Quick Tip for LinkedIn: Customizing Your Website Listing

I just found a neat little trick in LinkedIn that I thought I’d share with you.

When you add your website(s) to your profile, you have the option to “customize” the title of the link.  I’m not sure if this was available from the beginning, as I don’t remember seeing it before.  But when I went to add this blog to my list, I saw the option for “other” and learned what you can do with it.

When you list your website(s), you have the option to choose from the following:

• My Website
• My Company
• My Blog
• My RSS Feed
• My Portfolio
• Other

Using any of the first five options, displays it on your profile page with that title.

But, if you choose “Other” you have the option to put in a title, therefore customizing it to suit your needs.

Now it will display the title you chose instead of the default (e.g., “My Website”).

Pretty neat!  Now head over to LinkedIn and update your profile.

P.S. I have another tip to go along with this one.  Stay tuned!

Using the RSS Reader, Bloglines

Bloglines is a great tool for following your favorite blogs.  This article shows you basic features that make it such a powerful reader.

There are many tools you can use to follow blogs.  I personally like Bloglines, which is a service provided by Ask.com.  It has a simple interface and is easy to use.

I admit, I was originally a Google Reader fan, simply because it was the only reader I knew of.  But I was never fond of the interface so I began to seek out other options.  After experimenting with some other readers, I came across Bloglines and fell in love.

Interface

The interface is similar to Windows Explorer.  The left panel contains your feed list, while the right column displays the chosen feed.  Feeds can be displayed in an expandable format, meaning you can easily browse through the titles and then expand the ones you want to read (as shown below; other options are available, see Settings below).

 

Categories

With Bloglines, you can categorize your feeds by creating separate folders.  When you subscribe to a feed using Bloglines, you have the option of creating a folder or you can simply store it at the top level.

Clippings

Another great feature is Clippings.  Clippings allows you to “clip” a blog post, which is then saved under the Clippings tab.  You also have the ability to categorize your clippings.  So for example, let’s say you find a great post, but don’t have time to finish reading it.  Simply clip it and save it for later.  Or let’s say you want to track the comments of a particular post and don’t want to subscribe to the blog’s comments.  Simply clip it and return to it periodically.

 

Settings

You also have control over other options, such as how items are displayed.  For example, you can choose the “posting length”  to either display the entire post, a summary, or just the title (I display only the title as shown under Interface, above).  Below is a screenshot the shows the options that are available.

There you have it, the basic, yet powerful features of Bloglines. 

While I’m certainly a fan of Bloglines, I’d love to hear from you about other readers out there that you use and why.  Drop me a line in the comments.

Friday Finds

A weekly collection of things I’ve run across that may be of interest to you.

This week’s finds all have a Twitter focus.  Enjoy!

Article  Twitter becomes latest forum for job adverts, by Aislinn Simpson – This article discusses how businesses are using Twitter for recruitment.

Article  8 Useful Tips To Become Successful With Twitter, by Paul Boag – Spot-on tips!  This is a must-read.

Article  The Ultimate List of Twitter Tools, by Matthew Tommasi – An extensive list of tools for everything Twitter.

Article  Twitter 101: Clarifying The Rules For Newbies, by Corvida – Great tips, even for the “seasoned” tweeter.

Article  The Top 10 Twitter SEO Tips, by Mike Dobbs – With talk about Google’s real-time searching and indexing of Twitter tweets, this article presents SEO strategies for maximizing the power of your tweets.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Resources

Depending on your business, you may be having a hard time rising to the top of the search engine ranks.  The best way to rise to the top is through a process known as search engine optimization or SEO.  There are many different views and opinions of the best way to attack this process, as well as a variety of strategies.  Below is a list of helpful resources to help guide you through the process of SEO.

 
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High Rankings® Advisor – This is a newsletter brought to you by the SEO consulting firm, High Rankings®.  It is written by Jill Whalen, who is considered a pioneer of SEO.  Jill also accepts questions, which are then answered via the newsletter.

SEOmozBlog – This blog is maintained by the consulting firm SEOmoz.  Be sure to subscribe to the blog for your daily dish of news and tips relevant to SEO.

SEO Fast Start - Dan Thies, who has be involved with SEO for over 10 years, maintains this blog and offers a free downloadable book of the same name.  Dan believes the process is quite simple and offers his book and blog to help others achieve SEO success.

To me, these are the best SEO resources I’ve come across.  But I’m a learner, so if you know of some other great resources, drop me a line and let me know.

Friday Finds

A weekly collection of things I’ve run across that may be of interest to you.

Book  The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Tim Ferriss – Tackles a new approach to the work/life balance issue.

eBook  BloggingBlueprint: Your Free Guide to Blogging Success, by Glen Allsopp – Glen shares his story and his secrets to his blogging success.  Free PDF download.

Article  Publishing Your Ezine the Pros and Cons, by Carrie Wilkerson – Great article that looks at the reasons why you should create an eZine and solutions for overcoming the two biggest obstacles of time and content.

Article  Marketing Your Website Without Search Engines, by Maki – Check out Maki’s practical advice on driving traffic to your site without relying on search engines.

Article  38 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started In Marketing, by Ian Lurie – A witty take on marketing, entrepreneurship, and business in general.

Article  Five Ideas I’ve Implemented to Get More Done, by Glen Allsopp – Need some productivity boosting ideas?  Read Glen’s article for some practical advice.

A Change is Coming: Do You Know What’s Involved?

Change is inevitable; we all know this.  But managing change in your organization is vital to a successful outcome.  Throwing caution to the wind and letting the pieces fall where they may is really no way to “change” an organization.  The result is usually unhappy employees, low morale, reduced productivity, and essentially, no effective change has taken place.

So how do you prevent this adverse outcome?  By understanding the change process so you can effectively implement interventions that are critical to ensuring a successful change outcome.

Following are the basic principles involved in organizational change.  This is not intended to be step-by-step guide.  Instead it is a primer for understanding at a high-level what’s involved the change process.

Plan.  First understand that most everyone needs to know something.  Most organizations assume that only the people directly affected by the change need to know what’s going on.  What many don’t realize is that others in the organization (and even outside the organization) may be impacted for any number of reasons.  This is why a lot of attention needs to be given to planning the change.  Following is a basic view of what’s involved in the planning stage.  Realize that each of them carry within it their own set of principles, tasks, and best practices.  You need to:

• identify groups of people who will be impacted in any way (big or small),
  
• determine how they are impacted and to what degree,
  
• assess their varying needs and resistances,
  
• identify strategies to help each group through the change, and
  
• devise an action plan outlining the various communications and educational interventions necessary at all levels.   (Note:  Interventions are any tactic used during a change for anything such as gaining buy-in, mentally preparing individuals, and training individuals on new processes.)

 
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Implement.  Using your action plan, implement your interventions to coincide with the change events.  Throughout the implementation, be sure to take periodic pulses to ensure the change is in fact happening and that your people are being taken care of.

Sustain.  Remember that it is natural to fall back into old habits.  That said, it is important to monitor the change even after the implementation.  Take care in providing messages and showing actions that continue to support the change that took place.  I personally believe that a truly successful change is one where behaviors are not only changed, but sustained over a long period of time.  That period of time depends on the change, but when the “new way” becomes accepted as the “current way,” that’s a pretty good indication that the change is being sustained.

While this might seem manageable, there is a lot of work to be done even for seemingly small changes and it can be very overwhelming.  To overcome this, and to ensure a successful change, you might consider hiring a consultant who is experience in organizational change.  Consultants who do this for a living can bring an “outsider” perspective to better assist in the change.  They have an arsenal of proven strategies and tools that will get your organization through the change.

Email Etiquette: A Refresher

The advent of instant messaging, texting, and Twittering, has brought with it some horribly informal communication habits.  More and more, these bad habits are creeping into our emails.  It seems that "how r u" is acceptable in today's emails.  But is it truly acceptable?  Perhaps on a personal level, but professionally speaking, no, it's not acceptable.  Let's remind ourselves of some dos and don'ts when it comes to business-related email.

DO write professionally, even when conversing with an intimate colleague.  You never know who might see it!

DO keep it short and simple.  Enough said!

DO respond promptly to questions and requests, even if it's to say that you don't know or that you need more time.  It's common courtesy.

DO use the Bcc field for mass-mailings.  This respects everyone's privacy.

DO be cautious with your tone.  Without the non-verbal cues you get in face-to-face conversations, people might be offended if you come off sounding snippy or disrespectful even if you didn’t intent to.

DO send attachments only when appropriate.  Consider compressing or "zipping" files to reduce download time.

DO craft a subject line that quickly states the purpose of your email.  Simply saying "Hi" might not get your email answered right away.

DON'T continue to reply to conversations that have ended.  For example, when someone thanks you leave it at that; you don't need to reply with "no problem" or the like.

DON'T send/forward chain letters, spam, or other inappropriate material.

DON'T write your entire email in ALL-CAPS.  It's the Internet-way of shouting.

DON'T use "High Importance," "Urgent," etc. unless absolutely necessary.

DO however, use "Low Importance" when appropriate.  This lets the recipient know they can pass it over and review it at a more convenient time.

DO use a greeting and signature.  This keeps your email a little more personable than just simply starting your message.

DON'T format your messages with "stationary" backgrounds.  Depending on the email client, the recipient may have difficulty opening, reading, or replying.

DON'T use delivery notifications or "Read Receipts," except on the rare occasion it's necessary.

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Do you have some additional dos and don’ts?  Post a comment and let me know!

7 Fortune 500 Companies Using Social Media Effectively

Learn how some Fortune 500 companies are leveraging social media for marketing and customer service.

Businesses big and small are taking to social media as another means of reaching their customers and prospects.  For many, it’s about two-way communication.  With social media, they are not only able to push news and information, but have the opportunity to interact with their customers and even provide a different level of customer service. 

Following are seven Fortune 500 companies that are effectively using social media to inform and interact with their customers.  Follow and study them to generate your own ideas for using social media in your overall marketing and customer service plans.

1.  Home Depot  Home Depot is using Twitter to inform its followers about products and events.  In addition, they have in many cases, helped customers resolve issues.  Home Depot currently has 8,300+ followers.

2.  Pepsi  Pepsi is all over the social media world.  They are on Twitter with a current following of 3,500+.  Here they offer news about products and events.  They also converse with customers and followers, even on the day-to-day things.  You can also find Pepsi on Facebook.  With nearly 200,000 fans, they communicate news about products and events.  Pepsi even has their own YouTube channel, where they share a variety of videos.

3.  Allstate  Allstate currently has 1,100+ followers on Twitter.  They are using Twitter to interact with their customers, as well as help customers resolve issues.

4.  Target  With 7,200+ followers on Twitter, Target is interacting with their customers, as well as helping customer resolve issues.

5.  Kohl’s  Kohl’s is very new to the social media scene.  Even though they just joined Twitter in late April 2009, they have 382 followers and are conversing with their customers, even on the day-to-day things.  Kohl’s is also on Facebook.  Although it appears they have had a presence there for awhile, they are just now beginning to use it to interact with their 5,900 fans.  They are also using Facebook to share information about products, sales, and events.

6.  Southwest Airlines  SWA uses Twitter to interact with its 31,900+ followers, even sharing restaurant suggestions for travelers.  On Facebook, SWA shares news about services and events with its 68,000+ fans.

7.  Starbucks  Starbucks has 206,000+ followers on Twitter.  They use Twitter to interact with customers, as well as help their customers resolve issues.  On Facebook, they probably have one of the biggest group of followers totaling 1.7 million.  Starbucks uses Facebook to share news about products and events and provide relevant information of interests to its fans.

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Further Reading

•  How To Create and Promote Your Facebook Fan Page.
• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners
• Twitter Is My Help Desk

A Generation of Social Media

Facebook demographics and what it means to your business.

I came across an interesting article in the May 2009 issue of  Intercom.  The article, “The Generational Effect on Social Media,” discusses how the difference in age is an indication as to the likelihood of using social media applications.  Author, Rich Maggiani, brings up some very good points.  Among them is the communication preference of each generation: Baby Boomers prefer face-to-face, Gen Yers were born “plugged-in,” and Gen Xers hover somewhere in the middle.

It is no surprise that the conclusions drawn in the article point to the Gen Yers as being the social media gurus, “while the rest of us struggle to engage.”  At first read, I agreed with the article.  But the more I thought about it, I did not agree 100%.

Truth be told, I am a Gen Xer and not too far from the Gen Y border.  But unlike those a few years my junior, I found no real use for social media.  That is until about a year ago.  In that time, I have seen a proliferation in the number of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers getting involved in social media.  This got me thinking:  Are the conclusions in that article accurate?   In a way, they are.  And when it comes down to all faces of social media, it is probably pretty darn accurate.  But in one little corner of the social media world, I believe it to be somewhat inaccurate.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media applications available.  It’s pretty simple to use and offers a myriad of ways to connect with other people.  From status updates, to group discussions, to cute little “game” applications, a lot is available to suit most anyone’s interests.

Friends and family use Facebook to keep in touch and share photos.  Groups of people are coming together to share their passions with other like-minded people.  Businesses are using Facebook to connect and interact with their customers and prospects.  It is a truly powerful social media tool and it is no wonder people are flocking to it.

Turning back to the generational aspect of social media, I dug up some information to support my theory about Facebook.  According to the 2009 Facebook Demographics & Statistics Report, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are getting on board with social media and at an astonishing rate.  Currently, there are over 200 million active users on Facebook.  Among those, nearly 7 million fall into the 35-54 age range (up 276% from six months earlier) and nearly 955,000 are 55 and older (up 194%).  Combined, these folks make up roughly 20% of all Facebook users.  According to the report, the 35-54 demographic has been doubling every two months.  That said, it’s likely that both demographics will continue to increase for some time.

It’s quite possible, as I’ve witnessed over the last several months, that Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are joining Facebook because it is one of the easier tools to use and helps them stay in touch with family and friends.  Regardless of why, the point is they are using it.  More importantly, they are joining groups, participating in discussions, and becoming “fans” of products and services. 

So if you are a business targeting people in these demographics, a Facebook Fan Page may be something you want to consider in your overall marketing strategy.  It will give you an opportunity to connect with your customers, and more importantly, interact with them.  Remember, Baby Boomers like face-to-face communication, and it’s nearly impossible for them to do that with big businesses.  Finding alternative ways to interact with them is key and providing a virtual face-to-face opportunity through a medium such as Facebook may be the answer.

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*Data from the Facebook Demographics & Statistics Report, as of 4 January 2009.
*Intercom is a publication of the Society of Technical Communication.

5 Social Media Gurus You Should Be Following on Twitter

These five gurus are a must-follow for social media insight.

• Mari Smith – Social media consultant and Facebook expert.
• Denise Wakeman – Blogging expert.
• Jason Alba – Author of I’m on LinkedIn, Now What???.
• Mike Stelzner – Social media enthusiast and creator of the Social Media Success Summit.
• Ann Handley – Social media and Twitter expert.