systems it has an impact on the others. This is why an inside out approach is the only option, period.

If you don’t think integration, when you move from inside to outside, the lack of integration will become very apparent to the people we discussed above.

Inside out social business success.
There are far more businesses who are not ready to embrace and leverage social than that are. If you are one that is not ready, don’t give up. You are not alone, I promise. The things that you need to do to integrate and leverage social are many of the same things you should be doing as priorities in your business anyway. It is business and marketing 101 to know your audience, set goals and objectives, build processes and infrastructure to support objectives and deliver what you promise. It’s not rocket science.

However, at some point you must get outside the walls of your business. Becoming a social business enables you to leverage the power of social media, open communication, easier access to the people in a way that brings value to your clients, partners and communities. If done right the benefits will help you build better relationships with those that matter most to your business both inside and out.  Within the organization the benefits will include improved communication, more efficient processes, quicker and deeper insights into the mind of the customer that can be leveraged for product development and increased customer satisfaction.

The first step of becoming a social business is defining what it means to your business.

Social business definition can’t be put in a box. There are many who are currently trying to define what a social business is. We aren’t there yet. However, we are making progress.  We are starting to know the traits, the benefits, the tools, the art and science of what it takes to become a social business.  However, I don’t think we are ready to put it in a box yet. I don’t think it will ever be put in a box as by the time we got it there it will be different.

Social business defined…

I am not going to officially place a stamp of approval on a definition of social business at this point. I am still “noodling” on it.  However, below is the best succinct summary I can offer of what becoming a social business is.

“Becoming a social business transforms the organization from the inside out, connecting the internal with the external in a way that enhances relationships and creates shared value for the people, the business and ecosystem as a whole.”

Your Turn

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.  How do you define social business? I will include some of the answers and proposed definitions in the next blog post on this topic. Our minds are greater together on this topic than we are as silos.

35 Social Media Truths

This post is part of a series on social business I am working on “35 Social Media Truths” inspired by keynote presentation I gave at Rochester Institute of  Technology. If you want to hear more, sign up for the 35 Social Media Truths Newsletter and you will receive all 35 of them over a period of time. Included will be different mediums such as free webinars, video, blog posts and more.

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The Only Way to Become a Social Business in 2012

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Walgreens Case Study: Humanizing Social Business

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 46 Tips to Show Up at the Right Field in the Social Business Game

 CEO Wants Klout: Days of Our Social Business (includes video)

41 Signs You are Not a Social Business  

 Are You Ready to be a Social Business? 10 Tips for a Zoom Start

Social Trust Factor: 10 Tips to Establish Credibility