I have an overwhelming passion and love for Jazz. Jazz gave me the opportunity to develop my creative side in new and exciting ways. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some really talented artists and teachers along the way. The Detroit Jazz Festival has been streaming live and while enjoying the show, the connection between social media and Jazz became apparent. Developing your own brand and creating your own content are important to both. Here are a few insights that may come in handy on your social media journey.

Sometimes We Need To Run Before We Can Walk

One of my favorite parts of Jazz is improvisaton, which has to be one of the coolest things ever. In order to be any good at it you need to first make a ton of mistakes. You can listen and study to many of the Jazz greats but at some point you just need to give it a go. Once that first note is played – you are live – and no matter how bad or good it goes you need to keep going. There is no slowing down and this can be extremely uncomfortable at first. You may play a wrong note or two, but you can’t take it back so the only thing to do is to keep playing. With Social the same applies. Learning everyday and taking small consistent steps is important, but at some point if you don’t start taking risks expressing yourself you will never get any better at it. The sooner you start the sooner you will be able to leverage the opportunities that will come with your actions. Once you master this skill it will be so much more enjoyable.

Engagement – The Secret Talent of the Famous

Famous Jazz stars will tell you that engaging with their audience and making them feel like a part of the music is key to a successful performance. Sound familar? Just like in social media you need to “engage” and help make people really feel a part of your content. Just engaging is not enough – how you engage matters.

Learn From Your Mistakes

The more mistakes you make in the pursuit of excellence the better you get. It’s just that simple. Applying this to social media allows us to get instant feedback of how well we are doing. Study that feedback. One important note is that just because you may not be getting the results you desire, that does not necessarily mean you are doing anything wrong. You may just need a slight adjustment or a little more perseverance.

Make It Your Own

Jazz standards have been around for years, but great artists have a way of making them their own. In order to stand out you need to have your own style, personality and your own unique content. You have to have something “different” to offer. I suggest that you take risks with social media and let your personal style come out. Give people a reason to come back for more.

If you need a little inspiration while leaving a comment or sharing this post take a minute to enjoy some sweet smooth streaming Jazz.

It was originally thought that social intelligence was another classification of intelligence. Just like Human Intelligence, Business Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence and so on.

It was thought that social intelligence has five key elements 

• Presence
• Clarity
• Awareness
• Dependability
• Compassion

People that possessed these key elements were often thought to have high social intelligence. People liked to be around them, they were respected by others and could be influential.

However, now Social Intelligence is being thought of as the process of collecting information about people through social networking channels. This information is then being analyzed to gain insights to make crucial hiring decisions. Social media is being used more and more by recruiters, which has made the adoption of this social technology inevitable.

Because of this next generation of social technology, a new company called Social Intelligence has gained the attention of the mass media.

Social Intelligence has a background screening service that enables employers to navigate the complicated landscape of social media with clear, consistent, and insightful results. Using a combination of automated and manual review processes, Social Intelligence empowers human resource professionals to make informed hiring decisions without the associated risks.

It can be hit and miss if you are trying to do some detective work on your own using Google on that prospective employee. Employers can find themselves vulnerable to discrimination charges and other legal risks as they may be subjected to information such as Marital Status, Race, Sexual Orientation, etc. that are not legally allowed to sway their hiring decision.

Social Intelligence generates reports based on employer pre-defined criteria, both positive and negative. Negative examples include racist remarks or activities, sexually explicit photos or videos, and illegal activity such as drug use. Positive examples include charitable or volunteer efforts, participation in industry blogs, and external recognition.

Social Intelligence Corp requires job applicants to explicitly authorize the use of social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube,  as part of their background screening process. Reports are only generated when publicly available social media information matches the employer’s pre-defined criteria.

If you are searching for a job, and use any of these networks, be aware that you may have to sign something that allows recruiters or employers to check out your background online.

Social intelligence tools search for what the companies direct it to find and stays away from giving employers information that might be considered discriminatory to the hiring process. Employers, for example, cannot legally make hiring decisions based on race, religion, marital status or disability.

Here is a video interview with the President and CEO of Social Intellignce, Max Ducker:

(Photo Credit) http://encefalus.com/

Pre-orders for the new iPhone 4S have out-staged all previous records by topping a million says Apple.

We were all so very disappointed that there was no iPhone 5 with a brand spanking new design and bigger screen. After studying the inside specs of the new smartphone – it seems we have all changed our minds, and decided to put our money on the iPhone 4S. It would be hard to imagine that the tragic passing of Steve Jobs only a day after the announcement wouldn’t have also made an impact on sales.  It was reported Monday that even Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide products, said that Apple was “Blown Away” by the success.

Reasons we have gone mad to pre-order the iPhone 4S 

The dual-core A5 chip delivers even more power. The 8MP camera with all-new optics also shoots 1080p HD video. And with Siri, iPhone 4S does what you ask. Talk about amazing.

What’s different about the iPhone 4S

Siri – Voice activation (Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean and even talks back)

Dual-core A5 Chip

8 Mega pixel camera with a custom lens and a larger f/2.4 aperture

Video recording, in 1080p amazing HD.

iCloud

Retina Display

Better Facetime

AirPlay – wirelessly stream whats on your iPhone to your TV

AirPrint – print everything wirelessly

Available on the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad from the 12th of October

Notification Center

Messages with iMessage

Reminders

Twitter Integration

Photo Editing

Camera Enhancements

Longer Battery Life

More Security

Parental Controls

So, there you have it, I think we can all see now why everyone has gone crazy to get their hands on the new iPhone 4S . I wasn’t too keen on the idea at first but I am still planning on upgrading to this new model. What are your thoughts on the new iPhone 4S? Is it worth the upgrade? What features are you most looking forward to?

I am having a blast representing @VisierAnalytics’ social media presence at the 14th Annual HR technology Conference in Madalay Bay Las Vegas – which runs from October 3rd through to the 5th.
Human resource professionals are realizing the need for social media to help them achieve their recruiting and talent management goals. Social Media may be an obvious fit for marketing and customer service, but what about HR? Online social capital is starting to become more important than any traditional resume. Leaders in the HR technology and talent management worlds are not only embracing social but are already taking advantage of it in ways only recently thought possible. Job postings are starting to pop up on twitter and facebook, as well as widgets such as the linkedin apply button where candidates can apply for jobs right from their linkedin profile. This is just the beginning of how HR professionals are succeeding at using social media to find the right people – at the right time – for the right job.

At the conference they are focusing on three critical areas

• Talent Management
• Social & Mobile
• Workforce Analytics & Planning.

Three areas that have caught my attention when it comes to social media and human resources are:

1. Using social media to ethically and efficiently screen and recruit ideal candidates.

2. Using social media to nurture the company’s culture, values and vision.
Social media applications are being used to increase productivity and help employees effectively manage tasks. These types of achievements encourage employees to become brand ambassadors and help to grow the company culture.

3. Using social media to monitor your employees social communication.
The primary goals of employee monitoring are to track the activity of existing employees, enforce an organization’s social media policy, increase productivity, and mitigate the risk of a potential disaster.

Here are a few highlights of the conversations being had today around social media with the #HRTechConf hashtag.

You can follow @VisierAnalytics and the hashtag #HRTechConf for real time tweets to see for yourself how social media is helping the HR community evolve with technology.

Visier Website

There have been a lot of changes happening on Google Analytics over the last week:  there have been design updates to the new interface, and Google has announced a new option of Google Analytics Premium.And now, the feature that we have all been waiting for has been launched – REAL-TIME stats!

It has always been frustrating that with the Google Analytics tool that you have to wait a full 24 hours to see how a particular blog post has performed.

That is a frustration of the past, as Google Analytics have started to roll out Real-time.  This means that you will receive a whole new set of reports that show what is happening on your site as it  happens. Finally, you can have statistics that will inform you of how your actions have effected your traffic immediately.  You will be able to see which social networking sites are driving traffic to your site by analyzing direct trends, and when they cease. You will even be able to see clearly what time of day has been best for your audience that instance.  However, you will need to be using the new version of Google Analytics so if you haven’t changed over yet, this might be a reason to do so.

To access Real-time reports click on the dashboards tab – or in future that home tab (in the new interface).

Google have only turned on Real-Time for a few users and say that they will be giving access to everyone over the coming weeks.

To sign up for early access which may help a little, click https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/

Dear Successful Business Leader,

Your day is full doing what you do best – running your company. You may not have any interest in learning about new social technologies or how they can help you communicate with your audience. You already have great relationships with your customers, and wonder – why would I need to connect with them online too? Here’s the thing though, social is drastically changing the world and the business world. Deciding not to participate is a huge missed opportunity. A few statistics:

• For the first time ever, 50% of all American adults are using social networking sites (vs. 29% in ’08 via Read Write Web)
• 86% of Gen X, 81% of Younger Boomers and 76% of Older Boomers are online – meaning a solid majority of working-age adults are online (Marketing Charts Dec 2010).
• 58% of all American adults perform online research on the products and services they consider purchasing (Pew Internet September 2010).

“You’re hearing, seeing it, and feeling the ground shift under your feet.” – quote from the book NOW Revolution by Jay Baer & Amber Naslund. Listen to that nagging thought that’s encouraging you to get social! It can be integrated into your business in so many ways – research & development, improving the customer feedback loop, marketing, customer service, and networking for sales or to building strategic alliances. In order to make awesome social media decisions for your business you need to keep up with what is happening in the social space.

Our digital and physical worlds are moving closer together. In the digital world, everything makes a permanent impression online. This can either be a positive or a negative impression. Building your brand, and monitoring your reputation online has to be approached with the long-term in mind. Yes, social media is a marketing channel, but it is so much more and needs to be treated that way.

It takes time to develop meaningful relationships – in real life AND online. You can’t be ‘salesy’ too soon. You wouldn’t  walk up to a stranger at a business mixer and immediately give them your sales pitch. That is one of the hardest things to explain to business leaders – on social channels you can’t try to sell too soon, and you must be patient. Be likeable, be conversational – just like business chit chat in real life. Whether you have a small or larger business, you will need a consistent effort for a minimum of 6-12 months for the best chance of success.

In the next few years we will see an amazing amount of deeper integration of digital networking into real life. This means that brands that don’t have a good presence in this space will have an even a harder time catching up to the companies that are currently investing. The only way to have a successful social media presence is if people actually read and engage with you and your content. This is where your first investment comes in. It’s important not to think about personal gain for you or your company, but to focus on how you can serve and contribute to the social community you wish to become part of. Social Media is about giving first, sharing information and promoting others. It allows the opportunity to add value to everyone’s online experience. This gives companies and brands a chance to do the opposite of what consumers have come to expect with the same old marketing advertorial type message. Businesses are built on relationships – one customer and one referral at a time. We have an incredible opportunity to contribute and genuinely connect with our audience every day through social media at a faster rate then ever before – in real time.

You may have noticed that social has gone global. We are at a point now where the question isn’t if you should invest in social but rather what is your budget (time or $) and how do you get started? You have 2 main options when it comes to creating and implementing a social media marketing campaign.

1. DIY: “Do It Yourself” If you are a small business where there is no budget or very little budget then you really don’t have much choice but to start learning about how social works and how to implement it yourself. Fortunately there are some fantastic resources online such as Social Media Examiner and Social Media Today (and there are a bajillion more!). If you have some budget, then hiring a qualified social media consultant or trainer will save you tons of hours of frustration and will help to accelerate the learning curve.

2. Hire a person or team to represent you. People ask me how can you effectively represent someone else on social media, when social media needs to be such an authentic voice. The only way to be awesome at social media is to care and to participate daily. You must care about not just the company you represent but the people and culture that makes that company great. Whether it’s an outside consultant, or an existing or new employee, your social ambassador needs to have some understanding of your business and your industry in order to have valuable public conversation in real time.

I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and embrace social! Start with small steps if you need to, but start taking action now, so you don’t have to regret not trying.

Here are more interesting stats from Erik Qualmann of Socialnomics – Social Media Revolution 3 (June 2011):

Are you an experienced social media user? What were the first steps you took when you started to learn? Has it been worth your time/investment? As they say in Social Media Club, “If you get it, share it.” Please share your experience in the comments below. I look forward to reading your thoughts and answering your questions!

Stay Social,
Sean Charles
Follow @SocialMediaSean

 Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Foursquare and Linkedin are just a few of the popular social networks that work best when they are connected together. Twitter is a very important social network for you to understand if you are in business or just like to be able to connect with the world in real time. Unlike Facebook and many of the other similar social networks twitter is public. The reason this is so important is that in order to reach the key influences and your target market you need to leverage the open nature of twitter to find those people. Below I have done up a tutorial to help you increase your twitter influence and active connections. If you are newer to social media marketing regardless of your background you are in luck because now a days it’s not how much you think you know but how quickly you can learn and apply that knowledge. This tutorial may be a really good investment of your time especially if you have a large Facebook network. You will need a Yahoo mail account to make this work but once you set that up it is pretty straight forward. I am always happy to help so if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below. FYI: I will be zooming in on my next tutorial to make it easier to see. Subscribe HERE to get notified when it is released.

Follow @SocialMediaSean

Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable, with Dennis Crowley, Foursquare CEO and co-founder – Image courtesy of @mostlylisa via Twitter
There are so many great Social Media and Tech events going on all around the world this year. One really cool thing about Social Media is you can still participate, learn and interact with these events virtually from the comfort of your home or office. Honestly, if you are not into getting your junk inspected at the airports, waiting for flight delays and spending some serious cash you may be better off attending your favorite events online and through twitter anyways. More and more Social Media and Technology events are currently being streamed live over the internet either though Livestream or Ustream. The great thing about these technologies is that they are free to use and they allow you in many cases to participate in a chat with the channel so it feels really interactive, unlike traditional TV.

Happening right now is SXSW® Interactive AKA (South by South West) that features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, the incredible new SXSW Trade Show and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer. The event is taking place March 11-15, 2011 in Austin, Texas.

I have been following the hashtage #SXSW on Twitter since the event started and have noticed tons of people who are bummed out about not attending this years South by Southwest so I have included some links to some cool videos from the conference below.

SXSW Keynotes and Featured Speakers

Pete Cashmore CEO of Mashable with Dennis Crowley, Foursquare CEO SXSW

Hello, my name is Sean and I am a Twitterholic. Well, almost. I first started using and studying twitter about 2 years ago now. I see a massive opportunity to leverage all these new social technologies to bring me and my business into the forefront of the consulting and training industry. Twitter does so much more than just helping my business and other businesses grow. I am connecting with people and other leaders in various industries that, though traditional media, I would of never had the chance to connect with on such a regular and intimate basis.Sure, there were, and still are, skeptics of twitter and social media. Now, TV land and prime time have latched onto twitter; there is no end in sight. Everyone from Celebrities to CNN to Late Night talk shows have jumped on the bandwagon – and with a vengeance. When Jimmy Fallon starts a # hashtag on twitter it ends up trending – meaning he is able to keep his audience engaged while in the past they would be just watching the television. Not only that, it gives his fans a way to connect with him like never before and keep people talking about him between shows.

Another thing I love about twitter is brevity. Instead of taking a year to write a book then go through all the publishing and marketing hoops, we can all now share our most valuable asset with the world instantly and get immediate feedback. This really helps me to refine my message to best help people and businesses who also want to maximize this amazing technology.

Much to my surprise, I have now met more people in real life at a physical location in my city or in the world because of meeting them on twitter. Many of my best friends, clients and business connections I actually met on twitter first. The reason I utilize twitter for making new connections is I can so easily go back in their tweets and, based on the way they communicate, I can decide whether this is a person I would like to get to know better.

Google is great and they are working hard to integrate social search into the results. Yet with twitter I can find information from people I already have a relationship with and in pretty much real time. Building relationships in life and business is nothing new but with Social Media and Social Technologies, it encourages us be transparent. As soon as people notice your twitter stream just looks like another way for you to market to your clients, they stop listening. Many, in time, will un-follow you.

We are tired of being bombarded with advertisements and are more interested in companies that care about social responsibility and their customers’ needs. Twitter is totally open and you can see very quickly if you like the way a business conducts themselves. It’s hard to come up with phony press releases in real time. Don’t we as citizens of this earth just want the truth? Twitter allows us to get past the opinions of the media outlets and get the facts right from the source.

We can now decide for ourselves what our own opinion is without influence from the media. That said, the media is working hard to get here. By the time they run the real-time news past all the decision-makers, they just cannot keep up anymore. Obviously, we do not believe everything we read and that’s why twitter is great – you get the news from people all around the world straight from the source with little or no agenda.

SocialMediaSean

According to the Facebook Developers Blog there are more then 150 million people actively using Facebook from mobile devices. Facebook is continuing it’s efforts to make Facebook a truly mobile experience for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The Facebook SDK for iOS recently launched Facebook SDK for Android, mobile developers can easily build social apps with the latest technology across two of the most popular mobile platforms. Here are some of the latest updates from the Facebook developers blog and Twitter.

For those of you that are already playing games on Facebook this will come as no surprise but Facebook now gives you the option to purchase Facebook Credits. Not only is Facebook virtually currency becoming real it looks as if we may be doing much more of our online shopping right through Facebook. You are able to purchase real Facebook currency right from your computer or mobile device.

Facebook Credits are a virtual currency you can use to buy gifts, and virtual goods in many games and applications on the Facebook platform. These include some of the most popular app developers in the iTunes store: Electronic Arts, foursquare, PopCap, SGN, Tapulous, Zynga, and Booyah, who have worked with the SDKs to build fun, social mobile apps and increase app distribution and user engagement.

Facebook has also added two key new features will make it easier for Facebook developers to get their apps social ASAP.

• Use of the Graph API
• Authentication with OAuth 2.0

Facebook continues with it’s changes by reducing tab widths on their Facebook Pages from 760px to 520px the week of August 23^rd. Your Business or Brand’s custom landing page on Facebook may need to be edited on the FBML tab to adjust or edit  your page layout accordingly.

Small, medium and large brands across the globe are jumping on the Social Media Marketing band wagon with an increased focus on mobile business results. What type of Facebook presence do you have and do you have a detailed plan on how you are going to keep your business search- able by your local or web based customers. Take a quick look and see how your website or blog looks from a mobile device like an iPhone or Android mobile phone.

We will be watching Facebook closely for continued updates and how to best leverage this exciting new social technology for SOCIALMEDIASEAN and our social media marketing and business consulting clients here in Victoria BC and around the world.