Guy says that in order to be relevant today you need to be using Social Media and Twitter. Here is where Guy got the audience to suspend disbelief, by equating Social Media to Twitter.

Then Guy stated Twitter is a platform. There is no right or wrong way to use Twitter. What Guy said is absolutely true. He is such a powerful evangelist that the audience was misdirected evaluating these 2 statements relative to Twitter versus his previous statement. The real questions one needs to ask are:

• Is Social Media more than Twitter?
• Why use Twitter for my business, if I don’t have a plan?

Guy has a plan for Twitter. Guy’s plan fits perfectly with his business model for Alltop.

“The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you” …in real-time.

Twitter is real time. Guy likens Twitter to CNN and says you have to tweet each tweet 4 times to be heard by your followers, like CNN repeats the news over and over and over again.

What is your business model? Is your business model like CNN? Would repeating each tweet 4 times a day keep your customers away?

If your business model is different than CNN, you need to develop a different approach to Social Networking. Social Media is not one size fits all. Social Media is not just about Twitter. Social Media provides you and your company with a much richer opportunity to build your presence and leadership brand in a much bolder way than any other time previously and less expensively too.

Social Media is here to stay, like the Internet. You need to identify your key goals and significant audiences (customers and potential customers). Then you and your company are ready to start GEAR-ing Up your Social Media plan. It is time to build a plan and start implementing by thinking differently than you have in the past and being more creative than you’ve ever thought your firm could be.  This plan may or may not include Twitter.

I am fortunate enough to live in Silicon Valley, which I believe is the capital of Social Networking, if not Social Media! I was able to attend 2 of over 500+ meet-ups held around the globe. The 2 meet-ups I attended were lots of fun, provided excellent offline social networking opportunities, and gave me additional insights in to the rapidly growing world of social media.

The first meet-up was hosted by PureMatter at their offices in San Jose. PureMatter’s tag line is “Brand Marketing and Interactive” and they say they believe in serious fun. In a cocktail reception-like environment, speakers from Coremetrics and Ning.com discussed their key product attributes along with a few mandatory PowerPoint slides.

Twitter stats presentation by Coremetrics at PureMatter

Wildfire Interactive hosted their meet-up in their new offices in downtown Palo Alto and on the rooftop . It felt like a Friday night beer bash at a start-up with an on-going demo of Wildfire’s web 2.0 products.  You could casually move from Socializing to product demo and back to Socializing – very cool! BTW -Wildfire’s products  promote companies on social media through contests, sweepstakes, and coupons.

I thank both PureMatter and Wildfire for hosting their meet-ups and look forward to Social Media Day 2011. I’m sure that there will be many more opportunities to be Social and learn a whole lot more.

Let’s take ”Thinking Creatively” one step further. How will anyone know that you are being creative? This is where Social Networking and building partnerships with friends, your business associates, and advocates is now more important than ever before.

How do partnerships work best? Alliances and partnerships work best when there is an opportunity for all parties to gain from the relationship. Generally, partners do not gain in the same way. However, all parties need to receive “something” from the Alliance.

As a partner with your social network what can you give your friends and advocates!
• Information
• Recommendations
• Opportunities
• Advice
• Your creativity

What will you get in return from your social alliance network? All of the above and more. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have made the world a better place because you helped others.

When should you start? Now!

Pay your partners forward, share your creativity, and assist your social network.

What about the takers? As in all alliances, there will be the takers that provide little or no value to their partners. If it is all about your partner, then it is not really a partnership is it? Simple advice – act appropriately. Alliance’s fail occasionally.

Start sharing now. You will strengthen your partnerships with the people that matter and become advocates. You will be “top of mind” as they think about you and look for opportunities to reciprocate your support and friendship.

Remember 3 things about Facebook and other Social Media sites (LinkedIn, Twitter…)

• You are using their free site
• You are putting your personal information on their site
• You know that in order for them to maintain the site they have to make money

It is very true that Facebook shares the information you put on their website with others and you do not know how it will be shared. The privacy settings on Facebook are confusing. The rules and settings on Facebook change all the time and without notice. –  Get over it!

Would you give all your personal information to any commercial enterprise, ask them to hold it for free, and not use it. You can try. Banks let you store your key information in a safe deposit box but they charge a fee.

Rather than legislate what Facebook and other Social Media sites do with the information we give them, let us put a warning label on them.

The label will say: All the information you share on this Social Networking website is visible to anyone that is willing to pay for it (or steal it).

Social Networking Website Warning Sticker

Jennifer Tsang, a business manager from Cisco Systems, had pulled together a cast of 4 great speakers, who did an impressive job of presenting ways to energize your career in this stimulating age of Social Media. The speakers, roles and a description of their topics presented are listed below:

• Sheila Talton, Vice President, Office of Globalization, Cisco – Volunteer At Non-Profits To Position Your Career For Success

• Jennifer Vessels, CEO, Next Step- Effective Networking for Success

• Patti Wilson, Managing Principal, Career Company – Brand Yourself For Success Or Become Obscure

• EJ Dieterle, CEO and Co-Founder of YES Partners, Inc.- Globalization Means New Career Opportunities And A Few Tactical Surprises

Shelia Talton uses 2 unique strategic methods to accelerate the growth of her career. To build her resume and gain new experiences Shelia has:

• Taken short-term assignments overseas. Shelia says that the real career opportunities are outside the US in both the East and South.
• Volunteered for non-profits that have a major impact. Shelia believes the benefits derived from volunteering at non-profits include:

1. Building your network beyond your immediate “work life” network
2. Working in positions and areas were you have neither experience nor expertise (finance if you are a marketing manager)
3. Assuming a leadership role in the non-profit

Jennifer Vessels said 85% of your career success is determined by your people skills. Jennifer went on to say one key part of your people skills is being successful at networking events and having a good elevator pitch, which should include:

• Stating the value you bring to organizations
• Outlining your proof points (reinforced with numbers)
• Asking a question leading to a discussion – like “is this something you can use (or of interest to you)?”
• Requesting a follow-up meeting, if there is a match

In introducing his book “Dealing with Darwin”, Patti Wilson said Geoffrey Moore discussed how we (you and me) are now all commodities. Patti implication to the audience and the reader of this blog is you had better create a personal brand that stands out from everyone else in your profession! Patti went on to say, Social Networking provides you with an opportunity to brand yourself but you have to:

• Be consistent in your brand in Social Networking
• Demonstrate your unique value proposition using Social Media
• Periodically reinforce your brand using photos, videos, white papers, blogs, presentations… – you choose the media
• Communicate with other experts in your field

EJ Dieterle did a good job of pointing out that there can many surprises when you are interviewed by a company headquartered outside the United States– many times, they have totally different rules on photos, marital status, age… He also pointed out:

• Resumes must contain keywords to successful in getting through the automated resume scanners
• If a recruiter contacts you, be sure to ask if they are retained. Do not waste your time with a contingent recruiter.

Each presenter had many more great points, but his blog is running way too long. My recommendation is you listen to all or any of the presenters when you have the opportunity and use these tips to improve your career immediately.

I felt the blog contained a very interesting analysis – I believe the analysis points indirectly points to several trends that are occurring simultaneously relative to the increases in IT spending per individual.

Based on what I see happening, I forecast the trend of increasing IT spending per individual will continue, since we are:

1- Moving to a knowledge-based economy

2- Leveraging fewer human resources to accomplish more per individual

3- Reducing the levels of management, as we flatten organizations, since everyone can take advantage of all information instantaneously with improved application packages

4- Leveraging the internet and automation to obtain the supplementary information we need to make decisions in less time and with fewer human resources

5- Creating large intelligent social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter…) that allow people to know and work with people more rapidly.

The fifth reason is a new aspect to increasing organizational productivity. Large intelligent Social Networks is a new phenomena that increases the productivity of people in a company (sales, business development, channel development…) by allowing each individual to know who their friend’s friend’s friends are, and to exceed our constrain of limited “tribe” visibility (Dunbar’s number).

I look forward to Andrew’s third post on this subject to see what conclusion he draws from his analysis.

• Business development manager
• Channel development manager
• Alliance or partner manager
• Salesperson
• Recruiter
• Marketing person
• HR person
• Recruiter or
• Job seeker

you my want to reconsider your position.

You will be more successful in connecting with people who can assist your career or company if you strengthen your network and know who your friend’s friend’s friends are!

Here are 2 diagrams to illustrate the concept of why it is important to connect with as many “true” friends and business associates on LinkedIn as possible.

Social Networking known who you Friend's Friend's Friends Are?

Suppose you want to get in touch with and build a relationship with a Key Executive at the “Target Company” shown in red. Since you have not aggressively built your LinkedIn network, you have very few friends (A & B) in LinkedIn (you, at the top will only see the people highlighted in light blue and red in your LinkedIn network)

When you look at the Key Executive’s profile on LinkedIn, you see that your “Friend A” is indirectly connected to the Key Executive through an unknown “Friend’s Friend.”

Unfortunately, your friend isn’t connected to Jane Smith, your friend and therefore doesn’t appear in the Key Executive’s network on LinkedIn. It turns out that Jane knows both the Key Executive you wish to talk with at the “Target Company,” and there is an added gold bonus, Jane has a second Key Contact at the “Target Company.”

Now you have 3 choices:

• Ask Friend A to ask his “Friend’s Friend” for an introduction… and wait
• Purchase and send an “InMail” (Purchased from LinkedIn in some manner) and wait.
• Take “action” and place a cold call to the Key Executive at the “Target Company” and ?

There is a better way! Start building your LinkedIn network today. Obviously, building an effective network takes time and effort. It can be boring and seem like a waste of time. Until you need it!

I recommend a systematic approach with daily goals. Set a goal of inviting 5 people a day that you are friends with, to join your LinkedIn network. This should take less than 10 minutes. This is an investment in yourself, your career and your company.

If at the end of the week, you haven’t invited 25 people, you have some work to do before you shut down for the weekend.

There are 2 approaches to automatically  building your LinkedIn network. First, download your entire electronic address book. Then invite only the people you know well, with personal invitations. Beware, LinkedIn currently limits you to 3000 invitations. Use them wisely.

The second approach is neither as effective, nor automatic as the first. And, should only be used only after the first option is exhausted. LinkedIn provides a guess at whom you might want to connect with, and it sometimes works.

Imagine now, you have built your network using the methods outlined. Now that Jane Smith is in your immediate LinkedIn network (everyone in the LinkedIn network shown below is visible to you, at no cost), you will immediately know she knows the Key Executive you wish to contact at the “Target Company”

Knowing who your Friend's Friends Friends are gives you Multiple choices and golden opportunities!

When you call (not email) your friend, Jane Smith and ask for an introduction, Jane will tell you about the other key executives she knows at the “Target Company”. You will have both the desired introduction and know other key people you can contact in the “Target Company”, when desired, to be successful in your quest.

One of the fun facts Konstantin shared with the audience was that there are 522,000 groups on LinkedIn today; GABA as one of the early leaders in Social Media, set up the 10^th group on LinkedIn many (5) years ago!

Konstantin suggested a novel way of using LinkedIn to advance your career. He advises looking at the career path of those who have been successful doing what you want to do and follow in their example.

Three very important points that Konstantin made, and that I suggest when giving talks and advising clients are:

• Start before you need a job
• LinkedIn is much more than a resume
• Use LinkedIn to prepare for interviews

LinkedIn has found that employers prefer to hire candidates recommended by others. Konstantin surprisingly expressed the opinion that “Reciprocal recommendations are not relevant”.

It is a very competitive world out there, and LinkedIn provides a vast array of tools to promote yourself, your brand, and your future. Start learning how to effectively use LinkedIn now, before you need it!

• Social Media is not a “Golden Bullet”
• Companies need to GEAR-up for Social Networking

I showed the attendees several YouTube videos that reinforced these two concepts. One of the attendees suggested that I also include JWT’s Nelka Rental Car YouTube video in future workshops. I had not heard about this video before the class. Now that I have watched the video, I am very impressed with what JWP was able to achieve for Nelka. JWP set an aggressive goal, targeted a specific audience, and then used the right mix of existing media, social media, focus, and creativity to over achieve on the initial goal.

Unfortunately, the YouTube video has not gotten much attention partially because it is not down loadable and it is a little too long (3:21 minutes).

However, the video makes a great case study, which I will share with the attendees of the first 2010 #TechBA-SV class and mention at future workshops.

Fortunately the “Bootcamp” was open to the public and optional for the students (space was limited and I was pre-warned that students would have seating priority). The course itself is called “GSBGEN 358: Power of Social Technology (PoST)” with the goal of “harness-ing social technology in support of a clear single, focused goal to cultivate social good”.

What is really cool about the course is that it is not just academics. The course is providing the SGSB students with the best information on the planet about how to use Social Media and what others have successfully done with Social Media. This course forces students to actively use Social Media with practical applications. In fact, 45% of the student’s final grade is based on Social Media (Video no less!) . The list of speakers and panelists reads like the “Who’s Who of Social Media”. As you might expect the students are using many of the Social Media tools as part of their course.

Before the meeting started, it was pleasing to hear several students talking to each other. One said thanks for the “follow” and another thanked someone for a retweet (great Twitter etiquette, generally done on-line ).

The “Bootcamp” was led by Julio Vasconcellos. There was a short presentation by Andy Smith and two outstanding panels that included Dave McClure, Ed Baker, Matt Wyndowe, and others

I decided I would Tweet (@TimBaileyGR) some of the more profound thoughts with a couple of photos using UberTwitter on my Storm 2

• Andy Smith ripple effects and emotional contagion – dragonfly effect 4 steps to Social Tech Crunch great 4 SEO + early adopters if Tech customers SBS event
• Viral = x y z GT 1
• Jigsaw is LinkedIn 4 people without friends
• PR needs 2 B timed with product life cycle in Social Media- need 2 Id early adopters + engage them

There were many other good insights that I didn’t Tweet about including – do not want to go viral and “piss off” 10% of the population.

Unfortunately, I did not find out until the “Bootcamp” concluded that the hashtag they were using was #StanfordPoST. I would suggest shortening it to (#SGSBPoST) save a few characters and maintain the brand.

I look forward to future “Boot Camps” – please save me a seat!

Discussion of the creation of Viral Loop with Social Media