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Category: Social Media
Should You Participate In LinkedIn Groups?
12 October 2011
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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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5CF1FEm_oA&feature=player_embedded#!
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.
Tech Orchard – The easy way to sell your old iPhone or iPad
27 September 2011
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I was having lunch recently with my friend Matt Simpson, who owns Infusion. He was telling me about a mutual friend Phil Poje, that just started a new company here in Kansas City called Tech Orchard. Matt and his team did all the design work and web site and they made sure the site was live well before the launch of the new iPhone 5 that is supposedly happening on October 14th. Phil was the Chief Marketing Officer for Stallard Technologies before starting this venture, so he is very familiar with the business of dealing in used technology gear.
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!
Google+: Sorry, I’m Just Not Convinced….Yet.
14 September 2011
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There was a lot of hype when Google rolled out Google+ with the intent of competing with, or taking over, the social media world from the hands of Facebook.
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?
A Day In the Life of Jason Terry – Blogging 101
07 September 2011
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We talk a lot about being consistent with your messaging when it comes to pace (at least weekly), voice (fun, professional or somewhere in between) and platform (social networks, email newsletters, marketing pieces). One of the questions that we hear all the time is “How do you come up with things that are worth saying to your audience?”
I have been doing this for so long that it comes naturally. I have to remind myself that not everyone has experience writing, thinking like a blogger, or paying attention to the things that happen every day that are worth talking about. You might be doing this kind of activity for the first time in your professional career.
I thought it would be good to walk you through a day in my life and show you the many opportunities that occur to talk about your staff, your company, your clients and more!
Before I do that, here is a quick list of things that you should consider talking about:
- Clients
- Vendors/Partners
- Projects
- Things that caught your attention
- People, people, PEOPLE!
September 7th, 2011
6am – Personal and Business – For Me, They Are The Same Thing
Got up and went to LifeTime Fitness with my brother Mike Terry who works for Ingenix. Talked about the fact that Adam Rector from Beautiful Outdoors was coming by the house today to give me an estimate on some landscaping work in the back yard. Mike mentioned that he needs to have some work done in his back yard as well and wanted me to have Adam give him a call. (Later in the afternoon, I did refer Adam to Mike = Word of Mouth Referrals in Action #1)
8am – Creating my Daily To Do List, Checking Emails, Etc.
Came back to the house to clean up and get to work. Checked my email and started making follow up calls… this involved a list of people and companies that is too long to even try to include here. Took me about an hour.
9am – Mic Rocks, T-Shirt Talks
One of the things on my follow up list was to talk to Mic about the “Avoiding People That Suck” T-Shirts. The article he wrote was a huge hit and Brett Gibson at AdventureTech asked when the T-Shirts would be available! (Mic is creative and driven and I could have written a blog article about him!) He is working with a good friend of his, Molly Beacom at Image Market on pricing, etc.
10am – Public Service Announcement
Started errands, including going to Commerce Bank to make a Blue Gurus deposit and then to the post office to mail off my quarterly estimated tax payments. Yes, they need to be sent by September 15th, so count this as a friendly reminder to get on that if you do quarterly estimates.
11am – New Client
Got a call from Donna Rimbo at Christ Church in Overland Park. She was referred to us by one of our clients, Tommy Wilson at the Downtown Council of Kansas City. (Word of Mouth Referrals in Action #2) We had a great conversation for 30 minutes about a potential project we could do together. I told her how we do what we do. She mentioned that their committee had been talking about this project and when Donna mentioned that she was going to talk to Blue Gurus that one of the committee members started raving about us. (Yay!) She said based on our brief conversation, the strength of the referrals and the respect of peers, they are not looking at other companies to help them with this project! A new client for Blue Gurus and a testament (nice word choice?) to what we keep saying about the power of word of mouth and building a positive reputation for doing what you say you are going to do.
12:30pm – Technical Work
My friend Matt Simpson, owner of Infusion, asked me to help him out with a client project involving WordPress. I spent 90 minutes getting the project done and following up with Matt on next steps. Oh, and scheduled lunch together for September 21st at Nick and Jake’s. I had to include this detail because so many people say “I don’t care where people are going for lunch.” Hey, if you don’t care… fine. It’s part of my story though. You won’t care about every part of this story, that is normal and even expected. Some people live near Nick and Jake’s. Some people own Nick and Jake’s. Some people love or hate Nick and Jake’s with a story of their own. You get the point… it’s not just about what I had for lunch.
2:30pm – Writing My Blog Update
Sat down to write my blog update with nothing particular in mind. Thought about all that had happened today and thought about the fact that there are dozens of stories involving people and companies that might be worth talking about. Realized we hadn’t done an article on the blogging process, so why not document the day!
In Closing…
If you read this whole article, you prove my point. This thing was WAY TOO LONG. You must care about me, Mic and Blue Gurus to have gotten through it… and that is the whole point. People want to hear what is going on in your life because they CARE about you. In a 9 hour period today, I connected with dozens of people, representing dozens of companies. Helped my brother out. Earned a new client through a word of mouth referral. Did billable work for a client. Crossed off the majority of the things on my To Do list.
I could expand on any one of these stories to create a great article that talks about specific people and companies. (Did you recognize any of the people or companies? Do you know them? Have you done business with them?) This stuff matters. Look at what you and your company are involved in on a daily basis and tell your stories!
Totally Transparent – I Struggle With Weekly Content Too
26 August 2011
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Last week, we got a TON of feedback on Mic’s blog post about avoiding people that suck. Mic had the idea that we should make up T-Shirts with that message and we are working on making that happen. I am sure Mic will tell you more when we get the design done and the details worked out so that we can make them available for you to pick one up!
I am writing this post to fess up to the fact that I sometimes struggle keeping up with the weekly content grind just like everybody else we work with. Let me be clear that this is Jason talking, not Mic… he has never missed a weekly blog post deadline. We have been doing this for 121 weeks since I started the business. We normally post our blog articles on Thursday afternoon at 2pm because that is one of the best times for people viewing our content. (We also publish on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm with the “In Case You Missed It” tacked on to really make sure people have had a chance to see what is going on with Blue Gurus.) So here it is Friday morning and I am staring a wonderfully busy day in the face and just realized I did not get my blog post done yet for this week. I missed the 2pm Thursday afternoon deadline. Crap. I know that you have been there too… and the only answer is to suck it up and get whatever it is done that you need to get done, so here goes….
We believe that telling people every week about what is going on in your company is one of the best sales and marketing tools at your disposal. We all have friends in the business community that want to help us be more successful, but too often, they don’t really understand what we do. The 10 second elevator pitch is well practiced, but doesn’t really stick. That 10 second description isn’t enough to let your friend feel confident referring you business. Fast forward to a social networking presence where you put out weekly content about what you do and those friends become educated extensions of your sales department. They get a feel for what you are doing and finally understand how the can help you by hiring you directly or referring you to a friend of theirs that needs what you do. This isn’t just an idea… this happens to us at Blue Gurus every single week. It works really, really well.
This weekly content thing works on so many levels:
1) You have to come up with new content every week, so you get used to being closer to your staff so that you can learn what stories need to be told. This actually becomes a team management tool when done right.
2) Your existing customers start to see the depth of what you can do for them. They also are glad to see that you are busy and productive, reaffirming why they hired you in the first place. People want to work with successful people.
3) Your prospects go to your web site and see months of interesting content that has been published every single week (sometimes late <grin>) It makes you look more professional and often larger than you really are. People are sometimes shocked that Blue Gurus is just two people… if you just read that and were shocked, comment or let me know to help me prove the point.
4) Your web site will be fresh and new because of the content you consistently put out. The days of going to a web site with a Copyright 2003 and a news section that says “Under Construction” are gone. Get with the program.
5) Your brother or sister connected to you on LinkedIn starts seeing the kinds of things that you are involved in with your company and has the “Aha!” moment. They finally understand what you do. I have heard this story 3 times in 2011. Same thing with all of those people that you have been in networking groups with for years that have not referred you any clients. This just might break the ice for you.
(For more information on Content Marketing, Mic wrote a deeper dive a couple of months ago)
Whether you hire us to help you with this or not, get a web site set up that allows you to add weekly content easily. (10 Reasons You Should Consider WordPress) Start telling the stories and make sure they get out to your social media networks so that you can start educating your friends, current clients and new prospects about why they should be doing business with YOU!
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