Many people, myself included, talk about how you need to use social media to grow your business. Many people also talk about how important it is to have a return on your investment in social media, and not just “do” social media for social media’s sake. I’m always on the lookout for simpler, more understandable ways to explain this to you, my loyal readers, and I found a great new presentation that will help you.

Take 15 minutes, take some notes, and share what you learned (or questions you have) in the comments below.

Some people I talk to still think social media is a waste of time, energy and resources, mostly because they don’t think anyone they want to do business with is using it. A video like this can do a far better job of explaining to you why you need to be ready for the social media revolution in just 4 minutes than I can.

Take note of the statistics and decide for yourself if you are ready for the revolution.

Valerie Alba (aka VLA – Super V.A.) is a Virtual Assistant and guest blogger.  Each Tuesday she will provide tools, tips, and tricks direct from her life-saving “utility belt”. 

Episode 12: Let’s Be Brief

There’s too much information out there and too little time in the day to read it all.  That’s the premise behind SmartBrief, a media company offering free, e-mail based news summaries and other content for industry professionals to save you time and keep you smart.

The editors hand-pick the most relevant and important news from all over, summarize it, link to the original sources and deliver it providing you with “must-read” news in 25 key industries. 

They have developed a suite of best practices newsletters to keep busy professionals smart about their jobs including: 

• SmartBrief for CFOs
• SmartBrief on Entrepreneurs
• SmartBrief on ExecTech
• SmartBrief on Leadership
• SmartBrief on Social Media
• SmartBrief on Sustainability
• SmartBrief on Workforce
• SmartBrief on Your Career

You can view samples of industry-specific and best practices e-newsletters before you sign-up. They’re free and open to everyone.  Once you receive your daily e-newsletters you can post or share them your followers or friends on social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter.  Now, that’s smart!

http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp

Do you have a utility belt tool tip or crisis?  Call VLA – Super V.A.   Help is just a click away!

Valerie Alba (aka VLA – Super V.A.) is a Virtual Assistant and guest blogger.  Each Tuesday she will provide tools, tips, and tricks direct from her life-saving “utility belt”. 

Episode 10: How to Find a Virtual Assistant

Finding a virtual assistant can seem like a time-consuming, frustrating task.  If you do a general search on the Internet, many options come up as far as virtual assistants with many different niches to choose from:

• Virtual Executive Assistant
• Virtual Marketing Assistant
• Virtual Web Manager
• Affiliate Manager
• Virtual Blog Writer
• Freelance Copywriter
• Virtual PR Specialist

 Start thinking about what your needs are.  What administrative tasks consume your time most?  Match those needs to a Virtual Assistant’s services.  Check out their website, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn pages.  Call or email them to get a feel for their personality and work style.

I have many great VA’s that I friend, follow or like on my pages so feel free to make connections from my sites as well.  Here are some credible links to virtual assistant sites for you to check out for more information.

 http://www.virtualassistants.com/

http://www.virtualassistant.org/

http://www.ivaa.org/

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/

Do you have a utility belt tool tip or crisis?  Call VLA – Super V.A.   Help is just a click away!

Yesterday I gave a presentation to a group of boomer job seekers explaining how and why to use Facebook and LinkedIn. What follows is my slides. They did videotape the event, so if I can get some video, I’ll share that too.

Questions for you:

How could this be improved?

What did I forget to include?

What suggestions do you have for boomers who want to use Facebook and LinkedIn in their job search?

I’ve read a lot of great social media advice, and sometimes, all the things that I hear paralyze me. They paralyze me because there’s so much of it all. I get overwhelmed, and I don’t do anything.

Sometimes it prevents me from writing an article…because I’m worried about doing it just right.

Sometimes it prevents me from sending out a Tweet…because I don’t know all the rules.

Sometimes it prevents me from making a LinkedIn connection, from submitting a comment to someone’s website, or even from investing any brain cells in thinking about a new topic.

So I thought I’d wade through all the advice I’ve gotten over the years and distill it down to one thing.

Perfect Social Media Advice

Do one thing today.

Do ANYTHING today!

• Set up a blog.
• Write a new article.
• Leave a comment on someone else’s blog.
• Respond to a comment on your blog.
• Send a tweet.
• Connect with someone new.
• Reconnect with someone old.
• Tweak your profiles.
• Upload a new picture to Flickr.
• Say hi to an old friend on Facebook.
• Greet a new friend.
• Have coffee with someone you’ve never met in person before.
• Do ONE THING today.
• Then do ONE THING tomorrow.

Don’t worry about it too much.

It’ll be PERFECT…even if it’s not.

That’s my perfect social media advice.

What’s YOUR best advice?

1 photo credit to moe

I have been trying for a long time to explain WHY social media matters to you and your company. I’ve put together a few nice slides, and for some, they get it and it makes perfect sense. For others, they pat me on the head and they don’t get it.

I am delighted to share this presentation with you. It wasn’t done by me, but by someone MUCH smarter than me, and I think it’s perfect! It’s 87 slides, and worth the time it takes to click through them.

In my opinion, the biggest lesson is all the way at the end:

The Basic Rules of Social Media

Any questions?

You can click on the download file link in the presentation and if you’re a member of Slideshare (which doesn’t cost you anything), you can grab this presentation as a nice ebook in PDF form to share with those who don’t get it. You’re reading this blog, so I’m guessing either you do…or you want to get it.

Thank you for your attention.

Curious how you can use Twitter for your business in just 30 minutes or less? Join me at Milwaukee Social Media University on Wednesday July 29th starting at 7:30 AM at the Italian Community Center .

If I were attending the whole day, here’s what I would do:

• Start the day by registering early, so I could connect with the other participants
• 8:45 – 9:45 – Listen to Tom Snyder from Trivera Interactive talking about Social Media: Fun and Games or Business Tool
• 10:00 – 10:45 – Listen to 800-CEO-READ president Todd Sattersten teach how to go about  Blogging Your Way to Success
• 11:00 – 11:45 – Sit in as Augie Ray, Sue Marks, Joe Woelfle and Scott Baitinger talk about Social Media for Small Business Success
• Enjoy lunch until 1:00 with 3 or 4 other folks that I didn’t already know
• Get a seat early for my session that starts at 1:15 – 2:00 – Execute a Twitter Success Plan in 30 Minutes a Day
• 2:15 – 3:00 – Enjoy Find and Fuel Fans with Facebook from Sara Meaney (this looks like a definite repeat session, though I may get to give my session again)
• 3:15 – 4:15 – Finish the day with a keynote by Jay Steinfeld (CEO of Blinds.com) teaching How to  Get Your Customers to Brag About You with Social Media.
• 4:30 – 6:00  – Hang at the Networking/Tweetup with other participants and presenters.

If you can’t attend, you can follow the day’s events by following hashtag #SMUM on Twitter (or click here to go right to the Search for this tag, already populated by a few folks).

Will I see you there?

Please leave a comment if you’ll be attending so I can be sure to say hello to you. I’ll be getting there around lunch time and sticking around much of the rest of the day.

If you consider yourself a professional anything, you need a blog. A blog is nothing more than a topical website with frequent updates which allows folks to share their thoughts on your work and provides a running history of what you’ve written.

I write a blog called Slacker Manager. You can visit it at http://slackermanager.com Don’t be distracted by all the stuff going on up top or on the sides when you visit the website. Look at the left side of the page, and you’ll see a new article every day for the past year or so on the topic of management. I do this because, by day, I am a vice president of information technology and manage people as a large part of my job. If my firm were ever to let me go, I now have an online collection of my thoughts on managing people in a business environment. It is a much richer, more-complete record than any resume could possibly be.

Don’t worry–you don’t have to write every day once you create your blog. It doesn’t hurt if you write every day, but you don’t have to. If you plan to get ahead in the field of your choosing, though, you need a blog.

Why do you need to start a blog?

1) Blogging creates visibility – If folks don’t know you exist, it doesn’t matter how great you are. More and more recruiters and headhunters are doing a Google search of prospective candidates. Having a blog on the topic you are passionate about gives folks a sample of your style and thoughts on the topic. It gives them just what they may be looking for: a way to know you better before they even talk to you.

Not everyone will agree with everything you write, and you may even lose out on some jobs because of what you write. Wouldn’t you rather know you’re not a fit before you interview or begin work somewhere rather than after you have accepted a job?

2) Blogging creates a safe place for conversations to happen – Think of your blog as your living room. You can invite folks into your house and set the rules for participation. You can create a blogging comment policy, decide what to talk about, and determine how it looks and who can visit you. Don’t be fooled; you don’t get total control, but you do get significant control. And wouldn’t you rather have your friends visit your house than you traipse over to theirs every time?

2) Blogging improves your writing skills – The more you write, the better you write. Obvious, I know. Still, it’s worth saying. When I started out writing a blog, my writing skills were just okay. Now, I’d say they are well above average, and I am able to get my thoughts written faster and more accurately. The more you write, the better your writing skills become.

3) Blogging connects you with people who can help you – You’d be surprised at the people who will come out of the woodwork to help you when you ask for help on your blog. There are tons of searches done every day on every topic imaginable. Folks you’d never be able to connect with in person because they are halfway around the world might stop by and offer to help. Folks at a competing company might offer to help you. Folks at your own company might offer to help you. But you’d never receive all that help if you didn’t have a blog within which you could ask for it.

4) Blogging allows you to help others – Just as others will help you, you can help others, too. From folks who e-mail you asking for help, to folks who leave a comment on your blog, to anyone who links back to you, to folks you had no idea were reading your blog, you will be able to help others when you write well on popular topics.

5) Blogging clarifies your thinking – The more you write about a topic, the more you know about the topic. The more you know about a topic, the more you clarify what you believe about a topic. Greater clarity leads to a greater ease with which you can handle the routine things that come your way. I write about a lot of really basic management stuff at Slacker Manager, and I’ve realized that many people need help with the most-basic aspects of management, so I keep writing about the basics.

6) Blogging allows you to be seen as an expert – If you write about the same topic over and over again, and if you interview experts, and if you read what other people say about a topic, you’re going to become well-versed in whatever topic you choose. The more time you spend, the better you get at it. The better you get at it, the more people will see you as an expert. Remember what I said in reason 1: It doesn’t matter how smart you are if nobody knows your name. If you’re putting it out there day in and day out, you’re going to make a name for yourself, and you’re going to be seen as a better source than the person next to you who isn’t writing about their knowledge.

What do you think? Do you think you need a blog?

Social media is meant to be just that…social – media. So I’ve come up with what I think is a great list of commandments to follow if you’re new OR experienced in social media.

1 – Thou shalt add value first, and sell LAST – If you have zero people in your network, and 3 articles on your blog, telling me about a joint venture opportunity I can REALLY benefit from is not going to work. Instead, leave a nice comment that adds value to one of my articles, or better, write an article on your own site that references my article, and then send me an e-mail letting me know about it.

2 – Thou shalt listen twice as much as you talk – You have two ears, and one mouth. Please use them in that proportion! Pay attention and pick your spots to contribute. You are NOT an expert in everything, no matter what you might think.

3 – Thou shalt not spam all your contacts – Just because we are connected, doesn’t mean I’ve given you permission to spam me with every time you come up with a new idea. Ask me…and I may give you permission.

4 – Thou shalt not act like a stuck up jerk, no matter how many folks are following you on any/every platform.  In fact, I would say ESPECIALLY if you have a million folks who follow you. Seth Godin is a very friendly guy who responds to email, blog posts, and other things directed at him. If Seth Godin can make time to reply to email, so can you!

5 – Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s contacts – After I meet folks in person, I often invite them to connect with me on the various social media networks I’m part of, and I am always happy to introduce you to someone who can help you, or who you can help. I always USED TO say: “If there is anyone in my network you’d like to meet, let me know and I’ll be happy to make the introduction.” I say USED TO because I had someone who went through my network and cherry picked more than 50 people to make a connection to because he thought they could all “benefit from his services.” Guess how many I introduced him to? HINT: It rhymed with hero! Instead, I now say “Let me know of 1 or 2 people in my network you’d like to meet, and what value you can add to their life, and I’ll be happy to introduce you.” That simple twists helps me weed out the spammers!

6 – Thou shall personalize every invitation I make to join any network – automated messages are for robots! Remind me how you know me and why, and it’ll help me remember why I should let you in. Especially annoying: Automated DM after following on Twitter.

7 – Thou shalt remember that 10 can be more powerful than 10000 – If someone has 10 readers to their blog, they might have a little more time to review your book or talk to you than someone who has 10000 readers and is constantly promoting the latest this or that. Therefore 10 can be WAY more powerful than 10000.

8 – Thou shalt not beg (for anything) – Don’t beg me to be your friend, to give you a link, or to connect me to so and so. Just ask nicely, tell me what value you’ll bring to the equation, and I’ll be happy to assist if I can.

9 – Thou shalt be authentic and transparent in all you do – Don’t hide anything from your readers. There’s no shame in promoting people you like, but say you like them. Also, there’s no shame in promoting stuff you believe in for a few dollars in an affiliate program, but don’t be shy about it and hide the URL in something on your domain that forwards to an affiliate link (unless you disclose it). I typically will shorten the URL if I’m doing an affiliate program, or you’ll if it’s short enough, you’ll see it.

10 – Thou shalt take the blog off the blog – Blogging and twittering is GREAT but now and then, go to a conference or two. Enjoy a cup of coffee or brew with someone local to you. Pick up the phone and call someone. Handwrite a thank you note. Take the blog off the blog.

Am I crazy?

Is this too much to ask of folks? Or are these 10 commandments of social media all you need?