You have a good idea. You have courage and you’re willing to take a risk. You’re an entrepreneur and you can change the world.

Zig Ziglar says, “you are who you are and where you are because of what’s gone into your mind. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.” Here’s a Monday morning micro-pep talk to help put business building thoughts into your head today.

[major hat tip to Kristof for introducing me to this video on his blog post Be Inspired Every Morning]

Confession: Apparently I’ve been being a bad boy on LinkedIn. Though there’s no rules committee for how to use social media, there are cultural expectations. Chris Brogan and several others have convinced me that there is a better way to use LinkedIn.

The big three of social media for me are: Twitter, my blog, and someplace to house video. I have a presence on about 50 different social media platforms, but my big three get most of my attention. My Twitter stream is tied to nearly all the rest. Not every tweet goes to LinkedIn, but a lot of them do.

So far, LinkedIn has not been a destination site for me. It’s a closed system that doesn’t make sharing outside the system easy, so I don’t go there often, but I do send information there often.

It seems there are many who do see LinkedIn as a destination site—a very special destination site. Here are the special attributes of LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn is a unique cultural setting: Viveka von Rosen, who is LinkedInExpert on Twitter, says “LinkedIn is a different social media culture.” LinkedIn users tend to be professionals who are serious about business connections. If social media were school levels, LinkedIn would be grad school. (I’ll let you decide what’s high school, grammar school and kindergarten.)
• LinkedIn users have fairly well-defined expectations: Kammy Burleson, who is ynotweb on Twitter, values LinkedIn’s “low noice-to-signal ratio,” and suggests LinkedIn users expect to find only job/work/career related content there. Facebook may be more about friends (maybe Facebook isn’t a school level; maybe it’s recess, but with an overbearing school marm), and Twitter may be about everything under the sun and beyond, but LinkedIn is BUSINESS!
• LinkedIn users can easily mute someone: Chris Brogan notes that not only is it easy to mute someone on LinkedIn, it’s quite easy to leave them muted FOREVER. So, if you ever want to be noticed on LinkedIn, it’s probably best to avoid the things that get you muted.

So what are the lessons for me?

1. I’ll seriously throttle back my Tweets-to-LinkedIn ratio. Now I probably post about 15 to 20 tweets a day to LinkedIn; tomorrow, maybe just 1 or 2.
2. I’ll ponder the biggest “aha” a little longer—the cultural distinctions between social media platform. It seems like Facebook is the playground where already-known friends hang out together; Twitter is the world bazaar; and LinkedIn is for getting work done.

Craig McGill sums it up well, “make sure tweets that go to LinkedIn are relevant to worklife and aren’t personal.”

What do you think?

If you’re struggling to create compelling content for your blog or enewsletter, here are some simple steps you can follow for a never-ending supply of great blog content ideas.

Here are some simple steps for creating compelling content

1. Pay attention to the big news stories
2. Pay attention to the online universe
3. Think “story”
4. Connect the dots

The Big Story Everyone’s Paying Attention to
Our beloved Apple (the company formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc.) has changed. It was once the scrappy underdog with serious creative attitude. But then something happened. They became wildly successful, released a “magical and revolutionary” new product, which they followed up with another great product that “changes everything, again.”

The Online Universe is Paying Attention to and Talking about the Big Story
At the moment, Apple has stumbled. The product that “changes everything, again,” the vaunted iPhone 4.0, apparently doesn’t work right. A Google search of “iPhone recall” at 10:00am on July 16, 2010 returned 7.8 million documents. A tweet from the parody Twitter profile CEOSteveJobs saying, “The only recall you’ll get on your iPhone is from pressing redial” has been retweeted over 400 times within the last nine hours.

Think Story
You’re probably already thinking about the story most of us in the Western world might connect with the Apple story. It’s a story connection that popped into my mind when I saw the cover of FastCompany’s latest cover. They called Apple “invincible.”

Connecting the Dots
Olivier Blanchard, who is quite well-known as @thebrandbuilder, is skilled at  picking up of the major undercurrents flowing through both traditional media and online media. After the BBC contacted him to get his thoughts on Apple’s looming fall from grace (Olivier Blanchard quoted in the BBC), Olivier wrote a thorough blog post analyzing Apple’s past, present, and possible future. He started with that story we readily recognize—David and Goliath.

There’s only one Olivier Blanchard, so don’t be intimidated by the length or thoroughness of his David and Goliath Apple post. Instead, see how he saw the archetypes and masterfully crafted a modern day story from them by combining a current news story and online chatter.

If you’ll pay attention to the current news stories and what the online world is saying about them, you can call up your favorite archetypes and create compelling content for your blog.

Sources for archetypes
The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brand Through the Power of Archetypes by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson
The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By by Carol Pearson
Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World by Carol Pearson
The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations by Stephen Denning
The Story Factor by Annette Simmons (see her Six Types of Stories for helpful story categories)

If you want to use social media to build relationships with your customers and prospects, you’ll want to have a very good idea of exactly who they are. ExactTarget and CoTweet have done the heavy-lifting to develop 12 online personas to help you understand customer expectations and behavior on social media.

Their report examines both user-generated content and user-content consumption and charts the results. Here is a quick list of the 12 social media profiles.

1. Inner Circle: more interested in keeping and enhancing existing relationships than making new ones. Facebook is the tool of choice. Marketers will have a tough time reaching them.
2. Cautious: very selective about what they share online. If they “Like” a company Facebook Page, it’s only because their friend owns the company. Facebook is their daily tool, but they attempt to keep their social footprint small.
3. Info Seeker: they’re in search of information and consume it when they find it. They don’t create much content. They’ll “Like” a Facebook Page so they can share, not receive.
4. Enthusiasts: their offline interests and hobbies drive them online. They intentionally use Facebook to show their support for favorite brands. Enthusiasts rely on each other, not companies, for information.
5. Deal Seekers: they’re hungry for promotional content everywhere they can get it. Believe it or not, their median income is actually above the national media income.
6. Shoppers: these folks are more interested in talking about shopping than actually buying something online. Instead, they scour the Internet researching upcoming purchases. Quality, not savings, drives their quest for content.
7. News Junkie: you know this one—they spend a lot of time searching for late-breaking news. The contribute a ton of content, too, especially as comments on news sites. Surprisingly, they’re even “more likely to read product reviews than Shoppers, Enthusiasts, and Deal Seekers.”
8. Gamer: the Internet exists to connect these folks with both games and other gamers.
9. Social Butterfly: you also know this one—”making and maintaining a lot of online friendships” is top priority for them. [hey, stop staring at me. I'm not a social butterfly. I could stop at any time, if I wanted to. Really, I could.] They both create and consume massive amounts of content. Folks fitting this persona make up a relatively small portion (13%) of online users.
10. Business First: heavy content creators but focused on using everything for business purposes. Also a small group (8%). Though they’re not likely to follow brands on Twitter, “they are the most active on Twitter.” Facebook is NOT the tool of choice. [see, I told you I'm not a Social Butterfly. I'm a Business First guy, right? Oh, wait, maybe not: this is the "most affluent" persona. Guess I'm back to Social Butterfly.]
11. Megaphone: another one you’re probably quite familiar with. They’re aggressive online, receive more email than anyone else, but see Facebook and Twitter as preferred avenues of interaction with brands. While they’re The Influencers, they are also easily influenced and are “more likely to become a subscriber, fan or follower at the recommendation of others.”
12. Open Book: they lay it all out on the table. Though they don’t follow brands on Twitter, they are very active on Twitter. If you want to reach them, you’ll have to be very open in encouraging and responding to candid feedback.

How to leverage personas to build your business:

1. Download the complete The Social Profile #3 report
2. Understand that the audience/participants online are just as diverse as human beings are offline (like, in the real world)
3. Come to grips with the concept of providing every thing you do in as many forms and on as many platforms as you possibly can
4. Even so, focus on the one thing you do that creates value for other people
5. Determine who you can help best, get a clear picture of who they are, where they are, and what they expect, and
6. Make sure those people have Wow! experiences with you.

That’s all.

Free download of complete report of the 12 personas of people using social media:  The Social Profile #3.

More by ExactTarget:

• Help your C-Suite Get Serious About Social Media: a post on MarketingProfs (contributor)
• Jay Baer’s original post for Help Your C-Suite Get Serious About Social Media: short, actionable letters to encourage your C-Suite to get in the game.
• ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans & Followers Social Media Research Page

Toy Story 3 is an incredible story. Yep, even at my age I cried through the buildup to the ending. (The fact that my oldest three children are 20, 18, and 16 may have something to do with that; the three youngest are getting old, too: 8, 10, and 13; so, yes, it’s expensive to go to a movie!)

One of the lead characters is Sheriff Woody. If you can grasp Woody’s worldview, you just might get that social media return on investment you say you’re looking for.

A Toy Story 3 sticker collection available through one of my clients

Early into this third installment, Woody summarizes the worldview he’s displayed throughout the series. It happens shortly after the dinosaur bemoans the lack of attention he’s getting from Andy, their owner: “We’re NEVER going to get play time!” he says.

Woody stops the toys, channels Tony Robbins, and says, “It’s NOT about PLAY TIME! It’s about being here for Andy!”

That’s the key. Notice the difference in worldviews. That’s the element that must change IF your company wants to “leverage social media” or leverage anything else that involves connecting with human beings.

The dinosaur’s referent point of priority was himself. For him, life was “all about me.” Woody’s referent point was not self, but Andy. The movie shows us Woody’s worldview positioned him for success. At the end of the movie, we see that all of the toys found ultimate value NOT in being played with. Instead, their joy and fulfillment came from being there—meeting the needs of someone else.

Toy Story 3 presents the hero we crave. Woody is a hero in so many ways:

• he was driven by purpose (not policy; not procedure; not public opinion)
• he was willing to stand against popular opinion to stay true to purpose
• he was willing to endure personal sacrifice to pursue purpose
• he not only stayed true to purpose for himself, he also constantly sought to keep the community focused on purpose
• he was willing to embrace everyone, even a villain
• he took sacrificial action to help that villain
• he confronted with crisis of purpose, he made the necessary adjustments but stayed true to purpose anyway (note how the whole community came to the same conclusion)

Every company needs a Woody. Sometimes such a hero can be “at the top.” These days, it’s just as likely your Woody is that twenty-something arguing for more resources to engage with your Andys online (i.e., the one who’s begging you to take Tweeters and Bloggers seriously).

Who’s your Woody? Like Sheriff Woody says, “If you don’t have one, get one!”

[the Toy Story 3 Sticker Collection is available from SmileMakers]

Seth continues to demonstrate the use of new currency: free. Here’s his personal addendum to the best-selling Linchin. It’s called Insubordinate.

Seth asks, “What the opposite of insubordinate?” The answer requires a label none of us entrepreneurs and small business owners want to wear: SUBordinate. So, I reckon the world of opportunities awaits the insubordinate. Wonder if corporate America could turn the insubordinates loose?

Download your free 40-page ebook Insubordinate. (shared with permission of the author)

Get an MP3 of Seth Godin’s small group presentation of Linchpin in Manhattan recently.

Wondering how to put Facebook to work building connections with prospects and customers? You can use unused photos from your catalog photo shoot to give catalog recipients behind-the-scenes access. When you do, you use the power of social media to help customers experience your “who we are” story for themselves. You make it possible for them to personalize your story and make it their own. Encourage comments. More importantly, ACKNOWLEDGE comments.

from DHC's August 2010 catalog

Here’s an example of a direct mail company integrating social media with a printed catalog to give customers greater access to how-things-work at the company. They’re leveraging an asset that would have been discarded in the past (extra photos from a photo shoot) to create a new opportunity for customers to understand them better. DHC is effective in shining the spotlight on others—a solid Spitball Marketing principle hard at work.

“Word-of-mouth marketing is the greatest thing since…”

“It’s all about stimulating word-of-mouth conversations…”

Okay. So, what IS word-of-mouth?

As part of their quite robust celebration of ten years of doing word-of-mouth together, my friends at 1000Heads put together a compelling info-graphic to clarify the phrase once-and-for-all. Visit 1000Heads for a complete definition of word-of-mouth marketing.

Why be excited about a firm 3,600 miles away from me, in another country, celebrating their 10th anniversary? It comes down to two simple reasons: 1. Molly Flatt and 2. James Whatley. Here are two videos of the United Kingdom’s word-of-mouth evangelists so you can see for yourself just how charming, captivating, and bright these folks are. Y’all enjoy now, ya hear.

If you’re in business, you probably want to increase your sales, get more customers, get more business. Sometimes we need 7 Habits or 12 Steps to get what we want. Sometimes all we need are the words our kindergarten teachers told us.

When I was in London recently, I asked a 19-year old small business owner—a rickshaw driver—how he got people to notice him and buy his services. He eloquently defined the key for getting more business for him:

1. nice speaking
2. smile every time

More importantly, he demonstrated all three by what he DID. (Oh, I just listed two? Here are the three things he did to increase his business: 1. Be nice. 2. Be pleasant. 3. Work hard!)

More posts featuring hard-working entrepreneurs in big cities:

• Entrepreneurship Manhattan Style (the New York Pedicab Driver)
• Sales Sizzle New York City Style (the Manhattan Street Vendor: Show your sales force THIS before sending them out into their sales week. They’ll sell more.)

What do you do when Google doesn’t have what you’re looking for? (Okay, Google probably DOES have it, but you just don’t know how to ask the right question.) That’s the question a friend asked me just yesterday. Whenever I need something, the first thing I think of is Twitter (you’re shocked, right?)

A few minutes ago I attempted to add a background image to my WordPress site. I use the beautiful theme Thesis, so I started my search for info at the home page for Thesis. Found the instructions; followed them; graphic showed up, but not where I wanted it.

Turned to Google for my second info search. Problem was, I only knew enough about my question to be dangerous. My Google query was “CSS position declaration top left.” Google returned plenty of results; most were way, way over my head.

After about 20 minutes of mind-pounding reading and experimenting with CSS code, I turned to Old Faithful: Twitter. Here’s my Twitter query: Here are the responses that started coming in within 15 minutes:

It’s amazing who’s on Twitter and how generous they are with their help. Twitter connects bright people together. Together they add immense value to one’s online experience.

[B2B Magazine just published a study about Twitter use. They found that those who invested more time, effort, and money into Twitter not only enjoyed Twitter more, but actually got new customers, too! Here's my post on B2BBloggers.com: B2B Twitter Research Uncovers "Secret" to Success.]

Connect with these friends on Twitter: Namnum, Kristof, and Chris.