A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed on social media by Viveka Von Rosen for her upcoming book on social media and small businesses. During our chat, Women in Social Media Series, Viveka and I talked about how small businesses are empowered through the use of social media and, more specifically, how professional women are using this effective tool to get the word out. It was an engaging conversation full of insights. Here are my main Ninja take-aways:

Cecilia: I primarily see social media as a tool to connect people. I can increase brand awareness both on a professional and a personal level. For me, it allows me to get the word out and promote my clients in a soft kind of way. It engages you. There are meaningful conversations and interactions instead of spamming and push advertising (which no one likes).

Cecilia: This discussion just illuminates the fact that social media opens up so many doors for small business owners and particularly women. It allows you to connect with people all across the world and it’s really there to help you build your personal and professional brand and all in a very, very limited budget. I think it helps businesses drop the veil and become more honest and more transparent and basically more personal when connecting with their clients and with the general public.

Read the complete interview at Linked Into Business.

Recommended reading:
Ninja Tips: The Best of Social Media Metrics & SEO from the F5 Expo
Social Media: The Perfect Marketing Tool For Green Businesses
How To Avoid Social Media Pitfalls, Ninja-Style!

Social media marketing is one of our top services at Kiwano Marketing. Individuals, companies, and the media are all abuzz about this phenomenon and what it means for doing business. What’s the big deal? And how can you use it effectively for your small business?

A good social media campaign is one of the most effective marketing programs for a small business on a tight budget. Why? Social media enables companies of every size engage in open and honest conversations with their customers, leading to a better understanding of their consumer needs. Companies that share stories of their ups and downs and humanize their employees become more credible in the eyes of the consumer, making it easier to relate to a business – and, in the end, leading to more sales and online visibility.

As with any service, I believe that in order to effectively get the word out, small businesses need to diversify how they do marketing. Social media is a powerful tool, but it cannot be the only way that your business engages with your audience. Used in conjunction with an overall marketing strategy and other marketing tools, however, we’ve found no better all-in-one toolkit for creating publicity, buzz, and enhancing your network with meaningful connections that will help your business grow.

And here’s where we need to put the brakes on slightly. It’s so easy to get excited about social media, and it’s definitely something that we’re passionate about. However, there are a few flags that we’d like to get out of the way sooner rather than later:

• Go Big or Go Home: Are there any ’secrets’ behind social media? If there’s one lesson that companies should learn early on, it’s that an authentic presence is key for social media success. The ‘halfway’ attempts we’ve seen on social media can actually be more damaging than helpful to a company’s online reputation.
• Sleepless Nights: Social media is, at least at first, a time sink. Having an agency’s expertise on board will ensure that time spent on education is as streamlined as possible. There may, however, be a considerable learning curve and time investment.
• Where Are My Sales?!: Powerful communication and marketing tool? Check. Clients instantly lining up at your door the day after you get on twitter? Probably not (but we’ll gladly take all some of the credit if that does happen!). Building awareness and a presence on social media takes time, and this period varies from company to company and user to user.
• What The Hell Am I Doing?: We’re glad you asked, and that’s exactly why we’re here! Before every campaign we launch, Kiwano needs to make sure that this specific program is going to make practical business sense and provide you the desired ROI. Get a company that will sit down with you, do some goal-setting and set up measurable benchmarks for success. Based on those goals, you’ll be able to determine exactly what type of content you should put out, how you should be engaging your audience, and how frequently you should be doing so. And of course, for goodness sake, track what you’re doing on social media! (more to come on this overlooked topic…)

Got more to say? Drop me a line or a comment below.

Check out these resources:
3 Tips For Social Media Networking
Kiwano’s Networking Ninja Attends CBC’s Open House and Food Bank Day
Social Media for Small Businesses

The Networking Ninja will be contributing to the Metro Blenz News Squad during the 2010 Winter Olympics. This innovative way of centralizing the efforts of local bloggers here in Vancouver is spearheaded by independent chain Blenz Coffee and Metro Vancouver News. Updates on twitter will be under #MBNS, so please follow @CeciliaLu and @Kiwano for all the latest happenings. Highlights from our posts will also be displayed on the Metro Vancouver Newspaper’s online website and in their daily print edition.

Here’s Cecilia’s specific ‘mission statement’: “As a Networking Ninja, I will sneak around focusing on sustainability initiatives and the effects of the Olympics on small businesses.” Care to help a Ninja out? Get in touch on twitter or leave a comment below!

About The Metro Blenz News Squad:
The Metro Blenz News Squad (MBNS) is a made up of a group of people from all walks of life and backgrounds that want to share their experiences using various forms of digital media. Some will blog, other will take photos and still other will shoot some video and post it all to one site. Any time the content is used on any platform, the authors will be acknowledged (in the papers and online, or in store in the case of Blenz Coffee).

Metro Newspaper Vancouver:
Metro will then take the various forms of digital content and post it to their website. Also, selective content may find its way into their daily print edition.

Blenz Coffee:
Blenz will be the home to the News Squad during the project. And, like Metro, Blenz will keep their customers current by posting updated in real time on their in-store Digital Network. Check out the Blenz Network at http://bit.ly/aJJVgZ

Social Media Co-Operation:
Many of the companies and individuals involved will also be connecting with their readers and followers providing updates about other members of the team. This cross-promotion program will provide additional reach for all participating members of the Squad.

The Networking Ninja of Kiwano Marketing will be live-tweeting at the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs Gala on Monday, January 18, 2010. This anticipated and well-attended event celebrates the FWE’s mission of mentoring and educating women entrepreneurs. Can’t make it to the event? Not to worry, I’ll be sharing all of the night’s key happenings and takeaways using hashtag #fwegala.

FWE’s 2010 sold-out Gala focuses on celebrating and recognizing the people who invest in entrepreneurs.

The keynote speaker panel includes high profile investors and entrepreneurs from the popular shows Dragons’ Den and Fortune Hunters:

• Arlene Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications and Star of CBC’s Dragons’ Den
• Dianne Buckner, Host of Dragons’ Den and Former Host of Venture, on CBC Television
• Michael Hyatt, CEO and Co-Founder of BlueCat Networks

It’s great to see local non-profits taking brave new steps and effectively getting their message out with the help of social media. As Kiwano is made up of two women entrepreneurs, we are proud to support the FWE in their first foray into the exciting world of live-tweeting!

Feel free to join in on the conversation tomorrow night by tweeting using #fwegala or by following @FWEBC on twitter.

I had the pleasure of visiting CBC Vancouver’s Open House last Friday, as part of a tweetup organized by Marketwire. The all-day event of CBC’s new broadcast centre in downtown Vancouver was a packed affair of fundraising, musical performances, and meeting some of the key supporters of social media at CBC.

Photo Credit: CBC Open House and Food Bank Blog (@GusF, @DoryLanenter, yours truly, @ChantalJura, @mettlelurgy)

I loved how much focus was put on donations to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. A lively twitter feed of updates throughout the day and a widely-used hashtag, #cbcopenhouse, added to the sense of community. You could drop off non-perishables at the door or make donations in person, through the phone, or online. On-site, you could walk through and learn about different aspects of the broadcast centre and chat with journalists, on-air personalities, staff, and a host of hard-working volunteers.

The transparency of this event demonstrates to me the willingness of CBC to adapt its communication and PR strategies to a conscious online community. Kudos, CBC, to a fresh new start in Vancouver— I look forward to more exciting events involving our local community.

Help us to help those in need. On Friday, December 4 from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CBC/Radio-Canada Vancouver opens its doors and welcomes everyone to visit our newly renovated, state-of-the-art broadcast centre at 700 Hamilton Street and to take part in our annual Food Bank Day Fundraiser.

Watch live TV and Radio broadcasts, meet CBC News TV, CBC Radio, Radio-Canada and CBC Radio 3 personalities and staff, tour the building, and enjoy four Big Ticket Concerts throughout the day. All our local and regional shows are broadcasting special live programs to help inspire your generosity towards those who need the services B.C. food banks provide. – full post here

Why should you consider switching over from using twitter’s original webpage to a third-party client? There are many benefits of using an outside application, with reasons across the board from functionality, navigation, and maximizing the time you spend on social media. This post will be especially beneficial for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have recently started using twitter, but haven’t explored their options outside of twitter’s native homepage.

The Limits of Twitter

The twitter homepage is where most of us start, after signing up for an account and fiddling with our profile options. It’s no surprise that a majority of tweets are still sent through twitter.com. When I first started my tweeting ‘career,’ the homepage was my only stop to checking out new followers and posting updates.

For me, however, twitter quickly became all about interactions and relationship-building. As my followers grew, it became increasingly difficult to monitor followers and keep up to date with the sheer amount of information being sent my way. Here, I think, is the biggest limitation of twitter.com’s interface – it’s a single column which quickly fills up with feeds from every single one of your followers. While the @replies and Direct Message filters were initially useful, in my case, it wasn’t an effective way of maximizing the time I was spending on social media.

I see twitter.com as a great way of tweeting on the go when you don’t have access to your client of choice. The new introduction of twitter lists can help in organization; as an added plus, it’s a great way of permanently recommending quality followers for others to see.

Third-Party Twitter Clients: Organization, Tracking & Search

Even with twitter’s new site enhancements, there are still important reasons as to why small businesses should consider a third-party twitter client.

Personable Organization – Many clients offer a way to group your followers into separate categories. While this may be daunting to initially set up, it’s time well spent. Instead of viewing an overwhelming amount of unfiltered tweets, you can create custom groups of any category imaginable. You may want to group your tweets on location, interests, coworkers, leads… the possibilities of how you want to organize your followers are truly endless. There will be a single constant to all of this madness: in creating categories, your ‘dashboard’ will always be personal, neat, and relatively easier to read. The more followers you get, the more important your predetermined categories will be.

Improved Tracking – Small businesses are on twitter for a reason, whether it’s brand recognition, customer service, or lead generation. Frequently, it’s a combination of all three. Engaging your followers also means that you need to keep on top of connections that you’re making on behalf of your business. Similar to networking in person, there’s an element of followup which is crucial to maintaining good rapport with your customers, partners, and potential future business. A third-party client may have notifications whenever anyone replies to you (which can also be counterproductive!). Some of the more advanced platforms, such as Hootsuite, boast simplified statistics that will help you exhibit your social media ROI to your partners and board. Most third-party clients, at the very minimum, will have a URL shortening device built in. Some of the most popular shortening websites, such as bit.ly or digg, will have their own tracking metrics for when anyone clicks on links that you shortened using their service.

Search Functionality – Closely tied to Tracking, what social media users are saying about your company online is of paramount importance to your brand and reputation. The mark of a stellar third-party client is their improved search options. Instead of searching once for your company’s name or product line, make this a permanent fixture of your display. On a similar vein, if your company provides a solution to a specific problem, then it’s a great idea to create searches for these terms and engage new customers – ones that will be sure to appreciate your company’s level of service.

Above are just some ideas to get you started on searching for the right third-party client for your business. This post is intended to apply across all the various platforms and services but it may be slightly skewed to the functions of the clients that I’m familiar with. For desktop clients, I use the PC versions of Hootsuite and Tweetdeck; on a mobile platform, it’s Tweetdeck for the iPhone and Tweetie. My main premise here wasn’t to compare and contrast third-party clients, but to provide reasons as to why businesses should strongly consider using one. There are many articles written on analyzing different twitter clients – the list on twitter.com is a great starting point.

Do you have a Mac? A Blackberry or Android? I’d be curious to see what third-party clients on other platforms look like. Please Get in touch or drop me a comment. Finally, if you’re new to social media, check out some of these great resources below:

Building Trusting Relationships Through Social Media
Social Media for Small Businesses
Tips for Successful Social Media Time Management