Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 225 SOBs

by

muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

authentic-organizations
guerrilla-comm-blog
random-acts-of-data
sound-n-sight
wheel-on-the-web

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 02-12-10

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Engaging Brand Blog
I remember Dad giving me a great piece of advice when I was trying to think of a way of redesigning our customer service offering…he said “Think and be lazy!”

“What, why be lazy?”

“Because customers want simplicity, they will pay a premium to people who make their life easier, simpler”

Jonathan Fields – Awake at the Wheel
No live tweeting, Facebooking or blogging – BE HERE NOW! You can tweet, email and Facebook your ass off during the breaks! And, no recording devices, cell phones or pagers. Cow bells…absolutely. We can never have enough cow bell!

Craving Balance
So these three anti-productivity productivity practices will bring your life into sharp, direct, clear focus and give you immediate spaciousness, completion and integrity.

Chris Brogan
In the drawing above, I list your blog as part of your content ecosystem. Here’s why I recommend you start thinking this way: because your blog is only one destination and it’s only reaching one channel of a much larger opportunity and demographic. The minute you see your blog as only “a” channel, that’s when you start thinking of other outreach opportunities.

Brian Solis for Mashable
There’s a saying in theater: A big part of acting is reacting. This is especially true when we consider how many individuals, brands, and organizations engage on the web today. Instead of seeking inspiration and direction from those around us however, we simply react to activity, which may or may not benefit us in the long run.

Top Rank Online Marketing Blog
And yet, there are just as many B2B organizations successfully conquering social media. While their stories might not be as well-known, we think these 5 B2B social media winners are doing a pretty doggone good job. Tell us if you agree.

Related ala carte selections include

The Broad Brush
sharing …


Sign up for the SOBCon Newsletter and get special offers including the

FREE Webinar February 15 at Noon EST
with Amber Naslund, Chris Brogan, Chris Garrett, and Liz Strauss

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Four Human Reasons People Participate and Keep Coming Back

by

It’s about Me!

cooltext443809602_strategy

When new clients start talking social media, it’s not long before they get to “engagement.” They want to know what moves crowds and individuals to genuine participation. What attracts us? What connects us? What keep us coming back and bringing our friends with us?

What makes one space more fun to participate in than another that looks like the same thing?

Why we participate might vary with each participant, but participants all have things in common — simple human reasons that give experiences meaning.

  • Fame — some folks come for recognition. When we participate, our words get seen and read. Sometimes they’re shared. Every blog post, tweet, status update, and comment aggregates to form our reputation. And now that we friend and follow others, we have even more direct channels to share our words of wisdom and attract a following.

    Will your online experience attract the group you want — the authorities, the elite, or the “Internet famous?”

  • Fortune — some folks come for contests and giveaways, but leave when the prizes quit coming. Some folks are interested in information or training that will raise their income. It’s a tricky business to combine participation and money without it beginning to feel like I’m working for it.

    Will your online experience offer enough to keep folks coming back?

  • Friendship — connections on the social web are clicked on and off in seconds. So the key is conversation between people with common ideas or values. Conversations between like-minded friends grow exponentially faster than their real-world counterparts. Without barriers of time and space, meeting is simpler and more convenient. I leave a message you respond later.

    Will your online experience make it easy for folks to talk to people like themselves about things that they care about?

  • Fun — the distraction of new people and new ideas. The level playing field in which introverts and extroverts both have to type makes it fun. Spice it up with some game that brings out personality … keep it simple and easy. It’s endless conversation in a coffeehouse that’s always open.

    Will your online experience be fun for folks who want to be with other people?

When we’re looking at an online experience, we have to consider what the human payoff is. What is the most basic reason that people will come and come back? That reason will underscore and validate that the environment we’re building is right for the ones we want to come to share it. Incorporate the values of the folks you want to be there, and people will participate and keep coming back.

Seems simple doesn’t iit? Humans will be human.

Which reason do you think attracts most folks to participate on Twitter?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc

Social Media BookList: Let’s Talk Business, Tweets and Dreams

by

A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors, writers, speakers and coaches. As part of my job I read a lot of books. I am here to offer a weekly post about one that I am working with and one I have put on my reading list. The books will cover topics such as social media (Facebook & Twitter), organization, career building, networking, writing and self development and inspiration.

#DreamTweet

dreamtweet_covermid

This week I would like to start off with a book I have read and working with entitled #DreamTweet by Joe Heuer, aka The Rock and Roll Guru published by ThinkAha books.

Last night while watching TV, I began to notice the commercials were predominately about the Winter Olympics. I watched and listened to the athletes as they talked about what it meant to them to be a part of this worldly event. The described how much dedication it took for them to reach this goal of a lifetime but they wouldn’t have it any other way because it was their DREAM. It was so important to them, that no matter what, it was the one thing they wanted to do it was a part of who they are as a human being.

Well, this is the kind of advice, tips and inspiration you will receive when you read, #DreamTweet by Joe Heuer.

Here are just a few of the wise words from Joe in #DreamTweet:

  • Be specific in creating your dream. Clarity provides tremendous power. (pg 3)
  • Find people who are living their dream and study them. (pg 19)
  • You absolutely, positively gotta be the number one believer in your dream. No ifs, ands, or buts! (pg. 28)
  • Fear is your dream’s adversary. The most effective technique for casting off your fears is to bathe them in the
    light of love.     (pg. 49)
  • Each day spend time imagining your dream in all its resplendent glory, while feeling the rush of positive emotion that accompanies it. (pg 74)

And Joe is a great role model for his kids because they had this to say about their dad:

“Our dad is the perfect person to write ‘DREAMtweet,’ since he’s living his own dream as the Rock and Roll Guru!” –Alex and Rachel Heuer

What else more can I say? So Rock on and live your dreams!

You can order your copy of download a copy of #DreamTweet at ThinkAha website.

Joe Heuer, is known worldwide as the Rock and Roll Guru (http://RockandRollGuru.com ). An entertaining speaker, author, and full-time rocker, he shares the nuggets of wisdom he has gleaned from Rock & Roll with professional audiences throughout this third rock from the sun.

He believes that in addition to being a groovy musical genre, rock and roll is a way of life that has served as his constant companion and inspiration. Joe has lived numerous dreams, including a stint as the youngest collegiate head basketball coach in the country… who never played the game.

He has written several books, some of which have actually been published. Recent titles include ‘The NEW Idiot-Proof Guide to Customer Loyalty’ and ‘The Rock and Roll Guide to Patient Loyalty.’ He also has several rock and roll books in the works.

His wife calls him an idiot savant for his uncanny recall of obscure rock and roll lyrics and trivia.

Good to Great

Now is time for me to showcase a book I have not read but it is on my reading list. This week my choice is Good to Great by Jim Collins.

When I picked up this book off my shelf, I happened to open the pages to the beginning of Chapter 6, subtitled The flywheel and the Doom Loop. There is a image there of a flywheel which portrays a timeline of buildup to breakthrough and discipline of people and action. But this is not what caught my eye. The saying, ” Revolution means turning the wheel”  by Igor Stavinsky did.

Sometimes, it does amaze me how things happen they way they do. I mean how pertinent that the page of Good to Great would up to that saying. It is so relevant to living your dream. You can not start living your dream unless you start somewhere living it. Change can not happen without action.

If each day you take a step toward your dream, you are one step closer at achieving it. But if you don’t do anything, you are still where you are right now-wishing and waiting for the dream to happen.

I look forward to reading this book because each of us can always strive to improve something in our lives.

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies — how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books, including the classic BUILT TO LAST, a fixture on the Business Week best seller list for more than six years, and has been translated into 29 languages. His work has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company.

You can pick up your own copy of Good to Great on Amazon.

Why Businesses Still Aren’t Engaging Online With Their Customers

by

A Guest Post by Frank Angelone

cooltext443809437_relationships

Are you a business? Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, you should be engaging with your customers. As many already know, the best way to engage with your customers is through social media. There are so many sites available at your disposal to be an active participant, yet many businesses still aren’t using social media to its full potential.

Why is this? Well, I believe it can be answered in 5 bullet points…

  1. Laziness. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t engage in social media, your sales for your business aren’t going to be as high as Toyota who are actively engaging with their customers. Don’t sit around and wait for social media to come to you. You have to go after your customer base and see what they want. If you don’t, you are leaving money on the table for your competition.
  2. Time Constraints. So many businesses say they are too busy to create accounts on Twitter or Facebook. That’s a poor excuse and a simple solution is hire someone to engage with your customers.
  3. Unfamiliar with social media. This is probably the worst reason for not engaging with your customers online. If you know how to talk to your customers in person, then online interaction isn’t any different. You reach an even larger customer base online. If a business says, “We are unfamiliar with using social media.” My response is, “how come Toyota can do it?” Everyone starts at the bottom and learns more as they participate.
  4. Fear of the unknown. To many business engaging with their customers online is a new form of business that older business owners simply won’t understand its benefit. An easy fix, just do it! The more a business puts off engaging with their customers, the quicker someone will take those customers from them.
  5. Pride. There are many business owners and companies out there that feel the way that they do things is the only way it can be done. The minute you let pride get in the way, the sooner you will be bankrupt. You need to accept that the business world is always changing and if you are not willing to adapt because of pride, then get out the playing field. There are plenty of other businesses that will put int the time to make their companies better.

My takeaways for companies refusing to engage with their customers online are…

  • Business in general is bigger than YOUR company. You need to adapt to changing times to be a big player.
  • Engaging in an online capacity is the same as in person. The two shouldn’t be mistaken as different and the same amount of effort should be put into both.
  • For your company to survive, you NEED customers. Treat your customers as your number one concern and you will see your profits increase. Always build trust and relationships with those people.

Find the social site where your customers hang out. Set a goal. Invest a little time. Learn a tool. Get familiar with what’s going on… Chances are you’ll find yourself proudly connecting to the people who love what you more and more.

—–
Frank Angelone is the founder of Social Tech Zone. He helps individuals and businesses with news and tips to better themselves in social media and technology. Frank is also the author of the Computer Speed Blueprint where he helps PC users increase the speed of their slow computer. You’ll find him on Twitter as @FrankAngelone.

Thanks, Frank! Great information on how we do more than survive. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc

SOBCon2010 Webinar with Garrett, Brogan, Naslund and Strauss

by

Check out the FREE “Preview of SOBCon2010” webinar on February 15, 2010, from Noon to 1:30 EST, hosted by Chris Garrett and featuring:

This is a great panel of Social Media rockstars (all on the podium in Chicago), and they will be offering you a little sneak preview of some of the fantastic content they will be showcasing at the event – and offer their takes on why SOBCon2010 will be the best one yet.

(We’ll also be announcing the winner of the 2010 “Blog It, Earn It” FREE ticket – more on that later)

This webinar is exclusive to attendees and newsletter subscribers.
2/15 Update: Since it is Webinar day, here is the registration code

Also, please sign up for our newsletter (link in the sidebar) to get other special offers and up-to-date information.