Social Media School

Buzzle and the team for Local Man in a Van have come together to sponsor and organise an event to help people get the most out of social media!

Social Media School will  commence on Saturday the 10th October, and running from 9-11am every Saturday until October 31st, Social Media School will provide answers on;

• What is social media
• Why is social media important
• Case studies of social media success

Along with providing an overview of the key social media tools, all ’students’ will be shown how to register, and get the most out of social media tools such as;

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube, and
• Posterous

The cost for the 4 week course is $395 – and this includes all course materials and instruction.

Register here and come along or tell your friends about our course they can come along and learn and have some fun!

Tags:Facebook, LinkedIn, posterous, Social Media, twitter, YouTube
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

7 Must Do’s for Your Personal Brand Online

There is a lot of talk about personal branding…and there is a lot of activity happening for us at Buzzle too!  As Dan Schawbel said, “it is Personal Branding Season”

This being the case, I still see ssssoooo many people who are not ‘getting onboard’ and realising that the Personal Branding goldrush is happening NOW (thanks Gary Vaynerchuk for this..great vid on GV and the Goldrush right here).

So today I wanted to share the 7 things you absolutely should be doing NOW to create, protect or promote your Personal Brand!

1.  Register your name as a domain!

I am astounded at the number of entrepreneurs and sole traders who I speak to who still do not have their names registered as domains!  This week alone, I have presented to over 500 people at 2 events, and when I jump onwww.cheapdomains.com.au to see if people in the crowd names’ are available to register – they usually are!  If you can, register your country specific domain (.com.au, .co.uk etc), then grab .com (as it is still the primary domain) and grab .id or .id.au (your country) also.  The .id domain was established for this very reason..to protect your id!

2.  Develop your promise!

So what do you do?  Many people hate being asked this question, and when asked, most people I come across answer this question terribly!  The truth is, we have 5 seconds to answer the question (not 15 or 30 as some people will have you believe!).  Why do we only have 5 seconds…because we are animals and when we meet someone new, our survival instinct kicks in, and we must decide whether to fight or flight (i.e. stay or go!).  When asked this question, you absolutely must give and answer that is short, intriguing, accurate and encourages query and interest…otherwise you will never get the chance to tell your story!

3.  Register on the BIG 4

There are over 2,000 seperate social media sites – and 10-12 mainstream sites that get most of the attention.  For me, the 4 you absolutely must be on are

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

It is free to register, and if you don’t someone may just register your name for you!  (ask Shel Israel ro Stephen Conroy about this experience).  Register them now…don’t worry too much about adding great content just yet – that will come!

4.  Get a blog!

Despite all the hype around twitter and services like 12seconds etc, blogs are still the number 2 most influential channel in social media.  I list a blog seperarately to the other 4 sites – because a blog takes time, energy and you must have a purpose to write good content and get good traffic.  If writing is not your thing, then create video content or invite guest bloggers to add content (your friends for example).  If you need any other ideas on how to build a better blog, then download Probloggers (Darren Rowse) super 31 Days to a Better Blog workbook!

5.  Do sh*&, don’t bullsh*&

I always ask my clients to come up with 3 big projects in 90 days that will demonstrate their promise, and get people to sit up and take notice!  For example, if your promise is to ‘make business greener’ then;

• commit to writing a free e-book on the subject,
• interview some green business owners and blog about it, and
• arrange a competition in your local area for the ‘greenest business’

Anyone can be online, and anyone can look like they are doing GREAT things…but people have had enough of the bullsh*& – so do great things and people will talk about you and you will get noticed!

6.  Approach the thought leaders in your space

If your promise is around capital raising and buying and selling businesses, then you need to connect with the leaders in this field online!  You MUST connect with guys like Guy Kawasaki.  Or if you are into public speaking, then make a connection with guys like Garr Reynolds…seek them out, and develop a relationship.  These relationships will introduce you to new networks, new ideas, and will help with your credibility! Remember, it is not who you know, but who knows you, so reach out to people in your space; they are not competitors!

7.  Be Persistently Consistent

I cannot talk about this enough.  This is where most people I see fall over when it comes to building their personal brand online!  I see people blog or register online and go like crazy with updates and posts for about 4 weeks, then they disappear – poof, into thin air!  When people Google you and see you have not done anything for the last 6 months, it affects your credibility negatively!  The same goes for offline – if you plan to turn up to networking events, then pick a few you can attend regularly, and keep turning up!

All the best, get these 7 things done, and have fun doing it!

Tags:Dan Schawbel, Facebook, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Guy Kawasaki, luke harvey-palmer, Personal Brand
Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »

Is Twitter just a Fad?

We hear this a lot lately…that social media and Twitter are just a fad!

It was MySpace, LinkedIn, and then Facebook, and now Twitter is just the new thing on the block.

What do you think?

We have been using twitter for some time now, and have amassed quite a following.  We have used it to source new business, seek skills, and share news on events like JobCAMP and our workshops.

Something that needs to be understood is that there are over 2,000 different social networking tools, and new ones starting every day.  

But central to every one of these tools is the fact that ‘people like to connect!’  

People wanting to connect is NOT a FAD!

Our good friend Iggy Pintado recently published his book The Connection Generation which is an excellent overview of the importance and relevance of connection…and how tools like Twitter are making it easier to ‘connect’ and genuinely get to know other people!

So why is connection so important?  A lot of this has to do with the increasing complexity of our lives, and we also believe it has plenty to do with people’s need to be recognised, acknowledged and heard!  With an increase in social media, the internet and the media in general, we have all become a little more ‘anonymous’ 

This anonymity has driven our basic need to stand out and to be heard…and connecting with other people and being listened to is what is driving social media and tools like Twitter and Facebook.

If you think Twitter is a fad, then maybe being anonymous, not listening to other people and becoming insignificant in a fast paced world is also a fad?

If we want to see the demise of social media and tools that connect one another, then we need to start connectng in other ways and listening to one another and taking the time to take an interest in others?

Now that sounds like a fad worth starting!

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Tags:buzzle, Facebook, iggy pintado, LinkedIn, luke harvey-palmer, Social Media, Social network, twitter
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Facebook is for Children!

Sam Mutimer is crazy, and we love her!

She is doing some great stuff in Melbourne with business owners and Social Media.  Most recently, she founded Tweet up Mellers – a twitter networking group in Melbourne.

One of the things Sam does real well is ask business owners for their views on Social Media, and how they use it for business.

Kirsty Wilson from Interim Business Solutions was one of Sammy’s recent victims; and she spoke with Sam all about how she uses Social Media and specifically Facebook.

Some interesting facts about Facebook (thanks again Sam for this!);

• More than 200 million active users
• The average age of its users is 36
• Average user has 120 friends
• More then 850 million photos are uploaded each month
• 70% of Facebook users are outside the USA
• More than 1 billion peices of content shred each week!

As a business owner – how can you afford not to be on a platform with such amazing growth and effect?

The secret to business is connection, and tools like Facebook definitely help you connect with more prospects, potential clients and friends with budgets!

If you are on facebook, think about how you can use it more in your business.  if you are not on facebook, why not?

Facebook is no longer for kids! 

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Tags:Facebook, luke harvey-palmer, Social Media, twitter
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Let’s get Australia WORKING!

JobCAMP 09 is coming!

Buzzle is one of the key sponsors for JobCAMP 09; a 2 day event that starts early and finishes late and is jam packed with pragmatic, practical and inspiring sessions to help get Australia WORKING!

Over 2 days the world class presenters will help connect you with more people online and offline, and will provide you with practical steps to take when you walk out the door to increase your chances of finding a better way to earn a living!

JobCAMP 09 is aimed primarily at 3 groups of people;

1. Those who may have lost their jobs
2. Those who may be losing their jobs, and
3. Those that do not really want to stay around to find out…

However, anyone who wants to get Australia WORKING are welcome.

We hope to see employers at JobCAMP, who are looking for employees, we hope to see politicians in the room who are eager to hear new ideas on getting Australia WORKING, and media representatives who want to tell an amazing story about the people who attend JobCAMP 09.

Buzzle is very excited to be associated with JobCAMP 09, because it represents what is needed right now; optimism and action, or as we describe it – JobCAMP 09 is pragmatically optimistic!

Check out the first event in 2009, scheduled for May 7/8 in Sydney, July 2/3 in Melbourne and July 30/31 in Brisbane…

• Follow JobCAMP09 here on Twitter
• Join the JobCAMP Facebook Group

We would love to see you there; or someone you think who should be there!

Tags:buzzle, Employment, Facebook, jobcamp, jobs, luke harvey-palmer, twitter
Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment »

Battle of the Brands

We always find David Armano’s work compelling and on the money when it comes to conversations and thinking about BRAND.

His recent post on his personal blog – Battle of the Brands is so topical right now, and I wanted to pick up on some of the concepts raised here.

David writes about the increase in employed, often senior people spending more and more time on social media and creating and communicationg their own ‘personal brand’ through channels such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and their own blogs…and what this means to ‘The Corporation’ and Corporate Brands; hence the Battle of the Brands.

David speaks in detail about the examnple of Scott Monty; who is a pretty well regarded Social Media junkie, who has built a very distinct personal brand online through the use of social media and commentary via his blog.  Scott has also recently been hired by Ford.  So where to from here?

Scott Monty has received plenty of criticism, and many of his followers or audience have asked “how can Scott remain transparent, and how can Ford let him continue to promote himself over and above Ford?”  Scott speaks about his role and ‘his brand’ as it applies to the Ford ‘brand’ in this video and he explains;

“We’re not interested in advertising on social networks—we’re interested in getting in there and interacting with people”

 

And if Corporations are simply a collection of people and individuals, then isn’t this what Corporations should be all about – interacting and engaging with people?

This intrigues us at Buzzle…and is central to our belief that EVERYONE in an organisation is and needs to be a MARKETER!

Given the recent turn of events, prospects and customers alike demand more human and personal interactions – it is the human elements of your brand that will endear yor corporation or organisation to your prospects and clients.

David Armano invented the term brandividuals which goes part way to explain the connection between the individuals and the corporations and organisations they work for.  We call this the Connected Brand and mostly see good from this notion; more people will bring meaning to their work, organisations will recruit more purposefully, and customers will be served by employees who CARE about what they do and what they represent!

For organisations – this is our point…EVERYONE in your organisation is a MARKETER.  If your customers or prospects don’t know, like or understand your people, then you will have NO chance of them knowing, liking or understanding your organisations (i.e. engaging with them).

We talk about the ‘Rules of Engagement” in the Corporation 2.0

• Communicating (listening and talking),
• Inspiring (energising, involving),
• Supporting, and
• Engaging

The Scott Monty example is the tip of the iceberg…organisations who recognise that people have an identity and a network outside of work which they engage with, and that these very same people are prospects and customers will prosper in the coming years.  Those organisations that believe they own the individual and that only work related networks are of any value may find the current climate a little testing…now is the time for these organisations to ask themselves ‘WHAT ARE WE SELLING?” 

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Tags:David Armano, Facebook, Ford Motor Company, LinkedIn, Scott Monty, Social network
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Do you need more prospects right now?

There is that magical formula again..the power of 3!

We have all heard the notion of the 6 degrees of separation?  The definition as explained by Wikipedia is;

Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the “Human Web”) refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is no more than six “steps” away from each person on Earth.

Recently, Harvard University finalised a piece of research (covered here in the Harvard Business Review, and the article The Dynamics of Personal Influence)  that suggests that people are only influenced by those who are 3 degrees away?

The article quotes;

“… a person’s influence progressively diminishes as the degrees of separation increase. For example, the risk for smoking in a person connected to a smoker (that is, at one degree of separation) is 61% higher, on average, than would be expected as a result of chance. It is 29% higher if the friends of that person’s friends smoke, and 11% higher if the friends of the person’s friends’ friends smoke. By the fourth degree of separation there is no longer an increase in risk.”

What does that mean for your personal brand, and your marketing efforts?

“Efforts to foster creativity or innovation might depend on the degree of separation of the relevant parties. And groups of customers – including customers who have online connections – might be strategically targeted so as to take advantage of their influence on one another.”

Is this really that surprising?  This research just confirms what we have always known at Buzzle…that people buy people, and the more people know about you (and like) the more likely you are to influence them, persuade them, or meet their needs; in other words SELL.  

The opportunity for you is to think about those you are connected to; or 3 steps away from you, who know you and what you stand for?  Do they know you at all, and if they do, how close is your relationship with these people?  This should form the basis of an extremely effective networking plan for you (online or offline);

• Who is 3 steps away from you,
• How do you access these people,
• What is your message for approaching these people in the first instance?
• What is it you are going to do to develop a relationship with these people?
• What are you selling?

How targeted is your networking? How great are you (and your people) at seeking out and developing new relationships? How much do you use LinkedIn, ecademy, Facebook or other social networking sites to connect with these people? How many potential prospects are there in your 3 degrees of seperation (if every person knows 250 people, then I guess this is 250 to the power of 3!)

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Tags:buzzle, Creativity, Facebook, Harvard University, LinkedIn, networking, Personal Brand, personal branding, Six degrees of separation, Social network, Wikipedia
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Leadership | No Comments »

You 2.0

Dan Schawbel has recently finished his book “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success”

Given the title of the book, I wanted to explain what this means for YOU 2.0.

We have all heard of Web 2.0, and we all know the 2.0 stands for the 2nd version of the web right?  WRONG.  This is part of the story, but the interesting thing to know is that the 2.0 also means there are now 2 people in the conversation.  Web 1.0 was all about direct advertising, and pushing messages at you with little engagement or consultation.  As consumers, we now demand more than this, we want to be engaged, involved, listened to, and asked of our opinion.  Web 2.0 is all about the online tools that allow for this interaction – like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and blogging!  Media now needs to engage others, and involve them in the conversation…if you doubt this, just spend a moment to reflect on Barack Obama’s recent successful Presidential Campaign!

So what does this mean for YOU 2.0?

Not only does the media need to reflect the values of Web 2.0, but so too does your personal brand!  Like any successful web 2.0 and Social Media campaign, you should be considering how your personal brand delivers on the four essential stages of the 2.0 world!

1.  LISTENING – what are your target audience talking about, and what are they demanding from your personal brand.  Do they need you to be available or knowledgeable or to simply respond when they ask a question…either way, you need to be listening to you target audience (this is difficult if you do not know who you target audience is!)

2.  TALKING – do you encourage conversation about your skills, talents, products or services..what are you selling?  How do you encourage this conversation.  Do you take 2 or 3 customers to lunch on a monthly basis, do you introduce your network to one another?  You know your personal brand is powerful when others do the selling for you!

3.  INVOLVING - when was the last time you asked a customer or prospect for feedback on your services and your brand attributes?  When was the last time you asked friends or colleagues to explain you in 3 words or less.  If you ask for this feedback, be sure to thank them for it, and then demonstrate how you have taken this feedback on board.

4.  SUPPORTING – you know your personal brand is super effective when your prospects and customers are now solving one another’s problems, and speaking to one another about your services in a positive light!

5.  ENGAGING – the final stage in the YOU 2.0 process is the engagement of your target audience in the process of product and strategy development.  Who developed your last product or service..your customers or you?

So, how are you going to start listening to your target audience?  Think about these 5 steps and how you can integrate them into you business or life.  You can be assured that by following these 5 steps, you will find your personal brand will engage others, and draw them to you.

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Tags:Barack Obama, Dan Schawbel, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Web 2.0
Posted in Executives | No Comments »