Become your own matchmaker

We have all read the papers and watch the news and it’s not pretty, we’ve hit the bottom and like everything else, there’s no place to go but up! We have to have a breakdown before we can breakthrough. There are many people who see opportunity in down times, and it’s important to focus on the solution rather than all the negativity that’s all around us. People have let their cushy jobs to start something on their own. Yes, you need a cushion to fall back on and it’s never wise to leave until you have an exit strategy and money to support you for at least six months. If you have a business or are thinking of starting one, make the decision to do it.  Don’t worry about “the how”, things will fall into place once you make the committment. Today more than any other time in history we have social networks, where we can meet people of likeminds, everything is at our fingertips if we make that decision to bring change into our lives.  You do have opinions about things, experience that is only unique to you, people want to hear from you, now you can reach out and touch them by blogging and sharing information or anything else you might want to say.  No matter where you are right now in your life or business, there are people who you can inspire, inform, collaborate with, support, work with, and visa versa.  Serendipity is my favorite word and people are showing up everyday that I never would have met. They are contributing to my business in ways that are invaluable, bringing me opportunities that would never have happend had I not said yes, I’m willing to go out there and do whatever it takes to create change and prosper, no matter what the economy looks like.  I’m going to make it a great year, what about you?

Navigating a minefield blindfolded

Is the world of Social Media really that treacherous? In a word or four, Yes, it can be! But we help you navigate through the noise of this exploding industry.

You have a great idea and/or you have long been successful. You have come to the inevitable conclusion that you need a Social Media based strategic campaign, or your business will reach an ever more limited audience. But there is just so much to learn! Who has the time?

There are a lot of experts in this area, just a few Google or Twitter or Facebook searches away. Many will present themselves as experts and some of these actually are experts. They will offer to give away some information, but as they need to make a living also, there will be some money changing hands. Your hard earned money. And in an area you are so new to, it may not be so easy to ascertain who is good from who has the most compelling pitch. Perhaps more tricky, not everyone who is really good will be really good for you! Do you have the time, the money or the patience to research everything for yourself? That is where Cyberland can help you.

We spend hours each day trolling the web, making connections. We know who ‘the big players’ are. We will be presenting many of these people to you, so that you can determine who might work best for you. You can browse with a certain confidence that everyone you find on these pages is at the forefront of their field. Or you can contact us for a strategy consultation, during which we will zoom in on your Unique Sales Proposition and determine who best to partner you with.

This is our strength. We build strategic and alliance partnerships. We help position you. We read, research and filter the information you need.

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Inspiration, Sharing and Collaborating

I spent a gorgeous weekend in the Adorandacks, we were in a spacious cabin with a fireplace, hottub and all the amenities anyone would ever want.  We were on a lake with trees all around us, nobody in sight, snow coming down in buckets, we actually got snowed in and stayed an extra day.  It seemed that all was very, quiet and still until I got on my blackberry and looked at all the tweets from twitter in one hour.  So many conversations, people, places, things, ideas, it made me think of all the people I haven’t met yet and all the possibilities of great things to come in the new year.

Christmas is upon us, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, no matter how bad the news is all around you, there’s so much opportunity and hope all kinds of things are about to happen to you, and it’s just around the corner.  Social media is the greatest thing to happen to us ever, it’s like getting a huge gift, you open it and you find another package, then another and another.  It seems to me that you just have to know what you’re looking for, where you want to go and what you love to do because there are new friends, clients, partners, collaborators out there waiting for you on twitter, facebook, linkedin.

Not sure where you’re going, how to get there, what to do next?  I’d love to hear from you.  I’d also love to hear from people who have a great story to tell about meeting someone in one of these communities.  No matter what you’re doing or not doing, there’s someone out there who can spark a creative thought that leads you to take an action that could change the course of everything.  Maybe someone out there inspires you to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time and just maybe there’s a person or persons out there you might collaborate with on a project.  You never know unless you get out there and jump in.

Cyberland is offering classes on blogging, social media marketing and online networking in January.  We’re going to bring you the best and brightest people who will show you how to charge up and go forward in ways you’ve never known possible.  Look for announcements in the next couple of weeks with dates.

Have a very merry Christmas, enjoy your families and friends, the greatest gifts we’ll ever have.  Just for a few days, time will stand still, savour every moment, make new memories and think of all the things you’re grateful for.

Fusion Marketing

Have you ever thought of partnering up with a business who has a similar target market but who doesn’t compete with you? Your choices of who to partner up with is as limited as your imagination. Al Lautenslager writes in his article in Entrepreneur Magazine .

I have always loved collaborating, brainstorming and working with partners who have a compatible business that provides outstanding service. When you think of all the possibilities, new distribution, new clients or customers, new ideas, it’s exciting!

Social media allows you to build community around common interests, values, public service, hobbies and what better way to find a “power partner” to grow your business? Being a pioneer on the web in 1994, helping companies form such alliances, I have had the great fortune to build long lasting relationships in different industries that my clients have benefited from. I won’t hesitate to pick up the phone and plug them into someone I’ve known for years. They might not be the ideal partner for this particular client, but as Steven Covey said in “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”, one of my all time favorite books, “everyone has a circle of influence, those people have circles of influence”. I’m sure you get my point.

No matter how bad the news gets on any given day, I try and live by these words from a song I heard in Spamalot a few weeks ago, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. This is a great way to keep focusing on solutions to grow your business, reinvent your career or whatever your particular need is at this time. The point is, you don’t have to do anything alone, there are so many wonderful, inspiring and enterprising people on the web, and now you can find them through blogging and social media.

We’re about to enter 2009, just think of all those incredible people you will meet, it’s like serendipity, my favorite word. You never know what’s around the next corner, no matter where you are, there are so many opportunities just waiting for you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, the most precious gifts of all.

Mind your manners when using social media

Hats off to Tamar Weinberg for creating “The Ultimate Social Media Etiquite Handbook”. I found this extremely useful, if we’re all building relationships online, we have our reputations to protect and this is new territory to many of you.  This is an excellent guide to help you navigate through unknown and sometimes murky waters.

http://www.techipedia.com/2008/social-media-etiquette-handbook/

Microblogging has come to the office

Twitter has become successful offering its users microblogging as a way to post short messages about their interests, opinions and anything else under the sun. This has allowed people to connect with each other for business and social reasons where they would not have met otherwise. There are many success stories socially and professionaly on Twitter as it continues to increase its audience everyday. I read an interesting article in The New York Times today on the topic.

Microblogging has been going on for quite some time in the social media world, now it has come to the office where coworkers are sharing information, commenting on their industry, connecting with their customers, communicating with each other where they can read postings at their leisure, making everything more cohesive, efficient and away from their crowded email inboxes. This is a whole new way of doing business, where things might not fall through the cracks as they once did. It gives people a feeling of really being on a team and being able to find out answers to questions more quickly, access pertinent information which helps them be more effective with their customers.

Leveraging tools from social media to tighten up your workforce as well as creating the right relationships with potential customers, supply chains, outsourcing talent and being able to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry as well as many other benefits can keep your business ahead of your competition.

The New Wave In Internet Marketing

I came across an article on social media that really explains the basics of it:
“Social Media Optimization is a New Way to Promote Your Website, Product or Service Online”
She talks about it being in its infancy, and this is basically true in that many people (business people, in particular) are not aware of how to utilize this media in business marketing. Yet it is more simple to utilize than people realize, and they just need to find creative ways to communicate. She says:

Social media optimization is similar to viral marketing where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites.

Social media optimization is all about creativity, finding creative ways to get your message out there and using creative tools to have your content easily found, distributed and shared online. It is about improving the linking structure of your website to make it highly visible in social media searches.

In a social setting, people talk and people spread the word about something. As she says, this is known as “viral” marketing because it filters down the people pipeline. This is the most powerful type of marketing there is today in my opinion because people tend to trust what others says as opposed to seeing an ad or promotion about something.

Viral or social media marketing generates a “buzz” or brings attention to something you are communicating about, especially if it is interesting.

I know there’s a lot of data on social media and that is because … guess why? It works to get people to see and hear and pay attention to what you have to say!

With Utube for example, you will find that posting a good video that others like will be shared with their friends, that’s a good example of viral marketing.