The Pedestal Group

I’m always interested in the person who argues against popular thinking.  It is fun to hear the other side and makes me think.  Today, I read a post at Scott Berkun’s website on social media hype.  While I don’t agree with everything he says, a lot of it is right on the money.  First, he talks about how all media is social – otherwise, it wouldn’t involve people. So the term “social media” is lame.  I completely agree. Email has always been social for me – I am not one to blast out email and never get responses – and I have formed entire relationships with people all through email.  In addition, I am not forming many relationships on Twitter because it is difficult to carry on a conversation in 140 character snippets that could get lost in the shuffle at the other end so you need to include some of the subject matter.

What I really loved was his pointing out that the new media doesn’t “kill” the old.  While there are some people out there saying Twitter will replace everything, I just don’t see it.  In fact I think in the not-so-distant-future, Twitter will be incorporated into something else and be a part of something more concrete. Now, if you want to take a conversation off line, you go to another media. I think in the future you will have an option to move to a longer dialogue format.   Also, while LinkedIn and Facebook are great, what I have found is they have led to more phone calls and getting together.  It doesn’t matter if it is a member of a LinkedIn group that is local or a Facebook connection that will be in town for a meeting, I have met more people in the last two years that were new people and I met them in person because I met them on line first.  That is a whole different side of social media than I’ve read about lately.

Finally, his other big point is to consider the source of the information.  I recently was solicited to buy the newest, greatest Twitter tool and it was pushed by the creator of the tool but disguised in a training seminar. The entire talk was about how you can’t live without this tool and you really had to dig to find out the guy had written it. He has since updated his materials to be more clear but at the time, it felt shady.  So always know who is providing the information.

I do enjoy social media and think it has a significant place in any marketing strategy but which programs that means or where you have profiles depends on your goals.  Thanks to Scott for putting that out there!

Don’t you love finding something that is just awesome and incredibly helpful and answers questions you didn’t even know you had?  I recently did that when I started following Boolean Black Belt, Glen Cathey. His posts are straight forward and to the point and shows you how to search for ANYTHING using the tools available today. I am always disappointed with the trainers / bloggers / advisors who get so technical they leave people in the dust and feel good about themselves because they know something other’s don’t. Glen, on the other hand, goes out of his way to make sure his information is clear, you can follow it and start implementing it today.  To get started, I highly recommend his new Sourcing / Recruiting Resources – while the title is simple, the information included is a gold mine.

Be sure to check him out!!

Ever watch someone work a room? They move from group to group, introducing people, setting up lunch dates, making people smile. When they leave the lights are just a little dimmer, aren’t they? Ever wanted to be that person? One of the most exciting things about Web 2.0 and social media is you can be that person on line with about two hours of effort.

Social media is all about listening to people one-on-one. It is also about individuals, not companies. This is great news for small business owners who ARE the company. All this time you have tried to look bigger than you are, conveying messages of size without stretching the truth. Now, your on-line presence needs to be all about you—who you are, what you do and why you can help someone. THAT you can talk about!

In social media, there are the big “parties” like LinkedIn and Facebook, and then there are the smaller “events” that don’t get as much traffic but are still worth checking out. Both serve their own purposes and can be useful. Just like a party, a smaller party offers more opportunities to talk to people while a larger one offers more individuals with whom to talk.

In addition to all the benefits, it is very important to “own” the information on the web that is about you. If someone met you, remembered your name but not your company, phone or email address, what would they do? Most people would throw what they knew into Google and check out what came up. So what comes up about you? Shouldn’t there be a whole page of results about a person as interesting and unique as you are?

So how to get started….. First, do just that—put your name and location into Google and see what comes up. How many results on the first page are about you? Next, make sure you have a LinkedIn profile. It should have some details about you—even if it is just former companies and titles. Your next step is to set up profiles on other sites. There are MANY to choose from so decide which ones you want to use and fill them out. The nice thing is once you’ve written a short bio, you can use it over and over again. At a minimum it is recommended to be on Plaxo, Google Profiles (google.com/profiles/me ) and Yahoo. It sounds like a lot but can be done in about two hours. You don’t have to put up much information, but once this is done, when you Google yourself the next time you should own the whole first page of results. Be sure to check that out periodically.

Now, wherever a person is they can find you. You will appear connected, technologically savvy and well-connected. Who doesn’t want to work with that person?