The brains behind this video is Erik Qualman of Socialnomics. Erik is a seasoned social media expert who was a guest on Indie Business Radio a few weeks ago. On the show (you can read a summary, watch a video and stream the audio of the whole show here), Erik shared lots of tips and insights into how small and independent business owners can use social media to their advantage. Erik’s book, Socialnomics, is a must read for anyone who wants to leverage the power of digital media for the benefit of their business and their customers. This video pretty much says it all. I hope you enjoy it.

Question: Do you agree that this video does an incredible job of showcasing the power and potential of social media?

In order to be an effective media outlet for your business, you should abide by some basic journalistic principles. While the technologies that support journalistic endeavors are constantly changing, the basic tenets of good journalism have remained constant for hundreds of years. The challenge for you is to use those principles to establish the branded media outlets you will employ to share information with the public.

It’s not about replacing traditional journalism. That’s neither desirable nor possible. But in a broad sense, you can perform a valuable service by keeping your niche customers informed and entertained about things that matter to them, and in the process, spread the word about the products and services you have to offer. Here are six strategies to help you do that.

1. Identify Stories. Your first job as your own media outlet is to find stories to tell. This may sound harder than it really is. After all, your whole life, and the life of your business, is a story.

   People love stories. They cannot get enough of stories. They are used by non-profit organizations to increase donations. They are used by for profit organizations to influence buying decisions. They are also used to encourage readers to disclose what is important to them. This kind of data is then used to identify even more stories, and the cycle continues.

   Finding stories in your own life and community may see challenging at first and it does take some practice. Check out your local community magazines and newspapers and you’ll find dozens of story ideas that can form the basis for stories you can tell in your blog, newsletter, YouTube channel, etc.

2. Communicate. Once you identify a story, use the branded media outlets of your choice to communicate that story. For example, the opening of a new store in your town is a story of interest to everyone in the community, especially these days! Why not combine your visit to the store as a shopper with a visit as a blogger? Take your camera and snap a photo of the store. If you have time, ask the owner a few questions and let her know you want to feature her store in your blog. Once you publish the story, be sure to let the store owner know about it. If she has a blog, she may share it with her readers with a link to your blog.

   As you continue to identify and communicate stories of interest to your readers, you develop relationships with them, and also with the people featured in the stories. This may or may not form the partial basis for a future business relationship with the store owner, who may wish to learn about products you offer that could be sold in her store.

   A note of caution: don’t go into the store with the attitude of “trading” the story for a profitable business relationship. That would be unfair to the store owner and your readers. Business is all about relationships. When relationships are initiated on an honest and level playing field, good things happen no matter what. Never use your blog or other media outlet to exert undue influence another person.

3. Inform. Just like informed citizens are the cornerstone of a democracy, informed readers are the cornerstone of your business. As much as people complain about information overload, we all still get up every day and look for more information. As you choose the stories you will share, make sure that they inform people and provide them with information that enhances their lives. If you keep your readers informed about things that matter to them, they will see you as a reliable source for the type of information contained in your blog, newsletter, podcast, etc., and they will reward you by using social media like FaceBook, Twitter and others to share your media with others.

4. Entertain. People like to be entertained. They like to be amused. They like to have their curiosity piqued and they like to be captivated, charmed and fully absorbed. Whatever type of media you use to spread the word about what you do, be sure to incorporate things that make people smile and that encourage them to use the social media outlets they enjoy to share their discovery (you) with other people. This gives your message legs and ensures that what you publish does not stop with your direct audience.

5. Be Honest. Truth and veracity is the cornerstone of quality journalism. This was drilled into me as a journalism student years ago and it’s just as important today. We were told that, no matter how good our writing style was and no matter how favorably people responded to a story, if it was not true, we were a disgrace to the profession.

   As the producer of your own content, trust is your most valuable asset. In fact, the lack of it has given traditional journalism a bad name many times. Remember journalist Janet Cooke’s 1980 Pulitzer Prize winning invention of a child drug addict in The Washington Post> Or how about Jayson Blair, the New York Time reporter who was forced to resign after it was discovered that he had invented facts in half of the stories he had written between 1999 and 2003.

   Were it not for these incidents, I may not even think it would be important to emphasize the importance of truth because we all know that it’s wrong to make things up. But when it’s late at night and you are exhausted, yet you feel like you have to produce a blog post or radio show, it may be tempting to make something up just to meet your own publication deadline. Don’t do that.

   Traditional media outlets have a huge impact on culture, and thus, they have a huge responsibility to deliver an honest stream of stories. They often fall short, but we don’t have to. Always tell the truth.

6. Encourage and Inspire. No matter what’s going on in the world — in good times and in bad — people want to be encouraged. They want to be lifted up and inspired. There’s enough negativity in the world. Your audience gets it at work, in the grocery store line and in rush hour traffic.

   It’s all about your audience! If you can remind them of their true value and, through your publications, encourage them to reach for their highest potential, they will engage with you and tell their friends. These inspiring interactions naturally pave the way for you to do business with them as well.

Live Your Story!

One of the advantages you have as a business owner with the ability to create your own media outlets is that you don’t have to think too hard to come up with good stories.

You are a good story!

Consider how many of your favorite magazines contain stories about people who took the bull by the horns to launch their own businesses! Maybe they were laid off or quit a job they hated, or maybe they started a business slowly while they still worked in a traditional job. These stories inspire people to live life to the fullest — to refuse to get to the end feeling regretful that they never took a reasonable chance on their dreams.

As a small business owner, you are doing this every day in one form or another, and believe me, people are interested in that.

Your life is one big story! Blog it. Audio tape it. Video tape it. Photograph it. Publish it! I guarantee that if put my tips to work on a consistent basis, not only will be you become a trusted source of information for your customers, but you enjoy more sales, become more profitable and take advantage of more lucrative collaborate opportunities.

Questions: What do you think of these strategies? Did I leave anything out? What are your experiences like? What questions do you have?

This is a momentous time in American history for small and independent business owners. That may seem like an overstatement to some, but it’s not. We are in the midst of en economic transition that is creating new opportunities for tiny businesses nationwide. There are many reasons for this transition, and one of them is the continuing decline of newspaper circulation in this country. Look at the graph, reprinted with the permission of Choire Sicha of The Awl, then scroll underneath it to learn 3 reasons why this is good for you and your small business.

You may not have time to study the chart in detail, but one glance reveals that circulation trends are decidedly downward. Even the Wall Street Journal, which the graphic shows “gets it” experienced a positive increase followed by a downward trend. Here are 3 reasons why these trends, which are such devastating news for traditional media, are awesome news for you.

1. Less Readers For Them Means More Readers For You. As your customers turn their attention away from print newspapers to the Internet, an opportunity opens up for you to gain their attention in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. In years past, huge editorial staffs, big budgets and massive printing equipment were required in order to publish and circulate information. Today, all you need is a blog and the commitment to use it in a focused and consistent manner.

   When your business is focused, and your blog complements that focus, you can engage your customers and facilitate interesting conversations about the things that matter to them. That’s what newspapers, did and still do. The difference now is a more level playing field, which allows you to compete effectively for the attention of specific types of people.

2. More Content At Lower Costs. I don’t care how good your products or services are, the content you produce to share them must be even better. So many people have great and wonderful products. What sets you apart from them? Maybe a lot of things, but you have to roll up your sleeves and tell people about it. If you don’t, you’ll drown in a sea of great products.

   The exciting news is that the cost to create content these days is infinitesimally small. Just a few years ago, you needed an expensive download, a fancy video camera and a bunch of headphones and plugs from Radio Shack in order to create your own media. Today, the downloads are free or very low cost and most computers come with so many things built in, that an electrical outlets is just about the only external source you need to get started on publishing your own quality content!

   When a person finds a consistent, reliable, transparent and honest source for news and information about things that are important to her, she will return over and over again to benefit from that information.

   Not only that, if you make it easy for her to do so, she’ll tell her friends. If you are the trusted source, and if you remain present to encourage participation and create benefits for your readers, they will support you as you support them. It’s a good thing as Martha (who is a master at all of this) would say!

3. Confidence, Growth and Expansion. You may have started your business thinking that you wanted to manufacture a single type of product or offer a single type of service. But as Marc Warnke, my guest on Indie Business Radio said last week, these days, every business must be planned to supply you with not only income, but also a desirable personal life. In most instances, Marc says, that means creating more than one source of income for yourself.

   So while you may start out making and selling mineral makeup or handmade jewelry, that platform must be somehow used to create another one that logically flows from it.

   In this way, the first phase of your business provides the platform for a logical progression to the second phase. Steady publication of your own branded, unique media builds upon each successive level of your platform. Producing your media builds your platforms, increases your confidence and provides options for you and your family.

   These options cannot be fully anticipated in advance. They flow organically from the media you create. And today, there is not shortage of opportunities to create media, and this translates into more opportunities for you.

Indeed, this is an exciting time, but the window of opportunity will not last forever. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves now and get in on the ground floor creating our own branded media outlets that will form the platform for long-term business growth.

Question: Do you still subscribe to any print newspapers? Why or why not? If you’re a small business owner, do you see any interesting opportunities for you and your business as a result of the decline?

When I quit my corporate job to start my business, the first thing I did was call the vice president of public relations at the company I was leaving and ask her how to get good PR. She referred me to a veteran in the industry who broke the devastating news that my business was not newsworthy. I had great ideas, she said, but in order to appeal to the media, I had to back them up with some substance that was worthy of an appearance between their very expensive pages. That was then. This is now.

Infographic by CartridgeSAVE.co.uk

Question: If print magazines are dying, how are you planning to get the word out about your products and services to the masses? Do you believe that The Media Is Y-O-U?

In a day and time when “social media” is just a word I’ve heard when things were being said, I think it is vital that anyone saying they are qualified to teach you how to use social media should be able to validate the depth of their experience as a successful user of new media and technology as a business tool. After all, we invite you to part with your hard-earned money in exchange for our experience. Honesty and transparency are important to me, so I want you to know exactly what you are getting when you trust me with your valuable time and money. “Social media” is not a new or passing interest for me. It’s how I built my 10-year old business.

I thought a time line with screen shots going back to 2000 would be the best way to showcase my background in this area. Since some of the websites, social media and social networking sites I once used are no longer active, I scoured the Way Back Machine to document the progression of my social media experiences. I used screen shots in cases where a site is no longer operating.

1997 to 1999: (Feeling like a relic now …) I was a member of several early aromatherapy email discussion groups. Some of the people who were there with me at that time are IBN members today. Among them: Marge Clark of Nature’s Gift (Tennessee) and Rosanne Tartaro of SunRose Aromatics (New York). We learned from each other, shared our passions and quickly discovered that by beefing up our signature lines with a link to an e-commerce site, our businesses began to grow and thrive, along with the relationships we developed.

Early 2000: I was one of the first Indie Business leaders to incorporate the notion that a main website works best if it’s supplemented by at least one other complementary site. See the “Satellite Sites” notation next to the read arrow (it’s kind of hard to see, I know) at the bottom of the old Donna Maria.com home page. At the time, that link went to a page listing 3 of my other websites, all of them inexpensively interconnected to support the business.

January 16, 2000: I launched the Indie Beauty Network (IBN). (The original name of the organization was Handmade Toiletries Network, then later Handmade Beauty Network.) While IBN is a professional trade organization, it is also a professional social network composed of a group of industry professionals who network, share and collaborate for success.

January 16, 2000: I launched a weekly online newsletter. Here’s the first issue. The entire archive, going back 10 years, is here. I have always recommended that publishers archive their newsletter online so valuable content is not lost and can be searched for years to come.

February 2000: I launched a comment driven ingredient supplier search engine. The comments section is no longer used, but the site remains a trusted place for small business owners (especially in the Indie Beauty industry) to search for reliable suppliers.

July 2000: I launched a comment driven DIY cosmetics website. Today, that website has nearly 27,000  active registered users.

February 2001: Because I instinctively craved connections with my customers and IBN members, I started keeping an online journal, called “dM’s Here and There Mini-Journals” in February 2001. Obviously, the comment technology we have in place now was not available then, but this served as a way for me to personalize my outreach. Journals like these were few and far between in those days and I don’t personally know a single independent business owner who had one as early as I did. Here are some fun screen shots, with old photos too! (Sorry there’s so much white space but I wanted you to see that they are actual website screen shots. I’ve also interspersed the startup dates for FaceBook and Twitter because they show a parallel progression where social media is concerned.)

Above: September to December 2001: Announcing the birth of my daughter and sharing my speaking engagement (photo at bottom with PR expert Katherine Hutt of Nautilus Communications) at the Washington, DC chapter of the meeting of Washington Women in Public Relations.

Above: June 2001: At the Chicago-based “soap museum” home of soap industry expert Luis Spitz, with Mr. Spitz and his wife. (Gee, I wish I knew what I did with those photos!)

Above: August 2001: Teaching a group of young girls how to make cosmetics in my suburban Washington, DC, home.

February 2004: FaceBook was founded. (According to Wikipedia, before that, in October 2003, it was originally conceived as “Facemash”.)

September 2005: I launched the Indie Business Radio Show. With rare exception, it has aired weekly and continues to feature top small business authors and experts and inspirational entrepreneurs. Past guests have included Jack Canfield, Paula Deen, Mike Michalowicz, James Arthur Ray and Ali Brown. In the social media arena, my guests have included Shel Israel, Juliette Powell, Tara Hunt and David Meerman Scott.

September 17, 2005: I launched my first “official” blog on the Movable Type blogging platform.

December 2005: Launched the Handmade Beauty Business print magazine.

March 2006: Twitter’s first prototype was built.

May 7, 2007: I moved my blog from Movable Type to Typepad.

December 2007: I launched the Indie Business Forum. As you can see if you click that link, I have transferred this site to a social networking site.

February 2008: I launched Bootstrap Babes blog with Jamila White, the Ecommerce Diva. In August of that year, as a direct result of the blog, Jamila and I were featured in Entrepreneur Magazine. (See? When you serve as your own media outlet, it’s easier to attract traditional media!)

March 21, 2008: I set up the Indie Business Fan Page, and the first update there was posted on that date by IBN member Kathy Duncan of Fusion of Color. (Thanks Kathy!) (I forgot to blog about it.)

April 21, 2008: I set up my first Twitter page and blogged about it (of course!)

Shortly After (can’t recall date): I set up my personal FaceBook page (which I use only for family and friends) shortly after that. (I forgot to blog about it!)

September 18, 2008: I launched the Indie social networking site. Today, there are 4,000 people learning, sharing and collaborating there.

October 12, 2008: I launched Indie Beauty Buzz blog. (That blog is still visible but not active. I’m offering it for sale (the blog, not the domain name) to the highest bidder.) I set up a FaceBook Fan Page in early 2009. (I forgot to blog about that too!)

January 23, 2009: I launched the Save Handmade blog. (That blog is still visible but not active. I’m offering it for sale (the blog, not the domain name) to the highest bidder.)

July 12, 2009: I launched FitCEOs, an experiment to test the power of online social collaboration.

July 14, 2009: I created Indie Lifestream another sort of experiment.

Whew!!

There’s More To Media Than “Social”

My training is different from any you’ll get anywhere else. While the “social media” sites the way we know them today (Twitter, FaceBook, etc.) are relatively new, they are really nothing more than technological tools that allow us to create our own media. Their availability and affordability makes them fantastic. But, if you don’t know how to use them efficiently and cost effectively, they can become a distinct liability to your business.

Oprah’s Got Nothing On You

We all know about the power of the “O.” Many of us spend inordinate amounts of time and money trying to land ourselves or our products in the pages of her magazine and/or in other nationwide media outlets that also have millions of readers, listeners or viewers.  That may (and probably will) happen for some of us one day, but in the meantime, we can create our own media outlets using the same technology Oprah uses to create hers!

We may not have the human resources she has, and we certainly don’t have the money, but we do have the tools. We just have to know how to use them!

That’s where my training comes in.

The Media Is Y-O-U!

Your customers are out there just waiting to interact with you. And by “out there,” I mean on the Internet. And they are out there in massive numbers.

• Last month, eMarketer reported that in 2009, there will be 18 million US adult users accessing Twitter each month.
• Last month, FaceBook reported that it had over 300 million users
• Twitter and FaceBook updates will soon be indexed on Google and Bing – where your customers go to find you on the Internet.
• While the number of blogs is in the millions, and many of them are unread and unused, if you have a branded blog that create a community for your customers and give your company a voice, then you are way head of the pack as you prepare your company for 2010 and beyond.

Your customers are on the Internet. They are watching videos there, comparing prices there, buying products there and meeting your competitors there. They’re either talking about you or they’re talking about the kinds of products and services you offer.

They are hungry for an opportunity to find out how easy it is to do business with you. They want to connect with your other customers and find out why others like your products. They want to make their recommendations, ask you questions, help you be successful. They want you to reach out and engage them. You must answer their call.

If you don’t, someone else will.

If you are consistent and committed, you won’t need a national magazine with millions of someone else’s readers. You’ll have your own, and that’s enough to sustain a satisfying and profitable business no matter how you slice it.

Question: What do you think of the concept that The Media Is Y-O-U?! Are you ready to embrace the notion that you can speak with your customers using branded media that you create and own? Media that becomes a part of your businesses’ valuable intellectual property? Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

I am pleased to announce that the venue for The Media Is You: Atlanta has been confirmed! The social media training event of the year for Indies will be held in the southeast at the American Management Association’s Executive Conference Center at The Proscenium located at 1170 Peachtree Street, NE. A short drive from Hartsfield International Airport, it’s the perfect venue for our event. We have reserved comfortable meeting tables and chairs, state of the art audio visual equipment, WIFI, and high speed Internet access.

The venue is metro accessible and a short walking distance to restaurants and bistros where you can grab lunch. There is also ample parking or you can take public transportation. We’ve provided driving directions, hotel information and public transportation details below.

Directions

From the North via I-75 South: Take Exit 250 for 16th Street towards 14th Street / 10th Street. Turn left onto 14th Street, then right onto Crescent Avenue. The parking garage will be on your right. Our office is located in The Proscenium Building directly across Crescent Avenue from the parking garage. Access to our office is on the eighth floor. From the North via I-85 South: Take I-85 South to Exit 86 for Highway 13/Peachtree Street. Follow the access road to US Route 19S/State Road 9S – Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street and stay straight to 14th Street. Turn left onto 14th Street, then right onto Crescent Avenue. The parking garage will be on your right. Our office is located in The Proscenium Building directly across Crescent Avenue from the parking garage. Access to our office is on the eighth floor.

From the South: Take I-75 / I-85 North to Exit 250 for 10th Street/ 14th Street and turn right. Turn left onto West Peachtree Street, then right on 14th Street and follow to Crescent Avenue. Take a right on Crescent Avenue, then an immediate right into the parking garage. The Proscenium Building is directly across Crescent Avenue from the parking garage. Access to our office is on the eighth floor.

From the MARTA Station: Exit the train at the Arts Center station. Go up one level of stairs to the Spring Street exit. Turn left and walk South towards 14th Street. Cross over 14th Street. Turn left and walk 2 blocks up to Crescent Avenue. The Proscenium Building sits on the corner of Crescent and 14th Street. Access to our office is on the eigth floor.

Local Attractions and Information

Atlanta City Center
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
Things To Do In Atlanta

Accommodation Options

Marriott Suites Atlanta Midtown :: Reference AMA Rate Code: (AMKR)
W Atlanta Midtown :: Reference AMA Rate Code: 261750
Four Seasons Hotel

Last year, I met Leesa Barnes, author of Podcasting for Profit. Leesa graciously accepted my invitation to be a guest on my radio show, and you can stream or download the interview with here. (Jamila White hosted that show for me while I was away speaking at a conference.) While I hope to meet Leesa in person one day, for now, I am delighted to accept her invitation to join the faculty of her 2010 Social Media Telesummit!

Like Leesa’s past Telesummits, this one promises to be engaging, fun and informative! Other faculty members include PR strategist Shannon Cherry, social media devotee Nancy Marmolejo and many more! The title of my presentation is: “Business Success Through Effective Tribal Leadership: How To Solidify Your Niche, Stake Your Claim and Empower Yourself and Others Through Effective Tribal Leadership.”

I plan to reveal many of the secrets I have learned in the ten years I have been leading the Indie Business Network, so if you want to start your own professional networking group, you won’t want to miss my presentation! The Summit will take place January 19-28, 2010. My segment take place on January 25 at 1:15pm New York Time.

Check out the Social Media Telesummit 2010 website home page (affiliate link) to learn more and register. Click this link to meet the other faculty members!

I am delighted that longtime IBN member Kaila Westerman will join us at The Media Is You – San Francisco! Kaila is the owner of TKB Trading, LLC, a San Francisco-based supplier of cosmetics colorants for use in toiletries, soap and cosmetics. Kaila also sells waxes, lip product bases, containers, lipstick molds, and associated products. Kaila is a sought after speaker at cosmetics related events. She is also the author of Gel Candles: 40 Creative Projects and Melt & Mold Soap Crafting.*

The photo is of Kaila and I at the 2008 Beauty Business Boot Camp at The Nova Studio outside San Francisco where I taught a series of social media workshops.
I first met Kaila in Minnesota at the 1998 Conference of Handcrafted Soapmakers where she spoke eloquently about melt and pour soap. Kaila is the consummate entrepreneur. In business since 1994, she is one of the first companies to distribute melt and pour soap base on a national scale to small business and crafters. She has also invented unique lines of colorant that people can use the color their soaps.

The mineral makeup Kaila supplies today helps thousands of small business owners successfully launch and expand their own line of cosmetics. I am excited that I will see Kaila again in San Francisco and look forward to you joining us for an amazing day of learning and collaboration as we empower ourselves to make the best and most efficient use possible of social media.

You can connect with Kaila on Twitter or at her blog.

Can’t wait to see you, Kaila!

*(Disclosure: links to Kaila’s book are Amazon affiliate links.)

Announcing The Media Is Y-O-U, a one-day intensive, hands on social media training workshop designed especially for Indies! If you’re an Indie Business owner, you know how important it is to use the Internet to spread the word about your products and services. Today, doing that is easier than ever with my one-day intensive, hands on “The Media is You” training program.

(If you are reading this post via email or in an RSS reader and you cannot view the video, click here.)

My training is designed especially for small and independent business owners without a moment of precious time to spare. Here is a summary of my 10 years of experience using new media and digital technologies (many of which pre-dated Twitter and FaceBook) to spread my ideas and share the products and services I offer. In case you didn’t know it, you are the best media outlet for your business! And the technology you need to be the media is practically free! My training shows you how to incorporate new technologies into your marketing plan without taking valuable time away from your core business.

I’m coming to Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco over the next few months so I can get this important information into your hands!

You’ll learn how to solidify your niche so you can target your media activities to accomplish specific goals. Ever thought about a radio show? How about a blog that establishes you as an expert in your field?

Whatever goals you have, we’ll go beyond the basics of just showing upon Twitter and FaceBook to taking specific actions to energize and strengthen your use of new technologies to expand your reach and increase sales.

Whether you’re a start-up or your business is already established, this is the media training event of the year for Indies! To register in your city, and enjoy a $100 early bird discount 30 days before the event date, click here.

And if you don’t see your city listed, drop me a comment below and let me know you’d like me to come and meet personally with you too! I can’t wait to see you!

Question: What are the most pressing social media questions you have so we can be sure to answer them when we see you!!?

Earlier today, I suggested that social media is just media. Today, I want to share proof that, whatever you call it, it works! According to comScore, a digital marketing intelligence company, the graph below shows a marked increase in the number of discounts and special offers made by retailers on Black Friday (and ten days before and ten days after Black Friday) this year, as compared to in prior years.

According to comScore, retailers’s desire to lure shoppers early in a lousy economy explains this increase. For example, last year, online holiday sales spiked on Cyber Monday. This year, they spiked 3 days earlier on Black Friday.Not only was there a spike, there was an 11% increase in online sales on Black Friday, as compared to a 1% increase on the same day last year.

But the super duper interesting information in comScore’s data is that there is a marked increase in the number of retailers that are using social media to market their products online. Not only that, 28% of consumers surveyed said that social media is influencing their 2009 holiday online purchasing decisions. Quoting comScore:

Consider that Twitter had 19 million site visitors in October of this year, up 12-fold vs. a year ago. In that same period of time, FaceBook’s visitor base has more than doubled, rising from 45 million monthly visitors in October 2008 of 2008 to 97 million today. That’s an incremental 52 million people using the service in only one year! With this kind of reach, it’s clear that social networking can play a prominent role in any retailer’s communication programs.

You simply cannot ignore this data. While I’m not suggesting that you throw bowls of social media spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks, I am suggesting that you incorporate social media and social networking into your existing marketing program in order to positively influence your sales.

Do what you can this year, but be sure to come to one of my intensive training sessions in early 2010 so you can get the hands-on training you need to take advantage of this amazing shift in consumer buying behavior.

Come to one of my workshops in Atlanta (save $100 on early bird registration by December 21!), Chicago, San Francisco or New York! Let’s prepare for next year’s Black Friday together!

Question: What did you do to take advantage of social media this year? Will you do anything differently to increase you success in 2010?