Alberta Business Marketing

Thank you to everyone for all the emails lately.  Many of you who have been used to getting my blog posts delivered via email have emailed me concerned about the slow down or the drop off in the frequency of the emails.  Thanks for that.  The reality is this, I have just been very busy.

Ulistic is growing and expanding.  We have welcomed Frank Allen as one of our sales reps and are currently in discussions with another amazing person who will become a vital component of our team just like Frank.  Ulistic is blossoming into a Internet consulting firm across Canada and the United States.

Next week, David and I are heading back down to Los Angeles for a couple of days and then come home right in the middle of Stampede.  No Microsoft WPC for me this year. Going to miss seeing everyone who I have become friends with in the Microsoft community but it will also be great to spend a week networking in the Calgary business community.

All is well with me.  Trying to get back into my routine of working out, working on the business and working on my own personal goals and family.  It is truly a fine balance.  I haven’t even watched much World Cup Soccer.  Football however during the month of June kept us busy and it will again come August.  Football even reduced me business networking where I had to just pop in to say hi to those colleagues in a local Calgary Oil and Gas Meetup group.

All is well…just busy.

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Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Canadian Small Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.

My business partner David and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email Stuart at scrawford@ulistic.com.

Tags: business networking, Calgary, canada, Human Interest, Internet activism, Internet Consulting, Los Angeles, Meetup.com, Microsoft Corporation, Online social networking, Stuart's ramblings, technology, United States, week networking, World Cup
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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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Hot off the presses…I pulled this off of some newswire stories today.

According to PCWorld’s Carrie-Ann Skinner, Facebook is reconsidering some it’s privacy settings after a backlash from their members.  Maybe not so many changes, but making privacy and controlling what others see in Facebook easier for the average user of Facebook.

Carrie-Ann included a quote from a Facebook representative in her article “We’re working on responding to these concerns. Watch this space”.  Privacy commissioners here in Canada and privacy groups in the UK have called Facebook privacy settings “unacceptable” and are on a rampage against the US-based social networking service.

Privacy specialists are lobbying Facebook for an opt-in vs. an opt-out policy for who sees what with your information on Facebook.  Some Facebook users are even threatening to take extreme action on May 31st, 2010 by deleting their accounts if Facebook doesn’t fix their privacy.  You can share your intention to quit Facebook by signing up on quitfacebookday.com.  Funny thing, according to Facebook, they added 10 million new users since the uproar on security first was reported.

Once again, I need to remind or caution you all that if you wouldn’t email a photo or even share it face-to-face with someone..then posting it on Facebook is also not a good idea.  When you elect to post something to any online service you must practice “sensibility”.  This goes for posting, sharing, status updates or anything that could be used against you.  Almost sounds like a court of law.

But, Facebook is just the whipping boy this month.  I still remember when Microsoft was the whipping boy for all the security holes in Windows…have we forgotten about Windows.  Next month or some time down the road it will be another program or social networks turn in the spotlight.  Maybe it is Twitter or LinkedIn’s turn next.

How can you test your Facebook privacy settings?

There is an answer for all of you who are concerned about your Facebook privacy settings and don’t understand how to lock everything down.  There is a great website and serve that does all the testing for you and ensures your Facebook account is properly secured.

Are you interested in testing and then ensuring your Facebook privacy settings are set correctly?

I stumbled across this interesting site today that helps you determine you level of privacy online.  Check out reclaimprivacy.org and test your online privacy. When you hit the reclaimprivacy.org site, read the instructions very carefully and run their tool against your Facebook privacy settings.  The service will offer up recommendations to tighten up your Facebook security and actually fix them for you.

Give it try to see if you have any privacy holes that need filling.

Tags: Blog software, canada, Carrie-Ann Skinner, Criticism of Facebook, Facebook, Facebook Beacon, Facebook Inc, Internet privacy, LinkedIn Ltd, Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Windows, online privacy, online service, Online social networking, privacy, reclaimprivacy.org site, representative, Social information processing, social media, Social network service, social networking service, social networks, Technology/Internet, Twitter Inc, United Kingdom, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Last evening our Calgary Business Professionals Networking Group held their monthly Beer, Wings and Networking event at the Rusty Cage in South Calgary.  What a great establishment for a social networking event where everyone can come together for some fellowship and networking.  Hats off to our great business club in Calgary.  Thanks to Ray and the entire team at the Rusty Cage/Studio 82 for another wonderful event.

The lesson learned at our Calgary Business Networking Club

Social Networking requires people to be real.  Our business networking club is social networking and we are not hiding behind some keyboard and computer screen.  We are out and about in the community, meeting up, sharing stories, exchange business cards and learning from each other.  One of the comments that we kept hearing throughout the event is how real this business club actually is.  That everyone can just be themselves and tell it like it is in a completely comfortable environment.  This is a very important and a crucial life-lesson I learned a while back.  Many tried to reach out to me, especially during my “I” focused years.  We need to be authentic, real and ourselves more than anything.

During the evening and speaking with the members at the event I ran into a Calgary Social Media self-proclaimed Guru.  It was this couple’s first time at our event and one of the people claimed they knew me but sorry I don’t recall meeting them in the past.  This guy and his partner claim to do everything in the world of social media.  They will fill your pipeline with qualified leads, your revenues will gush like Leduc Number 1 and they have an endless team.  You need feet on the street in New York City, he does that.  You need some customized coding, he does that…maybe you need someone to mop the floors at the end of the night, he does that.  Can you see the potential challenges here?

In my early days of IT Matters, we gave the perception to our clients that we were their single source for anything IT related and even to this day at Ulistic, there is value is being a single source or that CONNECTOR who knows the right people to introduce in situations.  This is why I network, to understand who does what and who I can refer business to.   I still like to believe we can be a single source of knowledge and share openly with those we care about and trust (KNOW, LIKE, TRUST).  What is different about that mindset vs. “we do that”.  We don’t do everything, however we have strong strategic alliances that are able to help you with what challenge faces your business.

Do you need a sign for your office, we know someone and we can introduce you.  How about some tricky software code, that as well…we don’t do that but we have talented business relationships that we would more than happy to connect you with.  It is about being a CONNECTOR, about looking out for the needs of others without “sticking your oar” in and claiming it is all about you.

People like to deal with humble, authentic and real people. Part of being authentic and real is knowing what you are good at, showing that you really care and forming alliances with those who can help you with the weaknesses in your business.

Tags: Calgary, Calgary Business Professionals Networking Group, Guru, Human Interest, I T MATTERS, New York City, Online social networking, Social network service, tricky software code, Uncategorized
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Last evening I was very blessed and honoured to invest a couple of quality evening hours with Calgary’s vibrant marketing community. Thursday evening, the CMA Calgary dinner was held at the beautiful and luxurious Palliser Hotel in downtown Calgary.  Our guest of honour was none other that the “Dragon Queen” herself, Ms. Arlene Dickinson.  She has to be one of my favourites on the hit CBC show “Dragon’s Den”.  I was even lucky enough to have a few words with Arlene after her talk on social media marketing and how we can play the role of influencers and master our own thought leadership.

Over the past few weeks I have been struggling with social media as a tool for business, not that I don’t see the value when you have a well executed strategy but on the validity of the entire online market.  Arlene really helped open my eyes to the real purpose on why we tweet, why we contribute to conversations in LinkedIn and why we have Facebook Pages?  Again, it is not to sell, that is never the reason but it is to inspire others and to become the thought leaders deep inside each of us.  We have to be open to reaching out and sharing news, opinions, views and also to help others we hardly know and really, it is to be a Go-Giver.

Wham, that was the advise I needed and the clarity I have been searching over the past few weeks.  I think I already had it tucked away deep in my mind…but really needed to hear it from the marketing diva herself.  One of my peers asked a very simple question that I get asked all the time “How can a small business guy like myself build a large following?”  This is a very good question, and it really comes down to have something profound to say, great advice to give and not going into a corner and hiding from the rest of the world.  ”Talent can be found anywhere, what are you putting out there” said Arlene making reference to a Maritimer she just engaged with for creative writing.  You have to engage with this guy on Twitter.  Follow Jason Sweeney on Twitter.

With Social Media and all the social networking circles out there, you need to reach out to everyone.  You must be open to speaking with or potential touching everyone, not just those you are closest with.

Thanks Arlene for a great reminders and laughes…especially at Kevin’s expense.

Tags: Arlene Dickinson, Calgary, Compagnie Generale de Batiment et de Construction, Human Interest, Jason Sweeney, media marketing, Online social networking, Palliser Hotel, Real-time web, social media, Social Media Ventures Inc, social networking circles, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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