Alberta Business Marketing

Tags: Blogs, book, contest, linkedin, Small Business, Starting Up
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LinkedIn, Facebook and many other Social Networking sites have been suggesting friends and followers for a while now.  Do you follow these people just because the service recommends them to you.   Deep down inside where many Facebookers or LinkedIn users never get a chance to visit there is some formula or algorithm that figures out who you should know and offers suggestions based on your friends, there friends and a number of other criteria.

Twitter is now jumping of the “suggest a friend” campaign with their own “suggestions for you” program.

The Twitter blog has more information on how this will work inside Twitter.  Read the Twitter blog.

Are you the type to follow whomever is suggested to you?

What do you think about the automated suggestions?

In the LinkedIn world, I have used the suggestions to my advantage.  When I see a name pop up from someone I haven’t heard of in a while or a long-lost colleague, LinkedIn can be a great way to get back in touch with people.

But what do you think?

Tags: Blog hosting services, Facebook, Facebook Inc, Human Interest, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, Online social networking, Social information processing, Social Landscape, social media, Social network service, Technology/Internet, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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LinkedIn is one of the industry leading social networks and online communities in use today across multiple businesses and industries. LinkedIn’s focus on business-to-business networking and facilitating the sharing of ideas and strategies has won the trust of business professionals globally. Not unlike many of their counterparts, LinkedIn does have privacy challenges according to many CEO level executives. Many organizations are now reviewing their policies related to LinkedIn and how information propagates through this business social network.

More and more business professionals are turning to LinkedIn because of its overall effectiveness in the marketplace. However, many are unaware of the apparent risks to corporate contacts when setting up their LinkedIn accounts. There are many settings that are on automatically allowing for browsing of contacts and also leaving a trace of who visited another profile. Many organizations as part of their social media acceptable use policy are now requiring specific changes to LinkedIn privacy settings be made ensuring business contacts and information are kept confidential.

LinkedIn is build on a community and like many other online networks; they embrace the sharing of information and contacts. How do businesses balance the foundations of LinkedIn with the compliance and confidentiality measures of business today?

Read my white paper on the two required LinkedIn security settings.

Tags: business networking, business social network, Business/Finance, CEO, collaboration, Community websites, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, online communities, online networks, Online social networking, Social information processing, social media, social media acceptable use policy, social networks, Technology/Internet, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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I am flowing a very interesting discussion on one of my LinkedIn groups which focuses on Social Media.  The question raised by one of our members was on “what makes or what qualifications does a social media administrator require?”  Interesting question since the person asking the question has a title of “Certified Social Media Strategist”.  I was shocked to hear that there is actually a program for a Certified Social Media Strategist.  It is provided by Social Media Academy.  Very interesting.

Back to the question at hand, what skills or requirements does a social media administrator need to have?

Does business acumen matter?

How about a marketing degree or equivalent career history?

What risks does your business take by having someone who doesn’t get it?

I believe that alignment with the overall marketing strategy of the business is crucial, social media doesn’t stand on its own for many companies.  It is very important but the company can’t rest everything on the modern tools of the day.  Most businesses today who are looking at or implementing social media are not dumping their existing or proven marketing or communication activities.  The successful organizations continue to send postcards, making phone calls and hosting meetings. Their social media activities play a supporting role in many of the activities of the corporation including marketing, corporate communications, customer support and forming strong business networks.

Alignment is critical to the overall success of social media into your business.  Does your social media administrator need to understand where they stand in the pecking order?

Social Media is just another spoke in the wheel of your business.

What about maturity, is this important? Would you rather have someone who has a proven track record in your industry or someone new.  Everyone has to start somewhere but when it comes to maturity I mean you don’t want to risk having someone, regardless of age, tweeting what they had for breakfast on your company Twitter account.

Is social media deeper than Facebook and Twitter? What is the depth of knowledge of your social media administrator?  Do they have press contacts or know where the industry or your clients go to research information?  Is your administrator’s depth of Social Media knowledge stop at Facebook or Twitter?

How about thinking out of the box? In other words, creativity!  Can your social media administrator come up with creative solutions to enhance your company’s reputation or ability to serve your clients better?

What about the size of their ears? Well, not physically.  Can they listen to what is going on around then.  What is happening in the marketplace?  How about understand what news Bloomberg is reporting and what it means to the organization.  Can they listen and then approach the leadership to formulate a response or plan to seize opportunities which may exist.

Lots of stuff to consider.

If you would like to engage with the Social Media group on LinkedIn and our discussion, click here.

Tags: administrator, Blog hosting services, Bloomberg L.P., Business/Finance, Certified Social Media Strategist, creative solutions, Facebook, Facebook Inc, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, Online social networking, Social information processing, Social Issues, social media, Social Media Academy, social media administrator, Social Media Strategist, Social Media Ventures Inc, The Facebook Era, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Over the past week I have spent many hours deeply engaged with local and industry communities.  At the beginning of the week I started off at the HTG Peer Group annual summit in Dallas, TX.  HTG is a community that I was deeply involved with during my days as a Calgary Computer Support Specialist.  HTG is made up of like-minded IT firms and brings them together in large groups, small groups and special interest groups built on the sharing of best practices and getting involved in the health of each member’s business.

At HTG Summit, I had an opportunity to speak about “online marketing” to a small group of HTG Marketing Professionals on Monday.  Marketing your business and ensuring you have a strategy to keep your business pipeline full is just one of the critical success elements for all business.  Doesn’t matter if you are a tech company, selling real estate or selling hot dogs on the street corner – marketing is a must.  Great marketing is the heartbeat of any business.  What I shared with these HTG professionals is the importance of online marketing when it is balanced with all other aspects of your business marketing, you have look at your overall strategy and how the web fits into your marketing.  You can read my review of the first couple of days with HTG by visiting “The VarGuy site“.

When I returned to Calgary on Tuesday, Ulistic jumped into education mode and brought together a number of great business people for a day of LinkedIn training at our monthly LinkedIn Workshop.  This week we had an experience with a national industry peer group and also a local community of business professionals right in our own backyard.

How do communities work with your business?

Are you the type to engage with community or walk away from those you see as competitors?

I heard something from one of my friends and mentors, Dr. Leslie Roberts from Calgary small business training firm GoForth Institute about competition in our world today during my small business podcast.  Plus, I also just need to turn to what Erik and Lyf are doing in Minneapolis with their Techpulse Minneapolis event.  In MSP, Erik and Lyf come together, competitors in the same industry and they also bring their own customers and share….very powerful.  A great community of professionals led by two leaders in industry.

Here is my advice…don’t hide in the corner, sucking your thumb…get out and engage with others in your community.

Tags: Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Calgary Computer Support Specialist, collaboration, Community websites, dallas, GoForth Institute, htg peer group, Human Interest, Leslie Roberts, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, Minneapolis, Online social networking, Real Estate, Social information processing, social media, Texas, the HTG Peer Group annual, web 2.0, web fits, World Wide Web
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