Almost Savvy » Business

Top 5 Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media

Irene Koehler — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:59:32 +0000

Beware the hidden dangers of social media.

Social media is all the rage. All the cool kids are using it; at least, that’s what the cool kids on the internet are telling us. The number of businesses on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube is mind-boggling, but the real question is how many of them are using the tools wisely?

If you own a business, work for or with businesses, I’m sure you’ve heard from nearly everyone you know that you must be using social media. The pressure to jump into the game immediately, plus the perception that social media success is both free and easy, have led many businesses to make very visible mistakes online. A poorly constructed and executed social plan often leads to results more problematic than had the business done nothing at all.

How many businesses have we all seen have their efforts undermined because they failed to recognize the signs that they weren’t prepared? The good news is that we can all learn from their mistakes, a few of which have led to…

Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media (Yet)

1. You Like It Because You Think It’s Free

Your primary reason for wanting to use social media is that you think it’s the “modern” way to send your promotional messages out to large numbers of people all at once with very little cost and effort. Perhaps, you’ve sent out promotional postcards (a.k.a. junk mail) in the past and are now looking for a more cost effective way to reach more people. If this is your primary activity online, you are not a marketer. You are a spammer.

2. You’re Obsessed with ROI

You are under the impression that you must know the precise ROI (Return on Investment) of your social media efforts before you begin. Using digital platforms successfully to build community, relationships, and trust is an iterative process. It is, and should be, a strategic approach beginning with thoughtful first steps, followed by measuring the results and adjusting things where appropriate.

Anyone who tells you that if you do X [some social media task], you will achieve Y [specific number of Facebook fans, % increase in sales, etc.] is blowing smoke in your direction. Did you calculate the ROI of the telephone or the company car before you invested in them? Did you know up front how to connect those investments to the bottom line? Of course not, but you knew they were important to the business and you have continually evaluated your use of them to maximize their value. Understanding exactly what you want to measure and how to measure it takes time. Don’t expect to have this completely nailed down before you even begin.

3. Meet Your New Chief of Social Media: The Neighbor’s Kid

The kid spends all day on Facebook anyway, so it makes sense to let him handle all of the social media for your business, right? Plus, you don’t need to pay him. He’s happy to put in a couple of hours a week just to have access to your swimming pool in the summer. If this is the direction you’re heading, or a similar plan to assign the task to a student who will work for peanuts <ahem, intern>, I encourage you to do some research and consider finding someone who is qualified to guide your efforts. Spoiler alert: Being able to tweet or post photos to Facebook from a smartphone doesn’t count as a qualification.

4. Set Up Your Social Accounts, Watch the Money Roll In

You’ve heard the stories; a bookstore (or was it a coffee shop, no wait, it was a computer company, or was it a magazine, it’s so hard to remember) set up a Facebook Page and six weeks later had 2.5 million Facebook fans and increased sales by 420%.

Stories are just that – stories, not reality. Here’s the truth about social media: It’s not magic; it takes work. It is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Like most things in life, success comes with focus, competence, passion, a unique vision and, yes, work. In fact, simply setting up pages and then letting them go stale without any activity can do more harm to your brand than had you never set them up in the first place.

5. Your Business Sucks

Incorporating social media tools into an overall business strategy definitely offers important opportunities which wouldn’t have been possible any other way. That said, investing in social media will not save you if your product or service, uhm, sucks. If your customers or your employees aren’t happy, adopting social media will not save your sinking ship. Social media provides a larger platform to be who we are and amplifies the voices of those talking about you. If whatever you’re selling doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, it might be best to focus your efforts on fixing that problem first and tackle social media once the business sucks a little less.

If these signs describe your view of social media, take heart, you aren’t the only one. Too many are under the impression that going online is a sure-fire way to boost business with little to no effort. If you take the time to really understand the benefits, risks and best practices (or partner with someone else who understands this), you could well be on your way to building the kind of online presence that suits your business best. It won’t happen overnight, but it can happen.

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Image courtesy of upyernoz

10 Steps To Create An Awesome Google+ Profile

Irene Koehler — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:14:28 +0000

Once you sign-up for Google+, the first order of business should be to build your profile. As with any social networking site, your profile is your home base. It’s where you tell people what you’d like them to know about you. This is where you showcase the information you want to be publicly available when someone searches, or googles, you online. It is also the information others will use to decide whether or not to connect with you on Google+.

Before you begin, you must find your way to the right page in your Google+ Profile. If you previously had set up a Google Profile, it has now become your Google+ Profile. See the red arrows above to direct you to the correct page.

Get Started: Click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button to begin. You will then see that it is easy to click on any section you wish to edit.
Profile Photo: Select a photo to upload. You may want to review 8 Tips for Selecting the Right Profile Photo to help with your selection.
Name and Headline: Be sure your name is correct. This must be your own name, not the name of a business. Make sure to include a headline. It can be a mix of serious and fun, but use the space wisely.
Text Sections: The Introduction is important. What is the story you’d like to tell about yourself? As you write your introduction, you may want to include keywords which would enable you to be found most easily. While it remains to be seen how searchable Google+ profiles will be, we do know that Google will be giving some visibility to public content on Google+. I’d say that the Bragging Rights section is optional, but I’d suggest that professionals complete all or most of the other sections.
Employment: This tiny section is extremely powerful, though its power isn’t obvious at first glance. The information you add here will provide a window into what you’re all about to anyone who wants to make a quick decision about whether or not they’d like to connect with you or view your profile to learn more about you. Here’s how it works… If you see, for example, an insightful or witty comment I added to one of your friend’s posts and you wanted to find out more about me, you would hover your cursor (see red arrow in image below) over my name. By hovering here, you will see my hovercard (see inset box in image below). From this hovercard, you can instantly follow my public posts by adding me to your circles. All too often, I find that people have left this field blank. When their name appears in a discussion or I see that they’ve added me to their circles, I wonder, “Who the heck is this person?” and peek at their hovercard to find out. If I find no information on their hovercard, it is much less likely that I will circle them back. Make sure you put something meaningful in this section; not just your employer or name of your business, but also something about what you do there. If you are seeking employment, this would be a great place to highlight your skills or accomplishments.
Links: Any good online reputation or digital footprint is seamlessly connected. Make it easy for me to see where else I can find you online. Add links to your social accounts, blog, website, presentations, publications, videos, photos – anything you feel helps tell your story online.
Search Visibility: Now this is key. Do you want your Google+ Profile to show up in search engine results? For me, the answer is 1,000,000% yes because I know what a huge branding and visibility opportunity it is. If you are worried that this will mean that everything you share on Google+ will also be publicly viewable, don’t. You have complete control over each individual post and can easily share each item publicly, privately, or somewhere in-between. (More on sharing in an upcoming blog post. Be sure to subscribe at the end of this post if you don’t want to miss it.)
Formatting Text: In each text section, you have the ability to add links and format the text as best suits your needs. It isn’t mandatory that you do this and it is certainly something you can always revisit at another time, if you’d prefer.
Private vs. Public: Google has learned a lot about users’s desire for complete control over who can see their content and they’ve gone a long way toward allowing you to manage your profile privacy at a granular level. For each section, you will be able to determine who will be able to see your information. For example, if you added your telephone number in the appropriate section, but didn’t want everyone to be able to see it, you would select the Custom option and then might make it visible to only your Family and Best Friends circles.
Done!: Bravo, you’ve finished! Just click Done Editing and admire your work. See something you’d like to change? No problem, just click the Edit Profile button again and tweak away. You always have the ability to jump back in and make adjustments.

If you haven’t yet joined Google+, you can sign up here and to find out why your Google+ profile is an important branding opportunity, whether or not you’re using Google+, you’ll want to read this.

I’d love to see your Google+ Profile. Post the link in the comments below and I’ll add you to my Almost Savvy circle. I would be delighted if you added me to one of your circles to see what I’m sharing on Google+. Also, please share your tips you’ve come across about creating Google+ Profiles.

Thanks to S Sriram for capturing the screenshot of my hovercard for me.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here so you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

How To Opt-Out of Social Ads on LinkedIn in 5 Clicks

Irene Koehler — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:05:33 +0000

UPDATE: LinkedIn changed the design of their social ads and posted a clarification to their policy. See below for the updated details.

Oh, how I love LinkedIn! I often speak and write about LinkedIn, as well as provide a great deal of training to help others get the most out of the most powerful professional networking site online. As much as I also adore Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is still the one place to get started building your brand and career online. While some say Google+ may steal some of the professional spotlight away from LinkedIn, it is much too early to know if this will ever come to pass. For now, my statement stands: LinkedIn is the place to start when you’re ready to tell your branding story the way you want it to be told.

All that said, I’ve got to say that LinkedIn was wrong in this latest move. Sadly, those of us who live our lives online have become accustomed to hearing that we’ve been opted-in to sharing information we had no intention of making available to our friends, to applications or to advertisers. Facebook has a track record of irking its members in this area on a seemingly regular basis. But, LinkedIn? Surely they didn’t do this? Or did they?

Spoiler Alert: They did.

Solution Alert: Here’s how to fix it in 5 clicks. I can hear you thinking that 5 is a lot of clicks to opt-out of anything regarding privacy. You’re right, but here’s exactly what to do, step-by-step.

Hover your cursor over your name. You will see a drop-down menu. From here, click on Settings.
Click on Account.
Click on Manage Social Advertising.
You will then see a small box enabling Social Advertising. Click to uncheck that box.
Click Save.

You’re done.

This change was announced via a blog post on LinkedIn on June 23 of this year. How do you feel about how this change was implemented? Would you like to see future privacy changes on LinkedIn communicated differently?

UPDATE (8/11/2011): LinkedIn just announced a new approach to social ads today. I’m very happy with this new design and applaud them for their quick response to member confusion and frustration.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

The #1 Reason You’ll Want to Use Google+

Irene Koehler — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:44:42 +0000

If you’re still wondering if you ought to bother spending time getting to know yet another social network, I’ve got one big reason you might want to give Google+ a try. It is clear that the team at Google thought long and hard about how people and brands use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and worked to incorporate the best features of all, while adding a few cool features we haven’t seen before. I’ll be addressing those features and how to get started using Google+ in the next few posts.

To keep things simple for the moment, let’s focus on the top reason you should care about Google+.

Google Search

I’m a huge Google fan. I use Gmail, Gcal, Google Voice and plenty of other Google products. Even if you aren’t using Google products like I do, chances are good that you’re using one…Google search. Google is the power player when it comes to online search. While there are many other search engines, Google dominates the field. Whether we’re looking for travel information for our next vacation or reviews and best prices for our next purchases, we’re probably searching on Google.

What’s that you say? You’re not interested in search engines and don’t see what that has to do with you? After all, you’re not all that into tech stuff. Fair enough, but I suggest that even if you think you’re not interested in search, you really are – you just don’t know it yet.

When a Brand Name Becomes a Verb, You Know Something Big is Going On

When was the last time you googled yourself? Do you know what information shows up at the top of the search results? Your current, past and potential employers, clients, and dates are googling you (oh, yes, they are) and you should be monitoring your online reputation and take steps to be sure the best information about you to be the easiest to find.

Google Gets to Make the Rules

How does the stuff at the top of the search engine results get to the top? Well, we don’t know exactly. How each search engine ranks content is a bit of a mystery:it is based on a proprietary algorithm, which is their own secret sauce. Google, Bing, Yahoo – none of them completely reveal the criteria they use to rank certain items higher than others.

It remains to be seen exactly how Google will incorporate content from Google+ into their SERP, but speculation is that it what we post and how others engage with our content (by commenting, for example) will definitely be a factor. Prior to Google+, my Google profile appeared at the bottom of the first page of search results. It now appears at the top, above even my own website. That makes Google+ pretty darn important right out of the gate. This make Google+ a critically important place to build a presence for your business or career. (Note that businesses are not yet allowed to set up profiles on Google+. Business profiles are expected to be launched in a few months.)

Does this mean that all the work you’ve done to polish and optimize your LinkedIn profile, Twitter, blog or website no longer matters in terms of what people will find when they google your name? Absolutely not. If Google were to no longer assign weight to your other online properties and engagement, it seems they’d likely have an antitrust problem on their hands. Don’t stop what you’re currently doing, but I do encourage you to either dive head first into Google+ (for those extremely familiar with Facebook and all it’s features) or approach it taking baby steps soon (for those who are still learning to use Facebook’s features).

Want an Invitation to Google+?

I’ve got a limited number of invitations left to share with my friends. If you’d like to sign-up for Google+ and learn as you go, you can grab an invitation here while they last. You’ll need to have a Gmail address to sign-up, but it is easy to create one if you don’t already have an account. Once you’re in, add me to one of your circles. This will enable you to see what I’m sharing on Google+. See you there!

Why I’m Over Declaring Tech Tools “Over”

Irene Koehler — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:55:01 +0000

With the launch of Google’s new social network, Google+, there are many who have rushed to publish opinions about the demise of other networks, most notably Twitter and Facebook. Some have even gone as far as to shut down their accounts on these other networks to move their entire online network to Google+. Others, while leaving the accounts open, are no longer updating those accounts and have posted this as their profile picture as a sort of forwarding address:

While I’m loving what I see so far on Google+, I’m nowhere near prepared to move and vacate my other social networking accounts. This is not the same as when a new version of a product we’re already using is launched. If I’m an iPhone user and a newer iPhone model comes out, sure, I’ll jump in and buy it, knowing there is no need to keep using both. It would be redundant.

This is not the case with Google+. While some may argue that there are some features which are very similar those on Facebook or Twitter, it is not a straight-across apples to apples comparison. The tools are different, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Plus, even if I had a strong preference for one over another, suddenly moving my social presence would really be all about me, rather than respecting where and how my community is most comfortable engaging. If such a move doesn’t make sense for my business community, as well as my friends and family, it doesn’t make sense for me.

Why is it, then, that people want to rush in and declare something over or dead so quickly? Is it because they really believe it to be so or is it because they think that it might one day be so and they want to have been the first to have predicted its demise?

R.I.P.

Over the last couple of years, I recall hearing of a few other deaths; among them were email, blogs and the telephone. Strangely, I continue to use them all. Of course, how I use all of the tools and platforms has evolved over time, but they are all still relevant and important. Enough of the useless pronouncements that something is over; I’m over it. I prefer to remain focused on continuing to leverage the right tools in the right away, given our own objectives and resources.

Worry Not

To those not yet on Google+ who may be wondering if it is going to replace whatever you’re currently doing, don’t worry. As long as you continue to share valuable and helpful content and are always willing to keep an open mind about new tools and best practices, you’ll do just fine. Google+ is brand spanking new and has just begun to develop.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

Dear Netflix: While You’re Huddled Under the Table, I’ve Got One More Thing

Irene Koehler — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:20:07 +0000

Netflix has a bit of a public relations nightmare on their hands at the moment. You may have heard about it. The internet has been ablaze following an email sent to all of their subscribers and this blog post by the company:

Netflix has now added themselves to the cases discussed at marketing, public relations and social media conferences as an example of how to get it wrong – horribly wrong – when communicating with customers and then ignoring their outrage.

In my mind, this really isn’t about a simple matter of a price increase. Sure, no one wants to pay more for anything than they were yesterday. Why would we? If, on the other hand, either I was getting more for my money or the company took the time to intelligently explain to me why this change was necessary, I might feel differently. Neither of these things has happened here.

It isn’t about the what. It’s about the how.

An excerpt of the blog post illustrates part of the reason I think they screwed up the how.

Now we offer a choice: Unlimited Streaming for $7.99 a month, Unlimited DVDs for $7.99 a month, or both for $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). We think $7.99 is a terrific value for our unlimited streaming plan and $7.99 a terrific value for our unlimited DVD plan. We hope one, or both, of these plans makes sense for our members and their entertainment needs. As always, our members can easily choose to change or cancel their unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both by visiting Your Account.

“Now we offer a choice.” Really? As a longtime customer, it never crossed my mind that I wanted a choice. It’s patronizing to play up the fact that there is now a choice between one-half of what I was getting before and the other half. Neither half is better than it was before, they’re just separate and more expensive.

Perhaps I missed the part where Netflix explained that they’re interested in how their customers define “terrific value.” It’s not only that prices are being increased; presenting this as a “terrific value” has left many feeling talked down to, as if the company doesn’t realize they can do the math.

More how: Announce, duck and cover.

Once the announcement of the price increase was made, people flooded Netflix with feedback. Many thousands of customers posted messages on the company’s blog post, Facebook page and Twitter, only to be met with deafening silence. Failing to acknowledge or respond to people’s feedback only further enrages them. One imagines them huddled in the executive conference room, underneath the long table, waiting out the storm. “Is it safe to go out yet?” “I don’t know, you go see if they’re still posting angry comments. I’m not going.”

That poor blogger and one more thing

Since this broke yesterday, I had been feeling bad for the blogger, the woman who had the unenviable duty to post that now infamous blog post. “She’s probably on their social media team and contributes to their blog,” I thought, “She’s probably feeling really awful right about now.” Today, I was still concerned about her and went to look her up on LinkedIn.

The good news is that I don’t feel bad anymore. She’s the V.P. of Marketing at Netflix. The surprising “one more thing” news is that I also saw this on her LinkedIn page:

I’m guessing the intent of this recruitment campaign on LinkedIn was not to engage people drawn in by a firestorm. As an addition to the long list of lessons learned, I’d suggest that while huddled under the conference room table, the team might also want to consider other, unrelated campaigns running and whether to put them on hold in the short run.

Two other pieces which provide valuable perspective on this situation:

Why Netflixgate Is More Interesting Than Google+ (To Me)

7 Reasons Why Netflix’s Price Hike Is a Bonehead Move

How Old is the Perfect Social Media Expert?

Irene Koehler — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:31:47 +0000

So, there I was. Listening in on a fascinating conversation online with one of the business world’s most well known thought-leaders, some of his most famous books on the shelf above my desk as I soaked in his words coming through the speakers of my computer. His wisdom and perspective on the importance of respecting and empowering one’s employees and customers were inspiring. Most of his advice wasn’t new, yet being reminded of what I’d forgotten to focus on can be immensely helpful.

His talk was hitting all the right notes, exceeding my expectations, when he began to discuss the need for transparency for corporate executives and the critical opportunity, and must-have piece of their communication strategy, social media now represents for everyone in the C-suite. (Having come from a corporate management background myself, he definitely had my attention now!) And then he said it.

“If you don’t understand social media, find a social media expert. Get someone in their twenties, or even your grandson, to teach you. They’re all social media experts today.”

Really? Did he just say that? Oh, yes he did, and I wasn’t the only one listening online to take notice.

This really isn’t about this one guy. I’m not even going to name him, because he’s not the point. The point is that I’ve heard the same thing from many people, young and old. It represents a real misunderstanding of what it takes to effectively incorporate social media into one’s online presence, whether it’s for professional, branding, political, marketing, customer service or other purposes. Frequent and persistent clicking does not make anyone a social media expert.

Insert Statistics Here (or not)

I could easily link to all sorts of statistics and studies which show the demographic breakdown of who is using social media the most, who grew up with it, who’s adopting it later in life and on and on and on. I’ll go out on a limb and submit for your consideration that no one from the Baby Boomer generation used social media online as a child, that many under the age of 30 (or so) used computers early in life and the younger ones in that group were texting, Facebooking, and LOLing while still in elementary school. We don’t need numbers to prove this to be true. It just is; no judgement, no prejudice, it just is.

Doing It Often vs. Doing It Well

Do you know any really bad drivers? You know, the ones who roll through stop signs, drive too fast and can’t seem to stay in their own lane while barreling down the highway? You may even love them, but you don’t feel comfortable sliding into the passenger seat when they’re driving. They drive often and have driven for years, but does that mean they drive well? Would this be the person you’d trust to teach a new driver? How would you feel if the name of your company was emblazoned on the side of that car for all to see?

If someone uses Facebook often and has used it for years, does that mean they’re doing it well? If that person has grown up posting updates and photos to Facebook for much of their life, would this person be the one you’d trust to teach an executive how best to utilize social media for business purposes? I’m hoping your answer is either No or Hell no.

If you don’t want someone who knows the mechanics of operating a car, but doesn’t respect the rules of road, to drive your car, why would you give them the keys to drive your brand?

Experience, Perspective and Skills

Forget age and focus on finding the right person to help you. Success in leveraging social media requires many things beyond simply having grown up online.

Here are just a few of the key things I’d suggest you consider in your quest for the perfect social media expert:

Voice – The ability to understand your brand voice, especially if this person is to be entrusted with the duty of interacting on the business’ behalf. Countless brands have suffered terribly when that voice was left in the hands of an intern or someone not adequately prepared.
Reputation – While it can feel as if everything happens in-the-moment online and then is swept away quickly in the flow of social media content, the fact is that most of it lives on forever in one form or another. Assume that anything shared online by you or about you will be archived and can be found again forever, often through a simple Google search. You will want your social media expert to fully grasp the long-term value of a reputation and how it can be damaged with a single click.
Culture and Etiquette – Each social networking platform has its own pace, culture, best practices and etiquette. Does your social media expert fully grasp the nuances of each, as well as the upside and downside of different approaches to sharing and engaging?
Objectives – Before embarking on your social media journey, aligning your use of these new tools with your overall business or professional objectives is key. Posting stuff for the sake of posting stuff probably isn’t going to achieve meaningful results (unless posting stuff happens to be your objective).
Learning – Everything about technology and the internet seems to change weekly. From privacy settings to the latest applications, analytics and gadgets, it takes time to stay on top of the latest news and best practices. Either invest ongoing energy in staying current or work with someone who does.
Mechanics – Of each of the items listed here, this may be the easiest to learn. This is all about how to post a tweet, how to set-up a page on Facebook, how to upload a video to YouTube. Don’t be intimidated by any of this and don’t select a social media expert because they are a master of mechanics, but are missing other critical skills.

The Right Age

What is the right age for the perfect social media expert? I have no idea.

The right social media expert for you will be defined by their skills, vision, experience and fit, not their age or generation. When you find someone who has what you need, work with them. Whether that person is 24 or 54, hire them. You’ll be glad you did.

Image courtesy of chimothy27

LinkedIn Adds 3 Fun Ways to Remember Your Connections

Irene Koehler — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:45:46 +0000

LinkedIn doesn’t get much love in the “I can’t wait to go online and have fun with my friends” category of social networking sites, but make no mistake – for professionals, wannabe professionals, businesses or non-profits, LinkedIn is where the real action is. While you may be getting benefit out of Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn is probably where I’ll find you first when I google you and where I’ll look to get an early sense of your reputation. Still, with all the deals being made and careers blossoming on LinkedIn, it isn’t always top of mind when people think about where to spend time their time online.

The secret to networking is to actually stay in touch with many of your connections. If we don’t occasionally connect, those connections might as well be a stack of business cards gathering dust in a dark corner of our office. Out of sight, out of mind. There are many reasons to stay in touch, but here’s a big one – People tend to remember people who remember them. Networking isn’t about us; it’s about them and anything that helps remind us of who we know or how we know them is a good thing. If it’s fun, even better. Enter three new applications which do just that.

DropIn

Oh, how I was addicted to playing Tetris. I tried to keep up with the increasingly fast pace at which those shapes dropped, hoping to fit them into the puzzle. How would you like to play Tetris with the faces of your LinkedIn connections? My only challenge with DropIn was deciding whether to focus on the game or wondering why I hadn’t talk with George in so long as I tried to maneuver his face into just the right spot. I’ll have to send him a note – right after I finish this game.

Year In Review

Which of your friends started a new job last year? It turns out 257 of my LinkedIn connections started a new position in 2010. That’s exciting. I would certainly have missed this information otherwise. After being shown the faces of those with a new gig, it would be great to send them a note offering congratulations or asking how they’re enjoying the new job. What an easy way to let them know you’re thinking of them!

Connection Timeline

The idea behind this application is cool, but it didn’t seem to work well for me. It displays your career as a dynamic timeline and highlights which of your connections you worked with at various points in your career. My timeline only displayed positions through 2007.

Have you used any of these new applications? Let me know what you think and which seems most useful to you in the comments below.

Image courtesy of luvi.

How To Manage Your Online Reputation By Using Google Alerts

Irene Koehler — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:45:41 +0000

In addition to the wonderful feedback to my post last week about 3 Mistakes You’re Making Online, I also received questions about my third point – using Google Alerts to monitor your reputation online. While I know throngs of hyper-connected people for whom using Google Alerts is second nature, the fact is that this is a new tool for many people. If you’re part of the second group, I strongly encourage you to consider using Google Alerts. There are definitely more comprehensive and sophisticated tools out there, but this is the place to get started tracking what’s said about you online. Best of all – it’s free and incredibly easy to do.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is an extremely simple tool to help monitor what is said or shared online about any topic of interest to you. While you are undoubtedly interested in keeping up to date on industry-related topics, local news or your favorite sports teams, one of the most relevant topics to you should be you. This may include information posted online somewhere by you, someone you know, organizations or companies you’re affiliated with or public databases.

Here’s how Google explains the Alerts tool:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you’ll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

monitoring a developing news story

keeping current on a competitor or industry

getting the latest on a celebrity or event

keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Surprisingly, there is no mention of monitoring your reputation online, which simply is a must do step for every professional, business, non-profit and anyone who deals with other people who may want, at some point, to learn more about them. Really, who doesn’t this include?

Why should I bother?

Whether you know it or not, and whether or not you like it, everyone is looking you up online. You should assume that your current and potential employers, clients, customers, donors, friends, dates, family members and neighbors are typing your name into Google to find out what you’re up to, how much you paid for your home and to which political candidate you donated money. Sure, if you assume that everyone is googling you, you’ll be wrong in some cases. Still, don’t you want to know what they’ll be finding? You might be surprised to find out how much information is online right now about you.

In addition to monitoring your own reputation, it is also a simple way to keep an eye on what is being said about your company, your competitors, the company you hope to work for and so on. Don’t be the last to know!

Is it really that easy to set up Google Alerts?

In a word – Yes. Google has a simple guide to walk you through the steps, along with some helpful examples.

A few tips when setting up your alerts:

Use quotation marks when you want to get results for a specific phrase, as shown above for my name. Without the quotation marks, I will receive alerts for every instance online of when the words irene and koehler appear, but not necessarily together as in “irene koehler” and I definitely don’t want to receive emails for all of those thousands of pages which aren’t relevant to me.
Set up alerts for any nicknames or usernames you have on different online forums or social networking sites.
In addition to creating alerts for your own name and business name, consider creating alerts for your children’s names. Even if they’re young, you might be surprised to find their name listed online as a result of a soccer tournament or school activity. Set up alerts for your spouse’s name at your own risk.

Your turn…How have you found Google Alerts useful? If you haven’t used them before, do you plan to set them up now? Add a comment below to let me know.

3 Mistakes You’re Making Online

Irene Koehler — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:53:30 +0000

Oy, the internet. Must it be so complicated? Can’t we all just have fun online and not worry so much? While some people do take that approach, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re active online and chances are you’re making one of these mistakes. OK, maybe you specifically aren’t doing these things, but many of our friends are.

1. Multiple Personalities

You use different websites for different parts of your life. You’re the professional you on LinkedIn. You are the friends and family you on Facebook. You’re the silly I’m out all night on a Saturday with my friends you on twitter.

While this approach of segmenting our lives may have made sense pre-internet, it is no longer a luxury we have. When I want to learn about you, I head straight to Google. It’s entirely possible that what I will find shows me much more than you intended. In addition to finding the professional you on LinkedIn, I may easily find content you shared on Facebook which you thought was only visible to friends, your ranty comments on YouTube videos and blog posts, and all sorts of photos of you (whether posted by you or someone else).

2. Undersharing

You’ve heard so much about the perils of oversharing that you’ve decided to be smart about how you approach your online presence. You know better than to post personal information revealing your vacation plans and when your house will be left empty and vulnerable. You know better than to complain about your neighbors and your boss online, lest they find out about it. You’ve heard the horror stories about people losing their jobs or destroying their reputation because too much was shared online.

You’ve heeded lessons that others have learned the hard way. The only problem is you’re overcompensating by not sharing enough information online. When someone Googles you, and believe me they are, are they finding the information that you want them to see or are they finding information that doesn’t tell your story in the best possible light? If you are not intentionally and strategically sharing information online, you may be defined by a hodgepodge of links to your extracurricular activities or from various sites that aggregate content about someone with your name, which may or may not indeed be you. It’s really a question of brand or be branded. Do you want to be defined by what is online about you by default, or take an active role in telling your story online?

3. Sharing, But Not Monitoring

You’re busily posting photos and updates online without taking the time to keep on eye on what the internet has to say about you. You’re under the impression that any information online about you is under your control because you decided to put it there.

When was the last time you googled yourself? Everyone else is googling you, so you’d better know what it is they’re finding when they do. While there are many sophisticated tools and strategies to monitor your reputation online, the first place to start is to set up Google alerts. Set up a Google alert for your name, nicknames, name of your business and other terms of particular interest. You will then receive an e-mail when that term appears online in a blog post, for example. Sure, it’ll also alert you when someone else with the same name is mentioned online, but this is a good thing. If another Irene Koehler got herself into a little legal trouble, I would definitely want to know about it so I could be sure to clarify things is anyone thought it was me.

This list is by no means complete. What common mistakes are you seeing people make? Please add them in the comments so that others can learn from your questions and suggestions.

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