Whet the Appetite

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.

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.