Increasing Employee & Client Engagement

We have talked numerous times about the changes in how we discover, communicate and share information.  I go to a half dozen networking meetings a week and more than half the people there are in job “transition”.  My heart goes out to them.  The first two questions, I ask is do they have a blog, how are they using LinkedIn, and other social networks to connect.

Here are my things anyone should be doing who is looking for a job.

1.       Hopefully you are already engaged in Social Media.   Get on your social networks and let every person you know, that you are looking.  Give them a list of 20 or 25 target companies you would be interested in talking to.  I am a connector and love to try to help people.  Your network may know someone in that company and may only be able to give you a contact or that vital crack you need to get a toe in the door.
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I was on Atlanta Business Radio this week. We covered my favorite topic of engaging your audience and social media. A lot of interesting info was covered. Here is the link if you want to listen to.

http://tr.im/pCKV

Another really cool thing I was able to be a part of was the Community Marketing Blog’s Blog Off.

I was one of the finalists and was asked to be part of a conference call to share thoughts, ideas, insights & best practices about Blogging.  It was recorded so I could share with you.  It is very good info about

Blogging and other great conversations about social media, going viral, measurement, SEO, syndication

The whole call was over an hour, so it is jam packed with info.

http://tr.im/pRQX

I am in discussions right now about becoming a permanant contributor to the Community Marketing Blog so will keep you posted on the progress for that.

Facebook Connect –

Is a new feature this year to the Facebook platform.  It is an open ID, which allows users to log into many services with the same digital identity.   It helps the user keep from having 50 different login’s, profiles etc.  What is good for businesses is that they can now gain more access to their customers by using their Facebook info.  The company’s advocates can share info with their friends.  The company can see what friends they share.

You can get more information at http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php

Vanity URL  -

Facebook has finally allowed users to get rid of all the numbers after the .com.  So instead of them typing in your name and trying to find you with possibly hundreds of people with the same name.   This helps very easily share your information with other people you want to connect with.

You sign-up for your unique username at: www.facebook.com/username/

I will be on Atlanta Business Radio tomorrow at 10 AM live.

You can Listen Live here
http://www.atlantabusinessradio.com

Application Programming Interface
API – is basically a set of routines, protocols provided by operating system services in order to support the building of applications.  When you open up Adobe Reader on your windows application, that is because Microsoft gave Adobe the API instructions or code to write their programming to open up in Windows. 

Now, I am not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination.   That is powerful stuff.  Social Media also uses this same process.   Facebook and Twitter both freely give out their API to get programmers to come up with clever things to enhance their programs.  Facebook has tons of games, polls, surveys etc in the application.  Twitter has Tweetdeck, Twellow, Sesimec, and other applications.  New ones are created everyday.

What does this mean to you?  Your company has the ability to use that API and have developers write software for your own application, game, poll or survey to enhance your page. Facebook encourages this.   Non profits have used it to raise money.  Pringles used it to upload videos with your Pringles can.  Zynga has created two social games in Mafia Wars & Texas Hold Em, that are the largest on Facebook.  Visa has created a social network for small businesses to share info.

Do not forget about mobile applications.  That is one of the next big waves.  So make sure you keep these in mind when you are programming.

There are numerous ways to take advantage.  Find one that is interactive and engages your audience.  It could spread like a fire in a desert.

I wanted to give a shout out to all the Dad’s out there.  Happy Daddy’s Day (as we refer to it here at our household).

Being a Dad to me is the greatest thing and I am sure all the dads out there would agree.  I have a son, who is now 4 1/2 years old.  There was a bond between us the day I knew it was a boy.  I cried like a baby.  I am the IV, and knowing that I was going to have Charles Hudson Rothschild V changed my world.

One of my favorite parts of being a dad is the moment I walk in the door from being out.  No matter what kind of day I have had, he can change it in an instant.  The pure excitement he has when he hears me shut the door. I hear the scampering of feet across the wood floor, and the smile on his face when he comes to greet me with a big hug and kiss.   EVERY TIME, no matter what. 

I am very blessed.  I am a huge sports lover and my son is following suit.   He loves quality time with his dad.  He just wants to do it to be with his dad.   He will come up to me and tell me he needs some “daddy time”.    A lot of people think if they can just buy their kids things  and that captures parenting.  To me, there is a big difference in buying a ball and PLAYING ball.   As a former golf professional, I only play a couple of times a year right now and people always ask me why I dont play more.  I respond ” I would rather be a good dad, than golfer”. 

What is really going to be great, is if Hudson loves golf.  We go to the golf course all the time and I watch him hit balls.  He crushes the ball.  His favorite part is trying to hit it in the sand.  He considers that accomplishment.  I am a year a two away from us doing it together.  I promised myself, I would not push him into any sport though.  I would introduce him to all of them and let him pick which one he liked best and I would love it too.  He really likes all sports right now, basketball, baseball, golf & soccer.  I have coached him in all of them and really got as much enjoyment as he seems to have.

I just want to challenge all the dads out there to:  

D - evoted  - Let your kids know there is NOTHING more important than them.  I heard some great advice from a friend.  When you put something on family calendar, it cant be changed.  All other appt’s are changeable.  Nothing can come before them.  That is a challenge for me as well, because I am internally driven and something I work on all the time.  So keep that top of mind. 

A- ctive - As I said, get involved.  PARTICIPATE.  Whatever there interest is, make that your interest to.  Most men are kids anyway.  Get out there and play in the mud, wrestle with them, play ball with them, play games, take a walk.  Anything.  This one is my favorite.  They are part of your life and you have to be a part of theirs.

D - edicated - Life is a journey, not a sprint.  It requires sustained effort.  Like anything in life, the more you put into it the more you will get out of it.  Make it a priority and it will be one.

With that said, my dad has always been my best friend and I am going to do whatever it takes to be my son’s best friend.  May God Bless all the fathers.  This world needs Fathers.  So lets all do our part.

Facebook is the number one social media based on time spent on site. It is very easy to get on Facebook (or any social media site) and look up at the clock and hours have gone by.

It can be a time suck if you let it. I suggest to people to have a strategic plan in using Facebook. Set aside a set amount of time and have a plan on exactly what they will do with their time on it.  Set out a set amount for content, set amount out for commenting, set amount for groups, set amount in growing and set amount out for responding.

A huge concern I have heard from businesses is their employees on Facebook during “office” hours. This is very important to set up guidelines for use of Facebook for business. A recent poll & survey showed, that most employees that were on Facebook at work were just keeping tabs with old contacts and not really engaging prospects & clients..

I believe Facebook is a very useful business tool, because it really is one of the most targeted advertising platforms on the web. If used correctly can be extremely powerful because you can reach your company’s message to only consumers within your target market. So before you put on the brakes and restrict use of Facebook by your employees, Really take the time to make employees aware of exactly what the vision and mission of how Facebook is to be used to enhance your company’s brand, what your expectations are in writing and who, where, what & how they should engage. Remember these guidelines

1. Value Added – Make sure all information is relevant to your target market and will benefit audience.

2. Genuine – Make sure it is in a personal voice and authentic. It needs to match & reflect your corporate values & culture.

3. Listen & Engage – Sit back and let conversations happen. There is a fine line in being responsive and obtrusive. Do not dominate the conversation. If you do, it may hinder other people from speaking. This is not one way. Their voice is more important than yours. You never want them to think, no need to answer that because the company will address that (unless it is a direct question to the company, then be quick to respond).. On normal conversations, I would have a set amount of time before the company jumps in. Then after that time expires the company can reengage, but try to be from the perspective that your voice be heard only to spark more conversation.

4. Marathon – This is a journey, a new way to market and engage your customers. This will require sustained effort and dedication.

So until we are able to get 28 hours in a day, make sure you turn off the vacuum and replace it with a timer.

This is FANTASTIC. I saw this yesterday at an American Marketing Association event. This is dead on and everything I have talked about. Marketing is CHANGING. Watch this. If you still do NOT get it, then make sure you get in touch with me.

So watch this and lets talk.

Facebook is the laid back, barrier reducing, fun application but highly addictive. There is a reason that the younger generation like it… it is the cool in thing. My wife and my sisters love it and addicted to it. They love to stay connected to friends. You can find out a lot about people. People love Facebook and are there to socialize.

People do not use Facebook to see your ads.  So the same rules apply that we have discussed. Add value to the community and in turn it will increase your value.

It is relational and personal.
If you’re not leveraging that opportunity to cement relationships, differentiate yourself and make friends and connect in the mind of the consumer, you’re opening the door to competitors who are. Get engaged with people, make associations. Facebook is very personal and even though business is relational, it draws a fine line and can push the envelope. So keep it professional.

One of the biggest issues I see for business, is getting it started and forgetting about it. If you are doing it just to check it off your list and it just sits there and collects dust then save yourself the time and effort and potential damage it could do to you.

Here are some things businesses can do to keep it alive.

Create a Group or Join related groups – There are tons of groups on Facebook. Join them and engage people there.
Offer Incentives – Maybe a discount, a sample product or something for visiting.
Create Engagement – Polls, surveys, games, discussions
Support A Cause – Breast Cancer Awareness, Cancer Society, Make a Wish or whichever. Pick one and use your site to help raise awareness and money.

Facebook is still growing. It is evolving. It definitely has uses for business.  You just have to get out there in the right mindset and have fun…

   We have talked about the
- New Marketing Rules
- Foundational principles of Social Media
- Developing Content

As I mentioned the 3 areas in digital media now are 1. Blogosphere - which we just finish covering. That takes us to 2. Social Media Tools After that we will cover 3. SEO strategy.

Social Media casts a pretty huge net & comprises a lot of different areas. Lets have some fun and explore some of the different tools within Social Media. We covered Blogging in May, which can be considered Social Media and probably your hub of Social Media Strategy.

Social Media is a way to build an online community based on shared interests. Then people interact and why it is social.

There are literally 100’s and a new one arrives daily. It can be very daunting and almost overload. Here is 10 Social Media Platforms I like.

1. Facebook – The epitome of Social Media – It has 200+ million users. It allows you to friend people and upload your own content, share personal information, photos, pictures etc so your “friends’ can get to know you better. It is no longer just for kids or personal use. The largest growth segment is 30-40, over 55 and the corporate environment. I want to spend some time to discuss ways it can be used for business.

2. MySpace- This to me was Facebook, before facebook. It is still very popular, but I feel its niche is more for artists. Whether that is a band or someone trying launch something like that. I will not spend any time on it, but it may be something for you to look into.

3. LinkedIn- This is a business social networking site. Has about 40 Million+ users. Instead of friends you have connections. This is a great way to network, share information, ideas,& insights. Has great group options so you can connect with likeminded people and other features we will talk about.

4. Twitter – A Microblogging tool that allows you to communicate to your “followers” in snippets of 140 characters or less, known as tweets. This is definitely growing and has about 10 Million+ users. This is one of the misused and biggest unknowns by many people and we will definitely talk about this in depth.

5. YouTube – A video sharing network site. One of the most visited sites. If you have a good video, you can become a star overnight. For good things or bad. A very popular medium and a great way to create viral campaigns.

6. Flickr – A photo sharing & exchanging community.

7. Slideshare – Presentation Sharing Website

8. Ning - is an online platform for people to create their own social networks. It has a place to share videos, blogs, profiles and start discussions. All you have to have is a common interest.

9. Meetup - an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings based on local geography.

10. Wiki – A collaborative Website that allows sharing of knowledge.

We will go through some of these and discuss them and learn more about them. Please share other useful platforms.