1. EditFlow
EditFlow is a plugin from open source content management system WordPress that allows you to manage your editorial team seamlessly.

With it, you can get a snapshot of your month-to-month content with the calendar feature. It also offers improved content status beyond WordPress’ default draft and pending review. And user groups can help you keep your team of writers organized by department or function.

Who should use it and why: Any business owner who manages a multi-author website should give EditFlow a look. This tool can keep all of the things that are important to a multi-author blog in one spot so management is easy, clean and documented.

2. TweetReach
This tool allows you to see how far your tweets travel. For example, with TweetReach I can search my blog and come up with these results. It breaks down how many people your messages reach and how many tweets it took to reach them. For instance, TweetReach can tell you how many times your tweets have been shared by retweets, replies and other standard tweets.

Who should use it and why: From a social media manager to a small-business owner, basically anybody who is interested in finding out how effective his or her tweets are based upon the number of people they touch should consider using TweetReach. It can also useful from a metric standpoint in terms of justifying the results of your social media campaigns with senior management or partners.

3. ArgyleSocial
This Durham, N.C.-based startup is a social media platform that aims to help marketers connect the business dots with the social media dots. ArgyleSocial offers a single dashboard to monitor Facebook and Twitter that allows you to delegate tasks to your team. It also offers easy reporting on the ROI of your social media efforts.

If you’d like to be an affiliate, you can use ArgyleSocial’s white label brand and resell the social media platform to your clients. All of your accounts can be wrapped up into one bill and sent to you to distribute or absorb as an included service.

Who should use it and why: From the social media manager to the one-person business that needs to prove to management, clients or themselves that their social media campaign is paying off.

4. HootSuite
HootSuite users should be happy with this iPad application. It includes a stationary column in the sidebar that keeps track of all streams being tracked.

Among the other things HootSuite says you can do with this iPad app include checking in using a Foursquare account, scheduling messages to send at a later time, examine click-through statistics, add geo-location coordinates to messages and shorten URLs with a built-in Ow.ly tool.

Who should use it and why: HootSuite for iPad is for heavy iPad users who want to manage their social media content and engagement.

5. TweetLevel
You might be thinking you don’t need another Tweet metric tool, but TweetLevel, allows you to specifically search for hashtags, which can lead you to insights on who to follow based upon conversation versus person.

Once you’ve found someone you’d like to follow, you can use TweetLevel to help measure his or her social influence. You can also evaluate the buzz around a certain topic to determine if it’s a trend worth paying attention to. Then take a peek at related phrases around your topic to gauge the true scope of the trending idea.

Who should use it and why: Public relations managers and social media marketing professionals who want to analyze a campaign should give TweetLevel a try. This tool can help you identify the Twitter conversation, where it’s going wrong and how to correct that mistake.

6. ReFollow
When it comes to Twitter, numbers might not be as important as the people you follow and who follows you. ReFollow is an application that allows you to lock in those followers that you’ve connected with and make sure they continue to follow you.

Other features include filtering a search on Twitter to uncover insights, such as what you have in common with certain followers. This can lead you to connecting with someone who maybe you’re Twitter conversation has been close to zero, but with a simple direct message to that person you can make a connection and build a business relationship.

Who should use it and why: This can be the perfect tool for the person who wants to grow a list of highly-qualified, like-minded people. Consider using ReFollow if your concern is quality over quantity, which it should be.

7. TwitterSearch
You’ve probably heard of TwitterSearch but, more than likely, you aren’t using it correctly.

New media expert Thomas Baekdal offers a number of little-known tips for using TwitterSearch. For instance, to see what people are saying about your competitors, search with to:competitor or from:competitor. Replace “Competitor” with that company’s Twitter handle.

To uncover top trending topics search that topic plus –rt filter:links. For example, “digital marketing-rt filter:links”. That code will remove all of the retweets from the search.

Who should use it and why: Anyone who wants to use and search Twitter more effectively should brush up on his or her TwitterSearch skills. And knowing what’s trending on Twitter can be a useful way to generate ideas for your business blog. When you see trending topics, you can create a blog post with content relevant to that discussion.

8. Traackr
One simple way to find and follow people who are influential in your space is to use Traackr. It allows you to identify the “authorities” in your industry who can mean the most to your business or your client’s.

What’s also useful about Traackr is that you can watch how social media leaders are responding and contributing to content you are sharing. An ad agency, for example, can see who it should target to help social media campaigns get off the ground, build its engagement strategies based upon Traackr’s unique intelligence and then see results of those campaigns.

Who should use it and why: Traackr can be a useful tool for either advertising agencies or brands that want to build social media campaigns that improve over time and show how they pay off in the end.

9. SocMetrics
The Topical Influencer platform by SocMetrics is a web-based tool that allows you to identify influencers, understand who these people are, interact with them and then monitor your campaign.

The “Competitive Influence” feature allows you to specify brands and drill down for detailed influencers. What’s slick about this tool is that you can narrow your search to a long-tail keyword, seeing who is truly influential.

Who should use it and why: Any marketing professional who wants to build an effective social media campaign based upon influencers in a specific industry should give this a look. SocMetrics can help you harness the power of thought leaders, which in turn can help you build your brand and sell more.

10. Social Scope
For BlackBerry users who’ve longed for an app that combines Twitter and Facebook on one screen, such as TweetDeck for your desktop, consider trying Social Scope.

And on that same screen you’ll see a thumbnail image if someone shares something from TwitPic. It also has a built in retweeting feature, hash tag search and will also let you see the entire URL to know where a truncated URL is pointing.

Who should use it and why: Anyone who owns a BlackBerry and has a Facebook and Twitter account is a prime target for this app. It’s probably the closest you can get to a desktop-type app on a BlackBerry.

source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222837

2 is magic number in Social Media

There are only two main group types of social media users business should recognise & two distinguished ways to get to your target group

GROUP 1
Occasional participants group  (viewers/readers)

80% of users use group 2 to connect to them. It is your target group which is more likely to be influenced by:  50% influencers, 50% your brand/company image

Majority of social visitors are only interacting with brands if there is benefit from it e.g. Discount & purchase. They DO NOT want to engage with company, however they will passively read content created by smaller group of influencers (below)

GROUP 2
Authors and active users  (influencers/authors)

5-20% (or even less) of users, however this is most active group that can influence and generate up to 100 leads per 1 influencer.

1 author might bring 100 readers to your business

This will be group to target as brand ambassadors and other affiliate programs. This is the group which more likely to will interact and comment on brand.

Two ways to get to your target group:
-    CRM systems using real-time personalized offers (by capturing data from social networking activities, updates, likes, places etc & analyzing them to use data appropriately before sending an offer in form of an email, personalized PPC ad or search)

-    Creating honest & transparent business models where it is easy for publicity to relay and trust the brand.

What to do or not to do (proven to be succesfull best practices):
- 1 like on Facebook = 1$ for charity – “make a noise” brand awareness campaigns targeting general public
- Interesting viral or helpful videos on YouTube, try rather cheaper variety of clips than one expensive.
- Online game and journals (rather for very narrowed target market)
- Give clear benefit to customer if they will decide interact with brand (e.g. discount)
- Gift programme on Facebook
- Discounts & promotions on groupon
- Track content from active members and focus on that Group 2. Try to understand their attitude and metrics, try to engage with them appropriately via tailored programmes such as affiliate brand ambassadors programs and related activities.
Make sure you not giving any excuses for visitors to be concerned. 3 key concerning areas:
              -  security
              -  not spam
              -  interesting

To achieve this you should promote transparent business practices, honesty, healthy company culture, and avoid to be manipulative.

Main result of latest IBM & HBR research clearly shows that majority of customers DO NOT want to interact or engage with brands unless there is benefit for them in doing so. However Online Marketers are thinking actually quite opposite.

It is important to “emphasized the importance of “listening before talking” – every business should start social strategy by learning the conversations going on in their industry, around their competitors, etc., and constantly listen and reevaluate.”

source:

1. IBM CMO C-suite Studies “From Stretched to Strengthened”  ibm.com/CMOstudy3

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/cmostudy2011/cmo-registration.html

2. The Customer Experience Ecosystem in Social Business is critical ( Feb 20)

http://www.scoop.it/t/social-business-social-business-design-social-business-case-studies

3. IBM Institute for Business Value – From social media to Social CRM (What customers want)

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/ibv-social-crm-whitepaper.html

4. Harvard Business Review (Dec 2011) – Know What Your Customers Want Before They Do
Thomas H. Davenport, Leandro Dalle Mule, and John Lucker

http://hbr.org/2011/12/know-what-your-customers-want-before-they-do/ar/1

Download this document as PDF file here.

1. Help others with problems by using the hashtag for your industry term.

2. Share tips related to your business and work-life balance.

3. Share photos of conferences, travel, products and other interesting finds.

4. Provide selected highlights from a conference or event.

5. Report industry, company, world and other news that’s related to your business, together with some commentary.

6. Link to articles and content posted elsewhere with a summary of why it’s valuable.

7. Post original thoughts on your topic, industry and business.

8. Join industry and topic Twitter lists related to your business.

9. Feed your tweets into other social networks like Facebook and Linked-in

10. Participate in Twitter chats related to your industry or business on a regular basis.

11. Research prospects before meeting them. You can gain a lot of valuable information just from scanning their tweets, profile and contacts.

12. Give referrals via Twitter. What goes around comes around.

13. Spread your tweets throughout the day, rather than posting the all at once, as people check Twitter at different times of the day.

14. Respond to tweets which relate to your industry.

15. Publish your Twitter ID on all marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, email newsletters, web sites and brochures, so prospects can learn more about you.

16. Post discounts and offers on Twitter.

17. Use keywords on your profile and a fun fact to earn trust, add personality and enable you to be found.

18. Dump the default Twitter avatar use a photo of yourself or a suitable image.

19. Follow experts, companies, competitors and leaders in your industry.

20. Be authentic, genuine and real. In other words, be yourself.

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9093740/Top-20-Twitter-business-tips.html

Social media engagement takes time
Social media is not an easy freebie
Social media is not direct marketing
Social media will be uncomfortable
Social media means listening more
Social media is not for everyone

source: http://socialmediatoday.com/chrisstreet/450525/six-uncomfortable-truths-about-social-media

As it turns out that in balanced propotions it is actualy reviving break.

“Browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function,” say the researchers.

Students who spent 10 minutes surfing the web after completing a tedious task were then 16% more productive than those who had devoted their break to nonweb activities such as talking on the phone, texting, and e-mailing.

In addition, the web surfers subsequently reported higher levels of engagement and lower levels of boredom and mental exhaustion than the other students.

Maybe it would be not as effective as physical activity such as refreshing walk, but on the other hand “Surf Break” are much shorter so we could argue about efficiency of both. Long physical activity which last for longer, or quick snap in short intervals?

Whatever the policy is in your work place, authors of above research (Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G. Lim, of the National University of Singapore) advise managers against blanket prohibitions on personal web use.

As old true is saying, it always brings more benefits to motivate people than try to control and micromanage them..

souce: http://hbr.org/2011/12/theres-no-shame-in-cyberloafing/ar/1

When all members of a team share the same vision of success, amazing things can happen. Look no further than the business example of Apple to see exactly what I’m talking about here.

#1: Someone Must Take the Lead

No, this does not mean all responsibilities fall on one person’s shoulders; rather, the person is a coordinator, a motivator and a filter for all of the company’s core content and social media.

#2: Educate Via an Event

What NOT to do:

Send out a sudden mass email to all company employees asking them to write blog articles.
Notify staff of the company’s new Facebook page and suggest they Like it.

What to do:

Bring as many staff together as possible for a company “social media summit.”

During this summit, the first half of the event is really meant for education. This is where all employees can become familiar with types of social media, the potential power of these platforms, how content marketing works, etc.

#3: Encourage Employee Action

Implement an action plan

Produce multiple blog articles a week, all without putting too much burden on the shoulders of the CMO/CCO.

#4: Create a Company Social Media Newsletter

Send out a regular newsletter to all employees explaining the results of their social media efforts.

Examples of things to include in this type of newsletter:

Special mentions of excellent blog articles and the employees who wrote them
Increase in the number of website visitors due to social media/blogging efforts
Leads and sales that were a direct result of social media campaigns
Positive customer testimonials/comments referencing blog posts, videos, etc.
Examples of how specific pieces of content led to a sale that otherwise likely would not have occurred
Question and feedback opportunities for the employees

Awareness is key to building long-term momentum

#5: Continue Training and Education

Staying up to date and educated is necessary for long-term success.

Train all employees in the basics of producing video

source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-ways-to-get-your-entire-company-on-board-with-social-media/

1. Stop using negative phrases … such as “I can’t,” “It’s impossible,” or “This won’t work.” Such statements program your mind to look for negative results.

2. When asked “How are you?” … respond with “Terrific!” or “Fabulous!” or “I’ve never felt better!” rather than a depressing “OK” or “Getting by.”

3. Stop complaining … about things over which you have no control—such as the economy, your company, or your customers.

4. Stop griping … about your personal problems and illnesses. What good does it do, other than to depress you and everyone else?

5. Substitute neutral words … for emotionally loaded ones. For example, rather than saying “I’m enraged!” say “I’m a bit annoyed”—or, better yet, “I’ve got a real challenge.”

6. Expunge profanity and obscenity … from your vocabulary. Such words are always signs of a lazy mind that can’t think of something really witty to say.

source: http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/become-more-optimistic-6-tricks.html

The only three true job interview questions are:

1.  Can you do the job?
2.  Will you love the job?
3.  Can we tolerate working with you?

Can You Do the Job? – Strengths

Executive Search firm Heidrick & Struggles CEO, Kevin Kelly explained to me that it’s not just about the technical skills, but also about leadership and interpersonal strengths.  Technical skills help you climb the ladder.  As you get there, managing up, down and across become more important.

You can’t tell by looking at a piece of paper what some of the strengths and weaknesses really are…We ask for specific examples of not only what’s been successful but what they’ve done that hasn’t gone well or a task they they’ve, quite frankly, failed at and how they learned from that experience and what they’d do different in a new scenario.

Not only is it important to look at the technical skill set they have…but also the strengths on what I call the EQ side of the equation in terms of getting along and dealing or interacting with people.

Will You Love the Job? -Motivation

Cornerstone International Group CEO, Bill Guy emphasizes the changing nature of motivation,

…younger employees do not wish to get paid merely for working hard—just the reverse: they will work hard because they enjoy their environment and the challenges associated with their work…. Executiveswho embrace this new management style are attracting and retaining better employees

.

Can We Tolerate Working With You? – Fit

Continuing on with our conversation, Heidrick’s Kelly went on to explain the importance of cultural fit:

A lot of it is cultural fit and whether they are going to fit well into the organization…  The perception is that when (senior leaders) come into the firm, a totally new environment, they know everything.  And they could do little things such as send emails in a voicemail culture that tend to negatively snowball over time.  Feedback or onboarding is critical.  If you don’t get that feedback, you will get turnover later on.

source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2011/04/27/top-executive-recruiters-agree-there-are-only-three-key-job-interview-questions/

1.    Putting self interest first – Bill George, Professor, Harvard Business School and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic

2.    Everything focused on the leader – Scott Snook, , Associate Professor, Harvard Business School and retired Colonel, US Army Corps of Engineer

3.    Becoming too enamored of their own vision – Gianpiero Petriglieri, Affiliate Professor of Organizational Behavior, INSEAD

4.    Acting too fast – Jonathan Doochin, Leadership Institute at Harvard College

5.    Failing to embrace uncertainty – Dr. Ellen Langer, Professor, Harvard University

6.    Arrogance – Carl Sloane, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School

7.    Lacking self-reflection – Daisy Wademan Dowling, Executive Director, Leadership Development at Morgan Stanley

8.    Failing to live up to their espoused values – Andrew Pettigrew, Professor, Said Business School, University of Oxford

9.    Being Inauthentic – Scott Snook, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School and retired Colonel, US Army Corps of Engineers

10.    Betraying trust – Evan Wittenberg, Head of Global Leadership Development, Google, Inc.

source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/trustedadvisor/2012/01/31/the-biggest-mistake-a-leader-can-make/

“There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.”–Napoleon Hill

It has been conclusively demonstrated that individuals who expect to succeed at a given venture are more likely to do so than those who expect to fail. Positive expectations work as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy–those who expect to succeed are more likely to do so, thus maintaining and reinforcing their expectation for success.

Today, we are going to take this analysis one step further and address the underlying cause of these expectations.

The expectations we have for ourselves are largely determined by our self-image. The opinion you have of yourself directly impacts your expectations and thus your chances for success in ventures of all sorts.

If you consider yourself a slow learner, chances are you will remain so.

If you believe that you cannot learn a foreign language, you aren’t likely to do so.

If you believe that you can’t grow a profitable business, chances are that you never will.

As Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

The key to unlocking success in business and in life, therefore, lies in creating a strong self-image. How can you do this?

Don’t dwell on negativity. All people experience failure at some point in their lives. Michael Jordan was famously cut from his high school basketball team. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in the 1980s before returning in the late 1990s. Failure is inevitable–when it happens, learn your lesson and move on!

Step out of your comfort zone. The best way to construct a positive self image is to prove to yourself that you can succeed. Successes, even small ones, create a serotonin release in your brain and this makes you feel good , encouraging you to challenge yourself further. Whether it is learning a new language, mastering a new skill, or even something as simple as reading a book that you have been procrastinating, setting and achieving goals is essential to create a strong self image.

Create a list of accomplishments and refer to it regularly. Once your mind has developed a habit of negativity, it takes work to change it. Keep a list of your accomplishments, both big and small, and refer to it often. Stars keep their Oscars and athletes their trophies, create your own success wall or shelf. Over time, you will begin to see yourself as you really are…an individual with unlimited potential.

Sure, concrete limitations do exist. No matter how strongly you believe in yourself, you can’t flap your arms and fly. But the truth is that, for most people, their perceived limitations are far more restrictive than their true limitations.

In order to achieve the success you desire, both in business and in life, it is essential that you remove the limitations you have placed on yourself. And it all starts with a strong self image. The tips discussed above will help.

source: http://www.fastcompany.com/1813313/self-image-the-key-to-success-in-business-and-in-life