This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 3

Let’s say your heart wants to dive into social media.
But then your brain steps in and says, “Whoa Nellie! Not so fast!”

Your heart is saying one thing.
Your brain is saying something else.

Your brain is telling you people don’t care what you have to say.

Hmmm.

Ever send out a proposal solving a client’s headache?
Check.
Ever give some helpful advice to someone on the phone?
Check.
Ever tell your colleagues over lunch how you’ve solved certain challenges over lunch?
Check.
Ever share your ideas in a presentation?
Check.

Well, then, look what we have here
Two things:
1.    Looks like you do have something to share with others, and;
2.    There are people eager to hear what you have to say.

We learned in the first article how an egg timer and nine minutes a day empowers you to understand how the social media landscape works. And in article two, we debunked the idea that social media doesn’t work.

So what’s the third social media misconception?
The third misconception is thinking that you have nothing valuable to say. And if you think that you have nothing valuable to say, then it’s only natural to think that no one would care about what you say.

Misconception #3: “No one cares about what I say”
Hang on, partner! You really think no one cares about your ideas? Um, how about your customers? You have customers for a reason, right? And what about the times you spoke to a group? Or were interviewed by a newspaper or trade journal?

Fact: You, and only you, have a unique perspective. You see, do and hear things like no one else.

That brings us to a turning point.

Why do we think we have nothing to say?
Fear. That’s right, fear. What kinds of fear?
1.    Fear of writing.
2.    Fear of feedback.
3.    Fear of trying something new.

Let’s tackle these fears one at a time
1. Fear of writing.
Ever email a client with ideas? Ever write a proposal? Ever write a brief presentation?
If you answered yes to even one of these, guess what? You can write. Heck, Twitter only allows 140 characters. You certainly can share some neat ideas in a sentence or two, right?

Have a Linkedin profile? Great, you can share your ideas in a Group you belong to or update your status in approximately 140 characters, just like Twitter. And if you expand into blogging, you can share lengthier articles where you can really dig into an idea.

2. Fear of negative feedback
Fear of negative feedback is a natural feeling, too. Positive feedback, of course, isn’t usually an issue. But negative feedback? That’s our real fear. We wonder: What will someone think? What will they say? Trust me– you want feedback in social media. Why? Because you can turn that feedback into new ideas or new insights to share. Think of it this way. If everyone contributes ideas that are one-way ideas, um, how boring will that be? So welcome feedback. Most feedback isn’t negative. It’s more likely to be ideas we missed or angles we didn’t cover; the feedback actually expands the conversation into new areas. Feedback is the fuel to keep your fires going.

3. Fear of trying something new.
Remember first using email? Now it’s a no-brainer. Remember first using your new cell phone? Yup. Now it’s a no-brainer, too. The same is true with getting your ideas out to people through social media. That’s why the first article stressed starting out in social media by closely watching others. Observe what works, what you like and don’t like. Observing others erases the “newness” factor so you feel more comfortable starting off.

But even when the newness factor is erased, you might still have a voice in your head.

What’s that voice in your head telling you?
You might have that little voice in your head wondering how to get started.
Try this little experiment. It’s part of your 9-minute social media routine, anyway.

Start a conversation somewhere. Get on Twitter, search for your area of interest and comment. If Twitter isn’t for you, try LinkedIn. Just share one small idea on a topic you’re passionate about, then see what happens. Do it again the next day. And the next day. Don’t be too surprised to find people hungry for more of what you have to share.

Here are a few more easy-as-pie ideas:
•    Begin commenting on blogs in your industry
•    Ask to write a short article for someone in your industry
•    Answer industry-related questions on LinkedIn’s “Answers” forum
•    Open a free Twitter account and start tweeting

Bottom line?
•    People do care about your ideas.
•    Fear of sharing your ideas is a natural feeling but once examined, quickly falls apart.
•    If you have customers, you have an audience.
•    Don’t have customers yet because you’re just starting out? Your ideas and insights can turn passive readers into paying customers.

Now it’s your turn
So go ahead and turn that helping phone call into a short status update on your LinkedIn profile. Your audience is waiting, remember?

To read guest blogger Thomas Clifford’s first part of this three part series, click here.  To read the second part of this three part series, click here.

This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 2

Social media doesn’t work.
Yeah, right.
Don’t tell Gary Vaynerchuk.
Gary, the wine guy phenomenon, wrote a NY Times Bestselling book based on his social media success.

Social media doesn’t work.
Shhh.
Don’t tell David Meerman Scott.
David, a popular marketing strategist, wrote one of the most downloaded e-Books ever and now consults worldwide.

Social media doesn’t work.
Um.
Better not tell Steve Woodruff.
Steve, a distinguished marketing and training consultant, is wicked busy creating endless business opportunities with social media.

What’s their secret?
There is no secret. They just didn’t have any misconceptions about using social media.

Not having any misconceptions about using social media lets these people do two things:
1. Make time to use social media; and
2. Learn to use social media.

That’s it. See? There is no secret.

We learned in the first article that while everyone is running around saying there’s no time for social media, we do, in fact, have time for social media.

Now it’s time to tackle the second misconception. What’s the second misconception?

Misconception #2: “Social media doesn’t work”
Why do we think social media doesn’t work? We think social media doesn’t work because we don’t understand it.

We don’t’ understand social media because of a thing called the “law of first knowledge.” The “law of first knowledge” states: we believe what we first learn.

Well, if we first learned that social media is a fad and has no long-term value, guess what? We’ll continue to believe that social media is a fad and has no long-term value. That becomes our truth.

How do we change our “truth” about social media?
To change our “truth” about social media, we have to begin asking ourselves, “What do we mean by “it doesn’t work?”

How are you measuring “work?”
• In dollars?
• In meeting new people?
• In creating a community that spreads our message?
• In generating new ideas for future projects?
• In creating referrals?
• In creating value for your customers by answering their questions?

Which one is best for you? Every business is different. If you know someone using social media for business purposes, you can begin by asking them. If not, define it yourself. Once you define what “works” means, you begin realizing that social media does work.

How can we tell if our social media efforts are working?
You can tell if your efforts are working because you can measure them against your goals. Easy, huh?

Don’t know what to measure?
If you don’t know what to measure, especially if you’re new to social media, there’s nothing better than a real life example.

Take a look at Impactiviti
Impactiviti is owned by Steve Woodruff. One of Steve’s main business goals is to increase the size of his network. How does he do that? He does it by increasing his networking opportunities. Enter: social media.

Steve uses multiple social media channels (industry blog, LinkedIn communities, Twitter, e-newsletters) to create a network of clients and vendor and partners.

This network is used to gather and make recommendations on “best fit” vendors for various training and marketing needs, dramatically reducing the inefficiencies of new business development (on the vendor side) and vetting potential suppliers (on the client side).

Steve’s entire business model is founded on a trusted network approach. While his current business is focused on pharmaceuticals, Steve’s approach is spreading into other areas of his business. Social media tools have been instrumental in creating and growing this network.

Oh, yeah. Steve’s business went from zero at start-up to self-sustaining with a six-figure income in 2 years.

Social media works
It just takes an open mind to see possibilities you didn’t see before. Start by setting a small goal. Gradually increase the size of your goal. Hey, you never know. You, too, just might be sitting on a best selling book, e-Book or a huge network opportunity.

The last article will address the third social media misconception: Who cares what I have to say?

To read part one of this three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford, click here.

This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 1

Ever feel totally out of it?
Like when everyone sees the latest blockbuster- except you?
You figure, hey, it’s not for you.

Is that how you’re feeling about this social media thing, too?
That it’s not for you? Or your business?
You figure, hey, it’s just a fad.

Um, your competition doesn’t think it’s a fad.

There are three misconceptions about social media:
1) You don’t have the time for it;
2) It doesn’t work; and
3) You think you have nothing to say.

Um, guess what?
1) You do have time for it.
2) Social media does work.
3) You have an audience eagerly waiting to hear from you.

Think I’m crazy?
Hang on. In this article we’ll cover #1: you think you have no time for social media. The next two articles will cover #2 and #3. I’m going to show you why these are misconceptions. Not only that, you’re going to see how you can get started with social media in just a few minutes a day.

OK, ready? Let’s start crushing these pesky misconceptions.

But first…

Why is holding on to misconceptions a problem?
Holding on to misconceptions is a problem because they can prevent us from growing and reaching our personal and professional goals. Perceptions give us direction. Perceptions are like our personal GPS system.

Sometimes our personal GPS system goes “ka-put!”
And a GPS system that goes “ka-put” won’t lead you to your destination.
Holding onto your “misconceptions” won’t lead you to your destination, either.

How can we begin correcting these misconceptions, especially with social media?
We begin by educating ourselves.

How do we educate ourselves about social media without buying books and spending gobs of time on-line? Simple. Begin by watching what others do. Learn by observation.

Let’s talk about the first misconception.

Misconception #1: “I don’t have time”
I know what you’re thinking: “If I’m going to do this social media thing, it’ll take me hours a day. It’s just not worth it.” With everyone talking about LinkedIn , Twitter, blogging, Facebook and yada, yada, yada, it’s no wonder we think we don’t have the time!

Fact: All you need is nine minutes a day (um, getting an egg-timer helps).
You read that right. Nine minutes a day.

Assuming you’re registered on at least one social media site, set your timer for nine minutes and just begin exploring. You don’t have to participate and get all crazy posting things here and there- just look. Observe what others are doing. Spend a few minutes studying how things are happening. Don’t judge– just observe.

We can learn to use social media just by watching how others use social media
When you’re on LinkedIn, Twitter or looking at professional blogs, ask yourself:

• What do you see that resonates with you?
• What works?
• What doesn’t?
• Can you strike up a conversation with someone by leaving comments?
• How are people in your industry using these tools?
• Can you see any patterns?
• How would you do it differently?

You’ll learn what you need to become an active participant in social media just by spending nine minutes a day and observing how things work. After a few weeks of just observing, you’ll have more confidence when you’re ready to dive in the pool.

It’s easy to spend all day with social media
Of course, that’s not really practical, is it? If you’re really interested in learning how social media works in general and for your business, the best way to start learning is by watching.

Nine minutes a day. That’s it.

So it’s time to find that egg timer. You do have an egg timer, right?

Next up? Misconception #2: Social Media Doesn’t Work

The bottom-line with LinkedIn is that people would much rather work with people who their friends and colleagues know and trust. To truly realize a return on the investment of time required by LinkedIn you need to increase your number of viable connections and thus increase your chances of getting more business. In order to make your profile more appealing you need to nurture it by being committed to completing at least one or two LinkedIn tasks every single day. Make a connection, join a group, or just enhance your profile. Be sure to track the traffic to your website and what percentage of it comes from LinkedIn.

If you’re interested in learning about some good LinkedIn practices that help you make the most of your profile, find great contacts quickly, and network to get work, download parts one, two and three of our three part series.

Most of you tech savvy business people out there have had a LinkedIn account for years, but have you been truly using it to increase your business opportunities? If you want to reap the benefits of a LinkedIn account, you need to commit to actively using it on a consistent basis. At the very least you should look at your profile every day to see to see who your contacts are networking with, and if there are more “People You May Know” listed in your profile. Remember, your contacts’ new contacts are now in your network, and the groups they have joined may be of interest to you.

If you’re interested in learning about some good LinkedIn practices that help you make the most of your profile and find great contacts quickly, download part one and two of our three part series.

Most of you tech savvy business people out there have had a LinkedIn account for years, but have you been truly using it to increase your business opportunities?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional online network with more than 45 million users representing 150 industries, and in case you’re wondering, the company itself is valued around $1 billion. Since September 2008, when the economic crisis hit, it has seen a 25% increase in the rate of sign-ups as concerned professionals look to keep their contacts up to date. That equates to approximately 1 million new users every two weeks. In terms of activity by those users, in the last two months there has been a 15% increase in the issuing of invitations to get people to join business networking circles and there has also been a 14% increase in the amount of recommendations made by users endorsing another member of LinkedIn.

The explosion of LinkedIn usage brings to mind the age old question of Quantity versus Quality.   Would you prefer to have 500 good contacts, or would you rather have 50 great contacts? The former may inflate your network statistics, but the latter may inflate your sales statistics. We can’t all be like Ron Bates, but do we want to be?

Who is Ron Bates you ask? With 44,000 direct contacts on LinkedIn, Ron has been referred to as “the most connected man on Earth.” In fact, I just tried to connect with Ron last night. I haven’t been accepted yet, but I did it for fun and I don’t expect any business to come from it. To effectively use LinkedIn to promote and grow your business you don’t need a ton of contacts, you just need a handful of great contacts that are in need of the services that your company offers and are interested in working with you or know others who would be.

If you’re hoping to reap the benefits of a LinkedIn account, you need to commit to actively using it on a consistent basis. At the very least you should look at your profile every day to see to see who your contacts are networking with, and if there are more “People You May Know” listed in your profile. Remember, your contacts’ new contacts are now in your network, and the groups they have joined may be of interest to you.

The bottom-line with LinkedIn is that people would much rather work with people who their friends and colleagues know and trust. To truly realize a return on the investment of time required by LinkedIn you need to increase your number of viable connections and thus increase your chances of getting more business. In order to make your profile more appealing you need to nurture it by being committed to completing at least one or two LinkedIn tasks every single day. Make a connection, join a group, or just enhance your profile. Be sure to track the traffic to your website and what percentage of it comes from LinkedIn.

There are many ways to establish sustainable relationships through LinkedIn.  Find out how to put the power of LinkedIn to work for your business by downloading part one of our three part series.

5 signs that it’s time for a web site redesign:

1.  Your site isn’t effective in helping you achieve your goals (more sales, brand recognition, community awareness, etc)

2.  Your site is no longer an accurate representative of who you are and what you offer.

3.  The site looks very dated.  Not sure about this?  Check out your competitor’s sites to see what you are up against.

4.  You don’t have a scalable web site that you can update with new content, add a blog or integrate easily with social media.

5.  Users have asked for features or made other suggestions for changes that cannot be accomplished with your current site.

Looking for specific recommendations for your web site?  Let our team of experts evaluate it!

Have you ever Googled yourself or the company you work for?  Come on, you know you have!  It’s human nature to wonder what others are writing about you and the company you work for.  Before accepting your new position, didn’t you Google your new company to see if you could find any negative information?  Googling is an easy way to lose hours sorting through irrelevant web entries hoping to find the information you’re repeatedly looking for.  Valuable time and energy can be saved by using one of Google’s many convenient and useful tools, in this case, Google Alerts.

Google Alerts are emails or RSS feeds automatically sent to you when there are new Google search results for your specified terms.  After signing up using your GMail account on the Google Alerts homepage, you enter the search term, type of alert (search Google News, Google Groups, or the web), frequency of emails (daily, as it happens, or weekly), and your email address. Google Alerts sends you an email each time a new page for your chosen term makes it in the top twenty results on Google’s web search. You can set up alerts for as many as 1,000 search terms.  Google Alerts currently offers 6 variations of alerts - News, Web, Blogs, Comprehensive, Video and Groups.

• A News alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.

• A Web alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.

• A Blogs alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.

• A Comprehensive alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.

• A Video alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.

• A Groups alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.

Google Alerts’ many uses make them convenient and helpful in our daily personal lives including monitoring a developing news story, tracking medical advances, being aware of what is being written about family members, and even getting the latest on a celebrity or sports team.  But there are many professional reasons to harness the power of Google Alerts, find out how to put the power of Google Alerts to work for your business by downloading Ten Important Business Uses of Google Alert.

How often should key words and phrases appear in your web content?  What should be in the <title> and <meta> tags?  Does it matter where on the page your key words are?

There are many things to consider when writing for the web, and the questions above are answered in a white paper “7 Do’s and Don’ts of Prominent Content” by Andrew Predmore, one of ForeSite’s developers.

Search engines have algorithms that are constantly updated to try to make sure that key words aren’t used inappropriately in a blatant attempt to increase site traffic.  If your site is flagged, it can have a devastating effect on your search engine rankings.

Click here to download this timely information and get the  “7 Do’s and Don’ts of Prominent Content” usage.

Everybody’s talking about social media marketing, but how do you know if it’s right for your business?  And what if you are a nonprofit agency or a school - does social media have value outside the business world?

First let’s define social media by its most well known forms, including blogs and social networking (Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn).  Blogs, like the one you are reading right now, provide you with a way to communicate a message or share a story with the outside world.  A blog is like a newsletter that you write and share article by article.  When you think about it that way, you probably already create content that you could use for blogging.  Because blogging is more informal, you can get more people involved to write a paragraph or two about a timely topic in your industry, a success story or an experience that your audience can relate to.

Social networking requires a little more thought about who it is that you want to connect with.  Are you looking to inform potential clients about your services, or brainstorm with others in your industry, or maybe find potential sources of referrals?  Each goal will require you to think about who those people are, and what forms of social media they are likely to be using.  For example, I find LinkedIn to be a powerful networking tool to connect with clients, former colleagues, and other professionals that I meet and want to keep in touch with.  By regularly updating my LinkedIn status, I can share what I am working on with all of my contacts with one click of the mouse.  I can even include links back to my blog or a particular page of our web site that provides more information.  I have found that even people I have known and worked with for many years may not fully understand all of the ways that I can help organizations with their computer network or web site, but if they hear a success story, they suddenly think of someone else they know with that struggle who they can’t wait to refer me to.

Maybe you realize that you have something to say, and you know who you want to reach with your message, but there are other considerations to making social media marketing a success.  The questions in our “10 questions to ask before starting a social media marketing campaign” will help you determine if this is the right step for you.