photo by pt 

I’m doing different workshops on Online Marketing and using Online Social Networks to grow your business and one of the consistent questions I get is “What can I do with an Online Social Network for my business?”

It’s a great question, and generally my response is another question – “What are you trying to do with your business…what is it that you need?  Customers? Partners? Employees?”

The deal with Online Social Networking sites, at least for business purposes, is that they are simply a tool.  If you use them in the right way, they can be a great asset to your marketing, sales or even customer service efforts (depending on your business).

But like that weed whip that hangs in my garage untouched because I don’t have a long enough cord for it, a online social network by itself doesn’t really do anything for you.  You have to have something you’re trying to achieve and then a way to use that tool to help deliver on that goal…if you’ve got that stuff in place, then you’ve got a tool that can really help you grow your business.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the types of things you could do with a tool like LinkedIn. Read More…

Ben Franklin was an amazing man – most people are familiar with several of his more famous inventions.  As an outcome of his studies of electricity he invented the lightning rod.  He also invented the bi-focal glasses that he’s often pictured with (he was both near and far sighted and got frustrated with having to switch glasses while he was working).

Beyond that, he’s also credited with creating the first Fire Insurance Company, he came up with the idea behind Daylight Savings Time and he helped form the first Library (as their known today) in 1731.

However, in addition to all of those great accomplishments, Franklin is also arguably the father of Social Networking (at least as it pertains to business). 

One of the better definitions of Networking that I’ve seen comes from Bob Burg – author of Endless Referrals:

Networking is the cultivating of mutually beneficial, give and take, win-win relationships.

Old Ben certainly knew a thing or two about the power of relationships and networking – even back in the 1700s!  He drove a lot of the ideas that make networking what it is today.

Read More…

Back in the early 90′s the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) had a difficult problem to solve.  Their goal as an organization was to improve quality of life by communicating proven problems.

One of the problems they discovered was that movie popcorn, although a tasty treat, was bad for you.

Really, really bad. (like 80 grams of saturated fat for a large serving bad!)

However they quickly figured out that just telling people that popcorn was bad didn’t really make much of a splash – in fact it didn’t even make a ripple.

Then they decided they needed to get creative to get the point across.

They called a press conference and presented a large box of popcorn on a table.  Then they added a plate of bacon and eggs to the table.

Then a Big Mac and Fries.

Then a steak dinner.  The popcorn had more fat than all of that other food…COMBINED!!!

As they say – and as you might remember, the rest is history.  The media jumped all over the story and within a few weeks national Movie Chains started changing the way they made the popcorn – they got rid of the coconut oil and came out with healthier alternatives.

The CSPI had made their idea sticky – not only did people get it, they passed it along to friends (and they told two friends and so on and so on).

That’s the essence behind the book Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.  They analyzed what made some ideas ‘work’ and others just pass by the wayside and developed a set of rules that anyone can use to make their own ideas ‘stickier’.

Read More…

photo by Katiew

Networking is all about establishing mutually beneficial win-win relationships with people that you know, like and trust (and vice versa). 

Unfortunately it can be really difficult to develop those kinds of relationships in traditional professional networking environments.

Enter the opportunity of the dinner party.

In his book on networking and relationships “Never Eat Alone” Keith Ferrazzi outlines his recommended approach for regular dinner parties as a key networking strategy.  I don’t know that everyone is going to have access to big name celebrities as the ‘anchor tenant’ for your get together as recommended by the book, but an occasional informal get together with people that you’d like to get to know better can be a big help to making connections.

If you’re like me, there are a lot of people you know informally – well enough to wave to them across a parking lot, but you’ve never really had an in-depth discussion with them.  Find a good mix of those people that seem like they would be fun and/or worthwhile to get to know and pull together a dinner party to break the ice.

Read More…

Photo by spacemonkey

Small business can be a pretty wild ride.  You land a big deal, have a big day, hit on all cylinders and you are on top of the world!

Then you start doing the work, you focus on delivery, you’re working really hard…in your business.  It’s a sweet, fast ride downhill all the way.

You deliver the goods, the service – what ever it was the client wanted and then you realize, you’ve got nothing lined up for tomorrow.

You’re at the bottom preparing for an uphill climb of marketing to get you that next influx of business. 

You are on the roller coaster business cycle and unfortunately it’s all too common and if you don’t figure out how to manage it, it will eventually sink you.

Knowing it’s an issue, what can you do to get out of this painful cycle? Read More…