On slide 10, almost 90+% of the respondents reported that individual marketers or their teams work on writing / blogging:
Slides 14 and 15 described "What Tactics Do Marketers Employ." Of the 26 tactics measured, respondents cited these SEO tactics as the most employed:
Social: Set up / ran a Facebook business profile
Analytics: Analyzed / tracked site speed and page-load times
Competitive: Analyzed competitors' back links
Competiitive: Analyzed competitors' content
Content: Started a new blog or invested heavily in blogging
Blog Posts Are The Number One Type of Inbound Marketing Content Produced
On slide 15, "blog posts" received the highest % of responses as the type of inbound marketing content produced. Social media (e.g., tweets, statuses, etc.) ranked second:
Blogging Isn't Dead (Especially If You Love Writing)
"We've come to a place where those who were never going to stick it out with blogging for the long haul are busy on Twitter and Facebook, where they can share without the burden of having a passion for writing. So, in the end, maybe what's new for blogging is a place where the real bloggers step in and create a new type of copy for the world to consume. A place where more and more creative thinkers get to tinker with words in new and interesting ways. It's a place where you (and everyone else who wants to write and have a voice) gets to be free to try it out and see what kind of audience their words, images and even video connects with. Blogging - as a platform - may never have anything new to show for itself. Blogging - as a creative white space - is still in its early days."
I finished reading Hugh MacLeod's latest book, Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear. It's his love letter to blogging describing how this influential medium changed the trajectory of his personal and professional life.
Highlighting a few key quotes:
"My blog gave me everything."
"My blog gave me my freedom."
I subscribe to Hugh's blog, gapingvoid.com, which is how I learned the book was released this past week. Here's his video describing why he wrote the book:
Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear is filled with Hugh's motivational, irreverent,and rebellious point-of-view. It's his call-to-arms "to create stuff" by using the Internet to transform and reinvent our personal and professional lives. Because of the Internet, laptops, and broadband access, he reminds us we live in a world where "cheap, easy global media is here to stay."
The Book's Governing Question. So, why not use this global phenomenon to our advantage? It's the book's governing question linking personal and professional reinvention to blogging:
"So in my typical way, I'll ask you, are you a beacon? If not, don't you think you should be."
So without further delay, here are the Three (3) Themes I enjoyed most from Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear.
1. "Crofting" Is the New World of Work
A Croft Is a Smallholding. It's our digital identity (direct quote):
"Thanks to the Internet, we all have a little electronic "croft" -- an electronic smallholding -- to call our own: what is commonly referred to as our own digital identity, which we can cultivate, like a small farm, however we see fit."
Our Individual Points-of-View ARE the New Light. And, that fundamental theme cuts through all the typical how-to advice on developing a credible blog (i.e., post length, number of internal links versus external links, starting with a question, ending with a question, etc.).
There's nothing wrong with being influenced and informed by:
But, trying to be a carbon copy or an imitator highlights how you're a pretender. Those folks acheived their blogosphere status by bringing (and continuing to bring) new light.
Our blogs can bring new light to what life might be by:
Writing about what individually moves us (what makes us want to write at 5 AM)
Recognizing there's room for all of us to cultivate and lead our own tribes
Having the courage to initiate and participate in digital conversations (blogging, commenting, tweeting, sharing, etc.)
Blogging Is a Conscious Choice. You can't be a player unless in you're in the game. Hugh says it best on page 54:
"Not everybody believes this. Not everybody acts on this. That's fine; it's their life, their choice. However, if you DO have that capacity within yourself and you DON'T act upon it, then everything around turns to desert."
3. The Internet Eats the "Ignorance Premium" for Breakfast
If You Can Google It, You Can Find It. There's so much published online that we can use to our competitive advantage (both personally and professionally). Hugh describes this concept as the end of The Ignorance Premium (direct quotes from pages 66 and 67):
"The Internet makes it harder for us to know more than the other guy."
"The Internet erodes the "Ignorance Premium."
"Because knowledge is now so much easier to share with the Internet, you're in trouble if the only reason you can make a living is because somebeody is too lazy to easily find out what you know with just a quick click of a mouse."
Our Opportunity With Blogging Is Promoting Our Individual "Intelligence Premium." The Internet and blogging makes it easier than ever to self-publish "what you know." Google makes it easier than ever for someone to find you. That sounds like opportunity to me.
Why not turn this unique opportunity into a career advantage?
My Take on The Internet's Ignorance Premium: Make Your Blog Your Intelligence Premium. A personal blog demonstrates your individual, "Intelligence Premium" (e.g., what you bring to the table) by showcasing:
Your knowledge about a particular subject or industry
It's Time To Find Our Freedom. Those (4) aforementioned reasons are why blogging is more important than ever. They're why blogging represents individual opportunity.
That's the freedom blogging brings. Whether we do it in our underwear (or while wearing something else).
It's a freedom Hugh summarizes better than I can:
"The Freedom to be who were born to be -- the artist within us all."
This seventh annual competition thrusts UMKC's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation students into an exciting, fast-pased, full-day competition to earn attention and "investment." The morning starts with 60-second elevator pitches, continues with point-blank discussions on the exhibit room floor, and culminates with 40-minute grill sessions.
And, when I say grilling, the judges are brutal. In the afternoon finalist sessions, I was one of the judges who evaluated presentations from the following teams:
* AllerganEaterTM (presented by Deon Whitten, Cletus Obahor)
* Nstox (presented by Seth Cooper)
* Alpha 1 Biologics, LLC (presented by Matt Heimann, Rita Cortes, Lara Ogle, and Tim Schallert)
We were tough on these student presentations. Our questions and assessments were pointed and critical. But, these students handled themselves with tremendous poise and grace. No one flinched. Each held strongly to his/her belief and conviction in the viability and value in his/her individual or team ventures.
Were there moments of nervousness and stumbles? Of course. But, they kept going -- that's confidence and courage personified.
60+ teams competed (and my one regret is I didn't have enough time to visit with all of them). You only have two hours to speak with students on the exhibit floor. 120 minutes immediately evaporates when speaking with enthusiastic and engaging people.
Words of Encouragement
Here are a few additional encouraging words to some of the fantastic students I had the privilege of meeting. You're so inspiring!
Seth Cooper of Nstox: I love how you're targeting small and mid-sized businesses with your web-based management and decision support software. One of my favorite companies, HubSpot (based in Cambridge, MA), received a $32 million investment from Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Google Ventures last year. Quantify or dollarize how your offering will help your target customers either make more money, save money, or decrease their costs associated with customer retention. That's what HubSpot does. And, there's no reason why you can't replicate their success.
Rita Cortes, Matt Heimann, Lara Ogle, Tim Schaller, and Tony Luppino - UMKC Faculty Sponsor of Alpha 1 Biologics, LLC: When your team shared your diverse backgrounds and the limited time you had to get up-to-speed on the pharma / biotech industry, I shake my head in amazement. Your industry analysis and your abilities to move this venture to this point is FANTASTIC! Rita and Tony - you have my business cards. As we discussed post-competition, if you think I can help you keep this venture moving, I'm here to assist.
Danella Obraztsov of The Six: It takes guts and patience to literally build a consulting practice one-client-at-a-time. And, you're on your way to doing just that with your online dating consultancy. I was so impressed how you pulled together a makeshift homepage for your future website (and how you're taking a programming class to take it to the next level). Get those YouTube or Vimeo video testimonials on your site to share your current client successes! I met my wife on eHarmony. And, I would have met her a lot sooner (with less frustration) if I had your expertise to help me with my online profile!
Evan Bryant, Fredrick Manasseh, Greg Walling, and Kashif Rathore of Infalite: If you hadn't gracefully pulled me over to your exhibit, I wouldn't have learned about your innovative idea for giving parents peace-of-mind that their child is safely resting in their car seat during night time driving. In June, I'll be attending ASCO (the biggest cancer and pharmaceutical conference in the world). And, the pros who traditionally work that convention room floor can't hold a candle to you guys! Thank you for pulling me aside to share why you believe in your concept and idea.
Brandon Thompson of The Smartboard and Ernesto Tinoco of SmartDWELL: Your passion, conviction, belief, and enthusiasm is INESCAPABLE. Your infectious energy is why I remember you! Don't ever, ever, ever lose that. Because, your continued passion and conviction can be game-changing.
Concluding Thoughts
It's Kansas City's civic mission and vision to create and become America's most entrepreneurial city.
The Kansas City community can achieve this outcome. Why? Because the UMKC Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation encourages and espouses a vital, ageless, and lifelong lesson to these students: having the courage to pick yourself.
And, UMKC's students (and our community) need to keep moving closer in executing another valuable Palo Alto lesson:
Silicon Valley is not a location. Silicon Valley is a mindset:
Fostering collaboration among all entrepreneurs
Exchanging ideas over breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drinks after work (even if you might be competitors)
Reinforcing competition and cooperation to advance the entire community's long term growth (versus a winner-take-all / zero-sum-game mentality)
And, it revealed how much I need to step up my game just to keep pace with not only these outstanding students but also the top-notch people affiliated with this program.
I wish I had more time to recognize, mention, and share more about the inspiring students and people I had the privilege of meeting. But, just like yesterday, I'm out of time.
This post focuses on the smart people and the thoughtful comments they share in the thriving Start-Up of You LinkedIn Discussion Group / Community. As of the publication of this post, the community boasts 1,200+ members.
Business Function Demographics Chart (as of 6 AM Central Time, April 5th)
Seniority Demographics Chart (as of 6 AM Central Time, April 5th)
What Differentiates The Start-Up of You LinkedIn Community?
* People Genuinely Do and Want to Help Each Other. This group epitomizes how "giving is better than receiving."
* No Blog Pimping. This unwritten code is enforced by the group and its managers. How? Those who've tried posting links to their posts without contributing something to the group INSTANTLY LOSE CREDIBILITY. Their submitted discussion posts are ignored and buried in the stream.
Start-Up of You Community Members are smart and discerning. They know and identify self-serving BS quickly.
* The Group Practices the IWe (I to the We) Principle (direct quotes from the book):
"The nuanced version of the story of success is that both the individual and team matter. "I" vs. "We" is a false choice. It's both. Your career success depends on both your individual capabilities and your network's ability to magnify them."
"Think of it as IWe. An individual's power is raised exponentially with the help of a team (a network). But just as zero to the one hundredth power is still zero, there's no team without the individual."
"This book is titled The Start-Up of You. Really, the "you" is at once singular and plural."
People To Follow and Learn From. I follow a number of people in this great community. I wish I could highlight them all (but there's only so much time to write).
Here are X people I closely follow within The Start-Up of You LinkedIn Community because they're smart, interesting, helpful, and generous. Every time one of these members submits a comment or discussion topic, I pay closer attention and focus a little harder.
Why? Because I know an opportunity to learn something new and insightful is approaching. And, I don't want to miss it.
Ben is the co-author of The Start-Up of You with Reid Hoffman. He's a successful entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and world-traveler. He's also the owner of The Start-Up of You LinkedIn Discussion Group.
I look forward to his group contributions because of his intelligence and thoughtfulness. This is another way of saying whenever I read one of his comments, I'm always left thinking: "Wow, I wish I would have said that ..."
"To broaden the conversation a bit to how people can learn new skills generally: one model I'm intrigued by is the "coach" model. That is, hiring a coach to work with you intensely to develop a specific skill, like programming or public speaking. Atul Gawande wrote an interesting piece about this topic a few months ago in the New Yorker:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande
As he points out, elite athletes and singers have coaches. Tiger Woods is one of the best golfers in the world, yet he still has a swing coach.
Why don't more top-flight professionals have coaches to work with them on specific parts of their skill portfolio? Why don't all of us? How does coaching compare to other models of learning? What's the value of a hired coach vs. informal coaching done through your network? Ruminations..."
Here's a great video of Ben being interviewed about The Start-Up of You. During the interview, he shares personal lessons learned as a lifelong entrepreneur:
Ian is a Start-Up of You marketing team member. He recently hosted the live Q&A webcast with Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. And, he did a phenomenal job in managing some of the technical problems that arose during the webcast.
In reading and following Ian's discussion group comments, I always think: "This guy is wise beyond his years." He's smart, a talented writer, and always makes me think.
"One thought: if you have difficulty taking small steps toward a new opportunity, it's worth acknowledging this honestly rather than continuing to struggle toward a goal. I spent almost a year wanting to teach myself programming, struggling to make progress, until I discovered another subject that was easy for me to take small steps toward mastering — finance and trading. It's not to say that I couldn't have changed my approach to make learning programming more enjoyable, but my point is small steps aren't always easy but, perhaps, they should be."
"Let me start by saying that I am probably not the best person to be answering this question because I never second-guessed my choice to go to college nor do I have ambitions to start a business.
What I do know is that it's important to get many different perspectives on a question like this and always keep in mind who is giving the advice. I, for example, would probably say that college is a good choice, but I always liked school and didn't have to take on debt to attend a private college. My parents would definitely recommend it, because they are old school and don't realize that these days many of the most sought after skills (eg: programming) aren't even taught in college. Someone who didn't go to college might advise you not to go without even considering how he or she is different from you.
Out of all of this, you'll need to abstract the "objective" benefits and drawbacks of going to college.
Objectively, or at least as objectively as I can, I would say that there is a huge networking benefit to go to college - it's a chance to meet a lot of smart people. But, at the same time, you could go to dozens of conferences a year for less than tuition. Still, it's a built-in network and 4 years provides plenty of time to build lasting relationships.
Those are my somewhat jumbled thoughts. Hope it's helpful!"
Brett is also a Start-Up of You Marketing Team Member. Reid Hoffman cites Brett in The Acknowledgments Section of The Start-Up of You for his contributions in research, content refinement, and organizational support.
"To Ian's first point from the Quora thread, I might recommend a publication that comes out weekly as opposed to daily - like The Economist - which offers analysis as well as the history of what's happened in the previous week.
Another interesting idea I read about in Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From is "deep dive reading vacations," which is something that Bill Gates plans once a year - he goes off the grid and surrounds himself with all the information he can on one topic."
Matt was the first person to contribute to this discussion. His responses demonstrated his smarts, creativity, and technology savvy. If you read his many contributions to other discussion threads, I think you'd conclude (like I do) he's a great guy. He's the type of genuinely good person you'd enjoy talking with over a couple of beers.
Here are some of Matt's thoughts in the aforementioned LinkedIn discussion thread:
"I am building out a series of marketing pieces for myself. I am thinking of it like this: If I had my own marketing department, I would feed them the data and they would make this collateral for me.
I would describe the piece I am working on right now as a high level mailer that gets its own webpage instead of snail mail. Think of it as one of those glossy, multipage advertisements for a new credit card but online with a bit of interactivity.
@Travis - I have been looking at it from the other direction. Up until now my blog has been a place for posting updates and media for my daughters grand parental units. Except for the occasional coding tip or emacs command that I want to remember I haven't put much professional thought out there for public. I have put things there but they are not polished enough that I want to put those, professionally related thoughts out there. If I polish them up and put them out there I can tweak the tags or categories so that it can serve both my personal and professional interests. But it takes time to polish and organize thoughts that bridge the personal and professional divide so I haven't done it.
I have a feeling that the value in soft assets like a blog are a reflection of the amount invested into it. Much like I first noticed that Apple was different - even in the way the packaged the first computer I bought from them (A still running PPC G5 :-), I notice personal site that the author has either put a lot of time into personalizing. I wonder if it is the process of personalizing your site/content/message that is equivalent to submitting a cover letter printed on red paber except that the red cover letter only gets seen by a few people at best and your digital footprint is always there."
Join The Community. The people in this LinkedIn Group share great content, advice, and opinions. Their insightful discussions force me to think differently and open my mind to different solutions and possibilities.
Isn't that what learning is all about?
The people in this community add tremendous value by sharing how they're applying and learning from the book's lessons.
The Premise / Goal / Timing of This Weekly Feature
Premise. If you like the content in this blog, maybe you'll also like the content I regularly read, study, and curate from the Web.
Goal. On a weekly basis, I'm going to publish links to three (3) articles I find interesting. I'll include a brief explanation why I decided to curate them.
1. Why The PC Will Die Soon (Fast Company). I suppose the real question to ask is "what do you mean by soon." I'm not completely sold that the PC or MacBook will completely go away (at least not yet).
But, I acknowledge consumers' desires to be "untethered" (I'm one of them). Consumer demand will continue driving advancements for better mobile and cloud applications enabling "heavy-lifting" content creation from a tablet (maybe even our smartphones someday).
Why I haven't purchased an iPad? Convenience in content creation is the determining factor.
I purchased a MacBook Pro about a month ago (and I LOVE IT). My MacBook Pro provides the essential capabilities for heads-down content creation (i.e., word processing, spreadsheets, infographics, presentation slides, etc.) that an iPad can't conveniently deliver (at least presently).
Plus, my MacBook Pro:
Is mobile and light (I bring it on business trips with my work computer)
Comes with an easy-to-use keyboard for typing lengthy documents
Includes a 500 gigabyte hard drive
Allows off-line usage
Is always "on and connected" (as long as I have access to a WiFi spot, I'm golden)
Has a DVD drive
Yes, I'd love to read my favorite technology content from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, and Wired all from an iPad. Plus, I'd look really cool at the airport or a coffee shop by doing that with an iPad 3.
But, my laptop already does all of the above.
2. P&G To Slash $10 Billion in Costs Over Five Years (Advertising Age). Unfortunately, this decision includes 5,700+ jobs (including fewer P&G marketing executives). Chairman-CEO Bob McDonald says P&G will shift investments away from traditional vehicles like TV to digital channels (e.g., mobile and social media):
"To cut costs without sacrificing impact, Mr. McDonald said P&G is using technology to shift spending from more traditional vehicles like TV to digital and mobile advertising and more efficiently target consumers, "allowing us to build one-on-one personal relationships with every consumer." He also expects to use more multibrand efforts to spread spending more efficiently among brands. He cited the kickoff of P&G's Summer Olympics program in January, which he said delivered more than 2.5 billion impressions in traditional and social media the first month alone and produced a bigger overall impact than the brands could have had by spending individually."
Here's a direct quote and Key Conclusion #5 from the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report:
Businesses are increasingly aware their blog is highly valuable. 81% of businesses rated their company blogs as “useful,” “important” or “critical.” An impressive 25% rated their company blog as “critical” to their business.
And, there are more fact-based conclusions in the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report. Here are seven (7) reasons from HubSpot's data supporting the continuing relevance of blogging.
1. Blogs Are and Remain the Most Important Marketing Channel
Look Who's The #1 Social Media Channel in Terms of Importance. It's Blogs! LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter all ranked in lesser importance. The hub-and-spoke social media strategy model works with a website or your blog as the center. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are short-from outposts guiding customers back to your website or blog (the long-form hub).
3. Blogs Have the Lowest Cost-Per-Lead of Any Marketing Channel
52% of Respondents Say blogs are "Below Average" in Cost Per Lead. Blogs are the most cost efficient lead generation channel (inbound or outbound). Not surprisingly, trade shows are considered the most expensive.
Here's a direct quote from the respondent survey:
"The worst thing we did in marketing last year was attend several trade shows and events with low yield and ROI."
4. Blogs are Second Only to LinkedIn In Acquiring Customers
57% of Respondents Say Their Company Blog Acquired Customers. LinkedIn ranked first in customer acquistion. 62% of respondents validated its effectiveness. Interesting how "the two least sexy social media channels" ranked first and second respectively.
And, Speaking of Social Media Sexy - Blogs and LinkedIn Outdistanced Facebook and Twitter in Customer Acquisition. Don't believe the hype that long form content is dead. Or, consumer attention spans last only 140 characters or less.
HubSpot's 2012 Data Shows a Direct Correlation Between Post Frequency and Customer Acquisition. At a minimum, post at least once-per-week. But, increasing post frequency from weekly to twice per month provides significant benefits:
50 posts a year goes to 100 posts (that's the equivalent of 100 indexed web pages in Google)
An extra 50 posts, means double the number of keywords increasing SEO relevance
50 more web pages mean 5o more opportunities to earn inbound links (and increase Google authority)
6. Blogs Are Consistently Effective for Either B2B or B2C Companies
At a Minimum, Your Social Media Strategy MUST Include a Blog. The data shows blogs rank second in customer acquisition for either B2B or B2C companies. Number 1 for customer acquisition depended on business-type:
B2B: LinkedIn
B2C: Facebook
A Killer Social Media Strategy Incorporates at Least Three Customer Acquisition Platforms. The companies succeeding in social media are the ones who view these channels as customer acquisition weapons. Based on this data, a three-channel approach geared to customer acquistion by business-type would look like the following:
B2B: LinkedIn, Company Blog, Facebook or Twitter
B2C: Facebook, Company Blog, Twitter
7. Blogs Level the Playing Field for Small Companies
Small Companies Allocate Almost 4x the Marketing Budget to Blogs Versus Large Companies. Social media or inbound marketing channels are where small companies invest their marketing budget (i.e., social, SEO or organic search, and blogs). Large companies prefer outbound channels (i.e., trade shows, PPC or paid search, or direct mail).
The Premise / Goal / Timing of This Weekly Feature
Premise. If you like the content in this blog, you may like the type of content I regularly read and study on the Web.
Goal. On a weekly basis, I'm going to publish links to three (3) articles I find interesting. I'll include a brief summary with some bullet points explaining why I think the content is worth consuming.
Timing. I'll publish this content every Wednesday / Thursday. Okay, I didn't exactly hold up my end of the deal last week and this week. :-)
The "spray and pray" approach of sending resumes online is not an effective time investment
"Applicant tracking software makes it almost impossible for [a job candidate] to stand out, at least at the initial screening step."
Recruiters say gaining an internal referral is a game changer. When recruiters see an application comes with an employee referral "that person goes straight to the top."
I want to thank Social Media ReInvention Blog Community members for poking around the content in this five-post blog series (sorry if that sounded like an Academy Awards acceptance speech).
Google Analytics and Feedburner show this series generated noticeable traffic. Thank you for stopping by -- it means a lot to me!
3 Qualities of a Great LinkedIn Answer
I participated in answering the following question on LinkedIn Answers: What Would Be Your Suggestions for a New Joinee of LinkedIn. Take a look at the first two replies. Both answers share the following qualities of a helpful and thoughtful response:
1. Be Helpful. Be Nice. The conversational tone you choose to take is extremely important. Your tone is just as important as your answer's substance. I've participated in answering a number of LinkedIn questions. And, some of the submitted responses I've seen are self-serving, flippant, and condescending (sometimes bordering on mean-spirited).
That unfortunate behavior is why I think LinkedIn Answers is an often underlooked / undervalued LinkedIn asset. People are afraid to pose questions because they're scared someone will "call them out."
Don't be one of those people who takes a know-it-all tone. Be Exceptional. Be Helpful. Be Nice.
2. High Level of Detail. Both responses share concrete details and examples driving specific actions. These substantive answers are the exception (not the norm) in most LinkedIn Q&A forums.
3. Share Links and Additional Resources to Support Your Answer. Whenever possible, provide links to articles, blog posts, Slideshare content, press releases, etc. to support your point-of-view. Providing additional content reinforces how you're trying to share knowledge (not just your own). And, that attitude lends more credibility to your response.
6 Benefits of Submitting Great LinkedIn Answers
1. Increasing Your Personal Credibility, Authority, and Visibility. LinkedIn Answers is a great place to start to increase your online visibility and authority in a specific industry or subject. Make it a personal goal to follow through on a daily or weekly basis to answer questions in your chosen categories.
2. Earning Expertise and Trust Via Best Answer Designations.LinkedIn Answers is a great example of gamification. LinkedIn members posing questions have the option to award Best Answer Designations. Best Answers are social proofpersonified.
3. Gaining New Social Media Followers (i.e., Blog Subsribers, Twitter Followers, etc.). When you answer a LinkedIn question, you share personal insights and knowledge. Crafting and submitting thoughtful LinkedIn Answers (without blatantly selling) is a proven inbound marketing tactic. It's a classic social media example of giving to receive.
4. Earning a New LinkedIn Connection -- Validation From The Person Asking a Question. Why? Because, you earn that person's individual trust. A person posing questions on LinkedIn Answers will usually evaluate both your answer and your LinkedIn Profile (especially if he / she found your response helpful). The quality of your answer determines if you receive an invite to join his / her network.
5.Earning a New LinkedIn Connection -- Validation From The People Who Answered the Same Question. Why? Awarding of a "Best Answer" promotes friendly competition among the respondents. Remember, the answers are public to all LinkedIn members. Therefore, the people who who answer questions on LinkedIn Answers are also evaluating both your answer and your LinkedIn Profile (especially if you are awarded the Best Answer). If you impressed one of the responders, you may also receive a LinkedIn invite from him / her.
On February 23rd, I attended a great social media networking event hosted by Ben Smith and Social: IRL. The Taste, Tweet, Meet With Boulevard Brewing Company event was exceptional.
But, it wasn't for the usual reasons that I found this event so enjoyable (i.e., the personal camaraderie of social networking connections in Kansas City, the privilege of personally meeting these wonderful people sometimes for the first time, etc.).
Discuss how she's continuously informing Boulevard's customers / fans about this ongoing process
She openly fielded numerous questions. Plus, she patiently spoke with individual attendees about specific questions after concluding her presentation. I was one of those folks (more on that later).
Julie openly sharing this presentation and Boulevard's ongoing efforts in addressing the Chocolate Ale product recall demonstrates:
Leadership Lesson #2: When You Say You're Sorry, Mean It
Don't Cram Rehearsed Corporate Management-Speak / Public Relations-Speak Down Our Throats. Julie's presentation included the following YouTube video with John McDonald, Founder and President of Boulevard Brewing Company, and Steven Pauwels, Boulevard's Head Brewmaster:
Why This Apology Is Genuine. Why It Is Human. I asked Julie whose idea was it to produce and publish this video on the Internet. She said it was hers. And, she convinced Boulevard's top two leaders of immediately and publicly addressing this communications crisis.
"Speak From Your Hearts." The reason why this video resonates with me and Boulevard's many fans is because it's genuine. Julie told me McDonald and Pauwels did this video without a script.
Her only instruction: "I need you guys to speak from your hearts."
If Boulevard's fans and consumers don't consider this video a genuine and heartfelt apology (and it comes from the firm's highest leadership), I don't know what is.
Every Fortune 500 CEO in America could learn from McDonald's and Pauwels' plain-spoken example to inform its consumers of bad news (and the subsequent actions to make things right).
Weldon talked about Johnson & Johnson's apology and how it was working to regain consumer trust in May 2011 during an interview with Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor-at-Large of Fortune Magazine. Unfortunately, repeated and multiple product recalls over a two-year period upended Mr. Weldon's otherwise outstanding career (he was regarded as one of the most respected leaders in the pharmaceutical industry before these product recalls):
Closing Thoughts
Pride In Your Organization. Pride in Your Products. Pride in Your Community. Boulevard Brewing Company is a Kansas City Community Crown Jewel. And, I'm proud to not only be a HUGE FAN of their beers but I'm also a HUGE FAN of Julie Weeks and Boulevard's leadership because of their actions.
(Around time stamp :25 of the YouTube Chocolate Ale Announcement from John McDonald) "We're a proud brewery and we want to do the right thing ..."
A Vital Kansas City Civic Principle. Boulevard Brewing Company embodies a vital Kansas City civic principle: Kansas City is a proud community built and driven by the resourceful and creative entrepreneurial spirit of people like the John McDonalds, the Henry Blochs, the Ewing Kauffmans, and the J.C. Halls:
And, that entrepreneurial spirit continues to thrive because of the leadership of people like John McDonald, Steven Pauwels, and Julie Weeks.
Hang In There Julie! As I conclude this post, I know Julie Weeks is working today, tomorrow, and how ever long it will take to address the Chocolate Ale situation. She takes TREMENDOUS PRIDE as Boulevard's online ambassador.
Julie, if you see / read / monitor anything remotely negative about Boulevard Brewing Company, please remember these four (4) things:
Your social media friends and colleagues are rooting for you
You're doing a fantastic job as Boulevard's Online Ambassador!
An Important, Daily Habit. Every day, look for LinkedIn Questions reflecting your personal or professional interests. You don't always have to answer a question. But, a daily monitoring habit (i.e., 5 to 10 minutes of review every morning) can help you gradually and continuously build your online reputation and personal brand within specific topics.
A Two-Phase Process. The process for efficiently monitoring questions in LinkedIn Answers requires two (2) tools:
A LinkedIn RSS Feed for Your Favorite LinkedIn Question & Answer (Q&A) Categories
A Dedicated iGoogle Tab Centralizing Your Multiple LinkedIn Q&A RSS Feeds
The time investment for building this process is less than 15 minutes.
The Multiple Benefits of RSS Feed Subscriptions
Turn Your iGoogle Home Page Into a Custom Content Dashboard. RSS feeds enable you to create personalized content or news dashboards. When you set up your RSS subscriptions, you'll realize multiple benefits:
Time Efficiency: Centralized content from multiple sources is easier to find and consume
Fewer Emails:Multiple RSS feeds allow you to receive updated content without email notifications
Content Customization: Your RSS feeds subscriptions reflect only the content / knowledge you choose to receive
Here's an example of how my LinkedIn Question & Answer RSS Feeds for multiple categories look in my iGoogle Page:
Subscribing to the LinkedIn Questions & Answers RSS Feed
How to Get Started. Here are the steps, you need to follow so you can set up the LinkedIn RSS Feed:
1. From your LinkedIn Home Page, highlight the "More" link in the top, right-hand corner. You'll see a prompt for "Answers":
2. After clicking on the "Answers" link, you should arrive at the LinkedIn Question & Answers Home Page. It looks like this:
3. The next step is to select a category you find interesting. The "Recommended Categories For You" is LinkedIn's custom feature offers suggestions based on your LinkedIn Profile. You can also select a category by selecting one of the categories on the far, right-hand side under "Browse":
4. In this example, I selected the "Blogging" Category. To subscribe to the RSS Feed for "Blogging," click on the orange RSS icon on the bottom, right-hand corner:
5. Copy the hyperlink highlighted in the text box where it says "or copy the RSS link:"
Creating a LinkedIn Answers Tab in Your iGoogle Home Page
Hold on to the RSS link you just copied! We're not going to paste the LinkedIn RSS hyperlink just yet.
1. Opena new tabin your Internet browser. In this new tab, please select your iGoogle Home Page.
2. Click on your "Google Home" tab. You should see a "little down arrow / toggle switch" to the right-hand side of "Google Home."
3. Click on "the little down arrow." You should be prompted with a command that says "Add a Tab."
4. After clicking on "Add a Tab," the following screen should appear:
5. Fill in the name of your new tab and click on "Ok"
6. I named my new tab "test tab." Your new tab should look something like this (but with the name you selected for your tab):
7. In your new tab, click the prompt on the top, left hand-side that says "Add gadgets"
8. After clicking on "Add gadgets," you should see a prompt at the bottom, left-hand side of your screen that says "Add feed or gadget"
9. Click on this link and you should get a screen that looks like this:
10. Now, remember that RSS Link you copied earlier from Step 5 from Subscribing to the LinkedIn Question & Answers RSS Feed so you could be alerted to any new questions in the Blogging Category?
That box above is where you're going to paste that RSS Link. After pasting in the RSS Link, click Add.
11. If the RSS feed is added correctly, you should now see a prompt that looks like this:
12. To make sure the LinkedIn Answers Blogging Category Feed is added correctly, you'll want to click the prompt on the top, left-hand side that says "Back to iGoogle"
13. Voila, your new RSS Feed is captured in your iGoogle tab. Now, you can add multiple LinkedIn Answer Categories to this iGoogle tab to monitor several types of LinkedIn Questions -- a big time saver.
14. Adding Multiple RSS Feeds to Your Custom iGoogle Tab is Now Super-Easy. You might be thinking that sure was a ton of steps to follow! Well, you're right. But, you've done the hard part -- creating your customized iGoogle tab.
From this point forward, whenever you want to add a new LinkedIn Answers Category to your custom iGoogle tab, repeat steps 7 through 12 of Creating a LinkedIn Answers Tab in Your iGoogle Home Page.
The opinions blogged herein represent only those of Tony Faustino and do not reflect those of his employer, persons or companies mentioned herein, or anyone else. The posts on this blog are provided "as is" with no warranties and confer no rights.
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