Today, Sept 3^rd is my last day at my job. Yes, you are all embarking on a new chapter with me as I live my dream exploring and living through all kinds of entrepreneurial adventures.

Focusing on B2B Marketing and ecommerce has been my 9-5 job for the last 23 months for a wholesale promotional apparel company called SanMar.  During a time of a recession SanMar held strong to its core values of supporting employees with a 40 year record of never laying anyone off. I look back over my time at SanMar and smile with appreciation for all of the opportunities to work with incredibly talented people, I was in an environment I was supported to learn and test the waters in areas of interest.

I think Shauna Causey said it best “to be honest, it feels a bit like jumping off a cliff: scary and thrilling.” This is a very exciting time, a new chapter focusing on small businesses with their online marketing while also supporting Seattle startups. I am looking forward to sharing with you additional details on my official upcoming adventures.

I am deeply thankful to everyone who has been supportive with complete faith in my decision to jump on the entrepreneurial train. Thank you to all of those I have reached out to that have come back with a truckload of guidance, and even sending me freelance work. I am also very thankful to my team at SanMar that always found a joy in at least 15 minutes of daily laughing and have been greatly supportive in my new trail blazing adventures.

That is the big announcement, and If you are in Seattle tonight and you would like to say “Cheers to new adventures!” then join me and a few other entrepreneurial spirits at Del Rey after 8pm.

From Twitter, Sphinn, Google Reader, Facebook, Amplify, Buzz and Friendfeed–you name it!–I have been gathering some of my favorite posts. These 5 personal favorite must reads have sparked some really awesome conversations, tweaked long term project plans and challenged a lot of great ideas. From social media, online marketing and project planning to business organization these posts will for sure to fill your thought bubbles, have you reaching for the phone to share a conversation about the value of flexibility and the future of social media.

1. Aug 9th, 2010: “Local brands have the flexibility to cater their social media campaigns directly to their local customer base, using the same tools that large brands are using to cover a wider audience.  In addition, local tools and services are growing in popularity” – Social Media Gives Local Brands Home Field Advantage
2. July 28th, 2010: “Listening, Content, Socialize and Measure could just as well be represented as a cycle, but I think the forward direction is important because you can’t reach outcomes without action.” -4 Steps to Social SEO Success
3. Aug 6th, 2010: “There’s No Out Of the Box Solution – I shudder and cringe each time I hear about a company selling a basic ‘Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, StumbleUpon’ package for every business that comes through their virtual doors. Not every website is ideal for every business.” – 885 Social Sites, SEO & Marketing: Fine Tuning Your Marketing Strategy
4. July 30th, 2010: “79 percent of large corporations are leveraging social media to engage their audience, and they are using innovative ways to build buzz, establish relationships, foster communication, improve products, and cultivate long-term brand awareness and consumer trust.”- 4 Ways to Master Social Media Marketing
5. July 29th, 2010: “there are certain universal truths to what your company’s style of tweeting reveals about your corporate culture, your attitude towards social media, and what you think about your customers in general” – What Your Company’s Twitter Account Says About You

Fall is around the corner which for many of us brings back the memory of school starting but more importantly sports. Every year to be eligible to play sports off to the doctor kids went to get the doctor’s stamp of approval that this kid was indeed “A-Ok” to jump, run, take a few tumbles but most importantly was ready to take on what the sport required of them.

The more serious the sport required of the athlete the more throughout the checkup and the list of recommendations for training and nutrition increased.

Answer These:

Is your website in the right shape to take on what you need it to do?

Does your site meet the requirements to get the job done?

I get it. I can picture most of you thinking. “Well, maybe the site needs a face lift.”

Could you imagine if a kid went into the doctor for a sport physical and the doctor took a look at the kid dangling his feet on the examination table and said “Nike shoes, ooo nice color! Oh yea, great blue basketball shorts, and that t-shirts looks comfortable. You are good to go!” and sent the kid on his way? No way! Crazzzy talk! However, in the business world, people okay pretty websites everyday that don’t meet even the basic requirements to get the job done.

[Hops on soap box] Frequently I shake my head at local business websites with gorgeous websites that are stuffed with fancy bells and whistles but forget the simple requirements of what they want to communicate and the funnel they want their customers to start down the path of.

1. Way to contact the business on the home page: Phone number should be at the very least posted in a location that is easy for visitors to find.
2. Slow loading flash splash page: Delete it, doesn’t work on mobile devices and there is nothing on this splash page that does anything but delay the visitor from DOing what you want them to do. Like call, email or buy.
3. No SEO: Basics – unique title tags for pages, meta tags/description, alt text for images, links with titles, the basics here buddy the basics.

[end rant]

Wearing fancy clothes is not going to make someone any more in shape as slapping a bunch of new fancy design on a website is going to make you more money.

Think Simple:

Filter down the requirements of your website. Start with the very beginning, because it is a very good place to start. What do you want a visitor TO DO when they get to your site?

1. Contact you
2. Buy something
3. Sign up for something
4. Interact with the content
5. Share the content

DO = Action. Beyond just read and say “oooOOOooo… AwwwWWWwwww.”

Write a list steps a visitor would need to take to accomplish what you want. No more than 5 things you want someone to DO when they come to your website. For most small businesses they want to start the visitor down the tunnel of a purchase.

Once a year at the very least have a website physical, have a review done by someone that can offer insight on what you can improve on and make your website a better experience for your visitors and a greater positive impact on your business.

Often I hear, “How do you manage your time?” to be honest I schedule everything. Yep, everything is a constant optimization my time. Being flexible and responsive allows me mental space to be creative and focused.

For those of you who know social media can help build your business, connect with customers and create a solid foundation for your personal or professional brand you also know that it takes time – lots of it. Time that often you don’t think you have. My response is schedule.

Few Things to Schedule:

Blog Posts
Tweets
Facebook Status Updates
Facebook Fan Page Updates
LinkedIn Status Updates
Foursquare Status Updates
Events
Emails
Newsletters

What this allows you to be able to do is focus on responses and everything else. Planning content is just part of the strategy, spread messaging over the day instead of flooding your followers stream or their inbox which to be honest only makes content look and feel like mystery meat aka SPAM. No one really likes Spam, so don’t spread spam of any kind over someone’s monitor screen.

Take time once or twice a week to schedule out your content. Write your big blog posts, edit them and schedule them out to post. I love spending the early morning reading through my Twitter lists and scheduling out great content to retweet. I also look through Sphinn, Stumbleupon, RSS subscriptions, and emails to find neat content to share, promote and learn from. Bacon, eggs, blogs and tweets! Breakfast of social proportions.

Use tools like Hootsuite to schedule out your content. Create your website on a platform like WordPress that supports scheduling out blog posts. Keep yourself sane while managing your online investment to be focused on what is most important – creating connections not trying to think of what to write next because you already did that.

Fresh, Unique Content

As a blogger, marketing person, small business with a website you need to take the “social” in social media seriously. Every day is another opportunity to experience, learn and then share. Creating fresh, unique content doesn’t need to be a chore, as it is something you are most likely already doing. If you are thinking your website is just a small fish in the ocean snap out of it. People want unique fresh content and so do search engines like Google, so give them both what they want and you will find yourself delighted to share your experiences creating value for both your visitors online and for the search engine titans.

Don’t forget what you learned in Kindergarten

It is good to share. Share, share, SHARE! Attending a conference organized by the North Mason Chamber of Commerce, where Rabbi Daniel Lapin shared his idea that “you must always be ready to tell people how you can serve them”, sticky sort of idea that when you share you are sharing knowledge that could help them, be in the mindset of sharing, and improving the lives of those around you with your experience, energy and talents. When you redesign your website, publish a whitepaper, organize an event, and even when you post on your blog post don’t be bashful – share! Share your post through Twitter, your Facebook fan page, Amplify, share through Sphinn, on industry forums and even through email lists. Also be sure to listen to your friends, other businesses and news and share their content as well. Get in the habit of sharing, appreciating and spreading the word about how you can serve.

Skip through meadows and giggle.

Spend time reading blogs related to your industry as well as your interests. If you like the post, share the content and comment on the piece. Actively engaging in commenting on other blogs has lots of great benefits, from sharing your ideas with the post, to encouraging other visitors to comment, to having a link that goes back to your website and allows the author to get to know you as well. Think of it as time to enjoy learning and interacting with authors, enjoy the time together. When commenting be sure to be genuine, and professional.

Real Estate for Friends not Ads

Your website is your vehicle on the web to promote your brand, business and ideas. Would you drive a car to your client’s office that had tons of flashy sparkly ads all over it for other companies? What if someone came up to you at a party and said “Hey, you! Look over here! Want to buy this random thing for 3 easy payments of $19.95?” Neither are “social”, nor are either example a good way to develop a clear brand. Keep your site, blog posts and social media channels clean of anything that isn’t supportive of your brand and providing value to your visitors. You only have so much space on your website, use that extra space to promote your favorite blogs, your friend’s websites and other content that would be of value to your visitors.

The northwest is a magnet for amazing non-profits utilizing social media. A treat to share an excellent example of  a non-profit using social media to support current marketing efforts as well as strengthen their community. Since 1967 PAWS, a northwest non-profit has been the human voice for cats, dogs, bunnies, birds and even bears. Entering into social media looks to has been a natural transition communicating their support of animal welfare and northwest wildlife, raising awareness for events, adoptions and even beginning to use social media to support donation efforts.

Throughout my life I have looked to PAWS for when I found an injured wild animal and has always been at the top of my list when recommending places to adopt a new furry family member. I am delighted to share with you an interview that Brian Thurston generously took the time to share.

PAWS Social Media Presence

Our social media efforts are led by Mary Leake Schilder, Public Affairs Manager, and Brian Thurston, Online Communications Coordinator, with assistance from 6-8 other “front line” bloggers who write about their experiences working hands-on with animals or educating the community.

PAWS is a regional organization located in Lynnwood, WA serving Washington State, primarily the Puget Sound area.

We also have a cats-only adoption center called PAWS Cat City in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. I think our services are summed up nicely in our new mission statement (just approved by the board Tuesday night!):

PAWS is a champion for animals – rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating people to make a better world for animals and people.

Why did PAWS decide to use social media?

While we had been using our website as a repository of information, it was not a living, breathing, constantly changing source of information. Our rebranding and new website in 2009-2010 gave us the perfect launching point to delve into social media to better keep our supporters and the public up-to-date on our work to make a better world for animals. Venturing into Twitter, YouTube and Facebook has really allowed us to reach more people where they already are, rather than depending on them to come to our website.

Social Media Conversations

We’ve been able to have great conversations around animal welfare issues simply by putting forth PAWS’ stance or a call to action, and responding to questions and comments (both for and against our position). No matter how someone responds online, it opens the door for our supporters to have a conversation amongst themselves, and allows PAWS to chime in when needed to fill in gaps with our expertise in animal care or animal welfare issues.

It’s also been a fantastic way for us to showcase the beautiful, fascinating, and unique animals we help every day. Not only does this help the animals get adopted or get financial support for care, it also helps our supporters and the public feel more connected to what we’re doing. Since most aren’t able to make it to our campus every day, and some areas (especially wildlife care) are not public, it’s a great way to really help people understand what we’re doing and why it’s important.

Starting Social Media

We developed the Online Communications Coordinator position last fall specifically to be the point person for taking on the joys and challenges of social media. While the job also does website maintenance and technical tasks, its central role is to help our staff and volunteers tell their story online via the best media possible.

Funding, Donations & Adoptions

PAWS receives more than 80% of our funding from private donations. While our efforts in social media are too new to see any statistical trends toward increased donations and adoptions, we have anecdotally seen many of our existing donors coming closer to PAWS and the animals through social media interactions, and have also had many more online volunteer applications coming through.

Can you share some frequently asked questions you receive through Facebook and Twitter?

We get a little of everything, from people wanting updates on the animals we’ve featured online to people wanting to know what to do about a wild animal visiting their yard.

Staff & Volunteer Involvement

PAWS staff and volunteers are contributing bloggers, and they also help spread the word to adopters, visitors and the public about our great new website and social media outlets.

We are currently developing a social media policy for both staff and volunteers. While it hasn’t been completely finalized, it boils down to common sense: don’t start or engage in arguments or negative talk online, share only knowledge and photos that are public already (i.e. don’t break a story on your Facebook wall before PAWS has a chance to do so officially, with all the correct details), and be a positive, enthusiastic ambassador for the animals at PAWS.

Determining Online Marketing Success

We track several statistics such as click-through rate for posted links, number of page views on our blog, and number of times a video has been viewed on YouTube. Ultimately, though, we measure our success in the overwhelmingly positive reactions we’ve received from our supporters, volunteers, staff and the public. Even if we only get 10 clicks on a particular link one day, if it brings one person closer to our work and turns them into an advocate for the animals, it was a successful endeavor!

Connect with PAWS!

Facebook and the PAWS Blog are where most of our action is at right now, and they can also subscribe to our e-newsletters. Oh, and I also highly recommend registering for PAWSwalk on September 11, 2010. It’s a really fun event with more than 1,500 people and their canine friends. Anyone can register online! The online fundraising tools available once you register include social media integration on your personal fundraising page.

Participate in Supporting PAWS & Animals

Spread the word about our social media outlets, register for PAWSwalk online and use social media to help bring in donations for the animals, and share our posts and videos with your friends and family!

PAWS blog, Facebook Page, Twitter and YouTube

Thank you for reading about PAWS and their social media journey. I encourage you to learn more about PAWS at their website and if you are ready to for a new furry family member consider adoption first.

After posting recently on Lyndit.com’s fan page I noticed a link under the post that said “promote”. Sure, I have created Facebook ads before however this time I was curious and decided to dive in and buy my first Lyndit.com advertisement on Facebook. Step by step screen-shots of the whole experience along with insight into what I would recommend if you decide to go down this route yourself.

Over the next 12 screen-shots you will get to see how easy creating a Facebook advertisement really is. This is a long post but happily stuffed with mostly images. Each image has been reduced to fit on the screen. Feel free to click on the photos to get a better look.

Over the last year I have found myself focused, and dedicated on a goal that will ultimately lead to a new way of life. The goal is to surround myself with people on and offline that have action taking attitude, an appreciation and humor about life and a desire to grow their positive connections and build strong communities.

The goal was to connect, build relationships and then a my own personal community of people defining outside the box, reflecting the world around them and making positive change, while making time to support those on similar journeys.

Grimaldi's @ Gilman Village in Issaquah

One of the first people I met in this journey was Nikki Chau. Connecting through Twitter we found ourselves connecting on a lot of harmonious levels, from Yoga, fitness, health, to relationships, Mazdas and cultures. Meeting in person I was delighted, and simply comfortable sharing dreams, big pie in the sky visions of new business ideas, challenges and tons of great stories. Sharing our perspectives on the world all while enjoying coffee, sandwiches and gelato at Grimaldis. During our conversation, sitting on those pillows near the windows I was indeed honored. Nikki was the beginning of great people I have encountered on this journey.  She embodied the definition of what I still remember today, that people that are this talented, passionate and appreciative of the world have something great in common.

They are accepting, welcoming and supportive.

Social media is powerful. Beyond building brands, beyond marketing and beyond measurements, reports and strategy social media is a platform for shrinking miles between great people and providing a channel for building incredible long lasting communities.

These core values can be found some of my favorite communities and businesses:

1. Cherry Street Coffee - Seattle coffee chain that is focused on their community of loyal customers
2. Seattle Social Media Club - Group of diverse Seattle social media and online marketing professionals and enthusiasts
3. Rainier Crossfit - Located in Puyallup Washington
4. SnoRidge Crossfit – Located on Snoqualmie Ridge
5. PCC Natural Markets - Puget Consumer’s Coop is dedicated, knowledgeable and terrific for bringing sustainable local food and connection to the Northwest.
6. #CROChat – Every Thursday chat with people interested in increasing conversation and increasing online website customer satisfaction
7. Autosportslabs – Community tested car performance technology that has a worldwide following
8. Hopsandchops - group of Seattle entrepreneurs that meet every Thursday
9. Seattle 2.0 – A group that supports Seattle entrepreneurs
10. Big Brand REI gets on this list too for amazing ability to hold on to their core values even through all of their growth.

Where ever your social media journey takes you create connection and introduce others to the amazing world of building great communities.

Being able to relate to a brand is huge. A customer that chooses to trust and even support a brand is excellent. Some brands go as far as having a celebrity – recognizable and relatable to endorse, wear and evangelize the brand. There is a gold mine of brand, company and culture evangelists right under the nose of big brands. They are the people the company has already hired, learned to trust, trained and empowered to build the business – Employees.

In response to HubSpot’s Blog post: Personal Brand: Good or Bad for Your Company?

There has been a good deal of discussion around whether having a strong personal brand is beneficial or detrimental to a company.

I immediately started writing a comment… which turned into a page which then made more sense to create a blog post.

There are people under the company roof that have prepared elevator speeches, expressed their love, trust and pride in their company to anyone that will listen.  They participate in industry events and continued education that they’ve often sought out on their own. They are high energy,  excited to be apart of the company culture  and often have have very strong personal brands. These kinds of employees are pillars of knowledge, and experts connecting outside the walls of the company. They build trust in their personal brand.

Social Media Marketing + Employee Engagement = Happy & Loyal Customers

In Vegas, the Wynn and Encore Hotels are great examples of big business, big brands diving deep into social media.

Give fans and followers the tools to spread your message. It’s fantastic to have a fan base, but how can they tell their friends and family if you don’t make it easy? Even a luxurious 5-star resort like the Las Vegas Wynn takes the time to create enthusiasm. Among general tweets and discussion, the Wynn takes the opportunity via Twitter to seek out hotel visitors and recommend everything from entertainment to meals to drinks. “Nice to have you back! Thanks for checking in on Foursquare!” reads one tweet. “What are you looking to drink tonight?” reads the next reply. Arming visitors with this information leads to accessible retweets and information sharing, all with the click of a button. – Social media best practices for hotel marketers, by Annemarie Dooling

With employee social media policies in place and actively engaging online with their customers, you might think the Wynn’s big hotel brand is enough. They have all the right tools in place, they are staffed to be able to respond across multiple social media channels and are engaging well. Recently a pair of very expensive and somewhat rare shoes were offered on the Wynn’s Facebook page for sale through the hotel’s luxury shop.  A customer asked a question and an employee who was not part of their marketing or social media team jumped right in to serve the customer using his personal account stating he would have the rare shoes ready and, if needed, shipped to any customer who wanted them.  That is pretty awesome and the social media policy of the Wynn didn’t crumble when someone interacted with their own personal account; in fact, the employee’s outreach to the customer supported the brand. Listen to the whole interview with @shanselman with @JadeEmily from @wynnlasvegas!

Scott + Nerd Dinner  + Me = Refreshed look at Microsoft’s Product

Recently I attended a Nerd Dinner where I met Scott Hanselman in person. I am not a huge fan of Microsoft’s development tools. Mostly because they are expensive and hard to sell being a small fish in a big sea company. At Nerd Dinner, Scott demonstrated a free web development tool called Web Matrix: an easy way to start an ecommerce website. So easy that I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t find this free tool useful when creating their own ecommerce site. Scott wasn’t sent from Portland to Bellevue to show off Microsoft tools, he was there attracting nerds, seriously nerds, developers from all kinds of companies, backgrounds and interests. His positive and passionate energy lends itself so well to organizing these events I met people that traveled over 100 miles to be at Crossroads Mall eating in the mall food court. When a young accountant expressed a need to know how to create an ecommerce site Scott without hesitation stepped up. He has a strong personal brand online, even runs his own non-Microsoft radio podcast – Hanselminutes. When he speaks of his employeer it isn’t all flowers and unicorns which to me makes the often mysterious Microsoft a little more human and maybe a even a little more relatable.

Overcome Concerns

Empowering and encouraging passionate employees to step up and build the brand sounds scary, however, it works. From marketing, customer service and even sales, all of the rough edges that a brand might be worried about will be polished out by regular communication between company and employee.

A personal brand is a perception in the minds of others that must be developed, nurtured and managed by younger partners and rising stars—the notion that there is no one else in the marketplace quite like them. Their personal brand will stand at the forefront of influencing all types of stakeholders in the niches your firm serves via their experience, expertise, thought leadership, honesty, integrity and capabilities. – Developing Your Personal Brand Equity by Alan Vitberg

One difficulty for a brand and an employee is the question of what happens when they decide to move on from one another? Someone who has a strong personal brand and leaves could have a major impact on the corporate brand. Is it worth having a ghost brand or associating minimally? Neither! When someone is passionate, has experience with the company and is empowered to represent the brand well then that is a strength and an asset. The conversation needs to happen on how the employee plans to communicate about how and why they are leaving. Shauna Causey did an excellent job doing this when she announced she was leaving Comcast.

Employees with Strong Personal Brands

Not every employee with a Facebook account needs to be involved with your online marketing. Look for people that are:

- Customer service oriented

- Understand online media tools

- Share the company/brand’s value and vision

By acknowledging employees’ personal brands, you will open doors to creating a dream team of online marketing. Research the employees’ interests and see where they might have experience in areas where the current marketing campaigns haven’t ventured. Maybe they have experience creating Facebook applications or developing interactive Flash? Maybe they talk to customers all day giving them great insight into every day customer concerns, questions and needs that could be met online.

Communicate a common vision that allows the employee to act online and with their brand for a win-win scenario.

Additional Links:

• Five steps to build your brand and reputation
• How to build your personal brand
• Personal Brands: A Cup of Coffee to Differentiation
• 6 Tips For Creating An Unforgettable Brand

Twitter has 105,779,710 registered users. With over 55 million tweets a day finding great tweeters might seem a bit overwhelming. There are people Tweeting left and right from just about every corner of the globe.  Here are some ways to find great people on Twitter, blogs to read and event to go to.

Recommendations

First off I read – a lot. Novels seem to catch my attention every once awhile however I love relevant engaging blogs. Within those blogs I heard great insight from the authors as they share their experiences, ideas and even interviews with their networks.

As I read those blogs I become acquainted with the author and to be totally honest earn trust. So when I visit their blogs and see their blogroll I take their recommendations very seriously. As the people they have listed are most always people I #MustFollow.

Check out some of these great examples of simple blogrolls:

What I LOVE about blogrolls is that I get introduced to some great people that may not be glowing on my Twitter feed, not in the Seattle area of just somehow haven’t entered into my radar. If you don’t have a blogroll or some kind of recommended reads list you should. They are easy, and a trained monkey could add them if you are running WordPress.