Creating a Web Presence – Why Bother?

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The Short Version:

If you don’t have a web presence, your competitors will overtake you. You’ll miss out, without ever knowing about it.

The Long Version:

I recently worked with a new client who has very little presence on the web. One of the first things I do when a new client gets in touch is Google them.

I’m not being nosy; I want to know:

• who they are
• what they’ve done
• what they’re doing
• what people are saying about them
• what they’re saying about other people

It’s important to me that my clients are reputable, respected and not notorious for late payment, spamming or other nefarious activities. And I think Googling a business or individual is the very least you should do to check someone’s credentials.

Now, this particular new client had almost no mentions on the web. Which seemed weird. So I asked my new client if they had a web presence and she said:

“I have a web domain but I’m yet to develop it and I have a linked in account but don’t check it. What advantages does a social media presence have?”

Rather than reply by email, I thought this was a good opportunity to blog about the reasons for having a web presence – a chance to create a blog post that I can point other clients and colleagues towards when this question arises.

So, what is the value of being mentioned on the web, and maintaining a healthy social media presence? The value is manifold:

Supporting Evidence

It’s nice to see evidence of a person’s life – their actions, their works – the web is a perfect place to scatter this evidence.

Connections

Who do you know? Who have you worked with? The web lets you demonstrate your connections in a way that feels more genuine than anonymous claims in a CV. LinkedIn is especially good for showing connections and displaying recommendations – all deeply authentic because it links you to the actual people you’ve worked for.

Sense of Self

Your web presences allow you to give a bit of yourself away. Don’t be a cold, flat CV – be a human being with opinions, preferences, idiosyncrasies and embarrassing musical tastes (see Last.fm).

Build Trust

Every time your name appears on the web, it increases the sense that you are a real person who does real things, and who can be relied upon in a real sense. If someone Googles your name and finds nothing but a private Facebook profile, they have learnt nothing. Give searchers everything they could possibly want.

Networking

The web is incredibly democratic – you can speak to anyone on Twitter and (if you go about it in the right way) get their attention.

Industrious social media operators can side-step traditional recruitment processes and make friends with potential employers. Social media tools like Twitter and FriendFeed give you access to interesting individuals – and the chance to make their acquaintance.

How do you do all this?

It’s easy! Just follow my twelve-step program:

1. Read blogs
2. Join Twitter
3. Read blog posts about Twitter, like this one
4. Start a blog.  If you’re technologically-challenged, use WordPress.com, TypePad or Blogger
5. Tweet regularly
6. Blog regularly
7. Comment on other blogs in fields that interest you
8. Use @replies on Twitter if you have something interesting to say (that ensures the recipient sees your tweet)
9. Join FriendFeed
10. Maintain your LinkedIn account, updating connections, asking for and giving recommendations
11. Work on getting a proper website. Again, if your technical expertise is limited, consider WordPress.org
12. Once you’ve been blogging for a little while, offer to contribute a post to another blog

Scratching the Tip of the Social Media Iceberg

As you’ve probably guessed, there’s more to it than my 12 steps suggest. Every social networking site has its own quirks and requires different strategies to get the most out of it.

The best way to get started with anything like this is slowly. Take measured steps – always take a bit of time to see how people use websites like Twitter and LinkedIn. Follow the lead of others, and try to understand what constitutes bad behaviour in each forum.

Further Reading:

Matt at Zen Bullets has an interesting post: Write Your Autobiography, Before Someone Else Writes It For You

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

The decision to blog about this “rather than reply by e-mail” allows what I find to be the greatest benefit of having a web presence. It’s the concept of one-to-many. When used well, it turns into many-to-many, and we all win.

Using it well, of course, is a whole other topic. Developing social media management skills is quickly becoming a requirement in order to thrive as a business communicator. I think the12-step plan shown above is a great way to start. Put all that on a schedule and start working it into your operations. For real effectiveness, add objectives and metrics for each of the activities.

We are communicating differently as a result of social media and our web presence; this means we’re doing business differently, and our business operations need to reflect that.

I firmly believe that every business should have a blog. That’s right, I said every business. Blogs should be integrated into every business as an essential marketing tool.

Raise your hand if you think blogging is a new trend. It isn’t. Way back in 2005, Bloomberg Businessweek featured an article titled “Blogs Will Change Your Business”.

According to that article: “Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re going to shake up just about every business — including yours. It doesn’t matter whether you’re shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.”

Many businesses avoid blogging because they think they are only for “small” businesses. They couldn’t be more wrong. According to Socialtext, as of last December, 79 of the Fortune 500 companies have active blogs about the company and/or its products—and that number is growing. BlogPulse repoorted that there were 126 million blogs in 2009—not posts—actual blogs. Sure, many were personal, but a great many were for businesses and organizations.

Blogs provide two-way communication with consumers. Websites are great—but they are static. The information is there to be read, but only to be read. With a blog, people have the opportunity to respond to what is posted. One of the fears, of course, is that negative comments will be posted. You need to realize that those comments are probably being posted somewhere online anyway, so why not take the opportunity to respond to the criticism…and maybe turn the situation around?

When a business considers blogging, one question I frequently get is about who should write the blog. Personally, I think that it should be an executive in the company, even the CEO, president or owner. It can be someone else, but the absolute most important thing is that the writing be authentic. While it is a marketing tool, blogs are designed to be personal. Come across as a used car salesman just hawking your product and no one will read what you write.

How often should a blog be posted? Every person will give you a different opinion. Marketing expert Seth Godin blogs every day, but his posts are short, quick reads. Think that’s too often? Take a look at his numbers: virtually every post is Tweeted hundreds of times and nearly 60,000 people “like” his blog’s Facebook Fan page.

I’m a proponent of weekly blogs, but at the very least, I think you should blog every two weeks. Otherwise, people forget you exist.

Now it’s time for class participation: what are the best business blogs that you read and why?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Blogging is an acquired skill. But, the first step is to just start. It gets easier and easier.

I started my business blog (3D Communications) because I was advised that this was a good practice. I set an objective of creating a resource for visitors. Now, though, I blog because it's a great way for me to document what I've learned about my business -- social media -- and reinforce my learning.

Blogging about a topic helps me advance my own expertise. Later, I can go back to my blog and see how much more I've learned over time.

What started out as a blog that I was writing for others has turned into an incredibly useful tool for myself as well.

It's been a long time since I rescued a wild bird. But, it all came back to me.

It's never boring in Boulder. My friend Connie and I managed to be at the right place at the right time and we got to see all the hoopla and hysteria associated with the Big Wheel Rally.

Connie and I were calling it a night at about 11:45 p.m. But, as we walked to our cars, we saw the parade of Big Wheels making yet another pass down the Pearl Street Mall on their way to their next stop -- not looking like they were anywhere near done with the fun.

PacTour Goals

Northern Transcontinental

Everett, Washington to Williamsburg, Virginia

July 11 to August 9, 2010

• Dream, anticipate, prepare, adjust, and continue

• Pay attention to my body and take care of problems as they come up

• Keep a balanced life as I do this PacTour ride

• Pay constant attention to the details on the road

• Manage my space and know who is in it

• Stay within myself and let the ride come to me

• Enjoy other people’s company while learning from them about life and riding

• Enjoy the total cross country ride experience

• Have fun, use good judgment, and be safe

• Thank Kathy for supporting me to do this ride

Rocky Mt. Masters' ski racer, Jerry Sorensen, is sharing his "Cross the USA" bike tour with us. This guy knows how to live!

Facebook ads seem to have us intrigued, even if many have yet to see any real return. I do believe this may be the lull before the storm.

I just read a blog post from Mashable's Jennifer Van Grove on "3 Qualities to Look for When Hiring a Community Manager". Of course, this topic can be looked at from the other side of the equation, which led me to thinking about what qualities someone who wants to be a social media manager should have.

For the record, Van Grove lists 1) intellectual curiosity, 2) passion, and 3) knowledge of your business. I'd modify and expand this to:

1. You understand technology, but you love people. Social media technology is a means to an end, that end generally being to communicate effectively, build trust and foster community. The quiet geek in the corner who wears a reddit t-shirt, knows how to use any Twitter application ever invented, but never interacts with co-workers, probably isn't the right person for the job.

Better would be the outgoing person who gets what social media can do and wants to use it to reach out to people -- friends, customers, clients, people with similar interests, etc. If that's you, don't worry about whether you have sufficient "passion" for a social media manager's job. You do.

2. You possess intellectual and emotional curiousity. Sure, you're supposed to know stuff -- your company's business, details about products and services, problem resolution procedures, etc. -- but your real strength is the desire and ability to look at things from another person's perspective. Empathy. The best customer reps have it; for a social media manager, it's imperative.

3. You're thoughtful, not impulsive or reactive. Being a social media manager is about more than tweeting positive thoughts and virtual brand-building. There's a lot of pressure. Many organizations aren't totally sold on social media, measuring its impact (especially short-term) can be difficult, not all your co-workers may be "getting it," and dealing with crises (or even just haters) can test your patience. If you can handle these types of things, you may be able to handle the stress that comes with being a social media manager.

4. You think strategically (and communicate the strategy). An effective social media manager understands an organization's social media goals and attempts to measure results against them. Equally important, they know how to convey strategic goals to colleagues.

5. You are an ensemble player, not a diva. There are some giant egos in the social media business, a lot of self-proclaimed "gurus" who amass a lot of Twitter followers and land numerous speaking engagements. Many would make lousy social media managers because they see themselves as superstars or saviors. A good social media manager freely gives out credit for successes to teammates and accepts blame for failures.

Those are the qualities I'd consider to be most valuable in a social media manager. Let me know if there are any you think should be on the list.

I'm about 14 months into my plan for updating my communications coach and consultant shingle. The journey has been intense and exciting. I'm happy to say that it's nowhere near over. This industry is picking up steam by the hour and I'm thrilled to be at the right place at the right time.

A couple days ago I learned about Kate Buck Jr. and her "Let's Get Social" program. It's like the cherry on top of the sundae.