Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

When I try to explain the difference between “social media” an “social networking,” I usually go this direction:

Social Media: Connecting information from people, places and things with technology to tell stories online.

Social Networking: Connecting people through technology to form real relationships, online and off.

The differences between the two might seem subtle, but, if you focus on the “Social Networking” definition, you’ll see why we want to focus on the title – “Practice Safe Networking” and get you to think differently about how you approach social networking.

How to Practice Safe Networking

The same friend I referenced above knows my strengths and weaknesses. Knows what I’m up to professionally. And knows how I can help him.

Whether he keeps a file on me or not is a whole other story – but, suffice it to say, if I ask him for a contact, it’s for a very specific reason.

Sometimes, it’s because I know he worked at a certain company. Other times, it’s because I see someone listed on his LinkedIn contacts.

“Hey, I’d like to connect with Mary Jones in HR at XYZ Corp.” That is not likely to get a positive response from him – nor would the same request get a positive response from me if you asked me. (Are we connected on LinkedIn yet? If not, this could make a heck of a lot more sense if we did connect.)

Tip #1: Always Have a Specific Reason for the Connection

“Hey, I’ve got a question about Mary Jones in HR at XYZ Corp. You two are connected on LinkedIn. Do you know her very well? I have a friend who is running a startup and they are looking for someone to head up HR, with a Comp and Benefits focus. From Mary’s bio, it looks like she’s got the right skillset. Do you think you could connect us via email?”

Odds of a connection are 50/50. Since this person knows me pretty well and I know him pretty well, the BS meter is always going off. If either of us detects it, then we’ll say so. “Great potential, but I know her well enough to know that if it’s not a pretty interesting company, then she won’t be interested.” OR “Our paths hardly crossed; I heard great things about her, but an intro from me would be pointless.”

Tip #2: It’s Not About Me. It’s About You.

When I reconnected with a former colleague recently, he asked tons of questions about what I was up to. Then, he started revisiting his own databank of people to connect me with – focusing on those that could help with my current endeavors.

Not-so-subtle hint: This is one of my current endeavors. 12 Minute Marketing. Now, back to regular programming.

This was a nice gesture on his part. And, maybe, down the road, I’ll be able to help him by making a connection that can help him with his current endeavors.

Tip #3: Pick Up The Phone.

Can’t stress this enough. Call. On the Phone.

Normally, the amount of time it takes you to craft the right email is 10 times what it would take you to find the phone number and reconnect.

Tip #4: Karma Bank.

Keep paying it and paying it. BUT to the extent that you’re not mucking up the Mojo you’ll need for our fifth and final tip.

Tip #5: Your Ace Connections are an Extension of You.

This is why I “get” LinkedIn, I don’t “get” Hashable, and I still love doing the Social Networking thing the old fashioned way.

If I send my friend the banker in the direction of another friend who is running a startup, I only do this because my friend the banker is someone I would have a beer with, and whose bank is someone I have done business with. And because the startup executive is someone I trust, and would also have a beer with.

(Beer doesn’t have to be the common thread. Still…)

Even the seemingly random “hey, you should talk to this guy” requests you might get are an extension of the person sending the request. Why should I talk to this guy?

Beyond that, requests to talk to one of your guys can come back to bite you. Wasting the time of one of your ace contacts is a surefire way to see that ace contact start recommending you less and less.

We’re done. For now. Be careful out there.

Thanks, watradehub.com

The Daily Dose of Advice comes from Scott Stratten, UnMarketing himself.

“Reminder to take 5 minutes to reply to others today. Engage. Interact. Build.”

But how, really, truly, do you DO that? And can you invest only 5 minutes and make connections?

Well, yes. And no. We went with 10 minutes, you may want 15 or 20 or 30. But 2011 is all about small steps toward big things. So here goes.

1. Set the e.ggtimer. We said that you can learn from the big boys here, and there’s no bigger boy in the world of lifestyle redesign than Tim Ferriss. He’s the guy who first tipped us onto the timer. It is awesome for two reasons: (1) simplicity and (2) keeping you on task. We recommend you set it for 10 Minutes.

2. Begin surfing. We recommend you do this BEFORE looking at emails but AFTER getting your daily fix of Facebook and Twitter. Why? You want to get some mental cues from what you’ve seen on those sites – but you don’t want to make this reliant on what work is clogging your inbox.

Huh? Well, there are folks we are friends with on Facebook and connected with on Twitter who aren’t world famous. That’s part of the mission here. Learn from the Big Boys, but connect with the others, too.

3. Comment if you have something to add. We hit up a couple sites upon the recommendations of friends and contacts. On Quora, which is getting a tremendous amount of buzz, we had, well, nothing to add. Yet. But the standout site from Danny Brown got us thinking. And commenting.

4. Keep track. Chris Brogan recommends a spreadsheet or a Google Doc or a CRM program. Awesome.

Is that it?

Well, this should be part of a daily ritual. ESPECIALLY if you want to make real connections with real people.

Thanks, life123.com

What’s crazy is that I find myself ruminating on the past 10 years – thinking back to how turning 30 made me “legitimate,” and started a decade of, well, lots of stuff.

Is ruminating the right word?

Well, the very last thing I want anyone to do is be subjected to a load of crap on this site. So, instead, here are a few things I’ve picked up in the past decade:

1. Your significant other is likely definitely smarter than you.
2. Trust your gut.
3. If you have to choose between two or more opportunities: take the job (or gig or client engagement) that pays more money.
4. Some people will never get what they deserve. Get over it.
5. Often, the job that no one else wants is the job that provides the best opportunity for you.
6. Don’t be afraid of failure. (I ran a startup called U Sphere; it went under. People still ask me about it, want to know what I learned.)
7. Ideas are like water: the only way you’ll know if your idea is worth anything is to try to do something with it.
8. Remove toxic people from your life.
9. Working by yourself has its pluses and minuses. Consider both.
10. Don’t get hung up on what you name the product or service or business. Give it thought, sure, but there are more important things to worry about.
11. Avoid companies that are traded on the pink sheets.
12. Pick up the phone.
13. Don’t leave a voice mail message unless you absolutely have to.
14. Don’t read your own press clippings, if you have any.
15. When launching a business, think about sales cycle. If you call a prospect and they ask you to call back “next year at this time,” you are in the wrong business.
16. Put the Blackberry down when you’re eating dinner. (Kid #1 told me this in 2005. Stuck with me.)
17. The direct route is the best.
18. Being a Cubs fan is torture. Think long and hard before subscribing.
19. Being a Bengals fan means you don’t have to worry about watching the NFL playoffs.
20. A plus for someone in your circle does not necessarily mean a minus for someone else. Happiness is not a zero sum game.
21. If your business card is not a conversation piece, then you probably don’t need to hand it out.
22. Guys: on a two-button sportcoat, button the top button. On a three-button sportcoat, button the middle button.
23. If the boss asks you to lie, don’t do it. You may well lose your job, but you’ll be able to live with yourself.
24. If the other side in a negotiation won’t tell you who they are, who they are working for, or what they want with you, move on. It’s not a negotiation, anyway.
25. Adoption is just another way to build a family. Doesn’t make adoptive parents or kids any more or less special than anyone else. Just different.
26. Corporate America loves to say they’re “entrepreneurial.” However, at the end of the day, Corporate America hates hiring “entrepreneurs.”
27. Empathy is a nice trait.
28. So is politeness.
29. Belt and shoes should match.
30. You can wear an inexpensive suit – but if you add a pocket square, you’ll make it look much more expensive than it is.
31. Socks are an extension of the pant. Same color is best.
32. Your children may think someone else has a cooler job than you. That’s okay.
33. The best emails are sometimes the ones never sent. Ditto for tweets and Facebook posts.
34. Some people don’t want to have kids. Asking them why they don’t have kids is not cool.
35. Ditto people who are single.
36. The best way to build a business is to actually build a business.
37. Never turn down a chance to sit with a VC person, even if only for 10 minutes. And don’t waste their time: be succinct.
38. Life’s about way more than business. Maybe your passion is business, maybe it’s something else altogether.
39. Faith, Hope and Love are very important things.
40. The greatest of these, without a doubt, is love. (Yes, that’s Biblical.)

I’ve made connections, made friends, learned a ton, and am so very grateful for your time, your thoughts, your comments, and you just being you. All of you. You know who you are.

Thanks.

We are not sure this is the best use of brand dollars by Knob Creek.

With all due respect…this is just not focused. It’s the opposite of Nichification. Don’t despair, whiskey drinker…We’ll give some advice below.

First, the background:

Visiting LinkedIn, and someone in our network, who is in the SEO space and appears to be a rather smart cookie, had the ad you see over there right below all of the “Send a Message,” “See Profile” options.

And this jumped out at us.

What’s wrong with it?

Well, first of all, truth be told, we’re not against the marketing of alcoholic beverages. And we’ll assume that LinkedIn has a filter of some sort that only shows this particular ad to people who are above 21 years of age.

Once you get past that…Is LinkedIn really the place to ask questions about whiskey?

You’re on LinkedIn for professional connections. Professional networking. So, when I’m seeing what one of the smarter SEO people in the planet is up to lately – am I even in the mood to talk whiskey?

Beyond that…this is a poorly worded Poll.

They’re asking two questions. The first one asks if I’m a fan. What if I’m not? What if I’ve never tried the stuff? What if I don’t know the difference between Knob Creek and Boon’s Farm?

What if I don’t know the difference between “complex flavor” and “full-flavored?”

Since Area 224 is looking out for you, brand marketers, we’re not just going to raise a problem – we’re going to propose a SOLUTION.

In three steps.

Step 1 – Scrap the poll.

I’m not inclined to vote for or against alcohol when I’m on LinkedIn. I’m treating LinkedIn like a combination of Twitter and Google – I want to see what my network is up to professionally, but I’m also searching for something or someone.

Step 2 – Buy a bunch of laser-focused keyword ads.

You can spend just as much if you know what you are doing. If you don’t know what you are doing, find someone who does and get them to buy the ads for you.

Step 3 – Reach out to a bunch of bloggers and see if they want to try your stuff.

Turn them loose – let them comment on the full-flavor, or the fine craftsmanship, or the fact that they can really taste the aging. Or not.

You can invest probably a couple grand, watch what gets said, and get so many more insights than you’d get from the LinkedIn poll.

You’re welcome.

Clarity around objectives can make your “social” time much more palatable. Seriously: if the boss knows why you need to do this – or if YOU are the boss and you know why you need to do this – you can better justify the hours spent blogging, tweeting or updating the world on Facebook.

So how DO you set objectives? And can those objectives be purely social?

Some thoughts from here…

1. Awareness – good place to start. But knowing where you want to increase awareness is an even better place to start. Local? Hyper-local? Industry-focused?

We’ve met folks who said, simply, where they are right now is “eyeball acquisition.” Some tweets on a regular schedule, a hundred Facebook “likes” so they have an audience to speak to. Actually, not a bad objective.

2. Measuring can be a soft science. The obsession to measure everything – the obsession with the word “metrics” – has taken a lot of the “social” out of social media.

We made a concerted effort beginning October 1 at Area 224 HQ to blog regularly. By regularly, we said “once a day during the week, give or take.” We missed a few days, we double-posted a couple other days. But the result was a traffic spike – but also an awareness spike. In that we got calls, we got emails, and the inbound marketing machine was, well, working.

3. You work for the boss. If you’re inside Corporate America somewhere, you need to find out who that boss is. You might be in corporate communications, but if it’s the CEO who gets to be the social face of the enterprise, then your objectives are gonna be different.

And you may have to have a heart-to-heart talk with your actual boss: executive positioning and industry thought leadership have just become your objectives as a team.

4. Being social can be an objective. Reconnecting with friends, old classmates, old colleagues – strengthening your actual social network – this is a great use of time. And you can be up front about it to the boss: “having a better LinkedIn network helps us showcase our organization’s expertise, and opens us all up to more business opportunities.”

Setting social objectives need not be totally stressful. Start small and ask the right questions.

Thanks, simplesbm.com

It is that simple. Right?

Love to think back to that time two years ago when Area 224 was just getting rolling as a marketing consultancy. Back when we were having tons of meetings with tons of businesses and trying to find out what was on everyone’s minds.

The everyone we met with on this particular day was the Chief of Sales for a B2B Concern. (Again, protecting the innocent here.)

This particular person (may have been a man, may have been a woman; protecting the innocent) wanted to buy a “solution.” “Viral marketing,” said s/he, “will solve our problems.”

And…what are those particular problems?

The long silence was deafening.

Seems the CEO had seen a video on YouTube and thought “we should do that.”

Seriously.

The knee-jerk response, two years later, from the C-suite, seems to be “Social Media will solve our problems.”

This possibly brings about the opportunity for us to help you – or for another top-notch marketing consultancy to help you. BUT not before you figure out what the problems are.

What business problem are you attempting to solve?

Dave from Area 224 used to work for a very smart guy who abhorred busy work. And, in the “pre-social media epoch” (right before the YouTube era), he’d ask the above question all the time. Saved us a lot of busy work, but also saved the organization a lot of wasted effort on things that just didn’t make strategic sense.

Your job – as a marketing executive, as a C-suite aspirant, as the guy or gal who needs to translate all this stuff for the bosses (or for yourselves if you’re one of the bosses) – is to ask these questions first. And here’s a little how-to guide.

Why are we doing this? Doesn’t quite matter what the “this” is – could be a video campaign, could be getting the boss on Twitter, could be blogging. The objectives for each could be radically different. You want a video so the CEO can show how passionate s/he is about the business so that your startup can raise its next round of capital. You need to Tweet because it’s the most laser-focused way to reach the 15 influencers you have targeted for relationship building. Your blog has to be launched because you have a network of people who can write insanely well and you want to be the centerpiece of a budding community.

What will happen if we don’t do this? Seriously – you need to think about the alternatives. You may even have to negotiate with your bosses.

Roger Fisher and William Ury wrote a best-seller called “Getting to Yes,” and they coined the term “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement,” or “BATNA.” Consider the BATNA in your social media planning.

If we don’t get social with our marketing – will our competitors do that? If our competitors do that, will they be able to effectively tell the story that we can tell better? Will they win market share if they beat us to the market?

It might be likely that your competitors are NOT in the position to win lots of eyeballs and market share. It might even be likely that, while they focus on “social,” your focus on product excellence, or distribution channels, or fine-tuning your message could be the best thing for your business.

Upshot: Insert Social Media Here at your own peril – and not without some serious thinking and planning first.

The “strategy” thing can be tricky – and it’s not as easy as just saying “let’s get onto social media because everyone else is.”

SO that’s why we’re doing a webinar next week, on the 28th to be exact. More info at this link – http://socialstrategy.eventbrite.com – and you can sign up by clicking this nifty button. See you there!

Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

There are days when I think it’s the most awesome thing ever. Those days are rare, though: most often, I find it to be the 5th Beatle. An afterthought in my social media marketing time. It doesn’t have to be that way – and, for you, here are the 20 minutes you should invest to make it suck less.

Set the Egg Timer to 20 Minutes. And…

5 Minutes: Answers. Go there, now. (You will have to go where it says “More” on the navigation bar.) Look for something interesting that has been asked and answer it with your expertise. Seriously: you don’t have to be right. You just have to be there.

Be sure to “Browse” the categories on the right hand side to see if anything strikes your fancy — imagine your ideal prospect and think about what they want to know about. Niche, baby, niche.

5 Minutes: Check your contacts. Pick a couple, reach back out to them to say hi. No reason, other than checking in and saying hi.

What is currently wrong with LinkedIn? It’s not SOCIAL. It’s networking, but it’s not SOCIAL NETWORKING. And, other than craptastic “hey recommend me” lame-ohs who do this for SEO purposes, it’s not really SOCIAL MEDIA.

1 Minute: Get off your soap box.

8 Minutes: Prune. That’s right, get rid of those who you cannot see a reason for having connected with. I’m serious: if you don’t know why you connected with them, and you cannot help them, exit stage left and don’t look back.

Their name should spark a memory. “Hey, it’s that guy in Melbourne who does tech recruiting.” Or, “it’s that woman who graduated from my alma mater and was looking for a job last year.” Keep ‘em.

1 Minute: Recommend someone. Look at your list of contacts. Don’t over-recommend. But do the unsolicited recommendation.

Beep Beep. Timer’s Up.

BTW, have we connected yet?

Dave on LinkedIn.