Advice, resources, and insight on how to make social engagement work to grow your business and career.
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Mentors
The best content a business can share is their own stories. If a client cares about what you sell, they will care about the stories you have to tell. But how the story is told and shared matters a great deal and there are a variety of ways that can be done with both large budgets and no budgets.
Investing in your brand without investing in who is going to influence it the most is kind of crazy. And since "social media" is so obviously about people, it's important to understand how important the personal brands of your people are on social channels.
David Hayward, known around the world as the "naked pastor" is an expert on building nurturing, connected, loyal communities of people who care about what the community stands for - what every social business should strive for.
His nakedpastor cartoons and content is viewed and shared by over 200,000 people each month and he just started a brand new democratic, online community called The Lasting Supper "for people who want to transition into a life of personal, intellectual and spiritual freedom and independence".
David is NOT here to talk about spirituality (although you probably wouldn't have a hard time getting him offline in a sidebar discussion), He is leading the discussion to focus on what social businesses need to figure out more than anything else: how to build a community around your brand.
As the Learn by Sociallogical™ Mentor On-Call for October, David will respond to comments posted to the site, blog his own thoughts on growing communities and on a few lessons in our Learn courses for business, and make sure mentorship stays at the heart of how we learn throughout the month.
Leave a comment in the courses or in the open forums this month and David is sure to respond. He's a bright, thoughtful guy and we are very happy to have him as our very first Mentor On-Call!
Add David as a Friend so you can talk to him about building your own brand community. You can find him in Learn by Sociallogical™ at http://learn.sociallogical.com/members/nakedpastor
What are the biggest myths of social media and social business that you have come across as a consultant or have dispelled as you have learned more about social media use in business?
This is not meant to mock the wrong-headed but to be a collection to help others steer clear of misconceptions that can take them down the wrong path or lead them away from a great opportunity. Here are a few from my list:
The 3 things on my list were easy to choose as they are incredibly common. If you end up blogging about any of the items on your list or have good resources to support them, please share links with your list.
What are the biggest social media myths from your experience? Please share in the comments.
"When you walk into a room full of people, what’s the first thing you do? For me, my goal is to find people I might know and just say hello. Yet, when it comes to social media, most businesses still don’t see social networks as a place to socialize but as mediums to broadcast, which is a very big and costly mistake. Some businesses even forget that social is about connecting with people. Many, determined to continue operating as they always have, shove their ad messages through social mediums that eventually end up detesting them.So how can businesses avoid making the costly mistakes mentioned above? Here are two key principles to starting off right..."
Above is an excerpt from a guest post I wrote yesterday for my friend Dave Gallant's blog.
Dave is an eastern Canadian social business consultant who understands the "social" side of social business more than most and emphasizes it well in what he does. Dave is also working on a new startup called Recommendur that focuses on helping people get started using social media in the early days when people are often unsure of what their first steps should be.
My guest post speaks to the people Dave hopes to help with Recommendur. Dave's interest in helping people learn social media, especially in a business context makes his new startup a likely partner for Sociallogical and we're looking forward to seeing what he builds.
What advice do you have to give someone just getting started in social business?
Register using code ELAINES to join "the Empress of Inspiration", Elaine Shannon, in her first course to help your team understand social business in a few short weeks as Sociallogical's newest mentor of our online classes.
"Still working on Sociallogical course. REALLY good content! Should help me become more social media savvy! Thanks a bunch for a great course!" - Lorna Pond, Urban Landscaping
"Almost halfway through chapter three of Sociallogical course! Tres enlightening! 2012 will be a year of connectiveness for HHP" - Greg Hemmings, Hemmings House Productions
Elaine is scheduling her inaugural class to begin in 2 weeks with registration closing on Friday, March 16 as her last step for certification as a Sociallogical Mentor.
Chapter 1: How Did We Get Here? How Do I Start?
Chapter 2: How To Use the Social Media Tool Box
Chapter 3: How to Grow a Social Business
