If you prefer to watch instead of read, check out the embedded video blog.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l8cwaspD7s

1) BlueGurus.com has a new look!  We do this every year, usually in December when things are quieter for the holidays.  We update the “theme” every year to show how easy it is to re-brand your website every 3-5 years without having to redo all your content.  The content lives in WordPress, and all you have to do is set up and configure a new theme to completely change the look of your site.

2) There is a new Blue Guru on our team… please welcome Melissa Zarda!  Yes, she is related to “the” Zardas of Kansas City’s Zarda BBQ.  Actually, that is how I met Melissa initially… we were working on the Zarda BBQ WordPress web site together.  Since then we have done Spay & Neuter KC together and I am happy to have her on the team.  She is a great WordPress web site developer and hit the ground running on multiple projects that we are working on, including a new web site for Mike Pasley and his team at Central Packaging.  (The new site is not done yet, but we will put it in our portfolio when it is complete)

3) A recent study shows that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.  This is something that we knew in practice for years, but it is nice to see some data to back it up for those of you “metrics” people out there.  Follow this link to the article on HubSpot.

4) Hometown Threads Embroidery for embroidering your company logo on just about any fabric, including shirts, briefcases and more.

It always makes me chuckle a bit because I wonder what prompted him or her to make that statement and I’ve been around long enough to know how many knee jerk decisions don’t ever get implemented.

So if you get that question, you can be politically correct and say “Great, boss! That’s exciting! Let’s do it!” . But once you are done with that, you really should start asking some questions that don’t always have easy answers, such as: 

1. WHY? (the most important and underutilized question in business today)

2. What do you mean when you say we need to be “all over social media”? 

3. How often, or do you even use, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?

4. What do you think being “all over social media” will do for the company?

5. Are you ready for, and committed to, the entire company undergoing a massive culture change? (Social media absolutely, positively is tied to changing the culture internally and externally. And in most organizations, a real “culture check review” hasn’t happened in a long time…or ever.)

6. Who do you think in the company needs to be involved in this social media effort? Why? (there’s that question again)

7. What do you think social media is all about?

8. Are you committed to executing the social media plan that we come up with, even if that could mean redistributing workload, adding staff, changing processes, and more?

9. Do you understand that you don’t just start “doing social media” and sales come flying in the door?

10. Do you think you will start writing blog articles and that your audience (who you likely haven’t been communicating to consistently for years) is going to read everything you post and then pick up the phone and want to buy?

11. How long are you committed to doing this?

12. Do you realize that the concept of ROI with social media is still being debated? (clearly not as many businesses would be engaged in social media if there wasn’t ROI, but getting your arms around the fact that much of the ROI isn’t measurable is the hard part for most C-level types).

Once you get the answer to those questions, then you’ll really know if your CEO/Owner/Manager/Fill In The Blank Leadership Position is really ready to “be all over social media” or if this will go in the pile of “great ideas that we were never fully committed to”. 

Part of what Jason and I do every day in our roles as Social Media Coaches is consuming information. Not only do we like to, but we HAVE to because the world of social media changes at an unbelievably fast pace.

New social media platforms are popping up every day (Google+, Pinterest, etc.) and it’s our job to determine which of these may “stick” (and have the potential for adding value to our clients) and which are just platforms that superusers get excited about because they provide competition to “the Big 3″…Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

One thing I have believed for awhile now is that video is going to continue to grow in popularity. Many of you may know already that YouTube is the #2 ranked search engine (behind Google, which, not so ironically, owns YouTube).

We’ve seen numerous articles and videos over the last 2-3 years that have been predicting the increased use of video and some larger companies/brands have already done it (Does the Old Spice guy ring a bell?). We believe that 2012 is the year when video will play a larger role in the content marketing strategies of companies…both large and small.

I’ve talked to Jason about this numerous times over the last year and so he dove in and made this short video below. Take a look and let us know what you think. You are going to see a lot more video from Blue Gurus in 2012 and we’re excited to share our thoughts and expertise in a more “live” setting.

If you have trouble viewing the video, click this link.

“I Love Your LinkedIn Profile…It’s So….YOU!” That’s what Mary Hutchison, my Realtor and long-time friend, told me after she looked at my LinkedIn profile for the first time. Little did Mary or I realize it at the time, but I would go on to share that story in every LinkedIn 1×1 Profile Training session I’ve done since.

Why?

Because it perfectly summarizes what you should hope people say when they see your LinkedIn profile. I talk to so many people who tell me “Someone invited me to LinkedIn, so I just quickly created a profile and click “Accept” when I get invitations” or “I have a LinkedIn account, but my profile is horrible.”

Keep in mind that people search LinkedIn every day…recruiters, clients, prospects, salespeople, and more. So when your profile comes up in a search and they look at it, does it accurately represent your personal and professional brand?

Whether you’ve come to realize it or not, in today’s world, each one of us is the sole representative of our personal brand. You owe it to yourself (and to everyone who views your profile) to make sure your brand is accurate.

So how do you know if your LinkedIn profile hits the mark? The following questions will help:

1. Do you have a picture? Are you smiling? Is it a good shot of your head and shoulders? Is the background clean?

2. Do you have a well written Summary that shares your professional story blended with things in your personal life that you are passionate about? Does your personality come across to the reader?

3. Have you accurately listed your work history? Did you put a description of each position using “I” language that tells the reader what your responsibilities were, your skill sets, your accomplishments, etc.?

4. Have you listed your Interests, Volunteer Activities, and Groups and Associations so that people know the types of things that you are involved in when you aren’t at work?

5. Do you have recommendations from people you’ve worked with throughout your career? Have you taken the time to give recommendations to people that you’ve worked with that are awesome?

6. Do you update your LinkedIn status at least once a week with information that is helpful or may be of interest to your connections? Do you pay attention to the updates of those in your network?

If you answered “YES” to each of these questions, then you are well on your way. If you didn’t, then I recommend that you spend some time updating your LinkedIn profile until it gets there. After you’ve updated your profile, ask some trusted friends or business colleagues for feedback.

Don’t let your LinkedIn profile be an embarrassment any longer! Get it updated now….or close your LinkedIn account. No LinkedIn account is better than one that doesn’t accurately represent YOU!

With that in mind, here are 10 Things We’re Thankful For This Year…

1) We are thankful for our clients and the opportunity to help people accomplish their goals every day.

2) We are thankful for those people in our personal and professional networks that help us grow. Every new client for Blue Gurus comes from word-of-mouth referrals.

3) We are thankful to have launched more than 20 great new WordPress-powered web sites, including  AdventureTech Group, Corporate Fitness Works, Downtown Council of Kansas City, Galvmet, House of Diamonds, LPF Coatings, Picture Perfect Interiors, Shapiro & McMullen, P.A.,  and many more.

4) We are thankful that we were able to get past the infamous “2 year mark” for small businesses and that we are quickly approaching our third year of helping small businesses get bigger.

5) We are thankful that LinkedIn continues to grow at an incredible rate, now with two people joining LinkedIn every second. Oh, and did you know that over 390,000 people in Kansas City have LinkedIn profiles representing more than 5,200 companies? It’s all about relationships.

6) We are thankful for applications like CardMunch, Dropbox and RoboForm that save time and allow us (and many of our clients!) to work more efficiently.

7) We are thankful that we were able to take a cruise this Fall with our wives for some much needed rest and relaxation. We believe you have to take time off to recharge your batteries and maintain a healthy balance between life and work.

8) We are thankful that, for the most part, we have successfully avoided people that suck!

9) We are thankful that, in spite of today’s economic environment, small businesses are working hard every day to make things happen.

10) And last but not least, we are extremely thankful for our wives, Trista and Missy, and our families and friends. Without their support, we wouldn’t be who we are or be able to do what we do.

We would love to hear from you… 

What are you thankful for this year?

I wanted to give you a quick heads up that Blue Gurus has partnered with Thinking Bigger Business Media to host two webinars on LinkedIn.

My goal in Session 1 is to give you as many of the tips and tricks I know about using LinkedIn for prospecting. We’ve trained companies all across Kansas City on how to effectively use LinkedIn for prospecting. It’s not just a tool for recruiting even though there are still a lot of people out there that think it is!

Speaking of recruiting, you may or may not know this about me, but I have over 6 years of recruiting experience as part of my professional background. So yes, I’ve used LinkedIn as a Recruiter too and want to share my thoughts and experiences for those of you that are looking to find quality candidates to fill your next open position.

We have set these up so that I will do most of the talking (while you watch a live screen of me moving throughout LinkedIn) for the first 30-40 minutes. We plan to leave the last 20-30 minutes to answer questions you have about LinkedIn, be it related to prospecting, recruiting, or whatever.

I hope you’re able to join us. If you know have other people in your professional network that would benefit from LinkedIn training from someone that is in the tool every single day, please feel free to share this information with them.

For complete details and registration information, click HERE.

Gen X contains people born in the 60′s all the way up to the early 80′s. Me, I was born smack dab in the middle… in 1971. Turning 40 typically causes one to reflect on his or her life, accomplishments, lessons learned, goals met and goals to set, and to step back and evaluate where one is personally and professionally.

That is exactly what I did…and continue to do. In fact, I’ll be doing that every day from this point on. So the thought struck me as I was lying in bed one morning and interacting with the Twitterverse….”What have I learned over my 17 year career?” I started typing out a rough draft on my iPhone and ended up with this blog post.

I’d love to hear feedback from Gen Y, Baby Boomers and anyone else after you read through this list. I don’t proclaim to know it all and I am a firm believer that “the magic” happens in business when all generations are open minded, work together, and realize that they can learn a lot from each other.

So here’s the list from a newly minted 40-year-old Gen X’er….

1. Career satisfaction comes not from how much money you make but by how much you enjoy the journey.

2. The world is overflowing with TAKERS. The quicker you learn to filter them out, the more rewarding your career (and life) will be.

3. One of the best compliments you can ever receive is someone telling you that you’ve inspired them.

4. Seek out people that challenge you. Real and lasting growth only comes when you step outside your comfort zone.

5. If you haven’t found a career you love doing every day, keep searching. You will never find it if you sit still.

6. Calculated risks are the best kind. Make sure there is water in the pool before you jump off the high dive.

7. Nearly every company has people that suck and people that are awesome. The former will keep you down at all costs and take credit for what you do. The latter will raise you up on their own shoulders and let you shine.

8. There is nothing more rewarding than helping people every day.

9. Ever thought about what people would say at your funeral? If you don’t like the answer today, you still have time to change it.

10. Your instincts are usually right. Just know it takes time and experience to learn to trust them.

11. The #1 most ignored and undervalued business opportunity is creating, defining, and maintaining a thriving, employee-centric corporate culture.

12. If you are a business owner, President, CEO or in a position of leadership within a company and don’t talk to (and really know) the people that work for you, then your business isn’t successful yet.

13. Many companies say “We’re only as good as the people we hire” yet they routinely make $50,000 hiring decisions based on “gut” feelings, 2 page resumes, and an hour interview.

14. Employees that ask questions and challenge authority/status quo are often the ones that care the most and have the most potential.

15. Saying PLEASE and THANK YOU never gets old.

16. Doing what you say you are going to do is an awesome skill set….that many people are lacking.

17. Organizational skills are an awesome skill set….yeah, you guessed it….that many people are lacking.

18. When someone asks “Why?”, two answers that are never acceptable are: “That’s the way I’ve always been” and “That’s the way things have always been done around here.”

19. I’ll take a person that is willing to say “I’m sorry” or “I was wrong” over the alternative every single day of the week.

20. Don’t be fooled: Common sense is not so common.

What do you think? What life and business lessons have you learned that you can share with our readers? C’mon! Tell us!

Oftentimes when Jason and I do LinkedIn 1×1 or group training sessions, people ask us if they should participate in LinkedIn Groups. If you aren’t familiar with LinkedIn Groups, watch the quick LinkedIn video below to get a feel for what they are and how they work.

What we often find is that most people aren’t taking the time to even do the basic weekly behaviors that we recommend on LinkedIn, so getting people to spend time in Groups is even more of a stretch. So if you are one of those people that aren’t regularly doing the things we recommend in “Your LinkedIn Profile Is Done, Now What?“, then we suggest that you wait on participating in Groups until you are ready to commit some real, consistent time to your LinkedIn efforts.

In the interest of full disclosure, I belong to several groups on LinkedIn, but I’m not currently an active participant in them. I receive weekly email summary updates on the activity within each group, scan the topics, and occasionally comment if there is something of interest to me.

But LinkedIn Groups can provide a lot of real value too…you just have to put forth the effort. One recent example of success with LinkedIn Groups was brought to my attention from my friend and client, Brett Gibson, one of the owners of AdventureTech, a .NET Development company in Kansas City. He sent me a couple of emails expressing his excitement over a discussion generated from a post he shared with the LinkedIn Group KCITP (Kansas City Information Technology Professionals).

KCITP is a great group started by LinkedIn and IT stud Michael Gelpman and has nearly 6,400 members. Brett posted a provocative title that said “Here’s a topic polite Kansas City IT people don’t like to talk about”, which referenced an EXCELLENT blog article recently posted on AdventureTech’s web site titled “Technical Debt: When Deadlines Are Met, Bad Decisions Are Forgotten (But Bad Code Lives On).” Below is an excerpt from the discussion (you can see the entire discussion by joining the KCITP group after you are signed in to LinkedIn).

In summary, if you have the time, a passionate base of people that like to engage in discussion, and a compelling topic, then LinkedIn Groups are a great way to meet new people, network, find new business partners, educate yourself, educate other people, and help set yourself apart as a subject matter or industry expert.

The equation is the same for LinkedIn Groups, LinkedIn in general, Facebook, Twitter or any other social media outlet:

IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT, YOU NEED TO MAKE A COMMITMENT TO PUTTING TIME AND EFFORT INTO IT.

The concept is that Tech Orchard will buy your old iPhone or iPad and send you a check in 3 days or PayPal payment immediately once the condition of your used equipment is verified.  I had an old iPhone 3G that has been collecting dust on a shelf for over a year.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Tech Orchard would give me $105 cash for it if it was in good condition!  I filled out the simple form on their web site and got a bubble mailer sent to me in short order.  Dropped the old iPhone into the mailer and shipped it off.  I got an email confirmation that they had received it the next day and now a check is in the mail for $105.  This was about the easiest process I can imagine and I would much rather have cash than a boat anchor.

If you remember in my last blog post, I mentioned that I would be having lunch with Matt and joked about the fact that “people don’t want to know what I had for lunch.”  Well, I had a great salad and a cup of steak soup at Nick and Jake’s.  It was excellent as always.  The point here is that real conversations happen over lunch and often they are stories worth telling.  Matt and I talked about a lot of interesting topics, goals for our businesses, trends in social media, the brand development work that Infusion is currently engaged in and more.

The important thing to note, this is yet another example of how simple word of mouth can have a dramatic impact on your business.  Matt did the creative work for Phil’s new company.  Matt told me about it.  I had a need for Phil’s services.  I tried the services and liked the result so much that I decided to blog about it.  There is a strong chance that 3,000+ people that Mic and I are connected to might hear about Tech Orchard.  What if 1% of them tried the service out?  That is 30 people.  Assuming the average purchase is $105 like mine (and that is on the low end) this could be more than $3,000 of business for Phil.  And I am just one person.  Phil is going to grow his business successfully by being well connected, telling good stories and delivering on his brand promise that Tech Orchard is the easy way to sell your old iPhone or iPad.

If you have an old iPhone or iPad sitting around, go to www.techorchard.com and trade it in for some cash!

We get people asking us about Google+ from time to time and whether their business should be paying attention to it and should “be there”. Just as you read in the title of this blog post, my take at this point is “Sorry, I’m Just Not Convinced…Yet.”

My opinion isn’t scientific and I didn’t do extensive research so that I could wow you with flashy statistics, but I do LOVE social media and I do live, work and play in this world every single day.

So without further adieu, here are some of my initial thoughts and impressions on Google+. Do with them what you will and, as always, thanks for your continued support of Blue Gurus and our blog.

83% IS A PRETTY COMPELLING NUMBER
According to data compiled by Bime Analytics, who polled a voluntary sample of more than 10 million Google+ users, 83 percent of Google+ users are inactive on the circles and posts features of the site. So a lot of people rushed out to see what it was all about…and then quit using it. As someone that has a Google+ account, that defines me perfectly at this point in time.

HEY, YOU ARE ALREADY TELLING ME YOU DON”T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!
We work with people every day that tell us that they don’t have time to spend on LinkedIn to build, and interact with, their professional network,  that they don’t have time to be on Facebook, or that don’t understand Twitter and don’t have the time for it either. So you think they have time for Google+ too? Sure, this is just a small sub-set of the population we’re dealing with, but in our expansive network, we don’t have ANYONE that is telling us that they are all over Google+.

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
750 million users. That’s how many FACEBOOK has. Sure, Google+ got to 25 million users in the first month, but that’s in large part because:
(1) Google is everywhere and has one of the strongest brands in the world.
(2) Has a passionate following that loves anything and everything Google.
(3) Some people are just Facebook Haters.
(4) Google+ was the new kid on the block and curiosity was piqued.

I often joke with people that it’s like Facebook was at the party dancing all night with everyone and then Google+ showed up at the party as everyone was leaving and yelled “Hey, who else wants to dance?”. There is tremendous value in being there FIRST and Google+ has a long way to go to try to convince people that it’s worth the time and effort to change dance partners.

Add that to the recent study that shows Americans spend 23% of their time online on social networking sites and Facebook accounts for the majority of that time (it’s not even close) while Google+ is nowhere to be found and, well….you get the point.

WHATEVER GOOGLE+ CAN DO, FACEBOOK WILL (PROBABLY) DO BETTER
Facebook has virtually unlimited financial and technical resources at their disposal, so if something really catches on with Google+ and its user base, I firmly believe that the developers at Facebook will get something similar implemented quickly, thus minimizing any competitive advantage that Google+ tries to leverage.

GOOGLE+ HAS CHEERLEADERS, BUT NOT ENOUGH…YET
Some social media folks I follow continue to try to push that Google+ is going to be a big player in this market. One in particular is very well known and last I heard he was also writing a book about it, so I do wonder whether he truly believes in Google+ or sees the monetary value in becoming one of it’s biggest cheerleaders. Heck, maybe it’s both.

SIMPLE, YES…BUT ALSO KINDA BORING
The look and feel of Google+ is very much like Facebook, but even more primitive. Some people love the “clean, simpleness” of Google, whether it’s Gmail, Google Calendar or Google+. Personally, I prefer a more dynamic interface. I’m sure Google will continue to make tweaks to the look and feel as time goes on, but for now it’s pretty underwhelming.

THE “I’M NOT GOING TO BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE” CROWD WAS LOUD FOR AWHILE
One of my longtime friends was adamant about not joining Facebook (and still hasn’t), but joined Google+ and then tried to argue that it would eventually replace Facebook. His comment was that “Facebook took over from MySpace”. That’s an apples to oranges comparison, in my opinion.

Facebook is soooooooo much more than MySpace ever was and has so many more applications and implications on how people engage with one another. Either way, there will always be Facebook haters that don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, so when a tool like Google+ comes along, they’ll embrace it wholeheartedly for argument’s sake against Facebook.

IF YOU HAVE A GOOGLE+ ACCOUNT AND WANT TO CANCEL IT
I haven’t cancelled mine yet because I’m still going to give Google+ some time to convince me that it’s worth my time. But hey, that’s just me. If you created a Google+ account and want to cancel it, I ran across this article today that tells you how to do it.

So that’s where I’m at today with Google+. In the end, healthy competition is good for all of us that enjoy Facebook. Google+ will ensure that Facebook stays on top of its game.

Maybe I will hear some compelling arguments in the days, weeks and months ahead that will change my mind and compel me to spend more time on Google+. For now, though, I’m off to Facebook to see what my friends and family are up to.

Do you have a Google+ account? Do you use it personally? Do you use it for business? What do you think?