Social media consulting... free. Really?

At a recent networking luncheon, a man was promoting himself as a web site and social media "expert" when introducing himself. He made a statement something like this, "Social media training should be free because social media is free." I almost fell out of my chair! This guy was clearly only offering the classes for free in order to get web site work -- and he said so just a couple sentences later.

Just because water is free (if you're on a well like I am, anyway), does that mean you shouldn't hire a plumber to run your pipes?

Don't get me wrong! I'm all for sharing of information and helping each other, especially where social media is concerned. This is the core concept of Social Media Club, BarCamp, and Tweetups. I've learned from so many other people, and I am heavily involved with such groups, giving back. However, many people have taken considerable time and effort to climb the learning curve of social media even before the bandwagon got full. Don't they deserve to be compensated for sharing their knowledge? I say YES, when you want more individualized help than what the seminars and get-togethers can offer. Just like any other professional who specializes in an area of expertise you need. While you can try to muddle through plumbing -- it's always better to get someone who knows what they're doing which can save you time, money and aggravation.

One warning... buyer beware - whether free or paid services are sought. Be sure to check out the person you are learning from. What is their true level of expertise? And, what is your level of experience? Make sure the two coordinate, so that you can get to the next level and can understand the lingo they are using without needing a Web 2.0 dictionary. Someone who is just opening a Twitter account for the first time doesn't need a social media "guru" just like someone who's already averages 25 tweets a day doesn't need a beginner's lesson in Twitter.

Bottom line... learn as much as you can at the free and low-cost outlets, gaining perspective from different people -- always continue learning -- but it's well worth the investment of hiring a pro when you want to take it to the next level.

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Social Media Defined: TWITTER

Thought I'd share a brief list of Twitter terms for those Twitter newbies trying to learn the lingo. Additions and comments welcome!

Twitter: is a free web-based service, in which users issue status messages in 140 characters or less. It's used by people of all ages and backgrounds for business, socializing, networking, education and fun.

Twitter handle: is someone's Twitter account name with the @ sign in front of it. For example, mine is @kerrigoldsmith

Tweet: the 140 character (or less) messages transmitted via Twitter

Following: the people whose tweets you've signed up to read; their tweets appear on your Twitter home page stream

Followers: the people who have signed up to read your tweets; your tweets appear on their Twitter home page stream

Re-tweet: re-broadcast of a tweet to your own group of followers. You should always give the original tweeter credit by putting "RT" in front of their Twitter handle and the message.

Direct message: is a private tweet between two Twitter users. A person must be following you to receive a direct message. To send one, put a D in front of their Twitter handle at the beginning of your tweet, or use the direct message tools available on Twitter.

Hashtag: a keyword with the pound (#) sign in front of it, commonly used during group discussions, or to help your messages connect with the right audience who may be using that word as a search term (i.e. #socialmedia #twitter #smcswfl)

Block: If you want to remove a follower from your list and prevent them from reading your tweets or showing up on your list of followers, you can choose to block them.

Spam: Just like email, there are also Twitter spammers who will send you unwanted messages, even if you aren't following them. All they have to do is use your @twittername. These can be reported to Twitter, or just ignore them.

Protected account: For those who are concerned about privacy, you can opt for a protected account on Twitter, where you must approve all requests from those who want to follow you - and only those on your approved list can read your updates. They are also not searchable or viewable by the general public. If you are using Twitter for internal/private communications, this is a good way to go, but not for business promotion.

Tweetup: A meetup for people who use Twitter in a local area. Very interesting and fun way to learn the ins and outs of social media, and to meet a variety of people who enjoy Twitter.

Twestival: An even bigger Twitter meetup -- a multi-day festival with a charitable beneficiary. These are held simultaneously in multiple cities around the globe.

Tw....: the scores of other words which have entered our social media vocabulary which relate to Twitter. Just combine a "tw" with any word to twitterize it... tweeple, tweetheart, twammer (Twitter+spammer) etc.

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Chris Brogan's wisdom sought in SW Florida!

I attended a networking luncheon this week, and was seated at a table with five other professionals from various companies. The topic of social media came up in conversation. Two people didn't say anything at all and kept their noses down in their meals. Two people acknowledged it by saying, "Yeah, I'm on Facebook." Another said, "I tried Twitter, but it just didn't work for me." To which, one of the originally-silent folks chimed in, "Oh yeah, me too." -- and that person owns an internet-based business!

I was astounded! These individuals who are out networking, and have web sites, and even web-based businesses were of the opinion that social media was of no value to their business. How wrong!

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the rest are not fads that will be going by the wayside. They're the continuation of social media which began years ago with chat rooms and has exploded in popularity in recent times. And it's not just for teenagers. Many businesses and professionals have found great success with the platform social media provides. If you're not there, your competitor will be! If you don't take the time to learn and join in the conversation -- you'll be left in the dust.

Be sure to check out this wonderful article by Chris Brogan about 50 ideas for using Twitter for business. Chris Brogan will be presenting his strategies live on Saturday, September 12th here in Fort Myers at the Twestival in Southwest Florida. If you have any doubts about the effectiveness and necessity of social media marketing for your business, be sure to attend his presentation at 10am at the Sanibel Harbour Resort. The cost is only $35 and 100% of the proceeds to go benefit the PACE Center for Girls. There are tons of other events going on all over Southwest Florida throughout the weekend. Check out the Twestival site for details - or watch for it on Twitter with #twestival hashtag.

Meanwhile, off to continue my social media evangelism!

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Breaking Social Media Ground in Southwest Florida

Tonight marks a significant advance in the recognition of social media marketing in Southwest Florida.

At 7:00 p.m., the first meeting of the Social Media Club - Southwest Florida will be called to order at the Hyatt Place hotel in Estero. As I predicted, our free event is a sell-out with more than 100 reservations for a room capacity of about 75! Needless to say, we'll be moving to a larger venue next month. Tonight's agenda features keynote speaker Jason Breed from Neighborhood America, followed by a panel discussion with representation by three market sectors: Tanya Fox from Naples Tomato restaurant (for-profit), Kirsten O'Donnell from Goodwill (non-profit) and Jimmy Barfield from the City of Fort Myers (municipal). All of these companies have been utilizing social media actively to communicate with their respective audiences.

Since we've exceeded the room capacity, the meeting will also be live-streamed on U-Stream. Here's the link, in case you were not in on the early reservations, or are far away and would like to see what this conversation is all about: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/smcswfl-conference

Our local, loosely run, but fast-growing club is an offshoot of the also rapidly growing Social Media Club which founded by Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells in San Francisco, California in 2006, but now has clubs popping up throughout the U.S. and beyond. Social Media Club brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaboraters.

Get involved! Join the conversation! The only requirement is an interest in social media. Check it out at www.smcswfl.com.

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Getting your feet wet with social media

When learning to swim, some people take the cautious route, starting at the shallow end. Others employ a "just jump in and go-for-it" mentality. I see much of the same when it comes to social media. The thought of jumping in to social media can be simply overwhelming for most people, and the thought of staying afloat after jumping in can be even more daunting.

Most people don't even know they are already participating in the social media realm through sites like Classmates, Ancestry, YouTube and other sites where they contribute content.

When you're just beginning to test the waters, I recommend selecting a social networking site which most closely fits your goals and needs. All of these are free!

• Are you looking for business networking and referrals? Start with LinkedIn.
• Do you want to connect with classmates, family and friends? Try Facebook.
• Interested in the entertainment scene and the youth market? Go with MySpace.
• Like to read and recommend articles online? Try Digg.
  
• Enjoy real-time, streaming news, updates and texting? Twitter!
• Want to share your opinions and ideas or news? Try Blogger.
  

Begin with a goal or area of interest in mind, sign up for one of the sites and get started. Don't just sign up and then forget about it. Social networking does not "run itself." You must be an active participant.

Add other social networking sites on as you become comfortable. If you have multiple interests or businesses, develop multiple online "identities" for each one, which are relevant to a particular audience. (i.e. local business people, moms, support groups, foodies, etc.)

All of the above-mentioned social networking sites can be relevant to many more purposes than I listed, but each has a unique feel and usage trends. I'll be posting follow-up articles about each of them, outlining some of the ways you can utilize each for different purposes, especially about strategy as your comfort level improves.

The water's nice... come on in!
________________________________
Kerri Goldsmith is the founder and president of Dark Horse Strategic Marketing, Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida. With more than 20 years of experience on both the agency and client side, Goldsmith provides advertising, marketing and public relations services, including social media consulting. Goldsmith is a past president of The Advertising Federation of Southwest Florida, a member of the Florida Public Relations Association and currently serves on the steering committee of the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida. Twitter: @kerrigoldsmith

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Twarketing Case Study: @FanFrames

As I get to know my new friend Twitter, I decided to add a separate account for my fledgling business @fanframes. Fan Frames showcases fans' celebrity autographs and photos with beautiful backgrounds, page layouts and frames. Fan Frames does not have its own dedicated web site, just a subpage on my main company web site -- since it was to be a one-time gig at the EyeCon Twilight fan convention. However, based on my success promoting the business on Twitter, there may be encores at future Twilight conventions and other fan forums, and adding a web site and blog.

Note: The photo is not of me... it's one of my new customers who has now joined Twitter!

Here's how it grew...

First, I began following people with a common interest -- the convention and the Twilight movie/stars... I followed everyone who was following the convention's Twitter account. Some of them followed me back; most didn't. That was okay, since many of the people were not active tweeters. I really wanted followers who would be checking in regularly and posting news I could re-tweet.

I also utilized TweetDeck's search feature to watch for certain keywords, then began to follow some of those people and organizations who also showed interest in the convention and the movie. I also re-tweeted interesting information and links for other fans on a daily basis.

After two weeks of this... by the day before the convention, I was following about 250 people, and had about 70 followers. Not an ideal ratio, but necessary for researching what was being tweeted about the convention. I tweeted many invitations to visit me, come say hello, when I would be there, links to my web page showing what I would be doing, plus re-tweeted other interesting news relating to the convention. This was done on a daily basis, actually several times a day.

At the convention (of about 500 registrants), people kept coming up to me, saying, "I know you from Twitter." They actually sought me out as a result of my tweets. How great is that? I felt like a celebrity myself -- although no one asked for a photo. During the convention events, I tweeted from my BlackBerry about actor "sightings", answered direct messages from people asking about at-the-door ticket sales, additions to the schedule and other news.

• "Very exciting! I just saw you're from Fort Myers! I live there too! lol! I'll definitely stop by and say hello!" @SandraR82
• "Hi! I met you earlier today. Tell Jackson I said hi. i was the one who asked him when he lived in midland at photo op" @Nichol_Rachell
• I tweeted back and forth with @ShawneDunn about tickets and the Saturday night concerts.
  

Following the convention, I began to receive more tweets like these...

• "I remember YOU! Eyecon was fun. Your daughter and you seem close. It's really sweet." @GiselleMonique
• "Hi. I saw you at the Convention yesterday! You probably wouldn't reconize me... lol :-) How did you like it yesterday & today!?" @BritJFlax
• "are you coming to the suppercon in ft. lauderdale in june?" @kfjplay

By the end of the weekend, I had added 20 more followers. Then, I also went back using FriendorFollow and cleaned up my own follow list, unfollowing the "Twitter quitters" or those who had not had any recent activity. Now, my ratio is at a much more useful approx. 150 follows to 90 followers.

Not only was this a great experiment in Twitter marketing "Twarketing", but also resulted in many new friends with common interests, and most importantly -- business-building! I hope to see many of my new "Tweeties" at future fan conventions, and will be providing internet promotion services to AccioCon 2010 (Twilight/Harry Potter fan convention)!

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Simplify Management of Your Follows and Followers

Sure, you can build your follower list by following those who are “guaranteed” to follow you back. Your list will grow by leaps and bounds. The counts are easy to read on your Twitter home page – you’ve got X number of people you’re following and X number of people you’re following. These names don’t always match up. So, other than watching the stream of tweets, how do you determine whose interests are mutual with yours – basically, who you should continue to follow or who is following you that you should begin to follow, or who you might want to block?

Once you exceed a few hundred people on either list, determining mutual interests and follows becomes a little more difficult using Twitter alone. Building a quality following, try one of these apps which helps you analyze and manage your follow and follower lists. Here is one of my favorites...

Friend or Follow from Floating Head Studios
If you like it, follow creator Dusty Reagan and designer Cesar Torres


Enter your Twitter username and you will be taken to your page which has three tabs.

• Following: people who you are following, but are not following you back
• Fans: people who are following you, but you are not following them
• Friends: mutual follows

Mouse over each icon for a pop-up info box showing name, location, number of follows, followers, date of last tweet, and account age. You can even sort each list by each of these factors. This information is useful for an at-a-glance assessment of mutual interest and relevance. Click on the icon to be taken to their Twitter page in a new tab where you can choose to follow or unfollow the person.

I also wanted to mention My Tweeple. I have also tried this application and loved it, but recently it’s been having issues with Twitter which is keeping it from working properly. I’ll keep trying and hope to feature it soon, when these issues are worked out.

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Tweetup - a Twitter user meetup!

Friday night, I attended the first-ever Tweetup in Fort Myers, Florida (that I know of, anyway).

I came across the open invitation while searching for other Twitter users in Southwest Florida. It sounded like a good opportunity to advance my social media knowledge and make some new networking connections, but I wasn't sure what to expect. So, I reviewed the RSVP list, and the profiles of those Twitter users. They appeared to be professionals like me, but from a surprising range of industries -- non-profit, law, financial services, restaurant, human resources, and real estate, in addition to internet marketers.

So, I signed up to attend, drove to downtown Fort Myers, and rode the elevator up to Hotel Indigo's rooftop bar promptly at 5:30. I was very encouraged to see a friend there, and more importantly, a bunch of other people with smiling faces. After donning drinks and Twitter-esque nametags complete with blue birdie and our @names, these strangers soon became friends under the setting Southwest Florida sun, as we discussed our businesses and how we were utilizing social media both personally and professionally.

Some of the things I learned from this Tweetup...

• Tweetups are a fantastic way to learn from others who have already tried many things you haven't even heard of yet.
  
• You might be surprised about who is in attendance. Could be your next door neighbor, a long lost friend, or your next client, vendor or business associate. You just never know.
• Many individuals and companies are going to need the expertise of social media marketers who have already invested time in developing knowledge and strategies.
  
• There are tremendous opportunities for any company to utilize social media to market its brand, product or service, but do-it-yourself-ers beware! Social media can become very overwhelming very quickly. Hire a pro who already knows the ropes.
  

If you're in Southwest Florida and want to learn more, contact me or consider joining a social media marketing group such as b.wired Southwest Florida. The next Southwest Florida Tweetup is Thursday, April 30th, 5:30 p.m. at Cin Cin. Hope to see you there!

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Time is undefined

How ironic that the time/date stamp on my posts is showing up as "undefined". It's actually kind of funny considering the amount of time I spent figuring out how to set up a blog, determining which template I would use, and unsuccessfully trying more creative-looking XML templates.

I'm a quick learner, but I'll admit that I'm a bit stymied by some of these Web 2.0 applications which seem to morph on almost a daily basis. I'm looking forward to the day when I will graduate to using WordPress and have a little more control over how this blog looks in design and structure. For now, though, I'm taking baby steps, learning to blog and utilizing the tools provided by Google's Blogger.

... 5 minutes later... found a posting about reverting to the widget template defaults. Thanks nitecruzr!

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I'm officially a blogger now!

I've been in marketing for 20 years, but have never experienced such a learning curve as when it comes to social networking and Web 2.0. Having taught myself numerous WYSIWYG programs over the years, mostly relating to graphic design, spreadsheets and word processing, I never realized I was being left behind as all the web based apps were speeding light years ahead. Although I had dabbled with Facebook and LinkedIn, I was really just scratching the surface.

Attempting to catch up, I've been educating myself daily by following the experts on Twitter, reading others' blogs and all sorts of books and online articles. For example, I've seen the small, orange RSS symbol on my computer and lots of web pages for a while now, but finally took the time to find out what does it stand for anyway? It happens to be "Really Simple Syndication." What is meant by that I've yet to learn. Maybe tomorrow...

Today, I set up this blog on Google's Blogger, and am now creating my first post. Another "tomorrow" agenda item is to figure out how to change the template and colors to match my corporate look. Will post again with some advice to social networking newbies and other pearls of wisdom.

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