eTweeple.com – Twitter Backgrounds

I am devoting today’s post to Scott Prock over at eTweeple.com. Please be sure to follow the links to Scott’s Twitter page and website.

I got a tweet yesterday from Jen Harris announcing that these folks were offering, for a limited time only, a free custom Twitter background. Yeah, right (smile). But, as I like to say…“If it’s free, it’s for me, I’ll take three”. So, and particularly after my previous attempt at doing something out of the ordinary, I approached this with both low expectations and a certain degree of caution. If I were to see anything at all, I mused, it would likely be coming via some programming sweat shop in some third world country. And, I was correct. Scott and eTweeple are right here in Boise! (smile). Sweeet!

Their website asked me some basic information about what I might like to see as well as any links (not active, wonder why?) that I would want to include. Being a Canadian with a Johnny Cash complex, I chose “black with red maple leafs”. That’s it and what you are seeing is what I got. Sweeeet! Not only that, Scott was back to me within probably and hour with questions, integrated info from my website on his own, shot me a proof, made a minor modification, and talked me through the upload at Twitter. See the full product up close and personal at  twitter.com/craigmjamieson.

Not much more to say about this but I am impressed. Very impressed! Thank you, Scott!

Craig………….out!

NetWorking – Striking Your Balance

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If you have never been to this site before, let’s just say that I am a traditional networker trying to find his way in a new fangled electronic world. Most of this blog is devoted to that journey. And, make no mistake, I am a huge believer in networking and close to 100% of my client base is connected in one way or another to creating, nurturing, and building these types of relationships. Now, more than ever, there are a lot of ways out there to connect with others. So, how to strike a balance?

Business-Social Leads Groups (business emphasis): Perhaps the traditional networker’s most widely recognized tool of trade. I have been involved in these since the early 90′s and still maintain relationships that began that same long time ago.  I am not making this up, I have sold millions of dollars worth of signs as a direct result of relationships that began in these same groups. Relationships that continue today. I am such a huge believer in these organizations that I created one that meets my exacting specifications for the leads group fueled by steroids …. NetWorks! (smile). NetWorks! fulfills what I like to call the business-social segment of networking. We are social but, the focus is on business. Just this week, I was presented with a ground floor opportunity to further present the sign aspect of my business to a very targeted and lucrative market. The offer came from a gentleman who was a member of my leads group some 16 years ago. This type of networking is best designed for those of us who are comfortable with being considered as carnivorous by nature (smile).

Featured Member – Kim Bartlett – Idaho Fire & Flood

Today’s NetWorks! meeting featured a presentation by one of our members, Kim Bartlett of Idaho Fire and Flood by Ultra Clean. You can click on Kim’s photo to view her LinkedIn profile. We were also joined by Rick Carns of the Rainmaker Agency and Rick McCoy of Straight-Line Building Solutions who both attended as our guests and as prospective victims members (smile).

Here’s a little background on Kim. Kim grew up in Meridian and is a 2000 graduate of Meridian High. Following graduation, she immediately went to Seattle University where she graduated in 2004 with a BA in Journalism/PR. Kim’s work career took her straight into t.v. broadcasting, first as a prompter operator, and then for the next five years as a producer/reporter/anchor person. She also serves on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Idaho and loves to lobby for that organization and the valuable services that it brings to our community.

In late 2008, Kim made the move to Ultra Clean heading up client relations for their commercial division, Idaho Fire & Flood which specializes in disaster clean ups. All kinds of disasters up to and including the real nasty ones commonly found at crime scenes. This would also include bio-hazard cleanups.

Tweet Deck Fundamentals

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This past Sunday I published a post titled “Social Media – Where’s The Beef?“. My site visits skyrocketed. Sunday is never a busy day so, naturally, I had to figure out the how and the why. It turned out that 3/4 of my site hits originated from one link which I followed back to a page called Hoot Suite. Last week I was whining about the 99 Essential Tools for Twitter and how I would be happier with 100 (smile). Well, here is #100. Another Twitter tool. Better yet, the link to my site originated from a Tweet which was from Stuttgart, Germany. Go figure (smile).

So, since we are talking about Twitter, let’s talk a little more about Tweet Deck. I actually quite like this program and like it even more as I learn about it. For one thing, you do have the ability to size it on your screen at least from left to right. I happen to like a larger display and I like the slick black look to it. Standard default screen format is set for 3 columns: Friends (everyone who you follow), Replies (a record of replies that you have sent out to specific tweets and these are public), and Direct Messages. I am not sure why direct messages are on there because direct messages, which are private and to a specific person, actually are sent out via conventional email. It has even been suggested that it is bad form to use Twitter for this type of message and to just send a standard email instead. At any rate, any of these columns can be closed, made narrower, or shifted in order from left to right.

Social Media – Where’s The Beef?

I’ve been doing this for about 45 days now and I find myself asking questions. One question in particular (smile). I feel that I have developed a fairly good fundamental understanding of how Social Media works (from a technical standpoint) and now… I would actually like to see it work. Not measure it. See it.

While I do find that maintaining this blog is very rewarding on it’s own level, the goal was not to provide for my personal gratification (smile). The goal is to encourage more folks to inquire about membership in NetWorks! To date, not one person has left their card requesting more info. Heck, I can get better results than that with direct mail (smile). So, I find myself asking those same questions that I know a lot of business people are asking themselves when presented with the prospect of integrating Social Media into their business and marketing plans…….Where’s the beef? I need some ROI (smile).

My gut feeling tells me that, much like Twitter, I am going to have to redefine my expectations for this tool. At the same time, I recognize the need to modify my message and to develop a plan which will leverage those gains that I know these efforts have provided.