Successful Blog

Social Media Book List: #PRIVACYtweet & Share This!

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow of Key Business Partners, LLC

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors & writers to manage their book promotion and social media marketing. As part of my job I read a lot of books (I love to read anyway!).

This week I will be highlighting two books; one author I am currently working with ‘#PRIVACYtweet’ by Lori Ruff and one book on the social media Amazon list ‘Share This!’ by Deanna Zandt.

The books I discuss in the Social Media Book List Series will cover a range of topics such as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, finance, networking, writing, self development, and inspiration.

‘#PRIVACYtweet:Addressing Privacy Concerns in the Day of Social Media’

by Lori Ruff

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“Whatever you believe about online privacy and its implications on your life and business, this book will help you better understand what you need to believe.”
Jay Deragon, @JDeragon, Coauthor The Virtual Handshake, The Emergence of The Relationship Economy, and http://www.relationship-economy.com, one of the top 150 blogs in the world

“Very relevant, entirely timely, proper perspective: all the elements you want when you’re going to learn.”
JoshuaABarnes, @joshuaatbarnes, Director of Information Technology, Socialmatica, Inc.

Here are a few of the tweets from the book:

#2 You can’t hide in The Cloud. If you’re going to participate in the online community, do it with deliberation & thought.

#13 Being online is like being a player on a professional football team. You know you’re being watched. Act like it.

#15 Business professionals need to be on LinkedIn and engaged. Share only what you would at your office.

#35 Bullying is not only alive and well; it is more common than you’d hope. Call out cyberbullying: help those attacked.

#48 Did your computer come with security software? Use it, keep it updated, run it on schedule. It will
help save your A$&.

#76 Each individual has sole responsibility for posts published in any form of online social media. Via @maltaee

About the Book*:

Concerns about privacy are not new. Since time immemorial, we humans have valued and guarded our privacy, often jealously or violently. It is therefore no surprise that privacy online is of such great concern in our connected world. Today, when we conduct so much of our life online–bank transactions, credit card payments, transmission of personal messages and images to friends and family–it is completely understandable that we should be concerned about the privacy of our communication and information.

Privacy concerns in the virtual world are often compounded by lack of information and awareness. Not all of us are completely clear on how we should guard our privacy on the Internet. Especially in the corporate world, privacy becomes a huge concern, since it is not only the individual employee who can be at risk, but co-workers and the corporate entity too. Can privacy be guaranteed? How can you raise employee awareness on privacy issues? These are just a few of the questions that Lori Ruff is so well-qualified to address.

In #PRIVACYtweet , Lori tells you–in the succinct and ever-popular tweet format–what exactly privacy on the Internet means to your organization. To cite just one example, she addresses the need for privacy issues to be part of a hiring firm’s requirements and why they must be in line with customer relations. You don’t have to be an Internet guru to perceive and benefit from her experience and wisdom. Using Lori’s book you can secure your privacy at the individual, group and corporate levels without paranoia. Read PrivacyTweet to clear the fear, so that you approach the Internet with caution, yet confidence.

About Lori*:
Lori Ruff, author of numerous books and famed speaker at conferences and training sessions, has taught technology and Internet courses since 1999 and helped thousands of people find success online. She is now living her life out loud in the social media world.

Dubbed The LinkedIn Diva, Lori is the 9th most connected woman on LinkedIn, with a full Facebook friends list and close to 50,000 followers on Twitter.

You can purchase a copy of ‘#PRIVACYtweet:Addressing Privacy Concerns in the Day of Social Media’ online on the publisher site, Happy About or on Amazon. *I did receive a copy of this book from the publisher to help in the promotion of the book

Next, I would like to introduce you to a book on the social media list on Amazon and on my reading list: ‘Share This! How you will change the world with Social Media’.

Share This! How you will change the world with Social Media

by Deanna Zandt

“If you are an activist or a concerned citizen and you are new to social media, start with Share This! Deanna Zandt has deep knowledge, broad experience, a knack for clear and simple explanation, a talent for storytelling, and a wonderfully engaging voice.”
–Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs and lecturer, University of California Berkeley and Stanford University

About the Book*

Social networks can be so much more than a way to find your high school friends or learn what your favorite celebrity had for breakfast. They can be powerful tools for changing the world. With Share This! both regular folks of a progressive bent and committed activists can learn how to go beyond swapping movie reviews and vacation photos (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

At the moment the same kinds of people who dominate the dialog off-line are dominating it online, and things will never change if that doesn’t change. Progressives need to get on social networks and share their stories, join conversations, connect with others–and not just others exactly like themselves. It’s vital to reach out across all those ethnic/gender/preference/class/age lines that exist even within the progressive camp. As Deanna Zandt puts it, “creating a just society is sort of like the evolution of the species–if you have a bunch of the same DNA mixing together the species mutates poorly and eventually dies off.”

But there are definitely dos and don’ts. Zandt delves into exactly what people are and are not looking for in online exchanges. How to be a good guest. What to share. Why authenticity is more important than just about anything, including traditional notions of expertise or authority. She addresses some common fears, like worrying about giving too much about yourself away, blurring the lines between your professional and personal life, or getting buried under a steaming heap of information overload. And she offers detailed, nuts-and bolts “how to get started” advice for both individuals and organizations.

The Internet is upending hierarchies and freeing the flow of information in a way that makes the invention of the printing press seem like an historical footnote. Share This! shows how to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to make marginalized voices heard and support real, fundamental change–and, incidentally, have some fun doing it.

About Deanna Zandt*:

Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and the author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking (forthcoming: Berrett-Koehler, June 2010). She is a consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower’s Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. Zandt specializes in social media, and is a leading expert in women and technology. She works with groups to create and implement effective web strategies toward organizational goals of civic engagement and empowerment, and uses her background in linguistics, advertising, telecommunications and finance to complement her technical expertise. She has spoken at a number of conferences, including the National Conference on Media Reform, Bioneers, America’s Future Now (formerly “Take Back America,”) Women Action & The Media, and provides beginner and advanced workshops both online and in person.

In January 2009, Deanna was chosen as a fellow for the Progressive Women’s Voices program at the Women’s Media Center. She also serves as a technology advisor to a number of organizations, including Feministing, The Girls & Boys Projects and Women Action & The Media.

In addition to her technology work, Deanna writes and illustrates graphic stories and comics, and volunteers with dog rescue organization Rat Terrier ResQ.

*courtesy of book website and Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘Share This!’ on Amazon.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.

4 Reasons You Should Stop Blogging

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By Terez Howard

A couple weeks ago, I got Sisterlocks. For those of you who haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, it’s basically like getting very tiny dreadlocks (like hundreds) in your hair. If you would have asked me six months ago if I would ever make such a permanent decision, I would say, “Never!”

Why not? Locs are not versatile. Locs are not beautiful. Locs are too permanent. Locs are not for me. Those were my excuses, and yet here I am with a head full of Sisterlocks.

What changed my viewpoint? In short, an education.

Stop blogging now!

Blogging is a beneficial endeavor. It gets your business heard on a more social level. It gets your audience to trust you. It makes you appear as an authority in your niche. So, why would you stop blogging?

1. You don’t have the time. You have a life. You are a parent, a spouse, a full-time worker, and you’d like to keep up your hobby. Blogging takes the back-burner.

I am the same way, and yet, I find the time to write. How I do it is with simple scheduling. However, I find that most people will agree that a schedule looks good on paper, but it doesn’t help with motivation. I love blogging because I write about topics that interest me. So, I have my schedule, and I have something interesting to share, which brings me to my next point:

2. You ran out of ideas. You don’t know what to write about. You feel like you’ve covered every single topic in your niche, so you’re ready to give blogging a break.

Been there. Maybe you need a creativity boost. I’m not saying to create a whole new blog, but maybe you need to repurpose your blog. Do you have a tight niche?Do you have a creative slant on it? Do you share information in a way that interests you and your audience?

Take some time to read other blogs, whether they relate to yours or not. Talk to friends and family. Observe your day-to-day activities. Then sit down and write as many topics that come to your mind. You’ll soon have more topics than you ever imagined.

3. You are not a good writer, so why keep up a blog?

Well, you could try some of the editing tactics Jael mentioned last week. You could also hire a professional blogger to write for you.

If those ideas don’t appeal to you, have you tried starting to video blog? Writing is talking with letters. If you cannot string your letters together in an intelligible manner, but you love to talk, try talking to your audience. Uncomfortable with your face? Two words: Audio Podcast.

4. Your blog doesn’t look as nice as other blogs, and you’re ready to shut it down.

I’m no graphic designer. I know as much about html as a newborn knows about pizza. It looks good, but I can’t do a whole lot of anything with it. There is such a thing as a template. Shop for a new template, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything. Of course, if you do hire someone to design your blog, you are more likely to get exactly what you want.

If you just want to tweak your existing look, search for some help. I recently got some help from a fellow blogger with my blog’s appearance. And guess what? She didn’t charge me a cent! Enlist the help of bloggers you know.

Educate yourself

There are more reasons you should stop blogging. But before you indulge yourself and call it quits, educate yourself. See how you can make your blog work.

I became educated about Sisterlocks, and now I wish I would have gotten them sooner. Don’t be like me, wishing you would have solved your blogging problems sooner. Take action.

How do keep yourself motivated to continue blogging?

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.

Thanks, Terez!

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

How to Attract the Leaders in the Pack

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(Updated in 2020)

Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash

10-Point Plan — Attracting Second Generation Heroes and Champions

Employees as Volunteers and Volunteers as Employees

Whether you’re a small enterprise like SOBCon building a brand and a legacy to stand upon or you’re an internationally known brand with a legacy of success and relationships that you want to nurture and protect, your employees and volunteers are the heart of your brand.

What makes that heart beat?
What gets those people to invest their time into your quest rather than into some other endeavor each day?
One of three reasons brings us to work and that reason that drives us runs through every nuance of every interaction that we undertake — every success we enjoy and every error we miss, overlook or turnaround in a fabulous way.

Whether you’re paying for a job role or enlisting volunteers, what you want is a volunteer who leads like a $200,000 / year employee. Leaders like that are learners who are focused on the cause and willing to put their minds, hearts, and vision into making the best things happen.

The Three Kinds of People Who Show Up to Work

People often say “There are two kinds of people, those who … and those who don’t.” In this case there are really three. Knowing all three will help you find and identify the leaders you need.

  • It’s a job. These volunteers are looking for an in-kind return. They are worker economists in that they do a hard day’s work for a hard day’s pay. The return might not be money. It might be a free seat, new clients or contacts that translate into potential work, a chance to raise the level of their pay grade by raising their skills and contacts. Be aware that they aren’t working for your brand or cause. They are executing a transaction.
  • It’s a career. These volunteers are looking to build their resume.They are politicians in that they look for a return that will enhance their own value proposition. The return is not financial it’s power and positioning. They do a hard day’s work for the ability to say they were part of the team. They might be working for a recommendation or entrance into a new network that will offer more opportunity. Understand that their first purpose isn’t working for your brand, it’s to extend their reach.
  • It’s a quest. These volunteers care about money and reach, but are driven by a need to build something no one can build alone. They look for a situation that will allow them to invest their best and want the same in return. Leaders will actually work for less if they’re convinced that the quest, the people, and process will be tied to values and intelligent ROI.

I bet you could phrase a set of questions and conditions to attract the best volunteers to that outstanding project you want to take off.

How would you start?

READ the Whole 10-Point Plan Series: On the Successful Series Page.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Does Your Brand Promiscuously Sleep with the Whole Football Team?

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Here Everyone Gets It All!!

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Will take a trip with me into ancient history?
I was in my early twenties. A friend, a young lady who was unique, beautiful and fun to be with, was insecure about her personal value. She couldn’t see why any guy might want to be with her. She had a string of bad relationships. She’d meet a guy and almost instantly sleep with him. The next day she’d call him a “boyfriend.”

I would watch it happen over and over. What she wanted was guys who’d get to know her. What she attracted was a huge following of guys who wanted to sleep with her. Some of those guys told me later that they didn’t even like her.

She was promiscuously giving away the wrong thing.

Is Your Brand Guilty of Promiscuous Giving

Now I go to events and trade shows and sometimes I see the business version of the same thing. Big brands and small companies not thinking through their “offers.” They put out samples that attract people people who want “free” rather than people who want a relationship with their brand and their products.

It may be easier to plan one giveaway for a population. But it’s not necessarily the best way to connect with people who want to “love” your brand. That single giveaway is likely to attract people who take anything free whether they need it, want it, or can use it in any meaningful way.

How many bags, water bottles, t-shirts, and hats end up left in hotel rooms because suitcases had no room when they were packed for leaving?

Here’s how to avoid promiscuously giving away the wrong things.

Don’t give everything to everybody. No one wants to marry the girl who sleeps with the entire football team. Have something for the people who are just meeting you. Have a second thing for the folks who’ve tried something in your product line and are beginning to like you. Have a third set for the folks who are madly in love with you.

How Might Brands Do that?

  • The People Who Don’t Know You Ask them about what they love in their current favorite product. Invite them to be on an advisory board that will get special offers and invitations to meetups in their town. Recruit them as “nonusers” to review new products from your line — for internal publication only if they prefer. The best swag for this group might be an elegant portable screen cleaner kit that carries your logo or maybe that flash drive that is huge enough to back up an entire computer. Everyone can will use those and see your logo.
  • The People Who Like You, But Aren’t Customers Introduce them to a service person on a first name basis. Take a hint from the car companies develop a serious test drive offer. Invite the folks who use your competitors to a demo to compare their product with yours. For those who attend extend a special limited price offer. Match them up with the machine that perfectly suits their use and needs. Invite them to test drive your machine for 30 days trial. Give them a price point that they can’t help to talk about. As a swag gift for their participation, give them that screen cleaner kit and add to that a portable power pack with adapters for every gadget in their repertoire. Who doesn’t need more power?
  • Your Loyal Customers and Those Ready to Become One Have your database ready when they walk up and talk about the products they already own. Get to know their favorites and their wishes. These are the folks who should go home with the special new product that you’re just releasing. They’ll talk about it with their friends. It might even work to give them two or three coupons to pass on to folks they know would use your products and talk about them. Let your true friends decide who should be the ones to get the super swag. They’ll choose well for you and you’ll win their loyalty for it.

People get to know people and brands in small steps that break down boundaries and build relationships. If you overwhelm me with too much too fast, it’s hard to trust that you value what you give or that you value the relationship. I don’t want to you see me as the girl who sleeps with the whole football team and I don’t want to see you like that.

How might you step the swag you offer to meet the needs of your fans?

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Thanks to Week 263 SOBs

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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.

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convinceconvert1
the-life-of-a-home-mom
social-media-mercenary
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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.

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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

Cool Tool Review: FairShare

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools, products, and practices that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks in a business environment.

Cool Tool Review: FairShare
A Review by Todd Hoskins

This is a good time to emphasize that tools in themselves are neither good nor valuable. It all depends on how you use them.

FairShare is a product from Attributor, a company that has been very important within the online publishing industry. Attributor works with publishers to help protect licensing rights across the web. They index the web and compare billions of content bytes with the content you publish to find the plagiarizers, copycats, and seedy content (re-)generators that proliferate across the web. This is a wonderful and valuable service to diminish the number of splogs and opportunists that are seeking clicks for cash.

If you blog or regularly produce valuable content (Bravo!, no matter what business you are in!), FairShare will find where your content is being reproduced and whether the correct attributions are being made. Simply state what license exists with your content (or no license at all), set up a feed, and let FairShare feed back to you the other places where complete or partial content matches are occurring.

It’s a tricky question what, if any, license to pursue. If you get a FairShare account for your copyright attorney, I must ask the question, “Are you making the Internet a more democratic and free space?” I favor defaulting to the Commons – allowing your content to be reused with limited, chosen restrictions. We looked at Creative Commons months ago. Also, I recommend this book that gives you a historical perspective.

FairShare also offers a WordPress plugin and widget that are great ways to let it be known that you encourage people to use your content (perhaps with a link).

What if you find your content elsewhere (and you likely will)? The digital tap on the shoulder is recommended: “Hey, I see you liked what I had written. Tell me why you saw it as valuable? Would you mind linking back to me?”

You may make some friends, find some customers or partners. Even if you don’t, you’ll be contributing to a more civil and self-policed web.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 4/5 – Please make friends, not enemies

Entrepreneur Value: 4/5 – Did I mention it is free?

Personal Value: 3/5 – Don’t publish your poetry without it

Let me know what you think!

Todd Hoskins helps small and medium sized businesses plan for the future, and execute in the present. With a background in sales, marketing, leadership, psychology, coaching, and technology, he works with executives to help create thriving individuals and organizations through developing and clarifying values, strategies, and tactics. You can learn more at VisualCV, or contact him on Twitter.