Twitter, Facebook Lead with Information

The Boston area became my new adopted home back in January. I’ve loved living here so far, and this horrible attack doesn’t change any of that. I heard about the attacks shortly after they occurred. As we’ve learned over the years from crises and disasters, Twitter is an amazing source of information. That’s where I went to find out what was going on.

Twitter was immediately full of concern, condolences, and information from outlets around the country. Finding out what was happening in what was essentially real time helped myself and many others to make sense of the situation as best we could. As cell phone service in downtown Boston failed, Twitter and Facebook became the primary way to communicate for those in that area.

Not long after the news broke, a Twitter Vine video was the first to show footage of the bombs. To me, this was amazing. Vine showed that it’s not only an excellent tool for businesses, agencies, and individuals, it can also be an immediate source of information bringing with it more than 140 characters could hope to.

Facebook, for its part, was able to help people connect with loved ones and friends. I can’t tell you how comforting it was to know that the friends I knew in the area were safe and sound. Without social media I probably wouldn’t have known.

I think Dan Gilgoff and Jane J. Lee capture how important social media was during this disaster for National Geographic when they wrote: “As word spread of the blasts on Monday afternoon, social media seemed shaped by every aspect of the response, from runners giving their accounts of the race-turned-nightmare on Facebook, to authorities using Twitter to give instant updates, to The Boston Globe temporarily converting its homepage to a live blog that pulled in Tweets from Boston authorities, news outlets, and ordinary citizens.”

Google’s People Finder

Google released a powerful tool to help concerned friends and family locate those they were worried or concerned about. Google’s People Finder for the Boston Marathon has already managed to track 5200 records.

In addition to that, a Google Drive document has been used to help organize housing for the hundreds who did not have a place to stay after the marathon. As Sam Laird reports for Mashable, “The Boston Globe’s digital arm asked locals to offer extra space to Boston Marathon runners and spectators stranded in town.” A Google Drive document was created shortly after and has since turned into a long, heartwarming list of people who care and are opening their homes.

Latest on the Disaster

According to CNN, over 150 people have been injured with some still in critical condition. Three people have died, including an 8-year-old boy. Hopefully those numbers do not continue to grow, as they have been since the news first broke.

The investigation is still ongoing. What’s frustrating to me is that no one has claimed responsibility. Many of us are waiting to find out who did this and why they did it. You can bet social media will be the first to spread the word, whoever is responsible.

If you’re a business or agency, now is a great time to express your solidarity with those who have suffered and with the city of Boston. Offer suggestions about how people can help, and be sincere, clear, and straightforward. Unfortunately there are still businesses and people that will rightly or wrongly come across as insincere or taking advantage of the situation. They pay the price online, though.

Final Words

This bombing was a terrible event. I wanted to share with anyone who reads this an important article posted in The Atlantic written by Bruce Schneier. Bruce reminds us about a lot of things, but he closes with, “Empathize, but refuse to be terrorized. Instead, be indomitable – and support leaders who are as well. That’s how to defeat terrorists.”

But such is life in the public eye. When you’re a business, small or large, there are risks to marketing and advertising. And when putting your name out there as a business it becomes significantly more important to make sure your message and methods are well-planned and even more carefully executed. Otherwise, you’ll end up like New Coke or Crystal Pepsi — a marketing train-wreck from which people just can’t avert their gaze.

Not all marketing fails are globally bad; in fact some are fairly minor. But a marketing fail is a marketing fail is a marketing fail. Today, we’ll discuss several different marketing fails, and we’ll divide them up into two categories.

The Bad

The Mobile Marketing Fail

Mobile marketing is increasingly becoming a necessary marketing venue for companies. It’s relatively less competitive, very targeted, and your audience is captive. But even in mobile marketing it’s possible to completely and utterly fail — in fact there’s an entire website devoted to mobile marketing fails! Let’s read about this specific fail.

SMS campaigns can be a great driver for your business. The first mistake a lot of companies make, even if this one got step one right, is failing to include a call to action. But as demonstrated by iLoop, even if you get your CTA right, you still have plenty of opportunities to get everything else wrong. Just as important as your call, is the content you deliver after it.

iLoop forces a download on the user, they haven’t considered if their content will be viewed on a tablet or a mobile phone, their content is poorly created (low volume), and then they immediately send the user a text asking for information they already have.

Fail rating: 3/10

The Facebook Marketing Fail

Famously, General Motors decided to pull its nearly $40 million (yes, million with an M) in advertising from Facebook.com. While this started a massive debate on the merits of advertising on Facebook, it’s well understood that purchasing sponsored ads on the site isn’t the only way to market yourself on it. Likewise, it’s not the only way to find your way into a marketing fail.

This misleading marketing fail comes to us courtesy of yet another blog devoted entirely to epic marketing fails. Admittedly, it caught my eye because of its hockey logo — I’m a huge hockey fan. But reading further, that’s exactly what the advertiser in question was hoping for. The ad uses a misappropriated Ottawa Senators logo to encourage likes — for a dentist!

It’s a Facebook advertising bait and switch. Not only is the ad and the business misleading to its viewers, but it’s also a tacit admission that the business has nothing of value to advertise, and instead must use a completely unrelated brand to build their own following.

Fail Rating: 5/10

The Email Marketing Fail

Among some of the best ways to connect with existing or potential customers for your business is email marketing. It’s fast, can be automated, direct, specific, narrow-targeted, and can provide excellent calls to action. It’s also fairly easy to do. Unfortunately it’s hard to do right, and way too easy to OVER-do.

I’m a member of several email lists. It’s a great way, as a consumer, to stay informed with business happenings. Plus in rougher economic times, it’s a great way to keep abreast of sales and promotions that help me spend my dollar more wisely.

But there’s little worse in terms of business interaction than being bombarded by emails. Take, for example, this post by Marty Weintraub at Aimclearblog.com, who includes a screenshot that does well to illustrate the frustration of an overbearing email campaign.

While customers sign up for email lists to stay on top of your company news, they don’t sign up for lists to be nagged. If you send more than one or two emails a week, you’re sending too many.

Fail Rating: 5/10

The Ridiculously Bad

The QR Code Fail

With all the rage in advertising (mobile and otherwise) these days, the longevity of the QR code will be directly proportional to the ability of advertisers to use it properly. Based on the majority of examples though, QR codes are bound to disappear far before their prime usefulness is ever realized.

The web is filled with examples of poor QR code use, as well illustrated in this article at econsultancy.com. While there are more ways to do QR codes wrong than there are ways to do them right, my particular “favorite” is when a company includes a QR code in emails and email signatures.

It can be a very subtle mistake, but can be incredibly damaging to a brand when your target audience is web savvy. Why would someone use a QR code if they’re already online?

QR codes can be great for mobile advertising, but the use of a QR code in an email or its signature necessitates one of three things: printing the email to scan the code, scanning a computer screen with a smartphone, or scanning one smartphone with another smartphone.

Not only does this betray any sense a company has established about understanding online marketing, but it also serves as annoying and useless clutter in what could otherwise be a very useful and attractive marketing message.

Fail Rating: 6/10

The Harpo Fail

No, not the second-oldest Marx brother, Harpo is the name of Oprah Winfrey’s multimedia production company. Why is that important? Because her program helped to showcase our next marketing fail.

In 2009, KFC decided to boost the launch of a new product by introducing it on the Oprah Winfrey show. They, by Oprah proxy, promised two free pieces of grilled chicken sandwiched between a biscuit for every Oprah.com visitor that downloaded a specific coupon. While the coupon would only be available for 24 hours, KFC vastly underestimated the voracity of our nation, and our adoration of grilled chicken.

Just a few hours after introduction, the coupon was being used at thousands of KFC restaurants. So many, and by so many patrons in fact, that managers of stores began closing the promotion, ad hoc.

They refused service, they declined cash — and the patrons revolted. There were sit-ins, fights, arguments, and more. But the real damage was done to the credibility of KFC and its marketing partners. The problem wasn’t Oprah, it wasn’t the coupon, and it wasn’t the hungry, hungry public. The problem was a poorly thought out, and poorly planned marketing campaign.

Always consider the product (and discount!) you’re offering. Do this at the same time as you consider the medium by which you’re delivering it. Failing to do so could bring about a lot of embarrassment.

Fail Score: 7/10

The Invariable Insensitive Twitter Fail

While not part of a distinct marketing campaign, a recent kerfuffle by South American-based clothing store Celeb Boutique caused an innocent and completely unintentional Twitter uproar.

After the Aurora, CO theater tragedy, Celeb Boutique noticed that the hashtag #Aurora was trending. Completely unaware of the incident, Celeb Boutique took the opportunity to promote a product, by tweeting: “#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ” with a call to action and a link to the product they mentioned.

After about an hour, the offending tweet was removed, and CB began tweeting apologies — but not before plenty of people expressed their extreme distaste for the remark. While not necessarily a global failure, though that’s partially a good description because the company and its PR firm are based in Argentina, people in Colorado were most upset by the tweet.

However in the age of social media, just as your sales and specials can easily read a wide audience, so can your gaffes. CB spent the next several tweets apologizing for their mistake and informing their followers that they were located outside the US, and humbly added that they failed to research the trending topic before tweeting.

Apologies aside, the reputation of Celeb Boutique no doubt took a hit, and their mistake will likely be remembered for some time.

Fail Rating: 8/10

The Comprehensive Fail

In the fading summer of 2011, a popular content delivery service (pro-tip: think movies) committed not one, not two, but a series of blunders that many have compared to the infamous New Coke debacle. Who is it? Netflix!

Here’s the blog post that started it all, from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings himself. First, Netflix announced price hikes for its services and then their decision to split their streaming and DVD services at the same time. This prompted nearly two months of uniformly negative feedback. Where things really went downhill was in the 10th paragraph of Hastings blog apologizing for not explaining the changes better.

After raising prices and forcing users to visit a second service, Hastings expounded by letting people know that Netflix would stay as streaming, and the DVD-by-mail service would be renamed ‘Qwikster.’

In a post on Mashable, contributor Chris Taylor deftly recounts the ways in which the Qwikster launch and rebrand were so damaging to the brand.

The name was awful (easily misspelled, no product relevance, and of an antiquated design), splitting services lent itself to mass customer confusion, the fix caused problems rather than solving them, and the company lost the trust of thousands of subscribers. Almost a million, actually, according to Inc.com.

While the reputation hit to Netflix was famous and long-lasting, even more disastrous was the hit to their stock price. From a high of almost $300 in July of 2011, it closed at a low of $77 in late October. The stock saw a 60% drop after the price hike, and then another 35% drop after the Qwikster debacle.

Fail Rating: 9/10

While marketing mix-ups can range from faux-pas to all-out disasters, it’s important to consider the consequences of a marketing plan gone wrong during its formulation.

There’s no substitute for shrewd planning when creating your marketing campaign, and it’s just as important to consider off-the-cuff messages. But whatever you do, just make sure that your marketing campaign doesn’t end up like a fender bender on the highway: something people can’t stop staring at.

Fortunately, it’s significantly easier in this day and age to research your competition than it used to be. While word of mouth, visiting, and even advertising can tell you important things about your competition these days, social media can help provide you with a wealth of information with relatively limited digging.

While there are multitudes of social media sites, today we’re going to concentrate on some of the biggest and most popular. While sites like Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Google+, or Flickr are gaining popularity (don’t worry if you haven’t heard of them, not everyone has!) they aren’t necessarily sites that can provide a lot of information about your business competition.

Facebook

Facebook boasts 900 million active users that comment and like content 3.2 billion times per day. A great portion of those shares and likes, and those active users, are in relation to a business. Facebook can be used to find out how your competition interacts with its users. Also very telling is if your competition chooses not to interact with their customers. This tells you if they both fail to see value.

When people “Like” your competition, do they actively participate when the “fans” makes posts? Does the business interact with them? What happens when a consumer or customer leaves a comment (positive or negative) on the Facebook page for that business? How does your competition handle their interaction?

Another very useful tidbit is researching how your competition works to engage “new” customers; they may post sales, contests, or advertise special occasions in an effort to attract visitors. Are these things you can do, or do better than your competition?

In this shot of Facebook, you can see a local microbrewery in Denver and some of their connections. They’ve interacted with me directly after asking a question.

You can also see some of their “likes” and associations, as well as recommendations from users. You can also see the business advertising events at their location. In this specific instance, the brewery is advertising that they will have food trucks/carts at their location to provide food for their guests!

Twitter

A “microblogging” platform based around very short status updates, Twitter exploded in popularity in 2007. According to Twitter, they have over 500 million active users, as of April of 2012. Like Facebook, much of this activity is related to business and commerce. Visit twitter.com and use the search bar in the top right-hand corner, search for your competitor, and what do you find?

Twitter is often used to share industry-related information, and is a great way to have something about your company spread from one person to many others with relatively minimal effort. Many businesses use Twitter as a way to share information about themselves, just like Facebook. Companies may use Twitter to advertise specials and events, or post photos and share information about themselves.

It can also be a useful tool for brand awareness — by sharing industry-related information, content has the chance to get circulated broadly, with your business’ name attached. How do your competitors use Twitter? How do their followers engage with them? Could this be a successful tool for your business?

I stumbled upon a great blog from DigitalLabz.com that detailed 4 key mistakes a business can make when interacting with influencers on Twitter. It’s important to understand that while participating in social media and being interactive with followers can be a great benefit, it’s easy to slip up!

Here’s a great example of a local business. In this case, a popular restaurant in Denver is not only interacting with followers in a great way, but also cross-posting content from their Facebook page, advertising food they have available.

They also active “retweet” content, which is a simple and easy way to forward content that exists about your business. It helps to further your brand, and can serve as a great method of self-promotion.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a site that, while mostly used for professionals looking to network, has also proven useful for business entities themselves. Your competition may use LinkedIn to connect with various networks and communities within your industry. It’s a great place to find out who your competition is connecting with, and what they’re talking about.

Maybe they’re learning about new technologies, discussing emerging industry trends, finding potential partners, or simply hoping to find the best and the brightest talent to bring on-board. Join LinkedIn and see what’s up with others in your industry.

In this shot of the Level 3 Communications LinkedIn page, we are presented with several opportunities to learn about our competition.

We can see some of their featured products and services, as well as people that recommend their services.

Are the people that recommend them potential clients for you, too? Who do you have acting as evangelists as your brand? Do you offer them a place to publicly offer their recommendation? Do the products and services offered match your company? Can you learn about what your competitors are doing to help you do something different?

Yelp!

Yelp! is a user-based review site. Primarily for service and location-based businesses, Yelp! is a perfect way to find out what users have to say about your competition. If your competition doesn’t deal directly with consumers, Yelp! probably won’t prove to be a good resource – however, if anyone in your industry does deal directly with consumers, it’s a great way to find out how they’re doing, and what people have to say about companies in your industry. You never know, there might be a way you can strengthen your brand and get a leg up!

Yelp! reviews will often detail customer service-type experiences, and will detail thoughts and opinions on products. It’s a quick and easy way to learn what your competition is doing right, and what your competition is doing wrong. Learning from Yelp! reviews and other feedback about your competition can help you position yourself to recreate their success, or pick up their lost customers.

In this shot of the Yelp! page from a local bar and restaurant near where I’m located in Denver, we see a lot of very general business information. What’s important to note here is that while the business is allowed to own a page for their business, the content that appears is still all the result of public reviews and ratings.

The qualitative information at the bottom of the red box, like “Best Nights” or “Good For Dancing” are all answered by reviews. The answers are aggregated and included here. You can also see the average of all reviews written near the top, below their name. Think about how you can use a site like Yelp to better understand how people view your competition. Can you compare that to how people view you? What are some similarities and differences? What can you learn to do better or differently based on what people say about the businesses with which you compete?

In this second screenshot, also of Boone’s Tavern, you’ll note that I wrote a review after a negative experience at the establishment. You can also see that the business reached out to me directly to address the review, and I’ve since updated my review to include relevant information about how they addressed the situation.

If you were a sports bar in the Denver area, there would be several things to learn here. Among them is that negative experiences DO happen, but the business proactively addresses them.

The establishment took very seriously any potentially negative publicity and worked quickly to address it. This particular business works hard to control their perception, to take charge and turn negatives into positives. What can you learn about your competition from this? Can you find a way to improve your own business from this?

What if they aren’t on Social Media?

Many SMBs don’t have a Social Media presence at all. If you’ve searched sites and social networks and have been unable to find your competition, then their absence is your gain. Their lack of presence could indicate many things: lack of tech savvy, no desire to interact with existing and potential consumers, or perhaps they simply aren’t aware of the importance of social media and the opportunities it allows in today’s business landscape.

But whatever it indicates, what you have learned about your competition is that they have opened the door for you to join social media (if you haven’t already) and earn the trust, respect, and business of a new branch of consumers.

It also gives you a clear path to building your brand with significantly less competition in the social arena. The inaction has presented you with a perfect opportunity to take advantage and find success for your business. Are you taking advantage?

Lori Ruff, The LinkedIn Diva™, as she is known, is a Forbes Top 25 International Social Media Power Influencer, # 3 Woman on LinkedIn, an Author and Blogger. A sassy, saucy, businesswoman, she is a recognized thought leader on executable social networking strategy. She evangelizes Relationship Driven Business Development via LinkedIn and Social Media.

Lori was kind enough to talk to us a bit about LinkedIn and share some tips and best practices. I don’t know about you, but this interview has definitely encouraged me to step up my LinkedIn game!

The Interview

A lot of people believe that LinkedIn is only a place to establish your presence if you’re a job seeker. How do you help people with the mindset that LinkedIn isn’t for them see its value?

I explain that there are many other relationships being formed on LinkedIn. People find more than a job or a candidate. Just as in any other professional environment, people find: business deals, partners, vendors, and customers, even friends (and I name some of the people I’ve met where the relationships are about more than business). There’s a great exchange of knowledge, advice and even mentoring happening on LinkedIn. It’s a vibrant and active community that provides diverse value for millions of people.

When did you really begin to see the value that LinkedIn holds beyond networking? So, for example, when did you begin to realize its potential for things like lead generation and so forth?

As soon as I joined LinkedIn in 2005, I realized how powerful it was as an online resume. It wasn’t until the following year, after life-threatening injuries from a motorcycle accident caused me to be out of the professional community for close to 18 months, that I turned to LinkedIn to help me rediscover who the new players in my region were. That’s when I started to find and engage people in other states, even other countries. I quickly realized that I could expand my horizons, using LinkedIn to turn my regional efforts into national, continental, and even global success. Within weeks, I was booking business from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Waco, Texas, to Monterrey, Mexico and then I set my sights on Denver. That’s when I found Mike O’Neil, the original LinkedIn trainer and my new partner.

At Content Equals Money, we believe that content marketing at the Fortune 500 level is essentially the same for small businesses. The money aspect will differ, but the practices are all the same. Would you say this is also true for LinkedIn? Can small businesses make use of LinkedIn the same way that larger companies can?

More than the money differs. The access to a team often is the tipping point for small businesses that makes them feel unable to take advantage. Still, there are things small business can do more effectively: for example, they can be more responsive and timely in their communications and posts. Where they need to mimic large companies is in the areas of planning, strategy and policy.

A big opportunity for small business is the availability of affordable help. There are a growing number of people who are now, or looking to soon, offer social media marketing and management services for small business. There are even companies such as Splash Media  who not only offer those services for SMB companies, but they also offer Splash Media U to offer affordable training to individuals who want to do the same.

Along those same lines, how do you help small businesses think bigger?

A great way to think bigger is to think outside of the box of your own four walls. One fabulous side effect of social media and the related technological improvements is the ability to literally create a virtual team. At Integrated Alliances, we have two people inside our four walls. The remainder of our team, which floats between 8 and 12 depending on our immediate needs, is handled by a virtual team, all independent professionals who work under our direction. When they are not working with us, they have other clients.

A side benefit of that for them is that, as they work for each client, they gain more knowledge and learn more skills that they can use to enhance their work for others. So instead of employees and the traditional expense and management, we have a flexible team of professionals as invested in our success as we are.

Any Dos and Don’ts you can give us when it comes to small business versus large business on LinkedIn?

• When creating your company page, don’t indicate you are a sole proprietor. That is the only option that adds “(Self-Employed)” beside your company name on your profile. It’s better to indicate 2-10 employees and not lose respect just because you are independent.
• Don’t tell your employees “you MUST do these things to your profile.” It is better to recommend text or strategies, i.e., provide a template they can work from to improve their profile overall. You can include text that they can copy/paste OR modify as they see fit.
• Do ask your staff to follow your Company Page and to ask others to follow your Company Page as well. It’s a great idea to remind staff to ask clients for a product or service recommendation
• We have a video of “Top Ten LinkedIn Fallacies”

One of the things I’ve heard you advise before is that it’s really important to write your LinkedIn profile for the kind of client that you’re hoping to find. This is really good advice that I think people overlook a lot of the time, and it holds true for those seeking employment, as well. Can you give us some insight or tips on how you coach businesses and individuals through this process?

I start with this question: If your perfect client or employer or partner were standing in front of you right now reaching out to shake your hand, what would you say to them? How would the conversation go? What would they ask… for example, “What are you passionate about?” or “What led you to what you are doing now?”

When you ignore the rest of the universe and focus on one person—it is so much easier to introduce yourself to that one person—you’ll find that more people than you ever imagined will read your profile and respond. So, write your profile in the first person, in a conversational tone, and invite the person reading to reach out… end with a call to action and include the reason and best way to contact you.

When you compare it to sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest, LinkedIn has been around longer than any of those sites, having been launched in 2003. Where do you think is the future of LinkedIn? How do you see the site growing and evolving over the next few years?

I think it has been around longer and will sustain its growth and importance because LinkedIn was built to be a professional networking site. It has always been a place where people could share their strategic relationships and find support from their peers. LinkedIn continues to expand, understanding that businesses are made up of individuals who group themselves together into organizations, but who never lose sight of their own individualism.

So, they need to cater to individuals, yet they need to and are providing a voice and a platform for companies as well. More importantly, LinkedIn provides ways for professionals to connect on a human level. Sure, in business we care about business; but we also care about working with people we know, like and trust. People who share common interests and causes and accomplishments are able to share professional life stories as human beings who have a need greater than just to find a job or make a sale. We also love the cars we drive, the music we listen to, the hobbies and sports and past times we enjoy.

We care about the latest news and keeping abreast of trends. LinkedIn is doing a great job of giving us points of connection to create and strengthen relationships, to enrich our daily experience, and enhance professional opportunities. I believe that is why the IPO went so well and why the company and the platform continue to do well. I see more engagement, education and development being fostered through new products and resources via LinkedIn, whether it is a growth of their platform or user generated.

There are so many people who go on LinkedIn, fill out a profile, join groups, and add people to their networks, but they don’t really engage or interact. They often cite a lack of time for this. What do you suggest to those who believe they don’t have time for another social media site?

If you are in business, any business, it’s a good idea to make a little time for LinkedIn. I read recently that 39% of the business that happened because of LinkedIn was B2C. We all tend to think of LinkedIn as a site for job seekers, or for B2B or for… fill in the blank.  It really is a platform that empowers business; any business.

We’ve interviewed musicians on our radio show “Rock The World with LinkedIn” (http:www.rocktheworldradio.com) as well as start-up tycoons and everyday professionals making a splash with social media and particularly with LinkedIn. One gentleman sourced his entire album – from musicians to producers to studio – through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the platform of movers and shakers. If you’re out there and doing nothing, that is a reflection (whether you like it or not) or how seriously you take your work. It’s better to not be on LinkedIn than to be there bare.

In our training lesson “Setting a Daily Routine” we recommend sales professionals spend 15-20 minutes each day on routine tasks like checking their inbox, accepting invitations and sending thank you’s, engaging in a couple of groups, scanning their homepage (to like or comment on updates from their network) and connecting to a couple of people that they know. Even if someone does 15-20 minutes two or three times a week, they’ll see a difference. For active lead generation campaigns, we recommend a process that takes 30-60 minutes a day but results in a fuller funnel than any other single activity.

What are a few practical tips that you would suggest to help any business owner who is just starting out with LinkedIn?

Our time-tested methodology says: Plan, build your profile, build your network, use the tools (search and engage), and get down to business. It’s the most important wisdom we can impart; it is even on the welcome page of our complimentary training and resource site http://RockLinkedIn.com.

The next thing I would say it on that build you profile part, you really want to spend the effort to get your profile spiffin’ up front. You don’t go to a networking event half-dressed and without business cards. Don’t do it on LinkedIn. As soon as you start to build your network and engage, people will naturally look at your profile. First impressions… you can’t get them back.

Did I miss anything? What do you want people to know about LinkedIn that we maybe didn’t cover here?

You hear people talk about authenticity. It really does make a difference. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Be yourself and put your best foot forward. You take a chance when you represent yourself as who you are that someone might not like you. But there are plenty of others who will love you instead. There are almost 190 million people on LinkedIn now. There are surely a few who will be interested in working with you.

The cool thing is that you can do this before you hang out your shingle on LinkedIn. Write your profile in a word processor and ask trusted friends and peers for honest critique. Don’t you wish you could live real life in an environment where you get to proofread your words and backspace if you didn’t get it right the first time?

This is, for the most part, a safe environment. People are here to get business done. They understand the environment. Don’t try to sell. Rather provide value first and the people who want what you have will ask you to buy.

Thank you, Lori!

To connect with Lori Ruff, visit LoriIsOnline.

Social media has been instrumental in changing how we do everything from business to personal relationships. Heck, it’s even changed how we’re meeting our spouses. By far, one of the biggest changes social media has brought about, however, is how we network.

Think about your first days or weeks using a social media platform like Facebook or Twitter. Maybe even MySpace. What was the allure for you? For me, it was a way to be in touch with a lot of my friends and family members in one place, especially as both MySpace and Facebook were taking off just as I was graduating from college. I’ve always placed great value in maintaining my relationships despite distances, and this seemed like the perfect way for me to do that.

I’m sure many of you can relate.

What occurred to me much, much later, however – and well after social media as I knew it in 2005 really began to evolve into something far greater – was that these tools could be used to network.

Sure, I’d dutifully joined LinkedIn back in 2006, but I hadn’t done anything with it. For the entirety of my post-collegiate teaching career (four years), that profile sat dormant. In 2009, I found myself at a crossroads. My temporary teaching gig had ended and I was having a lot of trouble finding something for the fall.

As time wore on, I applied to a host of jobs with no real idea of what I wanted to do with myself anymore. Eventually I realized that even if I didn’t know what it was, I knew what it wasn’t: teaching. Don’t get me wrong – I loved teaching, but I wanted something else. I started writing again, as well as spending a lot of time learning different social media tools.

That’s when I realized how powerful social media tools had become in those few years. And in that, I include blogging, because that was my own personal breakthrough.

I’d been blogging in some form or another since 2001, and with all of my free time, I was doing an awful lot of it. I became really involved with Business 2 Community – a fabulous community of bloggers – and began to connect with other B2C folks on LinkedIn and Twitter. From there, my involvement carried over to Twitter chats and guest posts on other sites, such as 12most.com.

When Google+ launched, I connected there, as well.

And suddenly, I realized what I wanted to do with my life.

I remained open to meeting people, helping them out, and collaborating when possible – networking, if you will. I knew that, especially because I was a career switcher, I was going to have to build from scratch, and that it would likely not be a fast process.

And do you know what happened? Opportunities started coming in to me. It took some time, but slowly my social network started to learn that I was looking for work, and they started looking out for me and introducing me to others who might know of something.

And so it went that I became the managing editor for Business 2 Community. Every day I’m emailing with contributors and helping them however I can. In short, it allows me to build my network, which is great because that’s what brings me here!

Content Equals Money founder Amie Marse and I connected on LinkedIn through our mutual involvement with Business 2 Community. We got to talking, and the rest, as they say, is history. I’d always enjoyed CEM’s posts on Business 2 Community, and am thrilled to be a part of this community, as well!

As I continue to grow in this content marketing profession, I continue to meet great people every single day, and that’s led me to other freelance opportunities, as well.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I owe social media networking for this content writing and editing career that I love.

 Looking to give professional networking on social media a try?

 I’m a firm believer that networking on social media can make a huge difference and open up so many doors. How could I not be?

But make no mistake: not just anyone with a social media account somewhere can make things happen. You’ve got to know a little bit about etiquette when it comes to networking with social media.

#1: Have a professional social presence.
Obviously, in order to network online, you’ve got to be established on various social media sites. Decide what platforms you’re going to use the most – certainly don’t feel like you have to use all of them. For example, I prefer to use my Facebook for keeping in touch with my friends and family, so I don’t really network with that like I do with Twitter.

 Make sure those profiles are professional. I can’t stress that enough. If you want to meet professionals, that’s exactly what you have to be. No babygurrrrl778899xoxo@123.com email addresses or account names. No default image of you with a disembodied arm around your shoulder. Keep it professional.

And speaking of presence: be present. If you’re only working at this every so often, it’s not going to work. Make a commitment and be there.

#2: Introduce yourself and build relationships naturally before asking for favors.
You’d be surprised (or maybe not) how often it happens that some form of this takes place (this is a made-up name, by the way):

@ContentWritingRocks: Hey @IndustryThoughtLeader! I know we’ve never met, but would you take a look at my blog and give me some feedback?

My guess is that you wouldn’t walk up to a random person on the street and ask them to proofread your resume, so don’t treat people on social media like that.

Instead, build relationships organically like you would in real life. Once you are regularly interacting with someone and you have some kind of connection, then you can ask for favors.

#3: Don’t spam people with your content.

If you’ve spent any time at all on LinkedIn, you know exactly what I’m talking about. People are on a discussion board having a great conversation, when all of a sudden Joe and Jodi Schmoe show up and start posting shady links that potentially lead to a site of ill repute. Or worse: they break up the conversation begging for someone to read their blog posts and leave feedback.

 I’ve seen this happen during Twitter chats too. Everyone is all a-twitter when suddenly someone breaks the flow of conversation. “I’m sorry I can’t make it tonight, but here’s my latest blog post!”

 That’s not okay.

 If you want to share one of your blog posts, make sure first that it’s relevant to the conversation. Participate in the conversation and discuss some of your ideas without mentioning the blog post. If, at the end, you feel that the others would enjoy your post or benefit from it, then include the link with some thoughtful commentary.

 I liken all of this to the eTrade commercial in which one of the babies is singing the classic Mr. Mister ballad, “Broken Wings.” The other tells him to stop because “it’s not the venue.”

 In other words, recognize the time and place for including your links.

 #4: Don’t play up relationships with others or name-drop for gain.

This is a no-brainer (I thought), but apparently some people don’t get it. They want to drop lines into blog posts that say things like “my friend Chris Brogan” or “my mentor Seth Godin” when, in fact, they have no existing relationship with either of these men.

 If you manage to catch the attention of a big name, fabulous! But don’t make that interaction into a relationship that it isn’t. In other words, if you receive a “thank you” tweet from someone, you can’t really claim that person to be your friend or mentor. Know what I mean?

 Before you feel tempted to build up relationships or name drop, ask yourself if that person would agree with you (or, in some cases, if that person would even know you).

 This doesn’t hold true for big names only, either. You should never fabricate your relationship with anyone. Period.

 #5: Don’t suck up.

Sometimes it really hurts to watch the old Twitter stream. You see people throwing themselves at other tweeters, really laying it on thick.

 “Oh, Mr. So-and-So, yours is the only blog I EVER read! You are just the nicest person in the world!”

“Hey, everybody I know! I just want you and Mrs. What’s-Her-Name to know that I think she’s awesome!”

 These messages aren’t really bad on their own. Everyone enjoys being paid a compliment every now and again, right? Everyone likes to hear praise and to know that their work is appreciated and benefiting someone.

 The sucking up problem starts when this praise is doled out on a daily basis, and sometimes numerous times a day. I hate to be the Negative Nancy here, but no one is awesome 24/7/365. They just aren’t.

 So instead of treating someone like the sun shines out of his or her face, treat them like a person. Ask them questions, converse with them, but develop your own opinions. Don’t throw yourself down at anyone’s feet and treat them like the best thing to ever happen to the Milky Way Galaxy.

Recognize that behind that avatar is a person who is fallible.

Sucking up and glorifying someone else isn’t going to make that person take you seriously. It probably isn’t going to make many people take you seriously, if you want the truth.

Then again, that’s just the way I see it. Maybe you’ve got it differently. What social media networking etiquette lessons would you add to this list?