5 Tips for Small Business Owners To Pick a Content Marketing Expert

Content marketing continues to grow and for good reason. It enables businesses to leverage their expertise in a real and demonstrable manner, at a relatively low cost. So, why aren't more small businesses taking advantage and incorporating content marketing? The answer is simple.  They just don't have the expertise or the time.  There are many excellent marketing practitioners who live and breathe content marketing. At the same time, there are many people who profess to understand content marketing and do not. Here are 5 tips for getting started when seeking your content marketer:

 

Image Courtesy of doublinx.com

1.  Think Strategically

One of the first things that a content marketer should ask about is your strategy.  Good content marketing consultants will interview you about this and ask thought-provoking questions.

2.  Develop Personas

In order to curate content, it is essential that your content marketing professional be able to develop personas, should you not already have them.

3. Act with Integration in Mind

Content should not be created only with social in mind.  An integrated approach must be taken.  Be sure that your marketing consultant has the expertise to leverage and implement an integrated marketing approach.  Don't be dazzled by someone who knows how to set up a Facebook Page or Group.

4.  Execute Based on Best Practices

 Be sure to ask questions to determine if your consultant knows how to make use of the right channels at the right time.  For example, recommending to post updates to Facebook at the wrong times with the wrong content will result in poor results.  This also applies to quality over quantity.   Always look for consultants that focus on quality first.

5.  Focus On Long-term Results

As tempted as we are to want things to happen immediately, marketing is something that takes time.  Your consultant should be prepared to guide you through the process and make adjustments as needed.  Remember we are dealing with consumer behaviour and influencing behaviour takes time. 

These are just 5 starting points to get you thinking.

Looking for more tips for small business?  Check out:  25 Cool Online Resources to Grow Your Business.

25 Cool Online Resources to Grow Your Business

Small and medium business owners are always on the lookout for great resources to help them grow, but they don’t  always have time to research, read, and sort the wheat from the chaff. So I've done the preliminary work for you. 

Here are 25 helpful small business resources covering everything from naming your new business to creating content for your marketing strategy, to increasing sales. 

Image courtesy of Entreprenuer.com

In no particular order, here a list of SMB resources you're going to want to bookmark:

1. Entrepreneur Solutions Playbook – 25 Small-Business Challenges [PDF]: A great discussion on the Top 25 Small Business Challenges

2. The Simple Guide to Branding Your Small Business [Infographic]: Looking for great advice on branding?  Check out this visual.

3. 5 Startup Naming Rules from SXSW: This article discusses how to position your business, including Do's and Don't's.

4. Facebook – Small Business Page: Great up-to-date ideas and information for small businesses plus you can contribute your ideas.

5. Six Best Practices for Creating a Content Marketing Strategy: Whether you're just getting started with content marketing or you're at it for awhile, this article to shares best practices.

6. Small Business Mobility Meets Big Business Needs: Learn more about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

7. Reuters Small Business Resource Center: Looking for a well-rounded source for starting a business, employment law and more, check out this resource center.

8. CNN Small Business Community: Join the CNN Small Business Community for interesting posts from CNN Money.

9. Smart Bizz – Small Business and Startups Internet Technology Resources: Another good source for a broad range of subjects from e-commerce, productivity and more in this resource center.

10. NFIB – National Federation of Independent Business, the Voice of Small Business: From healthcare to sales and customer service to finance and accounting, get topical posts to help you advance your business.

11. Smallbusiness.com – a Free Wiki: Get local-based information based on your State.  Check out this community portal to learn the latest happenings in small business.

12. Wall Street Journal – Market Watch: Looking for an aggregate of great news-related posts for your small business? This is another great one-stop shop.

13. CitiBank Small Business Resources: Learn more about risk and financial security.

14. AT&T Strategies and Insights:  Access posts on how to attract customers, increase sales, build relationships and more on this handy site.

15. IT Business Edge – Small Business Computing: Get how-to guides, small business tips and more on this site.

16. Bank of America Small Business Community: Learn about small businesses of the month, ask the community questions and more.

17. Network Solutions - Small Business Center: Get a roundup of small business news all in one spot.

18. Cisco Small Business Resource Center: This center has articles, customer stories news and more all in one spot.

19. Small Business Guides: Get the latest guides on financing, training and events.

20. Go Small Biz: Looking for a go-to on tax/accounting, sales, HR, risk and tech in one spot?  This could be your go-to.

21. All Business - Your Small Business Advantage: Get access to the top stories, All Business experts and more.

22. Information Week SMB Technology for Small and Midsized Business: Get access to weekly email updates, SMB stories right from SMBs and more.

23. Microsoft Business for Small and Midsized Business: Learn new ways to use Microsoft tools get tips and marketing research.

24. DuctTape Marketing Blog: Blog posts, free ebooks and information on courses abound this site.

25. AMEX Open Forum: Recently redesigned, exchange advice, get ideas and learn small business success.

Note:  a version of this post appeared on the Salesforce blog that I wrote for them in August of this year.

5 Marketing Lessons Learned From A Closet Monarchist

O.k.!  I admit it.  I am a Monarchist.  I am not really even sure when that happened.  But I must come clean and admit it. Maybe it was growing up and drawing out Union Jacks, despite the obvious fact that I am of Scottish ancestry, but I won't go there,  Maybe it is because I grew up looking at the Queen on most of our money..or..or..who knows.  I just am.  So, now that it is out, I will even share some of my photos with you in this post.

I also have to admit that my title for this blog was going to be: "Confessions of a Monarchist", but because I actually working in social media and content marketing, I know that headlines with a number in them, do better...they really do!

So, what I have learned from being a Monarchist?  Apparently a few things:

1.  Pomp and Circumstance is a great marketing tactic! 

The Royals know how to do this better than anyone I know.  They make an announcement like an engagement, but don't announce the date.  They hold a media event to show the ring.  All the experts weigh in to demonstrate their knowledge of procedure and protocol.  The speculation begins on the "where will they get married and who will design the dress".  Excitement and anticipation is created.  The date gets announced, more experts weigh in and photos are shared.  Speculation on who will be invited starts.  The wedding is held and everyone waits with bated breath to see the dress and of course and  "the fascinators".  Then there is anticipation about when will there be a royal heir.  This isn't a campaign of days or even weeks!  No, this has been nearly a three-year campaign!  Brilliant.  Talk about keeping the conversation going! 

I took this photo on June 18, 1983, - Royal Visit - Campbellton, NB

2.  Tradition Trumps A Flash-in-the-Pan Initiative 

Sure there are traditions that just don't make sense and really are stupid. However, there are some traditions that come and go, and when the Royals have something to celebrate, the fun and good ones come back.  In terms of fun, I can't help but think about the above mentioned fascinators that we saw at Kate and Will's wedding.  Sure, some were downright silly looking, but they were great fodder to chuckle and ask:  "why?".  Others were quite nice and many women adopted them, at least for a little while. A new revenue stream for some!  Then there are the wedding dresses.  I was till youngish when Diana and Charles married, but years later friends had replicas of Diana's dress made for their high school graduation dress.  Seriously!  I kid you not.  I am sure I have a pic somewhere of a friend, but I don't think she wants to be "in" my blog post.

3.  Use the Right Mix of Media

The new guard is definitely in town.  Prince William is on Facebook and updating his masses about the birth and then posting pics after the fact.  Even Queen Elizabeth has a page on Facebook.  And, then of course there is Twitter.  The British Monarchy has their own Twitter handle:  @britishmonarchy, and why shouldn't they.  Nearly 576,000 people want to hear from the Monarchy on their Twitter feed.

Digital media aside and reinforcing the tactic of tradition in your marketing and communications plans, the Monarchy didn't just go new school.  They mixed tradition right in the middle.  Imagine, taking an announcement and placing it on an easel outside Buckingham Palace. Really?  Despite rain, police officers had to form a makeshift guard of honour at the gates to control the crowds who came to see the easel!  The easel! 

 

Yes, I have Union Jack cushions (& MacLean Tartan in the back)

4.  Demonstrating Strength, Honour and Commitment Through Tradition

Love or hate the Monarchy, they get noticed.  They know how to get noticed and quite frankly, they know how to throw a bloody good party - think Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the latest Royal Wedding. (again great revenue streams for many)

Speaking of parties:  My invite to the Palace Holyroodhouse - My Second Dinner with Prince Andrew

There is something comforting in tradition; and despite a few hiccups, Queen Elizabeth has been an outstanding source of pride, strength and honour.  From the time she was a young girl and driving an ambulance during WWII to her unwavering commitment to duty and pretty much always being "on", the Queen is a an impressive lady.   

5.  A Baby Means Hope, Renewal and Promise

Every time a baby is born we feel this way.  Every little bundle is an amazing accomplishment - one to be protected and cherished.  A Royal Baby however, means that we have more pomp and circumstance to look forward to!  More of everything in fact.  More tradition, more merchandizing, more British tourism, more trips abroad.  Like it or not, the Royal family also generates revenue and creates jobs both at home in Jolly Ol England and abroad. I am sure that can still learn more from the marketing genious that just might be "by accident."

Looking for more social media, marketing and communications banter?  Be sure to follow my blog:  http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.ca/

The Cost of Ignoring Employee Engagement

There are countless studies on employee engagement and the value that engaged employees bring to your organization.  Despite this however, not enough employers are actually taking the steps to engage their employees and there is a direct correlation between the cost of ignoring employee engagement and embracing it.  The cost is high.  Blessingwhite said it best in their findings: 'engaged employees stay for what they can give.  Disengaged employees stay for what they can get. 

According to Gallup research, companies with low employee engagement have higher safety incidents, more sick days, higher turnover, more quality control issues, etc. all costing the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year. Health-related costs alone to the employer in a suffering company are $11,709 versus $4,395 for a company that is thriving and has engaged employees.  The research has also shown that companies shedding jobs are more likely to be the ones with disengaged employees, a signal that publicly traded companies don't necessarily want to give.

The research also shows that publicly traded companies with high engagement, enjoy higher earnings per share.  So, what are some tips to engage employees?  Here are 7 tips to implement immediately:

1.  Live up to promises - Managers can greatly contribute to the engagement cycle by living up to promises and commitments made to their direct reports. 

2.  Fully utilize your talent - All too often Managers pigeon hole their employees or quite frankly don't understand the employee's full experience and education. Taking the time to understand an employees full skill set and actually using it will go a long way to engaging that employee.

3.  Career Development - Be sure to include career planning and development for your employees.  Again taking the time to know and understand the employee's interests will help guide you and the employee toward a solid future.

4.  Regular Meetings - Have regular one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.  Arrive on time and pay full attention to the employee.  Arriving late, leaving early, taking phone calls during the meeting, reading email or perpetually cancelling the meeting, without rescheduling sends a strong message that you don't care about that employee.

5.  Inclusion - Seek our input and ideas from your direct reports.  Show that their input matters and that they can contribute to the bigger picture. 

6.  Publicly recognize your Employees - Don't wait for a special occasion or the end of a project to recognize the contribution of your direct reports.  Use internal communications tools, social media and mass email to thank employees on a regular basis.  Ensure that the recognition is genuine and heartfelt.  Insincere thanks is worse than no thanks.

7. Give them Authority - Demonstrate that you believe in them by giving your senior team the opportunity to fill in for you when you are out.  Leaving no one in charge signals that you either can't trust your direct reports or that you are insecure about leaving someone else in charge.  If you have several people as direct reports that are at the same level, take turns leaving them in charge. 

These are just some things that you can do to engage your employees. There are many others.  What would you suggest a company do to ensure employee engagement?

3 Easy Ways to Build Your Twitter Following the honest Way

3 Easy Ways to Build Your Twitter Following the honest Way

The honest way you say?  What is that?  Well, let’s just start this one out with a little bit of controversy.  I don’t believe that people should buy Twitter followers.  I just don’t.  So, that being said, here are 3 ways that you can work to build your Twitter followers in an honest and organic way.

1.    Follow people – sounds straightforward doesn’t it.  Look for people that are of interest to you and follow them.  Follow people they follow.  And finally, follow people that follow you.  Reciprocation is a powerful thing. 

2.    Complete you profile – many people, including me, will rarely follow someone when there is no profile information.  I would only do this is I know the person.  After all, I want to know about who you are.  Just because we are connecting on-line, doesn’t mean that I don’t want to know you and learn about who you are and what makes you tick.  

3.    Participate in relevant Twitter Chats – This is a great way to connect with and meet new people.   

Tweet from a recent Twitter Chat

These are just three very easy ways to build your Twitter following.  There are many more.  What would you add the list?

5 Tips to Take to Your Social Media Listening and Engagement to the Next Level

(this post originally appeared on:  http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/11/5-tips-to-take-to-your-social-media-listening-and-engagement-to-the-next-level/)

Let’s say you’ve taken the plunge into the social media listening and engagement pool, but now what? You really want to leverage your listening and engagement tools to have maximum impact and ensure that you meet your corporate objectives. Here are 5 quick tips to help you do this: 

1. Focus on your Key Performance Objectives (KPIs) 

The most important point to remember is that your social activities, including your listening and engagement, should be tied directly to your business goals. A good way to stay on track is to stay aligned with your KPIs. Staying focused will ensure that you and your organization benefit the most from social initiatives. 


2. Focus on Lead Measures Versus Lag Measures 

Also referred to as “business drivers,” leading indicators measure the actions that your Engagement Team, aka your Community Team, does for the company’s medium to long-term success. They show what is currently happening and serve as an early warning sign that change may be needed in a particular area. As a result, your Engagement Team will play a key role in recognizing and escalating trends or issues before they become significant. 

3. Commit to Having the Right People

Listening and engaging is not for the faint at heart. It takes people who are passionate about people, and passionate about being social. Make the commitment up front to have individuals who love people, and working with people and who have an eye for the big picture. Equally important is having people who not only know how to interpret KPIs, but understand the importance of timely, relevant reporting. Finally, your team should know the right balance between when to be serious and when to be light-hearted. After all, we all need to have fun while we work. 

4. Understand the Importance of Reporting

Regardless of which tool you are using, if you can’t generate useful reports for your management team, you are in trouble. Members of your Engagement Team are excellent resources to generate such reports. They are intimately familiar with the various conversations taking place. Make sure that they know and regularly prepare brand, competitive and research reports. More importantly, ensure that your management team is getting the reporting that they need. 

5. Recognize the Power of Community and Influencers 

Building a loyal following of customers, prospects, and influencers is more important than many realize. While building relationships takes time, when done properly an organization will not only learn about preferences, ideas or needs of its communities, but the community itself can become your greatest advocate. Advocates and influencers are particularly powerful when they share your information, value proposition, and message on your behalf. 
Focus on your community and you will realize quite quickly you come full circle and be back at focusing on your KPIs.

Using Social Media To Rally Support for Those in Need

In the social media, marketing or communications industry we all talk about social media in terms of how it is about people, about relationships really.  Despite talking the talk however, we often don’t walk the walk. It is the reason why many of us have to constantly “poke” our colleagues to remind them what social is really all about.  It is not about push communications.  It is not about one-sided advertising.  It is about individuals and human-beings who have basic needs.

Over the last couple of days I have witnessed wonderful examples of how social media is used with people in mind.  In fact, when done correctly we notice it.  Often times there is an emotional or gut response to the situation. (Thanks for this idea Krista.)

Here are two examples from just the last two days that have resonated with people in my local community:

Finding a cherished pet

If you are a pet owner, or as I like to think of it, a pet parent, your dog or cat is not just a pet.  My dog, Seven, is an important part of our family.  We would be devastated if he went missing.  That is why I always share status updates that I see about missing pets. 

Just this week one of my Facebook friends posted about Maui, a lovely dog that has been missing since New Year’s Eve.  I am not alone in doing this.  I saw this status update reshared numerous times by other friends.  I just hope she is found.

If you have seen Maui, please call 453-0887.  She went missing in the Hanwell area.

It Takes a Community

Just Friday night, and the second time in recent months, a restaurant in Fredericton caught fire.  While this in itself is unusual for our City - thankfully don’t have many fires - it is not unusual to see how our community reacts.  Within hours, efforts were under way to hold a fundraiser for the staff.  And, just how were organizers getting the message out?  Well, Facebook of course.  This is yet another example where Facebook friends rose to the occasion and shared and shared.  People care enough to want to make a difference.  They took the old adage of you tell two friends and they will tell two friends and so on to a new level with Facebook. 

A fan of the Garrison Ale House?  They wouldn't be who they are without the staff.  So checkout: 

http://www.facebook.com/FundraiserForGarrisonStaff

Prior to social media and our fantastic digital networks we have developed, we did not have the same reach and capacity to make a mark.  I truly love how people leverage social media to accomplish what was intended.  I will say it again.  It is all about people and it is all about relationships. 

How are you leveraging social media for the betterment of others?  We would love to hear your story!  

You Can't Be Serious - Status Quo in Social Media and Life - The Dodo Bird is Calling

You Can’t Be Serious - Status Quo in Social Media and Life - The Dodo Bird is Calling!

Let’s face it; saying that things should or could remain status quo is like burying your head in the sand and hoping that when you come out, things are exactly like you left them.  So, why exactly do people think this?

Over the last few days alone I have heard status quo mentioned in terms of a community and the call for it not to change.  I have heard it referenced in terms of social media ‘still’ being a fad – talk about having your head in the sand!  Just today Gini Dietrich spoke of status quo in her great post Seven Metrics PR Should Track to Gain Respect.  Gini being Gini though, knows that status quo is not the answer.

Folks, status quo is just not possible.  Think about it this way.  Say you decide that you are going to continue to do things the way you always have.  You say, if isn’t broken, why fix it?  Good philosophy many would say.  Perhaps at one time that were true, but let’s look at a good examples of status quo:

Dalhousie, New Brunswick, is a beautiful little town in Eastern Canada.  It was a mill town.  It was a wealthy little town.  You noticed I say, “was”.  As times changed, industry standards changed, the mill and its processes more or less stayed the same.  On top of that, there was no aggressive action to bring more industry or new industry to the town.  A once thriving town is now but a shadow of itself.  The mill was torn down earlier this year, as so many other buildings have been.  Where the mill once stood is now a vast expanse of emptiness.  This was my hometown, so seeing it disappear goes way deeper than words can express. 

Image compliments of kidzworld.com

There are of course theories that prove that organizations (also organisms) can only go on “as is” for a certain period of time before needing to change or innovate to survive.  The S-curve, which has been discussed by many great minds, discusses just this and if you are into some interesting theoretical discussions, do click on the hyperlink. 

My point though is that we can’t just stick our heads in the sand.  If we do, the world still goes on around us and change occurs with or without us.  So, to avoid going the way of the dodo bird, we need to continually change and innovate.

So, the question now is:  do you agree or disagree?  Can you promote status quo and survive?

Reputation Management, the #1 Reason the C-Suite Needs to Listen to Social Media

A good reputation is priceless. Once damaged, it can be both difficult and expensive to reverse — and in some cases, impossible.

With the onslaught of corporate scandals a decade ago there were significant changes in corporate governance, including the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. These wide-sweeping changes were introduced to rebuild consumer confidence.

Back then, our biggest worries were about what was said in the latest press reports. Add social media to the mix and a whole new dimension has been added to protecting corporate reputation. The question then becomes, What is your company doing to monitor and protect your reputation in the social space?

More recently, there has been a momentous change in how corporate reputation is affecting the bottom line.  In fact, a 2011 Eisner Amper Board of Directors survey, found that reputational risk had actually overtaken regulatory compliance as their number one concern.

Image: Thesportsblog.com

To underscore just how important reputation has become, RepuStar launched its Corporate Reputation Index, calculated by the Dow Jones indexes in late 2011. Corporate governance experts now recommend that you manage reputation the same way you would manage any other asset that you have.

So what are the critical social media conversations that the C-Suite could start with?  Here are four that can really shed some light on corporate reputation:

1. Brand mentions (both the volume as well as the sentiment.  Are people being positive or negative about your brand?
2. Names of your executive, board of directors other high profile public facing employees.
3. Discussion around key initiatives, events or activities.
4. Safety and health issues.

Has your enterprise company listened to conversations around its brand and reputation? Now’s the time, before you have a reputation management crisis on your hands.

(Note:  this is a blog post that I wrote for my day job and it originally appeared on http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/07/reputation-management-the-1-reason-the-c-suite-needs-to-listen-to-social-media/ on July 20, 2012)  

My Top 5 Buzzwords from 2012

As yet another month, and year quite frankly approaches its conclusion, I wanted to do something a little different for my post.  I wanted to take a look a few buzzwords. 

You know, those little words or phrases that appear and just seem to bore into the brains and vocabularies of every person with a voice, a pen or a keyboard. A good indication to know when something has become a buzzword or buzz phrase is when you can’t go an hour without a colleague using it or you read it in blog posts regardless of where you turn.  Sometimes, the reaction is a physical twitch that emerges without control.  You will see someone have some sort of physical reaction and wonder, what the heck is up with him?  That would be the reaction to overused buzzwords.  It happens to all of us, so we should at least have fun using them.

Interestingly enough a lot of these buzzwords appear to have started in the social media space and transcended to the rest of the business environment.

Anyway, there are a lot more, but here are 5 that I find interesting:

1.      Cadence

This little gem is surfacing just about everywhere.  From the cadence of accountability to the cadence of software releases, “we” as a collective, want to make sure that we march to the same beat I guess and therefore, need our cadence.

It will be interesting to see if this word follows us into 2013 as a popular buzzword.

Image compliments for racepoint.com

 2.  Community

Community is not new.  Prior to social, we all thought about community in terms of where we lived.  Big business who want to be involved in their local communities often set up Community Relations or Community Liaison Committees, so this is definitely not new.  Then of course came social where community became something different and much bigger.  It was your customers, every possible prospect, your fans and your influencers to name a few. This is really the exciting part and expanding your horizons to embrace new people, is thrilling.

  

3.  Engagement

We apparently all want to engage with someone:  community, employees, prospects, customers, etc. You name it and there is someone, somewhere trying an engagement strategy of some sort.  Not a bad thing actually.  Being engaged means that you are participating and contributing, so a good thing really!

4.  Leverage

  

In addition to wanting to engage with everyone and their dog, we also want to leverage relationships, knowledge, industry and partnerships.  We don't seem to be leveraged out yet, so let's stay tuned for that one.

5.  Curate

On top of cadence, community, engagement and leverage though, I think that the top buzzword for 2012 has got to be curate.  Regardless of which industry you are entrenched, we all want to tell a story.  We need to curate, or take time to create content or a story worth telling and sharing.  I love the idea and it sounds somewhat romantic to curate..doesn't it?  Am I wrong here? 

So, that sums up five little words that are a part of my everyday vocabulary regardless of whom I am chatting with.  What are your top buzzwords for 2012?  I would love to hear your thoughts. 

Oh and just one parting thought for today...why not try to use each of these words in one sentence all together at least once a day for a week?  Who will be the first to call you out on the overuse of buzzwords?  It is a challenge and it could be fun.

Supreme Court of Canada Ruling on Facebook Anonymity is one for all to watch

Today, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a young Nova Scotia girl can remain anonymous in her fight against cyber bullying.  The decision was made with the hope that she would not be victimized all over again for fighting back against bullies.

The girl has been struggling to find out who created a fake Facebook profile using her photo along with posting false 'scandalous' highly sexualized activity.  Facebook provided the IP address, but the internet service provider would not provide more details without a court order.  Well, they have it now. 

This is an extremely important case to watch as the legislative process has been slower to move on social media issues as outlined in Social Media and the Legal System - Another Story.  This is a victory for every person and/or business that has been harmed by the careless and ruthless nature of people hiding behind fake profiles. Until now, there have been no consequences.  Victims have been left powerless and perpetrators have had a false sense of security. 

This is a precedent setting case, so stay tuned for more commentary and detailed analysis as this story unfolds.

 5 Social  Media Mistakes to Avoid

Getting into social media is easier than ever with the numerous available networks.  What people sometime miss, is the basics however.  The basics will help you showcase your skills, personality and build your network.  So, let's get started:

1.  Failing to use a photo or avatar for your profile - Best practice suggests that you use a photo that will enable someone to recognize you.  Failing to use a photo or using the default image provided, will result in people not following you. 

Contestants at the recent Dreamforce being social! Photo courtesy of me!

2.  Not completing your bio - Remember we are in a social environment.  People want to know who you are.  You want to know who people are.  Showcase your expertise and your personality by completing your bio.  Just be sure to remember your audience and write for that audience.

3.  Having too many networks - You want to be out there so you sign up for three maybe four different networks.  As it turns out, it is a lot more work than you thought.  As a result, you are really only maintaining two.  Take it slow.  Start with one, then add another.  If that isn't enough add another, but wait before adding any more.  Make sure that you understand the volume of work that it takes to manage your profiles.  Rather than add another, you might decide that an existing network is not right for you.  Opting out is better than not maintaining.

4.  Not writing professionally - let's face it, people make assessments based on how we speak and how we write.  Be sure to write professionally in your network.

5.  Failing to be human.  Social media is about being social.  It is about being human - remember that you are human.  You make mistakes and it is ok as long as you learn from those mistakes.  Share what you learn with others.

These are five of the most common social media mistakes.  Check back next time as I cover more social media mistakes to avoid.  If you have some that you would to discuss, please chime in.

People Ask Me:  What Social Network Should I Use?

5 Reasons to Use Facebook

Last time I touched on Twitter.  So, today I will focus on Facebook.  Keep in mind that these five reasons are just touching the surface.  They are ideas to get you thinking about how and why you can and should use Facebook. 

Facebook is used by many for personal relationships only.  That is fine.  There is no law that says you must use it for work.  No one should make you feel bad for wanting to restrict it for this purpose. That being said I have broken out the reasons to use Facebook between personal and professional.  Remember, it is your choice.  Take a look.

If you want to connect on a personal level:

1. Facebook is ideal for reconnecting with old friends.  Facebook has provided me with an opportunity to reconnect with both family and old friends that I have not seen in years.  I love that aspect of Facebook.  
2. It is a great way to keep friends and family up-to-date on your experiences while travelling.  It is a one-stop shop for your photos, videos and travel diary.  
3. For some who feel technically challenged, using Facebook actually teaches you a lot of computer skills.  You learn about sharing information, how to find people, brands or groups.  You learn about security and personal information settings and much more.  These are skills that can be easily transferred to the work environment.  
4. Facebook enables us to become involved with causes that are of interest.  For example, you may join a Facebook group that focuses on a hobby.  Not only do you learn more about your hobby, but you can meet people with similar interests.  
5. If you are a parent, you should be on Facebook.  You want to keep an eye on what your kids are doing.  You want to be sure that they are safe.  Keeping a watchful eye is part of that process.

 If you want to keep things on a professional level:

1. You can connect with your customers and share information, including special deals, contests, etc.
2. You can build a community that shares your information with their friends, family and followers.  They become your brand ambassadors.
3. Facebook lets you collect information about how much traffic you have had to your page and what posts, in particular, have appealed to your community, also known as your customers.
4. Facebook makes it easy to extend your reach beyond your local borders. 
5. Using Facebook ads can be very, very, very targeted.  You can be very general or very specific.  Your choice. 

Remember, whether you use Facebook for personal and/or professional purposes, keep in mind that you are using a medium that makes it easy to share information, and depending on your privacy settings, your posts, including pictures could be public.  Don't say something that you won't want to be the headline in a newspaper, or something that would jeopardize your relationships - personal and professional.  Keep it light. Keep it fun.

As a side note, should anyone ever ask you for your password, including a potential employer, that is in my opinion, crossing the line.  Many States and other governments are implementing laws that will prohibit potential or existing employers from asking you for that information. Keep you passwords safe at all times.