Less words. I promised myself and my readers that I would say more with less this year. I have failed miserably. I write and talk too much.

Here goes my attempt at sharing my latest observation with you by just getting to the point.

Social media is the best business development tool that has ever come down the pike. It’s simple (when you let it be), it’s relational and it’s informational. These are the most effective elements of taking someone who knows nothing about you and your product / service and helping them to decide, on their own, if you are good fit or at lest worthy of a real conversation. It builds trust which builds business.

Simple – If your message is simple people smile because you took the onus off of them to have to figure out what the heck you are saying.

Relational – If you let someone see who you really are, not your business persona, you are way down the road of seeing if there may be a chance to do business. Actual, honest to goodness, well-intentioned, win / win business.

Informational – If you give someone great information and expect nothing in return you are valuable. You are allowing people to make up their mind based on good information. Information you provided. When it’s time to buy you will have an inherently higher position in someone’s pecking order of possible vendors. You are a trusted source. That’s good.

Keep it simple. Build a relationship through giving valuable information. Build trust. Now you are truly developing business and not just a transaction. That’s cool.

In case you didn’t realize it, the title is about me. I know everything about social media and Internet marketing that was and ever will be. Heck, I forget more in a day than you’ll ever know about social media and Internet marketing. I won’t tell you that though because it is better to appear humble and it’s likely that you are so lost about social media and Internet marketing that you won’t even know that I am not sincere. Don’t worry, though, I’ll show pity on you ….. honest.

That wears me out even trying to be satirical about where this whole Internet marketing thing has landed as of late. Superlatives and wild claims rule the day. Supposedly there are millions of clueless business people running around like chickens with their heads cut off yelling (I know, I know their heads are cut off but work with me on this, please) “I need to speak to the one person on the entire planet who has figured all of this out! I know they exist because there about a million people claiming to be just that person!”

Does anyone see how silly this is starting to seem?

I’ll be the honest one here today and I’ll see what you think. I started out in sales of Internet marketing services right at 4 years ago. I knew nothing, as in zilch, about the industry other than it made sense. The whole idea of search and Internet marketing in general intrigued me because I have business experience. Business evolves and the Internet makes the most sense moving forward about how it will continue to do so.

I was blessed to run into some pretty sharp people and I started to learn. I learned as a sales guy first. The technical folks reading this will say that I didn’t know anything while I would fire back that if you can’t apply all of your Internet techno-wizardry to an actual business problem then you don’t know much either. Honestly, I have stayed on the theory side of search marketing until about a year ago and that was out of necessity.

Social media I would be considered a late adopter but I am in it. I have not created any communities though and I am about to get going on a project around that concept that I need to do. Why? Mainly because the subject matter means the world to me and I also need to do it. I need to get my hands dirty.

I write about Internet marketing every day and I have a decent working knowledge of the industry. I am not a pundit but I can see trends and I can see how things fit together. I am learning that there is great value in that because it is not as easy as I seem to think it is.

Honestly, though, I am just another guy trying to figure all of this out and looking to help people in the process. As any search marketer worth their salt would say. “Well, if you are so good you should do it for yourself.” True and I do but I don’t get as much out of that so I don’t concentrate on me like maybe I should.

So I am not actually the “The Most Bestest, Ginormous Social Media and Internet Marketing Guru Expert to Ever Walk the Planet and Breathe In Your Air ……. Ever!” No. I am actually someone who does get certain things but won’t claim that I have done everything.

Who are you?

OK, so passioned is not a real word but that’s the beauty of blogging. I’m not a real journalist either so I call that here at Frank Thinking, grammar rules and proper writing technique are not required. Having said that I can now move on. Thank you.

So what do I mean by ‘under passioned’? Well, let’s first look at the other common cries of the SMB and anyone in today’s workplace for that matter. When marketers / business owners / stakeholders are asked if they are able to do something more to help promote their product or service the typical responses include being under staffed, over worked, under paid and let’s throw in under funded as well. All have their degree of validity and that degree varies from business to business.

The trouble with those responses is that they are losing their validity very quickly. How? First, because they are old responses that are threadbare and they represent an ‘old school’ mindset. Second, there are other options that exist out in the marketplace. These options allow you to do a lot more with a lot less staff and capital. I dare not say less time because that is a fallacy that needs to be stopped in its tracks.

So why are people still using these tired and worn out excuses? I think it is because they are under passioned. It takes passion to push through the barriers that business can throw in your way.

Many people are not passionate about their jobs. In many cases it’s easy to see why since there are many things that people do for a living that are not inherently exciting. While not naturally exciting and cool it doesn’t mean that there are not passionate users of these less than exciting things does it? They have passion for the boring product you market so you need to tap into their passion. Even more importantly you need to ignite yours.

The familiar cry of social media being a way to reach more people who are better qualified and relate to them on a deeper level, however, is true. What it doesn’t do though is stir the passion of the marketer. If that is not coming to the top then it may be time to look for something else to do with your days.

I talk to people all the time who have passion around their product / service or cause but they are doing the same things they have done year in and year out and wondering why they are losing their edge. It’s because they have worked too long with too little and not received too much in return. The old way has sapped some of their enthusiasm and passion and it shows.

Enter social media. If you are passionate about something whether it’s your work or a cause or whatever but have lost your edge stop doing things the way you always have. There are people out there right now that will never see your tired old flyer or Yellow Page ad or newspaper ad or whatever because they are talking and interacting with passionate people in the realm of social media. They are not being talked at rather they are talking with. Big difference. Until you enter into their conversations then you are going to be scratching your head wondering why the same old things aren’t working the same old way.

So if you are complaining about being ‘under anything-ed’ I submit that you need to find the passion again or for the very first time. Otherwise, you will do the worst thing possible and that is to under utilize your considerable talents. Don’t do that disservice to yourself and to those around you. Re-ignite your passion and get involved. There are people that are waiting to hear from you.

I am writing this post to reclaim some time I just lost or, better yet, misplaced. I just snapped out of my social media induced haze (if I had any musical talent I think a “Purple Haze” parody called “Social Haze” would work well). As a result I think I learned a few things. I think I may have ‘spoken’ to a few people. I may have even read a blog post or two. I’m not sure. It’s like a blur.

One thing I do know for sure though is that I didn’t do any real work while I was in this self-induced exile from the real world. That is a bit concerning because since I am ‘in the industry’ I can always say that I did something related to my work, right?

Today I call BS on myself.

Social media has great power to do good things and it can be a tremendous time suck. I need boundaries. I don’t know what they are quite yet because I almost feel like I would be trying to break an addiction of sorts. I am not looking forward to limiting my ‘meandering time’. Trouble is I have to because there is just too much information and an incredible amount of pure crap in social media. (Along those lines, I hate playing games. Don’t send me game things. Keep them to yourselves. Thanks for letting me say that)

What’s your take? What’s your saturation point and how do you filter social media value from social media time wasting?

I had an interesting experience this morning. I blogged yesterday about Google and the spreading of its apps offerings worldwide and someone who read the post was offended by my take. Since it was a blog post from Google I was covering I thought it would be pretty upright of them to discuss that they are working to iron out issues they recently had (read: outages) so as to even out the picture of all is good with the Google world.

The ‘exchange’, as it were, made me think about marketing in general and social media specifically. I realized that the sheer ‘one-sidedness’ is kind of funny in light of how much more well informed the general buying public today. I realized that marketing is so ridiculously one sided in most cases that it is more about product utopia than it is about product reality.

Honestly, it would be refreshing to see a company actually talk about its strengths (be they real, perceived or contrived) along side of its shortcomings. Maybe the masses would find that weird or something they would rather not see but I personally would have great respect for a company that cuts its critics off at the knees and simply tells the whole truth.

Will this ever happen? I doubt it because it is a risky notion. If a company, however, is well known, or even infamous, for a certain behavior wouldn’t it be cool for them to show some humility by admitting the screw-up and addressing it head on. I believe there have been some examples of this in the past but they are so few and far between that I can’t remember clearly enough to state them.

So as a marketer are you a storyteller / fairy tale spinner? Do you really feel good about what you hold back? If you can’t actually say something in your marketing to put the customer or prospective customer at ease about your shortcomings are you working on your product internally to make changes that are obvious to the rest of the world? Does this sound silly to you?

Fortunately, it doesn’t matter how we as marketers feel about it anymore because there are fewer places to hide. Social media has made it harder to tell tall tales about perfect products and flawless delivery. In fact, if you are producing marketing materials that are even suggesting perfection then you are already ID’d as a BS artist.

I’m not saying that you run around telling everyone about your flaws but don’t be silly enough to think that people of any discernment are going to buy your polly-annish product pitch either. The world has changed and marketers need to as well.

So tell your story, tell it succinctly, tell it with humility and tell it like it really is and you will get more attention, which might actually result in more sales. How about that?!

As I find where I fit into this new world media order, I see that the real opportunities are not about business development or lead development or sales or anything directly related to business. It’s simply about people. People are behind every tweet, post, sale or donation but we tend to refer to the post or the tweet or the money as the ends. That’s just the means. The ends are the people you meet and the ways that camaraderie and collegiality play out to help someone else.

For those of you who know me, I am the furthest thing from a hippie that you will ever find. The main reason is that I have really bad hair for growing it long. I would be a really bad looking hippie (We can’t have that, now, can we?). Also, hold on to your hats for this one, I firmly DO NOT believe that everyone is good at the core. As a result, I am a skeptic who still makes poor judgments on character because I want to believe that everyone is good but in my heart I know better.  Argue with me all you want but my source for this position is non-negotiable .

Because of this worldview, I have a pretty serious vetting process before I can truly trust people. I have found over the recent past that there are a few people I truly like and would trust in the social media sphere and I need to tell you about them. Why? It’s because I realize that I don’t talk people up enough. This is a tough world and when you find a ‘good one’ you need to share them with others. Here’s my short list in alphabetical order.

Andy Beal – Full disclosure – I work closely with Andy on his Marketing Pilgrim blog and his Trackur online reputation monitoring tool. Why include him on the list? It’s simple. He gets it. Sure he has a brand and a reputation and all of that but he gets what happens at street level. As a result he is easy to work with and it doesn’t hurt that he truly knows his stuff better than most. Got an ORM issue? Talk to Andy. If you think you don’t have an ORM problem? Still talk to him.you may learn a thing or two. (Twitter – @andybeal and @trackur)

Danny Brown – Danny works so hard to help others it is infectious. I finally spoke to him for real last week and he was just as I suspected; a good guy who happens to also understand social media better than most. Seek out Danny when you have a chance. Read his blog and follow him on Twitter and you’ll see. His efforts to help people through social media are worth taking a look at. We can all learn from that mind set. (Twitter – @dannybrown)

Pat Coyle – I just spoke to Pat for the first time last week and it’s obvious he understands social media. He is the brains behind MyColts.net, Smaller Indiana, Sports Marketing 2.0 and many others. What’s even better is that he is completely transparent and trust is easy to transfer to him right out of the gate. Pat understands why people attach themselves to communities better than anyone I have met thus far. (Twitter – sports20)

Kent Huffman – Kent is the networker’s networker. Kent is the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Bearcom Wireless and his social media exploits on Twitter and other outlets are getting more and more traction by the day. Kent has compiled some of the best marketing minds on the Internet as it relates to the modern marketing world. Follow him on Twitter and see how he is able to connect and move people forward as we all try to figure this social media thing out. Also, keep your eye on Kent in the next few months because he will be helping all out with his efforts. (Twitter – @KentHuffman)

Greg Matthews – Greg is the Director of Innovation at Humana Healthcare. He’ll admit that it’s a broad title that simply allows him to experiment. This he gets to see how a big insurance company can shake off the insurance company image and actually reach out to it’s customers and prospective customers. If you are in a public company and think that there is no way you could pull off a social media strategy catch up with Greg and let him prove you wrong. Oh and along the way, he’ll inspire you as well. Follow one of the good guys and you’ll be better for it. (twitter – @chimoose)

Mike Moran – Another full disclosure; I write for Mike’s Biznology blog every Friday. That in and of itself is enough reason to count Mike in this list. Why? Well, Mike spent 30 years at IBM and has patents in his name regarding search technology and quite simply, he’s a lot smarter than me! We met at an event where I had to follow his presentation on search marketing with my very first public appearance regarding anything Internet marketing related. Despite that he has become a real friend and ally in a space where it’s good to have both of those. Oh and if you need a guy who can work the corporate side of the Internet Mike is a great choice. Heck, he survived for 30 years at Big Blue….that counts for something, right? (Twitter – @mikemoran)

So is this ‘suck-up’ post? I guess to some degree but so what? There are so few people in this social media world that each of us can comfortably call ‘genuine’. There are a lot of people that seem nice and well intentioned but do we really know?  As a result, it might be a good idea for all of us to talk about the good guys and gals who are doing this for the right reasons.

Oh and since your definition of the right reasons may differ from mine that’s cool, just do it anyway.

Thanks and please give these folks some attention. We will all learn something then.