Where is Your Customer Conversation?

Amy Lemen is the President of ALL In One Marketing, a strategic brand and marketing consulting business in Indianapolis. She specializes in helping companies leverage customer insights to build better brands, develop new products, and create marketing strategies.

If your brand were a celebrity, who would it be and why?
This is a question typically used to define a brand’s character, which is a critical component of the overall identity of a brand.

Up until recently, many brands were able to grow without having a well defined and compelling brand character. As long as a brand provided a consistent set of meaningful, differentiated benefits to a target group of customers, it had a chance of being successful. This was because the brand could control its messaging, as it consistently talked to its target customer.

The communication framework between brands and customers is now very different. A brand now must engage in a conversation with its customers. A conversation means that a brand can’t just keep stating its key messages. It has to respond to what customers are saying and asking, and sometimes the key messages just aren’t appropriate responses.So in these cases, what is a brand supposed to say? This is where the brand’s character plays a critical role.

The brand’s character enables the brand to talk with its customers without the key messages while still staying true to what it stands for. The character is truly the brand’s personality, defining its temperament, attitude and behaviors. It is now the critical component that supports conversations between a brand and its customers. Without it, who are the customers really conversing with?

Can you identify the celebrity that personifies your brand? If this doesn’t come easily to you, perhaps you should take some time to more fully develop your brand’s character. It will make the conversations between your brand and your customers far richer and more meaningful.

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11,000 Reasons to Listen to the FTC

Hannah is an attorney at Hollingsworth & Zivitz, PC where she focuses her practice on business law and entrepreneurial services. Hannah is one of the few attorneys in Indiana to offer experienced legal guidance on promotional law, including advertising, sweepstakes, contests, consumer privacy, and e-commerce related issues.

Have you ever used your blog to review a product you received for free?  Have you ever offered a fellow blogger a deal where you review his product or service if he reviews yours?  Did you disclose that deal to your readers?  If not, it is time to start.

This week, the FTC announced new rules aimed at increasing transparency used in social media advertising.  Starting December 1, 2009, bloggers and other users of social media such as Twitter and Facebook must disclose if they have received any type of payment in exchange for promotion, advertising or endorsement.  This seems to include in-kind exchanges, free product or good old fashioned money.

Almost every business has a blog these days.  It is a free, easy way to reach existing and potential customers.  And there is a lot of trade going on out there in the blogosphere.  Bloggers commonly receive gratis products or services in exchange for a positive write up.  Companies who send out free stuff have nothing to lose, because if a blogger doesn’t like their product or service, the blog simply doesn’t review or promote it.

In many communities there is a spider web of connections among successful social media sites.  But the era of “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours is over.”  Bloggers who promote one another for pay, free goods, free services or simply shared promotion now face significant penalties from the Federal Trade Commission, up to $11,000 per violation!

What does this mean for your business?  Well some common social media practices that may be affected include anything from writing a positive comment on Facebook in exchange for a free hat to writing a recommendation for a CPA on LinkedIn for a discount on your taxes.  You may think that the blogosphere is so vast and there is too many infractions out there for the FTC to catch you, but don’t forget about Naptster.  The federal government cracked down on anyone and everyone, including teenagers living in their parent’s homes, simply for downloading a few songs.  The FTC is primed to make an example of any business violating these new rules.  Don’t subject your business to an $11,000 fine.  If you are promoting another company’s product or service on a social media site, and you have ANY kind of relationship with that company, be sure to disclose it.

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Do Tight Corporate Social Media Policies Help or Hinder?

Linda Skrocki is the Senior Engineering Program Manager/Owner for Sun’s primary, external-facing community sites (blogs, forums, wikis, etc.). In addition to being a corporate social networking evangelist, she has managed many of Sun Microsystems highest profile web programs over the last 9 years.

What is your risk & transparency tolerance?

That’s a question every company must ask before embarking on their officially branded new media journey, but let’s be honest, tightly controlled content is nothing more than traditional website content and/or press releases. If that’s the most risk your culture/policy allows when it comes to marketplace conversations via social media platforms, don’t waste time and money implementing an external-facing officially branded collaboration site — it simply won’t be an environment conducive to meaningful, authentic marketplace conversations and certainly won’t foster healthy business relationship building that ultimately affects your bottom line.

If a tightly controlled or no approach is the chosen path, it’s important to note that conversations about your company, good and bad, won’t cease to exist. They’ll just have to happen elsewhere — most likely in places far less findable by you; thereby, giving you less opportunity to:

• amplify positive company & product feedback from the marketplace
• strengthen your company & products by listening and acting upon negative feedback
• rally interest and extend awareness by being able to easily participate in the conversations

(Re)evaluation of our fears

Still reading? Thinking your company’s social media policy might need a laxative? Not sure how to get started? Try this: Each overly rigid policy term is based on fear of a specific situation. Examine each term & it’s fear-based situation & ask:

1. Aren’t these legal bases already covered in our company’s employment terms and/or site Terms of Use?
2. Why are we trying to control conversations employees & the marketplace may have on social sites any differently than conversations they have at a bus stop, dinner party, etc.? Don’t we want them to drive awareness of our company and products?
3. Why are we scaring our employees to a degree that they don’t want to engage in cool and interesting marketplace conversations about the company and our products?
4. In the statistically* unlikely event that an employee goes hostile and says bad things about us,
   a) do we really think policy will stop them?
   b) wouldn’t we want the likely inaccurate rant to happen in our own backyard where it’s more easy to find and respond to?
5. Is it really worth sacrificing hundreds of thousands of fruitful conversations because we’re afraid of a possible nasty conversation?
6. What if the nasty conversation happens? Why can’t we just counter by publicly correcting the inaccurate points with facts and own-up to the accurate points by making our product stronger and gaining bonus points for driving this awareness?

Relax, Trust & See Goodness Unfold

I’m not saying let go entirely. Employees appreciate guidelines. They want to remain gainfully employed and don’t want to get themselves or the company in trouble. They may not clearly be aware of the company’s stance on topics to avoid if they are buried in pages of legalese. To augment existing employment terms, a set of brief, comprehensive social media guidelines will not only stand a better chance of actually being read by your employees, but will set everyone’s minds at ease by knowing how to effectively engage in the social media space.

If you need a solid example of an effective set of guidelines, Sun’s Guidelines on Public Discourse has stood the test of time and has proven to be amazingly effective not only for Sun but for other companies who have used it as a model.

* Example: http://blogs.sun.com, along with the Guidelines on Public Discourse, deployed in 2004. No approval is required prior to employees blogging. The original tag line “This space is accessible to any Sun employee to write about anything” remains in place. As of this post, there are more than 140,000 blog posts and only a handful of possible policy violations have been raised.

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Truth and Two-Way Communication: Using Social Media for PR

By Sarah Ann Noel

As a PR professional, I’ve been called a lot of things.
Truth-stretcher.
Spin doctor.
Media suck-up.
And of course, I shudder at most of these misconceptions, public relations being my livelihood. It demonstrates a valid point, however; public relations leaves a lot to be defined professionally speaking.

While I appreciate the creativity floating around what it is I do, from my standpoint, there is a good definition of public relations: Communicating controlled messages. PR professionals are not just communicators; it’s a different skill set because you must incorporate a strong focus and a missional sixth sense, to varying audiences.

This is why I love social media for PR, in the midst of questions whether it is a PR or a marketing function. Messages are direct—short and sweet. They’re targeted—you know who you’re reaching. They’re intentional—people are seeking the information.

For example, I know that consumers seeking my organization’s services are going to the website first. I try to include the most pertinent information for those consumers, alongside additional sources of information. The messaging on the website is succinct, severely controlled, and offers only the hardest of facts.

But in my organization’s LinkedIn group, the ideas fly. Industry professionals ask questions and answer questions; they promote projects and events; they offer updates on legislation and programs that affect our key players.

Then there’s our organizational blog. Knowing that this serves a predominantly internal communications function, I can include short updates, event notices, and resources for our employee network.

Three very different mediums serving very different purposes, but all achieving that same public relations goal: Communicating controlled messages.

I think there’s another benefit to social media in PR too, one that maybe goes unnoticed—there’s exceptional opportunity for increased two-way communication. In this industry, if you’re not on top of what the public is saying, you’re not doing your job well. And if you’re in PR and your social media outlets haven’t told you what the public is thinking, you’re not using your online tools well.

I mean, where did my disgruntled Sprint-customer-of-a-husband finally get his customer service questions answered? Twitter! After months of frustration, he stumbled across a Sprint manager on Twitter, made his concerns known, and the problem was resolved in a number of days. Social media outlets open the gateways to conversations, often times between a basic consumer and a decision-making member of any given organization. It creates a two-way communication stream essential to customer service (and public relations!) success.

Good public relations offers controlled messages, but it also puts power in the hands of the people by providing the information and opportunities that they need. Social media gives any PR professional the means to do exactly that. That’s not being a truth-stretcher; sheesh, I’m a truth-giver.

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Top 5 Reasons B2B PR Practitioners Should Embrace Social Media

Today’s guest post is by Paige Holden of BlissPR. Bliss PR specializes in creating and promoting thought leadership, using a variety of public relations and marketing communications techniques. They help their clients develop points of view, predictions, trend commentary and insights, positioning them as experts in the media and category leaders in their markets.

Top 5 Reasons B2B PR Practitioners Should Embrace Social Media

If you’ve seen any B2B public relations professionals recently, you may want to give them a gift certificate to a spa treatment or at least a pat on the back.  They’re feeling more than a little shell shocked.

I was, too.  Social Media is just beginning to hit B2B PR and our industry is scrambling to find our footing and help our clients. But it’s time to stop stalling and start learning.  Here’s why:

Traditional media is dying. It’s not a secret that traditional media is either dying or going online. This presents a slew of new challenges for public relations practitioners who rely on the media to help communicate clients’ messages. In our firm, we don’t throw splashy events or launch exciting new products. We clarify and refine complex stories for niche audiences. With business publications folding, our small universe is getting smaller and, unless we find new ways to communicate, we won’t be sustainable.

Know the news before it breaks. News breaks faster online than anywhere else. When the plane crashed in the Hudson River, the story was discussed ad nauseum on Twitter before it even hit television. Monitoring breaking news for my experts is a huge part of my job. I find that Twitter, and other networks, keeps me ahead of the media time curve.

Networking online is more efficient. PR is an industry fueled by networking, but who has time to go to out every night? Between Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs, there is no excuse to be a stranger. Every day I touch base with peers, thought leaders and the media which helps me not only develop stronger relationships, but also become a smarter professional.

Social media belongs in the PR bucket. Public relations professionals have an opportunity to learn it, embrace it and start building services around it before another industry steals it. There has been some debate over which “bucket” social media should fall into, but I adamantly believe public relations should own it. Sure, the implementation is different, and it does get “techy” at times, but social media is first and foremost a communications vehicle. The principles inherent in using social media – creativity, transparency and responsiveness – are the same philosophies that we use in PR every day.

“Tribes” have replaced traditional audiences: As Seth Godin explains in his new book, the online community is actually composed of millions of smaller groups of “tribes” – people who are passionately devoted to their own interests. Whether it’s shoes, personal finance or accounting law, there is a group of people waiting to be found and activated. Understanding how to serve these new communities must be part of every PR professional’s “tool kit.”

Counseling nervous clients. Clients see social media as a PR tool, so they will ask you about it.  Because clients are likely nervous about social media, it’s important to “get” it before you sell it. Unfortunately, market demand for social media has incented people into selling it as a service before they are ready, which is not only dishonest, but it can also yield poor results that will send clients packing. Surely let your clients know that social media is all about testing and learning, but you shouldn’t be mastering the basics on their dime.

What do you think…what’s holding you back from using social media tools? Or do you have some “getting started” lessons you can share with us?

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If You Want the Party Favors, You’ve Got to Go to the Party

Paula Werne is old enough to remember going to a friend’s house to see one of those new fangled color TV sets. She has been Twittering since before it was cool. As Director of Public Relations at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, since 1991, she started the first park-hosted blog and microblog.

—————————————

A few months ago I took part in a social media panel speaking to members of the hospitality industry. A few minutes into my portion, a hand in the audience shot up. Its owner demanded to know, “What’s the ROI in all of this?!”

Good question, but…how the heck should I know?!

No, I didn’t really say that. (Heckling your audience is rarely a good idea.) It was a good question though, and said a lot about the person asking the question. A few follow-up nudges from me, and it became apparent this person wanted nothing to do with social media and was attending the session under protest. It just seemed like “more work” with no proof of bumping the bottom line.

As I attempted to get back on track, another hand waved frantically. This questioner wanted to know what new demographic segment was coming to Holiday World Theme Park as a result of our four years of blogging.

Again the urge to heckle. Who sent you guys, Six Flags?

It became clear that some of the audience member came to our session expecting promises of immediate cha-ching if they agreed to force themselves to post a little something now and then.

Sigh.

Social Media, I told them, is a party. It’s a social event, and everyone is invited. You don’t have to go, but you’re welcome. As you enter the party, be guided by the same rules you would follow at a reception or mixer. Be clever and witty. Teach without being preachy. Whisper a behind-the-scenes nugget or two. But also: listen. Have a conversation and invite others to join in. It’s just that easy and just that overwhelming. Rest assured, though, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Funner, too.

So where’s the ROI? How about increased website visitation? As long as you’re selling something (such as theme park tickets), you can watch your traffic build and discover what sort of blog post boosts interest in making a purchase. The more you engage your readers, the more they’ll want to visit and tell others.

As a seasonal attraction, we face the challenge of engaging our audience during the long, cold, boring winter. There are lots of other parks and other vacation venues outspending us with year-round advertising. So how do we stay top-of-mind?

We invite the readers to be part of our park family. They get to know us individually and share in our day-to-day off-season activities. Heck, I even tweet from our bimonthly Directors meetings. (Our followers were delighted to discover our president, Will Koch, started one meeting with his iPhone gavel app.)

And speaking of Twitter, we’ve been at it for a year and coincidentally will hold our first Twitter Event on the one-year anniversary (twanniversary?). Quite simply, on Thursday we’re previewing our new ride,Pilgrims Plunge (which just happens to be the World’s Tallest Water Ride) to the news media. Part of planning a media preview is finding riders. Actually, finding riders isn’t the problem, it’s figuring out a way to invite a finite number of folks without making the non-invitees feel snubbed.

Enter Twitter. By inviting riders via Twitter and creating a Twitter Event, we hope to create secondary news stories about riders using this media darling to talk about Pilgrims Plunge. (By the way, the news release a year ago announcing our microblogging venture got exactly zero mainstream media attention. Crickets. But now it’s cool, so we’ll give it another shot.)

If you’d like to watch our little experiment, please follow us @HolidayWorld (we’re also @SplashinSafari and @SantaClausLand) on Thursday. By encouraging our Twitter Riders to use the #HW hashtag leading up to and during the event, we’re hoping to create a fun stream of reaction at http://tinyurl.com/holitag.

At the same time, we’ll post videos on our YouTube Channel and photos on our Flickr and Facebook fan pages.

The party is hoppin’ and all the cool kids are here. Some of us non-cool kids sneaked in the back way, and we’re catching on just fine.

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Guest Post: Twit-O-Rama – Social Media Bug Bites Kathy Ireland, and Me

Today’s Guest Post is by Jeff Timpanaro is the president of Oberata Consulting, a 2009 Certified Total Integration firm, based in Kingwood, TX. Oberata is a consulting firm founded on the principles of strategy, process, and transformation, and utilizes the Total IntegrationTM system of business consulting. This system has helped business owners and professionals in the Fortune 100 with definitive, measurable operating strategies that produce unprecedented growth and profitability.

———–

(from the Honda Auto Repair Shop waiting room)

As I write this, supermodel and supermom (self-nominated I presume) Kathy Ireland is busy touting Twitter on the Today Show. “I just love my TwitterBuddies!” she beams, with annoying enthusiasm.

Interviewer Ann Curry is mindlessly heaping sugar onto an already hyper-happy conversation. “IT-WAS-SO-GREAT-TO-TALK-TO-YOU-KATHY!” she spews. “THANKS, ANN, replies Kathy, exceeding Ann’s volume. “IT’S BEEN SO GREAT TO TALK TO YOU . . A REAL MOM . . THIS MORNING!”

Kathy’s amped up about her new book (forget the name) – but it’s something about real solutions for real moms.

Kathy’s spunky energy aside, what was more noteworthy about the interview was the continued talk of Twitter in everyday parlance. You can’t throw a pebble these days without hitting Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Plaxo, or the glut of other social media out there.

Even though many consumers – and business owners – are still wondering what all the fuss is all about, Kathy has apparently guzzled the social media Kool-Aid, and is banking on a successful campaign for her new book.

SOCIAL MEDIA and YOUR BUSINESS

Why is this bikini-hottie-turned-entrepreneur so excited about Twitter? Is she looking for meaningful relationships? Insert LOL. Her comment about “loving her TwitterBuddies” is pretty disingenuous, because the simple reason for her excitement is that zillions of solution-hungry moms are spending a zillion hours on Twitter today. Do you think that might impact her book sales?

Kathy’s message – and bubbliness – have become viral through Twitter (viral is good, folks – it means the thing you’re promoting is spreading like wildfire). To date, Kathy has 4,481 followers – moderate by Twitter standards – but numbers will certainly spike after her Today interview (and Twitter mention).

Mrs. Ireland’s celebrity, relationships, and ample budget notwithstanding, social media is part of her master marketing plan. I don’t have her sales projections, but I bet they would be paltry compared to pre-social media forecasts.

PART OF YOUR REINVENTION

If you’re not at least curious about Twitter and other social media as it relates to promoting your business, you are “ostriching” (a Kathy Ireland word I just learned).  Yes, that’s burying your head in the sand.  Historically, other breakout inventions that the experts “ostriched” about include the computer, the automobile, and the drive-thru window.

“In a world of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” – J.P. Kelley

I am not saying Twitter is a silver bullet or a marketing savior for you.  I am also not saying that you should engage social media.  I am saying that if you keep yourself in the dark, you may be missing a huge swath of prospects that you serve best . . . who until now haven’t been able to find you.

I’m doing a 12-month trial to see what the use of social media holds for my own business.  It’s too early to tell, but my website traffic has tripled since January.  I’m working on a better net (or conversion strategy), but for the short term, I’m excited about the hike in traffic to me.

Oh dear I’m starting to sound like Kathy Ireland.

The Job-Seeking Student’s Social Media Toolbox

Today’s guest post is by David Spinks. David is a student at SUNY Geneseo, an freelance interactive analyst for Ruder Finn, a social media enthusiast, a big Giants fan, an athlete, a gamer, an artist and many other things depending on who you ask. You can read this thoughts and opinions at DavidSpinks.com.

______________________________

We grew up on livejournal, then upgraded to myspace, and finally matured to facebook. College students know their way around a social media platform, that’s for sure. The problem is many students limit themselves to the one or two big sites, or tools, and fail to recognize the great amount of potential these sites and other sites can offer you in your job search.

I have been using multiple social media tools while at school to connect with a lot of professionals that I would never been able to meet otherwise. From these connections I have been able to create a few job opportunities in a very tough job market. Make use of your social media toolbox, connect and collaborate like you were raised, and create opportunities for yourself!

Google Reader

The first step to establishing your presence in a field is to know what is going on in that field. Search for blogs by professionals and subscribe to their feed. Most news sites will also offer an RSS feed that you can subscribe to.

A good way to build a list of blogs to follow is to look up blogs on google, find a couple good ones, then look at their blogrolls. Usually good bloggers can recommend other good blogs. Try to subscribe to blogs with slightly different ideas so that you’re not only hearing one side of discussions.

You can also create a feed based on keywords. All articles that google finds with that keyword will then be fed into your reader. This is another good way to find more blogs to subscribe to.

When you start looking for jobs, you can subscribe to job boards and have all openings fed into your reader.

Twitter

If you’re not on twitter already, you probably should be. If you’re skeptical of its value, there are plenty of great articles written explaining the value of twitter as a networking tool, and articles to help you get started.

Through twitter, you’ll be able to connect with seasoned and new professionals; allowing you to learn from their expertise, offer your own insights, and if you play your cards right, create job opportunities.

Once you’re comfortable and established on twitter, you’ll be able to keep with the most recent trends, innovations, and news in your industry. If you have a question, ask your loyal followers and receive instant responses. The greatest thing about twitter is that almost everyone is willing to help, myself included (@davidspinks if you have any questions).

Linkedin

This is a great tool that will not only allow you to create a professional presence online, found easily on search engines, but will also allow you to connect with professionals in your desired field from all over the world. You can use twitter to create connections with like-minded professionals, and stay connected through linkedin.

The Answers section is a great tool that I like to use every so often. You can discuss different ideas and prove your knowledge / enthusiasm to other professionals. If your answer is good enough (the “best answer”), the person who asked the question can grant you “expertise” under that topic.

Blog

These networks are great, but if you really want to create a name for yourself start your own blog. You need three things: Thoughts and opinions on your field of interest (if you don’t, you should probably reconsider your career) some writing skills, and time that you can commit to updating your blog.

Setting one up is really easy with services like wordpress (I use it) and blogger. Read up on some articles that provide advice on how to start a blog and get started! You can use your other social media tools like twitter, linkedin and even facebook to drive traffic to your blog.

Your blog will allow employers to see that you’re involved in the industry, you’re enthusiastic, and allow them to get an idea of your writing skills which may matter depending on your field. It will also give you a good google ranking when people search your name, unless you share a name with someone famous (I get a lot of hits from people searching “the great spinks” looking for the boxer).

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Guest Post: Finding Your Anchor in Social Media

Michael Reynolds is founder of SpinWeb.. SpinWeb is a Web Marketing & Brand Development Agency. Our philosophy is that of taking a holistic approach to caring for our clients and their Internet and Brand strategies.

Social media makes it very easy to post and distribute information. This can sometimes lead to information overload as we struggle to keep up. For this reason, it’s important to find your anchor.

Your anchor is your general “theme” or focal point as a company when generating activity on social networks. Your anchor is that part of your business that you can talk about over and over and always find new ways to create buzz and new people to talk to.

An anchor can be a product. If you create great products or a great product line, post information on creative ways to use your product or tips on getting the most from it. Events also make great anchors. If you represent an event-centric organization, like an association or networking group, social media is a great way to distribute your events on a regular basis. Sites like Facebook and Smaller Indiana even let you accept RSVPs online.

Without an anchor, your social media activity can be a little fragmented and lack mojo. Find that theme, product, service, or area of expertise that you are passionate about as a company and tell the world about it in a way that benefits your constituents.

What’s your anchor?

Guest Blog: America’s First Viral Restaurant: Kogi

Jamie Varon spends her days writing on her blog, intersected. Intersected is that place where work, love, and life all meet and you wonder, “Where the hell do I go from here?” She is also currently looking for a job (any takers?) and resides in the Bay Area. Her goal is to one day achieve world domination through her blog, but for now she’ll settle for a decent readership. Jamie is a writer, a marketer, a graphic designer, and on her good days, a comedian.

By now, I think most of us have heard about Kogi BBQ. It‘s been said to be “America’s first viral restaurant” because the Korean BBQ taco truck tweets where it will be headed to in LA and hundreds of people show up at the location they post on Twitter. It’s buzz and viral marketing at its best and even Twitter co-founder Evan Williams was impressed at how the taco truck had utilized his micro-blogging platform. What’s interesting about this company, beyond their “buzziness”, is that there are two very fundamental things to learn from them in regards to how small businesses can utilize social media.

1. There is no right or wrong way to use social media

No one could have predicted that Kogi was going to splash onto the social media scene and become as successful as they have. I’m sure many people would have thought Kogi’s idea was ridiculous: “You want to use Twitter to do what!? To tell people where you’ll truck will be? Yeah, like anyone will show up.” But now, it seems brilliantly simple. This mysterious and elusive taco truck can only be found through word of mouth; the Easter egg/scavenger hunt aspect of it only makes it more… cool. They utilized Twitter in a way that no one else had. And, that’s the essence of social media: make it work for you.

The internet and the landscape of social media has become intensely diverse that you’d be hard-pressed to find a niche that is not represented somewhere. For small businesses, that’s perfect for marketing your company. Find out where your niche is hanging out online and saturate that area. Be creative and mold what’s already available within social media into something that works for your business. Be inspired by what Kogi has done and how they have morphed a simple networking site into a legitimate cornerstone of what makes them successful.

2. Small or large business: there’s a place for you here

With over a million users on Twitter, Kogi isn’t attempting to reach all of them. Their audience is fairly narrow, because the only people that can visit the truck are the ones in the LA area. So, although Twitter far surpasses just the LA area, Kogi has found a way to reach their market within the broadness. They’ve found a voice within the interminable noise of millions of users. Small businesses can do that, even though social media can seem intimidating.

There’s a way for even the internet to feel local. There’s a way to shrink down the scope of social media, so you can have the “what a small world!” moments all the time.

Be creative. Be relevant. And find ways for social media to work for you.

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