Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Permalink to How to Revise Your Resume When You Already Have a Job

How to Revise Your Resume When You Already Have a Job

by Angie Sanders|on June 3, 2013 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

resume credit musiceddotnafmedotorgIntuit estimates that by the year 2020, more than 40 percent of the American workforce, or 60 million people, will be freelancers, contractors and temp workers. You may see me reference this stat from time to time, and I do so because considering the W-2, 9-to-5 kind of world we live in, this stat is staggering.

Intuit’s research tells us three things. One, you will most likely become an independent consultant at some point in your career whether you want to or not. Two, as the pool of contractors increases, so will the competition for new clients. Three, we are all our own brands and we should be selling ourselves as such.

So as you plot your next consecutive career moves and go out there to market yourself, you know that your resume could use some polishing. But how can you even think about your resume and life after your current job when it consumes so much of your time and identity?

Decide what you want to do next.
This step is critical. Questions like, “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?” may seem corny when interviewers ask them, but they are legitimate questions. When you close your eyes and think about your career, what do you see yourself doing? What kinds of companies do you see yourself working with? If the time comes and you have to strike out on your own — and chances are likely — what would that situation look like?

Divorce your job.
No, this doesn’t mean quit. It means take some time to separate your identity from your job, because these two terms are not interchangeable. After you’ve determined what you’d like your career to look like after your time at your current job is done, start planning how to get there. But this can only happen if you stop thinking that your current job defines you.

Act like you don’t have a job.
That’s right. Continue to go to work, give it your all and produce circles around your co-workers like you normally do, but in hour head, pretend you’re unemployed. Or more realistically, pretend that this job could end tomorrow. Start thinking about and jotting down all the things you’ve accomplished in this position, the goals you’ve met or exceeded and any accolades you’ve received. You’re going to need this for the next step.

Revise your resume.
Read this document carefully. Are you using the current industry jargon to describe your skills? (Jargon is not always a bad thing. You’ve got to give hiring managers what they’re looking for.) Is there anything that you failed to elaborate on or describe? Here’s an exercise I like to use with my clients. Think about your past and current positions Take out a pen and paper and make a list of all the tasks you performed for each job. See if you can re-write your resume strictly from memory. If it helps, think about how you spent your days, any major projects you worked on, and the results you achieved from your work. When you’re done, compare this list to the resume file on your computer and fill in the gaps with the information from the previous step and any other details you missed.

Your resume is done, but you’re not. Use the information in your resume to update your social media profiles. And be thinking about other things you can do to continually build upon your personal brand and differentiate yourself from others in your field.

Share with us: How have you revised your resume and perfected your personal brand?

Permalink to 4 Questions to Ask About Your Potential Employer’s Social Media Guidelines

4 Questions to Ask About Your Potential Employer’s Social Media Guidelines

by Angie Sanders|on June 3, 2013 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

interview credit blogdotdoostangdotcomThe New York Police Department released an internal order in March detailing social media guidelines for police officers. In accordance to these guidelines, officers are prohibited from posting photos of themselves in uniform (unless the photos were taken at promotion or awards ceremonies), photos from crime scenes or witness statements.

Though the guidelines seem appropriate to ensure that criminal investigations aren’t compromised and to protect the NYPD brand, the extent of the new guidelines beg the question: How do employers enforce social media guidelines without attempting to govern employees’ lives outside the workplace?

For freelancers and other employees who either live on both the 1099 and W-2 sides of the employment fence or have active social media lives outside of work, social media rules can be just as sticky as non-compete agreements. While you interview for your next career opportunity, here are a few questions you should ask about your potential employer’s social media rules.

Please provide me a copy of your social media guidelines document.
Okay, this is more of a declarative statement. But really, just ask to see the guidelines. If the company has hard and fast rules, then they should be able to produce them in writing. Read this document carefully and make notes of your questions and concerns. Be clear on the rules before you agree to take the job to prevent unfortunate situations and misunderstandings down the road.

How do you suggest I separate my personal/professional social media life from that of the company?
The NYPD seems to have provided clear guidelines for how they expect police officers to govern their activity on social media platforms. Read your potential employer’s social media guidelines to see if they offer the same type of clarity. If not, ask for advice on how to separate your personal/professional social life from that of the company to ensure that you don’t violate the company’s brand and there are no interest conflicts.

Am I required to abandon my social brand to accept this job?
A recent study conducted by software company Intuit estimates that by the year 2020, more than 40 percent of the American workforce, or 60 million people, will be freelancers, contractors and temp workers. These freelancers will most likely be building or have built their brands online. If you’re a freelancer who has a sizable brand and social media following and are considering an amazing full-time opportunity, be clear about what your potential employer may expect you to do with your personal brand online. Some employers will be okay with you continuing to foster your community, but there will be some who will want you to abandon your brand and concentrate on building theirs.

Who owns the relationships established within the community that I help you build?
As a social media manager, the contacts you make on Twitter or LinkedIn on the job may bleed over into your personal contacts, especially if these contacts are vendors you work with regularly. If you’re interviewing to become a full-time social media manager, have a clear understanding about who owns the contacts you make as you help the company build its community.

Share with us: What kinds of issues have you encountered with a potential employer’s social media guidelines? How did you overcome them?

6MythsRead 6 Myths Blocking Your Social Media Engagement
This paper addresses misconceptions that are keeping your company from investing time into tools that will can help increase two-way communication with your customers—current and potential. Print this report. Read it on the train ride home. Highlight key points. Share it with your colleagues. And please, jump in the social media marketing game and get started.

Permalink to 5 Reasons Why There’s Limited Age 30+ Digital and Social Media Talent

5 Reasons Why There’s Limited Age 30+ Digital and Social Media Talent

by Angie Sanders|on April 1, 2013 |in Content marketing, Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

30 plusArik Hanson, principal of ACH Communications, pointed out that when recruiters are searching for strong digital/social professionals over the age of 30, they’re facing a virtual drought.

“I get emails from friends/colleagues around Minneapolis/St. Paul and they’re all looking for the same person: A mid- to senior-level digital/social media counselor/director with deep experience in marketing and some experience in digital/social,” he writes. “They don’t exist, at least not in big numbers.”

Why are recruiters hard-pressed to find a communicator who not only possesses solid experience in traditional public relations and/or marketing strategy but knows her way around digital strategy and execution? And, to top it off, a communicator who can measure digital successes extensively, understand the infinite flow of data that analytics tools provide and use this data to help her employer pivot strategically and tactically.

Well, here are five reasons we thought of off the top of our heads:

The strong digital stars in the 30+ age bracket are running companies.
A 30+ communicator who possesses all the above qualities knows her worth. If agencies aren’t offering top (and I mean six-figure) salaries, flexibility and options like potential partnership, then those agencies can’t convince her that working for them as a W-2 employee is worth her time. Because she has these skills and can prove successes, she knows her best bet is to spread herself thinner by working with a number of clients. At least with the money she makes, she can scale her staff as her business grows.

Twenty-somethings consider terms like “social media” and “digital strategy” workplace norms.
If you’re a 30+ communicator, then the internet, email and the Adobe suite were the coolest technologies available when you were in college. Social media emerged as workplace norms as we were well into our careers (or getting that second or third degree). However, 20-something professionals are barely aware of a world in which these technologies didn’t exist.

Companies just got over the “let the intern deal with it” syndrome.
Because 30+ professionals aren’t digital natives, they’ve been taking the easy way out in the workplace: “Let the intern handle it. She’s younger and knows this stuff better than us.” Companies are just now moving beyond entrusting their digital strategy to interns and seeing it as an integral component of their overall communications and business plans.

Seasoned communicators have to be committed to independent professional development.
When looking for professional development, communicators over the age of 30 are accustomed to attending classes, conferences and seminars in person or online. But when it comes to in-depth digital strategy and analytics training, it just doesn’t exist in large numbers. To get up to speed on these topics, communicators have to be their own teachers and embark on independent study. This professional development route can be difficult to fit into these professionals already hectic schedules.

Companies need seasoned communicators and younger professionals to work together to remain viable in the marketplace.
As social media permeated the business world, companies realized that they needed the expertise of both younger and older professionals to keep up with and surpass the competition. Companies are relying on seasoned communicators to share traditional marketing and public relations experience with younger professionals beyond what they learned in college. In turn, seasoned communicators should be learning all they can from the younger professionals so that as team leaders, they can make the best decisions for the organizations and companies they represent.

Share with us: Do the 20-somethings run your company’s digital strategy teams? Do seasoned, senior employees play active roles in crafting and executing your company’s digital strategy?

Read Blindsided! Why the rapid pace of social media communication and measurement is leaving PR agencies behind

blindsidedIn his Forbes.com article, “PR Agencies’ Lost Year?”, Peter Himler of Flatiron Communications makes the argument that while PR agencies are fixated on the obvious rise of mobile technology and the visual web, they’re missing real opportunities to use creative hybrids of earned, paid and owned media tactics to broadcast client messages to already overloaded audiences. Himler’s article prompted aiellejai to produce this white paper. In it, we explore why the PR industry was blindsided by the emergence of new technology and the choices these professionals will have to make internally and externally to remain valuable players in the midst of the new accelerated pace of communication.

Permalink to SwitchPitch Start-Up Event Made These Two Things Apparent

SwitchPitch Start-Up Event Made These Two Things Apparent

by Angie Sanders|on March 24, 2013 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , |Leave a comment

switchpitch credit @startupamericaLast Thursday, I attended SwitchPitch, hosted by start-up hub 1776 at their unfinished 12th floor office space on 15th Street in the District. The event’s premise turns the traditional start-up pitch gathering on its head. Instead of entrepreneurs pitching groups of venture capitalists for funding, local companies like Motley Fool and LivingSocial pitched projects to qualified treps who are more than capable of getting the work done.

Not only was it fun to get better acquainted with the DC tech scene and infiltrate all-male clusters of entrepreneurs networking and flexing their self-employment prowess, but I enjoyed hearing America Online co-founder and former CEO/chairman Steve Case’s keynote moderated by serial entrepreneur and SwitchPitch brain-father Michael Goldstein.

Sitting smack dab in the middle of DC’s startup movement, (Mayor Vincent Gray told us that there are 420 startups in the city of DC alone.) made me realize two things.

One, large companies—much like the small to midsized communications firms aiellejai talks about in our latest white paper Blindsided!—know that they need the right talent to drive the innovation that’s crucial to these companies’ survival. And when these companies can’t identify that talent in-house, they begin to look for smaller companies to acquire that already have this talent in place. Though entrepreneurs shouldn’t build companies with the sole purpose of selling out big-time to titans like Google, (Steve actually said he prefers to invest in “built to last companies,” not “built to flip.”) large companies are definitely on the lookout for smaller companies with insanely smart staffs/leaders and viable products that can augment large companies’ offerings.

Two, a few hundred attendees at the SwitchPitch event and the Startup America frenzy slowly blanketing the nation are both evidence that people are convinced that running a company is sexy and relatively doable. But it was refreshing to hear Steve tell a different story about his beginnings with AOL. He explained that while everyone saw the company as an overnight success, the company as a whole had been grinding away in anonymity for 10 years.

As a trep (I picked that term up from other articles and blog posts. I’m trying it out for the first time here.) who has been in the game for a minute, I know it’s important to tell newer treps that this game is often lonely, thankless and the furthest thing from sexy imaginable. Of course, that statement will probably prompt new entrepreneurs to ask me, “Well, why do you do it?”

My answer? Because the nagging allure of making a greater impact—and a larger return on my skill set—outside of the 9-5 world just won’t leave me alone.

Seasoned entrepreneurs, what’s your answer?

Photo credit: @startupamerica

Read Blindsided! Why the rapid pace of social media communication and measurement is leaving PR agencies behind

blindsidedIn his Forbes.com article, “PR Agencies’ Lost Year?”, Peter Himler of Flatiron Communications makes the argument that while PR agencies are fixated on the obvious rise of mobile technology and the visual web, they’re missing real opportunities to use creative hybrids of earned, paid and owned media tactics to broadcast client messages to already overloaded audiences. Himler’s article prompted aiellejai to produce this white paper. In it, we explore why the PR industry was blindsided by the emergence of new technology and the choices these professionals will have to make internally and externally to remain valuable players in the midst of the new accelerated pace of communication.

Permalink to (Over Lunch) Blogging: Reading is Fundamental

(Over Lunch) Blogging: Reading is Fundamental

by Angie Sanders|on February 5, 2013 |in Content marketing, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

OL-bloggingReading and consistency are both critical to maintaining an intelligent blog. In this week’s episode of “Over Lunch,” Chief Content Architect Angie Sanders explains how reading industry news and the blogs of other thought-leaders helps her generate ideas for the aiellejai company blog. Check out her “old-school” method for digesting and interacting with the vast amount of online content she consumes.

Permalink to Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

by Angie Sanders|on January 24, 2013 |in Content marketing, Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

orgin-of-aiellejaiStrong writing is at the core of every strategic communicator’s skill set.

In this episode of “Over Lunch,” aiellejai’s Chief Content Architect Angie Jennings Sanders explains why she decided to launch the company as a content creation consultancy instead of a public relations firm. “That way, we can serve our clients directly or we work with PR firms to lighten their load,” she said.

 

Permalink to How to Use Content to Build Thought Leadership in 6 Steps

How to Use Content to Build Thought Leadership in 6 Steps

by Angie Sanders|on January 21, 2013 |in Content marketing, Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

thought leader credit damiencummingsdotblogspotdotcomAt a Washington Network Group entrepreneurs roundtable event last Wednesday night, speaker Angelique Rewers, also known as The Corporate AgentTM used two terms during her talk that caused some audience members to look at her like she’d sprouted eight arms: Content marketing and thought leader.

She explained that content marketing involves creating and distributing relevant and valuable information to attract, acquire, and engage your target audience and lead them to a desired action. “You want to be a thought leader,” she said.

“But the challenge is how do you provide good content without giving away all your strategy, right?” asked an audience member.

You may remember that I wrote a blog post a while back that reassured you that you can afford to give away some of your ideas without fearing that a potential client will run with them and never give you or your business a second thought.

The keys to content marketing and framing yourself and others in your company as thought leaders are to: 1. Give your audience simple information that they can either act on right now or that answers pressing questions and 2. Plant a seed in the audience’s mind that you and your company are the leading authorities on this subject.

Face it. If your audience doesn’t get this information from you, then they’ll perform a Google search and find someone else who’ll give them the answer.

Business owners think that being a thought leader means that you have spout Confucius-like, life-changing tidbits that no one else is close to even thinking about. If you can do this, then congratulations. But there’s not much new under the sun. It just has to be new to your audience.

So here are six steps toward establishing yourself and your team members as thought leaders online.

  1. Think about the pillars on which you operate your business.
    What are your company’s top business offerings? Why do you offer these services? Why should your audience come to you for these services?
  2. Define who you’re serving with those pillars.
    This is an important one. Who is your audience? Who usually buys the services you offer? Be very specific with this description. What do these people do for a living? What do they look like? What do they read? Even better, identify actual points of contact at your client organizations and use them to create a detailed profile of your target audience for each of your services.
  3. Determine what questions your audience asks.
    When potential clients approach you, or your ears perk up after meeting a potential client, what is it that they’re seeking? What problems do they tend to come to your company to solve before they become a client? What are their pain-points?
  4. Consider how you can help your audience answer these questions quickly and the best ways to present the information.
    Now that you’re familiar with your audience’s common questions and pain-points, how can you address these in succinct and interesting ways? Should your company start a blog? Which team members should contribute? Perhaps you should begin shooting short videos? Is there information that could be presented in infographics? Do you have PowerPoint presentations that you can upload to Slideshare?
  5. Create an editorial calendar.
    This step is tricky, but helpful. Determine all the channels through which you’d like to share content (blogging, video, e-books, etc.). Then create a calendar that details when these items will go live and be available to share. For example, you may decide that your company will publish four blog posts and create four short videos per month, release one e-book per quarter, and curate content via social media on a daily basis. Your editorial calendar should provide a brief description of subject matter for each piece of content, estimate when each will be completed/posted, and how all content will be shared.
  6. Be consistent.
    I realize that we live in an instant-results kind of society, but this process takes time. Be consistent with your content creation. Monitor what kinds of content resonate best with your audience and keep giving them what they want.

Share with us: How do you define thought leadership? How are you using content to raise your/your company’s professional profile in your field?


Read 6 Myths Blocking Your Social Media Engagement, our special report that addresses misconceptions that are keeping your company from investing time into tools that will can help increase two-way communication with your customers—current and potential. Print this report. Read it on the train ride home. Highlight key points. Share it with your colleagues. And please, jump in the social media marketing game and get started. 

 

Permalink to 3 Gems: The Top 3 Things You’re Missing By Not Using Google+ (Cynthia de Lorenzi)

3 Gems: The Top 3 Things You’re Missing By Not Using Google+ (Cynthia de Lorenzi)

by Angie Sanders|on January 15, 2013 |in Social Media, What's on TV |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

CDLAre you on team Google+ yet? This platform is dynamic and helps to boost great content in the Google search rankings. But why is a tool developed by the undisputed champion of all things search and web related still treated like a social media stepchild? In the debut episode of our new web series, “3 Gems,” Cynthia de Lorenzi, gives us three reasons why we should all be riding on the Google+ bandwagon.

Cynthia is the founder of Success in the City, a networking organization for senior level women executives and CEO of Success in the City TV. She’s a frequent speaker, emcee, panelist and media guest on issues related to social media, public policy, workforce and technology and women’s issues.

Check our website monthly for episodes of 3 Gems in which we ask seasoned communicators three questions about their profession or specialty. Also, check out Over Lunch featuring Chief Content Architect Angie Jennings Sanders’s opining on all things business and content related. 

Permalink to Over Lunch: The Origin of “aiellejai”

Over Lunch: The Origin of “aiellejai”

by Angie Sanders|on January 8, 2013 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , |1 Comment

orgin-of-aiellejaiWhen people see our company name on our business cards, we can tell by the looks on their faces that they have no idea how it’s pronounced. It’s A.L.J.  Pretty simple, right?

So how did we come up with this name and why is its meaning so important to us? To launch our new, biweekly short video series, “Over Lunch,” our founder and Chief Content Architect Angie Jennings Sanders breaks the name aiellejai down to the syllables. 

 

Permalink to Forcing a Relationship Between Philanthropy and Marketing Might Not be a Good Idea

Forcing a Relationship Between Philanthropy and Marketing Might Not be a Good Idea

by Angie Sanders|on October 22, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , |2 Comments

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, has a fantasy that involves philanthropy and marketing. You thought I was going to say something else, didn’t you?

Let me explain. As part of “The Social Media Roadmap” section in Fast Company’s September 2012 issue, the magazine assembled executives from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Zynga to discuss issues affecting not-for-profits’ and activists ‘marketing efforts, like passive activism—or “slacktivism”—and the “viral-hits mindset.”

Zynga Executive Director Ken Weber shared that following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Haiti and Japan respectively, Zynga’s gamers donated more than $3 million in a little over a week, just by buying items within the games they play.

“That speaks to one of my fantasies, which is that philanthropy is the future of marketing,” Stone said. “People who normally hadn’t given you their credit-card information were now doing it. You have their information, and they might become a paying customer. If people take their marketing budgets and use them for good, you’ll end up with something more.”

I appreciate Stone’s optimism for the transition from donor to customer, but there are two reasons why making this transition successful may remain a fantasy.

One, trying to get a passive donor to make the leap to a paying customer could make your philanthropy efforts seem disingenuous in the eyes of the individuals you’re trying to convert. For example, let’s say that after watching heart-wrenching footage of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, you’re moved to give money to help support the victims of the natural disaster. You see that Coca-Cola is working with the American Red Cross to raise money and you immediately donate online to help. Then a few days later, you begin receiving Coca-Cola coupons or email marketing. Depending on your loyalty to the Coke brand, you might appreciate the coupons, or you might feel like Coca-Cola’s partnership with the American Red Cross was only a ploy to get email or mailing address information.

Two, these donors might feel duped or violated. Some people may have never given to charity before, but trusted the Coca-Cola brand enough to donate. When these donors are encouraged to become customers afterwards, it might not sit well with these donors. And, worst of all, they may be discouraged from giving money to other brands who engage in the same types of philanthropy efforts.

By moving philanthropy towards marketing, we’re moving away from the real strength brands provide activism. Potential and current customers want to see brands work with causes that speak to the heart of that brand and corral others to get involved. These customers want to see brands drawing attention to the cause, not the brand itself. This motiveless philanthropy is what gets these customers excited about supporting the cause and ultimately the brand.

We agree with Stone that company marketing budgets can be used for good. But this should be done only if the company truly believes in the cause, not to specifically target potential customers.

Share with us: How does your company give back? Does your company take interest in causes because you believe in them or it makes for a good public relations move?

This post is the fifth in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to 13 Key Takeaways from Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”

13 Key Takeaways from Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”

by Angie Sanders|on October 3, 2012 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |5 Comments

Fast Company published “The Social Media Road Map” in their September 2012 issue—the one with The Office star Mindy Kaling {@mindykaling} on the cover looking like a sexy geek. I curled up in bed with a batch of homemade trail mix (dry roasted almonds and dried banana chips and cranberries) to see where this map would take me. So here are my key takeaways from these 19 interesting yet far from mind-blowing pages that paint the picture of social media’s current landscape:

  1. A YouTube home page, half-page auto-play video ad is $500,000—for one day. This ad reaches more than 26 million unique U.S. visitors, but if you’re paying half a million dollars for that, then what’s your total marketing budget?
  2. Lady Gaga stole the title for most Facebook likes from Skittles, but Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz says there’s no way to tie this this bragging rights title to a bump in sales.
  3. Fast Company, along with a whole gang of other media outlets, really wants Mindy Kaling and her new show The Mindy Project to win, so I guess we should, too. But will realizing how much of a television industry insider she is make me watch her new show? Unclear.
  4. Let’s just set the record straight that it’s officially uncool and generally frowned upon to refer to yourself or anyone else as a “social media guru.”
  5. The women in the sexy photos used for spam bot profiles on Twitter are real people, and those chicks just might ban together and sue you for using their likenesses. Maybe.
  6. What the hell was Kraft thinking when they asked Klout to refer to their scoring as a “fun score”?
  7. There are already whole books about how to use Pinterest. How does it feel to write a book filled with information that’s probably instantly out-of-date upon publication?
  8. There are at least eight services that help you back up your social media platform archives. Never knew there was a need for this, but I guess it’s always good to keep a record of everything you’ve said or shared for future reference.
  9. “We use the phrase ‘social media’ but they’re really communications services, not media properties,” said Bo Peabody, creator of Tripod (the web’s first social network that debuted in 1992). In actuality, we probably refer to the collection of these platforms this way because each of them serves as a medium through which we communicate. And the plural form of “medium” is…
  10. If you want to see some forward-thinking ways of employing social media, then study the fashion industry.
  11. FourSquare’s first major deal was with BravoTV. Tristan Walker, FourSquare’s former business development executive, said the network had great local content which the digital company used to get people “to get out and explore new things, based on shows like ‘Real Housewives’, which felt very much in line with the product but without a sales pitch.”
  12. To support relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake and the tsunami that struck Japan, social gaming titan Zynga created items within their games for players to buy and donated the proceeds to charity. “In the first 24 hours, we generated $1 million, and it got up to more than $3 million over a week or so,” said Zynga Executive Director Ken Weber. “We had people paying for items in the games, but we also had players who don’t ever pay for anything who got their credit cards out to do something good.”
  13. It’s officially uncool and generally frowned upon to refer to any video you create as viral, unless it truly does become, well, viral. “Rather than ideas propagating for generations, almost everything terminates within one degree of the seed,” said Microsoft Research’s Duncan Watts. “If you want something to spread, generate an enormous number of seeds.”

Share with us: Did you read Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”? Was this truly a road map for you? What new information did you learn from this piece?

This post is the first in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to For Businesses, Social Media Means Nothing Without These 3 Things

For Businesses, Social Media Means Nothing Without These 3 Things

by Angie Sanders|on September 26, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |6 Comments

When I tell people about aiellejai and the services we provide, they’re often surprised to see me sitting in the audience at some social media panel discussion sessions. I like to attend these sessions to understand why people come, what they’re hoping to learn and to hear the questions asked. This helps us keep gauge the pulse of our market and develop products and services to best serve them.

I find that people who attend these sessions fall into three camps:

Do I need to set up a Facebook page?
These are the individuals or business owners who are new to social networking and how to use it to their advantages.

Why am I on Facebook or Twitter?
These are the people who are looking for strategy for participating in the social media space.

How do I measure success and how do I ensure results?
These are the people who are already maintaining social media presences in some sort of strategic way and are looking for ways to evaluate the success of their time and effort.

Most of the people I meet fall between camps two and three. But as they ask their questions and get good answers that still leave them scratching their heads, I suspect that these answers would be clearer to them if they had the following three elements in place:

A clear business model: Some of us business owners—especially those with service-based businesses—aren’t totally clear about the services we provide or the value of these services to our clients or customers. For example, aiellejai usually takes the standard, hourly-rate approach to our service offerings. We recently had to take an objective look at our business offerings, what services were most popular and how to create other products that will best serve the needs of our existing and future customers.

A laser-focused description of their ideal client or customer:  When I ask potential clients who their ideal client or customer is, they often say things like, “small businesses,” or “nonprofits.” It’s especially tricky to identify specific demographic information about your ideal client or customer if you run a business-to-business company. However, when you’re marketing your services, most likely there’s one type of person or one point of contact who you’re trying to attract. Work on identifying who that person is, what they look like, what their challenges are and any other information you can think of that will help you see your clients as individual people instead of whole companies. Visualizing your potential clients/customers this way will help you market to them specifically.

An overarching communications/marketing strategy: Some business owners are having a hard time wrapping their brains around social networking because they aren’t clear on how to reach their audiences outside of the social media space. Once you establish clear communications and marketing strategies and goals you’ll then be able to understand how to use social media engagement—along with other tactics—to reach these goals.

Share with us: How does your company’s communications/marketing strategy influence your social media engagement? How do you define and measure success?

 

 

Permalink to Four Reasons Why You Can Afford to Share Your Ideas

Four Reasons Why You Can Afford to Share Your Ideas

by Angie Sanders|on September 24, 2012 |in Content marketing, Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

During a local chamber of commerce networking event, an ambitious and interesting older gentlemen told me that he was looking for an entertainment lawyer to help him pitch a game show to Hollywood gatekeepers.

“Oh really?” I asked. “What’s the premise of the show?”

“Well, I can’t tell you,” he said. He was saving all his ideas for the entertainment lawyer and the bigwig producers to whom he’d one day persuade to give him the green light on this show.

I then joked that if he told me the particulars, then he’d have to shoot me.

This got me thinking about which ideas require such top-secret protection and which ideas should be shared.

Truthfully, there’s nothing new under the sun. And ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s execution that’s rare. Not to mention that executing is hard work. So I believe it’s a good idea to share a good deal of our ideas publicly and strategically.

Now you may be thinking, “My ideas are how I make my living. I get paid for my ideas.” Yes, that’s true. However, when I say ideas, I don’t mean the engineering plans for your new product. Instead, as a communications professional, I’d share best practices for how to communicate the particulars for how your new product works. So by ideas, I really mean information. I could hold my input until I get you to pay me for what I have to say. However, if you don’t get the information from me, you’ll just Google it.

Here are four reasons that I think that as business owners, we should be a bit freer with our information and ideas:

Most people need a sample before buying. Have you ever met a person at a networking event he asks you for quick advice upon learning what you do for a living? What do you say? “You better pay me”? No. Most likely you engage that person in conversation. It’s only natural because you’re an expert and are passionate about what you do. That’s okay. The best part of this situation is that not only do you reinforce in his mind that you know your stuff, but it gives him an incentive to pay you for your services.

It establishes you as an expert. Before social networking, a lengthy client list on your website stood as evidence enough that your business is good at what it does. Now, potential clients expect to see us sharing information online and through seminars and speaking engagements. Sharing information about your craft frames you as an expert. And who do potential clients want to pay to help them through their business challenges? Experts.

It draws people into your sales funnel. People I happen to meet and cultivate into clients don’t just learn that aiellejai creates content and throw money at us. They usually consume our content. Or they’ve heard me speak. Or they’ve liked something I’ve shared via social networking. Sharing information draws people in, much like a fishing hook. We can’t throw out naked hooks and expect the fish to bite. We have to cast out some juicy nuggets to get the fish to school and be intrigued. Not to liken potential clients to fish, but you get the message.

You want to be your audience’s first resource. If potential clients have questions, and I don’t answer them—especially if it’s simple for me to do so—then they’re going to get the answers somewhere else. And by doing so, they’ll most likely jump into someone else’s sales funnel. Even if I share information with someone and they don’t commit to becoming a client right away, the idea that I’m an accessible expert has been planted in their head. When they do decide that they need some paid help, hopefully aiellejai will be the first company they think of.

Share with us: Are you guarded with sharing information about your business or industry online or via social networking? Are you afraid someone will steal your ideas?

Permalink to The Next Time You Attend a Seminar or Info Session, Do This.

The Next Time You Attend a Seminar or Info Session, Do This.

by Angie Sanders|on September 19, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |4 Comments

How many seminars or other related sessions with classroom-style seating do you attend in which you sit down, listen to the panelists and leave without meeting any of the other attendees in the room.

Perhaps after the session, you rush the front of the room like everyone else to meet the presenters and exchange cards, but do you mingle among the rest of the people who came to get the same information you did?

Classroom-style seating flips a switch in our brain that focuses us only on learning from and meeting the people talking at the front of the room. Although we leave with some valuable information, we may be leaving behind a great chance to network with others in the room who we can potentially work with and partner.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Community Business Partnership event, “Social Media Marketing Made Simple” session at Teqcorner. Like everyone else, I’d visited the refreshments table, grabbed my complementary sesame seed bagel and bottled water and took a seat between two other women.

After a few minutes, Juli Monroe {@1to1discovery} of 1 to 1 Discovery appeared at the front of the room to tell us to get off our butts, move around the room and meet each other. She encouraged us to introduce ourselves to at least two other people in the room and ask the question: “What can I do to help you achieve your goals before the end of the year?”

And what do you know? We all got up and did what Juli said. I just happened to be sitting between two smart business owners. Veronica owns a professional organizing business and wanted to know more about affiliate marketing and publishing an e-book. Elia is launching an online resource for people who are dealing with parents with dementia. She wanted resources for marketing her new business venture. Within a few minutes, I was able to point the women in the direction of information that could help them both. And of course these women are be ideal clients for me.

When the session began to start, Veronica said, “Oh, we didn’t get a chance to ask you how we could help you achieve your goals!” But just by talking to both women, I’d gotten clarity on a few products aiellejai is launching in the coming months.

The next time you attend a seminar and are sitting in a room filled with other smart and motivated people, take Juli’s advice and introduce yourself to at least two of them. Ask them how you can help them achieve their goals. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the conversation’s outcome.

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

by Angie Sanders|on September 17, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

In February 2010, a nor’easter dumped 2-3 feet of snow on the mid-Atlantic and crippled productivity for at least a week. In January 2011, an ice storm left thousands stranded on highways and roads in the Washington, DC area. They all left work early to avoid the impeding storm, but were caught right in the midst of it.

With each storm, the case for teleworking became that much stronger. However, it seems that employers are still slow to adopt this method of work.

The Harvard Business Review released the findings of a study supporting the idea that remote employees are more engaged than those who are in the office.  “The team members who were not in the same location with their leaders were more engaged and committed — and rated the same leader higher — than team members sitting right nearby,” said Scott Edinger, founder of Edinger Consulting Group.

Some employers reject employee requests to work from home, possibly because they believe these employees will somehow be more productive if they’re under the employer’s watchful eye. And even though these same employers may trust the advice of a consultant over their own employees, they still seem to reject the idea of working with a consultant. Perhaps they think she’ll inflate the working hours on her invoice.  Or, again, employers prefer to keep an eye on those who work for and with them. However, here are four reasons why that same consultant has every intention of completing projects on-time and to the best of her ability.

You’re not her only client. Time management is critical for a consultant, especially if she works on an hourly rate. All of her clients want what they want when they want it. And all their projects are urgent. Therefore, goof-off time is nonexistent.

She has less time to get to know you. You and the consultant have agreed on a project plan that dictates that the job will be completed in a finite amount of time. Unlike an employee, this consultant doesn’t get a 90-day trial period to get to know you and how you work. Instead, she probably only has a few billable hours. A good consultant is efficient enough to get the most out of these few hours to get her job done right.

Her reputation is on the line. And even if she had the wacky idea to goof-off on your project, not put her best foot forward, and exceed your expectations? What would that do to her business? What good would it serve her to jeopardize future work by performing shoddy work for you?

She’s a consultant because she works independently and doesn’t need constant supervision. Consultants excel at what they do because they’re able to multitask and identify problems and solutions quickly.  She wouldn’t do her job any better if you were there to look over her shoulder. Most likely, her performance would be worse. And that would be bad for her and you both.

Share with us: How does your company regard working with outside consultants? Consultants: do you sometimes have to work to overcome the misconceptions potential clients have about how you work?

Permalink to The Most Important Lesson I Learned About Self-Publishing

The Most Important Lesson I Learned About Self-Publishing

by Angie Sanders|on September 12, 2012 |in Content marketing, Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Twist, the novel I self-published in 2008, rattled around in my head for at least three years prior to me even putting pen to paper. The road to publishing became harder with each step but slowly, I took those steps that sometimes seemed impossible to me.

I wrote the first draft. Re-worked the draft, hired an editor to complete the final draft, secured print and design vendors and finally produced the finished piece.

I thought the hard part was over, but I had no idea that the real work was yet to come.

The biggest lesson I learned when I self-published is actually rule number one in product marketing: before introducing a new product, you should have a market that’s ready and willing to buy. By the time I learned that hard lesson, I’d done only a handful of book shows and had run out of marketing dollars.

Seth Godin suggests that we authors begin marketing our titles at least three years before the publication date. Yes. You read correctly. Three years. “Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you’ll need later,” he wrote in his 2006 blog post.

This makes total sense. Your audience is constantly bombarded with messages. It’s your job to get your audience to know you as an author and/or thought-leader well in advance of your publication date. In other words, your audience should be paying attention to you long before you begin selling this final product.

The same principle not only applies to self-published authors, but also the authors with any kind of deal from a publishing house. You can’t depend on your publishing company to invest fully in your marketing—especially if you’re not a top-tier author. Once your book is published, the clock on its shelf life begins to tick.  If you wait until then to market your book, then your book will be old news by the time you start to see an ounce of momentum.

It’s been four years since Twist became available for purchase. Did I sell millions of copies? No. Did I get discouraged? Yes. Did I learn a lot? Absolutely. I’ve just begun to tinker around with my second novel. But this time around, I’m definitely looking for ways to decrease publication costs—I’m considering an e-book over printing—and increase my marketing budget. And before I complete the rough draft, my audience will know that this novel is coming—in the next three years.

Share with us: Are you an author? How soon do you begin marketing your books? If you’re a first-time author, what are some key components to your marketing plan?

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

by Angie Sanders|on September 10, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , |4 Comments

My Twitter feed presents me with a number of articles and blog posts that advise readers on how to sell upper management on social media. One post in particular, “9 Ways to Sell Social Media to the Boss” from Social Media Examiner, suggests that sometimes it’s necessary to bring in an outside consultant to make this case more effectively.

The post says “external consultants seem to have more convincing power and more credibility” than company employees that may be social media savvy as well. “…Enlist the services of an external source to help management understand that the conversations are happening with or without them and that they don’t have a choice but to join in.”

In my early days as a W-2 employee, I witnessed my bosses being swayed more by what a consultant had to say than what internal employees did. Now that I’m working on the other side, I understand the influence someone on the outside looking in may have. I don’t think this is a reflection on the capabilities of a company’s employees. Rather, it’s a perception issue. Here are a few things your boss may be thinking that would lead her to trust a consultant over you.

Your boss sees you every day. Because you sit in front of your boss every day, she may take you for granted. Or in her mind, you may not be in the right position on the organizational chart to persuade her. This is where the neutrality of a consultant is valuable. He has no position on the org chart and he’s not clouded by office politics or how things used to be or should be done.  He’s hired to solve a problem and he’s able to see this problem for what it is.

The consultant is seen as a subject matter expert. Social media is new to us all. Chances are, handling social media is a job function that was added to your plate after you’d been working for the company for a while. Although your boss has charged you with this new task, she still sees you in the capacity under which she hired you. The consultant, in this case, is seen as someone whose sole job is develop social media tactics for his clients to reach their goals.

The consultant is costing your employer more money per hour than you are. Salaries are line items built into the company’s overhead budget. However, companies pay for consultants out of department budgets—an expense that isn’t always foreseen during annual budget planning. The difference? For some reason, companies are much more aware of the amount of money that’s shelled out for the consultant than they are of your salary that’s paid out every two weeks like clockwork. And every meeting that consultant shows up to and every phone call that’s made to him is a reminder of that money. Bottom line: your employer is paying good money for him to deliver.

You’re not the only company the consultant is servicing. Consulting is how this person makes a living. He obviously has enough clients that believe in his abilities that he can rely on their fees and not a full-time job. Therefore, your boss sees him as valuable or sought-after. This also contributes to the belief that he’s a subject matter expert. If other people are paying for his services, then maybe we should, too.

Share with us: Have you ever felt the need to reach out to an outside consultant to help argue your point to your bosses? As a consultant, are there other reasons that company directors or other leaders take your advice over their own employees—even if both your ideas match?

Permalink to 6 Reasons Why College Degrees are Still Valuable

6 Reasons Why College Degrees are Still Valuable

by Angie Sanders|on August 29, 2012 |in Content marketing |tagged , , , , , , |5 Comments

What’s with the devaluation of college degrees lately?

Rick Santorum, a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, earned a bachelor of arts degree from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s of business administration degree from University of Pittsburgh, and a juris doctorate degree from Dickson School of Law.  However, Santorum—a person with three degrees— thinks that making the option to obtain one college degree available to all Americans is a bad idea. As a matter of fact, it’s downright snobbish.

In the September 2012 issue of Parenting magazine, Shawn Bean writes that college did nothing for him other than make him a great father. However, according to his bio on his website, Shawn is an “award-winning author and nationally recognized magazine writer,” “has twice been named Writer of the Year by the Florida Magazine Association,” and is the “executive editor at Babytalk, the parenting magazine with more than five million readers.”

And he’s the executive editor of Parenting Early Years. And he used to work for CNN. But I’m sure obtaining a college degree didn’t play a role in any of these accomplishments.

This devaluation and blatant deception needs to stop.

Okay, we’re still suffering the effects of the longest running recession in history and some of the most educated people in the country can’t find work. I get it. But completely changing the discourse by saying that college degrees are unnecessary is like telling everyone that they’re throwing their money away by renting a home instead of buying one.

That argument is swirling in the toilet as we speak.

So let’s tell the truth here. How do the college experience and the resulting degree benefit you other than ushering you to a cubicle?

It’s your pathway to worthwhile connections and opportunities. One of the most important things about college—that I wish someone had schooled me on earlier—is that everyone you meet on campus, whether it’s your roommate or your professor, is a valuable connection that can help you in the professional world. Think about it. Any letters of recommendation you need will probably come from these people. Any internship and job leads will probably come from these people. If you’re looking to start a company, then these people will most likely either be your business partners or lead you to startup capital and/or clients.

It makes you think for yourself. Let Santorum tell it, college campuses are filled with “liberal college professor (s) trying to indoctrinate” you. It’s quite the opposite. These professors’ jobs are to urge to you think critically for yourself. There’s no way you can pass through the doors of a reputable institution without thinking for yourself at some point.

It proves you can finish something. With prodding and encouragement from teachers and parents, you finished high school. At college, you’re thrown to the wolves. If, when, and how long it takes you to finish is totally up to you.

It makes you work in groups and independently. Go on any job interview and one of the questions that potential employer will ask is, “Are you able to work in groups and independently?” Thanks to a college degree, your answer will be, “yes.” In college, you’ll work on projects alone, but you’ll also be required to complete many group projects. You’ll also learn how it feels to be in a group with people who don’t pull their weight—great preparation for the workplace.

It shows you can pay bills. If your parents aren’t independently wealthy, then chances are you’ll be paying for something during your college career. Those things include books, clothes, food and rent and utilities for your off-campus housing.

It’s your ticket in the door. If you’re from a small rural town like me, then going to college is your only option. Did I work jobs that I didn’t want to after graduating? Yes. But I never doubted that my degree would get me closer to my dreams. A college degree may only get your foot in the door to where you want to be, but that beats standing on the street wishing you could walk up the driveway.

Share with us: What’s your college degree worth to you? Will you continue to tell the next generation that college is a must?

Permalink to Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

by Angie Sanders|on August 8, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Shantel, my 16-year-old niece, asked me if I had a job. Why did she ask? Because she noticed that during her visits, I’m usually free to hang out with her on any given weekday.

First, I explained to her that with careful planning, I’m able to get my work done in advance so that I’m free to spend time with her. Then I explained to her that I don’t have a job. I run a company. I’m an entrepreneur. Her uncle—my husband—is too.

We pay life taxes to be able to hang out when family comes to visit, run errands during the middle of a weekday and not have to adhere strictly to the normal 9-5 hours. These life taxes include economic hills and valleys, unrelenting ambition and a willingness to work when everyone else is asleep.

In June, as part of their Startup Month, Forbes.com sponsored a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test entrepreneurial aptitude. Kauffman FastTrac helps aspiring and established entrepreneurs start and grow companies.

The test, which is by no means scientific, confirmed that I was an entrepreneur. I was pleased. Out of the 22 questions on the questionnaire, five stuck with me the most:

Q: I can prosper in an environment with many questions and few answers.
My Answer: Average
Even when I was a part of the 9-5 world, my career was filled with many questions and few answers. Being an entrepreneur is no different. Although I’m afforded more freedom to find answers to those questions my way, the stakes are a bit higher because I call the shots. I answered “average” because I sometimes get frustrated at first when I don’t have the answers. But I have to remember that it may take a while, but the answers are usually revealed in their own time.

Q: I can hang on in hard times and recover quickly.
My Answer: Needs improvement
This element is especially important, especially given the current economic climate. I answered “needs improvement” because I still work on managing my expectations and realizing what I have control over and what I don’t.

Q: I take responsibility for my own success.
My Answer: Strong
I come from a poor family and from a rural town. So whatever success was coming to me was going to be up to God and me. I’m a firm believer in “God helps those who help themselves,” and I try to do everything I can to help his plan for me along.

Q: I can do the tasks necessary to succeed, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
My Answer: Strong
While I was pregnant with my daughter, I embarked on a cold-calling campaign for aiellejai. I bought a list that didn’t have all the contact information I needed. I performed Google searches to update the entire list—more than 2,000 entries—and locate the communications and marketing staff I needed to reach.

Q: I provide for my own needs with little support from others.
My Answer: Strong     
Although I answered this question with “strong,” aiellejai reaches out to outside content creators and other vendors as our client needs dictate. My answer pertains to the day-to-day operations and client-facing activities.

Take the test and let me know how you fare. Are you an entrepreneur?