Nick Bostic » Social Media Optimization

Communications Triage

Nick Bostic — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:19:31 +0000

I’m a very connected person. I’ve had a BlackBerry for almost 10 years now. I was the only person in my middle school with a cell phone in the 7th grade long before that was old to carry a cell phone. I have more email accounts than I care to think about.

Intervention

It is time for a change. Between work emails, various web site emails, Twitter, Skype, IM, Facebook and phone calls, I have been checking my BlackBerry’s (yes, plural) every 5 minutes 18 hours a day for the last few years. It’s not the life I want to live and I expect you don’t either (so it’s reasonable NOT to expect me to do it).

I deleted all of my accounts from my BlackBerry except one, which I am setting strict filters on. If you’re family or the bank, you get through. I signed up for NutshellMail which checks my various email accounts and sends me digest emails at times of my choosing. I set all of my phones to forward to the one I use most and it has YouMail on it, which transcribes voicemails into emails so I can keep track of calls more easily.

When I get home, the work BlackBerry is off, not silent or vibrate, but off until the next morning. The personal BlackBerry gets put into phone only mode since I get far fewer calls (that are usually more time sensitive and friends/family) than I do all of the other messages.

So Far So Good

I’ve only been doing this since yesterday, but it already feels pretty good.

Have you had to conduct an intervention with your methods of communication and if so, what tools have helped you the most to find the perfect balance?

6 Steps To Achieve Social Media Optimization

Nick Bostic — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:02:12 +0000

There are so many social media services out there – some that are just plain fun, some to watch over your kids, some to stay connected to old friends or colleagues and some that are industry specific. If you try to join and participate in all of them, you will never have true social media optimization and you will annoy friends and family members with your obsession.

Social Media Optimization

You’ve heard it all before, but it’s true that the first step to social media optimization is to analyze your goals, your likes and your industry. In real estate, it makes sense to be on ActiveRain. If you are a restaurant owner, Yelp may be more important. If you are a chiropractor, naturopath or acupuncturist, creating word of mouth via Twitter may be your best bet. Figuring out these specifics is something I can help with.
Next grab ALL of your usernames. Yes, even though we are only picking and choosing certain networks, grab your username as many places as possible to protect your online identity. Use UserNameCheck.com to see the most popular sites and search them quickly. You may want to bookmark this page since grabbing your usernames may take a while.
Now, starting with the sites from step 1, fill out your profiles. This is different for each site, but coming soon, I will have detailed instructions showing you how to get going on the most popular sites. Eventually, you’ll want to complete profiles on every site, but for now, just stick with the ones we’ll be using. Each profile should be almost identical, using great keywords you want to be identified with. Again, let me know if you need help.
Find people you know. It’s always easier to talk to someone you know than a complete stranger. Most of the social media sites will allow you to import contact lists from GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo! or Outlook. USE THESE TOOLS CAREFULLY! At some point, every single one of these social media sites will ask if you want to invite people who aren’t on the site. This is considered by many to be SPAM! So just use the tools to connect with your contacts that are already on the network, then selectively invite people in a personal way.
Go listen. Too many people getting into small business online marketing sign up and immediately want to see business flowing in or start spamming their message out. You need to establish relationships and trust first. So go listen and figure out the tone of the network before you engage.
Have fun. They’re called social networks because they are supposed to be social. Business will come, but you have to build your presence first through careful social media optimization.

If you are just getting started with social media, this can be something of a lengthy process just getting setup and started. If you are already established, social media optimization is necessary from time to time in order to weed out networks that aren’t helping and are just competing for time.

Again, if you need help with your small business online marketing and social media optimization, let me know.

Conversation Prism Courtesy of Brian Solis

Social Media Optimization

Nick Bostic — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:09:33 +0000

I’ve been involved in social networking for a few years now on sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and Twitter, to name a few. I even ran a few BBS’s back in my day. Sometimes it feels like there’s a new one every day. I feel like an old man when I complain about how much noise there is these days.

But for someone just getting started taking their business into the social media realm, the volume can be a bit overpowering. You need a little social media optimization.

Not every social network is for you

I came to learn that I hate MySpace. I agreed wholeheartedly with PC Magazine, when they declared it the #1 Worst Website. Now I know a lot of people who love MySpace, but it’s not for me. I really enjoy Twitter, but I know quite a few people who can’t stand the platform. This is why not every social network is for you.

When it comes to social media optimization, there are 3 key questions to ask:

How much daily time do I have to dedicate? I have come to realize sites like Twitter and FriendFeed require a bit more attention to be truly involved. Other sites such as LinkedIn require an investment up front, but maintenance is relatively easy and requires less time.
Who is my target market? You must always ask this question! Social media optimization depends on it. If you don’t know who you are targeting, you can’t decide which social media outlet is right for your business, you also can’t establish the best methods on each individual social network to maximize your returns.
Do I recognize that there is such thing as Return On Relationship (ROR)? Some of these networks may seem like a waste of time. There’s no call or coupon code to track your results. You may not understand how to read your web analytics to see if and how much traffic is being pushed to your site. And what about “brand evangelists”? People who love your product or service so much, they tell everyone. That isn’t very easy to track using traditional ROI methods.

Once you know the answers to these three questions (I can help with this), you can begin your social media optimization and drive relationships and therefore business via online social networks.