1. Establish a 100% profile: If you are just getting started in social media, this is where you should begin. Once your LinkedIn profile is 100%, you become searchable. This will add to your social media presence online. Make sure you have a professional headshot and the minimum three recommendations to complete your profile.
   
2. Use it for market research: When you are trying to figure out a way to pitch a prospect, your LinkedIn account is a good place to start. You can find people by company, industry and city or search for a specific name. 75% of all professionals in the U.S. have a LinkedIn account. Always use LinkedIn to research prospects before meeting or contacting them. Look for any common contacts or interests to build rapport.
   
3. Demonstrate your expertise: There is a section inside LinkedIn where you can answer questions in your industry. It’s called “Questions and Answers”. It’s a great way to show expertise without being a self-promoter. If the person who asked the question selects your answer as the best, that will always appear in your profile as well, which adds another layer of credibility.
   
4. Gather insight from prospects: You can use surveys and polls through LinkedIn to collect valuable information from your contacts. It’s also helpful to ask questions to get a feel for what customers and prospects want or think.
   
5. Grow your network: All accounts in LinkedIn enable you to join up to 50 groups. I would suggest joining all industry groups relevant to your business and any alumni groups related to your educational background. If you are a blogger, consider sharing content within your groups to drive traffic to your website and generate new connections.
   
6. Integrate your other social media accounts: Use widgets to integrate other tools, such as importing presentations from SlideShare, your blog entries or Twitter stream into your profile.
   
7. Use status updates regularly:  All of your connections get a daily or weekly update on anyone that post a status change, so you want to update your status daily if you can, weekly at the very least. It’s a great way to keep your contacts up-to-date on any recent work changes, content or successful contracts. You can also share useful articles and resources that will be of interest to your prospects.
   
8. Establish a group on LinkedIn: There is power in being a convener as a small business owner. Consider establishing and managing a LinkedIn group for your industry. If done well you’ll position yourself as a key influencer and make friends with industry colleagues. Make sure to post rules for interaction in the group. The best groups are regularly moderated. Do not start a group of you do not have time to monitor it.
   
9. Ask for warm sales leads: Nothing beats a personal introduction when you are trying to generate a sale for your business.Ask your first-level contacts for introductions to their first-level contacts.  Make sure that you only ask connections that you know personally for this assistance, otherwise you can really turn-off someone in your network.
   
10. Request LinkedIn recommendations: Request LinkedIn recommendations from satisfied customers within two weeks of providing service. You also want to request recommendations from former colleagues to establish credibility for your business. One of best ways to get a recommendation is to give a valuable recommendation for one your contacts.

Do you have any other suggestions for how to use LinkedIn for a small business?

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is America’s #1 small business experts. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. She writes a weekly column on social media for The New York Times. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

“I call Pinterest a virtual vision board,” said Jennifer Abernethy, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Media Marketing (2012, Penguin) and CEO of The Sales Lounge (www.thesaleslounge.com), a Washington, DC-based firm that helps businesses develop their social marketing, sales and branding efforts. “We are tired of e-mail and the written word, so Pinterest allows us to utilize another part of our brain. We can see other vision boards and it triggers an emotional and visual creative response. We get ‘infotained’ in a way that we wouldn’t otherwise. Pinterest allows small business owners to visually tell their story to their customers. They can use it to create their own personal brand and that of their business.”

According to Abernethy, who brands herself as “America’s Leading Social Business Stylist,” Pinterest started “underground” on the West Coast. It has been around for several years, but didn’t reach critical mass until 2011. The latest statistics indicate there are 17.8 million people on Pinterest, with 2 million “daily” Facebook users pinning.  Some 97% of users are women, and the average viewer spends 1 hour and 18 minutes on a Pinterest board. As Pinterest evolves the numbers are projected to climb in the second half of 2012, she added.

“It really has a ‘wow’ factor,” said Abernethy. “People are getting very creative with it. I’ve seen people do fun videos talking about their business. They share anything from their favorite books to their favorite foods. I’ve also seen people post job descriptions and QR Codes that connect to product demos and customer testimonials. Real estate agents are now pinning homes for purchase and retailers are putting products on their sites. Now we see major brands, Fortune 100 companies, boutique firms and serial entrepreneurs on the site, so it’s great for small business owners to see the “big guys’ ” vision boards and to connect with them on these sites.

Personal organizer and lifestyle expert Staci Krell, owner of New York-based Simply Staci, features products on her Pinterest page (http://pinterest.com/stacikrell) to help people simplify, streamline and organize their spaces. Krell says Pinterest allows her to show clients products in a range of styles and prices all in one place, which is less daunting and saves them time.

“I just started using Pinterest and I love it because I work with a lot of moms and families, and their number one issue is organizing their kids’ toys and other stuff,” said Krell. “Parents don’t know where to put everything and they often don’t have time to search websites online. So instead of writing a blog, Pinterest has been so helpful for me. I compile all of the products I like and clients can click on them and pin them to their pages. It’s like ripping pages out of a magazine. If they see something they want, they can go to the website where the product is sold and order it. I don’t suggest anything I wouldn’t buy myself.”

If you’re considering Pinterest for your business, first, you must get invited to get an account, which is free. Once you get on “Surf for awhile. Look at pages—explore, search individuals, companies and brands,” advised Abernethy. “See how pages from the West Coast differ from East Coast boards. ‘Connect with’ or ‘follow’ those that have large followings. Also, find people with aligned interests, values and connections and follow them. People make impressions based on the company you keep, so look for a savvy mix of companies, brands and individuals to follow. Stretch yourself and follow folks outside of your industry. Find and follow leaders you admire and who influence you.”

Once you’ve experienced other sites, begin to envision your site. “See what trends and new ideas emerge for you,” said Abernethy. “Spend some quality time looking for quality content to follow and re-pin. Think through your ‘why,’ then start naming some boards that relate to your expertise and passions. Then post some photos and videos if you can. The passions you share will make you more human and thus, relatable. Then begin paying attention to the comments you get on your page and pins.”

More helpful hints from Abernethy on launching your Pinterest site:

• Make sure your page overall teaches something whether it’s about you, your industry, or your products or services. You also want to be seen as a resource so people will keep coming back to your page to learn.

• Acknowledge and write back to those who keep coming back to your boards. This will help develop brand champions who will spread the word about your Pinterest page.

• Put articles and blogs on your boards and share great copy. This is a powerful way to create a loyal following on Pinterest. It’s not just about images and video.

• Choose carefully the words you use to describe your boards and pins. This communicates volumes about your brand. The text should complement your pins and align with the branding of your business. Snappy, sassy, clever and creative copy always wins.

• Put your Pinterest link (icon) on your website and blog—many forget to do that. Most people see at least a 50 percent increase to their website if they do this, said Abernethy. Put it on your e-mail and business card, too.

• Under your bio or “About You” section, put links and updated information that keeps it dynamic and searchable. Also put your business phone number there so people can call you.

Pinterest is about to go international, so potentially, there’s even greater opportunity to expand your company’s reach. “As the world get’s smaller, start thinking of ways your business can connect, align and do business with entrepreneurs in other countries,” Abernethy advised. “We don’t know where Pinterest is going, but it’s one of the most popular sites and is growing at a phenomenal rate. The opportunities are really endless.“

How are you using Pinterest in your small business?

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource bloghttp://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. 

Katie doesn’t “tweet”.  She doesn’t “like”.  She has no “fans”.  She has no followers.  She isn’t even “linked” to anyone, and yet, she runs a successful, profitable five person engineering firm.   She does it all the old fashioned way:  paper, stamps, and the U.S. Postal Service.  Yes, shocked reader, Katie uses direct mail as her primary way of drumming up business.   This is how she finds them.  This is how she pitches to them.  This is how she does her marketing.  At about a buck a piece.

Is this shocking news in 2012?  A small business that still uses direct mail?  Is Katie serious?  How can she not be using all those amazing social media tools everyone who’s anyone is using?   She’s so old fashioned.  She must read a newspaper too and use a house phone.  She must be watching the majority of her TV shows on her TV and driving a car that uses gasoline!

Katie’s not alone.  Yes, the direct mail industry has been shrinking, but it’s still a $13 billion a year industry.   Why?  Because to thousands of small business owners direct mail makes sense.  Katie, like many of my clients, relies on some form of direct mail to grow her business.  In 2012 using direct mail is easy, cheap and, if done the right way, amazingly effective.

Katie uses Vistaprint, but they’re not the only game in town.  I have many clients who choose PrintPlace or PsPrint   Others like to use local printers or independent direct mail consultants.  You can find many of these people at the Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association.

The online services are easy to figure out.  You have a list of prospects, customers and others in a spreadsheet.  You upload the spreadsheet, pick out the piece, create the content, and pay.   They print and mail for you.

Katie’s weapon of choice is a postcard.  Postcards are less expensive to buy and cost less to mail.  She sticks a photo or a graphic on the front and on the back she does something very unusual:  she doesn’t promote her company.  Instead, she tells a story.

Like the other month when she and her husband took their five granddaughters to Washington DC.  They had fun and they took lots of pictures.  One of these photos, a happy shot of the seven of them in front of the White House, made it to the front of her next month’s postcard mailing.  On the back Katie wrote about the experience, how patriotic it made her feel, what a great country we live in, etc. Yes, of course there’s a little tag line promoting her business on the bottom of the card, but the rest of the card was the story.

People like stories and they want to build trust.  They want to get to know us before doing business with us.  They want to feel as if they have a relationship with us.  We all get so many advertisements, bulk emails, commercials and sales letters that we become immune to the message.  Katie does something different.  She uses her postcards to reach out and connect with her audience.

Her audience is everyone in her community.  That means customers and prospects, suppliers, partners, friends, and associates.  Katie has about a thousand on her list.  She keeps them all in a database so she can update their information when it changes and add new people as she connects with them.

Her intention is to reach out to her community just once a month, using a simple postcard, to keep in touch and to tell a story.  And it works.

“I have people calling me that have been getting my postcards for years who say “I love your stories and now need your services,”” she told me.  Katie gets it.   She realizes that she can’t put a gun to people’s heads and say to them:  buy from me.  She needs to be touching her community frequently enough so that she’s thought of when an opportunity comes up.

A few things I learned from her.

Don’t skimp on the graphics.  Sometimes Katie uses an experienced graphic artist to create a design for her, like her company logo.  Her photos are taken from a real camera, not a cell phone.  She frequently gets high resolution royalty-free photos from morgueFile, funny magazine covers from MagMyPic and once or twice she’s played a few tricks with her photos on befunky.  It’s all about creating something unique and fun that stands out so people will read her little story.

Keep it short, sweet and personal.  Never advertise your company, she told me.  Don’t self promote.  Just tell a story about you that a person will enjoy reading.  If you can’t think of anything then tell a story about a friend or family member that affected you or give a customer space on a mailing to tell their story.  Stories are interesting.  “People tell me they look forward to getting my postcard every month,” she says.

Mix it up.  It doesn’t have to look the same every month.  Maybe one month you send a normal letter.  Or another month you send a different sized postcard.  The idea is to attract a little attention.

Once you start, stay committed.  “Doing a one-off mailing is a waste of money,” says Katie.  “I’ve been doing mine for five years now, every month.  It has to be a commitment.”   Katie chooses direct mail, as opposed to social media, email, telemarketing and other forms of communication as her primary way of keeping in touch with her community.  She commits.  Somewhere some ad-man said that it takes at least 20 times of viewing an ad before someone remembers it.  That seems about right.

Wow, a successful small business owner who uses direct mail in lieu of social media.   Next thing you’ll be telling me is that a series on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre that follows the lives of an aristocratic British family and their servants during the reign of King George V would be a huge hit in this age of Glee and Real Housewives.

No way.

Besides Forbes, Gene Marks writes weekly for The New York Times and Inc.com.

Uncertainty.

“Small businesses are uncertain about so many things today,” said Rep. Mark Hanna (R-NY).  “They’re uncertain about taxes, government regulation, our national debt, healthcare reform.  I hear this all the time.”

He’s right.  I hear it too from my clients, readers, and from the people at events where I speak.  The economy isn’t growing and the media report that it’s because many business people are uncertain.  This sentiment isn’t exclusive to small business.  Big businesses, like Nissan and FedEx are using “uncertainty” to explain their own financial challenges.  “Uncertainty” has defined the economy and is the big issue in this election year.

I can relate.  I’m uncertain about my business too.  Like so many others, I use uncertainty as an excuse for why my business hasn’t been growing.  I blame our “uncertain” economy and nod my head in agreement when my colleagues and clients curse the world around them.

But wait just a second.  Since when have things ever been certain?  Since when do people know for sure what’s going to happen in the future?  At what point did smart, independent, risk-taking small business people suddenly start blaming all of their problems on uncertainty?  Isn’t uncertainty a historical part of running any business?  A big part?

Of course things are never certain.  There’s never been an easy time to run a small business.  Is this a surprise?  Maybe the reason I hear so much about “uncertainty” is related to the people I’m hearing it from.  Losing your job as a result of the recent recession can make anyone feel uncertain.  Like so many of those who find themselves running a small business for the first time to generate income, they’re finding that it’s a cold, hard world out here.  Here’s certainty:  having a job with health benefits and a retirement plan plus a nice boss, a yummy choice of organic coffees in the break room and “casual Fridays.”  Here’s uncertainty:  getting up at six in the morning, enduring abuse from the few customers you’re managed to scrape together, banging your head trying to find that mysterious subcontractor who promised to deliver by today, begging for money owed you from work done three months ago, tossing and turning all night wondering if that big project will finish on time and if it doesn’t where are you going to get the money to pay the suppliers you owe.   Running a small business can be scary, risky, stressful and most of all uncertain.  I think there are many new entrepreneurs finding this out right now and they’re the ones who are yelling the loudest.

I don’t hear the word “uncertainty” from true blue entrepreneurs.  These are the ones who are getting financing, creating new technologies, making a killing on Wall Street, and snapping up competitors who lose their mojo.  Are these people uncertain?  Of course they are.  But they love it!  Because that’s their thrill.  That’s how they make money.  Business, all business, is a bet.  A gamble.  They are true business people they understand the concept of risk and reward.  The more uncertainty, the more reward for the right bet.

I don’t hear the word “uncertainty” from the typical small business owner, the 20 million of us who are running tech firms, baking pizzas, changing oil, mowing lawns, buying high, selling low.  I hear words like “slow”, “terrible”, “frustrating” and a host of other choice words.

There are plenty of reports of how corporations are sitting on a mountain of cash but unwilling to spend because of uncertain times.  Actually, business investment has been up over the past few  years.   I talk to many business executives and uncertainty really has nothing to do with why they’re not spending more.  These guys are not spending this money because there’s nothing to spend it on.  The economy is not growing and neither are their customers.  They’re seeking out profits by cutting costs and keeping employee numbers low.  There’s no need to stock up on inventory when demand is slow.  They don’t have to build new buildings when they have less employees.  They don’t need more equipment when they’re able to produce all they need with the equipment they have.  This is not uncertainty.  It’s choice.  These guys are quite happy to take the risk.  They get that nothing’s certain.  They understand that any investment they make may not pay off.

Will higher taxes bring on another recession?  Will planned cuts in government spending do the same?  Will our national debt bankrupt us?  Will healthcare reform, in all or in part, have an impact on our economy?   Will the Fed’s money policies fuel inflation and higher interest rates?  Will our dollar regain or lose strength?  Will Rielle Hunter and John Edwards ever get back together again?

These are big questions. But they are not new questions.  These are the same issues that businesses have been facing since Caesar.  It’s just that today there are no gladiator fights.  Successful entrepreneurs understand this and thrive.  The rest of us just complain.

He raised money from investors and for years worked out of his home (and this was before working from one’s home was acceptable) where he supervised a handful of misfit and quirky programmers who worked odd hours developing a bookkeeping application based on a patent he held in his name.  Until the money ran out.  And when that happened he took his unfinished product to market where he suffered painful project after painful project.  And (of course) he timed his product launch perfectly with Intuit’s latest iteration of QuickBooks, which was infinitely better, faster, more reliable and cheaper than his.

I know this firsthand because in 1994 I left my job, formed my own company, and partnered with him.  For six years I also struggled to sell and implement his terrible, incomplete and poorly designed bookkeeping software.  Mercifully, the year 2000 “bug” took us both out of our misery, rendering the software unworkable.  We were forced to change directions and resell software products made by other companies.  Since then I’ve managed to do what my father was never able to accomplish:  earn a profit.

“I’m an entrepreneur,” my dad would keep telling me.  OK.  My dad was an entrepreneur.  Just not a very good one.  I learned from that.  My company has grown to ten people.  We now resell five customer relationship management applications and provide services to help our clients best use them.  We are profitable.  I am not like my dad.  I am a business owner.  I am not an entrepreneur.

That’s because entrepreneurs take risks.  Much bigger risks than business owners like me.   Unlike my dad, I did not raise money from outside investors or bring on equity partners.  I did not operate for a decade with no revenues coming in the door.  I did not bet the farm on a single product or as he liked to call it…the “Big One.”  I am not a risk taker.  I am not a dreamer.  When I make an investment in a new product or technology it’s one that I’m able to lose without feeling it.  My gambles are small.  I think small.  Therefore my returns are small.  I am a business owner.  I am a small business owner.  And I’m fine with that.

Entrepreneurs are never satisfied with the status quo.   Like my dad, they’re always thinking of the next thing, the next project.  The “Big One.”  They enjoy action.  They thrive on chaos.  They’ve got their fingers in different jars. That’s why it’s common to hear of them failing at half a dozen companies before finally hitting the mark.   I am not like that.  I can only concentrate on one thing at one time. I don’t juggle.  I hate to lose.  I avoid failure.  I am a control freak.  I prefer to make investments only after I’m assured of a probable return on my money.  I protect my bank account like it’s my child.  I wince when I have to write big checks and feel sated when a big check comes in.  Which is why I’m just a small business owner, and not an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are more technical than business owners like me.  My dad’s proudest achievement was his patent.  It was a process for bookkeeping that no one had thought of before.  He explained it to me hundreds of times but to this day I still don’t completely understand it.  That’s because I’m just not technical like he was.  Guys like him love inventions, science, new technologies and new ways to change the world.  Guys like me are more interested in profit margins, revenue projections and support costs.  Like me, my dad was a Certified Public Accountant.  Unlike me, he was actually good at it.  He liked numbers.  He excelled at the sciences.  Like many of the entrepreneurs I’ve met, he would’ve been in his element teaching college classes.  And I would’ve been the kid in his class, the future business owner, counting down the minutes to the end.

Entrepreneurs and business owners have a different relationship with their companies.  Entrepreneurs view their companies as assets.  Something to be developed, shaped and readied for market.  And then sold for a profit so that they can move on to the next “Big One.”  Business owners tend to be more sentimental about their businesses.  Oftentimes it was their dad’s or their grandfather’s business.  The business is part of the family, a place where the kids worked during the summer or where you’ll find the old man tinkering late on a Wednesday evening.  The neighbors know it.  It’s part of the community.  It’s the small business owner’s livelihood, his retirement, a reflection of his life.  It’s not an asset.  It’s history.  And this is not the attitude of an entrepreneur.  But I don’t mean to say that that entrepreneurs aren’t passionate about what they do.  They are.

In fact, many of the entrepreneurs I know prefer passion over profits.  You never get the impression that guys like Mark Zuckerberg, Reed Hastings or Jeff Bezos did what they did because of the money.  Not that they mind it.  But entrepreneurs like them are out to change the world.  They love what they do and would do it for much, much less.  Business owners, on the other hand, don’t necessarily love what they do, but are still happy doing it because it means they’re not doing it for someone else.  Business owners, more so than entrepreneurs, are doing it for the money.  My dad wanted to change the way people did their bookkeeping with his patented technology.  Me?  I want to pay the mortgage, put money away for college, and take a cruise once a year.  And have a nest egg left over for retirement.  If I can make more money selling coffee cups rather than customer relationship management software I’d be like: hey, decaf or regular?  I don’t want to change the world.  I’m not an entrepreneur.  I’m a business owner.

I’m doing what I do not to change the world but because it’s a better way of life than what I was doing before.  Before I was working for a large company, but I wanted something different.  So I left that company and started my own company.  We realize that it’s not such a bad life to run your own business.  I work a lot of hours., but I have more control.  I can walk from customers I don’t like and work with people I do like.  Other than my wife I have no other business partners and I like that autonomy.  My business, like so many other small businesses, is my own little world.  I like that too.

So next time you’re out driving around your town take a look around.  You’ll notice hundreds of shops, restaurants, gas stations, and non-descript companies listed on the signs outside of that industrial park near the airport.  You’ll remember the landscapers, plumbers, electricians, pizza guys and exterminators that you pay during the year.  These are not entrepreneurs, not really.  They are not dreamers or people out to change the world.  These are all small business people.  Like me.  We’re not looking to go public.  You won’t find us on the cover of Forbes magazine.  We’ll never be famous.  We’re making a living.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Besides Forbes, Gene Marks writes weekly for The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

To date, there have been close to 700,000 views and countless other re-productions on other sites.  Thousands and thousands of people have commented and tweeted about it.  Al Sharpton criticized me on MSNBC and NPR discussed the blog on multiple shows.  CNN and the BBC covered the controversy.   Everyone from the American Thinker to technology web sites weighed in on the issue.  Dozens of lesser known pundits on internettalk shows argued over what I wrote.  Time Magazine included my blog as #2 on its list of the Top 10 Opinions of 2011, along with Warren Buffett and Alan Greenspan.

I’m not going to re-hash what I wrote here.  I want to share with other business owners what I’ve learned from going viral because it could happen to you.  If you’re out there using the internet to market your business then something you say or some video you make could also go viral.  If that does happen to you, like it happened to me, then my story will interest you.  What I learned may really help you too.

Be serious about what you put out there.  The blog I wrote was written with the best of intentions and from the heart.  Except for the one thing I mention below, I wouldn’t change a word.  Because I believe what I wrote was right.  That’s the first lesson I learned.  When you write or produce anything that you intend to be viewed by the public, make sure you really mean it.  Make sure you’re willing to defend it.  Don’t just put it out there because for all you know it may become viral.  Then you’ll be forced to respond to it.  Read what you write, watch the video you made, again and again. Review it.  Have someone else review it.  Look at each paragraph or segment and ask yourself if it makes sense to you and if you would feel comfortable explaining it if asked.  When you produce something for the Internet, whether it’s a blog, or tweet or video, take it seriously.  It’s a permanent reflection of you and your business.

Have a very thick skin.  I do a lot of writing and anyone who writes online will tell you there are plenty of haters out there.  It’s very easy to hide behind your computer screen and write hurtful comments or tweet nasty things.  You can do this anonymously.  You should try to respond back to those people who comment thoughtfully and constructively but unfortunately you may have to wade through lots of abusive remarks to get there.  This isn’t easy.  Just remember these people don’t know you and have never met you.  Remember that people interpret things in different ways based on their own experiences.  Respect the fact that people are passionate.  Focus on the people who want to engage in a discussion.  Ignore those who just want to hurt.

The commenters are not a meaningful representation of the public.  As mentioned earlier, I had 700,000 views to my original blog.  About 1,500 people have left comments.  That means that .002% of the people who viewed my blog commented on it.  Let me ask you – do you comment on all (or any) of the things you read on the Internet?  I respect people that (courteously) comment on what I write because they’re inspired enough to do that.  There are many, many smart people who contribute valuable insights through their comments.  But these people unfortunately are not a representative sample of readers.  99% of the people that read your blog or view your video won’t leave a comment.

People everywhere will say untrue things about you and your business.  After my blog came out people claimed that I wrote it to get hits for the money (I’m unpaid), I’m rich (wish I was), I’m a liberal (nope) and I had no background in the subject matter (untrue again – although if I were to change one thing to my original blog I would’ve included one more paragraph more fully describing my experience and background.  Then again, would it have mattered?).  How do politicians and celebrities deal with all those people saying incorrect stuff about them all the time?  I guess they learn to tune it out.  And so did I. And so must you.  You know the facts.  That’s why you wrote what you wrote.  You’re going to have to ignore all the others out there who think they know what they’re talking about…but don’t.

Other people will want a piece of the pie.  When my blog came out a proliferation of other bloggers wrote responses, most attacking me.  My favorite was this blog by a comedian on CNN.com who was about to launch a new book and speaking tour on a similar topic when my blog dropped like a gold coin from the sky.  People will be jealous that you went viral and want a piece of the pie.  They’ll try to use your same headline.  They’ll be angry and outrageous.  They’ll try to figure out what the public wants to hear and then join them.  People in the media are looking for attention.  Your viral blog or video might be just the thing for them.  Until they find something else.

You’re not as famous as you think.  For a while I thought that the entire world was talking about me and what I wrote.  Then I turned off the feature on my blog that notified me every time a comment was made and I stopped searching for my name on Google.  Lo and behold all went quiet.    We all live in our own little virtual realities and if you want to spend your days searching for yourself online after your blog or video goes viral then you’ll think it’s all about you.  It’s not.   I found that most of the people I know and work with never read or heard about what I wrote.  If they did it was fleeting.  The world does not revolve around you or your silly blog or video.  No one cares.  They might hear of it and then move on to something else in their life that’s more important.  Don’t take yourself so seriously.

Don’t go on TV.  I didn’t.  Sometimes I have the opportunity to talk about what I write on TV, but not this time!  I was asked by all the major networks, NPR and the BBC to appear.  You know what stopped me?  Imagining myself arguing with Al Sharpton edited into a bit for The Daily Show.  That terrifying image made me turn down all offers.  Once your image is out there, TV people can do all sorts of creative things with it.  You have no control.  If you believe in what you produced in your blog or video then let it stand on its own.

If you have an opinion, be prepared for the consequences.  I have opinions.  I write about them. Lots of people disagree.  In this case I wrote about a controversial topic. But I didn’t lose a single client.  I did have one setback:  sadly and because of what I wrote I was fired from an unpaid job writing for a local business newspaper.  By the next week I was hired for a paid job writing for a local magazine.  I received a few (but not as many as you think) emails who disagreed with me.  I also received a dozen others inviting me to speak at their schools and groups to discuss what I wrote.  If you write or produce something that goes viral expect people to take sides.  You have to take a side too.

Your fifteen minutes goes fast.  Within two weeks of writing my infamous blog I was yesterday’s news. Four months later it’s as if it never happened.  I occasionally get a new comment posted, but people have moved on to other things.  Like every event in your life….it’s not about the event.  It’s about how you handled the event.  Can you look back on it and say that you took the high road and behaved professionally, even when so many others didn’t?  That’s the most important lesson I learned from going viral.

For many, like the baker in Pittsburgh whose cookies were recently compared by Mitt Romney to a 7-11, becoming instantly famous or going ‘viral’ can not only be good for business, but also a lot of fun.  For others, like myself, it can be tempestuous.  Would I want to go through the same experience again? Not really.  But if your business, like mine, relies on blogging and other social media as part of its marketing then this is what could happen.  And I’m ready if it happens again.

As one who loves to learn, I am a bit of an info junkie.  I love to research new topics and then I feel compelled to share knowledge that may help others.  I used to spend hours in the library looking at books on new topics that were of interest to me, and then I would share that which was a help to others.  And the internet is a world-wide library to me, available at all times to feed my habit.

One of the action items on the marketing plan developed with my Project REV mentor and advisor was to get involved in social media—Twitter, Facebook, blogs.

At first, this was a bit intimidating to me, as I didn’t know what I would share or post.  So I started slowly.  And slowly I have developed an approach which works well for me: to use social media as an outlet for my passion to learn and share knowledge.

For example, starting an engineering firm several years ago involved learning experiences on many levels, as has being a woman-owned business.   And when I think of others who may be going through this learning process, I feel compelled to share some of my “lessons learned” or helpful tips to help their learning curve be a quicker one.

Likewise, when I find information my clients would benefit from, such as a funding opportunity, a new infrastructure technology, or a way to make their operations and maintenance more efficient, I share it with them.

Since starting to tweet (as @TrigonAssoc) and post to our new Trigon Facebook page a few months ago, I have shared a lot of information.  While not breaking any records, our following is steadily growing.  Plus, the information that I am sharing on many levels is reaching a much broader audience than before (when I used email as a distribution method) and hopefully helping more people.  And I get to share my passion in the process.

At times like this is where we think a mix of our worst thoughts and our best crazy ideas. It’s also when you start reconsidering those marketing ideas you had been putting off. And finally, it’s where you start looking for silver bullets to cure all your marketing and sales problems. And that’s when you turn to things like social media. Sound familiar?

Put Down the Gun

Like anything you want to do for your business, rushing into social media and online channel development to fix a crisis gap in your sales isn’t really going to work well. You’ll come off as too salesy and you’ll risk alienating people right out of the gate. If you buy your way into a larger following on any of the online services, you’ll get what you paid for: transients who really don’t care about what you’re doing. If you want to develop the human digital channel for improving your online efforts to attract sales and/or membership, put down the gun and start developing a longer battle plan.

Planting Seeds and Foraging for Food

Probably the easiest way to think about it is that if you want to develop online sales and business, you’re going to be planting seeds. That means you have to nurture and water and weed and all that before you get a yield. If you’re hungry today, then you’ll have to forage for business while you wait for this online work to take effect. How long? That’s an “it depends,” but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect some business transactions within the first three months of work. If that feels too long for you, then you’re most likely in a transactional business and don’t want repeat customers and relationship-based clients. That’s okay. Just accept that and move away from these tools.

What Are You Willing to Tackle?

First, decide what you’re willing to do to warm up more customers online. If you’re just going to send out blurts and updates and coupons and the like, then you can probably just “set it and forget it” and see if something comes of it. If, instead, you’re interested in creating information that helps people decide upon a purchase, or that gives them an even better appreciation of the space where the customer uses the product or service you offer, then you might find this whole online human digital channel stuff interesting. The idea is to help prospects learn more about you, equip them to purchase, give them more value than what they’re paying for, and to be able to warmly encourage referrals. A side opportunity is to listen for customer service issues as they arise, but we’ll talk about that another time.

The Longer Yield

As you invest some time in developing a digital channel, maybe through creating compelling email newsletter, by writing and posting useful content on your website or blog, and by exchanging conversations with potential prospects, partners, and others on the various social networks, you’ll find that these efforts will yield leads, prospects, clients, and customers who are retained for longer. The goal with building relationship-based selling is to make this effort pay off over the longer haul, and you will. However, don’t gauge or judge your results by the shorter term, or this work will all be for naught.

To wrap this up, realize that when you’re frustrated or have to hurry a sale, the digital channel isn’t likely your best set of tools, unless you don’t mind burning your potential community. While there are no silver bullets, you’ll find that time spent growing your digital channel will help you over the long haul. So what’s keeping you from starting today?

We were fortunate to be able to support our client with quick response and resources, being on the ground two weeks after to help assess utility systems for damage.  This started the long process of recovery and restoration that continues today.  It also started a long process of full-time, intensive training on disaster recovery activities and funding, as well as many lessons learned on how to better respond.  We were involved with numerous recovery efforts from sewer, water, drainage and roads to safe house construction and years of debris removal.

Coming out on the other end nearly seven years later, we look back on the experiences we gained during this period and are awed by the far-reaching effects that this one event has had on so many people.  As Trigon, we continue to provide disaster recovery services to our clients in the south Louisiana area, and help others through with the experience and knowledge gained through this time.  Although we could not have possibly imagined or planned for this new area of expertise, it is with pride that we provide these services to our clients as they continue to progress through their recovery efforts.

The marketplace for books became Amazon, even though readers swore that they preferred going to bookstores. By mastering online selling of books, Amazon expanded into a marketplace for everything else. Today, you can buy groceries, pet food, electronics, clothes, and maybe some books. And you do this because Amazon spent their time thinking about the marketplace from the perspective of their buyers, and they didn’t waste as much time or money worry about marketing.

Apple did the same thing. Is the iPhone an amazing phone? Maybe. But it’s a powerful distribution channel. So is the iPad. So is the Apple App store. Apple has mastered the art of building you stores that you willingly carry around everywhere you go. Was that marketing? Of course not. It was focusing on the marketplace at large.

But those are huge companies. What can you do with that? When I spoke with Katherine Laurienti from the Paisano Sausage Company , she talked to me about how the margins for dried sausage were way better than for fresh sausage, and that by shifting to dried sausage, she could also expand her distribution options, rethink her best buyers, and more. Katherine runs a very small business and yet, she knew instinctively that thinking about her marketplace would be a good way to grow her sales.

MARKETING WORKS WITHIN EXISTING SYSTEMS: THE MARKETPLACE DEFINES THE SYSTEM

I spend a lot of time in hotels. That might be why I’m often thinking up little startup ideas or partnership ideas that would benefit a hotel’s guests. Working on the marketplace is convincing a hotel that a Starbucks kiosk is a great selling point for your venue. For you to work on the marketplace, you can think up ways to sell into that hotel, or you can think up ways to sell into that Starbucks, or you can think about where you can sell that a Starbucks can’t.

There are many other ways to evaluate your efforts. Does it cost you three times as much to ship orders as it does to sell in store? Do you get only 1.5 times more online orders than through your local channels? Then you might have to do some simple math on costs versus earnings to see if one of these details offsets the other. Could you do more if you acquired or were acquired by someone? That’s marketplace thinking. Can some new technology threaten your product or service? I was thinking about this the other day when my little tiny town ice cream place swiped my debit card through her Square app on her iPad. I realized just how small Square is as a company, and yet how pervasive they’re getting, and fast. If you served the credit card machine marketplace, wouldn’t you be feeling like your days are numbered?

If you work on understanding the larger marketplace and the potential for your products and services, you won’t have to focus as tightly on marketing itself. Instead, you can build the best opportunities for your product to exist by working to influence (or create) the marketplaces where you know your product will thrive.

What do you think?
Chris Brogan is President of Human Business Works, a strategic advisory company that helps mid- and larger-sized business build out their customer acquisition and content marketing efforts around the human digital channel. He lives in northern Massachusetts.