-          Financial Investment Firms need an organizational or “Business Page”.  This is the official Facebook site for the business and should be ‘friended’ by all employees of the firm with their profile. 

-          The goal here should be to acquire as many “Fans” as possible.

-          This is the site where official updates of the business are posted, updating your “fans”… to include:

• Upcoming events; open houses; social hour; conference…
• Blog postings, related articles, podcasts and videos…
• Pics of the most recent media training, company outing, or birthday celebration…
• Links are important.  Links to sources of information, links to bloggers, links that are of value to current and prospective clients.

-          Financial Investment Firms will then need to move onto the creation of a “Group Page”.  This is specifically targeted to the audience we want. 

• This is the water cooler where topics related, but not necessarily directly related to the business can be discussed.
• This is a great site to eavesdrop on your fans discussing different topics and get an idea of what your potential and/or current customers are thinking and discussing.  Pay particular attention to gripes, moans, and complaints… These types of comments should be looked upon as a gift from your customer.  It provides insight into a potential future loss, which you are now able to thwart and keep as a customer by addressing those needs before culminating to a point of frustration.
• It’s important to facilitate in a group environment and not attempt to drive the conversation.  Allow it to travel its own course.  This is the only way you’ll be able to acquire accurate data.

LinkedIn:

-          This is a professional site for business professionals to network and “link-in” with each other for opportunities, answers to questions, jobs, and for staying abreast of the business “buzz” of the day.

-          Instead of fans, you have links, which in turn provide you even more secondary, then tertiary links to potential clients or business partners.

• The most interesting part of this fascinating Web site is where you can see who’s been looking at your profile.  For the most part, it indicates the line of work this person is in, and in some rare occurrences, it indicates the searcher by name.

1. On occasion, it’s exciting to see who’s been looking at your profile.

• Credibility is the name of the game when it comes to the social media landscape and a great way to garner this is through LinkedIn’s Answers/Questions.

1. You can ask a question, then post it for the next week or two to see what kind of responses you get.
2. Or, you can answer already posted questions.  If your answer is deemed one of the better responses, the person asking the question may stamp you with “the best answer” label, thus marking you as an expert in this particular field.

Twitter:

-          This is the most egregiously misused tool in the social media toolbox.  What began as a 140-character update (a tweet) on the most important and pertinent issues of the day, has turned into a social update tool to inform the masses that you are in line at the hot dog stand and it is taking too long.

-          “Tweets” should be focused on your area of expertise or a specific target-topic for your audience.

-          Every tweet should set you apart as an expert and thus a resource for your audience.

-          Remember not to sell.  This only turns off your potential clients.  As long as you provide information deemed pertinent to their needs, they will eventually come around.

-          Step 1.  Set up a profile and pay particular attention to “Bio”.  This will often determine whether someone wants to follow you or not.  A quick, but interesting sound bite, but once again, don’t sell yourself here or anywhere else on Twitter.

-          Step 2.  Set up a company profile and have every (this is important that EVERY single employee “follow” the company site, otherwise, potential clients will be wondering why…) employee follow it.

-          Step 3.  Begin wandering the hinterlands of Twitterville.  I.e., look up some prominent companies in similar lines of business and see who’s following them.  Then, follow them!

-          Step 4.  Monitor what’s being said by those you’re following.  What are the topics?  The buzz?  The latest news?  What stories are they linking and retweeting?  All this will direct you in the right direction, not to mention as soon as you begin tweeting your own expert opinion in the matter, tweeters will begin following you.

Networking, whether in the real world or in the social media realm takes time and effort.  The bad news is, it’s tough to get started.  Just as if you were visiting a foreign country for the first time, you will not understand the language, the culture, nor be in the right time zone.  The same can be said of the social media realm.  The language is often confusing, the mannerisms are difficult to understand, and your head is spinning with the traffic going back and forth.

Take your time and take small steps at first.  Start with Facebook, then move onto LinkedIn, and finally to Twitter.

Chip and Dan Heath, in their book SWITCH, describe the emotional tug as the superior force in our lives and compares that to an elephant being directed by the analytical man sitting atop it.  You can tell the elephant that not wearing a seatbelt is dangerous; that wearing a seatbelt may save your life; and that it is against the law to not wear the belt.  But ultimately, the elephant will do what the elephant wants to do. 

No matter how many times I tell my children to buckle up, every time I look into the back seats I see them scurrying to avoid the $1 dollar per infraction fee I have implemented (to no effect) for failure to wear the seatbelt.  Perhaps if I had “tugged” on their emotional beings, rather than their intellectual I might have succeeded. Perhaps this video will do it not only for my family, but for yours as well.  Buckle up!

But the question is ”should the same regulations apply within the social-media scene?”

FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) seems to think so.

Investment firms can be held liable for what their employees post to their Facebook pages, for what they tweet, and what they blog.

Therefore, it is highly advisable companies set regulations and brief their employees before the company itself finds itself with a large target painted on its backside.  FINRA is looking and it will only be a matter of weeks, maybe days before the Wall Street Journal or CNBC reports on the latest violation of non-compliance or SEC investigations.

AdvisorTweets.com, a Web site that aggregates the tweets of close to 400 U.S.-based financial advisors is a good place to begin your research and begin learning to navigate this landscape.

What are your thoughts on these restrictions?

Caveat emptor? or increased regulations?  What do you think?

Measuring your Social Media ROI

PR Newswire is but one example of how organizations can mine, filter and extract useful data.  Check it out at http://biturl.net/?9sfxmm

Here’s a TRUTH for you: Crisis Happens.

So then any corporation needs to ask themselves if there is any single point of failure.  A single point of failure is any one function, person, or thing a company relies upon for the very survival of their business.  In the Marine Corps we refer to this as a “critical vulnerability”.

After identifying this critical vulnerability, PROTECT IT.

In today’s frenzied media environment, reputations can skyrocket or plummet in an instant.  It’s no longer so important to “manage” a reputation as it is to be ready for when a criss happens.  Yes, crises happen, but there’s an opportunity here.

It’s been proven that during times of expansion, businesses outperform each other by tiny fractions, however, it is during time of recession that businesses, especially those prepared excel beyond the crowd.

Be prepared.  Have a crisis communication plan ready to deploy.  And, protect your critical vulnerability now before it’s too late.

Click to VOTE!

It’s the Marine Corps motto, Latin for “aways faithful”.

During this holiday season, let us not forget to remember those who have always been faithful…

To our great Nation, to our Faith and to our Family….

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A Public Affairs Officer for the Marines, Danny is an innovative and forward-thinking executive, with a passion for leveraging effective communications to fuel employee-engagement, build community goodwill, and drive profits.

What I do care about is the horrible manner in which Tiger is managing his communications during this time.  He further fueled the situation by allowing his lawyer to dictate what he should say to the media and the police.  “It’s a family matter…” is a legalistic move that will damage Tiger’s chances at mitigating this issue and moving on with his life and career.

Here’s what he should’ve done:

1)      Tell the truth.  Celebrities don’t get to have secrets.

2)      Tell the truth.  This isn’t Napa Valley and bad news doesn’t get better with age. 

3)      Tell the truth.  Formulate a communication strategy, execute the plan, and stick with it.

4)      Then, tell the truth.  Get out in front of the media and tell them what happened, again and again until they get sick of the same story.

5)      Relegate your lawyer to legal matters, not communications.

By relying on lawyers, you may stay out of jail, however, life can continue to be miserable…, profits can continue to tank…, and worst of all, your reputation or your company’s reputation can be ruined for life.

A Communication Counselor’s involvement is absolutely necessary during times when the media is on a feeding frenzy. 

Unfortunately, the “Tiger Woods” brand has now been inflicted by the media and its audiences.

Fortunately, the American audience is a forgiving public. 

Tiger: communication takes work – hire someone.  SOON!

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A Public Affairs Officer for the Marines, Danny is an innovative and forward-thinking executive, with a passion for leveraging effective communications to fuel employee-engagement, build community goodwill, and drive profits.