Get Bold is about using social media to create a new type of Social Business. This is a book review for the social media book club and therefor I received a free copy of this book.

Watch the video review of Get Bold

Sandy Carter (@sandy_carter) is Vice President Social Business Evangelism at IBM. Carter is also author of The New Language of Business and The New Language of Marketing 2.0 (aff).

Carter:

At its core, a Social Business is a company that is engaged, transparent, and nimble.

Engaged: A Social Business connects people to expertise.
Transparant: A Social Business is always learning and therefore believes that there should be no boundaries between experts inside the company and experts in the marketplace.
Nible: A Social Business leverages social networks to speed up business, gaining real-time insight to make quicker and better decisions.

Get Bold at your Agenda

The core of the book is build on the acronym AGENDA

• Align Organizational Goals and Culture
• Gain Social Trust
• Engage Through Experience
• Network Your Business Processes
• Design for Reputation and Risk Management
• Analyze your Data

She covers each topic in a chapter with lots of case studies and research results of various companies.

Trust

An important point is to gain trust with your clients, and other stakeholders. Carter suggests to develop a Trust Plan. You need to pay attention to three components:

1. Expertise and thought leadership
2. Responsiveness and consistency
3. transparent and open conversation

These components are important for organizations of all sizes, also for independent professionals.

Sandy Carter

Get the book @Amazon Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business (aff)

Read more of Carter’s post on her blog socialbusinesssandy.com

For example this post Social Business Lessons for Valentine’s Day!!!.

Carter also produces these weekly coffee break videos:

Erno gets Bold

If you are an Independent Professional you will find enough interesting points in this book that you can use in your business. When you work in a large organisation and you want to migrate to a Social Business this is a book you want to read.

For independent professionals working for large organisation this is a good book to learn about the dilemmas and challenges at their clients company.

Sometimes the book feels a little bit as a thick brochure for IBM. Carter uses a lot of examples at IBM.

Do organizations have friends?

Carter says that organizations can have friends:

“Companies are like people. The actions that make people great friends are the same that make companies great friends”

What do you think can an organization or company have friends?
Let me know how you feel about this.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Get Bold by Sandy Carter a book review for #SMBookClub

Jumping into social networks and doing it right is a bit of work. When you already are working very hard at the core of your business this is just an extra thing you can do without. Outsource it!

Good idea.

When you hire another company to set up your (business) profiles in LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube you have to be sure they are doing it right.

Lately I receive more and more invites in LinkedIn of people who clearly outsourced the social media ‘task’. All profiles are similar and are not very personal.

The outsource company uses the OPEN network on LinkedIn to connect with people who are open to invites and in general connect with ‘everyone’. I am also listed in one of these networks, open to invites but I review each one and never click spam or I don’t know.

Outsource setting up your social profiles gone wrong

Let’s look at an example and what has gone wrong here.
It is about the agency that is doing it badly so I have made the name unreadable.

LinkedIn profile

This is the LinkedIn profile of this person. Only one job has been entered, his current function. The summary is written in 3rd person. The description of the function is a pitch.

What about your history? What did you do before this? You wrote the summary, it is your profile. Reading this in 3rd person is just weird to me.
What about a bit more personal information. Your contact details? Join a few groups.

Your LinkedIn profile should be as complete as possible. This way you give the software (LinkedIn) the possibility to find connections for you, collegues, partners you worked with, people with similar interest.

Twitter

Every Twitter profile I have seen that was setup by this agency had 2 updates, always the same question:

“Please contact me anytime email address”

“How can help your business? website address”

Oh yes, these tweets do it for me. Let me contact you right away.

A good one is the username: businessname_social.
There is nothing social about this Twitter profile and the tweets.

YouTube

Here also they added “Social” to the username. The only action here was posting a video pitch. Not much fun watching this.

Facebook

Facebook is more of a personal network, especially the personal profile. For businesses Facebook created pages. This profile looks just the same as the LinkedIn profile.

Your personal profile on Facebook can be more personal. On LinkedIn it is more business like. Have content for your profile that fits the network you are on.

Website

This website has only one page. The homepage. Better make it a good one if you want visitors to contact you. Now it is just the elevator pitch in the video and on paper.

I am not in an elevator with you. When I am interested in your product I want to learn more about you, about the organisation, about the products or services.
Let me read this information before I am ready to call or email you. A phone number and address may also come in handy when I am ready to call you.

7 tips when you want to outsource your social media

I can understand that you are too busy to set up profiles in the various social networking sites. Hiring someone to do this for you can save time. Make sure you are hiring the right person to do this for you.

1. Look at the work they have done for people like you. The profiles should all have a unique tone of voice. You should not be able to see that the profiles were set up by the agency.
2. Give your full resume to be entered in LinkedIn, not just your current function
3. Give some personal information for your Twitter and Facebook profile.
4. Ask for some one-on-one training what you need to post, when, how, how often
5. When the profiles are setup, start posting your updates. Write your own updates.
6. No sales pitches. People want to connect with other people, not sales people.
7. The agency should tell you about tools that makes life on these networking sites easier, i.e. Tweetdeck, HootSuite, BufferApp, SocialOomph

Yes, I feel that you can outsource some of the steps in your social media strategy. Setting up a profile takes time, especially getting familiar with all these social networking sites. Outsourcing this keeps your focus on your business.

However I do feel that the basis of social media is that you communicate with others. It is you writing the posts, updates in Twitter, comments on other blogs. It is you making the connection with people in Twitter and LinkedIn.

People want to get to know you. Social media are personal.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Outsource your social media – how not to do it

Fons Trompenaars was the opening keynote at The Social Conference (#TSC12). He used the research of the attendees to talk about the dilemmas we are facing with social business.

His presentation was filled with remarks that got the audience laughing and thinking:

Lot’s of female in the audience. He is not used to it because in boardrooms there are not a lot of female in the board room. “We kick them out, when it gets tough they cry, or they get pregnant.”

“Asocial conference, we spend more time typing into our phone then talking to each other. Let’s make this a more social conference and talk with each other.”

“Why when we talk, we don’t feel?” MeyersBricks is crap. Our great icons, role models are probably 100% feeling and 100% talking. Why is that not a result from these analysis.

To innovate is to Combine Values That are not easily joined…. Therefore scarce… Therefore profitable…

Title of an article about an era that just ended: “Shareholder value – value of the people who never share.”

Most important dilemmas

Trompenaars did an analysis of the response of 123 respondents – 70 from the social conference participants. These are the 4 most important dilemmas that we face. This is the results from the research in relation to social media.

BTW: the fifth most important dilemma is Hi Tech vs Hi Touch.

The servant leaders – how can you lead to help each other – will be important in the era of social media and these dilemmas.

Trompenaars closes with the key takeaways

• The use of social media is loaded with dilemmas
• Our current professional are not educated to deal with them effectively
• Define challenges in terms of dilemmas, and avoid compromise
• Reach out to colleagues of different orientations
• Respect and practice both generic and local communication practices and business customs such as paraphrasing and active listening
• Make use of all types of media in communication
• Be aware of the power of your ‘default’
• Acknowledge that dilemmas are shared but their approaches are cultural

Great takeaways for any professional, also for the self-employed.

The video of the presentation by Fons Trompenaars

Dilemmas in securing the business benefits of social media

The outcome of the research Trompenaars did for the Social Conference can be found in the document below.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

The management dilemmas of the social web – Fons Trompenaars #TSC12

Last year I already used more video in my blog than the year before. This year it will be even more. Video is going to be more and more important. If you want to become visible for your target audience, use video.

You can use video in various ways:

• Create video posts
• Do live interviews
• Video-interviews via Skype
• Record events
• Record your workshop or presentation
• Record a webinar
• Screencasts
• Recording a mentor or coach session with a client

All these possibilities require a different setup and some different cameras.

For the videos that I am working on now I have purchased two new webcams.
I want to record HD videos so that the quality of the image is perfect on YouTube and Vimeo.

Remember I am not a camera or video expert. I want to help independent professionals to attract clients. Videos will help me with that and it will help you to attract clients, if you sell products or when you sell a service.

Sometimes I get comments on my published video from so-called video experts. They pay attention to the quality of the camera, sound and lighting. Pleas remember: the main point is to get your message out there, to help your target audience. Focus on the content.

This is the setup at my desk:

Cameras

Logitech HD Pro webcam C920
The latest HD webcam by Logitech. It even lets you record video calls from Skype in full HD. Only for Windows and you need Skype 5.7+ (beta).
Connected to your computer you can use it for webinars, video-interviews via Skype, posts from your desk.

You can also place this version on a tripod
Cost EUR 99.00
http://www.logitech.com/webcam-communications/webcams/devices/hd-pro-webcam-c920

Logitech HD Pro webcam C910
Also a great HD webcam that you can use for Mac and Windows. In mac the control of the camera is limited i.e. zooming in is missing.
You can record 720p with Skype. Regular recording with camera can be done in Full HD (1080).

Cost EUR 99.00
http://www.logitech.com/webcam-communications/webcams/devices/hd-pro-webcam-c910

Kodak Zi6
A bit older HD camera that I use to do videos when I am on the road. I did all my recordings from Le Web 2011 with this camera.

Great camera, although the Zi8 is even a bit better with an external Mic connection. Both cameras are no longer available in the shop.
The replacement would be the Playfull

The Playfull Dual Camera has an external microphone in.
Price EUR 180.00
http://shop.kodak.nl/store/ekconseu/nl_NL/pd/PLAYFULL_dual_camera/productID.242813300

Important: Sound and Light

There are 2 other parts that are extremely important when you record a video: sound and lighting.

A good microphone is necessary so the viewer can understand the subject. The microphone build in the camera can be good enough, but then you have to be sure that you record in a quiet environment.

You can use daylight, make sure you have the sunlight in the back of the camera and shining on the subject. When you want to record and not be depending on the sun you can buy some lights.

Microphone

Blue Yeti – this is a great microphone USB for Win and Mac. I love the sound of it. You can find it at Blue Microphones

You can buy this later but for me it is a great product that I use for all my Skype calls, interviews and podcasts.

Price: EUR 135.00

Lights

2 soft box lights directed at your face from both sides is the minimum.
I have been searching for these lights at a good price for some time.
First I found it via Amazon but later via eBay.

My latest set of 3 lights were purchased via a Dutch shop on eBay for EUR 120.00.

Software

Tools to edit your video. You do not have to use it. I published a lot of videos directly from the camera to YouTube. Editing takes time.

Windows MovieMaker – free.
This is the basic software from Microsoft that you can download and use to add titles, add sound, add images to your video. It works good and easy.

iMovie (Mac) – free
Part of iLife. If you want the latest version it is iLife ’11 and comes with iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11 and Garageband ’11. This upgrade costs EUR 12.00, that is a bargain.

Similar to Movie Maker, a basic video editing tool.

Camtasia (Win/Mac) – paid, to record from your screen and do screencasts for example.
The software is created by TechSmith.

You can Download a free trial.
Cost: EUR 285.50 for Windows and EUR 94.50 for Mac??

To make easy recordings of my Skype interviews I purchased seperate software. I want me and the person that I interview in 1 shot side-by-side.

Call recorder for Mac
Easy to use software by ecamm to record your video calls on Skype. You can use it for video interviews via Skype or coaching calls via Skype.

Used by the video interview pros TheRiseToTheTop.com and Mixergy.com
Price EUR 20.00

Supertintin for Windows
Looks similar as Call recorder.
I still need to test this one

Price EUR 25.00 (US$ 30.00)

Publishing

To get my videos out in the open, start shipping, I publish them on 3 channels.

YouTube
This is the channel that gets the most traffic. It is the second search engine after Google.
Using the right title can put your video on the first page in Google for your keywords.

YouTube

Vimeo
It has a better quality video. It also offers you a Pro account where you get more upload size (5G per week). You can upload videos of 1 hour or more with Pro.
The Vimeo Pro solution offers a lot more EUR 199.00 / year

I also use it to publish the videos that I sell from my webinars. You can hide the videos in Vimeo.com and only embed them on a specific website.
When you are just beginning the free version of Vimeo will get you high quality playbacks.

Vimeo

Blog
Once the video is published on YouTube and/or Vimeo I embed it in a post and publish it on my blog.

Inspiration

Here are some posts that I used to get some inspiration and information for my video recording setup:

• How To Record Skype Video – Skype Video Call Recording Tools
• How To Produce Video Interviews For Your Blog Using Skype
• How to record a video interview in 8 steps
• Studio of Brendon Burchard – a good overview of the equipment Brendon is using. Wow.

Subscribe to these channels to see my weekly Q&A’s and upcoming video interviews on attracting clients:
YouTube
Vimeo

What do you use?

So are you ready to start recording now?
What kind of equipment do you use for your video recordings?
Share it via the comments below.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

More and better videos for your blog and the equipment you need to make it happen

I know this is a silly post. To claim this site on Technorati.com I need to have this claim code SEXYBFHUMJ64 in my feed.
The only reason I am posting this here :0)

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Technorati claim

How much time do you spend on the web? A question I get asked a lot during presentations. So I have included a slide about this in my presentations and explain why it is smart to spend about one hour per day on marketing.

I am not the average person or a good example for how much time you should spend on the web. I spend a bit more time on the web than the average person. This is what I do.

For better results on the web you do not need to spend that much time. You don’t have to work hard, but you have to work smart on the web.

One CUP a day

So you can remember easily what to do every day on the web is, a CUP-a-day.

CUP stands for:

• Connect – connect with one or two potential clients on the social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or the network where your target audience is
• Update – put one status update on your most important social network sites. Ask a question, reply to your followers. Say something to get response
• Publish – publish something you created on the web. An article, a newsletter, photos a video. Post. It will make you visible on the web.

60 minutes

This CUP-a-day should cost no more than 60 minutes. This also a good alarm for you to set. So you don’t waste to much time on the internet going from profile to profile and update to update.

Spending the time on the right marketing means that you have to spend less time in sales. So if you ask where you should find these 60 minutes, in sales and live networking.

TLC

Another great idea is by Sandi Krakowski and she calls it TLC. Everyday you need some TLC and it stands for Tweet, Like and Comment. With some TLC you will connect with new people and with fans.

So go ahead and use a CUP-a-day or some TLC every day to get this in your daily routine.

Love to see your connection requests, updates and publications.

Credit photo: tracitodd cup bokeh

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

One CUP a day – your marketing trick

Got some questions on this lately. “I have uploaded a test video to my new channel on YouTube. Now, how do I remove it?” So I did a short screencast on removing a video from YouTube.

• You are logged in.
• Click on your username at the top right
• Select ‘My videos’
• Now you have a overview of your video’s. Select the video you want to remove
• Click ‘Delete’
• Confirm.
• Done

Screencast of how to delete your video from YouTube

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Remove a video from YouTube

When you have important information for your audience it is good to inform them on the platform where they hang out.
In extreme conditions you want to inform as many people as possible. The weather conditions in Australia with the flooding is such an extreme condition.

Where to go, on what online platform are you likely to get the attention of as many people as possible? Facebook and YouTube.
Using a Facebook page and publishing content on YouTube will also get you quickly in the search engines.

Let’s check the Facebook stats for Australia:
Facebook Users: 9,247,320
Penetration of population: 43.49%
Penetration of online pop.: 54.29%

So the Queensland Police is posting updates on their Facebook page like crazy.
They are using smart hashtags so you can find the updates fast: #qldfloods.
They inform the followers about livestreaming that’s coming up with more information on the floods.

On the info tab you will find more contact details of the police. Where to go if it is about other situations that need the attention of the police.

A special, separate, tab with more information about the floods, official information from the government and media coverage.

A separate tab where you follow the livestream of the press conferences that they organize with updates.

You can find the press conferences on YouTube on the Queensland Police channel
@QPSmedia on Twitter.

In this video you can see how serious this is and how fast it develops.

Our thoughts are with the people in Australia fighting for their lives and homes.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Inform your audience on their platform – example Queensland Police

Sunday November 14th the voting closed and Leigh collected the final reviews of the panel. Leigh Kostiainen of Advanced Fan Page Solutions collected al the reviews in a full report. Download the report, look at the finalists, read the reviews and see where you can improve your Facebook page.

When you are working on your Facebook page it is interesting to look at the 13 finalists (see this overview of the finalists). Most of the finalists have 1.000+ fans, one even has 8.000+. Still, these Facebook pages have some points to improve their visitbility on Facebook and get even more ‘Likes’.

These are the reviews of Cathy’s Creations:

PMFP finalist Cathy’s Creations in Promote My Fan Page Best Fan Page Awards

Panellist 1 Review
The best thing that Cathy’s Creations is doing with their Page is fan engagement, great use of Reviews, use of an Etsy tab, and an active discussion board. They can improve the Page by adding a custom landing tab. The purpose of the Page is clear.

Panellist 2 Review
Best thing: Engaging all over!
Place to improve: Consider getting a Welcome Tab with email capture.
Page purpose clear? Very

Panellist 3 Review (mine)
The keywords “bead crochet bracelets” could be added to the title of the page to be better found in the search. Good selling from the Etsy shop on a separate tab. Landing on a welcome tab and showing some examples and call to action can win some more likes. Missing branding possibilities in the profile image, name of company.
Lots of topics in the forum. Good photo’s that support the sale and good interaction on the wall.

• land on Wall
• No welcome tab
• Wall shows message of page and not fans
• info box misses link to website
• lots of topics in the forum
• 12 reviews
• Etsy store where you can buy directly
• good photo’s
• good interaction on the wall

Panellist 4 Review
The fan page of Cathy’s Creations has got nearly 1900 likers selling beautiful bead crochet bracelets for every age and size using a variety of glass beads, Swarovski crystals, pearls and sterling silver. The landing page displays a selection of those bracelets using an Etsy shopping tab.
The pictures are of good quality and it’s easy to move around and pick the item of your choice. You also have the possibility of using the share button on each item to share it with your friends on your wall.
The profile picture is not using the full possibility of 600px x 200 px but it gives the page a personal touch with the drawing of a girl showing bracelets on her wrist. This personal touch continues throughout the page, for example on the wall.
This is social media engagement at its best- being transparent and authentic. Not only is Cathy posting all the information needed about the bracelets, but posting jokes, homemade videos and pictures which keeps the community active and engaged.

Panellist 5 Review
Some very humorous updates and interactions on this page, something this community obviously enjoys. The use of photos is very important for this product and works very well. Inclusion of reviews (some are very flattering) and the Etsy store are great moves in making this a profitable Facebook Page. The conversion of visitors to likers to buyers will be improved by creating a custom landing tab and a branded profile pic. A strong page with a powerful mission, well done.

Panellist 6 Review
Cathy’s Creations has some beautiful bracelets to sell on their My Etsy tab. They were very eye catching. I would consider putting some of those beautiful images on a welcome tab that will serve as their landing tab and a call to action to capture email subscribers. They have a unique way of engaging with their fans which is apparent and effective.

Connect on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathys-Creations/333061195652

En dit was de reactie van Cathy op het rapport:

“I will echo Jennifer’s sentiments. Thanks to all the panelist for your professional feed back. I wasn’t even aware a landing tab existed so I will be working on that today!
Also want to thank Trish, I think she needs a vacation ”

Cathy already improved her page Check it out.

You can download the complete report here (PDF) – report Promote My Fan Page Best Fan Page Awards

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Improve your Facebook page with the Report Promote My Fan Page Best Fan Page Awards

I have been impressed with the great presentation that @jessedee is publishing on Slideshare. I love his presentation on presentations Steal this presentation and 10 Ways to be a Marketing Genius Like Lady Gaga.

He actually build a website on the presentations solve99problems.com/.

Now he has done a social media experiment: 72 Hours in Jordan using an iphone, camera, facebook and twitter.


See this great presentation:

This is the page on Facebook 72 Hours in Jordan and Twitter #visitjordan

What do you think, can you setup a campaign like this for your company or area or small town?
Do you already have a campaign like this? Share it below.

Post from: Erno Hannink feel free to use the content but give credit to the writer (CC BY/SA)

Promoting a country – 72 hours in Jordan a social media experiment