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What, LinkedIn Has Free Hidden Treasure?
Posted Mar 21st, 2010 By Mirna Bard in LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Networking With | 7 Comments

In the past couple of weeks, I received a couple of inquiries from business owners who found me on Google for the terms ‘LinkedIn media consultants’ and ‘LinkedIn social media consultants’ (well what do you know, I come up on page 1 and 2 of Google for these two terms – singular and plural). These business owners wanted to know my rates to do training for LinkedIn. They received quotes ranging from $500 – $1000 from other social media consultants. Why would I or anyone else charge them? LinkedIn offers free training. Yes, FREE!

In my coaching and consulting sessions, I normally inform my clients of LinkedIn’s hidden treasure. When I started announcing this resource on social networks last week, I was extremely surprised of the reaction and feedback. It seems that the majority of people did not know this, including the ones that have been using the site for a while. If LinkedIn did a better job at marketing their hidden treasure, more people would be active on their site. Right?

I am calling these trainings “Treasure” because they show you everything you need to know about LinkedIn and the only way you can truly leverage and maximize your time on this site.

There are a couple of easy ways to get to the free training modules. The first way is through this URL: http://learn.linkedin.com/training/. The second is through the LinkedIn navigation bar you see on the top of the page.

Follow the three steps below, and you will be well on your way to becoming a LinkedIn expert:

1. On the navigation, you will need to click the “More…” link to pull down the menu, and then select “Learning Center.”

2. This will take you to the “Learning Center” page which shows you everything you need to know about LinkedIn. On this page, click “Training Resources” on the right navigation.

3. So here we are! On this page, you can choose to learn at your own pace through free video modules, see what seminars are being offered, and request custom webcast training for your organization. You will have to ask them if fees apply for the custom training.

Once you learn how to navigate and use LinkedIn through these free training modules, a social media consultant like me can help educate you on how to strategize, prospect, recruit, and build your brand through LinkedIn if you are still confused. This is where I would charge for my expertise not for something that is already offered for free. BUYER BEWARE for consultants who want to charge for training that is available for free!

Were you aware of this training? Please let me know below.
7 Signs Your Social Media Consultant is Really an Expert
Posted Jan 19th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Social Media, Social Networking With | 12 Comments

No one wants an amateur to run their social media campaign, but with everyone and their dog claiming to be an expert these days, how can you tell who is legit?

Here are 7 signs that your social media consultant is who he or she says they are.

1. They are active on social networking sites. No one can be an expert if they aren’t actually using social media, so perform a little check and see where your consultant is active. Chances are they will be on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, at the very least. However, remember that social media is not about social networking sites only.

2. They have good reviews. Check out other clients and find out what they have to say about the service. Did they feel the consultant got good results? Were they pleased with the service? Testimonials from happy customers can tell you a lot.

3. They explain their latest projects. If they can’t describe it to you or give you an example of how they used social media to draw attention to their client, you should probably look elsewhere.

4. They share their expertise elsewhere. Anyone can set up a blog and start writing posts on social media, but a true expert will not just be on their own blog. They will have guest posts, podcast interviews and even text interviews on other people’s sites and blogs. This is a very good sign that your expert really is an expert, when others trust them to share information.

5. They maintain an active blog. It’s important that anyone you are looking to hire is actually keeping up with their blog and putting out quality content on a regular basis. This is very easy to check but doesn’t mean they need to be posting several times a day, about twice a week is more than enough.

6. They talk about more than just Facebook and Twitter. A good social media expert should be able to guide you through many social media categories (i.e., crowdsourcing, podcasting, blogging, livecasting, etc.) without a problem. If they are stuck on just a few tools and sites, you may have an issue. You need to look for someone who has a comprehensive understanding of social media, and knows how each piece of the puzzle fits together.

7. Their strategies include a range of categories. An expert in social media will want to know what your goals are for social media and then work with you to create a strategy to accomplish those goals. This could include market research, marketing, advertising and customer service, just to name a few.

Not everyone online is an expert in social media. Just because they have a blog and a Twitter account with thousands of followers, it doesn’t mean someone should be considered a guru. Be careful when finding a consultant and check to make sure that they really are living the life of an expert and have the experience to back them up.

You will be able to find people who have approximately five years experience with social media. However, it will be a while for anyone to be considered a “True” expert since we are all learning from each other. I learn from my clients as much as they learn from me!

How do you define a social media expert?
Gettn’ The Buzz Goin’ With Social Media
Posted Jul 6th, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Networking With | 2 Comments

A quick & easy social media guide to get you started

Last month, we covered the very basics and benefits of social media and why it is essential for every business to be visible across a multitude of web sites. If you did not read last month’s article, please visit our blog. You will want to read it before you continue with this article.

In this article, we have listed some tools that can help you position your business above competition. Please remember, do not jump into anything before strategizing first. A strategy will save you from wasting time and going in circles.

Social Bookmarking

When you find a great web site that you want to remember in the future, you usually bookmark it, right? Well, social bookmarking is simply sharing your favorite sites with everyone else. There are literally hundreds of sites that do this, but some are more important than others when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and traffic. Popular social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Mixx, and Newsvine allow you to nominate and bookmark your favorite web pages or news events that you think are worthy of attention.

With nearly all of these social bookmarking sites, there is an option to approve or disapprove other people´s selections and comment on pages that others have bookmarked, while adding a plug for your own businesss. The most popular bookmarks get seen more often. This can lead to increased traffic and more backlinks coming into your site; therefore, higher search engine rankings.

Social Networking

Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, and Plaxo platforms are often what we think of when we hear “Social media” and many businesses have made great use of them. However, a surprising number of business owners have still not touched many of these sites, despite the fact they could be of great use in boosting SEO, increasing visibility and the bottom line (SALES!).

There are also virtual worlds, such as Second Life that allow users to socialize with each other in different online environments that resemble little cities. Businesses can meet up with employees and can create stores within these worlds that anyone can visit.

With Twitter and Tumblr, members can follow each other’s activities or posts. Whether personal or business, post about what you are doing and thinking. This allows others to keep tabs on you (only of you want them to, of course .

Yammer and Jive SBS allow employees to keep up with their colleague’s activities and ask them questions. Orbius is a social marketing platform that provides a set of tools to help brands and organizations set up social networks.

LinkedIn and Ryze offer professionals a place to congregate, find people they know, link up through the recommendations of others, and search for jobs and employees.

Social Answers

Did you know that asking and answering questions is also another form of social networking, and it is so useful, that we have classified it as an area of its own. Web sites like Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, and Askville are social sites where someone asks a question and anyone can join in and answer. The best answers often get links back to the recommending site. Your profile can also link to your website. When you answer a question, you can offer further information or quote your source, which is where you get to link to your blog or business site.

Also note that LinkedIn has the powerful “Answers” feature too.

Social Content Sites

Social content web sites exist because of their participants. Everyone who joins, adds to the community at large. These are usually excellent ways to increase backlinks to your site and can be very rewarding if you really get into the networking aspect of the content site. Squidoo is Google´s favorite content site where you can create a “lens” or website that lets you earn money, link out and get top place in the search results with your keywords. Wikipedia is an ever growing knowledge site that relies on its users to create new articles and edit the ones that already exist.

Social Photo Sites

Not all content is necessarily written, so it´s not surprising that photo sites are a great addition to social media. Among the most popular photo sharing sites are Flickr, Picasa, and KodakGallery. On these sites you can share your best photos, comment on other people’s photos and generally make friends.

Social Video Networking

With Internet connections getting faster, more and more people are looking to video to keep them abreast of the latest information. Now you can even create video responses to blog posts and other videos, turning this into one of the most interactive social media types ever.

YouTube is the forerunner video site for posting homegrown videos. Many businesses are using YouTube and similar sites to post videos of product demos and information. Video watchers can comment and interact with a community of other users, exchanging thoughts and ideas about the clips they have seen. Other popular video sites are Joost, MetaCafe, Revver and Viddler.

Blogging

Last but not least, we cannot forget to discuss the importance of blogging for any business. Web logs (known as blogs) are a big part of the social media mix. Blogs should be your hub that you direct people back to from the social media sites. We recommend adding blog posts a minimum of twice per week (3-4x/week is great!) to keep people coming back.

To direct traffic to your blogs, use other social media sites, social bookmarking as well as creating hyperlinks to your blog on other blogs and discussion forums.

There are literally hundreds of social media sites out there! You do not have to use all the above options, but social networking strategies have certainly worked for many businesses. All of the social media sites mentioned here can be excellent ways to not only get links back to your business website, but also to improve your online visibility. Reputation is everything and by getting out there and becoming more transparent, you are going to find your business growing and your reputation improving.

Every business is crying about the economy, but you do not to one of them. The Internet gave us all the opportunity to grow our business in ways that no one thought possible. Don’t procrastinate, get started in putting your social media plan together. If you are still lost and confused on where to start and what works best for your business, please get help from the experts.

Remember, you are never alone when it comes to growing your business!
Social Media: What’s Buzz’n on the Web?
Posted Jun 21st, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Networking With | No Comments

Are you on Facebook or are you on Friendster? Twitter or Yammer? On LinkedIn anyone? Do you Digg or Delicious it? All of the above?

The most important question: Do you know what all this means or are you confused? In this article, we hope to clear the confusion and help you understand the importance of using these sites for your business.

All the above sites mentioned are called social media sites. Social media is defined as:

The use of Internet destinations to connect with people socially and generate publicity through online communities.

Social media is the most effective way to publish and promote content in the form of press releases, PowerPoint presentations, viral videos, articles, podcasts, photos as well as whitepapers and ebooks.

If you visit and connect with people on these virtual destinations, you are social networking. For business owners, social networking is similar to a business networking event without constraints of time and space. We call it networking on steroids because you can rapidly connect with people globally 24 hours a day.

Social networking is about:

• Building relationships
• Starting conversation & creating word-of-mouth or buzz
• Answering questions/helping others
• Asking questions/trusting recommendations or advice from others

If you share interesting content on social media networks, you will get a bunch of fans and friends who will comment on it, share it, blog about it, tweet it (Twitter lingo), Digg it. Sites like Delicious and Digg are what we call social bookmarking sites. These web sites allow you to nominate and bookmark web pages or information that you think are worthy of attention.

How is this important to your business? By sharing your content, you are going to provide a link back to your hub (a blog or web site). Thus, increasing your visibility, boosting web site traffic, and ultimately growing your business.

It is no longer enough for your site to be visible on search engines such as Google. The key to any Internet marketing is ubiquity: being everywhere across a multitude of web sites. In today’s virtual world, if your business is not transparent online, you do not exist. With perseverance and patience, you will be able to create buzz and soon your online friends will start sending leads and referrals your way.

In summary, how does social media marketing benefit your business?

• Manage your reputation online
• Build recognizable identity or branding of your products or services
• Establish yourself as an expert in your industry
• Create “Buzz” or online conversations about products or services
• Form relationships with customers, prospects, employees, business partners, investors, colleagues, or friends
• Invite positive or critical feedback, dialogue, and discussion
• Speak directly, openly and honestly with your customers
• Articulate your viewpoints, knowledge & expertise pertaining to your industry
• Reach millions of people globally who could potentially become customers
• Set yourself apart from competition

Social media is here to stay so you can no longer afford to ignore it for your business. You can jump on this OPPORTUNITY or sit back and watch your competitors take all the fame and fortune. What steps are you ready to take?

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