Whet the Appetite

I was meeting with a connection last night and we talked a little bit about blogging. (OK, it was a 1:1 with a BNI member…for those of you who drank the BNI Kool Aid.) We were talking about my business development strategy, which includes blogging as a foundation for my social media strategy. She responded with “I don’t really have time to blog.” And I asked “Is it lack of time, or is it that when you do have time you don’t know what to write about?”

When I sit down to write a blog, I access my “Writing” file, which is a file on my computer containing word documents in varying stages of refinement. Some documents are 8-10 word ideas. Some documents include a very rough and unrefined brain dump, complete with spelling errors and side notes to myself (i.e. This is obviously pre-press crap). I currently have 30+ word files in the hopper, just waiting for a day when I have time and am feeling creative.

I come up with ideas while networking, at conferences, out to dinner, in the car, in the shower…and I text an email to myself with the idea. Some topics were conceived after too much red wine and they don’t make much sense the next day, but others have promise and simply need wordsmithery.

This article was started over three months ago with the following submission: What to Write About, Writers Block, Read industry magazines or blogs and jot down ideas, Gleakers. Not real sure what I meant by “Gleakers,” although I do remember texting friends and family maybe a year ago asking if they knew a Gleaker and if they could have that Gleaker explain to me how to do it. I digress. Anyway, the remainder of this Blog was created today, and motivated by my conversation last night with my fellow-BNIer.

My tip is to keep a topic or subject matter file, either electronically, or hardcopy on torn paper in your wallet. I end up publishing a blog about once a month, which is far less than ideal, but it’s all I have “time” for at the moment. The more I publish the more confident and motivated I am to do so more regularly.

PS: I currently have a client who has outsourced the copywriting to Transmyt. We work together to come up with topics, tone and goals, and we ghost write on their behalf. Blogs are short, 300-500 words, and it’s not typically necessary to get into great and complicated detail. Contact me if you’d like to learn more about blogging and/or content development.

I have admitted to you that I am a LinkedIn addict. I see it more as an opportunity than a problem, though I encounter hesitant people regularly who ask: Why should I spend the time? How has it been successful?

The philosophy of networking, be it web-based or face-to-face, is to get out there in the world and make meaningful connections. And for a business developer like me, I need to convince my connections that I’m likable, reliable and that I offer a service of value.

LinkedIn is my own personal database or customer relationship manager (CRM). Just like any organization, I use ‘my database’ to manage my prospects, clients, and referral sources—though on a much more individualized level.

LinkedIn is ideal for professionals who want their personal reputation to impact business growth. It’s all about who I know, and who they know. Since you asked, as of today, I have 314 LI connections (and growing), and they provide access to a network of 2,604,400+ professionals. This is not including the LI Group members that I can contact directly.

I use LinkedIn to stay on my prospects’ radar, during the time when we’re not networking face-to-face.

• When you use LinkedIn, I want you to come across people you want to connect with, and I want you to notice that you are separated by 2 degrees, ME. This increases my value.
• I also what you to see that we share similar connections, and thus, I must be good people.
• I want you to see my profile and recommendations and have confidence in my abilities and reliability.
• I want you to notice that I’m attending credible events.
• I want you to think that my status updates and blog posts are clever and that they provide value to you.
• Finally, I want you to question your marketing strategy and think: “let me call JoAnne for advice.”
  

Wikipedia sources offer that “Interactive Marketing refers to the evolving trend in marketing whereby marketing has moved from a transaction-based effort to a conversation… interactive marketing is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us.”

LinkedIn helps me maintain my connections, get to know each of them better, facilitates conversations and helps me interact 1:1. It has become an invaluable tool in my career.

Please reply with your LinkedIn success perspective so I can share our stories with my hesitant friends.

NOTE: Who owns the LinkedIn profile, the company or the individual? That’s debatable; LinkedIn’s User Agreement states that the individual owns it and it’s nontransferable. Thus it’s important that your social media policy clearly outline parameters for LinkedIn business use; I also suggest that you develop a systematic procedure for transferring contacts made on behalf of the company to the company database. Please feel welcome to weigh in on this as well.

As a new business development manager—developing leads and business for Transmyt Marketing—I have been asked, and must honestly ask myself: Who am I targeting?

It's important for me to be able to articulate who I'm targeting, and have a clear vision of who our ideal client is. If I understand who my target is, I can help my referral network to understand.

At a recent BNI meeting our presenter supported this premise by suggesting that we refine our 45 second schpeal to increase the instances and quality of referrals. Before her presentation, I might have said "an ideal referral for me would be anyone who is in need of full-service marketing support." Who comes to mind? Anyone?

To best leverage my referral network, I need to remove vague terms like "anyone," "small businesses" and "full-service" and replace them with more specific descriptors.

Because of my professional background, I think one of my strongest niches might actually end up being accounting and professional service firms. Thus, an ideal referral for me would be someone in the Accounting industry, more specifically within a CPA firm, the marketing director or partner, at Doe CPAs PC, Jane Doe, Managing Partner. Do you know Jane Doe or someone that can introduce me to her? If you don't know Jane, are you thinking of people like Jane that you can introduce me to?

Now, this schpeal may change weekly, or depending on who I'm talking to, but I can increase my referral success by having someONE specific in mind when asked.

The Prequel to My Big Idea:

I started a new career this past August as business development manager at Transmyt Marketing, and in this role, my primary strategy has been to complement traditional networking with social media networking.

And, I have been networking my butt off… participating in BNI (Business Networking International) groups, attending events with Chambers of Commerce, the Downtown Women's Club, Mass Innovation Nights, Meetups, lunches with connections, and myriad other networking clubs. And to complement this I'm blogging, on LinkedIn all day, facebooking, and now tweeting (geez Louise).

This morning (at the butt crack of dawn) I sub'd at a BNI meeting, and I'll say, I'm conflicted about BNI. I'm not moved by the 7am weekly meetings or the board room style. But I do like the non-compete environment and the business referral tracking system (they really quantify their effectiveness).

The Big Idea:

In this morning's meeting, I had a déjà vu thought all over again, and I'd like to share it with you so that we might iron it out—and we might become super rich like Dr. Ivan Misner,
the Founder & Chairman of BNI.

Basically, I plan to make an effort to come to events with a "money in, money out" proposition. I know that this isn't always possible, but this morning I decided that for me:

Money in: I need referrals to people who are looking for marketing services (strategy, creative services, web site development, email marketing, newsletters, social media optimization, blogging and content development, etc.).

Money out: I need help establishing a college savings plan (a 529 Plan?). I also currently need Auto/Renters insurance.

Is there currently a (cult) system or algorithm that can optimize this sort of referral concept? I'd like to leverage my network for these solutions and inquire about your "money in, money out" situation.

Please comment.

I am a LinkedIn (and Facebook) junkie. I am also a relentless pusher—peer pressuring anyone I meet to use as much as I do.

I use LinkedIn like your marketing or sales team uses their CRM (Customer Relationship Manager). For me it is a Relationship Manager, and was instrumental as a job search tool, an information resource, a communication platform, and now as a business development platform.

In this posting, I'll share how I used LinkedIn in my recent job search. A later posting will share how I use LinkedIn now, as business development manager for Transmyt.

Last December, I was somewhat-expectedly laid off, just like millions of others. I was sad, then mad, and subsequently glad—all in the same day. (The situation and timing was bad, but I always knew that the job was not a fit for me.) I drove straight home, optimistic and determined!

To start, I set up my LinkedIn profile effectively like an online version of my resume. I uploaded a profile photo that was somewhat professional, highlighted my experience, sought and received recommendations from past employers, and clearly summarized my objective. Next, I began connecting like a mad-woman. I sent connect invitations to school friends and instructors, internship mentors, past employers and colleagues, clients and vendors. I skimmed 2^nd degree connections to see if there were contacts there that I missed. I imported my email contacts from Yahoo to see who was "In" and I regularly browsed the "people you may know" suggestions that LinkedIn provided. My profile is currently 100% complete and I have 213 connections and growing.

Next, I accessed all the usual suspects—job boards, big and small, local and national. Each interesting job posting ultimately drove me back to LinkedIn. Do I know anyone at this company who could put my resume in the right hands, or even better, offer a recommendation?

LinkedIn offers a way to establish a meaningful connection with the hiring manager. "Recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn as the main place for sourcing candidates because it's free and the top professionals are on there," offers Dan Schawbel on Mashable. Dan's article offers 7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media. If you've ever posted a position yourself, you know that "employers are spammed with hundreds of resumes from unqualified applicants when they post on big boards," offers Susan M. Heathfield on the Human Resources Guide.

Each time I communicated with a potential employer, I provided a link to my profile. The basic LinkedIn account lets you monitor (to a limited extent) who has viewed your profile in a given period of time, so you can tell if your outreach efforts have worked (which is exciting in a somewhat voyeuristic way).

"So, did it work," you ask?

Here's the story: I was networking this summer and met someone who was responsive to my situation—a "connector" as Malcolm Gladwell would put it. He wanted to introduce me to someone whom he thought may have a relevant opportunity—an opportunity that was not posted on any job board. I suggested that we connect on LinkedIn, which I promptly initiated the very next day. He then introduced me to Jeremy Mays via a phone call, followed by the "Forward this profile to a connection" function in LinkedIn.

And, here I am, Business Development Manager for Transmyt Marketing. In the coming days, I plan to modify and change the tone in my profile to better serve my business development efforts. I'll also begin to draft a follow-up blog posting, which will share details on how I've been using LinkedIn for business development.

Please feel welcome to comment or question, and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Social networking is a powerful strategy in increasing the engagement of your membership. With the age demographic steadily growing younger, many associations are getting into the social media game by blogging, creating fan pages on Facebook, building a Twitter following, or by creating Groups on Linkedin. But, do you have concerns that your message is not heard amongst all the noise, or that your membership does not fit well within these popular communities?

New applications like ning.com allow associations and their members to create fully-customized and branded online communities that stand out in an already overcrowded social world.

To get started, it's important to look at sites like LinkedIn and Facebook and understand what makes them so popular from a user's perspective. Member organizations can create and host a vertical online community and offer a similar user-experience within the niche environment that you've designed and can control.

Associations are perfect for this technology because you already have followers—who share similar jobs, interests, or goals—who look to you for networking, education, information, advocacy, or other resources. Leverage your existing connections and the popularity of social media to provide a branded venue for members to engage in discussions and socialize.

Hosting social media is also a helpful strategy to increase website traffic and decrease bounce rates. (A lower bounce rate essentially shows that your site visitors are staying to look around.) Components of social networking (i.e. profile customization, member-to-member socializing, facilitation of discussions, content sharing) are all examples of sticky content—or content that keeps website visitors engaged on your site for longer.

If you haven't jumped into the game yet, you likely are weighing the value of integrating the media into your marketing strategy or you're unsure about how to get started. Let us know if we can help.

Major benefits of hosting your own network:

• Increased brand impressions,
  
• A highly-focused community,
  
• Website stickiness,
  
• Measurable and customizable,
  
• Allows for on-demand conversations,
  
• Let's you listen in to find out what members are interested in or what they think about your services,
  
• Extended access to your connections' connections,
  
• Increased engagement of membership, and
  
• Decreased attrition.

Interesting examples:

• Tito Jackson, At-Large candidate for Boston City Council, launches Real Talk to communicate with constituents.
  
• The United Services Automobile Association launched What's On Your Mind? providing a forum to connect with others who are facing similar issues.
• Just Means uses social media for sustainability.
• The Boston chapter of the American Marketing Association offers the premier network for Boston marketing professionals.
  

Other relevant articles:

Cutting Through the Clutter

Hey, Get Your Own Dang Social Network

How to make your site stickier

I've landed a new job as Business Development Manager at Transmyt Marketing, an agency in Brookline, MA that specializes in interactive marketing. The office is located in Coolidge Corner, and I have been especially excited with the food-finds over the past week (yet, not so impressed with the E Line).

Fare-Thee-Well!

New Job, Day 1:
The Upper Crust Pizza! O.M.G. Please raise your hand if you're as enthusiastic about Upper Crust as I am. The slice of the day was Chicken Broccoli and Feta in the traditional Upper Crust Napoleon style. It was like a gift from the gods that I savored while trying to arrange all the day's buzzwords in my head—sticky features, self-contained music player, interactive events calendar, favcon, retweet, micro-blogs. In the spirit of the day, I immediately came back to the office and became a Fan of Upper Crust on Facebook.

New Job, Day 2: Zenna Noodle Bar. A beacon of light on Beacon Street. I walked out of the building thinking distinctively that I wanted Pho noodles (even though it was 90 degrees). And, as if I had willed it, I blindly turned right and walked one block to find their Zenna Noodle Soup, which "is inspired by the popular Vietnamese "pho", but filled with organic veggies and meats." Oh yes, and it was served with an accompaniment of House Hoisin and Zesty Zenna Chili Sauces, which I used liberally. Zen!

New Job, Day 3: Michael's Delicatessen. I wandered around exploring and found this champion! They are positioned as a New York style deli, and the towering Turkey Reuben and accompanying pickle were first class. Good Deli's are hard to find in Boston, and I have one across the street!

New Job, Day 4:
Back to Upper Crust! I had the Slice of the Day: caramelized onions, garlic and diced tomato. I found out that they have a 'Buy Ten Slices, Get One Free" promotion. I'm totally on that.

And finally, Day 5: The Paris Creperie. So, this was my first crepe. I never knew that they were offered in flavors other than the sweet, breakfast variety. I had the Mediterranean, tarragon infused with Gruyere, Turkey, Mushrooms, Tomato, Olives, and Spinach. I'm a fan. They also have something on the menu that I didn't try by I've been fixating on: a Nutella Frozen Hot Chocolate! Maybe today.

No, I will not blog weekly about my consumption.

I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for the variety of which surrounds me. Also, there is a lot of new information to glean in order to become the most effective business developer ever, and it's crucial that I am well-nourished to keep my energy up and stay focused.

So far I've gleaned: Transmyt assists companies who want to embrace newer media platforms like blogs, social media, interactive web sites, with a focus on drive-to-web results and opening dialogue. Perhaps a discussion about your strategic marketing plan can be schedule over lunch!

This Spring, my husband (Mike) and I purchased a third of a cow, which (I come to find out) is a hell of a lot of cow. We split this cow with Mike’s parents and sister. No, we are not sharing a pet cow. The cow came from a farm called At Ease Acres in Berne, NY and was butchered and packaged by Nichols Meat Processing in Altamont, NY.

This is no ordinary cow. It’s farm-raised, grass-fed, all-natural (yadda yadda)… And as I understand it, he was a very happy and healthy cow, which I hear is important to how the sacrificial cow will taste.

So, it toll, our portion of the steer weighed about 250lbs. My father-in-law says you can direct the butcher in how the cow is cut. We each received cuts of porterhouse, bone-in rib-eye roasts, T-bone steaks, shoulder for London broil, bone-in top sirloins, top round roasts, bottom round roasts, sirloin tip roasts, boneless chuck steaks, and about 40 (1lb) packages of ground beef.

This purchase has required that I do some research to get more creative in my beef recipes. For one thing, ground beef is not my favorite thing. We’ve had meatballs of the Swedish, Moroccan and Italian variety, as well as Stuffed Cabbage and Stuffed Peppers, pasta with bolognaise, and stuffed cheeseburgers. (Feel welcome to forward any creative ground beef recipes.)

The porterhouse steaks are a luxury, and they are juicy and delicious. However, I find that one is too small for the two of us, and two is too big. We’ve had leftovers each time we’ve grilled these, and I made steak quesadillas and steak sandwiches.

The front-end expense was significant, and slightly more expensive on average than buying beef from the grocery store, but I've noticed a big difference in our grocery bills because I’m buying less meat. And, the taste is far superior and there is piece-of-mind in knowing where our dinner came from.

Where have we put this cow, you ask (for those of you who know we live in a two bedroom apartment, on the fourth floor of a walkup)? Well, we purchased a chest freezer from my pops for a reasonable price (we had to throw in a couple of steaks); we carried the three large boxes of beef and the chest freezer up the four flights of stairs and it resides in the spare bedroom. (I’m open to suggestions of how to disguise this monstrosity from public view! It’s messing up my feng shui). Moo!

Many web-savvy professionals are using Web 2.0 technologies to re-connect and strengthen their network. But, whether used for personal or professional purposes, readers’ time is valuable, and publishers should strive to be relevant and interesting, and post with intent.

Many of my Facebook friends update me when they are off to the grocery store (which would be relevant if they were a personal chef, or a consultant to shoppers). With blogs, and social networking sites like Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter, you're building your social reputation, so you want to consider the purpose of your posts prior to hitting the SEND button.

As a general goal, you want to engage your audience and initiate conversations. Fortunately, your posts don’t necessarily need to be strictly business-oriented. Remember, people tend to do business with (or recommend) people they find likable. So, if your online posts make reference to your hobbies or interests, this can still positively impact your social reputation. However, ‘tweeting’ about the everyday details of your life can make you appear boring (which would be relevant if you are Harvey Pekar, author of American Splendor). In most cases, you can’t build an engaged following by posting the mundane.

When used strategically, social networking can help to nurture your relationships and leverage these relationships for business intelligence and business development. These technologies also provide a venue to demonstrate your value and build awareness about your brand, as well as contribute to your SEO efforts. Use your online posts to add value to your relationships by posting purposefully.