How strong is your social network?  How many people can you pick up the phone right now and call right now?  How many would answer?

If you are networking online, are you translating to your activity offline?

Transactions are made out here, in the real world, with real people.

• Meetings
• Conference Calls
• Presentations

I tell my students all the time:

• Get offline.
• Talk to people.
• Develop a relationship.
• Add value to the marketplace.
• Be helpful.
• Befriend people with skills that you don’t have.

Use social media to create the openings for real conversations offline.

Real transactions occur out here.

So my advice for those who are using social media…

Get away from your computer every now and then. And, talk to people outside of the chat box.

By David Bullock

Howie Jacobson is a good friend of mine. Howie is the author of the “AdWords for Dummies” book.

I was looking on my hard drives and I found a folder full of interviews and conversations that I have had over the years. These are pure gold nuggets of information that I am so glad that I captured.

Howie is featured in the interview below.  There is so much in this 7–minute clip:

• PPC
• Salesmanship
• System Setup
• SEO
• Social Media
• Passion For Work
• Media Repurposing

Markets are changing rapidly. Hope that you enjoy it. More to come.

By David Bullock

Social Media continues to disrupt the business of politics. While I continue working in the business sector, over the past year I have become increasingly engaged in the political vertical.

Neal Harrington of www.HarringtonFT.com and I had a conversation several months ago (July 2009) that proved to be very interesting. We are discussing the gap in technical expertise within the political arena in terms of social media deployment. These new communication technologies are completely disrupting the political marketplace.

If this is the case, this news that came out earlier this week is especially intriguing:  Plouffe to Play Expanded Advisory Role for Obama.  Who is going to step in to assist the opposition?

If both parties are using social media communication technologies effectively, what will be the deciding factor or secret weapon in the upcoming campaigns?

Obama 2.0 Observed By David Bullock

Obama 2.0 is in all the headlines today. A friend of mine just send this to me via Twitter (thanks @JillKoenig).  What does this mean?

The question that comes to my mind is how can a business, the backbone of the economy, learn from these political campaigns?

There are true nuggets of marketing, positioning and execution gold that can be found here.

But I fear that just like during the 2008 Presidential Campaign – where a senator seemed to have come out of nowhere to rise to the highest office in the land – the world is paying attention to the politics and not the mechanics that they could use to gain market share, increase profits and reduce costs.

Here are some of the headlines that I believe take our eye off the ball.

Obama 2.0 Begins by Listening to Paul Volcker

Obama 2.0: Candidate Starts His Hard Move to the Center

Let’s focus on the lessons that can be learned for a business of any size to succeed against enormous odds.  That message is as true today as it was a year ago.

By David Bullock

Watching the market as I have over the last year has been very interesting. Reporting on the market and what the “social media” market is doing has become a big business over the last several years. Heck, just trying to keep up with the new tools is hard enough. So, as we look at a dynamic market, what is the first thing that we have to do?

Find an anchor point.

That’s right. As this market continues to change and flow, it is not required that you learn everything that is new in the marketplace. It is required that you find your place in the marketplace and then find the proper tools to support your position and place.

For the last several months, I have gotten very busy working on executing many ideas that are supposedly “new” in the marketplace. What I find in these ideas is that the very fundamentals of thinking, decision-making and execution are lacking.

It is “throwing mud against the wall” at a very high level. What is called strategy is hand waving to an audience the does not know what they are observing. Even when you show them something, there is no criteria in place to measure progress, success or failure.

To be fair, I have a different perspective. I view this space from the position of having been a:

• Manufacturing operative
• Engineer
• Project manager
• Marketer
• Salesperson
• Blogger
• Self-published author
• Public speaker
• Promoter
• SEO
• PPC practitioner
• Content creator
• Video editor
• Audio editor
• Consultant
• Tracking and testing specialist
• Affiliate marketer
• Webmaster
• Inventor

In other words, in the worlds I inhabit, we look at a new idea and see it all the way through from inception, to creating value in the market, to successful transaction.

I have had my sights set beyond simply watching the markets. In the last year, we have successfully launched a book and completely repositioned my business in the marketplace. This process of repositioning has created a complete shift in my thinking and how I will be moving in the future. I look forward to sharing with you how we are moving within the marketplace and adjusting thought and action accordingly.

Social media is part of the getting ideas into the marketplace.

Ideas are cheap. Ideas are everywhere. You just had another idea.  In fact, as you are reading this you will get a few new ones.

You can be inspired by anything. The key is what you do with the ideas that you or others have.  Innovation is the buzzword these days… but to truly innovate, someone has to build it and make it work.

In short, an idea that is not executed is nothing but a fleeting flash of brilliance.

However, doing something with an idea is the work of giants. This is what creates wealth and moves economies.

• Getting an idea to market.
• Following through with an idea.
• Executing an idea.
• Moving an idea into the physical universe.
• Making an idea tangible.

I was in a brainstorming session a few days ago that gave me a headache.

Why?  Because all of the ideas had inherent structural problems. In layman’s terms, the ideas that were being generated lacked the clarity of execution.

My background is in manufacturing. I build stuff.  Big earth moving machines.  Boilers.  Spinning machines.  Cars.  Huge metal presses. Robots.  Mile-long plants.  Warehousing.  Trucks.  Forklifts.  Hard hats.  Ear plugs. Steel-toed shoes.

This is the world I come from. Now I find myself in the digital world, which I consider to be close to the perfect machine.

Perfect Machine:

• No weight
• No space requirement
• No power consumption.
• Runs automatically
• Self-regulating
• Self-servicing

This morning I am awake to the fact that the world that I come from is still extremely valuable.

Why?

I am seeing a lot of people talk about what should be done and what should work.  After the fact, they tell you why it works. But only a few people can really build things from the ground up, meaning:

• See the idea.
• Build the structure.
• Pull the resources together.
• Design the systems.
• Create something.
• Keep working with it until it is producing something meaningful.

What are you not only willing to think, but willing to do to really make something happen and show up in the real world?

Contrary to popular advertising and marketing beliefs, you can’t sell a future that people don’t want or need anymore. The Obama Campaign was promoting a future that the people wanted. People wanted the future, thus they promoted the story and in the end acted to fulfill the story.

Social media are like the wind. It is there. You can see it moving. And more importantly, you see the effects. Social media are all about developing and engaging in consistent intentional conversations around relevant content within a meaningful context within an eager community.

Yes, that is a mouthful. If you look at that statement at a surface level you will most likely continue to advertise and market in the same manner that you have for years, and you will get the same dwindling results. However, with a true operating understanding of new media, that statement above not only sounds impressive; it is actionable and measurable.

Again, we witnessed the monumental rise of Senator Barack Obama to the White House using this new media and networking platforms as a catalyst for actionable conversations.

The proof is in the case studies, the businesses, the individuals and the causes that have been brought to the forefront of traditional media because the story was first carried by social media.

Social media is about communication. Not the one-way communication from a company to consumer that has been the standard for centuries; rather, true conversations and two-way dialogue based on common interest and concerns. The glamour and push methodologies that worked for decades are no longer valid.

Your customers can know more about your company than you do because they are able to understand and evaluate your:

o company
o products
o services
o customer service
o culture
o people
o reputation

before you have the opportunity to make your pitch. Thus the tables have turned. Companies come to pitch and convince and the marketplace comes to simply decide if this is a good fit based on everything you say and the world says about you. What you say now is not enough.

Now you are known by your content and context. And it is up to you to fill the void in the marketplace via reputation with the narrative that you want to be known for.

Now you are evaluated by the conversations that you are in, the conversations that you are and the conversations that surround you.

Those with power and money have typically controlled communication lines. At the present time, anyone with an Internet connection, a keyboard and an idea can broadcast to millions. This is the shift that was illustrated on a global scale in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Simple ideas are being promoted by ordinary people to the world without needing your blessing. Scary, isn’t it?

The power of communication – and thus, commerce – now lies with the individual. Not the corporation. Not the advertising agency. Now the power is with the individual who understands and uses communication technologies effectively.

Technology has finally made communication a commodity.

How are you going to increase the value of your message to lift yourself above the noise like a Senator from Chicago?

You have an opportunity here that never existed before.

Are you going to seize the moment?

Do you know how to seize the moment?

What is social media?

It is truly something new, or it is a communication technology that is misunderstood and miss-applied because these new broadcasting and networking platforms have commoditized messaging by allowing the masses to have access to broadcast capacities and influence that were only available to a few years ago.

The answer is very basic. It starts with being meaningful and relevant to those that find you.

And where should they find you?

Everywhere that they are looking. Social media allows you to be everywhere, talking to everybody and listening to everything.

First, you have to be where people are looking. Second, you have to know how to engage by being interesting to and interested in the audience.

The problem with new media and the access to an abundance of data is that people don’t need to you to bring them any new information. Your prospects want you to be useful, meaningful and valuable. And your clients want to find value instantly. If you are valuable, you can’t be found if you are not there. So you must first show up and then deliver.

Sitting on the sidelines and not being in the market is not a strong strategy.

These search engines allow us to find data about just about anything we can identify by name. The problem is that data, in and of itself, is meaningless, unless it is framed within the proper context. Case in point, the 2008 Presidential Campaign at any other time would have not been framed powerfully without the other issues that were looming in the background of the United States, such as the economy and the current state of the government. This speaks to timing and relevance as it relates to value assessment.

The key is to show up, saying the right thing and having others saying good things about you.

By David Bullock

Using social media is like using any tool that you have at your disposal. You have to actually to…

• create a plan
• have knowledge of the tools
• create something of value
• build something meaningful to someone else.

Otherwise, you have not created anything of any significance. If you are talking and no one is listening, that is called noise. With social media, your tool is information and communication. You are working to get people to take notice. Your goal is to become meaningful within the media.

You are looking to communicate with people who are interested in the information that you are promoting. Does your communication make people:

• think
• laugh
• reflect
• move to action
• want to share it
• comment on it
• engage in conversation?

If you are just:

• building followers on Twitter
• picking up friends on Facebook
• posting to bookmarking sites
• commenting on blogs

and so on without a clear goal toward building a relationship, you are just wasting time and effort.  

Basically this type of non-productive communication makes a mess and is not an effective or proper use of social media.

Just call it advertising, not social media marketing. Social media is a tool like a hammer. You can build a castle, or you can build a dog house.

What are you building with your efforts within the social media space?  A mess, or a masterpiece? Or, in social media terms, are you creating relationships that can last a lifetime and credibility in the marketplace?

You are known by your content and context. It is up to you to create, communicate and converse.

Enjoy the ride…

By David Bullock Co-Author – Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons For Business

Summary : Are we paying attention to the wrong things in regards to social media?

Recently, I attended a “social media” luncheon. What I heard was interesting.

• How social media could be used.
• How social media should be used.
• Great stories that are inspiring to hear.

All about building trust, non-marketing and non-sales. How this media is so different. 

No hard numbers. No metrics. Just nice stories about what would, should and could happen with this thing called “social media.”  The concepts are there but meaningful frameworks and tactics are lacking. I guess folks are trying to figure it out.

But I did not hear anyone talking about how social media is being used:

• to increase revenues,
• leverage communications,
• support business objectives and
• easily reach new markets.

And more importantly, what I did not hear was how could this “new media” be used to create predictable outcomes. I was not looking for tips, tricks and the newest tools. I was looking for thinking or a methodology that just works because it is based in sound principles and known outcomes.

Sorry folks. I am an engineer. I build things. And I think social media is a tool that should be used to generate business outcomes that matter.

On the other hand, if you are using social media to just be sociable then this post is not for you. But if you are a business owner looking to use social media as a means to connect, engage and communicate with your audience, here are some of the questions that are running in my mind as I move both strategically and tactically in the marketplace.

For Business Owners And Managers Only

Not in any order, but this is a loose framework…

Social Media for Business:

• What are you doing?
• Are you doing anything meaningful? Or are you waiting for something?
• If you are doing something, why are you doing it?
• What is your message?
• It is a valuable message?
• How do you know it is valuable?
• Who cares? Who’ll listen?
• Where and who are they listening to?
• Who is it (specifically) valuable to?
• What is the expected outcome?
• Are you achieving your outcomes?
• What kind of time, energy and effort are you deploying?
• Is it working?
• What part of it is not working?
• How do you know it is not working?
• What is your metric?
• What is your measurement device?
• Is the device accurate?
• How do you know your device is accurate?
• Is the online media the right engagement media?
• Should social media be used with other channels?
• Do you have a story that is worth repeating?
• Are people repeating your story?
• Have you isolated the elements of your story that make it valuable to others?

This is the short list of questions that I am asking as I move across channels.

As a business owner who has to communicate, promote and engage with clients and prospects everyday, the “30,000 ft view” of the newest of social media platform or trend has little to no meaning to my day-to-day business.

Seeing the “buzz” in the marketplace is interesting only in regards to the traffic and connections that are created because of the buzz. Having a “buzz meter” with no application for the “buzz metric” is meaningless.

This is just like having complete analytics and not knowing what to do with the numbers.

The question I am always asking is, “What can I do with this?”

The exhaust of data from the social media space is incredible. But again I ask, “now what and so what?” What are we as business owners going to do with the data so that it becomes actionable information that creates the business outcomes that you (or your clients) are looking for?

Business owners and managers are looking for the “Do this. Measure this. Look for this. If you see this, do this next.”

No theory. Pragmatic, actionable, measurable and tangible, results.

Business owners want outcome-oriented blueprints because dynamic markets require thoughtful action and timely execution.

Things are moving too fast for inability to act and analysis paralysis.

Just my thoughts after too many theoretical conversations that lead to more theoretical conversations. What do you think?