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Should Your Business Be Blogging?

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Today, most businesses understand that having an online presence is more of a necessity than a luxury. However, what’s less clear is exactly what type of online presence is the right way to go. Obviously, this depends heavily on the individual business, the competitive environment, and the online goals of the company. For some businesses, a blog is a great way to attract and engage an audience. And while a blog does take time and effort to establish and maintain, the benefits of a great blog often more than make up for the extra effort.

S0 why does blogging work so well for so many businesses? For many reasons, really. For starters, it’s a very easy way to engage with your target audience. With a blog, you can take direct control over your message and speak to your customers in your own voice. You can speak to them about things that you know they find important, the benefits of your product or service, announce upcoming events or specials, and build a unique and recognizable online identity. Additionally, you audience can interact with you via your blog. Readers can respond to what you write. They can ask questions, add commentary, provide their own opinions on the topic, and raise concerns that they might have with your business or your brand. Readers can also interact with each other, via comments. All of this combined is a great and highly effective way to develop a community around your brand and provides a way to better understand the people who are interested in your business.

Blogging is also a great way to build a reputation as an expert in your industry or profession. Well written blog posts that answer common customer questions, provide commentary on topical issues, and offer professional advice have the effect of establishing your brand as a trusted source of information. As an example, Whole Foods runs a very popular blog, known as the Whole Story. The company uses the blog to provide healthy recipes, highlight exclusive products offered at its stores, promote contests, and highlight in-store specials. The blog helps build Whole Food’s reputation as a socially responsible company with a focus on local, healthy foods. And if people trust Whole Foods enough to get recipes for Father’s Day, they probably also trust them enough to shop their stores, as well.

A blog is also a great way for your company to help potential clients in their search for information about products and service. Increasingly, people use the Internet to research products and brands that they’re interested in. Before buying a new car or a big-screen television, it’s commonplace for consumers to take to the web to gather information such as technical specifications, user reviews, price comparison, etc. Recognizing that potential clients use the Internet to seek out answers to their questions, The Michael F. Roe Law Firm has set up a blog, The Illinois Divorce Lawyer Blog, that provides information about divorce law. Obviously, someone going through the often unpleasant experience of a divorce is going to have lots of questions. By using a blog to answer common questions and provide insight and clarity into the process, the law firm establishes itself as a resource for potential clients. This has the effect of building the firms reputation, establishing it as an expert in the field, and providing a seamless way for consumers to transition from the pre-purchase phase into the purchasing phase of shopping.

So, as you can see from just those two examples, blogging for business is a great way to establish an online identity. Yes, it does require work to establish the blog and to write good content and deliver it on a consistent basis. However, as I’ve discussed, the benefits to such effort are often times well worth it. And if your company wants to get into blogging but doesn’t know where to start, the online experts at Laser Burn Media would be happy to help. We can answer your questions, help you establish a blog, and even help you publish your content. We can help deliver affordable and highly-effective blog solutions for your business.

All for now.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467

Tags: blog for business, blogging, laser burn media
Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

Word of Mouth Marketing is Social Marketing

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Guess what? Every day, people are talking about your business. That’s probably not news to you and you don’t need to read a blog post to figure that out. However, in my experience in working with small business owners, I find that while many of them are aware that these conversations are taking place, very few are actually participating in them. Why not? For many businesses, word of mouth marketing is the primary means of generating business. So, quite literally, the success of these businesses rise and fall with the conversations that people have about them every day.

Many business owners, when I first meet with them, will tell me that they don’t market their businesses. They’ll tell me that their business is fueled by referrals and word of mouth. I usually respond by informing them that, guess what, word of mouth marketing is still marketing. If someone tells their buddy to go shop at your store or to buy tour product or service, your business has just been marketed. And I usually then add that, if word of mouth marketing and referrals are so important to your business, doesn’t it make sense to perhaps want to take a more active role in the processes. If these conversations about your business are going to take place anyway, why not join in on them. Because, hey, who knows more about what you do than you?

Business owners will sometimes shoot back at me with, “So, what, I’m supposed to follow my customers around and wait for them to talk about my business and the butt in?” No, I tell them. You should probably not do that. However, are people talking about your business online? How many times in the past week has your business been mentioned on Twitter? How many times today has someone used FourSquare to “check in” to your business? What are people saying about your business on Facebook? If I Google your business, where will it show up in the search results? What kind of reviews are people leaving about your business online?

With today’s technology, people are constantly connected to their peer groups. Many people can access their Facebook account, Twitter account, FourSquare, and Google right from their phones. I’ve worked in retail. I’ve seen people consult their cellphones before deciding on a purchase. It happens. And,guess what, instead of just standing around watching it happen, you can be a part of the processes. You can answer questions, put customers in touch with one another, make recommendations. You can also ask you customers questions, get their feedback, and give them the opportunity to participate in a community of like-minded people. How powerful is that? What if you did that everyday for a week. How much more competitive, more dynamic, and more awesome would your business be?

If you would like to start participating in these conversations, in engaging with your customers and potential customers, we can help you. Laser Burn Media can help your business get to that level of success. Working with your budget and online marketing goals, we can customize a solution for your business. We work with businesses of all sizes and across many different industries. We will meet with you, answer your questions, and before we accept a penny, will make sure that we have a plan in place that you’re comfortable with, one that makes sense to you, and one that will help achieve your specific marketing goals. And then, maybe after we help you with all of that, you can give us a good recommendation. Because, hey, we use word of mouth marketing, too.

All for now.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
570-795-9467

Tags: laser burn media, Online Marketing, word of mouth
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

Is Your Business Social Media Ready?

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

You may be considering getting your business involved with social media. But is your business ready to be involved with social media? I ask this because in my experience, many business owners are very quick and eager to rush into social media before they are ready. This results is wasted time, wasted money, and wasted effort. While social media can be used to help strengthen almost any organization, success at this relies heavily on planning and preparation.

It’s very easy to create a Twitter account or to setup a Facebook page. However, what’s the next step? Jumping onto a social media platform without a plan is the equivalent of walking on stage without knowing what you’re going to say or talk about. This is not the best of ideas, obviously. You organization needs to have a clear and well thought out social media strategy in place before you request someone to be your fan or your follower. You need to understand what you’re going to say, who you’re going to say it too, and what your expectations and goals are for the social media campaign. The more planning and research you put into your social media campaign before you launch it, the better.

Here are some questions that you should ask yourself before your organization goes live with social media…

Why do I want to get involved with social media?
What are my tactical (1 year or less) and strategic (longer than a year) goals for this campaign?
Which social media platform(s) will allow me to communicate the best with my target audience?
How will I know if this campaign is working?
How much will this cost? (both in terms of time and money)
How will this social media campaign add value to my organization and to my customers?
Are my competitors using social media? And, if so, what strategy are they using?

These are just a few of the questions that you should ask, and answer, before you pull the trigger. If you can’t answer these questions, your organization is not ready to launch a social media campaign. It’s really that simple. It’s also entirely possible that after answering these questions, you may decide that social media isn’t something your organization needs right now. Just because other businesses, maybe even businesses that compete against yours, are using social media, it doesn’t mean that you have to. But unless you take the time to consider a social media campaign, and all that it involves, you won’t know for sure.

When I was in the Army, the mantra of “An ounce of sweat in training saves a gallon of blood in war” was drilled into my thought process. This same mantra can be used to help your organization get the most out of social media. Take the time to properly plan out your strategy. Consider your options and your alternatives. Understand what social media can, and can not, do for your business. If you do this, your chances of launching a successful social media campaign are much higher.

If your organization would like help with planning and/or executing a successful social media strategy, please consider enlisting the professionals at Laser Burn Media to assist you. We can work with almost any budget and organization and we would be honored to serve you. Please don’t hesitate to CONTACT US for more information.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Tags: dan cheek, laser burn media, Online Marketing, social media
Posted in Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

5 Ways Social Media Can Hurt Your Business

Monday, May 10th, 2010

As the co-founder and president of a social marketing firm, I probably should avoid writing blog titles like this. However, I’m going to do it anyway. Why? Because I think it’s an important side of social media that you may not hear much about. Especially from social media professionals. The truth is that social media is a very powerful thing and it can bite you if you don’t treat it with respect. Here are five ways that social media can hurt your business.

You ignore it. This is probably a bad idea. Contrary to what many business owners believe, just because you don’t set up an account on Twitter or Facebook doesn’t mean that your business isn’t on Twitter or Facebook. Or 4square. Or Myspace. Or on someone’s blog. Business journals are chock-full of articles detailing how this company or that company got blindsided by social media. Ask the people at Domino’s Pizza what happens when two idiot employees decide to post a video on YouTube. Ask them about the hellstorm that was ignited by social media and how they had to scramble to respond. If you ignore social media, be prepared to pay dearly.
You’re here, your customers are there. It doesn’t help you to have an account on a social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.), regardless of how popular that particular platform may be, if your customers aren’t using it. Not everyone has a Facebook account. Not everyone has a MySpace account. Some people have both, some have neither. The point is, if your trying to engage your customers in a sandbox that they don’t play in, you’re wasting your time and, worse, making your brand and your business look foolish and out of touch. Don’t do this.
You abuse it. Want a sure fire way to piss people off and ruin relationships? Send someone some spam. Your friends, fans, and followers are not a captive audience. If you engage in mindless self-promotion or employ spam-like tactics, you will lose people. People will stop caring about what you say and you will be ignored. You will then have to work very, very hard and spend lots and lots of money to undue the damage. Social media is kind of like a powerful pain medication. It can do wonders if used properly. And if you abuse it, it can kill you.
You suck at it. It’s very easy to set up an account on Facebook. It’s also not all that difficult to successfully use it to interact with and add value to your target audience. If you know what you’re doing. However, if you set up a blog and it sucks, be prepared for the consequences. At best, people will just think that you suck at blogging. At the worst, people will think that the quality of your blog or your tweets are indicative of your company in general. “Maybe if his tweets are this horrible, his pizza also sucks.” Some people, potentially many people, will think this.
You say what you’re thinking. This could be a good thing. Or, alternatively, it could be a very, very bad thing. Everything that you put out across social media is probably read by someone. Say the wrong thing to the right person (or persons) and you could very easily have a full blown mess on your hands. This sounds like common sense, but from my experience in working with businesses and individuals, I can assure you that it’s not. Often times, you don’t know you’ve said the wrong thing until after you see the reaction. Be very, very careful with your message and how/where/when/to whom you broadcast it.

Okay, so now you’ve all stopped reading and are frantically deleting your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Before you do this, however, try and take a few deep breaths. Yes, social media can, potentially, be very harmful to your business or your brand. But only if you put yourself in a position for it to harm you. Used intelligently, social media can take your business to levels it would be otherwise unable to reach. The difference between very good and very bad thing happening can be managed (though not always controlled) by you and the decisions you make about how to implement your social media strategy (or lack thereof).

Many businesses can, and do, use social media every day and they are very successful at it. If you understand social media and have a plan to implement it into your sales and marketing efforts, awesome. However, if you aren’t quite there yet and would like help, please consider allowing us to get your business to where it needs to be. Laser Burn Media has experience working with small and medium sized businesses and we can partner with you to use social media to grow and strengthen your brand. If you need help, just ask.

All for now.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Tags: dan cheek, laser burn media, Online Marketing, social marketing, social media
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

Five Ways to Get Better at Blogging

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Ah, yes, blogging. It seems like today almost every person, business, brand, and organization has a blog. And why not? Blogging represents one of the easiest, most cost effective, and efficient ways to get your message out. Blogging is perhaps the single easiest way for many small businesses to get their presence online. However, there is a huge difference between having a blog and having an effective blog. Here are five ways that your organization can get better at blogging…

Post blogs on a regular basis.
And by “regular basis,” I don’t necessarily mean every day. However, you should be posting at least two to three blogs per week. This helps ensure that your blog remains relevant and doesn’t appear dead to anyone who might want to browse your site. If the last blog post was from three weeks ago, a reader may give the impression that you don’t care all that much about your blog. Readers want relevant content and they want it on a consistent basis. Give them something new to look forward to and don’t make them wait over a week to get it. Because they won’t wait.
Try to use only a handful of categories for your blog posts.
Most blogging software allows you to assign your posts to categories. It is FAR better to use only a few categories than to create a new one for every post. This will help keep your blog more organized and, in turn, make it easier for your readers to find things. As an avid reader of many blogs, I know from personal experience that I’d rather browse through ten or eleven categories than thirty or more. Think of your categories as sections in a newspaper. By using and working with only the bare minimum of post categories, your blog will look and feel more focused, be easier to browse, and will help ensure that your readers don’t have to struggle to find information they need when they need or want it.
Link to some of older blog posts from time to time.
When you’re writing a blog post, always be mindful of other posts that you’ve already published that may be relevant. By including links to these older posts in your new blog post, you are providing the reader with more resources. Also, it’s much more likely that a reader will spend more time on your blog if you make it easy for them to navigate from relevant post to relevant post. As an added bonus, internal links (which is what these types of links are known as) make it easier for search engines to index your blog. This helps ensure that your blog is better represented in search engine results and may also lead to higher traffic on your site.
Blog about things that interest you.
This is because if you aren’t really interested in what your blogging about, it will become harder and harder for you to keep at it. The Internet is filled with the rotting remains of dead blogs who’s authors have simply given up on them. Do not let this happen to your blog. Additionally, the quality of your blog will be much better if you are writing about things that your passionate about. If you aren’t excited about what you’re writing about, don’t expect your others to be excited to read it.
Promote your blog posts.
If you’ve taken the time to write the post, why not take a few extra minutes to help tell the world about it? The easiest way to do this is to post links to your blog post on your Facebook, Twitter feed, and/or Myspace page. Additionally, be sure to submit your posts to sites like Digg and Propeller. All of this takes about five minutes of your time, but can result in much more traffic hitting your blog. You write this damn thing for people to read so take the time to ensure that people actually know about it.

Blogging is a great way for you to promote your business, build your brand, and increase your visibility. However, like anything worth doing, you have to put the time in to ensure that your blog is as effective, as interesting, and as well organized as possible. Additionally, a well written and maintained blog helps build your reputation as an expert in your industry. If you would like the experts at Laser Burn Media to help you make your blog as effective as possible, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Tags: blogging, social media strategy
Posted in Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

Five Ways to Get Better at Facebook

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

It seems almost every business, organization, politician, and celebrity has their own Facebook page. Most of these pages, however, are all fairly generic and look exactly the same. They are also, usually, boring, unimaginative, and add little value to either the organization or the “fans” of the Facebook page. All of this is unfortunate because a well maintained, well thought-out Facebook page can prove to be tremendous asset to the organization. Here are five ways you can get better at Facebook.

Add original content to your Facebook page.
People need a reason to visit your Facebook page, so give them one. By uploading content (videos, pictures, announcements, etc.) to your Facebook page, people will have a real interest in paying attention to your page. Additionally, by providing this exclusive content to your page, it provides value to your Facebook fans and visitors. This goes a long way toward shaping the page into an effective business tool for your organization.
Send out regular updates to your fans.
One of the benefits of both Facebook Pages and Groups is that it allows you to send out messages to all of your fans or group members. This is an ideal way for you to pass along important information to your target audience. It also provides a way for you to achieve top of the mind awareness with your followers. Many people join a group or become a fan of a page and then forget all about it. By receiving regular updates from you, this is less likely to happen. A note of caution, though: Keep your updates regularly spaced out and DON’T spam the hell out of people. One or two messages a month is fine. One or two a week is pushing it and can do much more harm than good.
Pay attention to your Facebook fans and group members.
Facebook is a social application. This is important to remember, because it’s all too easy to simply use it as a forum for you to blast out information to you audience and ignore what they are talking about. Your Facebook page is an amazing way for you to not only communicate with your audience as whole, but also individually. By interacting with your Facebook followers on all levels, you add more depth and personality to your page. This is an easy way for your page to rise above your competitors, build relationships with your target audience, and build and strengthen your brand.
Take advantage of the Facebook Event feature.
Whenever you can, it is always a good idea to interweave your “real life” business with your virtual identity. Hosting exclusive events for Facebook followers in an excellent way to strengthen your relationship with your online followers and add value to your Facebook page. By promoting exclusive events, open only to Facebook friends, you provide an incentive for your target audience to pay attention to your page. It also allows you to strengthen your brand and build loyalty. But best of all, these events create a way for you convert online friends into real-life customers.
Incorporate Facebook into your customer service strategy.
Facebook provides a forum for you to speak with your target market, and also provides a forum for that target market to speak to you. By allowing your customers, or potential customers, to voice their opinions, questions, complaints, and feedback on your Facebook page, and to then respond to those concerns, you make your Facebook page a valuable tool for your customers. Knowing that an answer to their concerns is only a click away on Facebook, you can go a long way towards building and maintaining confidence in your products, your brand, and your commitment to meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations. When isn’t that a good thing?

Some businesses and organizations see a Facebook page as a Pet Rock. They really want one, but once they have it…they’re not so sure what they should do with it. By incorporating these five simple strategy’s into your Facebook page, you can transform it from a meaningless novelty into a valuable business tool. And if you’re serious about using the power of social media to help build and strengthen your business, organization, or brand, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly. We can help.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Facebook, Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

Twitter Role Models: Kevin Smith

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Many celebrities how have over one million followers on Twitter. Kevin Smith (@ThatKevinSmith), the famous movie director, actor, and comic book writer, is one of them. However, unlike most of the One Million Follower Club, Mr. Smith actually routinely interacts with many of his followers. What’s more, Kevin Smith has also began using Twitter as a sort of stage, performing marathon Tweet sessions where he responds to questions posed by his followers. Unlike many other celebrities, Kevin Smith isn’t just on Twitter. He is actually using Twitter to build his brand and he is doing an incredibly effective job at it.

One of the most powerful benefits of Twitter is its versatility. Tweets can be sent and received in any number of ways. Twitter allows people from all over the globe, with all levels and types of communication technologies, to interact in a seemless conversation. A person can choose if she wants to talk with one other person or one million other people. This represents an incredibly powerful tool with almost limitless potential. However, sadly, many Twitter users think that a successful Twitter campaign means having lots of Twitter followers. That’s a myth. A successfull Twitter campaign uses Twitter to build, grow, and communicate with an audience.

Kevin Smith understands this. He uses Twitter on a regular basis to <gasp!> actually interact with his followers. This results in Mr. Smith building a relationship with his followers. He responds to what they Tweet. He answers their questions. He offers up his Twitter account as a way for his fans and followers to “speak” directly to him. Even better, because of this relationship, his 1,000,000+ followers actually pay attention to what he Tweets. Because Smith has built a relationship with his followers, his Tweets matter more to them than most of the others they follow. Kevin Smith has found a way to use Twitter to get his audience to pay attention to what he Tweets. How many Social Media Managers working for big corporations have yet to achieve something like that?

One of the ways Kevin Smith has been so effective at using Twitter is the way in which he responds to his followers. He doesn’t simply obide by the typical @UserName <insert response here> format. What he does is this…

Via @othermattreed “Did John Hughes passing hit you harder or in a different way than you’d think?” Very. On a few levels over the week.

See the difference? In his response Smith includes the question along with the Twitter user name of the person who posed it. This may seem like some stupid little detail, but it’s not. Because all of his followers can now see, in the same Tweet, the question and the response, the Tweet has more meaning. Had he used the typical @UserName <reponse> format, the only one would understand the response in its propper context would be @UserName. Most of his other followers would have no clue as to what Smith was responding to, and without context, it would have no meaning to them. As a result, they would simply tune it out.

Kevin Smith is using Twitter more effectively than most. He has used it to grow his audience, build a relationship with that ever-increasing audience, and found a way to add value to his Tweets in the minds of his followers. He talks with them, not at them. Anyone, or any organization, seeking to do the same would be well advised to pay very close attention to Kevin Smith and his Twitter account. He’s showing how it’s done.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Social Marketing Strategy, Twitter, Twitter Role Models | No Comments »

Big brands moving to social media

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Many more companies are starting to get on the social media band wagon. It is a subtle way to sell things on a social media site. It is not your typical sales style that these companies are used to. Every company want to be advertising in these social media sites. It is really word of mouth marketing in the end. Someone is usually spreading the word about the company at all times of the day and in all the contries that your brand has a presence in.

Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola’s Atlanta-based director of social media.

“Having the world’s most-recognized brand, we feel like there’s an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us; we have a duty to respond,” Mr. Brown says.

Best Buy Co. Inc. riled up the social-media world earlier this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing. One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter. (When that caused an online backlash, the electronics retailer opened the process of crafting a job description to the public.)

The larger companies are starting to catch on to this free advertising source. Why wouldn’t a company use social media? Social media is so important and moves at such a rapid pace that it can become overwhelming for one person to handle. Most of the complaints that people post on Twitter or Facebook want a fast response. So it is not just word of mouth marketing it is also part customer service.

The lightning-fast pace of social media, and Twitter in particular, has forced businesses to act in a whole new way, says Mr. Brown of Coca-Cola.

“If you don’t respond within three or four hours, you might as well not respond at all,” he says.

For example, a man on Twitter recently expressed annoyance at his difficulty in claiming an all-expenses-paid trip he’d won through the My Coke Rewards program. He Tweeted, “Coca-Cola, bring down your drawbridge,” Mr. Brown recalls. Within half an hour, Mr. Brown had engaged the customer on Twitter, got on the phone with him and resolved the problem.

Not long after, the man changed his Twitter avatar to a can of Coke Zero.

It is so important to have a one-to –one conversation with your followers even if the post is positive. Keep your followers engaged in the conversation public square that we call social media.

-John Botch
www.Laserburnmedia.com
john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Business Advice, Facebook, Ning, Online Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society, Twitter | No Comments »

Brazen Carreerist, not your typical job posting site!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Brazen Careerist added a new feature geared towards Generation Y career searchers. Yesterday Brazen launched a social media aspect to the site. Now you can go and get advice for your resume and other career guidance for people that need it the most right now.

Brazen Careerist has quietly been a great place to connect with young Generation Y adults who care about changing the world, turning their passions into careers, and advancing themselves. It was co-founded by Penelope Trunk, a well-known author and columnist in the area of careers, along with Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh.

Primarily the Brazen Careerist website was focused on articles and blog posts from the community (a blog network), but that all changed an hour ago when the website transformed from a community website into an all-out social network, focused on flipping the conventional wisdom surrounding the resume by focusing on “idea feeds.”

Brazen Careerist now focuses on the social aspects, and the profiles are the center of this new universe. While you’ll find general information – followers, following, groups, interests, social media accounts, etc. – what makes Brazen Career different is the Ideas Stream and the Resume section.

Idea Stream essentially is a news feed, but focuses on career-related ideas, updates from your groups (i.e. New York professionals, Bloggers, etc.). Resume is exactly as it sounds: a version of your resume with your work history, education, and summary.

For the professional, it makes sense: it’s a great way to connect with other professionals, learn about your industry, and ask others for advice. For the company or the headhunter looking to find raw talent, it may be a bit difficult to sift through all the potential hires, as detailed filtering is not yet implemented.

Brazen Careerist has been one of our favorite Generation Y websites. But while the old site was really just a blog network, the new one really is “a career management tool for next-generation professionals,” even if it does not introduce anything groundbreaking.

It’s an intellect’s version of LinkedIn (), though it will need to implement a lot more social and organizational features before it can realize its potential. It also faces the uphill battle of convincing busy Gen Yers that spending time building a profile is worth their time.

For a Gen Yer that has just graduated from college this is a great website. They still have some social media features that have to be added. For the Human resource representatives it still need some work, before the industry as a whole will adopt this site. This has the potential to be a great social media website because the HR people will be able to see what the candidates are really like. Overall this website should be a hit within the next year of two, if they keep on adding features.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Business Advice, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society | No Comments »

The Twenty Year Rule and Your Business

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

When I was in the Army, we would receive an “anti-suicide briefing” every time we would get ready to go on Christmas leave. Apparently, the holiday season was prime-time for depression and thoughts of suicide to run high. The Army hoped that having these briefings, usually conducted by an Army chaplain, would help any of us who might be struggling with depression to get through the holiday leave and back to work safely. At one of these briefings, a chaplain gave some great advice that I think can extend to all parts of your life, including your business. He called it the “Twenty Year Rule.”

The Twenty Year Rule was this: If it won’t matter twenty years from now, it’s only a minor thing. Don’t sweat it. Focus on the things that will matter twenty years from now and while you should deal with the minor stuff, don’t stress out over it. The beauty of this rule is that it really forces a person to focus on the big picture. Too often, whether it be in our personal lives or our professional ones, all of the annoying small stuff can get in the way, making it difficult to focus on the bigger picture. Instead of laying out long term strategy, we get caught up, and over-stressed, as we run around putting out little, annoying fires. The Twenty Year Rule makes it a little easier to put things in perspective and keep focused.

This rule can also extend to your marketing efforts. A good marketing plan always starts with a goal or long term strategy. However, as I’m sure most of you’re aware, it can be very easy to lose sight of the overall goal and get caught up in all the little stuff. Distractions. Conflicting advice. Meetings. The “hot new trend” in marketing. And all that similar such stuff. Your marketing should look to accomplish one thing: Connecting with your target audience and ultimately increasing your profitability and your competitive advantage. Everything else is just peanuts.

So my point is this: In every aspect of your business, pay attention to the little stuff, but remain focused on the big picture. Doing this will help you make better decisions, will help ensure all of your decisions are consistent with your long term business goals, and that you don’t have a minor (or a major!) mental breakdown because your swamped with lots of annoying, little stuff. Remember: If it won’t matter twenty years from now, don’t stress out about it now. Have a great day, all!

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com

Tags: Business Advice, marketing, twenty year rule
Posted in Business Advice, Social Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

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