Social Networks: Unleashed

Get the most bang for your buck! Yes, I know. Social Networking is free by definition. But you still have the buck you spend on your time fully utilizing any social networking platform. While there are truckloads of solutions available for you to capitalize on, I am only going to touch on one a few of the main ones here.

	Twitter	LinkedIn	Blogger	YouTube	Facebook
Status Feeds
Article Postings
Supports Gadgets/Apps
Supports Multimedia
Paid Advertising Options
“Group” Networking
Viral Content
Second-Tier Networking
Primary Market	Business	Business	Both	Consumer	Consumer

 

Now, before you jump on me about how the platform you love is either not listed, or is listed but is missing a checkmark, let me point out my caveat to the chart. While most of the platforms support most of the options above, they don’t necessarily make them part of their overall strategy in the marketplace, so if it isn’t a primary function of the site, it’s not listed. Here are the key points I am trying to make:

1. Social networking platforms have a target audience, so make sure you know what audience you are hitting. Facebook is for the people market, LinkedIn is for the professional market. Does that mean you won’t find business executives on Facebook? No. But the primary audience is your high school child.
2. Viral content makes or breaks any networking platform, in my opinion. If you cannot easily reproduce or send content from someone else to your network of contacts, then you’re missing a big piece of the networking puzzle. Why are viral videos, re-tweets, and application invites so popular if they don’t work? Twitter doesn’t have the options some of the other, more feature-filled networks do, but their content is viral, so it works.
3. Facebook is the only social networking platform of size that offers free second-tier networking. What I mean by this is that your comments on your network also flow to the people in the network of your network. When you comment on a person’s status, that comment is seen by all of their friends too, not just yours.
4. To get the audience you want, you need to use multiple networks, such as blogging (like I am doing now), twitter/facebook status updates about your blog (which I will be doing in a minute), and if you’re the type that likes to do so, making a YouTube video about your topic (like Staffing Software CEO Gregg Dourgarian does frequently).

Top 10 Things a Business Person Can’t Live Without

Okay.. so maybe that’s a little melodramatic, but I really do believe that there are certain things which make business so much easier that giving them up would be foolish. Here are my top 10 things I wouldn’t want to work without:

10. Coffee – Nothing quite like a caffeine high when you come into the office in the morning to get you started on a productive day!

9. Business Card Holder – Okay, so this is the “Paperless” perspective, but sometimes, a good old fashion rolodex or business card book is just convenient. Take trade shows for example, everyone gives you business cards! Now, since it is the Paperless Perspective….

8. ScanR – Easily scan business cards, documents, whiteboards, and more from your cell phone. Convert your business cards into contact records, change your documents to PDFs, and even send faxes from your blackberry!

7. A Good CRM  - Okay, have to throw a TempWorks ploy in here because it’s what I use, but if you use Salesforce, or if you create a homegrown system out of Microsoft Access, it doesn’t matter as long as it does what you need!

6. Social Networking – No longer is it just for your teenage daughter! If you don’t have a blog, a twitter account, a LinkedIn account, or a facebook account, you are missing out on valuable contacts, information, prospects, and advice!

5. Wireless Headset – Stuck to your phone by a cord--having to hold up a handset—no thanks! On conference calls, I need to pace around, write on whiteboards, type on a keyboard, and sometimes throw darts at my magnetic dart board that I got from my secret Santa, Maria Dourgarian, last year. To do this, I need a headset that doesn’t tie me down!

4. Adding Machine – What!? Is that old-school or what? Okay, so I know formulas. I know programming. I know operations and payroll and taxes. But for the life of me, I can’t do numbers. A little paper track of what I am doing math-wise is very helpful for when I FUBAR some numbers.

3. Lumbar-Supportive Chair – It’s amazing how much you can pay for fancy looking, crummy chairs and how little it costs to get a chair from Office Depot that is 100 times better than the fancy ones! A little support goes a long way for a computer geek like those I work with.

2. Remote Desktop  - If I was unable to do some work from home every once in a while, I would never be able to leave the office. Sometimes, the most productive I get is when I am not at the office and have no phones ringing, no emails popping up, and no people needing help with something. You can get a lot accomplished when there are no distractions.

1. Good People – If you work with people who don’t like what they do, and don’t think of their role as a career, then you are going to be miserable coming into work. You see, bad moods are contagious. Surround yourself by good people and good things will happen.

What wouldn’t you want to live without? Let me know if there are some things I need to download, buy, try out, etc. I am always in the market for new innovations for business productivity!

Run Your Company Like the Military - No Drill Sergeant Needed

"Drop and give me 20" isn't a phrase you will hear me say to any member of my awesome payroll funding and payroll processing team. However, there are plenty of things that you will see around here that come from a military ideology, such as strong leadership, outstanding training, a hard work ethic, integrity, open communication, teamwork, and disciplined approaches to serving our customers.

I have reappropriated (military code for "stolen") these things from the military just like some of the other successful businessmen and women around the country. A perfect example of one such successful business owner who embraces military customs is The Reserves Network owner, Don Stallard. A TempWorks Software customer for the long-haul, Don comes from a 17-year tenure with the Air Force Reserves and served five years of active duty as well. A recent case-study about his company can be found in the September, 2009 issue of Staffing Industry Review. TempWorks is proud to be a partner with The Reserves Network as they look towards doubling in size over the next five years to become a $150-$200 million company!