Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

Start your new year off right by completing this 10 minute exercise:

1. Write down the names of 3 people who helped you develop yourself or your business in 2011. Then, show your gratitude by sending them a thank you card, email or message on a social network.

2. Write down 3 ways you added professional value to others in 2011. Then, congratulate yourself out loud.

You may be thinking, What does this have to do with social media?
It has everything to do with the effective use of social media for business. Read on.

3. To build solid business relationships on the social web, it is essential to add professional value to others and show appreciation for those who add professional value to you. The final step in this exercise is to copy, write down or save the sentence above in your Personal Social Media Guidelines file. Don’t have one? Start one now.

Happy New Year!
And, if you haven’t registered for the January 4th, Noon CT premiere of The Daily Expansion Show-a free webinar, do it now: Register NOW!

Connections. Friends. Followers. Credibility. Visibility. Reach. Influence.

This is the language of Social Media.

A web site is no longer enough.  People want availability and interaction.  Decision makers are struggling to determine which communication channels to use, what to publish, how to engage and manage conversations and who in the organization is responsible.  To achieve success in the social spaces, companies need to expand daily. This requires:

1. A strategy tied to defined organizational objectives.
2. Systems to manage content, conversations and teams.
3. People who understand the language, culture and tools of the social web.

While the tools are new, we’re not.  From modems and Mosaic (circa 1993) to the social web of 2010,  Michelle Cullison, President of Daystar New Media, has been applying internet technology to meet the business objectives of  her clients.

Are you Ready to expand your business EVERY DAY? Start reading the blog, susbscribe to my enewsletter and contact me to book a free 20-minute phone consult.

Businesses are using YouTube for marketing, education, communications, product information, technical instruction and inspiration.

Follow these 5 steps to create your own Youtube Channel:

1. Decide on your Youtube Channel Name. This name will entered as the USERNAME in the account creation process.
2. Go to Youtube.com and click Create Account.
   Username becomes Channel name. For corporate branding, you will likely make the username your business or brand name.For personal branding, the username should be your first and last name.
3. Develop your profile.
   Enter your website,  company name, first and last name.  Fill your profile with details about the contents of your channel. Consider how people will search for content like yours and include those keywords in your profile. Always match your text content to your video content.
4. Develop Your channel .
   Customize your channel by entering a Channel Title, Description, keywords and colors.
5. Post your first video! You can use existing professional video, create one with a webcam or utilize a simple camera like the FLIP.

Grab your Youtube Channel now even if you aren’t ready to post video.  You don’t want to lose rights to your branded Youtube Channel URL.

HootSuite.com is a web-based service that is marketed as a Twitter Client. However, it is so much more!

With a free account, you can manage and post status updates with one-click on these social sites:

• Twitter Profiles
• Facebook Profiles and Pages
• LinkedIn Profiles
• MySpace and FourSquare Profiles
• WordPress.com sites and
• Ping.fm account (a multi-account management tool that accesses numerous networks.)

HootSuite, one of my favorite One-Click Social Media Management tools, can help you manage your social presence effectively so you can spend more time doing whatever YOU want to do!  Not only can you post in multiple places, you can also schedule posts.  Scheduling your posts allows you to manage your time more effectively.  You can set up the posts when it is convenient for you yet schedule them to go out at the most convenient time for your target audience.

HootSuite continues to add functionality that makes social media more manageable.
You can get a free account by signing up at HootSuite.com.

To learn more about social media management and productivity, check out the Social Media Management Seminars at Social Media School in New Orleans.

Intuitive, precision, dynamic search with less complicated queries-that’s what the new faceted search feature offers! You’ll find the new filters on the left of the people search page in LinkedIn. The filter fields available are unique to your search. Powerful! With faceted search, you may drill down by relationship (Connection Level) , Industry, Company, Group,  School and more.

Check out this product feature announcement from LinkedIn onYoutube.