Alberta Business Marketing

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
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

How is your business sending out relevant information to your future customers, those who don’t know about your business or your loyal customers who have the potential of becoming your next batch of raving fans?  You may have a blog, podcast or even invested in some great video about your business…but really how are you reaching these new audiences?

In the past and unfortunately an ongoing practice by many organizations is the traditional press release.  Corporations would spend thousands of dollars each year and engage with a firm who specialized in sending out or distributing your news to the media, agencies and basically anyone else who had a fax machine or a telex device.  There are many firms out there who specialize in the distribution of news for organizations.

Is it a good investment.  I have never used one in the past.  I remember helping many of my IT consulting clients in the past with complex software that would submit the news stories to their respective agencies.  This was long before the Internet.  Funny, I still remember working late at Petromet in the 90’s with a frustrated Admin Assistant and some PR software.  Fortunately for many, the tide is shifting and the social media news release is starting to gain momentum in the marketplace over the traditional press release.

In the past a press release would have information about your business, maybe a quote from the CEO or a flagship client and then the news that you wanted to share.  I recently stumbled upon a 2006 article from Tom Foremski entitled Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die! which shares how ineffective traditional press releases are for the average organization.  In my experience, I think many of them are full of information but no relevant information to the average reader.

Enter the Social Media world and the new way we send out information.  Social Media News Releases now focus on interesting things happening in your business or the community.  It is real news about what your organization is actually doing and perhaps a bit of humour tossed into the mix.  The nice thing about social media news releases is that the barrier to entry has been eliminated and many of these services cost little or no money to take advantage of.

Social Media News is about engaging with the community and sharing relevant information that is useful.  Not to mention as a bonus, the great SEO opportunities associated with social media news.  It is something that many non-profits, small businesses, and entrepreneurs needs to look at and take advantage of.  Did I mention you can start to use these services with little or no investment.

Members of the Ulistic Mentoring Program spend lots of time review with me one-on-one and understand how to leverage social media news into their overall social marketing strategy.  Interested in learning how your business can learn more about social media news and how to maximum this excellent strategy?  Give me a shout at 403.775.2205.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Admin Assistant, Business, Business/Finance, CEO, Die! Press, education, Entertainment/Culture, Journalism sourcing, Mass media, media coverage, media news, media news release, media news releases, mentorship, News media, News release, Social information processing, social media, Socially-responsible investing, Tom Foremski
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Does Facebook ever stop being in the Canadian news?  I am sure the guys at Facebook head office would wish the Canadian Privacy Commissioners office would just go away.  But, maybe the PR is something they enjoy as well.

Last week I shared with you some information I found in the Calgary Herald on the Canadian Privacy Commissioners latest challenges with the online giant, Facebook.  There is a buzz in the Canadian press right now on Facebook privacy, not sure if it actual real news or simply propaganda generated by the Privacy Commissioner’s office.

Here is what I think about this whole privacy debate.  Facebook still has never come to my Calgary home and put a gun to my head and said “Open an account or die”.  Even since I have been in the States they have never tracked me down to go through this registration ritual.  It is a total voluntary thing.  You open an account, you understand the risks associated, you agree by reading the terms and conditions…and away you guy.  You click upload, you click “like”, you click “share”….you do things, they don’t do things on your behalf.

Why the big mess about Facebook?  I haven’t seen any news in the US Papers this week about Facebook and privacy.  Is it only a Canadian concern?  Perhaps, is it valid…of course to some who have kids and perhaps they share every bit of information about what they are doing online.  Just like many, I am  disgusted that some pervert would take Facebook pictures of kids and post them on some website for him and his buddies to enjoy…but is that a fault of Facebook?

Actually, in a recent Facebook article from Vancouver Sun reporter Gillian Shaw, many online services are mentioned, not just Facebook.  Flickr and the list goes on.  Can Facebook tighten their security, of course…so can Microsoft, Apple and everyone else in the IT world.  But remember, you don’t have to be on Facebook to survive in today’s world.  You still elect to open your account.

I do recommend that you put online the files, pictures or status updates that you feel comfortable with.  This is what you get with a free service.  Want more security, want more privacy…it is time to open your wallet and maybe fork over a few dollars per month to ensure you have the heightened security you are comfortable with.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook has been quoted in the papers and stating he doesn’t believe in privacy.  I think privacy in the free online community is long gone as well.  No one wants to take ownership of privacy, so they leave everything wide open…it is the wild west in the social media world today.  I think we need to get over it or simply turn off the computer.  Like I said, no one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to create an account, post pictures and share information.

Here is an interesting email that came from a friend in the nursing industry in Ontario.  Their licensing agency is also concern professionally about the whole online world…driving professionals underground!

Unfortunately being a nurse and being out here on a public forum don’t always go together. The College of Nurses, the regulatory body, that issues our licenses to us each year sees our professional and private lives as a bit of a grey area, especially when it comes to social networking.  It is for this reason that I have decided to merge my two face-book accounts. I have one under my pen-name and one under my birth name. Now they’ll both be under my pen-name.

Where do you stand with this whole online privacy thing? Would love to hear what you have to say?

Tags: Calgary, Calgary Herald, College of Nurses, Criticism of Facebook, Facebook, Facebook Beacon, Facebook Inc, founder, free online community, Gillian Shaw, Human Interest, Internet privacy, Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft Corporation, nurse, online giant, online privacy thing, Online social networking, online world, Ontario, privacy, Privacy Commissioner, reporter, Social information processing, social media world, Social network service, social networking, Technology/Internet, the Calgary Herald, the Canadian news, the Canadian press, Vancouver Sun, 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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