From the monthly archives:

April 2009

What the Spiders Know

by Daria Steigman on April 27, 2009

I had the pleasure of speaking about social media to two PR classes at the University of Maryland last week. They’re smart students, and they’re just starting to explore social media. Almost all of them had Facebook pages, a few were on LinkedIn, a couple on MySpace, and a smattering had started to explore the Twitterverse.

I started our conversation by asking them one simple question: When was the last time you Googled your name?

It caught their attention (and apparently what they discovered really startled at least a couple of them). Plus it proved a good entry point for a discussion about why companies and individuals need to be monitoring their online reputations and engaging with their stakeholders.

If you haven’t Googled your name lately, go ahead. Then come back and tell me what the Web spiders have learned about you.

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Decoding the Twitterstream

by Daria Steigman on April 20, 2009

Why is everyone’s first instinct to think that Twitter is silly and self-indulgent? Admit it, you probably felt that way once–or still do.

I’ve been pondering the Twitter start-up barrier the last few days as I pull thoughts together for a conversation I’m having on Thursday with University of Maryland PR students. And, since I’m on Twitter, I’ve been chatting with a few people on the topic.

I got a lot of clarity from this brief back-and-forth with Mary Deming Barber:

@dariasteigman Thanks for the rec. I am really enjoying the conversation on Twitter since I started connecting w good folks. #followfriday
[from @mdbarber] 12:24 PM Apr 17th from Nambu in reply to dariasteigman

@mdbarber I think that’s why it’s hard for newbies to get started. You have to figure out who to interact with, build up your community.
[from @dariasteigman] 12:27 PM Apr 17th from TweetDeck in reply to mdbarber

@dariasteigman I agree. People look at the public timeline which makes no sense. Our job now is to show them how to build the community.
[from @mdbarber] 12:33 PM Apr 17th from Nambu in reply to dariasteigman

Eureka! We all start by looking at someone else’s timeline, filled with strangers having conversations that are disengaged from us. Obviously, we can’t build a “demo” community every time we need to explain Twitter to someone — but we need to be aware of the disconnect and take steps to demonstrate why our timelines work for us.

That’s my challenge for Thursday, and for every time I talk to a student, client, prospect, or friend who gives me a blank look or rolls their eyes at the mention of a tweet.

Any ideas? What steps do you take to decode the Twitterstream?

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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Small Business Taps Into Social Media

by Daria Steigman on April 16, 2009

A recent study on social media trends offers some useful insights on small business use of social media. The top line findings–that Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, and Facebook are marketers’ preferred social media tools–is pretty predicable. But it’s some of the other data that offers a good reminder of why business owners need to understand, and consider using, social media.

According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, business owners were more likely to use social media tools than people working for someone else. And more and more of us are incorporating social media into our marketing mix. The report finds that business owners of companies with 2-100 employees tended to be earlier adopters than our sole proprietor brethren–but more of them are joining the social media ranks every day.

Business owners reported that social media has led to:

  • more exposure for their business
  • improved Web traffic
  • new partnerships
  • better search engine rankings
  • leads and new business

The report also contains a useful Top 10 list of questions people want answered about social media. They’re worth keeping in mind when considering your own use of social media or if you’re trying to convince a client to add a social media component to their marketing strategy.

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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Opening Day at Nationals Park

by Daria Steigman on April 14, 2009

Nationals Park: Opening Day 2009

When you run a business, it’s hard to give yourself a day off. But every once in a while you just need to come up with a good reason. This was mine.

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Please Don’t Hit On Me Just Because I’m Here

by Daria Steigman on April 10, 2009

WHY should I join your network?

I’ve seen a number of so-called discussion questions on LinkedIn Groups lately that are are on the theme of “Open Networker — please link to me” and “I’m building out my network — please invite me to connect.” In none of these cases does the person tell me either what value they bring or what the rest of us might do to help them.

Whether you are looking for your next job or your next customer or client, please don’t be the person who hits on everyone indiscriminantly. It’s not a valued trait. Rather, understand what you bring to the table and why I might want to have a conversation with you. If you’re interesting to me, the connection will follow.

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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