Are you using social media to do business?

Do you blog, tweet, “like” a product or service?  Or, do you find it all a big waste of time?

Faced with so many choices, many businesses simply don’t do any of the above. Recently, a client stated that while he had a LinkedIn account, he really didn’t know what good it would do him for his business.

For professionals, LinkedIn is a great way to connect, find people in the same profession, make referrals, get referrals and learn more about each other.

According to the latest statistics, there are more than 3.2 million CEOs and VPs, 3.8 million financial service professionals and 3.4 million technology leaders on LinkedIn.

Where else are you going to find such a vast universe of potential business partners and clients?

If you’re looking to become recognized as a go-to person in your profession, consider this: 92 percent of the media is on LinkedIn, and when looking for a source on a particular subject, many turn to the social media outlet.

If you want to stand out from the rest consider the following:

Make sure your profile is up to date with your latest jobs and responsibilities. Make sure it’s complete and interesting. If you read it as someone who didn’t know you, would you understand what you did for a living and how it could help someone else?

But just having a profile isn’t enough, you must engage in conversations within discussion groups and post regularly on subjects about which you are an expert. Putting up quotes from Albert Einstein or Gloria Steinem isn’t providing value. Give your readers something they can learn from.

Often clients talk about how they don’t want to “LinkIn” with every person who makes the request, and rightly so. Before clicking the “accept” button determine what you will learn or gain from connecting with that person. Google them to make sure they are who they say they are. If they say they work at a particular company, make sure they do. Anyone can claim to be anything.

Should you optimize your LinkedIn page by cramming it with keywords so that you come up higher in online searches? Not necessarily. Showing up higher up in Google searches may not get you the results you are seeking. You don’t need to be found by everyone, just the right people.

For the busy professional, LinkedIn can serve as a dynamic calling card and provide numerous opportunities to make valuable connections to grow your business.

Handling negative online reviews may seem daunting—especially if you are a small business that relies on word-of-mouth referrals. Fortunately there are ways to mitigate the damage, even if you cannot get the misleading information removed.

Below are three tips we found helpful to defend your business’s reputation  from the American Express Open Forum. For the full article and all six tips click here.

Join the conversation
Get your side of the story out by responding to a negative review publicly, keeping in mind, maintain a professional tone.

Highlight the positive
Review sites, like Yelp, run submissions through an algorithm designed to determine their legitimacy. Suspect reviews—negative or positive—are hidden in the “Filter” section at the bottom of each page. Unfortunately, it is possible for legitimate, positive reviews to not make it past the filter. In your public response make sure to draw attention to all positive feedback that is currently hidden.

Develop a strategy for responding to threats
It is not too far-fetched to come up against a customer threatening to post damaging reviews if free work isn’t provided to them. It is important to plan for this. Sometimes it may make more sense to acquiesce to the customer’s demands than take legal action.

As a recent Miami Herald article explains: need a job? Clean up your Facebook.

The article, posted Tuesday notes, “In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.”  Now more than ever, it’s become increasingly important to keep your online persona squeaky clean— your job could literally depend on it.

And to even further drive the point home, the article explains that some companies such as Sears are using third party applications to get this access if you won’t hand it over yourself.

Here’s a quick check-list to remember how to be appropriate and properly brand yourself online:

1. If someone at work, notably a superior, “friends” you, they are probably not looking to actually be friends with you. Don’t feel shy about taking precautions and limiting your Facebook friendship. Don’t give your co-worker reason to have dirt on you.
2. Never have a picture of yourself drinking online. Even if you’re of age, it sends a poor message across.
3. Set a Google Alert for yourself so you can maintain control over your online image.
4. Remember that online tools can be your friend (as well as your foe). Use them as resources to enhance your knowledge and relationships.

Though the online sphere may be scary, if you know how to protect yourself, it can serve as a marketable skill that may just land you that job after all.

Social media is all about having conversations, not just one-way speak.  Here is an example from Small Business Forum where engaging the audience through comments enabled an entrepreneur to hit a homerun.

Never mind the $10,000 question. This was the $540,000 comment.
Four months ago William Mougayar, the founder of content aggregator Equentia, left a comment on Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson’s blog.
Mougayar, a former Hewlett-Packard executive and frequent commenter, wrote about the struggle to keep track of ever-multiplying responses and social input from blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, et al. On Wednesday his new company, Engagio, launched a “social dashboard” service that attempts to solve the problem…Read more here.

Congratulations to Boardroom client, NAIOP of South Florida for receiving the 2012 Chapter Merit Award for Digital Media Outreach at the national NAIOP Chapter Leadership and Legislative Retreat held in Washington D.C. last week. The chapter was recognized its digital outreach via the organizations successful launch of the www.naiopsflblog.com blog and social media program.

In addition to featuring chapter events, community outreach and our Gemstone sponsors, the blog features posts and press releases from local NAIOP member companies, as well.  Sections include:  Members in the News, Done Deals, Events, Legislature, Sustainability, Trends and Employment.

Our very own Don Silver chairs the Public Relations Committee that was instrumental in this project.

Facebook is still king when it comes to social media, but Twitter is very important social tool when it comes to sharing and building your own personal community. Twitter helps you build relationships with people, improves your networking and drives traffic to other social properties. Twitter is also an excellent avenue to receive current information and breaking news.

Below are 6 tips on how to utilize your personal twitter to your advantage, to see the full article from American Express’s Open Forum and all 12 tips, click here openforum.com.

Infuse personality into your profile

People trust people, not default images. Upload a real picture of yourself and add some personality to your “about me” section. These simple first steps will encourage more followers and if they relate to you passion they will keep an eye out for your tweets and be more likely to retweet.

Be the first one to break the news

Chose a topic (or a few) that interest you and position yourself as an expert. By doing this, your followers will come to you for valuable information. If you are on top of your game – be the first to break news to your followers as you get it, this will increase the number of retweets you get and spark conversation around what you have to say.

Tweet consistently, leave space
Openforum.com recommends tweeting consistently. However, tweeting too often can be overwhelming to your followers so stick to one tweet every hour or half hour.

Ask and answer questions
You want to engage your followers and keep them interested – the best way to do this is to ask them questions and answer their questions in return.

Be generous, promote others
Take notice of your most passionate followers and reward them by retweeting them, and recommending them by using #recommend and #FF (follow Friday).

Ask for a retweet
Ask and you shall receive! Followers are more likely to retweet you when you prompt them – start adding “please RT” to your tweets.

With the New Year many companies are trying to enhance their business and create a stronger presence online.  You should too! According to a recent article in Open Forum, there are eight easy steps to boost your website on a budget.

The following are our top 5.

1. Maintaining a blog can do a lot for your business. They bring traffic to your website, stir discussion and keep the public interested.  Blogging is as easy as creating a free account on Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. If you already have a Website, your Webmaster or marketing firm can create a blog as part of your site.  Once the blogging tool is installed, just log in and start writing.

1. Don’t hesitate to register with a business-listing site.  Websites like Bing, Yahoo, Yelp and Google can help your business with website traffic through search engine optimization (SEO), and help increase the amount of times you are seen online.

1. Paying attention to key words helps with SEO.  The more precise your wording, the higher the probability of increasing traffic to your website, and prospectively more clients.  You can also use the Google Keywords Tool which allows you to check for searches that describe your business and will notify you with successful and unsuccessful keywords that resulted from the search.

1. Watching your analytics also helps with your online presence.  You can register with Google Analytics and search your blog posts to see which are faring well on your site and what specific keywords were used to accomplish it. This helps see which keywords work best and what types of information are read frequently on your website.

1. Adding social media tools should be a priority in today’s society.  Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Linked in are just a few of the names we hear on a daily basis in public relations.  These social media sites are very popular and effective tools in creating website presence.

To read more helpful tips, visit Open Forum’s website.

The holidays are here! Not only does that mean ’tis the season to be jolly with family and friends, but in the workplace as well.

By peppering your business with a little holiday spirit, you can revamp your brand image and inspire some holiday cheer in your customers.

Take Starbucks.

Its holiday marketing campaign, which debuted in November, features seasonal beverages like the “Peppermint Mocha” and “Gingerbread Latte” served up in special edition holiday cups.  This year, Starbucks has gone one step further with the Starbucks Cup Magic App, which allows coffee-drinkers to animate the action on their coffee cups on their smartphone screens.  The object, says VP-Global Digital Marketing for Starbucks, Alexandra Wheeler, is to both “surprise and delight” customers during this holiday season.

So get in the spirit! Here are some things you can do to make the holiday season a catalyst for your business:

-Deck the halls with boughs of holly! But seriously, some easy, simple decorations can go a long way.  By creating a fun, holiday atmosphere, your employees and customers alike will relish in the spirit of the season.

-Learn the holiday news cycle. To avoid missing out on an opportunity for your product or service in a publication, make sure you’re up to date on the editorial calendars well in advance to see what specific topics the media outlets will focus on during this holiday cycle.

-Wish your social media following a happy holidays. A simple tweet or Facebook post spreading the spirit will bring you back into sight and into mind.  Keeping up a rapport with those in the digital world (and continuing to maintain your online presence) is extremely important, especially now!

So enjoy this holiday season, and take advantage of the opportunity to enact some timely marketing strategies. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Here at Boardroom we know the importance of company morale both on and off – line. We use Facebook to interact with each other, our clients and our network of contacts. We post pictures, links to articles, fun facts and tips. One thing you’ll never catch us doing – talking negatively about each other or our work place. With an intimate group of 14, we interact like a family and have no need to lash out on Facebook or other social networking sites.

In a world consumed by social media and technology, few companies can say the same.

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights employees who are fighting back after being  fired or disciplined for bad-mouthing their employers on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In recent months, disgruntled employees have started to recognize their rights and are actively seeking to solve their very modern predicament by using the law that kick-started the U.S. labor movement: the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

This law protects employee’s freedom of speech when complaining about pay, safety and other working conditions. It does NOT protect against simple gossip and griping. The NLRB, a federal agency that enforces the law and decides whether employees’ complaints have merit, has jumped on board to represent these employees.

Of the 113 complaints the NLRB has received from employees regarding social media issues since May, about half have sufficient merit for them to intervene.  Intervene, yes. Overturn the original decision, not so much. There is no guarantee that the NLRB will be able to save your career, below are a few examples of recent employee’s rants on Facebook and their outcome:

A Frito-Lay warehouse employee was fired after writing on Facebook he was ‘a hair away from setting it off in that b—-,’ apparently referring to the warehouse – the NLRB stated that his language was not protected.

A paramedic was fired after calling her supervisor a ‘scumbag’ on Facebook from her home computer – the NLRB stated that this was protected language because the employee was venting during an online discussion among other employees about supervisory action.

(more…)

Twitter is no longer just a resource for teenage girls to follow Justin Bieber’s daily happenings, or to track down the nation’s favorite food trucks. According to an article on Mediabistro, SEO firm BrightEdge has found that having a Twitter share button can drive up to seven times more exposure via the social media universe. SEVEN times!

Even with these statistics, less than half of the top 10,000 websites use this share button on their pages, according to the same firm.  The share button for Twitter, the Facebook “LIKE,” and the “follow” option for both sites are all free tools- why aren’t these websites tapping in?

With these tools, your website can travel from social network to social network, and reach more people through retweets. Twitter and Facebook are no longer just social platforms, but are really becoming business tools. Knowing how to target your Facebook page and Twitter account or website, whether personal or for your business, can help you expand your audience. While the “share” button is of course a great start, there’s much more you can do!

Here at Boardroom Communications- here’s what we’d suggest to help you broaden your online exposure:

• Be smart about your Facebook posts and tweets. You want to keep your information fresh and current, but don’t go overboard!
• If you own a small business, use your personal Facebook page to plug your business, but subtly of course.
• Keep up with those in your social networks that can potentially benefit your business; after all, information is power!
• Always stay up to date with the various apps and tools that can further link you to the social media universe.

With these tools and tips, you’ll be sure to expand your online exposure. It’s all free and there’s absolutely zero risk involved!