How Zen Does a Small Biz Need to Be?

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Leo Babauta (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes

Leo Babauta is the publisher of the very popular Zen Habits blog and author the Power of Less.

Leo is not my typical marketing/business expert type guest but Leo’s personal story and the subject he writes about are important lessons for small business owners.

As business owners we are totally free – free to work 80 hours a week, free to carry the stress of making payroll, free to eat junk food at our desk, and free to blow off any semblance of exercise, because, really, who’s got the time. Essentially, we’re all a bunch of heart attacks waiting to happen, but at least we’re free to have the heart attack on our terms, right?

I’ve been doing this for a long time and I can tell you that an entrepreneur’s diet, exercise routine, and stress release activities are just as important as any marketing plan every devised. Owning a business is not for sissies. Leo’s message of doing more with less is a breathe of fresh air and I count it as a daily.

So, take a long, deep, totally centered breath and have a listen. Namaste

Twitter and LinkedIn Finally Sync Up

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

LinkedIn and Twitter announced an integration today that should be interesting.

Starting sometime today, LinkedIn users can automatically feed their Twitter status updates to their LinkedIn status updates. While LinkedIn’s status update feature is right there for all to use, my experience is that people don’t use it nearly as much as they should – or certainly not like Twitter. (Even though LinkedIn has more members than Twitter.) This should be a real shot in the arm to LinkedIn from an exposure standpoint, but it may shake things up a bit too as the volume of status updates skyrockets.

The partnership is significant for another reason. I think this update is a further move towards positioning Twitter as the central content distribution hub for business. Facebook Fan Pages now offer easy Twitter integration and Bing and Google have established official ties with Twitter as well.

The ability to cross post goes both ways.

On LinkedIn

You can post from LinkedIn status and have it update twitter or the other way around. On LinkedIn you will change some setting and then click the Twitter box to have a LinkedIn status update post to Twitter.

On Twitter

The Twitter integration works very much like the popular Selective Twitter App for Facebook, when you post on Twitter and add the hashtag #li or #in the twitter update will also post to LinkedIn.

Here’s the update announcement from the LinkedIn blog: LinkedIn works with Twitter, and vice versa

5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter List Feature

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Twitter added a new feature recently called Lists. I have to admit, at first I thought this was no big deal. I use desktop twitter clients like TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop to create groups and lists already, so what’s the big deal.

Once I started playing around with Twitter’s List feature I quickly became hooked and think there are some great reasons you could too. Check out this list of Small Business Experts – you can monitor the entire group with one click!

Quick overview of twitter lists

Any Twitter user can create a list and add anyone that tweets publicly to it. Once you create and name a list you can simply search for people to add using Twitter people search (once you find someone you want to add you simply click on the list button next to them and choose the list), or 3rd party search applications like Twellow or TweepSearch

5 Reasons to Use New the Twitter List Feature

1) Monitor without following - one of the things I like is that you can monitor a group of individuals in a list without having to follow any of the folks on the list on twitter. You may actually want to follow people you find on a list, but you may also want to monitor industry niche lists for a week or two while you’re pitching a new client in that industry. You can delete a list very easily, deleting hundreds of followers is harder.

2) One button list follow - the fact that you can find a list and follow the entire collection with one button makes it very easy to manage. I think this may become the chosen way to find people to follow. If someone you trust tells you about a list of people you should be following and all you have to do is hit one button to do so, you’re probably going to do it. I predict this feature is going to dramtically impact how people follow.

3) Promote your lists – this is such a great way for a group of people to promote each other on Twitter. You can promote your clients, your suppliers, your referral lunch group, you name it. Think about how great it would be to promote an event where you could follow all the speakers prior to the event, or what about all the attendees. You could create a list from sign-up details. In fact, what a great way to create collections of twitter folks that your employees should follow or even employee lists. The fact that it is so easy for people to follow a list by going to a URL – and that list can be edited by the owner at will, means a lot.

4) Filtered by an expert – Every business should consider creating a handful of Top 10 “fill in your narrow niche” to follow on twitter. By being the one that filters and creates easily sharable industry specific lists, you can add to your own credibility in the industry. (Did I mention you can add yourself to a list you create?)

5) Build a bigger following – Many of the ideas I mentioned above will naturally help you grow your own following. Creating a handful of useful list and promoting those lists in public places and to the members on the list will raise your exposure and lead to more follower.

Check out this list of Small Business Experts – you can monitor the entire group with one click!

3 Sources of Grammar Inspiration

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

About once a week I amuse the grammar troops by torturing some aspect of the language in my writing. Hey, I don’t do it on purpose and I love that I’m able to provide an otherwise cuddly group of individuals with a steady flow of chuckles.

I’ve had this post in the back of my mind for some time, but I was prompted to write it today by a LinkedIn status update I saw yesterday. (Name of victim withheld) – “Excited to attend my first titter conference today.” In the always on, say what’s on your mind, send it, but you can’t take it back world we live in, we could all take a moment from LOLing. (This is not me throwing stones, I am definitely guilty.)

It’s funny how minor mistakes can slow down and even alter the meaning of something we write.

Here’s my A team, all-world, really bad typo story. I was working on an annual report for a very large non-profit agency. In the report there was a sentence that was to refer to the organization’s work and gifts on behalf of underserved families. However, the sentence actually spoke glowingly about their work and gifts given to undeserved families. Kind of different, oops.

I would love to hear your grammar and type horror stories. Seems like a good Friday outlet. Share them in the comments.

Here’s the list of resources I turn to whenever I get the urge to keep the grammar police at bay for a day.

Grammar Girl’s – Quick and Dirty Tips – Mignon Fogerty’s awesome podcast

Elements of Style – William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White – I like this illustrated version with Maira Kalman

Eats, Shoots & Leaves – The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Image credit: Loopzilla

Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Nick Morgan (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes

Trust – can’t get enough of that as a brand, business, or person these days. Everyone knows that, but what they may not know is that there are things each of is doing that may be unintentionally eroding trust – particularly when it comes to the topic of speaking and presenting.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast Nick Morgan, author of Trust Me, talks about trust, authenticity and charisma and how anyone can use it to their advantage as a public speaker.

Charisma is a tricky thing, but I love his definition: The expression of emotion. It’s a tool that can be learned and practiced.

Pay close attention to his thoughts on using or not using PowerPoint.

Check out a recent blog post from Nick: 10 Commandments of Public Speaking

Nick Morgan shows how anyone can be an effective speaker by presenting an image of authenticity and respect for their audience, whether in a group presentation or a one-on-one conversation. He presents a four-step process, perfected in his teaching at Harvard, that enables the reader to use their own personal speaking style while becoming a more persuasive and charismatic communicator and leader.

The four steps of Nick’s system
1) Openness
2) Connection
3) Passion
4) Listening

Social Media Training Course Beta Testers Needed

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This whole social media thing for small business can be confusing, I know, I speak to groups of small business owner routinely and hear things like – “I’m overwhelmed, I’m tired of the hype, what do I do first, how do I find the time.”

Update: The good news is a lot of people really want to beta test this program – over 125 left comments for the 10 spots, but I guess that’s the bad news too. Here’s what I’ve decided to do – I will choose 20 beta testers based on comments and offer a smokin hot deal to the other 105 who took the time to participate. (comments are now closed) This course is one of the ways I put my kids through college so please appreciate the it’s worth way more than I’m going to charge.

If you’ve ever found yourself saying something along those lines, I would like to let you know that I’ve taken the practical strategies and tactics I use and teach to help people create a social media system and turned them into a five session course I call – Social Media Pro.

The course is not really ready to go yet. I mean, it’s ready, but I’m not sure I’m ready. I would first like to recruit 10 beta testers to go through the entire online program and give me feedback and reviews to help me understand if the course delivers the results I’m hoping for - a small business owner building an entire social media system that allows them to effectively market their business without going crazy.

The program consists of five online tutorials backed with 38 videos that show you step by step how to do every action described in the lessons. The course is delivered sequentially over a five week period so you can focus on one lesson and set of action steps per week without becoming overwhelmed.

The course breaks down like this

• Session One – Creating a Social Media Strategy
• Session Two – Optimizing Brand Assets
• Session Three – Blogging for Business
• Session Four – Social Networking and Networks
• Session Five – Managing the Beast

You can check out the full course details here, but there’s noting to buy, so come back and read the rest of this post if you are interested in the program.

If you would like to be a beta tester I need you to leave a comment in this post describing a) your greatest frustration with implementing social media or b) the single most important thing you would hope to get from a course like this.

In addition, if chosen you will need to pay $1 and agree to complete the action steps at the end of each lesson and provide feedback on what works or what’s missing and report on the tactics you’ve implemented as a result of the course. (Thoughtful, passionate, and creative responses will be most rewarded.)

Deal? Leave your comment.

Image credit: Damien Basile

Biznik Blends High Tech with High Touch

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Fortunately, it’s starting to feel like the wave of social media hype has crested and small businesses can turn their attention to understanding social media “best practices” rather than obsessing over next week’s new tool.

Today’s greatest small business opportunity awaits those who learn to skillfully blend the awareness creating, automating, and filtering aspects of social media platforms with the trust and customer building aspects of education based, face-to-face networking.

Seattle based social media upstart Biznik (well, compared to the likes of Facebook or LinkedIn) has positioned itself as this new breed of network tool. Biznik’s primary target is small business owners and, while they have plenty of real estate to tap, it’s primary objective is to build a social network that combines the best of an online platform with localized community events and human contact.

On a the platform side the tool allows you to effectively build a profile (here’s mine), post articles, invite members to become a part of your network, join and create groups around community or themes, and create and promote local events. (More on this)

On the harder to quantify side, the quality of engagement in this network far outstrips anything I’ve seen and been a part of in other networks. This comes through loud and clear in things like article comments and messages to new members. In some ways, this would be enough to make Biznik a winner for the small business, but it’s the tip of the iceberg, I think, for people who drill down into this a bit.

The fact that Biznik has also created an event platform that is geographically driven presents an unique opportunity. So, now if you want to create a Feed Your Mind Networking Breakfast, like Jesse Wolfram in Mill Creek Washington does, you’ve got a targeted network and a ready made platform. I think it might be one of the best way to optimize social networking and traditional business building

I visited with Biznik co-founder Dan McComb for an upcoming episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast (Dan acts as the online editor while his spouse and co-founder, Lara Feltin, acts as CEO) and Dan confessed that the organization’s West Coast roots led to lots of natural growth in communities like Seattle and Portland, but that there is tremendous opportunity for growth elsewhere. To me this is a platform ripe for community leaders.

While Facebook and LinkedIn are grabbing headlines and remain great places to build business, I think small business folks should join Biznik and start building there as well.

Weekend Favs October Thirty-One

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I’ve added a weekend post routine that I hope you enjoy. Each weekend I write a post that features 3-4 things I read during the week that I found interesting. Generally speaking it doesn’t involve much analysis and may range widely in topic. (Flickr image included here is also fav image of the week)

Enjoy!

Good stuff I ran across this week:
Twitter Gallery - Nice collection of free twitter backgrounds. This is an asset that should be branded, but at least dress it up a bit.

KnowEm – Search over 340 popular social media networks to instantly secure your brand across the social web. Recently added some features, including a paid option to register you.

Reel Director (warning iTunes link) – Fairly robust video editing app for the iPhone 3Gs

Image credit: katjung