Social Networking for Small Business

Though there are different flavors of social networking platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) most work the same way:
1.  You create a profile page with a photo of yourself and some basic information.

2. You "friend" "connect" or "follow" people that you know by inviting them or accepting their invitation.

3. You post content by typing in a status update in the box on your home page, uploading photos, or commenting on other people's posts.

4. There is a news feed on the home page that reports the activity of all of your "friends" "connections" or people you are following. This news feed is where the magic happens.  It is like a newspaper reporting only on your connections and reporting about you to everyone else.

One of the reasons social networking is so powerful both professionally and personally is that it creates a structure for connecting people, ideas, and events in a way that wouldn't happen in the physical world.

For example...you probably have a number of different social circles.  Family, friends, co-workers, classmates, church, a hobby group, sports team, book club, etc.  Each of those people know a small portion of who you are--and chances are (unless they are your co-workers)--they have no idea what you do professionally. By posting information about what you do and participate in--you begin to open a window to that world and people who are interested can connect.

For example, one of my connections is a writer who frequently posts what topics she is writing on.  When I know someone with that expertise, I connect them with her.  My friend gets publicity and she gets a source and makes her deadline. The thing is that everyone in her network does this making it very valuable for her.
The bubble tea shop in my neighborhood has a page on Facebook. (I discovered this because someone in my network became a fan and it showed up in my news feed). I frequently stop in when the "tea of the day" is something I've always wanted to try and have attended events they've announced that sounded interesting to me. (Their business is doing very well because I'm not the only one who does this.)

Just yesterday, I posted that I was learning about "augmented reality" (AR) and my daughter's best friend's mom, told me about Esquire magazine this month being an AR issue and I was able to share the link she sent with the rest of my team which helped us with our presentation.

If you are a massage therapist, artist, yoga instructor, or have a band and frequently participate in events or workshops, you can post that information and invite people or simply talk about it in your status.  (You can also post photos after the event and write a recap on it to make people wish they had.)

If you are a business with a physical location, as people in your network "become a fan" or "friend" your business other people in their network who are geographically close can discover you too.  You can also be proactive in this on Twitter and deliberately follow people who are in your geographic location.  To search by geographic location, you simply go to search.twitter.com and narrow the feed to a zipcode.

Social networking takes a bit of time investment to do right.  If you are new to social networking, you can begin by committing an hour once a week, then move to checking it daily.  If you are currently using social networking personally, consider letting the lines blur between the personal and professional so that you begin to create interest in your professional world.

Of course, the best part of social networking is that it is the most affordable--and potentially effective--advertising you could possibly do. And as a small business owner--who doesn't love free!

Posted via email from cathy hutchison

On communication, connection and static

One of the beautiful things about the digital world is that you have access to people you never had access to before.

Your best friend from elementary school? Facebook.

The consumer who is into Czech glass beads? Ebay.

Fly fishing enthusiasts? The North American Fly Fishing Forum.

Conversations of people in your neighborhood? Twitter. (You can narrow the conversation to just your zip code.)

There is unprecedented opportunity to connect in a digital world. However, the flip side is that everyone knows this, so the volume from salesmen, marketers, old friends, business people, charities and causes is at an all time high. A digital world life skill is learning to tune out static. We all do it. (We’d go crazy if we couldn’t.)

So given that you have this amazing opportunity being obscured by the static, how do you communicate in a way that connects?

Build a reputation for relevance.

The term “relevance” is tossed around a lot, but in its most basic form the word relevant means that it is applicable to the person who receives it. For example, if you send me a postcard about a carnival for preschoolers, I’ll toss it. I don’t have preschoolers. It isn’t relevant. Send me an invitation to an event for middle schoolers, and again I’ll toss it. If the next postcard (or e-mail or tweet or blog post) is about something not relevant to me, then my mind will classify your communication as irrelevant and I’ll stop reading/listening. You will have become static.

Probably the best example of this—relevant to you the reader—are the e-mails to you receive from the person who has completely mastered the forward. Remember when you first got on e-mail and actually read the jokes/political commentary/dire threat of a new computer virus? It doesn’t take long to stop opening the e-mails that start with FW:. And if a single person continuously sends them to you, then it doesn’t take long to start hitting delete without even scanning the subject line for the FW.

In a world of static, you can’t afford to broadcast. You have to adopt a narrowcast methodology. Find the person—or group of people—you want to connect with and communicate relevant to them. Or maybe more importantly, make sure they are screened from the communication you send that is irrelevant to them.

Choose visual simplicity.

To survive the volume of visual information we learn to glance and process quickly. We stop reading and learn to scan. So, design your digital connection strategies with that in mind.

The cool thing is that most digital communication is visual—which works well when people are in “scan mode”. So learn to communicate visually and learn to do it well. Garr Reynolds’ blog, Presentationzen.com is one of the best free tutorials on communicating simply using visual media. Check out his post from August of last year on Learning Slide Design from an IKEA Billboard.

Duarte.com is another good resource. You might know Nancy Duarte from her book, slide:ology.

Learn to leverage white space, headers, and brevity of language in the pursuit of simplicity. Simplicity has value in a sea of complexity. Sometimes people will receive your message simply because it is visually simple.

Be the “easy toaster.”

The question I ask most often in my office is “yeah, but is it easy toaster?” The phrase “easy toaster” is based on Seth Godin's blog post about his fancy new toaster that had all kinds of bells and whistles but takes ten steps to make toast. It made him long for his old toaster that only took two steps.

In every opportunity for connection, you have to ask yourself…”is it easy toaster?” If you make people go through ten steps to get to you, chances are they will give up in the process. (Which makes me curious why such a high number of companies require people to fill out forms on their contact page rather than supplying a phone number and e-mail address.)

View every website, postcard, e-mail, program and event through the eyes of the person who is engaging for the first time. Then make absolutely certain that you are the ‘easy toaster’.

The best advice?

While none of us would ever pick up the phone, dial a random number, and start telling the person who answers how much we enjoy sushi, we frequently develop and send digital communication without actually considering the person receiving it. Take the time to develop a connection strategy. After all, it is better to wait and truly connect than to lose your chance later because you’ve been labeled as static.

© Cathy Hutchison 2009

Speaking at NACBA

In case you are wondering, NACBA is the National Association of Church Business Administrators. I was really excited when Phill Martin asked me to speak. First of all, NACBA is a really great group of people. They are very dedicated to sharing, coaching and mentoring--because as you may or may not know--being the business administrator for a church is a tough job. Secondly, I got to speak on a subject I'm completely passionate about--the digital world. (I used this graphic to talk about the dramatic change that has happened in theast 10 years.)

I loved it when we came to the "questions" part and people engaged. It was really fun to hear people ask questions, tell stories, and in some cases answer each others questions.

This evening I got to have dinner with the guys at Generis--well the "guys" being John, Gerald, and Anita. I'm continually impressed with the level of bright, engaged, experienced consultants that Generis draws. Spectacular people.

So tonight, I'm in a hotel room for a few brief hours before I get up to catch my plane. So this girl is signing off of the digital world.

For tonight anyway.



© Cathy Hutchison 2009

Likeability

In a command and control hierarchy, you can be a jerk.

After all, the very nature of the structure requires that people respect the hierarchy in order to keep their jobs. However, the world has changed. The digital world is a connect and collaborate model--which requires a different game plan.

In a connect and collaborate world, one of your most important assets is likeability.

As I've watched the tabloids play out the Jon and Kate drama over the past few weeks, the tide has shifted from Jon as "Bad Dad" to Kate as "Monster." How did that happen?

Likeability isn't about being nice. It is about being relatable. I wonder if Kate had simply broken down and cried on Larry King, if the public wouldn't have "liked" her. A betrayed wife grieving? We can relate to that. A perfect woman who has everything together? We can't.

I talked with a friend about the formula for likeability yesterday. I think it is likeability = empathy + accessibility + vulnerability.

Breaking down the formula...

Empathy - Genuine care for others success. There is nothing more attractive than knowning someone who "gets" you wants to help you.

Accessibility - Busy-ness is often used to generate a sense of importance. This does nothing to attract. People don't want to have to scale another wall be it social strata or scheduling. They are drawn to the path through.

Vulnerability - Vulnerability gives people power to hurt you but it is also the key to deep connection. With that said, don't mistake vulnerability for weakness. Vulnerability is about openness.

In the world we live in it is a far more important formula than polished + perfect = professional. Note that in both formulas being competent is your entry card to even get to play the game.

In a connect and collaborate world people have to like you to want to do business with you. When it hits critical mass, the command/control jerks are going to be sitting at their desks wondering what the heck happened.

© Cathy Hutchison 2009

Innovation 3

Today, I got to hang out with the most amazing people. Leadership Network is an organization dedicated to resourcing and connecting innovators. Their "Camp Improv" event was revolutionary for me many years ago. This week, I'm at their Innovation3 event. But BEST, BEST, BEST part is all the amazing individuals who happen to be at the event. These are a few of the people I got to talk with today:

Rex Miller--author of the Millennium Matrix. It was great to see him in person since he's been quite the hermit while finishing his new book.

Camron Ware of visualworshipper.com...okay, well, Camron and I didn't actually speak today, but we did swap a couple of @Twitter messages and I plan to stalk him tomorrow. I greatly admire his work.

Brad Leeper and John Bash of Generis. Amazing men of integrity who are dedicated to coaching people in developing a culture of stewardship in ministries. Though I did accidentally mistake John for Hugh Halter of the Tangible Kingdom. (Sorry John. Sorry Hugh.)

John introduced me to Dave Gibbons of Newsong. (I am excited that his book, The Monkey and the Fish, was in my package!)

Brian Blackmore of EHPublishing. Brian is executive editor of both Worship Facilities and Church Production. Also, Todd Phillipi and Jeff Harris of WPH Architects for Ministry. Todd, Jeff, Brian and I all talked the joys of 20th Anniversary celebrations and the challenges of raising teenagers.

Greg Atkinson of Bent Tree. Greg has a passion for resourcing and connecting ministry leaders. He has a passion for the poor and deep experience with technology in worship.

Greg introduced me to Paul Watson of ReachingTheOnlineGeneration.com. Well...it wasn't an official introduction. Greg called Paul up to share some things during his session, and I absolutely had to learn more and cornered him after the session. Paul has an interesting ministry in that he is targeted at connecting with people in 140 characters or less.

Add to this speakers like Pete Brisco, Tim Keller, Stacy Spencer and Mark Driscoll, and the idea flow was fire hydrant level.

The energy of all of these amazing people is absolutely incredible. I can't wait for tomorrow.


© Cathy Hutchison 2009

The Power of Shared Experience

If there were ever a formula to connection, it would have to be shared experience.

Shared experience has power. It's the reason you can have "a moment" with a group of strangers when something funny happens or as a nation when something tragic occurs. It is the reason audiences become one during a show.

For the past two months all of the people in my office have been pursuing LEED accreditation. This isn't a simple thing. The test is hard. And the fact that we are all doing it together has caused a great deal of ownership when someone passes or fails.

Last Sunday, Crosspointe set out on an endeavor to "be the church instead of having church" and shared Christmas gifts with some families in our community in financial crisis.

Last year, my husband and I had to gearshift because we found that most of our significant "shared experiences" weren't actually with each other and so we audited our lifestyles and made some pretty profound changes.

Here's the thing. Shared experience doesn't often "just happen." It takes a great deal of openness to allow yourself to be part of something. Of putting yourself in a place where something could occur or better yet in actually initiating something yourself. Not showing up or worse participation without your heart engaged is the far safer path.

Fight that.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008

GDA in Denver

Nancy and I are sitting in the Hotel Teatro in Denver downloading about our day.

The opportunity for connection and collaboration through the Global Design Alliance is difficult to describe. It's almost as if each person has a part of the puzzle.

Nancy--who is here to connect with the HR representatives from the other firms--was able to share about Ron Martoia's concept of "leaking leadership" and learned about how other companies are handling some of the complex personnel issues facing the firms.

Most of my time has been spent with the Directors and Alliance Coordinators. One of my favorite parts of our meetings here happened first thing. The Alliance Coordinators business meeting covered everything from Integrated Project Delivery, preparing for the economic downturn, finding qualified staff, and acquisition strategies.

The geographic and diversity of skillset around the table provided a much more holistic view than I usually get from the window of our office.

The meetings were at Coors Field--which provided a nice backdrop for the day. Dianna Millar and I posed on the field today. The grass was wet so we missed out on getting to stand at home plate (but we were pretty close).

Here it is late. Very late, actually.

Goodnight.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008

The Energy of Connection

When the same concept hits you from multiple different angles in a single day, it seems you should pay attention and spend some time grappling with it.

I just sent in my article this morning to Church Production Magazine called, Church 2.0. My editor, Mark Johnson, gave me a bit of grace on my deadline and thanks to some graciously added last-minute thoughts by Ron Martoia (author of Static) the piece turned out really well. The main idea is that Web 2.0 is by nature participatory, customizable and creates community; however, current church services are primarily a one-way conversation…from the platform out to the congregation. The article explores what church could become as the culture shifts.

As I was in my e-mail, sending this document full of ideas about technology and connection, I received an invite to Facebook from a potential client in Nigeria. I decided to sign up and take a few minutes to explore it. When I looked up at the clock, an hour had flown by without my perceiving the passage of time. In a whooosh upon entering Facebook, I was connected with collegues, past classmates, old friends, and gurus from my industry. It was a networking event, trip down memory lane, reconnect to people I haven't spoken with in awhile and hello ping to people I'm geographically far from. What is really cool about Facebook isn't simply the connection, it is the interconnection. For example, I had no idea that Rex Miller was connected to Terry Storch because they spoke on a panel together, or that Pres Gillham was connected to one of my networks. Surfing through Facebook allows you to get a visual picture of social networks and how they connect to each other.

It's that visual picture that brings me to the next big connecting thought...

I worked with Jeff Strickland--who also happens to be on Facebook. While Jeff was in grad school one of the projects that he would talk animatedly about was surfing these types of networks and the blogosphere to find trnds and connections. He is now working in Washington DC on these types of datamining projects. To read more about what Jeff has written on this, check his blog.

One of the cool websites that Jeff told us about is wefeelfine.org--a visual representation of emotion on the blogosphere. The datamining is simple. The tool mines for the phrase "I feel." It is the interface that is a beautiful thing to surf. There are six views: Madness, Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics and Mounds. Madness is a sea of colored dots and squares. The dots are colored by the range of emotion. Blue for negative, yellow for happy, pink for love... The squares are images. If you follow a dot and click it, it will isolate the thought and give you the opportunity to jump to the blog. The thing to keep in mind is that this is real time. You are viewing the blogosphere as it happens.

I clicked to a girl who was expressing introspection on her 18th birthday and hoping that she spends the next 18 years helping people and changing the world. As I read her piece, I connected. Total stranger. Twenty year age gap. Different geography. Identical human emotion.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008

All the cool thoughts today...

I heard several ideas that popped out at me today. Have you ever been writing or typing something and all of the sudden the word you are looking at doesn't look quite right? As if it suddenly transposed itself into a Martian word and it is completely incomprehensible? I don't know why this happens.

Sometimes ideas do that too, but just the opposite. Sometimes somebody says something and it stops, takes shape and hangs in the air in a way that I can grasp it. That happened three times today...(a very unusual ratio)....so I thought I would share.

Michael Lagocki (of a previous post) was in my office today talking with our team about leading people in emergent decision-making processes. After the talk, he and I hung out and he said something stunning. "Compelling dreams beat burning platforms." The context was sustainable energy. As in "what if the conversation was 'Wouldn't renewable energy be a really cool thing?' instead of 'Emergency! We're running out of oil." I love the idea of giving someone something to jump toward than focusing on what they are jumping from.

I also watched a video of Erin McKean's talk at TED. She said a lot of wonderful things about dictionaries and words and where things are going. She said that "paper is the enemy of words" --which is a mindbending thing to think about in the context of dictionaries. However, the idea she said that I absolutely had to write down was from the story of the Velveteen Rabbit. She said "Love makes things real." Again, the phrase simply jumped out as true.

Jason McKelvey delivered the final profound thought of the day. "Hooters doesn't serve owl." Yep. Definitely something to noodle on.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008