The [...]]]> Sometimes I forget how lucky I am. I am blessed to know some fabulous people around the world. I had a skype chat yesterday with Bryan Person and we touched on the power of community, the importance of moderation and where this concept of community and conversation is  headed for marketing and brands, in particular.

The power of community is here to stay, but it’s  the how, when and where people, brands and organizations choose to use this power that will really change the make the difference.  Is this a fabulous time to be in marketing, or what? As community and conversations evolve, it’s an exciting adventure for us to find our niche in this dynamic process.

Bryan is a social media evangelist and he’s an interesting and very insightful guy who is not afraid to take action on a new idea. , so in the spirit of  building community, I’d like you to meet him. Here’s just a short conversation about one of his key milestones, the development of the social media breakfast.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Questions of the day:

Who in your network is worth introducing around? And, why?

Iggy Pintado, or @iggypintado, author of The Connection Generation, a man I have great respect for, was following [...]]]> I finally got to meet the person behind @iconic88. While I don’t usually follow brands or tweeps on twitter who aren’t forthright with providing details about their personal identity, I made an exception in the case of following @iconic88.

Iggy Pintado, or @iggypintado, author of The Connection Generation, a man I have great respect for, was following and recommending @iconic88. So, trusting Iggy’s advice, I hit the follow button too and found that @iconic88’s tweets were usually positive and uplifting, sometimes informative and there were always a number of them to be found in the tweetstream whenever I logged on for my twitter-fix.

At the  recent A List Entrepreneurs function we had the chance to meet the mysterious @iconic88 as Iggy was doing the big reveal! I was really excited about being part of this event. The guest of honour was a genuine and warm hearted person, who was humble and optimistic and undeniably a good soul.

That said, I guess I just had far greater hopes for the event than I realized. It was great to be there for the big reveal, but I really thought there might be more substance to the evening’s discussions.

First off, I was surprised that in an event that was aimed at those who embrace social media (why else would you want to meet the unknown @iconic88). I just assumed that those who embraced social media would also embrace all the transparency and information sharing opportunities that come along with it, but we were told that we couldn’t take video (not that the dark lit room would have allowed it on your basic iPhone). I was genuinely surprised by the announcement asking us to refrain.

The discussions got underway, I was thinking I might learn something about creating a vibrant community on twitter, some real useful bits of information to apply to twitter strategy, some gems that I could employ or suggest to clients or associates.

Instead what I experienced was a very casual discussion between a couple of very nice, very sincere, very well meaning gentlemen. While it was all very pleasant and real, it also demonstrated a few of the things that, (pardon the language here) really piss me off about the discussions that happen around twitter.

I took offense to the warning from iconic88 to be wary of over-tweeting. While I agree over-tweeting is a bad thing, he was not the person to be offering this warning. According to his follow cost stats , his AVERAGE number of tweets per day falls around the 180 mark. Although over-tweeting is something he proclaims he doesn’t do, nor does he schedule his tweets. I want someone to tell me how an average of 180 tweets per day, yes that is 15 per hour, is NOT over tweeting.  And, if someone has a family, a job, a life, how does one find the time to maintain this kind of average?

Then, of course, the conversation went to where it always goes, it turned to the number of followers! Why does it always have to come back to the lowest common denominator — the number of followers? Folks it’s not about the sheer numbers! It’s really not hard to get numbers, but connecting with the right people can be a challenge, but it is the key to unlocking twitter’s real value.

It really is about the conversations! How does anyone profess to have conversations with 30,000+ people? There is so much value to be extracted from twitter usage that is not reliant on huge numbers, but on connecting with those who can offer a valuable exchange.  If you follow the right people, there’s undeniable value in that. So many people miss this in their discussions about twitter. So many of you think more is better, but as most of us travel along the path to reach our twitter goals, more often just means more “noise”.

My final challenge to the evening’s discussion was“ why, oh why, oh why do we keep focusing on the tactic? Why are we so hypnotized by the shiny object?

There were some great people there and I’m happy to have met many of them. I will continue to follow @iconic88 and @iggypintado and a few of the people in the video below, but I will also be sure to  ask them, why we can’t we elevate our discussion as to how  twitter as a tool (‘cause that’s all it is folks) can help us to meet our larger communications, marketing, education, personal development goals, strategies and objectives?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the day:

What would make you follow someone with a high follow cost?

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue [...]]]> What a great day at the SME Technology Summit 2009 This was an AWESOME way to kick off the month. HUGE thanks go out to @trib aka Stephen Collins whose generosity made it possible for me to attend. “You da man!”

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue – well chosen! The Insight Exchange team ran a great conference and they diligently made sure that the speakers and delegates alike enjoyed the day’s experience.

The keynote speakers – Tim Pethick and Mark Pesce were both compelling and knowledgeable. I thank them for sharing their experiences, their thought provoking ideas and predictions for the future. It was obvious to those in the room that a future that relies heavily upon technology is as real for SMEs as it is for large multinationals.

I came away from these sessions reassured that I am one of the lucky ones. I get this stuff. I already have many of the skills necessary to participate and even lead in the use of technology in meeting the strategic marketing and communications agendas of organisations, large, small and anywhere in between.

Throughout the day, I jumped across all three tracks (Marketing, Social Media and Effectiveness) in the sessions

I attended. I noted a number of tips from the presenters, learned of some terrific examples, many of which were tweeted by a vocal group of us who populated the hundreds of tweets that became the #smetech hash tag dialogue.

I also came away with a long list of things I must learn/do more about – including:

•    investigating freelancer.com (and other such offerings) as both a buyer and supplier of services,
•    joining the Australian Business Women’s Network and possibly AIMIA
•    diving deeper into the sea of analytics
•    continuing my own efforts in blogging, podcasting, tweeting and so on…
•    pursuing potential opportunities with a number of the presenting companies
•    and furthering the conversations/connections, online and off,  that began face to face today with a number of fabulous and talented people

Attending an event like this really brings home the need for both community and conversation in our professional lives. I’m grateful I could take advantage of this opportunity. Now, it’s time to leverage it and see how far I the journey will continue past this first step!

Thanks to the organizers, the venue staff, the speakers, the sponsors and the many delegates who all did their part in making the day worthwhile.

Tips for Building your Networking Muscle

Using LinkedIn is a Little like Going to the Gym – 7 Tips for Building your Networking Muscle We’ve all heard about it, we know it’s good for us, but how many of us really use it? It might surprise [...]]]> A recent article I provided for the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA)

Tips for Building your Networking Muscle

Using LinkedIn is a Little like Going to the Gym – 7 Tips for Building your Networking Muscle

We’ve all heard about it, we know it’s good for us, but how many of us really use it? It might surprise you to know that only 4% of PRIA’s membership has actually joined the official PRIA group on LinkedIn. So, are you on LinkedIn but haven’t yet joined the LinkedIn PRIA group or are you just not on LinkedIn at all?

LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking site founded in December 2002, launched in May 2003 is mainly used for professional networking. As of February 2009, it had more than 35 million registered users, spanning 170 industries.

LinkedIn relies heavily on user profiles, but what makes for a strong profile? Are you still a little unsure about how to best to flex the power of LinkedIn for your own networking needs? Here are some tips to building some LinkedIn muscle and creating a powerful profile:

1. Be there – spend the time to actually create a profile, make it public sharing its details in full view.

2. Ensure your profile is complete – add a recent photo, list all your relevant details, including past jobs, associations, contact information, accomplishments. Provide the details that will make it easy for people to find and learn about you. As you build your profile you can actually gauge your completion status through the handy status bar.

3. Link your profile to your other websites – show a link to your current employer, if you write a blog, ensure you’ve listed the link for that too – and, where possible, make these links reciprocal by including your LinkedIn icon/button within your standard contact details.

4. Provide meaningful status updates regularly – if you have just received a promotion, your company has launched a new product, secured a new client, or you recently received a new certification or joined a new group, association, share this news with your network.

5. Write referrals for the great people you’ve worked with. And don’t forget to ask for some in return (a bit of shameless self promotion here is okay). Public referrals carry extra weight, especially when you can easily look into the background of those providing them.

6. Join the various industry groups and participate in those you actually join – add some value, share resources, make comments, share your connections, don’t be a hoarder or a passive observer sitting quietly on the sidelines – that’s just not in the spirit of social networking.

7. Proactively expand your network by using the Search People Feature to find key contacts and by regularly scanning the People you may know and the Just joined LinkedIn sections. Then reach out to the people from your past, even if it’s been a while.

Once you’ve created a profile you’re happy with, the next step is to investigate the LinkedIn applications to determine which will be useful to you in meeting your networking needs. Hopefully these tips will help to strengthen your profile and maximise your personal LinkedIn experience. Using LinkedIn is a little like going to the gym – the earlier you start, the better. And, the more often you visit, the more you’ll get out of it!

Good luck and we’ll see you online. Now, about joining that PRIA LinkedIn group… (psst…see #6)

Question of the Day

Are you on LinkedIn? Why or why not? Do you have a LinkedIn experience to share?