Depending on the agency you work for and the nature of your projects, you’ll find Project Managers are often paired with Account Service to manage a project from start to finish. Like me, many AS and PMs were previously in hybrid roles where they had to take on both job responsibilities.  When you’re then paired with the opposite function, it’s hard to not take control and overstep boundaries with your partner.

This is why it’s important to set boundaries upfront and know who owns what part of a project. As a rule of thumb, Project Managers manage the internal team and Account Service handles all external, client facing communication.

In addition, it is vital for you and your partner to be in harmony when communicating internally and to the client. This is especially important when it comes to timelines, client expectations, and internal project communication.

A nightmare scenario – the project manager has vetted a schedule with the internal team, but has not shared this with the account lead. The account lead sets expectations with the client for deadlines, dates that do not align with the internally agreed upon timeline.  Yikes!

This is why its so important for the two of you to work closely together and trust each other’s judgement. You’ll see that a healthy working relationship with your partner, if done right, will resemble a work spouse.

Wikipedia defines a work spouse as follows:

A work spouse is a co-worker, usually of the opposite sex, with whom one shares a special relationship, having bonds similar to those of a marriage; such as, confidences, loyalties, shared experiences, and a degree of honesty or openness.

As with any disfunctional marraige, a work marriage that isn’t right will guarantee a disasterous project for the whole team and agency. Here are some clear signs that it’s time for marriage counseling with your work spouse:

• Communication problems
• Conflicts about project approach
• Overstepping boundaries

Here are some tips to resolving any issues you may have with your work husband/wife…

Boundaries. Sit with your work spouse and determine what each of your responsibilities are and most importantly, how to address any missteps.  Review them together and come up with a final list. Use these as ground rules moving forward.

Respect & Trust. Mutual respect and trust go hand in hand. If you respect a person’s judgement, you’ll be sure to trust their decisions. Discuss any issues you have that block your ability to trust and respect your work spouse.

Communicate. Come up with a game plan to frequently discuss project status. If something unexpected comes up, be sure your work spouse is the first to know.

Intimacy. Ok yeah, this sounds weird. But if you want to have a close relationship with your work spouse, you need to know them on a personal level. See them as a human. Learn about his/her life outside of work and provide details about yours. You’ll see any walls that were up quickly come down.

If all else fails, get real help and ask for a supervisor to intervene, or as I’d like to call it: Office Marriage Counseling. :)

I’d love to hear any other tips/tricks you have to make your work spouse relationship a healthy one!

Well, my first action was to check online reviews; and guess what – my behavior was not unique. More and more, your potential customers are relying on Yelp and Google to find great restaurants.  With stats like Yelp averaging approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in Q1 2012 and over 27 million reviews written; you can’t ignore the power it holds.

Without having at least a listing on these sites, you run the risk of losing business or worse – going out of business.

This also opens up the discussion of how marketing has changed in an online world. It’s no longer necessary to have a good location with high foot traffic (of course it doesn’t hurt either). But what’s increasingly important now is to have a high ranking on Yelp, a listing on Google, and good SEO.

This may sound scary to most small businesses who don’t have a marketing budget and aren’t familiar with the technology. Here’s the thing; it’s all FREE. Just sign up on these sites and your visibility goes up.

So forget about foot traffic and start focusing on your online traffic. It may be the thing that saves your business.

There have been a lot of articles written about Pinterest’s typical users; describing them as “18-34-year-old, upper-income women from the Midwest”. This instantly reminded me of the popular, rich, mean girls in high school. A stereotype, I know, but that got me wondering – do people with the same background and interests flock to certain social platforms? And if so, can they be categorized into the cliché  high school cliques? Why, yes and yes! Lo and behold, the folks at Flowtown put together a funny High School Yearbook for Social Networks, check it out:

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

All jokes aside, this info is good to know. If you, as a business, know who is on a platform – you can decide if you need to join that network, how to adjust your marketing or avoid it all together. So I hope this post made you laugh, but more importantly, I hope it gets you thinking more about your audience.

Nova is launching a new set of individual training programs with the intent to help you advance in your career and be more effective on the job. Each program addresses a specific job challenge with clear step-by-step practices that will up your game, resolve career derailers, and help you be the best you can be. To help get feedback on the programs as well as spread the word, they are giving away a white paper to 10 of my readers for free! In exchange for the free white paper they would like your feedback on its overall effectiveness. Good deal, right?

I’ve picked out a few courses that I feel are pertinent to Project Management that I’ve listed below, but feel free to pick a program that best suits your needs.

Being a Leader

What it took to become a leader isn’t what it takes to lead.

Know when to “be a leader,” when to be “one of the group,” and when to “disappear.” This training program show the difference between being an outstanding individual contributor and what it means to lead others–especially the performance senior management really wants to see. Learn what’s really important to succeed as a leader, and you’ll become a hero to your people.

Developing a Less “Emotional” Leadership Style

Passion and professionalism go together, but you have to know how to make it work. 

Use your passion in ways that promote your leadership rather than diminish it by losing control or coming off as “not objective enough.” You can still care an dincrease the likelihood of getting what you want–not sacrificing it. This program will show you how to create a style that works best for you by channeling your passion where it counts for success.

Active Listening

Be sure you’re not missing out on anything–get the whole message. 

Most of effective communication is actually great listening. In fact, when you really know how to listen, you can also discern what’s not said. Using Nova’s strategies for listening well, your attunement to what’s going on around you will skyrocket, as well as your understanding of those around you.

Becoming a “Team Player”

Always be on the winning side, never on the outside. 

Even if you’re a star–in fact, especially if you are–you lose nothing and have everything to gain by becoming a team player–with your peers and with your direct reports, not to mention with outside groups. Let Nova show you the specific ways to join the group and support the team. You’ll reap reward you could never get on your own.

Communicating Effectively

Read people better and make the impact you want. 

Learn to communicate effectively with others in formal and informal situations. Learn to tell if your audience is getting your message, and improve your style to up your chances of being understood. Nova’s strategies show you how to make your interactions productive exchanges.

Giving Corrective Feedback

Letting performance slide hurts everyone, especially the person whose behavior needs to improve.

Give correct feedback without fear so people can learn and improve. You can be humane and compassionate yet hold people to standards of accountabilty with specific strategies. Nova can show you the steps that will give you the courage to do the right thing, and the methods to express what you need clearly, objectively, considerately, and compellingly.

Managing Conflict Skillfully

Take the fear out of confrontation by learning how to focus it on neutral material and results, not on personalities. 

Disagree with people constructively. It’s the key to better relationships, solutions and results. Learn to disagree respectfully yet assertively so that your views are taken into consideration, and learn how such conflict management can help produce better solutions to the problem. Nova can sho you how to disagree in ways that preserve positive relationships while getting win-win results.

Reading People Better

Learn to accurately read, verify, and address unspoken cues. 

Peek behind the pary line and the personal held up for you to see. Discern what’s really going on behind the spoken words so you won’t be surprised by people’s reactions. Nova can help you tune into subtle messages at multiple levels so you can better assess what’s really going on. Practice our guidelines to jumpstart your ability to read people and situations.

How to Develop Your Team

Mesh diverse talents into a high-functioning, collaborative team. 

Take team functioning to a higher level by learning to balance between being one of the team and its leader. Both capacities are needed, and Nova can show you when to do what. Take responsibility for orchestrating talent, but encourage team members to take ownership of the performance. Nova maps out the steps to develop your team.

Improving Meetings

Take meetings from being a waste of time to streamlined processes that build commitment and productivity. 

Make meetings productive, with fruitful discussions that result in good decisions and direction. Nova’s pointers show you how to make the most of the time you bring talent together with structured process that allows great flexibility in meeting design and drives to outcome. You and your team will be delighted at how efficient your meetings become.

Improving Team Interactions

Get everyone on board and adding value to get the most out of your team. 

Learn to orchestrate the diverse talents your team represents to get the best contributions out on the table. Nova’s recommended practices can show you how to bring out those who hang back and how to modulate those who tend to dominate the airtime. Use our guidelines to animate your team in a productive and positive group interaction.

List of ALL Individual Training Programs

Individual training programs are broken into four main categories.

• Leadership Style - If you want to be a leader, you need to come across as one.
• Relationships and Communications - Your success depends on how effectively you interact with others.
• Team Development - Understand the dynamics of group interaction to optimize team performance and team spirit.
• Vision and Direction - Get things done through others and lead in a way that makes people want to follow.

All of the programs are listed in the left menu.

To sign up, email me at sheenadangers@gmail.com with your name, email, and the name of the white paper you’d like. From there Nova will contact you with the desired program and a link to a survey. There are only 10 spots available, so act quickly!

New Calendar. The UI is very slick. You can drag and drop events, quickly jump from month to month, and have calendars specific to project. Users assigned to a project’s calendar can subscribe to events via RSS so any updates will be reflected in their local calendars. You can’t submit events from your local calendar, but Basecamp does plan to open up their API so this feature can be developed later on.

Discussions. This is very useful for Project Managers. Discussions can be had around everything from events, to-dos, a file or just a plain old discussion thread. All discussions are centralized, so you can view the comments in one place in regard to a particular topic or file. Really handy if you’re trying to revisit something from the past, like feedback. It would be nice if there was a voting system similar to Reddit that put emphasis on popular or important comments. That way, if the discussion is really long, I can easily scan through the details and pick up on the high priority comments that were made.

Loop In. If you have a stakeholder involved in a project and need their feedback on a particular file or discussion, you can “loop” them into discussions without giving them full access to the project. That way the user can add their comments but not see sensitive material.

Daily Progress. This is a feature that is very similar to the new Facebook Timeline, but applied across projects. It gives you a bird’s eye view of all the activities (i.e. files uploaded, discussions, tasks completed) that happened across the projects you’re assigned to. Really cool if you’re new to a project or need to catch-up. They even have a “Catch Up” tab that does the same thing: gives you a summary of all the activities within a project by day. To take this further, users are sent a Daily Recap email that encapsulates all that has happened that day. I have a gripe with this though… a daily email seems like too much. Will teams (other than PMs) pay attention to this email? This is where a PM should really be involved with what information is sent to their teammates. It would be nice to create a custom daily email so that it fits the needs of each user and is relevant.

Drag and Drop. This can literally be done for everything, from uploading files to changing priority of tasks. It removes 2-3 clicks out of tasks that can be time consuming.

Live Updates. As users are updating, uploading, and commenting on a project other users will see these updates as they are happening. Very Twitteresque.

People pages. Just like the Daily Progress, you get the skinny on all the activity of one person. I could see this bordering on micro-managing, but it’ll be useful to see how a person is progressing on a project and get an idea on what they are currently working on.

What’s gone?

Timetracking. The sentiment on Twitter and during the webinar was that this feature will be greatly missed. But I see this as a good thing. While Basecamp calls itself a “Project Management” tool, it isn’t. It’s only 1/5 of project management: Communication. It has been and always will be really awesome with collaboration. So while tracking time is essential, it’s a different function entirely. Along with tracking time, Project Managers need the ability to create reports on time entries, forecast resources and timelines and analyze historical data, which Basecamp just doesn’t do. Any why should they? There are other products on the market that provide these features and then some. So while yes, tracking time is important – you shouldn’t be using Basecamp for it. I’m glad that 37Signals is focusing on what they’re really good at: Collaboration.

So that’s my two cents – I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new Basecamp. If you want to check it out for yourself, sign up for the next class: http://basecamp.com/classes or read all about it here: http://basecamp.com/

Google Chrome: Dear Sophie

Parisian Love

Google+: Circles Love Story

Google+: Just hanging out together

Google+: New Dad

I’d love to hear how other brands connect with their customers by telling a great story. Let me know in the comments!

When it comes to news, I find myself checking in with Twitter and other social sites.  And I’m not alone. It’s likely that I’ll hear about a significant person’s death or a earthquake first on Twitter or Facebook. It’s so awesome as a breaking news source that your local news station uses social media to get information on up-to-the-minute stories.

So what’s my point? Well, even though we have so many resources for news and information – there are still people out there who don’t take advantage of it. Now I won’t go on to lecture you about why you should stay up on current industry trends or get a Twitter account – but why wouldn’t you want to? It’s FREE! Come on, everyone loves free! Just open up your web browser and BAM! You’ve unlocked a wealth of information, right at your fingertips.

The next time your find yourself bored, type in a question on Google and read through the results. Check out the Wikipedia homepage and read up on some history. Go to http://www.w3schools.com/ and learn how to build a website! You’ll be happy you did it, and smarter too!

Before I leave you, let me share some of my favorite resources. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Emerging Technology:

• Wired: http://www.wired.com/
• Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/
• Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/

Design:

• Design Envy: http://designenvy.aiga.org/
• DesignSponge: http://www.designsponge.com/
• Grain Edit: http://grainedit.com/

Copywriting: 

• Communicatrix: http://www.communicatrix.com/
• Brain Traffic: http://blog.braintraffic.com/
• Nick Usborne: http://www.nickusborne.com/

Marketing/Social Media:

• Econsultancy: http://econsultancy.com/us/blog
• Mashable: http://mashable.com/
• Twist Image: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/

News: 

• NPR: http://npr.tumblr.com/
• NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/

Science/Innovation:

• TED: http://www.ted.com/
• New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/

I’d love to hear what your favorite information sources and daily reads are. Shoot me your list in the comments.

Companies regularly monitor social networks to see what the world is saying about their brand. If you’re unhappy, they’ll do their best to change your mindset publicly. This way they avoid a messy rant spreading like wildfire and also hope to get some love from you (and your friends/followers).

So why not take advantage of this? Lately, I’ve been turning to Twitter before calling a help line or emailing tech support. And the results have been positive so far. The next time you need to resolve an issue – turn to a social network and see what happens.

And come back here and tell me about your experience in the comments!

When it comes to Project Management, it’s essential that I be an active listener. From gathering requirements and feedback to listening to the team’s concerns about a project, listening is a main function in a PM’s role. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines active listening as: “engaged listening. It requires patience, self-control, empathy and a willingness to understand the other person’s perspective. It helps facilitate the development of mutual trust, respect and good working relationships thus improving the overall performance of the team.”

Based on my experience as a PM, in addition to some negotiation courses and the lessons my family has taught me, I’ve compiled a list that embodies what a great active listener should do (and not do). So without further ado, here are my dos and don’ts of active listening:

DO → Give nonverbal clues that you’re listening. This is a practice taught in different negotiation courses. Some common techniques are leaning forward, maintaining eye contact, and using facial expressions to show interest.

DON’T → Get distracted. This is a difficult one, especially if the speaker’s topic is one that is of no interest to you. Turn off ALL possible distractions (i.e. Facebook, TV) to stay focused. Find a quiet place that promotes your ability to be fully engaged. I’ve even heard of people doodling while they listen to help them focus. Figure out what your “focus technique” is and practice this while in a conversation.

DO → Put that information to use. If you’ve just heard a lecture on a math equation, solve an example problem. Or if a client is giving you feedback on a design,  jot your notes on the actual design comp. This technique helps your brain retain the information you just received to ensure you can recall it at a later time.

DON’T → Assume. What you may think is red, the speaker may think is maroon. We all place different meanings to words, based on past experiences and memories. It’s a big mistake to assume that your understanding is the same as the speakers. Ask questions, draw diagrams, spell everything out. It may be tedious, but the speaker will appreciate your thoroughness and interest in what they have to say.

DO → Paraphrase. Restate what you just heard in your own words. This demonstrates that you understand the speaker. It also gives them the chance to clarify any misinterpretation. More importantly, it opens up the opportunity for the speaker to expand on a subject they may have forgotten the first time around.

DON’T → “Wait to speak”. When you’re just thinking about what you have to say, you completely shut off your ability to really hear the other party. You’ll miss the speaker’s statement and worse, lose their trust. Here’s a tip: take a quick note and refer back to it after the speaker is finished. This way you won’t forget to ask that very important question, all while being engaged in the conversation.

DO → Give value to the conversation. Our memory gives more priority to information that has some significance to it, whether it’s emotional or physical. To put this into context, how easily can your remember a moment in time when you were angry? I bet you can recall the events verbatim. Why? Your emotion added value to the events, the winning combo for memory storage. If you can’t easily create an emotional response (you don’t want to be angry in a meeting!), there are alternatives. Tap your arm every few minutes. Yeah, it sounds crazy – but adding a physical component to an event will help with memory retention.

DON’T → Interrupt. OK this should be obvious, but we all need to be reminded why. This will frustrate the speaker, you’ll lose common ground and rapport will diminish. Interrupting will prohibit the speaker from wanting to share anymore. They may shut down and quit the conversation. If it’s really that important, then again, take a note and refer back to it later.

DO → Empathize with the speaker. If you’re on a call with an angry customer, you can show compassion and not necessarily have to agree at the same time. Simply be understanding to their emotions. Use a soft, low voice to counter their angry, high-pitch tone. This is the surest way to bring the customer back from anger.

DON’T → Be awkward. You can try any of the techniques mentioned above, but please practice with caution. If you’re focusing more on techniques than you are actually listening, then the whole point is lost. Do things that feel natural to you. Be genuine.

DO → Respect the speaker. And what the speaker has to say. Many times we find ourselves in a conversation with someone we may not consider to be an “expert”. If you go into a conversation with this sentiment, you’re likely going to show it. Having genuine respect for a speaker will help create a common ground between you two. Besides the fact that this creates open communication, there’s an even better lesson – you might actually learn from an unlikely source.

I use these methods for Project Management, but imagine if we ALL took the time to actively listen to our friends, family and co-workers? World Peace? Maybe!

What techniques do you use to be an active listener? Let me know in the comments!

You’ve probably heard the chatter about the newest internet craze: Pinterest. Similar to other social networks like Tumblr, Fab.com and Instagr.am, users can share images from around the web that embody their interests and goals; a form of self expression. Some people have coined this movement as “social content curation”, which is supposedly the next big thing on the internet.   

Why do these sites become so visceral? Gigagom explains that sites like Pinterest provide a way for us to create a representation of who we are on the internet, a collage of our interests and aspirations. But what’s more important to the success of these sites is how we respond to those images. To understand this we have to first look into how we interact with the internet:

1. We can only experience the internet using sight and sound; the fastest way to trigger an emotional response is to create a unique blend between the two. A great example is a viral YouTube video or Internet meme. Why do these pieces become so widely popular? They contain the two elements that prompt us to push the “like” button impulsively: visuals and sound. These basic factors affect emotions and attitudes, leading to more responses.
2. Web users have a short attention span. And given that social media users are constantly bombarded with a feed of friend and news activity we have even less room for concentration. If a piece of content isn’t interesting in the first few seconds, we’ll likely move on to the next piece of content. Images create an instant response. Just check out these animal photos and tell me you don’t have a knee-jerk reflex to laugh or cry.
3. Did you know that 93% of communication is nonverbal? Our brain deciphers images simultaneously, while text is decoded sequentially, one word at a time. This is why we’re able to process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Graphics expedite and increase our level of communication. They increase comprehension, recollection, and retention.

So its no surprise why image sharing or ‘social content curation’ is the new internet sensation. But why should you care? Well if you’re a business, it’s important to know how people use your site and where the web is going. Knowing that your customers respond quickly and more emotionally to images is extremely important if you’re trying to market a product or service.

NPR does a great job of this. They leverage Tumblr to engage readers with an enticing image which leads them into the main the article. Their Tumblr strategy gives users a different way to interact with their content rather than simply posting articles on a traditional news site.

So how do you apply this knowledge to your business and online marketing plan?

1. Create an engaging and immersive experience. Consider how your average blog post or website could be heightened by adding an alluring photo.  Knowing that photography will elicit a quick emotional response, your website, blog posts and other social media posts should be accompanied by a photo when possible.
2. It’s a little known fact that links are most frequently posted on social networks but have the lowest interaction rate compared to other types of content.  Photos, on the other hand, are posted less often and have the highest interaction rate. This is no coincidence. Pictures draw users in visually, are easily digestible and can elicit an emotional response quickly.  To increase your interaction levels, invite users to read your content with an attractive photo and share it across various social channels.
3. If you’re selling a tangible product (like shoes), it’s essential to support the purchase at all points throughout the user’s experience. Consumers are restricted to using only two senses when purchasing online, whereas in a physical store, can rely on all five to help with the decision.  Give your users motive to make the purchase by providing rich product photos. This will give your customers a chance to connect in a deeper way resulting in more confidence to buy your product.
4. Do you have very complex information or statistics regarding your service or product? Rather than laying out this data in the traditional manner, consider using an Infographic. Since online users have very little time to spend analyzing data, it’s imperative to include supporting images to make your points clear. Add color and illustrations that aid in scanning your content.  Doing this will give you more interactions and shares.

We have very little time and attention to spare, so it’s only logical that websites would evolve to be easily digestible. What better way to do this than to serve up images rather than large chunks of text? It’s the reason why Pinterest is in demand. And there’s more to come; this trend will continue in the future since other businesses are following suit. Do you think companies (like NPR) are successful with their image strategy? What other ways could a business leverage our emotional response to images?

*Please, please, please! Keep in mind that relevant, quality content targeted towards your audience wins every time. A top-notch image strategy will create the initial appeal but won’t keep them coming back for more.

We’ve seen a lot of uprisings against institutions lately, from Occupy Wall Street to ‘Bank Transfer Day’. I’ve noticed a common denominator with these recent protests; one that we haven’t seen before. Rather than protesters literally taking to the streets to show dissatisfaction, we now see them take to the tweets.

More and more, we’re seeing the seeds of opposition start on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter was the main communication tool used for movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. And it’s proven to be effective. Not only is a protester’s message able to reach a larger audience, but it can reach that audience much more rapidly. Social networks give these movements the ability to easily go ‘viral’. This helps people with a cause gain momentum in a short amount of time with very little effort, which is why #OWS, the GoDaddy boycott and other acts of dissent have been so successful.

And there’s proof. Here are just a few examples or how protests have worked with the help of social networks.

Bank of America 

Customers were not happy when BofA announced a $5 monthly fee to use its debit cards. This sparked opposition amongst customers and resulted in an official Bank Transfer Day (an event created on Facebook); a direct response to the growing dissatisfaction against large banks, BofA being the main target.

A few months after the $5 fee was announced, Bank of America eliminated the fee – stating “We listened to our customers very closely”. There is no doubt the opposition coming from social networks had an influence on this. To read more: Bank of America Cancels $5 Fee

Verizon

It took just one day to retract the announcement of a $2 fee for one-time bill payments after consumers took to Twitter to express their anger towards it. Verizon CEO stated “We take great care to listen to our customers”, indeed they do – but were probably more concerned with how the adverse response would affect their brand. To read more: Verizon scraps $2 fee

GoDaddy

With many opposed to the SOPA bill, GoDaddy became a main target when it was found in support of it. A boycott was announced against the company by transferring existing domains to another provider. As a result, GoDaddy quickly made an official statement that they actively oppose the SOPA bill to avoid more transfers. To read more: GoDaddy Boycott: Domain-Hosting Company Changes SOPA Stance

Social networks have given protesters a soapbox to amplify their message. Of course, the message must be a worthy one and should appeal to others, which is true for any social movement. But with the power of social networks, protesters have the upper hand compared to those of the past.

The Lazy Protester: 

Prior to social networks, protesters literally picketed at the doorsteps of an institution. Good luck getting heard, let alone having any major wins. Now support can come from the comfort of our homes. With just a few clicks and 120 characters, our support or opposition can be shared to hundreds of followers. This is a complete game changer. It requires much less effort to show support or take action.  And as a result, makes it easier to take a stand.

 Viral Protests:

The biggest win for today’s protesters is how quickly a message is shared on social networks. In the past, demonstrators had to spread their message via flyers, phone calls, or gain airtime. With social networks, messages are free and can spread like wildfire. Because there is potential for negative feedback to go viral, institutions have no choice but to be cautious and screen what customers are saying. If not, they risk the chance of losing their appeal and subsequently their customers.

It’s obvious we’re living in an interesting time. A simple tweet has the potential to change the way an institution is run or if a bill is passed. We have the power to really stir things up. So the next time you take a stance, don’t take to the streets – take to the tweets!

What are the current conditions/issues that has created the need for the #OWS movement?

This could be unfair taxes, discrimination, or whatever; but we need to know what the issues are now to determine a plan for making improvements and creating change. #OWS clearly knows what the issues are; they have been stated in the “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City”. Take a quick glance at the comprehensive list and it’s obvious that there are plenty of challenges to overcome. Knowing these are the issues, we can start to determine how each can be tackled. The problem with #OWS now is that the list of grievances is being tackled as a whole, which will lead to failure.  If we were using PM Methodologies we would determine a project plan for each issue.

What are the needs/requirements that can be set in measurable goals?

#OWS needs help here. Ask anyone what the movement is about, they’ll tell you they are the 99%, but won’t know what they are protesting for. In fact, the Huffington Post polled the protesters and while their answers varied from, eliminating corporate influence on lawmakers to reducing our carbon footprint, close to 20% responded with “Don’t Know”. This is a huge problem! #OWS needs a list of demands (objectives) and has to stick to them. This could be a list of 1, 100, or 1,000 demands; as long as it is clear what those are, we can then move forward with a plan to meet those requirements.

Who are your key stakeholders? 

This is just as important as defining the requirements since it determines who the plan is  meant to satisfy and how each group of stakeholders will be affected by the outcome of #OWS. We know that majority of the stakeholders are the 99% and will reap the benefits of the #OWS deliverables, but what about the 1%? How will they be affected and can we get sign-off or come to a comprise that both parties will agree to? This needs to be baked into the overall plan to ensure that all affected by #OWS will buy in. This will also shape how each objective is met down the road.

What is the scope of #OWS movement? 

The scope defines the deliverables required to meet the project objectives. For example, if #OWS wants to forgive student loans, then what steps need to be taken to meet this goal? Knowing the steps needed is essential to any project plan since it determines the necessary deliverables and how each meets the overall goals. Furthermore, it lays the foundation down for calculating the resources required to carry out those deliverables and how long it could possibly take.

What are the #OWS resources? 

This describes the people or materials required to carry out the project deliverables. For the types of projects I manage, it’s typically a team of designers and developers. In addition, I need to determine if the project requires a senior designer vs. a junior one. Knowing who needs to carry out the project and the required skill set is vital to a project plan. It ensures that the outcome of the project has met the quality standards but more importantly, helps determine constraints and how long a project could take based on resource availability. For example, if #OWS needs police involvement to accomplish a specific part of a project, they’ll know when the police needs to be involved and determine if this is feasible.

What is the #OWS timeline?

Once we’ve figured out the scope of the project and the resources needed, we can then determine how long the project will take.  Every project needs to have a clear start and end date, with key milestones in between. This helps the team carrying out the plan set their tasks and work accordingly, and gives key stakeholders (the 99%) a perspective on when their needs will be met. This is the MOST important component to a project plan, one that #OWS is largely lacking. Without a set timeline, #OWS protesters are left with no end in sight.

What is #OWS’s communication plan?

At the start of a project a communication plan needs to be determined so that the people involved are kept current on the status of a project. The plan needs to include how information will be communicated, the frequency and to whom. In my opinion, I think #OWS is doing a decent job of this now. Currently, protesters can obtain #OWS information via various social media outlets and community sites specific to that region. This is great way for those involved to stay informed, minute by minute. But the #OWS communication plan could be tightened up a bit. Right now it only caters to protesters, but what about the media, the 1%, and others not protesting? How will news and information be communicated to them?

How will #OWS manage change & risk?

Risks and change are inevitable for projects, especially in the case of #OWS. Planning for potential issues is essential to ensure project success. #OWS needs to list out potential risks, like arrests or riots, and determine how to deal with each.  Once a framework for managing change and risk is determined, all key stakeholders should know what the agreed plan is. For example, a potential risk is police brutality. To mitigate this risk, #OWS plans to have all involved stay peaceful and non-violent. This plan needs to be communicated to protesters to ensure the #OWS movement stays on track and is successful.

In addition, a good project plan will layout the procedures for incorporating changes into the project scope. Let’s say #OWS planned to encamp Zuccotti Park for only 4 months and budgeted for this time period. Half way into the movement, #OWS realizes that the encampment will require more manpower and funds than originally planned. Who determines this need? Who seeks the funding? Who signs off on the budget increase? Who communicates the changes to the scope? The Change  Management Plan will determine who is responsible for what to reduce project hiccups and keeps the things moving along.

What is #OWS’s Closing Strategy?

It’s just as important to determine the procedures for closing a project as it is to plan for the start. There is no exception for #OWS. What does it mean to close the #OWS movement? What does success look like? Who needs to sign-off on the #OWS outcome? These are all questions that create methods for closing out the project. Without it, some stakeholders may be left wondering, “Now what?”

If #OWS takes a few of these questions into consideration, I’m sure the movement could lead to something more measurable and outstanding. Let’s just hope there are some #Occupiers out there with some Project Management skills! Good luck and happy protesting!

Just do a Google search of your name, you’ll quickly find a list of all your past residences, your family members’ names, phone numbers, sometimes even income ranges! And tough luck. There isn’t much we can do to stop this information from being shared.  So essentially we’re forced to be exposed and vulnerable.

Then there is the type of information we readily share. I sometimes find myself sharing personal information to people I haven’t seen in years. This is a very new behavior for most of us. Prior to Facebook, if you had the rare chance to run into a childhood friend you probably only shared pivotal milestones, but nothing too personal. Enter Facebook. Now you’re ‘friends’ and sharing intimate details with each other. And we do this at such a frequency that we don’t think twice about sharing our private info.

When we talk about privacy, we throw our arms up and resist the thought about being transparent about our lives. But then we actively use social media to expose ourselves. And we know that we can’t do much to stop other data from being shared. Because the very nature of Social Media and the Internet is openness, is it forcing us to view our private information differently? To take this a little further, are we becoming more honest and open about our lives because of the internet? This is something I could see developing further in the future, but the trend seems to be pointing in that direction. So to answer the original question, yes, the Internet is playing a huge role in the evolution of our minds. And we get to see it unfold and play out everyday. Pretty neat, huh?

Having been a part of an interactive agency for the past 5 years, in addition to setting up a few websites for family and friends, I’ve become familiar with many of the CMSs available. From paid to free, simple to complex, open source to proprietary; I’ve test driven many systems and have become a fan for one particular CMS: WordPress! Before I get into why I love WordPress, we should first establish what your needs are as a website owner and if WordPress is the right solution for you.

Why WordPress Isn’t Right for You

Every website owner has to determine what their site needs are before they can set out on the quest for a CMS. Without this knowledge, you could end up with a CMS that you outgrow or never use because it just isn’t meeting your needs. So let’s first start off with some common reasons why you should NOT use WordPress for your CMS.

• You need a robust eCommerce solution. There are a few WordPress plugins that can handle eCommerce, but none are full featured and can manage a complete online store.
• Your site requires custom functionality, like an interactive map or complex tagging system; something that requires development. The development community is much more extensive for Drupal than WordPress, so you’re more likely to find a well seasoned developer that can build custom components for your site in Drupal than you are with WordPress.
• You have multiple content producers, each with specific permission rights to certain content and require an approval system. WordPress does allow some permission setting, but not as complex as Drupal or Joomla would allow.
• You’re starting off small, but have big plans for your site. If you know your site is only a few pages for now, but have plans to eventually turn it into a full eCommerce or Social Networking site, then I recommend starting with Drupal or Joomla. They are easily scaleable and you won’t have to later migrate your information to a new system as your needs expand.

So we’ve determined that you have very complex requirements for your site and you’ll need something other than WordPress to meet your needs. There is something else you need to consider when choosing a CMS.

Open Source vs Paid Proprietary CMSs

First of, I am an big advocate for open source platforms over paid for, proprietary CMSs. The biggest reason being the shear volume of third party plugins and community support you will find for those systems. This allows you expand your website’s functionality beyond the base CMS, making your website more powerful. That being said, open source systems like Joomla, Drupal and WordPress require you to do your research and read through documentation in order to properly install and setup the plugins. And in some cases, some coding knowledge is necessary to get the plugin to work just as you need it to.

If you have little time to spare, but have lots of data, multiple content producers, and require custom functionality, then I recommend you purchase an out of the box CMS that comes with all the features you need. There are many to choose from like Ektron, and your money will go towards installation, migration of data, and any customization. In addition, you’ll pay a monthly fee to continue using the system and receive customer support.

Now, if you have a tighter budget, then I suggest going with an open source solution like Joomla or Drupal, and hire a third party developer to customize the system to your liking. Depending on your needs, you’ll be able to find ready made plugins that a developer can help install and even customize to work just for your website. The only downside to this is that you won’t receive the same customer support that you would with a proprietary CMS.

The biggest downfall to proprietary CMSs is that many of them have very strict guidelines on where and how you host their databases and how your information can be migrated. So if you decide that later on you want to change your hosting provider or CMS, you may be out of luck and have to start from scratch. With open source platforms, you can easily migrate your website and database to another provider, and sometimes even for free with hosts like GoDaddy.

And Finally, Why WordPress is Awesome!

For the rest of us, who have less complex requirements for our websites, I definitely recommend WordPress. It’s my CMS of choice and here are the reasons why:

Ease of Use and Simple Installation The first thing you’ll noticed with WordPress is its clean, user friendly interface; other systems just don’t compare. In addition to the system being easy to use, the installation is streamlined on most hosting providers. Hosts like GoDaddy will even install WordPress for free when you sign up for their services.

Themes WordPress has many free and paid for themes. Each can be installed with just a click of a button. The themes allow you to change the look and feel of your site without altering the information structure and functionality. If you have some experience with HTML/CSS you can further customize the theme to your liking right within the WordPress interface.

Plugins The most popular feature of WordPress is its rich plugin database, which gives you the ability to extend your websites functionality beyond the features that come as part of the base CMS. There are over 17,000 plugins, ranging from SEO, calendars, photo galleries to adding widgets. If you have a need, you’re likely to find a plugin that’ll do the trick!

Widgets and Custom Menus Widgets give you the ability to add to the layout of your site with a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can add things like Recent Blog Posts to the right column of your site, without ever having to touch a piece of PHP or HTML code. You also have complete control over your navigation menus, with the same drag-and-drop interface.

Mobile WordPress themes are inherently setup with Mobile CSS. So when a visitor is viewing your site from a mobile device, it will be scaled to fit that screen. It’s a great feature to have if you’re unsure how to code for Mobile, but know your site is frequented by Mobile users.

Roles and Capabilities Roles and Capabilities determine what who can and cannot edit/create/view pages within your site. WordPress defines roles such as ‘administrator’ and ‘editor’, each with different levels of capability. You can also define new Roles and limit accessibility to certain areas of the system.This is great for sites where you might want to restrict access to prevent a client or colleague from breaking the site.

SEO Friendly WordPress is set up to be search engine friendly, using permalinks, title and meta tags based on your site’s content, right out of the box. There are also plugins that can help with advanced SEO techniques. But as long as you’re writing great copy, you can be sure WordPress is working hard to index and display your content appropriately in search engines.

While I love WordPress and all it’s fantastic features, the right CMS solution is really based on your needs and website requirements. So please, when you set out to pick the perfect CMS, be sure to do your research! Good luck!

Bank of America is currently using Social Media in a few ways.

BofA Help: This is the official Bank of America Twitter with 6 representatives, that actively reach out to customers and help, listen & learn from their complaints. Right away, it’s apparent that they are doing a great job responding to customer complaints with haste. Some responses are canned, but that could be expected with the volume of complaints they are probably getting. Overall, the replies back to BofA seem to be positive, customers are leaving the experience with @BofA_Help feeling like they were heard and taken care of.

BofA News:  The official Twitter news handle for Bank of America Corporation. They provide relevant, up to date information on the company. This account is mainly used for one-way communication about positive BofA news. That would work of they were a news channel, but in the social media world, it would be better to use this to proactively respond to the negative news about BofA.

Building Opportunity from Bank of America: The Building Opportunity from Bank of America Facebook page is dedicated to supporting local communities and creating opportunity throughout the country.  It’s obvious this page is here to give BofA a human and charitable face. Facebook users are not taking too kindly to the page and leaving an array of negative feedback on posts even about charitable work.

So is Bank of America doing a good job of using Social Media? Aside from @BoA_Help, they are far from it. If you look at the plethora of unofficial Twitter and Facebook accounts like “Bank of America Sucks” that slam on the company, it’s obvious the brand’s perception is hurting. What else can BofA do to change consumers outlook of the company and combat negative feedback? Here are some suggestions for better consumer engagement:

• Social Media is a great way for banks to be more transparent to their customers. Communicate prices, why they are priced this way, and how they match up to the competition. If a customer is complaining about $5 debit card fees, Bank of America should directly respond to their complaint and point them to explanations for example, new government regulations. Customers will understand that you need to make money in order to stay in business so be honest and clear when communicating your reasons.

• Listen, listen, listen! Customers want to be heard. And many times they have great ideas and feedback that a company could use. BofA could engage angry customers and challenge them to think of other ways to be charged. Be honest that there is no way around a fee, but ask your customers what other ways would they be comfortable being charged?  It’s the surest way to get a customers involved with your brand and left feeling like their opinions were voiced and heard.

• Bank of America social media sites should be more visible on the corporate website. I actually had to do a search for BofA Twitter and Facebook to find these. Twitter and Facebook pages should be in the header or footer of your site and on your contact us page. In fact, even the contact us page is uninviting, asking me “What are you contacting us about”. Excuuuse me, but this is NOT how you want to start off the conversation. Banks can easily leverage current social media sites to strengthen their customer relationships, which should be easily accessible from their corporate site. Without it, a business risks looking unavailable.

• Create unique Facebook and Twitter accounts for local Bank of Americas. This would give the company a more local community presence and make BofA seem less like a Big Bank.

• Have real happy customers share their experiences on Twitter and Facebook. It may be hard to imagine, but they do exist and should be amplified on social networks.

With all the negative feedback coming in from Facebook and Twitter; it’s clear that Bank of America needs to get a better grip on their Social Media presence. @BofA_Help is a success, but can BofA expand their engagement beyond this? It’ll require a different business model: paying attention to customer complaints and feedback, considering their suggestions and being transparent and clear. This seems to be an ever growing demand from consumers as a result of social media. And if BofA wants to succeed, they’ll need to adapt to it.

UPDATE: On November 1, 2011 via @BofA_News ”In response to customer feedback we will no longer implement a debit usage fee” One has to wonder if Social Media played a role in this…

Cost Savings

The value is obvious if your company is using timesheets to bill clients. But there are many other cost benefits to time tracking. The biggest one being budgeting projects utilizing historical timesheet data. By way of illustration, your team sets a $2,000 budget for a project that would take 60 hours to complete. But after reviewing historical timesheet data you notice that projects of similar size averaged 80 hours. With this knowledge you can increase the initial budget with solid data to back it up. It not only helps teams to be more realistic when budgeting a project, but also creates the case for charging clients more. Furthermore, if budgets are reduced later on, you’ll know exactly what the consequences will be and which parts of the project will be affected.

Added Productivity

Companies can measure the amount of time spent on tasks that are priority vs. tasks that are non-essential. This way, if too much time is spent on non-essential tasks, upper management can shift priorities and clearly communicate new expectations to employees. Also, if management determines that value is being added from meetings or other activities, management can then determine best practices and other protocols to enhance those tasks.

Employees’ personally benefit from tracking time by being more present and focused. By actively tracking time, employees can spot “time-sink” activities and cut them out. You can’t rush creativity, and shouldn’t! But by tracking your time, you’ll naturally become more conscious of how time is being spent on work vs. surfing the net. It’s also a great way to measure how long particular tasks take to avoid over committing. Teams can determine which tasks are taking longer than normal and discover why and how to fix them. I have to be clear that this is something that will happen naturally, without added pressure from upper management.

Improved Scheduling

Are you tired of working long hours and wondering why projects are being over-booked? Every manager wants to make sure they are planning appropriately for the capacity of the team, as well as giving enough room to complete quality work in a timely manner. An accurate timesheet is a vital element for scheduling. Without it, the manager runs the risk of over allocating resources for a given time, creating those long work weeks you dread. Let’s say there is an upcoming project and the team already has tight deadlines. Using fact-based timesheets, a PM can forecast how that project will fit into the already busy schedule. On the other hand, if timesheets are not precise, the PM could over-allocate. Timesheets also help managers view the overall status of their project and see which percentage of work has been completed to date. This helps with conveying the health of a project to stakeholders and also assist in fixing any issues that are causing overages.

There are many other benefits to tracking time, but monitoring employees should not be one of them. If timesheets are used this way, the company risks decreasing morale. In effect, timesheets will go to waste because employees will ultimately lie due to the negative pressure. But on the other hand, if a company puts emphasis on using the timesheet to benefit its employees they will see cost savings, improved efficiency and better time management. So know that timesheets are not the enemy! If you’re at a company that tracks their employees, try raising these points and changing the paradigm for timesheet usage.

IKEA Facebook Showroom

Well it would be, but I find that a lot of times personalization misses the mark completely. Let’s take a look at Facebook Ads. Every little bit of information you enter into the social networking site: your interests, status updates, wall posts and even relationship status are used to determine what ads should show up on the right column of your profile. For a period of time, when my relationship status was set as “engaged”, Facebook would display ads for engagement rings and honeymoon vacation trips. While the advertising was a tad intrusive, it was smart. But here’s the thing, I didn’t click on any one of those ads. Why? Well, while yes, at that time I may have been interested in all things wedding, I wasn’t on Facebook to shop. I was there for the very purpose Facebook was intended: to socialize with my friends and family online.

Now, I do think that advertising does have a place on Facebook. With the power of personalization, Facebook has implemented a very smart way to market to one’s target audience,  but it’s not going to work if businesses use the traditional model to advertise. So those ads that show up based on interest, even if they are accurate, will end up just damaging the brand’s image in the end user’s mind.

There are cases where personalization does work. If you own a Netflix account, you’ll agree that they do quite a good job of recommending movies based on interests and ratings. This doesn’t happen overnight. The suggestions start to become more relevant as you rate and watch movies. The more movies you rate, the more accurate the suggestions will be. And it works!  So much so that I’ve come to depend on their “best guess” rating when I browse for movies to watch.

It’s important to know how users are actually using a site prior to implementing a smart system like personalization. If the user’s purpose is to shop, then the personalization should be done in a way that makes the shopping experience seamless. If the user’s behavior is to network, like on Facebook, personalization of ads should enhance that behavior, inviting users to share their thoughts or see what their friends are saying about a brand. It’s obvious that personalization has a place on the web. The question is does it make sense to the user?

Whether a friend mentions a product to you in a casual conversation or you are actively asking around about a specific product, word of mouth will drive you to make a purchase more than any other way a brand markets itself to you. You are likely to buy a product your friend recommends because of the established trust you have with this person and their opinion. All businesses will tell you that their best clients come from a referral or shout out or what marketers call brand advocates. With Facebook Fan pages, businesses can now actively build and maintain relationships with these brand advocates.

Online reviews are another way we decide to make a purchase or visit a new place. Doing a Yelp search on nearby restaurants you’ll find ratings and user reviews associated with each listing and obviously choose the one that fits your criteria and has the best ratings. Facebook Connect adds a new layer of trust by allowing you to see what your Facebook friends have reviewed on these sites. So if you’re looking at a review for China King Buffet and your friend already reviewed it – your decision will most likely be swayed by this review alone.

The game has changed for online reviews and traditional word of mouth, with the introduction of Facebook Fan pages and Facebook Connect. It combines the trust that comes from a recommendation your friend makes and the accessibility online reviews have. Most importantly it gives businesses a chance to reach out and maintain their relationships with brand advocates.

How to Connect with your Brand Advocates

Facebook has indeed changed the way customers interact with the products they purchase. It is no longer enough to just have a company website that provides only one-sided communication. Brand advocates want to feel acknowledged and be a part of your brand.

To find your brand advocates and maintain your relationship and trust with them it’s essential you start a Facebook Fan page. Connect with your fans, give new customers incentives to become a part of the community and maintain the relationship by putting out information that’s relevant and useful to them.

Check out sites like Yelp, Google, and Yahoo – see what people are saying about your business. Reach out the all reviewers, negative and positive. Give negative reviewers a reason to come back to your establishment, like a free meal. Connect with reviewers on Facebook and give incentives to them to join and be a part of your community. Most importantly, make them feel acknowledged.

This article was originally written for Vibation Insights. To read more about the great people at Vibation, click here:  Strategic Insights that Drive Results

I was reminded of this when I went to a nearby café. While the food and drinks were great, what really caught my attention were the people I interacted with during my visit. Each individual I met was personable and welcoming; it felt as if I were being entertained at someone’s home. But what stood out to me was that each had a unique style, a way of telling a story, a personality. The experience with the employees at the café left a lasting impression and planted the desire for future visits.

Whether in-person or online, a company’s personality is not only important but essential to grab your customer’s attention and make an impression. But how do we create a personality for a business and make connections online?

The café reminded me that it’s not about a business objective or mission statement, an organization’s personality is shaped by the character of each person that works there, each with their own ideas and unique way of telling their story. To create your personality online it’s important that the people that make up your business; designers, project managers, CEOs, etc. shine through. Here are a couple ideas to get you started;

• Give your employees a medium to express their ideas or opinions. Make sure it’s marked with the authors name and photo.
• Make sure each employee has their own twitter account. Then create a list that follows all your employees.

Giving your employees a voice will make your overall business voice one that is relatable to your audience on a human level. Your customers will see your business as an establishment that houses distinct and interesting human beings, not just a business trying to sell products.

Social media has made it really easy for businesses to make connections with customers, but are these connections lasting ones? There are services out there that will automate following/adding connections but most likely they will not last or benefit your business. Again, to do it right, remember how it works in person; take the time to sit down and genuinely reach out to your customers. Just like real friendships, making connections and fans online takes time and effort. Whether the connection is through Facebook, twitter, email, etc, take the time to learn about each person your business interacts with. Listen to their stories and tell them yours. I guarantee they will become a long-term customer that feels connected to your business.

This approach is not easy and will leave you with only a handful of real connections. Don’t get discouraged; just like the real life friendships you make as an individual, the online connections you make for your business will be the most meaningful.

This article was originally written for Vibation Insights. To read more about the great people at Vibation, click here: Strategic Insights that Drive Results

I could go on and on describing the best way to do this. But instead, I’ll share Gary Vaynerchuk’s story about how he used Social Media to grow his business. A few lessons to be learned from Gary: Social Media advertising can’t be the traditional one-sided message we see on TV. Simply saying “Buy my product” will land on deaf ears. The nature of social media is engaging conversation, so ads must also be engaging. Another lesson: It has to be genuinely human. Those twitter bots are annoyingly obvious, and using those could hurt a brand. A real response from a real personal connection is a necessity to social media advertising.

It’s an exciting time for marketing. We’re on the cusp of something new, something that will make brands a LOT of moolah! But I think that we’re also about to witness the birth of something else. New jobs. Which to me is even more exciting!

However brands decide to utilize social media, they have to keep in mind those pesky rules around social media: Real Humans. Real Conversations. And just as it is in real life, powerful conversations take time and manpower. Just use Gary as an example. He spent 12 plus hours a day, scouring blogs to listen to concerns, tweeting, responding to emails, etc. That’s just for ONE business.

Imagine if every company had a social media advocate employed?  How would this work? People. I’ll call them Social Media Advocates. Just like when you pick up the phone to call At&t to speak to someone about your needs, businesses will need a real person to answer their tweets, moderate facebook messages and create thoughtful discussions.  If businesses are going to use social media the right way, they will need real people to create real connections. This is not a small task. One that requires full-time attention.

So while job creation and outsourcing are hot topics in the US right now, is social media advocating the answer? I can’t be certain, but what I do know is that social media is here to stay. And where the people are, advertisers will follow. So it’ll be interesting to see where marketing in the social media realm goes and how it’ll create new jobs.

The UI has definitely come a long way since then! And I think it’s safe to say that without the improvements Facebook wouldn’t be as popular is it is today. Even so, Facebook has always introduced features with the attitude of “launch first, deal with public relations later”. It’s definitely not a safe method but how do you determine the best way to launch a product in a market that you created? From another perspective, these improvements keep competitors at bay, who would otherwise love the opportunity to grab the market share with newer, sleeker features (just as Facebook stole the Myspace crowd).

Business aspects aside, there is another reason why I can’t complain.  With each feature Facebook introduces, it defines a new way for us to interact with our friends. We could think of Facebook as digital social experiment. A good example is the “Like” button. When this was introduced, it became so wildly popular that now when we post our photos and status updates we actually anticipate getting “Likes”.

And that’s not all. Facebook changes the way we behave in many other ways. Think about it. Do you find yourself taking pictures specifically for Facebook? Do you have a thought during the day and think to yourself “I should share this on Facebook later”? Have you rekindled a friendship with someone you haven’t seen in 10 years after friending them on Facebook? Have you gossiped about the recent news of a break up you found out about on Facebook? All of these behaviors wouldn’t be possible without Facebook pushing the boundaries of social sharing.

They’ve done such a good job, that advertisers want you to “Like” their brands, “unfriend” is a term in the New Oxford American Dictionary,  and even Google is trying to tap into the social market with Google+. And let’s keep it real, Facebook has over 800 million users that average 14 minutes per day on the site. That’s impressive.

So while the new features can be uncomfortable at first, I think it’s incredible that we get to witness the growth of a market that never existed before. We get to be a part of this social experiment that Facebook pioneered and others try to mimic. And with the new Timeline layout soon to be introduced publicly, we yet again get to explore a new way to interact with friends online. For this, I have to give Facebook a little credit and keep the complaining down to a minimum!

Well, let’s start off with a few stats. According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com:

• Of those who conduct online searches/background checks of job candidates, 29 percent use Facebook, 26 percent use LinkedIn and 21 percent use MySpace.
• One-in-ten (11 percent) search blogs while 7 percent follow candidates on Twitter.
• The top industries most likely to screen job candidates via social networking sites or online search engines include those that specialize in technology and sensitive information: Information Technology (63 percent) and Professional & Business Services (53 percent).

It’s obvious that employers are checking you out via search and social media prior to even contacting you. Do a quick test,  Google search your name and see what comes up. Are you impressed with the results? Knowing this, it’s essential to not only keep your traditional resume up-to-date but ensure your online ‘brand’ is just as snappy. So where do you start?

Well, if you haven’t already – make sure your Facebook profile is set to private. You really don’t want that picture of you getting crazy at a party to be seen by a prospective employer (even if it was on New Year’s and you don’t normally get that wild). The fact is your online persona won’t come with explanations, so those not-so-professional pictures will really hurt your chances of getting a callback.

Join LinkedIn. It’s a great way to connect with previous employers and coworkers as well as highlight your professional accomplishments. Plus, it gives you an opportunity to get recommendations from connections. This will help employers get a good idea of your background, who you know and what you’ve done professionally; think of it as your online resume combined with a professional network.

Start networking on Twitter. Yeah, I know Twitter? Really? Believe it or not, connecting with employers on Twitter will up your chances of getting noticed. In fact, many job seekers have successfully used Twitter to find a job by simply networking. The rule of thumb on Twitter and other social networks isn’t to just push your message or agenda, but to engage in conversation. Follow companies that you’re really interested in and share topics relating to your particular industry. And remember to engage with retweets and @mentions. The more active you are in the conversation, the better your chances will be of building a reputable name for yourself. It’ll prove to prospective employers that you’re not only savvy but also an expert in your industry.

If you’re a creative professional, setup your portfolio on a network like Behance or Cargo Collective and connect with other creatives. It’s a great way to share your work as well as network with other creatives and employers. Even if you have a personal site, it’s a good idea to share your work on a popular network since many employers peruse these sites to recruit talent. Having been a part of the hiring process in a design firm, I can tell you that prior to even posting a job opportunity I would frequent networks like Behance to get an idea of possible candidates to hire. So do yourself a favor and get your work up.

Start blogging! Blog about your industry and profession; this shows employers your informed but also genuinely interested in the industry. Add a personal touch with fun posts about your life beyond your work. This is key, since it gives employers a feel for who you are which is much more than just a resume but a real human with a personality. Wordpress makes it super easy to setup your own blog so you have no excuse not to have one.

The unemployment rate is at 9.1%, making the competition fierce. So, you have to ask yourself – are you doing everything to get the attention of prospective employers? If not, get started!