After being connected 3+ years to one of my favorite thought leaders in the social media space, Brian Solis and I finally had the opportunity to meet in Orange County at the Linked-OC event. We shared some laughs, he answered my questions, and I even got my copy of “End Of Business As Usual” signed that I had picked up at a local Barnes and Noble the first week it was out! Yes- I am a true Brian Solis fan but who wouldn’t be. Brian has been a huge inspiration to me and many others throughout their social media consulting journey and I did not miss this amazing opportunity to finally meet him in person. I wanted to thank him personally for all the valuable knowledge and insight he continues to share with the business community. His insights are always ahead of the curve.

Here are the Top 5 takeaways from Brian Solis at the Linked OC Social Media Event:

1. Meet in real life- Even though you may have connected with someone on-line, always take an opportunity to meet off-line as this will help strengthen the context of the relationship and create a deeper impact and emotional connection which can help reap huge benefits in your professional career. It’s sociology 101 people.

2. We are forever students- As Brian so rightfully mentioned in his presentation; these current times are trans-formative. Things are changing so quickly. I feel change is occurring in people not only personally but professionally. Embrace change. You must be constantly learning to stay relevant and current in today’s digital age OR risk being left behind. Life is a marathon so enjoy the music and March to the beat of your own drum.

3. Social Media is disruptive- just like Entrepreneurs. To get ahead in life, you MUST take an un-conventional approach. Conventional wisdom does NOT work anymore. You must think out-side the box, especially with your marketing. Just going to school, graduating, getting a job, and getting retirement after being with a company for 30 years is a RARE occurrence. This is now an exception to the rule, NOT the rule. The rule is to work your butt off doing something you love and make sure building a sustainable lifestyle you can be happy with at the end of the day saying you gave it your all each day before you go to bed.

4. Ask yourself and your clients- what defines success? How are you staying relevant to your connections on-line? How are you continually adding value? If you can’t answer these questions in your own life, you might have a hard time helping your clients see the social media success factors in their business. Think of yourself as a doctor. Ask questions. Really find out what impacts their business and help them to improve. Social Media Consultants have a rough job- convincing upper management, showing short term success even though it could take months to deliver ROI. If you are a social media manger or a social media specialist, you had better love what you do otherwise do something else and leave it to the professionals who are in the social media trenches every day. They eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff.

5. Big data is only valuable to you if you can translate it into decision making processes.  Word of mouth online generally is positive or negative. This sentiment can be measured. But data overload still exists in today’s business climate. The REAL question is how are you using this data to help make better decisions on product development, risk mitigation, client retention, etc. This word of mouth online trend is becoming more and more appealing to big brands and we will continue to see this space develop more and more over the coming years.

I hope you enjoyed this post.  Please share it with your social networks by using the buttons below.  Sharing is caring 😉
Have an amazing week-

Justin Results” French

Since I began advising businesses on social media marketing in 2009, things have continued to change much more quickly than I can keep up with. But I do my best to continue to learn strategies, techniques, and tools all for measuring continued success for businesses using this new extremely cost effective communication medium.

Before advising business on social media, hundreds of companies in Southern California trusted myself and my team with keeping them up and running with various Information Technology needs.

It was much easier to sell solving computer problems than trying to sell social media services, but we deal with much larger marketing budgets now which has it’s rewards. Besides- our efforts have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue on some projects.

When people’s computers are down, they can be fanatic! I had one customer that was loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day when they were down. So we worked the weekend to get them up by Monday morning. Weekend emergency rate applied of course 😉

When selling social media services, we sell an improved business, cost savings, long term sustainability, competitive advantage, and many other benefits. In fact, we do a lot less selling and more educating. This is now the 21st century sales approach in case you haven’t noticed.

Social media consultants have a tough job. They must prove ROI, demonstrate results in a short amount of time, and show an increase in revenue otherwise they may be going back to the drawing board; or worse out of a client or a job.

From inside the social media trenches and business school, here are some things I learned that apply everyday to life in a social business setting. I have the privilege to lead companies into these murky waters where sometimes the outcomes can be serendipitous among saving companies thousands of dollars while acquiring new customers and driving bottom line revenue.

Here are those applied theories in action for social business:

1. Red ocean vs. Blue ocean strategy using social media

2. Swot analysis (google it)
3. Quantitative vs. Qualitative data (link to mashable article)
4. Self awareness ENTJ and how to listen more (especially with Social Media)
5. Work on projects with great people. In business school, When you do projects you either choose your own team or the professor assigns them. Just like in the real world, when you work on a project be sure you are aligning with the right people. (this is a critical success factor)

Hope the above principles are helpful for you. Feel free to connect with me on twitter or Google+ plus.justinrfrench.com
I’m continuing to decrease my Facebook usage

Do you have anything to add? I would love to hear about some of your experiences in the social business trenches.

Justin Results French – Chief Social Business Technologist

P.s. If you found this post valuable feel free to share it with other business owners, entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, business professionals, or other social media consultants. Sharing is caring 🙂

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

social media marketing seems to still dominate conversations these days. Companies testing, companies measuring, companies even bringing in outside help like social media consultants. One thing is certain though, through all the hype, noise, and water cooler talk- there are some companies who take action and some sitting on the sidelines still waiting to get into the game.

Let’s take the top three benefits of social media that we have seen on why companies are embracing this new marketing channel:

1. Your business is looking to cut costs on traditional advertising and use internet marketing and social media marketing as a cost effective substitute. This not only cuts down on costs, but allows you to be more targeted with your messaging. You can effectively extract your audience according to the proper demographic and geographic market you are going after.

2. Your company is looking for sustained growth or long-term growth with social media as compared to advertising. If your business is considering social media and you’re looking for long-term growth & sustainability then social media should be part of your strategy. Social Media allows scalability, growth over time, and by consistently engaging with your target audience you build trust. You constantly educate your prospects and customers giving them valuable information. When you do this overtime, you develop greater trust with your audience and build your brand equity much stronger. This also helps shorten the sales cycle and touches your audience through various points across the value chain.

3. You can develop an influential relationship with a key influencer who has a large trust relationship built with their audience. Once you have their trust, you can possibly ask them to help you get out a message to your target audience. If you care about social media and go about it the right way, you will be able to leverage those relationships. But one word of advice- if that person does you a favor, don’t forget to do a favor for them when asked. It’s always 50-50.

4.Bonus: Because Lebron James is on twitter now and that’s proof enough of why you’re business/ personal brand should be on there too! Don’t believe me- watch this inspiring video on his brand and being “Real”

Lebron’s story is truly motivating and inspiring.  I think of Lebron as a humble leader on and off the court and he has much less of an ego than Kobe- but I digress…

Sent from my iPad 🙂

Justin “Results” French

p.s. Sharing is caring and re-tweeting is always appreciated

Are you a social media consultant? Are you involved in a social media mastermind group? Well if you are not, I wanted to share with you a question I get asked a lot lately. I wanted to explain why I feel social media for business is BOTH an art AND a science.

1. Social media is an art because you have to be both strategic, creative, and somewhat tech savvy. I’m not saying you have to be a programmer, BUT you have to know how to be human in a digital world and utilize the online tools. This can be very difficult for some, and require some teaching, which is why I passionately teach at Mira Costa College a Social Media and Internet marketing course that has been rising in popularity. It’s called Introduction to Marketing Your Business Online and you can find out more info by clicking here: social media workshop

2. Social media is a science because it ties very closely in with sociology (which was one of my favorite subjects in my lower division) and studies the human behavior in groups. Hence the rise of social networking, social media, and other human behavioral technologies that continues to advance. Social media requires people to be REAL and if you are not, others will know. The 5 realest people I know in social media are GaryVee, Chris Brogan, Scott Stratten, Brian Solis, and Tony Hsieh of Zappos.

So what do you think? Is social media an art OR a science? I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. Enjoy the world Cup!

Justin “Results” French

Social Media Monitoring Tools are key for Reputation monitoring. A lot of companies are quick to say they are ready for social media, but do they really know what they are getting into? Do they even have a social media plan written? Do they even know what people are saying about their products and services? Do they know best practices to use when engaging a prospect online?

These questions might seem odd considering how many social media consultants are popping up all over the place but how many actually have track records? What campaigns have they implemented, measured, and what results were achieved? Well, we have done all of the above. That is why we suggest to our customers a product called Trackur to give them a taste before they jump right into the unknown. Trackur is one of the first products we are finally telling people about as one of the tools we help set our clients up on which is a reputation management or social media monitoring tool. You can actually get a FREE 14 day Trial by going here:

This is actually one of the first posts we will be doing on occasion to help businesses know about which tools are good to implement for their business , what the benefits are, and how to use them. We will be recommending products to try based on what we have used that actually work. So please get started with Free Online Reputation Monitoring today!

Now that you have a strong sense of who a social media person really is, let’s fast forward to 2011.

You have 3 options for your social media marketing needs:

Do it yourself
Hire an agency
Hire an employee to do it for you

Now here are 3 reasons to work with us:
Results
Revenue
Relationships

Still need more info?  It is important to fully understand that Social Media is about people. And people care about WIIFM or “What’s in it for me?” or lately with the trend in real-time, “What’s in it for me Right Now?” Traditional forms of marketing and especially companies still struggle with this, which is why I have decided to start 2010 off with a very simple explanation and clarify what a social media person is.

1. Social media is about people. And people buy stuff right? That may be so, BUT, what’s also important about social media is it connects people to similar and common interests. The key take away here is still and always has been throughout societies, that engaging, interacting, and building relationships is key. That is why some people are just natural when it comes to social media because they like to help people (and help businesses understand social media)

2. Think of social media and your participation in these social settings as prospecting for the 21st century, which if you ask any sales person, does take a lot of work. But even in your personal lives, you must constantly be improving your relationships and communication right?

3. The last secret here is to think of the social media person as the director of an orchestra. You know, the guy in the orchestra who holds the baton. This composer sets the rhythm, the flow, and leads the team to a successful production of fine tuned music. The social media person does the same for a businesses online presence; guiding the targeted traffic into the various channels. It is an art combined with a science.

Would you agree or disagree? Any analogies you have in mind that you would like to add? Feel free to let us know any questions you might have about your social media campaigns. We’ve helped many companies in this area and are here for you.

Are you ready to start seeing RESULTS with your social media efforts? Call for a FREE 10 minute Assessment at 760-576-4653 and see if you qualify to partner with us on your next project- you won’t be disappointed.   

First off, as 2009 comes to an end soon, I am very humbled by all the great people I have come to know on twitter over the last year throughout our journey. The team at SNSD could not have gotten here without all your support. Honestly, it’s those close to me in my network on Linked-in and especially Twitter that keep me moving forward even though some days I feel like I am in the dumps or have lost my mind….

I have heard so many different terms used for the new title in social media lately and wanted to discuss some of the following with you and get your feedback:

Social Media Strategist
Social Media Consultant
Social Media Advocate
Social Media Manager
Social Media Coordinator
Social Media Coach
Social Media Mentor
the list goes on……

People want to know where the jobs are- they are in social media. If you have a business degree, experience in consulting, understand strategy, marketing and sales, and have some technical abilities, these are the types of careers to consider. Are there any titles I am missing? If we are connected on twitter or linked-in and we share a common bond around the social media movement for business, I want to hear from you. I have some very exciting things planned for 2010 and as we have developed and grown our thought-leadership collectively on social media for business, we will finally be able to start productizing our best practices and direclty impacting the business community in a positive way. Can you say turn-key?

More to come on this in 2010 🙂 Be ready for Great things!

Justin R French
Social Media Visionary

GaryVee, Me, and Robert @ Syrah in San Diego- book signing of CrushIt (Still finishing up)

Buy it here discounted:

In case you haven’t noticed, Entrepreneurship is on the rise. Especially what I call “Social Entrepreneurship”. Why? I will give you 3 simple reasons:

1. No such thing as job security anymore
2. Average employee tenure at a firm is only 2 years and a few months
3. People are tired of doing things they are not passionate about, and are seeing new opportunities and accepting more risk to do something they love and follow their passion (especially Generation Y)

What are your thoughts about the current trend in Entrepreneurship & Entrepreneurship being taught in business school? Agree or disagree? IBM embraces entrepreneurial minded people and formulates mini entrepreneurial teams to innovate, collaborate, and demonstrate products/ projects that create change and improvement over existing technologies. If there is one model company to follow its IBM. I have studied them for years, and they truly are an industry leader and we aspire to run our start-up the same way. For more on Entrepreneurship, please visit my blog “An Entrepreneurs Journey” here: The Journey Of An Entrepreneur Any comments? Do you agree/ disagree with my opinions? Let me know,

Thanks
Justin CEO Social Networking San Diego