Successful Blog

Trust the Customer … Especially When Learning the Tools

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A Guest Post by Jonathan Lansner of the Orange County Register

The Living Web

Trust the customer. It’s never been truer than in the social media world.

This summer, I started collecting for my newspaper’s on-line audience a sampling of lessons learned from folks who ventured with their professional personas into the social media world. While there’s ton of expert opinion available of what works in social media, to me it’s often most valuable when the lesson learned comes from folks using the tools in the fields.

Here’s a sampling of what I’ve learned, and told my “SMagazine” readers at the OC Register Social
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1. Foremost, it’s really about listening to others. Marty Furman of penmaker Pentel gives a great example of market research gleaned from the social networks, like Twitter: “We’ve heard that Bible study groups use this (eight-color) pencil to highlight areas they’re studying. We’ll tweet to let Bible study groups know about the pencil.” ( @PentelOfAmerica)

2. Yes! What you do write, can be problematic. Tracy Marks of Souplantation
says of the restaurant chain’s social media efforts: “We know we can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time, but we’re finding ways to please the majority. But that piece – about not pleasing everyone all the time – is important to learn and understand; and let happen.”

3. Don’t be pushy. Corin Ramos of the National Fibromyalgia Association tells me: “Don’t keep reminding your (Facebook) fans to help you get more fans. Pages who do this come across as whiny, needy, ungrateful and, well, annoying. Remember: The page really belongs to the fans, not just to your organization.

4. Embrace criticism. Jennifer Seaton of the Transportation Corridor Agencies says the toll-road agency had to learn how to deal with critical posts made to their Facebook pages. “We tend to respond if there is a question, or just leave the post if it doesn’t include a question. We try to be open, provide information requested and allow negative posts to become part of the dialogue.”

5. And, sometimes, you have to give in. Matt Paulso, marketer of two professional beach volleyball tournaments, admit that “I did find that the things that don’t offer prizes, i.e. polls, don’t really get much response.I was hoping simple intellectual engagement might elicit responses.”

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Jonathan Lansner is a columnist/blogger for The Orange County Register
newspaper, where he writes SM Magazine, http://ocregister.com/social and the housing blog, http://ocregister.com/lansner You can find him on Twitter as @jonlan

Thanks, Jon! Great points every one.
Bring us more. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

EDNet, Adobe, Office Max, Social Media and Education

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Social Media Meets Education?

relationships button

The few days have been filled with talk of education and social media. It seems that business has discovered teachers and the education business has realized that getting social is a good thing. Here’s some news from that direction …

EDNet Conference in Chicago

EDNet is a networking conference hosted by MDR (Market Data Retrieval.) Two years ago when EDNet was in Chicago, folks I talked to showed little curiousity regarding what I did on the web or how it might work in the educational space … though educational publishing is a huge part of my background. This year, on the event’s return to our city, a mere whisper of the term, “social media” and the conversation got interesting. Everyone was doing something or looking to find out more about it.

Adobe and Green Schools in Chicago

Does your community have Green Schools? …

A green school is a building or facility that creates a healthy environment that is conducive to learning. Green schools use less energy and water, fewer resources, and are healthier and safer places for students and teachers while also decreasing operating costs through reduced utility bills. USGBC – Chicago

Adobe has partnered their product with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Mayor of Chicago to “green” a school here. Every time someone signs up for a free trial of Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ Pro, a twenty-five dollar donation will be made to the U.S. Green Building Council to help a school go green in Chicago. Each city who participates in the program will receive up to $100,000 to create classrooms that foster learning alongside smart environmental practices. Click the badge to find out more.

Office Max — A Day Made Better

a-day-made-better

It was true when I was teaching. It’s still true today. Teacher’s spend an average of $1200 of their own money on classroom supplies.

On October 6, 2009, 4000 volunteers will be taking $1000 in office supplies to surprise 1200 teachers. Office Max has a nice video on their site on their site about what they’re doing.

Business, education, and a little social media — imagine when it gets to be a two-way conversation.

How might these companies make their social media endeavors more social?

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Priorities for Entrepreneurs #5

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I recently had the opportunity to review a book for entrepreneurs that had some great advice, a list of seven priorities for the critical first year of business. The more I thought about this list, the more important that it seemed to me. So I have decided to create a series of posts elaborating on this theme. While “Young Guns“, by Robert Tuchman, is targeted to a just-out-of-college-and-wondering-what-to-do market, I believe that these priorities apply to anyone starting a new venture.

Try to fund it yourself, or mostly yourself. It pays to go after the least amount of funding that is necessary. When you’re starting out, it feels good to say that some venture-capital firm invested millions of dollars in your idea.But a few years down the road, when you’re doing well, it will not feel so great to know that you own only 25% of your company.

Well, I can’t say too much about this – since none of my little ventures have ever been funded by anybody other than me – but it sure sounds like pretty good advice to me. If you keep outside funding to a smaller share of your enterprise, then when it does take off you can afford to buy out your partners.

What is your experience with funding a start-up? Share in the comments.

Tuesday, September 15: Social Media Road Trip to Lake Geneva

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Not the Same as College

relationships button

Offer a social media person a car for a few days and what happens? A social media road trip.

In the course of event sponsorship conversations, Hope Betram of Windy City Social was offered a chance to test drive GM LaCrosse, but she’s a city girl. So she invited Theresa Carter, Beth Rosen, and me on a road trip to Lake Geneva to put the car through its paces.

Hope has extensive experience as an event planner, so no simple day trip would satisfy her. She connected with the Grand Geneva Resort and arranged for us to stay there. We chose September15 -16 to accept the invitation to be guests at their beautiful facilities.

Hope and Theresa plan to check out the tourist city for the afternoon. Beth and I are planning a serious work retreat to finalize some details of SOBCon2010.

We’ll try to tweet you or make a video to let you know how things are going.

What I like about this offer to share their products is that the two savvy companies “get” that social media is about bringing people together, not pushing their products. I’m betting I’ll remember their products and services better because of friends and stories — not sales pitches — attached to them.

The whole trip has taken on a kind of “free taste of the ice cream at Baskin Robbins.” feeling. Maybe we’ll like this one, maybe not.

Will you be in or near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin while we’re there? Tweet me @lizstrauss

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

3 Simple Ways Passionate Problem Solving Attracts Clients

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When Passion is Sound Business

Creativity at Work

People say “do what you love.” Passion — a deep-seated desire to be doing what we’re doing — is key to keeping our interest through the pain it takes to transform an idea into business. But is passion enough? Not really.

It’s no surprise that passion needs to be directed toward solving a real problem that people need solved. If our passion is simply self-serving … well, I’m nice, but who really cares what makes me tick? Everyone is doing their own ticking and no one has a rewindable clock.

3 Ways Passionate Problem Solving Can Attract More Clients

As passionate problem solvers, what and how we present to clients and customers changes.

  1. Be an Advisor. Do the thinking. Builders offer products and services. Problem solvers listen, assess, and offer sound-thinking solutions that meet customer needs and desires. Demonstrate how you can focus on one bit of the business so that the client or customer can work on the rest.

  2. Be a Value. Demonstrate with numbers how investing in you will make more time or more money.

  3. Be Easy. Choose a tiny shared goal that can test the relationship. Make it something small and something easy.

When we’re talking about our passion, we don’t worry about whether we’re selling. When we frame our offers as opportunities that are easy and worth investing in, we no longer get caught in the idea of self-promotion or worry about personal rejection. We’re fully engaged in the ideas. People see our strengths. Relationships happen by attraction.

Clients who want to grow with us see the logic in our reasoning.

Have you got enough passionate problem solving into your work?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

WordCamp Seattle Keynote and Master Classes on Attracting Clients

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WordCamp Seattle — September 26, 2009

WordCamp Seattle is only 13 days away … What an event it’s promising to be. I’m going out early and on the day before I’ve got a small offer for folks who want to fire up their business at the same time that they fire up their blog.

 

WordCamp Seattle Is Sold Out!

Great to hear that the Seattle community is coming together for what will be another great WordCamp event.

Friday Night will be a pre-WordCamp Meetup
Location announced soon … watch the WordCamp Seattle blog.

Then the event opens …
When?
September 26th, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Adobe
801 North 34th Street – Seattle, WA 98103

Look who’s going to be there and click to see what they’ll be speaking on.

AN IGNITE SESSION AND MORE!!

Thank you, Josh Harrison, Calvin Freitas, Bean fairbanks, and Dan Smith, the WordCamp Seattle committee, for having us!!
I hear it’s sold out! Will I see you there?

I’m Bringing a Master Class to KickStart 17 Businesses

I’ve been thinking about the conversations I had I with Seattle folks since I was there for Gnomedex last month. Many of the people I was speaking with were changing up their businesses or looking for new clients. Flights and accommodations made it such that I could be in Seattle a day early this trip. A day isn’t much time, but it’s enough to help a few folks get their business moving at full speed immeditately.

So, I’ve made arrangements to offer a Mastermind Session and a Group Class on attracting new clients immediately. With help of a Seattle friend who offered space, I’m able to do this at a fraction of my usual consulting fee.

Liz Strauss: Authentically Attract Clients Who Love Your Work

Let’s get together and get your calendar filled with client work.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Raise your influence and income. Be Seen! Be Heard Be Hired!