While I was sitting in class last week, I had a little epiphany in regards to the role Social Media Consultants serve in the grand scheme of things, namely, fixing our economy. I firmly believe that small businesses and new startups are instrumental in getting America out of this current recession. On the Social Networking San Diego homepage, there is a supporting quote from President Obama, “Small businesses and entrepreneurs will be the driving force of bringing us out of this recession.”

A recent study found that a large percentage of small business owners also feel the same way. 72% of small business owners stated that they will be the driving force behind our economic recovery in 2010. (SRC)

So, what does Social Media and Social Media Consultants have to do with fixing the economy?

Many small businesses and new ventures are using Social Media for their business, whether they use it to market their products/services, build brand awareness, engage with customers, etc. There are many small business owners and entrepreneurs, however, that may possess the marketing know-how but don’t have the knowledge or lack the familiarity in using social media.

That is where Social Media Consultants come in. Companies such as Social Networking San Diego serve to help small businesses learn the tools of the trade, how to not only use, but leverage Social Media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc. In turn, small businesses will benefit in a multitude of ways, from spending less money on traditional (and most likely unsuccessful advertising outlets), by increased brand equity, customer relations, higher conversion rates, etc.

With the successful implementation of a Social Media strategy, hopefully small businesses will be able to prosper, grow, and create new jobs, and ultimately in the long run, create new jobs and bring us out of this recession.

Wesley Quach
Management / Entrepreneurship Major
College of Business Administration
California State University San Marcos

http://wesleyquach.com

As a freelance independent business process consultant/trainer, it is very apparent to me that
social networking is becoming more and more important to any business enterprise. It is not
good enough to be the “Process Guy” (www.TheProcessGuy.com) to get that message out.
As an author of two books, the existing web page is the only point of contact to get that word
out — but that is not enough!

I teach “Business Process Optimization” at UCSD Extension as one outlet for my process
approach and methodology. This single outlet is very limited to students who actually hear my
approach. It is very obvious to me that this message needs to go to a much wider audience.

As a business consultant, my goal is to assist businesses in organizing their operational
business processes to shorten time-to-market, increase product quality, increase process
repeatability, and become more efficient in day-to-day operations. This is one area that is
overlooked by many executives. It is also the one area of business that could very well be
essence of survivability (or not) in this global economy. I target BioTech companies that
are regulated by the FDA, and DoD contracting companies that are required to be at a
higher level of CMMI and/or ISO 9001 certified.

I specialize in setting up a company’s process group, and process training. I am a big believer
that the process organization and layering has a huge beneficial impact on process following,
compliance, control, and quality. I preach about the separation of “what you do” from “how
you are to do it”. That separation is key because you want to mandate the “whats” and have
a lot of flexibility and extensibility at the “how” level. The selectable “how” level provides the
mechanism for process tailoring (scalability, site differences, piloting, etc.). I also believe in
using server-side scripting (php/mysql) to specifically address common high-level enterprise
steps for all company process tasks. These scripted assist can control developmental
configuration management, provide inter-task communication, provide task metric data
mechanisms, link to enterprise inspection procedures for work product quality, etc.

I have seen terrible examples of process elements. I have seen companies spend a ton of
money on their processes and are still struggling with regulatory compliance, good business
practices, day-to-day operational efficiencies, quality, etc. The waste can be enormous
and totally detrimental to a company existence.

Unfortunately putting in good processes tends to be a reactionary event versus a proactive
event. Many companies wait for a total crisis (death of people, lawsuits, etc.) before
addressing this part of their business! I can really help here.

F. Alan Goodman, Independent Process Consultant (“The Process Guy”)
www.TheProcessGuy.com