Let’s say you want to connect with an “insider” at Forrester … or, you need to get the skinny on what the heck is going on with that whole MicroHoo deal, directly from a Microsoft minion … or, touching base with an eBay employee directly is necessary to score that killer deal on that Darth Vader replica mask.  You’ve heard the old adage that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  Getting connected online to make these kinds of business power plays has never been easier!

Here’s a tip.  Sign up for a free Twitter account and start networking.  NO, you probably won’t “get it” right away… I know I didn’t.  In fact, I still consider myself a newb but am quickly realizing that Twitter can be one of the most powerful networking tools around.

Tip TWO (don’t you love a two-fer?): Go to the Twitter Packs website and find whole groups/companies who are actively tweeting (yes, that’s a verb) inside the companies listed above — including Acorn Creative, and many more! Follow a bunch of those insiders and they’ll likely follow you back.  After a short while, if you’re both serious about this, the germ of a real business relationship will start to form — one that would never have existed before.  Voila!, you now have the inside scoop and a potential “deep throat” connection with that company.  Kinda makes you feel like Woodward and Berstein.

While you’re at it, click on the Acorn Creative Twitter Feed Page (thanks to Howard for putting this together) and see what’s up inside the nut house!

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Rewind to when you were first invited by a friend to attend your first birthday party … probably at the age of 4 to 6-ish…. This was the time when friendship (outside of your immediate family) had real meaning…. The nervousness you felt at that time was because you didn’t know what to expect. You didn’t know the rules of the game. You were, rightfully so, afraid of making some kind of mistake.

This defense mechanism you had back then was VERY good for you…. The problem is, as adults, we’ve lost some of this sense of caution with new social settings…. Many business people are (poorly) assuming that the world of Social Media is just another business marketing forum…. Sadly, they’re not unlike the kid who blows out the candles, instead of the birthday-boy, and sprays spit on the cake. This kid is going to be a social pariah for a lonnnnng time.

How do avoid this fate in the new world of Social Media and Social Networking? — other than NOT spitting on the cake?

Here are some tips:

• Chris Brogan gives us a simple insight that “Social media is not marketing and marketing is not social media.”
• Li Evans gives us a more comprehensive analysis in her post “What social media insn’t - 10 misconceptions.“

Let’s return to our birthday party metaphor to give you my perspective;

• Hiring an advertising agency or marketing agency to get you into the world of social networking would be functionally the same as (at six years old) hiring the same firm to attend the birthday party on your behalf. Sound silly? … that’s because it IS!
• Show up to the party and immediately dive into a sales pitch to the kid eating cake sitting next to you. He’s going to look at you like you’re some kind of bug. That’s because in his mind, you ARE!
• Mingle at the party and talk about yourself the entire time. You’ll quickly get shut down from anyone having a conversation with you!

These nightmare scenarios actually happen daily on the web as business people are stumbling into the world of Social Networking. They’re making these social faux pas by not knowing the rules and by assuming it’s just a new marketing medium…. It’s not.

My advice to you: Take me up on my personal invitation to the Social Networking party … everyone is having fun!!! However, until you feel comfortable with the rules of the game, don’t make a fool of yourself. Don’t stand on the tables and keep the lampshade off of your head!

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According to John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame, it’s going to be 2008 (read his full post here)…. Considering all that has happened in the past 6 months, I can’t disagree with that assessment one iota…. Consider; in the last month Acorn Creative has completed a social network for the Real Estate Investment industry (launching next week) … AND are well under way with a social network for the equestrian world … AND have had discussions about social networks for at least four other highly niched industries.

In each of these cases, the founders of the ventures were forward thinking, aggressive, entrepreneurial types who recognize the power and direction of social media…. Well ahead of the masses in their respective industries…. What will be interesting is watching the marketing efforts behind each venture and see how each network will educate the masses in an attempt to quickly gain adoption…. The first, fastest and best network in each niche will face this same challenge … and, IF they are successful, they’ll maintain their front runner status with all other followers scrambling to catch up.

2008 is indeed going to be an interesting year.

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If you’re going to take on the ENORMOUS burden of developing, and then managing, a new Social Network, certainly one of the dilemmas you’ll face is how to monetize the venture. No cash .. No community. As a case in point, we’re about ready to launch a new Social Network for Real Estate Investors ourself (six months in the making) and an insane number of hours, just recently, have been spent on decisions revolving around this very topic.

There is a tactic that MAY be tempting but should be avoided at ALL COSTS. It’s the ol’ “bait and switch”.

Imagine signing up for a new social network and within just a few days you’re notified by the site administrator that you’ve had three visits to your page - with a convenient link to go to your home page. Cool! Now, imagine your chagrin when you click through to interact with these three new ‘friends’ to find that the link provided by the site administrator leads you first to a page that asks you if you want to upgrade to a paid account … NOT your home page. YIKES! THEN when you do get to your home page, one of the three visitors was the site administrator pitching the exact same upgrade!

This is exactly what happened to me yesterday with the Naymz network. I liken this to me driving home with the sole purpose of visiting a friend and encountering a roadblock from a sleazy sales person. After stopping my car to kindly saying no to this person and continuing on my merry way, I find that he’s pitching me again in my living room! WTF! Imagine what you’d want to do to this person in the ‘real world.’

As my Texan brother would say, boy-howdy does it make me wonder what other sales tactics might be coming my way. Had the offer been displayed in a side bar or even a pop-up (eww), I wouldn’t be nearly as upset. Take a look at the screen shots to see what I mean. Now granted it’s jussssst one little click (and I’m sure that’s what they told themselves to justify this decision) … but they’ve lost an enormous amount of my trust and even drove me to write this post.

[Refer to yesterday’s post on trust to read about my view on the importance of that topic.]

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Venture capitalists seem to be having a difficult time absorbing the concept of what social networking is really all about. In this post from Venture Beat, we find that Silicon Valley heavy hitters Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins have created fake MySpace pages. This act, in and of itself, is not a problem. What’s disconcerting is the list of tactics and commentary from the article:

• The pages are posted as an environment for “eager entrepreneurs to sign up as fans”. This “relationship” would be the same as me saying my wife is social networking with Brad Pitt because she’s a “fan”.
• “… stealth marketing by VC firms to make sure their reputations remain spotless”
• “… encouraging friends of the firm to write in and say positive things” This, and the previous are the scariest of all.
• “… after an entrepreneur said Sequoia had stolen his powerpoint slides, and another said Sequoia ‘eats its young.’ Sequoia isn…€™t commenting…” Social networking is about participation!

The game has changed and if VCs (or any other industry, for that matter) is going to jump into the game of social networking, they have to learn the rules. Here are some tips:

• You WILL be outed if you are fake or disingenuous.
• Manipulation is tantamount to social networking suicide.
• Participate if your intention is to benefit the members of the networks you’re on … DON’T sell! Don’t get me wrong, this is still a form of marketing, albeit with a modern twist. You MUST play by the new rules!

Instead of joining other social networks using a corporate profile as your only social strategy, it would be better to create your own social network with the highly focused purpose of HELPING budding entrepreneurs.

If an infrequent member slams you online, don’t go into spin-mode. Instead, be fully forthcoming and honest about the situation and demonstrate that you’re a company comprised of human beings. Case in point, look at what Robert Scoble was able to do (via blogging), almost single-handedly, for the sullied reputation of Microsoft. Unlike sites like The Funded, whose purpose is to help entrepreneurs rate VC firms (throwing you into a defensive posture), this new network that you create would be designed to help entrepreneurs in a myriad number of ways; education, operational assistance, peer networking, mentorship, collaboration, etc.

To emphasize the importance of helping the customer, another great example is what Progressive Car Insurance has done with real-time quotes of their own packages, as well as their competitors. By being transparent and honest, they’ve been able to build a high level of trust with the general public. Even though they sometimes don’t have the lowest rates, consumers will still sign up for their services because of this new level of trust and honesety. Where trust is NOT something you can buy, it has almost infinite value from a marketing perspective.
So, go ahead … DIVE into the world of social networking, but be real … be honest … be human.

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I’m a little late in finding this one from a few weeks ago, but the content is relevant. Boston.com reports on the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Bean Town last month. Here’s a snippet from the article;

“If vendors have their way, a second wave of collaborative technologies …€” including wikis, blogs, videos, and mashups, platforms and features borrowed from social-networking sites like MySpace …€” soon will wash onto computers in the workplace.

Such interactive technologies are part of a larger trend known as Web 2.0 that has taken root in the consumer space. They have the potential to transform commerce, simplifying communications between employees, suppliers, and customers…”

What excites me is the seemingly endless depth of possibilities here. The act of globalization isn’t just a business phenomenon … it’s a social and societal transformation!

As a contrarian voice in the article, Thomas Davenport , a professor of information technology at Babson College in Wellesley states;

“I have no problem with organizations experimenting with Web 2.0 technology,” Davenport said. “But most of the benefits of these technologies are social rather than business-oriented. And even when businesses are using them, nobody’s saying anything about what kind of ROI (return on investment) they’ve been able to get on them.”

Are you friggin’ kidding me?! That’s like saying we shouldn’t utilize other common “social” business interactions like meetings or brainstorming sessions or teleconferences … Gosh, I’m not sure we should do those things because we can’t measure the ROI (sic)!

Good gravy, if business as a whole wasn’t “social” (rather than business oriented) it wouldn’t be as fun or profitable. It’s about people Mr. Davenport, not always about ROI. The old adage was “watch your pennies and the dollars will watch themselves.” I’d like to coin a new phrase; “Watch your people and your ROI will watch itself.”

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“Networking is an essential part of building wealth.”
…€” Armstrong Williams

As such, it makes sense that the more you network with other professionals, the more potential you have to build wealth. Sooooo … how are you networking? Do you belong to professional associations? Do you belong to any online social networkes like LinkedIn.com or Rhys.com? Are you blogging? Do you participate in any online forums? Do you belong to any e-lists or Yahoo Groups? Are you a member of any community networking groups? Are you a member of groups such as Rotary, Kiwanis or Lions? Do you have any hobby group meetings that you frequent?

Yep, the opportunities are just about endless, and there for the taking. Give yourself a gold star if you said “yes” to all of the above. A silver star to those who nodded at more than just a couple.

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