Suaad Sait is co-founder of Workstreamer , a business listening platform that delivers actionable, real-time information to business professionals. As businesspeople, we now have an unlimited amount of constantly updating information at our fingertips. It holds the promise of great value (and more importantly, profit), but it is also voluminous and fleeting. Powerful new search engines, newfangled social CRM systems, and a preponderance of social sites and services leave us sitting at desks, feverishly fetching news and updates throughout the day in an attempt to stay up-to-date. The trick, of course, is making sense of all that data, and putting it in context of what companies — and who exactly at those companies — matter most. Increasingly, we have the palpable desire to turn good data into good decisions and profitable relationships. But how can you take advantage of that tsunami of information without risking death by data? How can everyday businesspeople get value out of these data-heavy services and sources? Relationships Still Rule The answer to these questions starts by first acknowledging that it’s the same as it ever was: Business is still all about relationships. This should be soothing to many for whom the data web is a brave new world. The business world still runs on relationships, and data is as much at home at a cocktail hour or on a conference call as it is in a slide deck. The game has not changed much at all. The difference is that today’s business data has put everything in stark relief, at very high resolution. Opportunities and risks have been amplified. For example, if I notice a partner’s company’s stock surge at the opening of the market and tie it to a news item on quarterly earnings, I can now send a timely congratulatory note and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss leveraging that momentum for a proposed joint venture. Or, say I am alerted to an old college friend changing his contact info on a social network, and as a result, track down a few details on his role at a new company. I might subsequently notice via a status update that he is departing for my home city in a few days, and now I can initiate a reconnection and invite him to participate on a panel I’m organizing. Today’s most actionable business data comes from living and very human sources like social networks, wikis, microblogs, crowdsourced contact directories, collaboratively filtered finance communities, real-time search engines, hyperlocal news sites and more. Managing that data can involve a lot of mixing and matching, comparing and contrasting. Relationships Run on Data Strategic relationships with colleagues and contacts both create and consume data. In fact, data isn’t cold and impersonal at all — that’s an important misconception to put to rest. Many of your most successful and trusted business relationships now likely run on data. “Networking” in the traditional sense used to take a lot of time and effort. But in truth, all networking has ever been is the act of information-gathering — of scouting and collating. We used to start with an idea of a person we were trying to do business with, without nearly enough relevant information about them. That has changed as a result of the personal data now available via social media sources. Now, when you finally meet someone in person, or run into them at a conference, the interaction can be immediately more rich and productive precisely because of data — you can get right to the heart of the matter because you’re having a more informed, in-depth conversation that matters. From crunching data and doing your homework, to finding a path through your existing relationships, to setting up that first meeting with a timely and well-researched missive, the new data-driven way of doing business can be infinitely more productive. Conclusion Remember the under-the-table note sharing going on in high school? Well, imagine having the smartest kid in school organize, prioritize and collect notes for you, no strings attached. That’s the kind of information advantage that is now available to us, through an ever-growing array of new social business tools. And it’s not considered cheating, either. But even despite all this new data and these new tools, relationships are still the beginning and the end of every business decision. There is little doubt that there will be a fundamental overhaul in the skill-set of the average businessperson in the next five years as companies grapple with, and realize the upside of making better use of data, both internally and externally. Today, the technologies and techniques that were once the exclusive domain of Wall Street analysts and Silicon Valley engineers are finally trickling down to everyday businesspeople. But no matter how the world has changed, listening is still paramount -– listening to customers, listening to prospects, listening to colleagues, and listening to entire companies –- indeed, listening to data. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – How Data Will Impact the Way We Do Business – HOW TO: Make Sure You’re Tracking the Right Data – 4 Tips for B2B Marketing on Facebook – What Facebook’s Open Graph Means for Your Business – HOW TO: Cultivate Your Brand’s Super Users Image courtesy of iStockphoto , Sportstock , stevecoleccs Reviews: Facebook , Twitter , iStockphoto Tags: business , data , small business , social media , social networking
Dallas Lawrence is Managing Director of Burson-Marsteller’s Proof Integrated Communications . He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence . The recent firestorm over Facebook’s approach to securing the privacy of its more than 450 million users continues to reverberate around the globe this week as thousands of news outlets cover the unfolding drama with almost breathless zeitgeist. And while traditional outlets are grappling with what it all means for the future of Facebook , online denizens have trumpeted their angst about the company’s most recent changes with more than 25 million blog posts . The current crisis of confidence leveled against Facebook once again centers on the core issue of how the social networking platform manages access to its users’ information. PC World columnist JP Raphael noted earlier this month that with the significant new changes announced by the Palo Alto-based social giant, “achieving maximum privacy on Facebook now requires you to click through 50 settings and more than 170 options — and even that won’t completely safeguard your info.” According to news reports this week, the company may finally be reversing course (again) and returning to a streamlined security process . To be sure, Facebook is no novice when it comes to navigating the controversies of privacy in the online marketplace, and it will very likely emerge from the current crisis singed, but not terribly worse for the wear. What is surprising however, and perhaps most troubling for a company that nearly all watchers agree must prove its mettle with a public offering in the next 18 months, is the voraciousness of the global opposition the recent controversy has sparked, and the apparent lack of corporate agility at Facebook to respond effectively to even the most basic crises inherent to an organization so intertwined in the daily lives of half a billion users. The Lessons Facebook Can Learn from Google Purported 7-year old texts from CEO Mark Zuckerberg are now lighting up the online community with an amusing, and some may say prescient peek into the then 19-year old’s views on privacy. The constant and steady drip of opposition forming around the most valuable social media property in the history of the Internet is beginning to paint a picture of a company that has failed to fundamentally understand that what got it to where it is today will not make it into what it wants to be: A wildly profitable public company rivaling the reach and prominence of Google . The $200 billion search behemoth learned these same painful lessons of accountability earlier in the past decade as they became the public whipping boy for privacy issues. Regular Congressional hearings, editorial columns and tech-savvy thought leaders all lampooned Google for their approach to user information. Many began questioning its very core mantra of “ don’t be evil ” that had mightily bound Googlers for more than a decade. Google’s response was to aggressively educate global regulators and privacy experts while dramatically expanding their Washington, DC footprint. They further ramped up public policy and communications outreach efforts to ensure they were accessible and accountable to those most concerned about their industry and how they as a company approached the prickly issue of online privacy. Transparency is Key to Facebook’s Maturation As regulators and privacy watchdog groups from the EU, Canada and the U.S. begin to catch up to the social media revolution and the inherent policy concerns that came with it, Facebook’s maturation has reached a seminal moment in the platform’s life cycle. For a brand built on the ideals of transparency (sharing your life updates with your friends and family), Facebook must begin to embrace the mantra of a transparent and accountable organization while remaining free from the constraints of life as a publicly traded, heavily regulated, investor-driven company. Facebook’s chief policy guru Elliot Schrage appeared at least to grasp the challenges that lie ahead for the company during a question and answer session with The New York Times last week. “Another painful element comes from professional frustration,” Schrage wrote. “It’s clear that despite our efforts, we are not doing a good enough job communicating the changes that we’re making … We may not always agree about the speed and comprehensiveness of our response but I’m here because I’m confident Facebook’s future success depends on our ability to respond.” Tough words and sound perspective from a smart, well-respected industry insider. If heeded, they may finally drive the internal changes necessary for Facebook to complete its startup evolution and graduate into the world’s most dominant — and profitable — communications platform. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More Facebook resources from Mashable: – How Facebook Can Become a Money Making Machine – Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile – 5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips – 4 Tips for B2B Marketing on Facebook – The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans Image courtesy of iStockphoto , malerapaso Reviews: Facebook , Google , Internet , Twitter , iStockphoto Tags: analysis , facebook , privacy , social media , social networks
Elliott Kosmicki is the founder of Good Plum, an online business blog focused on marketing and productivity. Elliott also quips with interesting people on Twitter . Three summers ago, people lined up around the country — and then the world — to get their hands on the next generation of mobile phone . Apple’s iPhone made “app” a household term, while cashing in on a movement that sent their stock — and everyday people’s productivity — soaring. In 2010, Apple released most of the specifications for iPhone OS 4.0 , which will launch along with the new iPhone sometime this June. I’d like to take a moment to review what we know, and what we think we know, about the new OS, the new phone, and what it all means for your everyday productivity. Things We Know About iPhone OS 4.0 Multitasking The most talked-about feature of the new operating system is, of course, “multitasking.” I put it in quotation marks because as many of you may know, it’s more of an application manager than an actual multitasking feature. Multitasking would insinuate that multiple applications can be running at the same time. And while that’s true for some applications (like audio apps, for instance), the majority of programs simply enter a suspended state until you resume them at a later time. However basic this feature may be, it’s a huge move forward for a system that has, until now, only let you work in one program at a time. No, you won’t be able to keep Facebook and Twitter updates streaming in the background. You won’t be able to get instant e-mail messages streaming to your home screen, either. But I’d bet those things will come eventually. For now, the ability to quickly switch between your recently used applications will make a huge difference to people who use the iPhone every day, and would like to do several things simultaneously. For instance, people on the go often need to quickly copy part of a web page and paste it into an e-mail. This becomes much simpler when you have the ability to switch quickly between the apps without having to close one, then open the other, and then do it again if you want to copy a second item. I, for one, am looking forward to this new flexibility, even if the upcoming version is still fairly basic. App Folders Those of you who are already App Store addicts know that having a double-digit number of pages on the home screen makes it a challenge to find downloaded apps quickly. Now, with Folders on the iPhone, we’ll be able to group apps into whatever categories we like. I’m sure I’ll still keep my first few pages of frequently-used apps out in front. But after that, I can make groups for those I frequent less, like games, travel apps, and more. This feature will be a huge time-saver if you utilize it wisely. Unified Inbox and Multiple Exchange Accounts For those of you with one e-mail account, this might not be a huge deal. For those who are pulling e-mails down from many different servers, this is huge. In the past, we’ve had to go from one inbox, back to accounts, select the new account, and then that account’s inbox in order to see other messages. With OS 4.0, we’ll have them all on one screen. I’ve already “tricked” my phone into using one inbox by forwarding all my mail through a single Gmail account. OS 4.0 will allow me to keep things separated if I want to, as well as make it easier to send from multiple addresses. For those of us currently burning our single Exchange account on Gmail syncing, 4.0 will let us sync to multiple Gmail accounts, or pull in a work Exchange account as well — a huge plus. Bluetooth Keyboard Support Once you become familiar with the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard, it can be handy for typing out even long e-mails. But what about full-blown blogging? WordPress has put together a great app for the iPhone which, until now, has been useful for simple edits and comment moderation. Add a full-size Bluetooth keyboard to the toolkit with OS 4.0, and you’ll have everything you need to knock out a full blog post right from your phone, and quickly. This feature is going to make many mobile web workers even more dangerous when it comes to productivity on the road. iPhone Calendar API iPhone OS 4.0 introduces 1,500 new developer APIs, and for me, the best one will allow developers to interact with the user’s built-in calendar. This feature hasn’t seen much discussion, but I feel that this small offering could have a huge impact on the iPhone’s productivity apps. Right now, there are many apps that will interact with your Google Calendar, which you can then sync to your iPhone via Google Sync and one of your Exchange accounts — quite the round-about solution. However, in the new OS, developers will have the ability to read and write directly into your iPhone’s calendar. This will open up a whole new set of features for task apps and other productivity solutions on the iPhone. You could have instantaneous task reminders sent to your calendar, for example. Or, your doctor’s office could make an app that would deliver your next appointment right to your schedule. The possibilities are endless.
Rick Burnes leads the content production team at HubSpot , a marketing software firm that produces the Inbound Marketing Blog and Inbound Marketing University . Chances are, most of the businesses you interact with as a consumer are on social media. Your local restaurant is blogging, your grocery store is on Twitter — even your favorite candy is on Facebook . Companies in mainstream, consumer-facing industries are all over social media. But how about other businesses? Manufacturers? B2B service providers? Equine dentists? Are they experimenting with social media? You bet. Here are five examples, all at different stages of their experiments, and all indicating the breadth of business use of social media. 1. Equine Dentist Builds Relationships With Facebook How do you turn a regional service business into an international destination for industry thought leadership? Facebook. At least that’s what worked for Geoff Tucker, an equine dentist based in Palm City, FL. In a business driven by relationships, Geoff says that Facebook allows him to build new ones. “People do business with people who they’re friends with. Period,” he says. “And Facebook is a great way to get to know people. It allows people to see that I’m a person.” As he builds these relationships using social media, Geoff is also expanding his company’s reach. He says it was his blog , his Twitter feed , and his Facebook account that helped him win appearances on Horse Talk Radio and HorseGirl.tv . So what’s this done for his business? Geoff says that over the last year, Facebook alone has generated about 100 leads and 10-to-15 customers. 2. Steel Building Manufacturer Taps New Verticals As a manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings, SteelMaster was initially hesitant to get involved in social media. “It’s steel buildings,” explains Michelle Wickum, director of marketing for the Norfolk, VA company. “How is that going to tie to Facebook? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but when we looked at the growth in Facebook and social media, we felt we had to get our arms around it.” About a year ago, SteelMaster put its first toe into the social media water . The company discovered two important applications for their business. First, they found that Facebook is an excellent way to post pictures of customers’ steel buildings. Not only do the pictures engage existing customers — they also demonstrate to prospective customers the range of uses for SteelMaster buildings. “Photography for us is the hook,” Michelle explains. Perhaps more importantly, SteelMaster found that social networks like Twitter and Facebook gives it exposure to and create demand in specific verticals where it previously had little traction. Chicken farmers and woodworkers don’t typically think to use steel buildings, but when friends and colleagues share pictures of their SteelMaster buildings on Twitter and Facebook, the farmers and woodworkers become interested. 3. Full Social Media Integration for Marketing Paint Idea Paint is a Boston-area startup that sells paint that turns surfaces into dry-erase boards. The company uses social media throughout its sales and marketing process. The company blog , where employees publish videos, images and stories of product installations, is the hub of Idea Paint’s social media activity. The company uses Twitter and Facebook to share content published on the blog — then to listen to, respond to, and interact with the community that content engages. Marcus Wilson, Idea Paint’s head of marketing, says this system gives the company a level of customer intimacy and global reach and that was unheard of 10 years ago. What’s this mean in terms of business results? Social media is now one of Idea Paint’s largest sources of leads and traffic — and it is growing steadily. Meanwhile, the company’s Twitter and Facebook reach grew 70% in Q1 2010, and is expected to grow an order of magnitude in Q2. Idea Paint produced this video on their social media strategy, exclusively for Mashable readers: 4. Integrating Twitter Into the Paper Selling Process One year ago, the marketing team at Neenah Paper , a manufacturer of high-quality paper products, confronted a growing problem: It was becoming harder and harder to reach new potential customers. Their traditional channels — phone conversations and in-person meetings — were not working as well. Prospects were tuning them out. Jamie Saunders, Neenah’s marketing communications manager, noted that most of the company’s potential customers — designers, graphic artists and printers — were spending their time in front of their computers, and that social media could be a way to better engage them. So Neenah took a step into the social media world. While the experiment started with Neenah’s marketing team, its sales team was one of the biggest beneficiaries. They discovered they could do prospecting and nurturing via Twitter . Today the company has 10 sales representatives across the country using their personal Twitter accounts on behalf of Neenah to close new business. Jamie says these sales reps are finding that social media is simply a more effective way of engaging with their prospects. “It’s an invitation to have a conversation. You’re getting permission to have a conversation — a conversation that used to happen in person.” 5. Leading the Online Aviation Maintenance Discussion In November 2008, a handful of auto executives flew their private planes to Washington, DC to testify before Congress in support of federal aid for their industry. This perception of corporate excess created an outcry, and the private aviation industry’s image was damaged. At that time, aircraft maintenance and support company Duncan Aviation had just started using social media . The company discovered that the new medium could be a way to positively shape the conversation — to add its perspective and improve the industry’s damaged reputation. Beth Humble, now Duncan’s social media lead, explains that while social media is an important part of Duncan’s strategy, the company doesn’t aspire to create a Comcast- or Coke-like presence on the social web. Instead, the goal is simply to influence the right people. “There are a lot of industry people that we network with that are on Twitter: Journalists, other aviation bloggers, and industry and media outlets,” Beth explains. “If you connect with the right few people, you can really get in there and connect with thousands of people.” For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – HOW TO: Market Your Small Business With No Budget – 13 Essential Tips for Landing a Job on LinkedIn – How Venture Capitalists are Using Social Media for Real Results – Why Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses – What Facebook’s Open Graph Means for Your Business Image courtesy of iStockphoto , FANDER09 Tags: business , facebook , List , Lists , small business , social media , social media marketing , twitter
Maria Ogneva is the Director of Social Media at Attensity , a social media engagement and voice-of-customer platform that helps the social enterprise serve and collaborate with the social customer. You can follow her on Twitter at @themaria or @attensity360 , or find her musings on her personal blog and her company’s blog . If you have been tracking conversations around social media for business, you have undoubtedly come across people talking about Social CRM. If you are anything like me, the first time you heard it, you probably rolled your eyes and said, “Ugh, another social media buzzword!” And while I do take issue with the jargon itself (and will discuss that later), Social CRM is a central concept that businesses need to understand deeply and integrate fully, in order to serve the social customer . Who Is the Social Customer? The social customer consumes information in a different way , and learns about breaking news through Twitter and Facebook , favoring what her network has curated and surfaced as important information. The social customer learns about new products and brands through social channels and trusts her social network to provide honest feedback about it, as opposed to a brand’s one-way advertising message. The social customer is savvy , doesn’t respond well to unsolicited SPAM in her social networks or overly promotional tweets, but is open to relevant information that meets her needs at that particular moment. The social customer expects brands to be present and active in the same social venues where she hangs out , listening to her feedback, whether it’s negative or positive. The social customer expects you to listen and engage with her , not only when it coincides with an e-mail blast or new feature release, but rather when she needs you . And you better respond fast, in real-time, or she will either move on to a competitor, or tell her friends about her bad experiences. Because the social customer can talk to a brand through many channels at the same time, she expects everyone she talks to from your company to have the same background on her issue . For example, if I complain about an airline on Twitter, I want the representative who engages me there to know my itinerary and the full history of our interaction through various channels. Bottom line: The social customer owns the relationship, and you need to earn her trust. What is Social CRM? Paul Greenberg , and author and leading authority on SCRM, stated that Social CRM is “…designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide a mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company response to the customer’s owning of the relationship.” Another great definition was put forward by Michael Fauschette : “Social CRM is the tools and processes that encourage better, more effective customer interaction and leverage the collective intelligence of the broader customer community with the intended result of increasing intimacy between an organization and its prospects and customers. The goal is to make the relationship with the customer more intimate and tied to the company by building a public ecosystem to better understand what they want and how they interact with the various company touchpoints like sales, customer service etc…” At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what you call Social CRM or how you define it, as long as you understand it and know how to apply it to your organization. It’s all about the execution. At Attensity, for example, we developed the “LARA” framework, which addresses the end-to-end process of Social CRM: Listen to customer conversations Analyze those conversations Relate this information to existing information within your enterprise Act on those customer conversations Jacob Morgan of Chess Media has developed this pretty comprehensive diagram that I like to refer to: As mentioned above, I don’t necessarily agree that Social CRM is the best name for this kind of process because CRM has typically enabled one-way conversations with customers, with a disproportionate focus on technology. The name CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” which is a misnomer because the company no longer controls or manages the relationship –- the customer does. In one of my favorite quotes about Social CRM, Mitch Lieberman states that “Social CRM is about bringing “me” [the social customer] into the ecosystem… It is not about the technology, it is about the people, process and cultural shifts necessary to support and grow a business.” This is a very important notion to understand in order to avoid coming down with a case of “analysis paralysis.” We all have a tendency to over complicate things, and while SCRM is a big concept that takes a lot of savvy and planning to get right, it’s really very simple at its core. Companies that successfully execute on the Social CRM process share the following characteristics: — Social engagement must be enterprise-wide . To achieve this goal, you need to “socialize” the organization. The larger and more entrenched your organization is in traditional ways of handling customer interactions (inbound or outbound), the more difficult this task will be. How do you socialize the organization? Through proper training, alignment of objectives (the quintessential question of “what’s in it for me?”), and providing leadership and mentoring. Marketers within your organization need to understand that a brand is no longer what you tell your customers it is –- it is now what they say it is. Make sure the salespeople know how to use Twitter to build relationships without spamming their networks. Empower customer service to help, and product teams to gather and act on feedback. Overall, the toughest task of “socialization” is conveying the notion that the more the brand lets go of its desire to control the message, the more they will be able to shape it collaboratively with its customers . This is where a social media director/manager becomes a crucial hire, because she will provide direction for the entire organization. — To truly provide a “mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment,” per Paul Greenberg, the organization must be irrevocably oriented towards transparency and customer service . Why are companies like Zappos so successful, while others’ attempts at helping on Twitter resemble a “me too” strategy? Because transparency, taking risks, and providing a “no-matter-what-it-takes” kind of service are part of their corporate DNA. If you don’t have the guts to truly commit to transparency and service, and if you don’t empower your people to act on behalf of the company (which will inevitably lead to some unintentional mistakes), you won’t get very far. You must embrace experimentation, take smart risks, and “fail fast.” — I can’t stress enough the importance of putting the right processes in place to truly listen and engage . Because the sheer volume of social media conversations is staggering, you need a plan to triage, prioritize and activate the right people in the organization to engage properly. After you socialize the organization, take the time to figure out who the right internal resources are in at least these areas of the organization: Customer service, PR, marketing, sales, and product feedback. Develop a process by which a social media message gets routed to one of the above groups and activate the right resources for an immediate response. There must also be a robust crowdsourcing component, which will empower customers to provide direct product feedback, and the organization to ensure that the feedback is heard and acted upon ( UserVoice is a terrific platform for this). The social customer may go to Twitter with a question, a user forum with a customer service query, Facebook with a compliment, or Yelp with a complaint. The processes you establish will largely determine your ability to respond quickly and with the relevant information, while uniting all of these interactions under one customer record. At the end of the day, you must ask yourself if the steps above help you enrich the two-way relationship between the social customer and your social business. Use the Right Tools Even though Social CRM is mostly about people and processes, you do need the right tools to help you achieve the following: A 360 degree view of the customer must include not only the relevant interactions between your company and the customer across the networks where they originated, but also internal data from your own CRM system. This data must be rich and actionable, and the system must also retain all these interactions as part of the customer record. This is a win for the customer because she gets a personalized experience and never has to tell her story to three different reps, and a win for the company which now becomes more efficient. The ability for everyone to engage and be in alignment: Social media is not a silo, and no one department owns it . There must be a process in place by which each message gets automatically routed to the right person, classifying it by type (question, complaint or compliment), content (what it actually said), sentiment , action needed, and influence. This helps automate the triage process, which until now has been mostly manual. Sophisticated workflow tools will ensure that information created by the 360 degree view of the customer is accessible to everyone in the organization in the same way, creating a context for each interaction and enabling the rich, intimate relationship with the social customer. Each person involved with the customer record receives a set of prioritized tasks and reminders. The ability to engage right from the app creates a virtual paper trail of the conversation. Are you ready for enterprise-wide engagement? Can your organization support Social CRM? What are some of the steps you have taken to build a rich relationship with your social customer? For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – How Companies Can Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Their Business – How Venture Capitalists are Using Social Media for Real Results – Why Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses – HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Offline Networking Events – 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Leverage LinkedIn’s New Features Image courtesy of iStockphoto , iqoncept Reviews: Facebook , Twitter , Yelp , iStockphoto Tags: business , customer service , enterprise , facebook , List , Lists , small business , social media , social media marketing , SocialCRM , twitter
Frank Barry , manager of professional services at Blackbaud and blogger at NetWits ThinkTank , helps non-profits use the Internet for digital communication, social media, and fundraising so they can focus on making a true impact and achieving their mission. Find Frank on Twitter @franswaa . With the recent news coming out of Chirp , Twitter ’s first ever “official” developers’ conference, there has been a lot of talk about how the ecosystem of third-party application developers and investors would respond. Noah Everett, founder of TwitPic — a service that allows Twitter users to easily share photos — is in the developer camp, but it doesn’t look like he has anything to worry about. He recently turned down an offer “ much higher than $10 million ” from an undisclosed buyer, according to an interview by Andrew Warner of Mixergy. TwitPic’s growth is also an indicator of how well the service is doing. Everett says that TwitPic has almost reached 10 million users and is growing by 35 to 40 thousand users a day. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Noah about where TwitPic is headed and how the service is being used. Watch the video interview below (4 minutes): Video by Blackbaud Video Transcript Note: The following transcript has been edited for clarity. Frank Barry: Maybe you can give us a quick intro on what TwitPic is, and how it came about. Noah Everett: I started TwitPic two years ago –- it was February 2008 when I launched it. I was working as a web developer and I just got on Twitter and I wanted a way to share my own photos. There was nothing out there at the time. I had another photo sharing website that was just a project that I stuck out there and I thought, you know, why not? So I basically took the code from that over the weekend and reformatted it to work with Twitter. I launched TwitPic that next week. The goal was for me to use it … and hopefully a couple of my friends would. Actually, that following week Mashable wrote about it and it kind of started this whole snowball effect and it just grew from there. Frank Barry: Give us an idea of how big it’s grown. Noah Everett: We’re at nine million users and I think we’re getting ready to hit 10 million users soon. We’re growing at about 35 to 40 thousand users every day. Our growth rate has really taken off. Frank Barry: I know you just came out of the Chirp conference. Maybe you can tell us what you learned from the conference, and how is TwitPic changing and growing? Noah Everett: What I learned from the conference is that you can’t have more than five Red Bulls in a day [Laughter]. Actually, the Chirp conference was great. Twitter came out and showed a lot of new things they’re working with and what they’re bringing out –- really exciting. I got to meet a lot of their team… It was great also just talking to other developers that build stuff on Twitter … people you know from Twitter for years, but you never meet in person. We actually just launched a whole new version of TwitPic right before that. Basically, we re-wrote TwitPic from the ground up. It’s going to help us scale quicker because we’re growing so fast and it’s going to enable us to add more features. We’ve kind of been in a feature freeze for the past year learning how to scale. We finally know how to swim with that now and so now we’re going to start adding more features. [We have] OAuth-based login on the front side of the site now and we’re actually getting ready to release our new OAuth-based API this week. Frank Barry: With the new stuff that’s come out, do you have future plans? What are the next things you’re looking to do? Noah Everett: We’re always very careful about the features we add. We want to think long and hard if we add a feature and make sure we do it right. It’s better to have less and make sure you do it right. One of the things we want to do is make sure we add in some “where was this photo taken.” Obviously, some photos come in with GPS data — we want to be able to show that and maybe be able to hook in to some of the location-based services that are already out there and maybe make it easier for a user to check-in, and stuff like that. Frank Barry: How are non-profits using TwitPic? Noah Everett: When Twitter first came out, and TwitPic, it was kind of like a social networking tool for people to say “Hey, I’m doing this right now … I’m at a coffee shop.” But the larger it’s grown, companies are getting on and now non-profits are. It’s a good way for non-profits to get out information about what they are doing “right now.” We’ve had UNICEF using TwitPic to display photos of people in the field doing their humanitarian work with a message below telling people what’s going on right now and what they’re needing for this campaign. It really helps spread the word about the needs they have, and get more people on board with their mission. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More Twitter resources from Mashable: – HOW TO: Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page – 5 Ways to Send Real-Life Gifts To Your Twitter Friends – 5 Ways to Get Free Stuff On Twitter – How Does Twitter’s New Social Good Initiative Stack Up? – How Twitter’s New Media Blog Aims To Teach By Example Reviews: Chirp Blu , Facebook , Mashable , Twitpic , Twitter , video Tags: interview , social media , twitpic , twitter , video
A former local newspaper reporter, Tanveer is a student at the Medill School of Journalism learning all things digital and entrepreneurial. He also writes about political figures for WhoRunsGov.com and hopes to own the high score on multiple Ms. Pac-Man machines one day. While many government agencies still tend to employ the “broadcast” model when using social media, some are engaging through hashtags, community building initiatives, and geo-location analysis. These efforts are helping to better inform the public and alert them to public safety emergencies in real-time. A good recent example of this is how the team of energy companies and government agencies responding to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are putting these strategies to use . Here are ways other government agencies, from local law enforcement to the National Weather Service, are seizing on these tools to improve their services. Building a Transparent Community At the most basic level, social media is about community building. Government agencies have adopted this mindset to varying degrees as a way to foster trust and dialogue with people. “It is truly a national town hall that has never been attempted during a disaster,” said Commander James Hoeft of the U.S. Navy, who oversees the cleanup effort’s social media team. The idea has been implemented in parts of the U.S. government to varying degrees. In 2008, Admiral Thad Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard sent out a service-wide message saying, “[To] modernize the Coast Guard we must learn how to effectively use social media tools to enhance our ability to perform as a more transparent, change-centric organization.” The Coast Guard has since deployed a series of Flickr , YouTube and Twitter accounts, both at the headquarters and regional levels, as a part of The Coast Guard Compass . Some are better than others, with many serving simply as multimedia RSS feeds. But there are stars, like the Twitter feed for the Portsmouth, VA-based District Five , which discusses their latest coastal rescue operations. Much like the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency also has a multichannel scheme in social media. Its FEMA in Focus Twitter feed serves as a way to disseminate information in a timely way. The agency has a series of regional accounts , as well. At the local law enforcement level, Web 2.0 technology has been implemented in some departments to give people details about what officers have been up to. At the Bellevue Police Department in Nebraska, Twitter is used to solicit help from the public and Facebook is used as a comment and complaint board for residents. In Great Britain, the Merseyside Police website personalizes information according to neighborhood, also appealing to the public for help as needed. Social Media as a Real-Time Investigation and Response Tool While the more traditional means of sharing information with people, such as press conferences or releases, will always be necessary to brief the public in detail about events, agencies are turning to social media to keep the public informed in real-time. On April 3rd, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Payne of the West Midlands Police in the United Kingdom used Tweetdeck to keep an eye on demonstrations involving two controversial and politically opposed groups; the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism. He checked out Facebook rumors of stabbings and vandalism, and posted on Twitter when the information was found to be false — potentially quelling violent backlash. “This is groundbreaking stuff for policing in the UK. We have used social media as a broadcast platform during protests in the past, but we have not had immediate updates from officers on the ground, enabling two-way conversations,” Payne wrote after the event. Lauri Stevens , a Massachusetts-based social media consultant for law enforcement, said that such tools have been key in enhancing the reputation of agencies. “Cops are just getting the interactive engagement thing,” Stevens said. “I think the law enforcement’s policy should state you have to be competent with this stuff.” Tracking and Creating Hashtags Law enforcement and emergency response agencies alike are also becoming more sophisticated in how they use Twitter. While monitoring hashtags is commonplace, some agencies are creating them to denote specific social media priorities — particularly, getting users to document certain events. During the 2009 PRIDE Parade, the Toronto police encouraged the use of the #PrideTO hashtag to keep an eye on any suspected crimes related to the LGBT community’s event. The National Weather Service is enlisting the help of Twitter users, asking them to use the hashtag #wxreport to share significant weather reports. The website gives precise instructions for how to report damaging winds, snow, hail, tornadoes and other potentially serious weather events. As the website notes, the project is “experimental.” Spot Trends Before Science Can Researchers at government agencies are experimenting with social media to try and spot possible issues and trends before more scientific measurements can be taken. During last year’s H1N1 outbreak, the Internet famously took a starring role in illustrating how the swine flu epidemic was spreading across the globe. Now, a group including researchers from City University London, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Britain’s National Health Service are teaming up ahead of the 2012 London Olympics to develop ways to detect and respond to epidemics via Twitter . Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Twitter Earthquake Detector ( @USGSTed ) is a prototype that gathers real-time Twitter updates during seismic activities faster than scientific equipment can be tapped for more precise measurements and alerts. It examines earthquakes at an anecdotal level, and complements scientific analysis, according to the project’s overseer, Paul Earle. “The skepticism comes when they think we are trying to provide public alerts that an earthquake has happened based on Twitter information,” Earle said. “We’re not doing that, we are augmenting our current tools.” Conclusion For government agencies, social media not only sends and gathers information instantaneously — it fosters relationships and trust, while encouraging users to share important information. While not all social media use needs to be creative, agency engagement with these platforms can help show people that government organizations are listening. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More social media resources from Mashable: – 5 Ways Government Works Better With Social Media – How the U.S. Engages the World with Social Media – How Social Media Can Effect Real Social and Governmental Change – 6 Ways Law Enforcement Uses Social Media to Fight Crime – Why Open Source is the New Software Policy in San Francisco Image courtesy of iStockphoto , Veni Tags: facebook , government , government 2.0 , social media , twitter
Lewis Howes is a former professional athlete, world record holder in football, and author of the LinkedIn book, LinkedWorking . He is the founder of the Sports Executives Association , and the popular sports and social media blog SportsNetworker.com . LinkedIn is one of the best places online to find a job, period. It’s also a great place to connect with top decision makers, generate targeted leads for your business, drive traffic to your website, and more. I hear countless stories every week from people who land amazing full time positions at great companies thanks to engagement on LinkedIn. Although there are a number of approaches you can take when hunting for the right job, start with these 13 important tips for using LinkedIn effectively. 1. Complete Your Profile 100% If someone is thinking about hiring you for a position, he or she is going run a Google search for your first and last name. For many, a LinkedIn profile will rank in the top five results. This gives you a certain level of control in showcasing your best talents with your profile. Make sure your profile is 100% complete, and position yourself as an expert in your niche. A profile that is only 55% complete, without recommendations and an updated work history may not make a solid first impression when people find you through search. 2. Add a Compelling Headline Your headline is the first thing potential employers and hiring managers will see after your name. First impressions are an important aspect of the interview process, and this holds true for your LinkedIn profile as well. Be clear and to the point with your headline. Try to tell people who you are, what you do, and how you can help them in as few words as possible. This simple step will help you stand out from many other LinkedIn profiles. 3. Add All Past and Current Work Positions It’s important to include where you have worked in the past and where you are currently working. Obviously, the more work experience you can list, the better. You never know which position will earn you the respect of the hiring manager and give you the edge you need to land the job. There’s always a chance the hiring manager has worked at one of your previous companies, or has hired other professionals from that company. Situations like this may help you get the job security you are seeking. 4. Give and Receive Recommendations On your traditional resume, you are supposed to have a limited amount of recommendations. However, on your LinkedIn profile, the more people who can vouch for you, the better. If you only have two recommendations on LinkedIn, most people won’t take your profile seriously. It’s unfortunate, because there are a number of qualified and experienced professionals who aren’t active on the network. This can hurt their reputation. Remember, in the online world, perception is reality. If people believe that no one will recommend you because there are no visible signs of approval displayed on your profile, why would they want to hire you? The best way to receive recommendations is to give them first. The more you give on LinkedIn, the more you will receive. Take some time to write a few recommendations for those you know, like, and trust, and a majority of them will write you one in return. 5. Connect With Everyone There are some on LinkedIn who believe you should only connect with a small percentage of professionals you know and trust. Others say (including myself) you should connect with everyone, even if you vaguely know them. When looking for a job, you never know who will be able to recommend you, or who is looking for someone to fill a position where you would be a perfect fit. When connecting with others, make sure you always send a personalized message. This doesn’t have to be an essay, but make sure you mention why you are connecting or how you know one another. Also ask if there is anything you can do to assist them. By offering your services to help, this breaks down any initial barriers and gives others another reason why they should hire you. 6. Be Concise in Your Message When you communicate through your LinkedIn profile, structure it in a way that will help people clearly understand you and what you are after. There are three main components: Provide a preview so people know what comes next In your headline give them the intro to who you are and what you are all about. Give them the facts Let people know who you are by injecting your personality into your work experiences, your summary, your specialties, and in how you help people. Summarize and reinforce your message Finish up strong by adding in your honors, awards, personal websites and case studies. Provide a call to action on how to connect with you and ways to follow up if they want to learn more. 7. Stay Active I believe half the battle of finding a job is simply letting others know you are alive. There are so many resumes being submitted to open positions that it can be tough to break through sometimes. Luckily, LinkedIn works in your favor if you are active and constantly engage within the community. Each time you take action on LinkedIn, it shows up on the home page of everyone you are connected to. The more people see your picture, read you name, and check out the compelling content you are delivering, the more likely they are to think of you when a position opens up. Stay active, and the opportunities will be much more abundant than if you don’t participate at all. 8. Join Niche Groups Groups are a great way to find a position because they have built-in job boards with new jobs being added on a regular basis. Some groups have tens of thousands of decision makers within them. As a member, you are able to send a message to almost every person without having to upgrade to a premium account. LinkedIn also has a great advanced search function, and once you find who you want to connect with, you can often message them directly through mutual groups without actually needing to be connected. 9. Create a Group Being a group owner has many advantages. It allows you to send messages once per week to all the members, and you are perceived more as a decision maker and thought leader. Start attracting potential employers as opposed to seeking them out all of the time. 10. Add Your Honors and Awards Including honors and awards is just another way to increase your value to potential hiring managers. Employers want to hire winners, and those who know how to excel. Be sure to show them what you are made of, and post everything relevant to your success in your past work history. 11. Answer Questions This is a great way for job seekers to showcase their talents and expertise and stand out from the crowd. It’s also valuable to entrepreneurs and business owners for gathering leads. Add the ‘Answers’ widget on the right-hand side of your LinkedIn home page with the industry topic you know the most about. When you see a question pop up that you can answer, make sure you give your two cents and provide as much information and value in your answers as possible. The more you give to and serve others, the more job opportunities will come your way. 12. Import Your Blog and Twitter Feeds There are a number of ways to beef up your LinkedIn profile and make its content more compelling. Adding your blog and Twitter account is a good first step. Simply connect with your Twitter profile and check the box to make sure your tweets are syndicated to LinkedIn. This will save time and make it look like you are more active on LinkedIn as well. Adding your blog to your LinkedIn profile is a no-brainer. This not only drives organic traffic back to your site, but showcases your regular activities and expertise. 13. Connect Others I’m a big fan of connecting people. Whenever I see someone with a certain career need, I try to think of the right people I can introduce them to. I want to create a mutually beneficial gain for each party. The more I do this, the more career opportunities come my way. When you help two people without asking for anything in return, you leave a lasting impression on all involved. This will help amplify your own job prospects, as people will be more likely to help you achieve your goals in the future. Conclusion Don’t get discouraged if you don’t immediately see results. Effectively building your LinkedIn presence and online network won’t happen overnight. Remember these tips, and start to actively engage. Take action, be consistent, and you’ll soon be exploring a wealth of new professional networking opportunities. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More LinkedIn Resources from Mashable: – 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Leverage LinkedIn’s New Features – HOW TO: Reignite Your Business Network Online – 5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find Star Employees – 8 Tips for Managing a LinkedIn Group – 5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online Image courtesy of iStockphoto , SchulteProductions Tags: business , employment , job search , job seekers , jobs , linkedin , List , Lists , social media , social networking , twitter
Adam Rosenberg is the Online Community Manager at Salsa Labs . Most recently, he was the New Media Manager at the Center for Democracy & Technology where his work focused on Internet privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and open government issues. The latest changes to Facebook have seen their fair share of criticism, with many users examining more closely the definition of “public vs. private.” Some users have been turned off enough by Facebook’s envelope pushing when it comes to privacy to go so far as to contemplate a mass Facebook exodus . Whether or not the changes become the final blow to Facebook ’s tenuous relationship with privacy remains to be seen. However, protecting your privacy is important on any social network, so while you’re still on Facebook, here are a few important privacy tips to keep in mind as you navigate the site’s newest incarnation. 1. Lists: Learn to Love ‘Em The list function seems to be one of the most underrated privacy tools on Facebook. All privacy snafus aside, the past year has seen Facebook improve the granularity of privacy control settings by leaps and bounds. Users often forget that the tiny dial in the lower-right corner next to each post they share gives them an option to make that item visible to “Everyone,” “Friends Only,” or even particular lists. It’s important to know that “Everyone” doesn’t just mean all Facebook users anymore. According to Facebook’s own website , it means the entire Internet. This is a good thing to keep in mind if you select “Everyone” as a share setting for a post. A search for the term “soo drunk” with Facebook’s “Posts by Everyone” option reveals some openly available results that were probably not intended for public consumption. Lists can be extremely valuable for both privacy advocates and marketing professionals. The privacy cautious may want to use lists to restrict co-workers or professional contacts from knowing their relationship status, favorite movies, political views, etc. The marketer can use lists as a way to keep groups aware of products, announcements and events. And with “likes” now a very open cluster of data on the web, the list function is a more important privacy feature than ever. To create and edit lists: Go to Account Click Edit Friends Click Create New List (or Edit List if it’s for an existing list) Add friends to this list To use lists: Go to Account Click Privacy Settings Click Personal Information and Posts Select different areas and click Customize You can also use lists on every post and update you make on your profile. Just look for the “lock” symbol and follow the “customize” directions above. 2. When in Doubt, Just Log Out While the ability to “Preview My Profile” can be used to find out what specific people in your network can see, it still doesn’t give you the full picture of what the general public will find when they come to your page. Sharing personal information with friends is one thing, but it’s important to be aware of the content you present to the world from Facebook. A great way to check this is simply to log out of your profile, refresh your browser, and then visit your Facebook page. If you see something there that you don’t want available to the public, go back in and make the change. Another option is to completely remove your profile’s visibility outside of Facebook. To do this, simply: Click Account Click Privacy Settings Click Search Uncheck the Public Search Results option This makes your profile invisible to non-Facebook users. 3. Audit Your “Likes” Many Facebook users are eager to “Like” (previously, “Become a Fan Of”) many brands, causes, entertainers, etc. But the recent privacy changes have shined a brighter spotlight on the issue of “oversharing” information through social networks. Unfortunately, the pages you “Like” cannot be masked through Facebook’s privacy settings, so anyone who has access to your profile can see them, and consequently make assumptions about your personality. While it may not be a big deal for people to see that I “Like” my employer’s Fan Page, or my favorite band, there may be things in your fan history that you’ve forgotten about — things you may or may not want the world to associate you with. To combat this, it’s a good idea to edit your “Likes.” The easiest way is to do the following: Click Account Click Edit Friends Click Pages on the left-hand column (remember, this includes pages for things in your activities, music, and movies sections of your profile, in addition to anything you’ve “liked”) Go through this list and ask yourself, “Do I want this to be public?” Then ask yourself, “ If I want it public, would I be comfortable with strangers networking with me through these channels? ” If something doesn’t meet your criteria, click Remove Connection (click the X ). 4. Spring Clean Your Third-Party Applications One of the big changes to Facebook is the “ Instant Personalization ” feature, which allows several sites, including Microsoft’s docs.com , Yelp , and Pandora , to automatically connect to your feed by default. Facebook has allowed these trusted partners access to your profile information in an effort to “create a better user experience.” Those who aren’t interested in these auto-connections, or who have privacy concerns, are required to manually opt out — and it’s not a very straightforward process. Here’s how to do it: Click Account Click Privacy Settings Click Applications and Websites Click Instant Personalization Pilot Program While opting out will stop the flow of information to these partner sites, your Facebook friends who use them may still share information about you, unless you block the application altogether. To do that, you’ll need to visit the application pages for Docs , Yelp , and Pandora and click “block application.” It’s probably a good idea to login to your accounts on these sites to make sure you have opted out on that end as well. Facebook organizes your applications in categories so you can easily see which ones have been granted access to your profile information. The trouble is, they also make it difficult to simply find a list of “all” applications that you can manage in one place. If you only do an audit on one “section” of applications, make it the “authorized” section, as these apps have access to more data and information than others. It’s not that connecting to these sites through Facebook is necessarily a bad thing. It’s just important to understand how your information is being shared, and make the decision yourself about how much you want to put out there. 5. Control What Friends Can Share About You Through Applications In December 2009, Facebook introduced a new privacy setting to control what information could be shared with friends through applications. This is a key privacy feature because it relates to not just information you post on your profile, but what your friends could offer up about you to an application or website they are using through Facebook. For example, your friend might use the “Give a Dog” application, which can access information you have made public including your name, gender, birthday, photos, videos, etc. Your information is used and collected by the app developer, even though you were not the one to actively share it. To manage these settings: Go to Account Click Privacy Settings Click Applications and Websites Uncheck everything you don’t want applications to share without you knowing Click Save Changes (Note that most Facebook settings pages will auto-save for you, but application privacy settings require this extra step) This somewhat confusing section is really just asking you what information you want collected and shared by third-party applications using your friends’ profiles as a conduit. It will not affect how much your friends can see on your profile. If you want to be in control of all of your data, we advise that you uncheck all the boxes here. What other privacy settings have you found useful or important on the “new” Facebook? Be sure to share them in the comments. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More Facebook resources from Mashable: – Facebook Open Graph: What it Means for Privacy – HOW TO: Disable Facebook’s “Instant Personalization” [PRIVACY] – HOW TO: Find Long Lost Friends on Facebook – HOW TO: Add Facebook “Like” Buttons to Your WordPress Blog – What Facebook’s Open Graph Means for Your Business Tags: facebook , List , Lists , privacy , social media
Brian Solis is the author of Engage and a leading authority in digital branding and marketing. Connect with him on Twitter or Facebook . What follows is a modified excerpt from Engage , the complete guide for businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web. Social media is reinventing marketing, communications, and the dissemination of information. While businesses now have access to these rich channels, the true promise of social media lies in the direct connections between people who represent companies and the people who define markets of interest. Today, many businesses approach this with the establishment of social media guidelines and policies . This is indeed an important step, and not one worth economizing. But it’s also not enough. I highly recommend establishing official procedures that remind representatives of the importance and privilege of engagement. The openness of popular networks is trivial. Any business can join and create a profile. It’s the devices we employ, the intentions that motivate engagement, and the value we offer that dictate the significance of the brand-specific social graphs we weave. It’s a simple investment in either visibility or presence. In social media, just like in the real world, presence is felt. Rules of Engagement As social media continues to evolve, defining the “rules of engagement” will encourage thoughtful interaction that benefits the business, brand, customer, peers, and prospects at every touchpoint. In the end, we earn the attention, relationships and business we deserve. The following is an outline of best practices to help you craft a practical set of rules to guide representatives as they engage. 1. Discover all relevant communities of interest and observe the choices, challenges, impressions, and wants of the people within each network. 2. Don’t just participate solely in your own domains ( Facebook Fan Page, Twitter conversations related to your brand, etc.). Participate where your presence is advantageous and mandatory. 3. Determine the identity, character, and personality of the brand and match it to the persona of the individuals representing it online. 4. Establish a point of contact who is ultimately responsible for identifying, trafficking, or responding to all things that can affect brand perception. 5. As in customer service, representatives require training to learn how to proactively and reactively respond across multiple scenarios. Don’t just put the person familiar with social networking in front of the brand. 6. Embody the attributes you wish to portray and instill. Operate by a code of conduct. 7. Observe the behavioral cultures within each network and adjust your outreach accordingly. 8. Assess pain points, frustrations, and also those of contentment in order to establish meaningful connections. 9. Become a true participant in each community you wish to activate. Move beyond marketing and sales. 10. Don’t speak at audiences through canned messages. Introduce value, insight and direction with each engagement. 11. Empower your representatives to offer rewards and resolutions in times of need. 12. Don’t just listen and placate — act. Do something. 13. Ensure that any external activities are supported by a comprehensive infrastructure to address situations and adapt to market conditions and demands. 14. Learn from each engagement and provide a path within the company to adapt and improve products and services. 15. Consistently create, contribute, and reinforce service and value. 16. Earn connections through collaboration and empower advocacy. 17. Don’t get lost in translation. Ensure your communication and intent is clear and that your involvement maps to objectives created for the social web. 18. Establish and nurture beneficial relationships online and in the real world as long as doing so is important to your business. 19. “Un-campaign” and create ongoing programs that keep you connected to day-to-day engagement. 20. “Un-market” by becoming a resource to your communities. 21. Give back, reciprocate, and recognize notable contributions from participants in your communities. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More social media resources from Mashable: – Top 5 Social Media Tips for C-Suite Execs – How Facebook Makes Edgy Concepts Mainstream – The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans – 4 Tips for Tapping Into Twitter Conversations – 8 Tips for a Successful Social Media Cause Campaign Image courtesy of iStockphoto , AndrewJohnson Tags: business , engagement , facebook , List , Lists , MARKETING , small business , twitter
