(Click here if the video is not appearing below in your feed reader.)

Love the action at 0:52. I’ve actually seen people doing that in meetings when social media comes up.

Key takeaways?

• B2B is leading social media adoption (over B2C…Business To Consumer)
• The B2B buyer process is fundamentally changing: 93% of B2B buyers use SEARCH to begin the buying process
• If you don’t have a social media strategy, you should

I gave a presentation today and told the room of B2B folks that what I love about social media is that it is forcing B2B companies to look at their websites — and the web traffic that runs through them — in a whole new way. Marketing is communicating with the IT department again…and not just because their email isn’t working. Social media has breathed new life into how websites are being integrated into the overall marketing strategy and I, for one, think it’s rather refreshing. Now, if we could only get the whole “social media strategy” thing off the ground…

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Elliot Schmukler has offered up 3 easy steps to get you started:

1. Download the latest version of the Outlook Social Connector from Microsoft (Outlook 2003, 2007 or 2010 is required)
2. Once that is installed, download the LinkedIn Outlook Connector
3. Restart your Outlook and follow the instructions to connect your LinkedIn account to Outlook

Here’s a video to if you’d like a visual introduction to the process. (Click here if the video is not appearing below in your feed reader.)

There you have it. Now go sync up and leverage your contacts and connections!

Oh, wait…hold on, before you go…just one back-to-basics suggestion from little old me on LinkedIn etiquette. (Make that two suggestions…)

1. CUSTOMIZE YOUR LINKEDIN INVITATIONS: Please do NOT use the default “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” unless you literally just got off the phone with that person. Say hello, tell people (especially if you don’t know them well) WHY you thought it would be good to connect. And if you’re connecting to someone you haven’t seen in 100 years or only met once 5 years ago, remind them of how you know them. Remember this is a professional network — so be professional and personable.
2. CHECK YOUR PROFILE, PEOPLE: By all means, please fill in your LinkedIn profile to as close to 100% completion as you can get it BEFORE you start sending out invitations to connect. It sounds obvious, but I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t see a need/reason to say it. Tips for your profile? Be succinct. Address the “here’s-what-I-can-do-for-you,-Mr./Mrs.-Visitor-To-My-Profile” benefit quickly and right up front in your summary. Use keywords relevant to your business/job/industry. Post a logo or image of some kind if you don’t want to use your own portrait, but DO NOT leave the image blank so that default human outline pops up.

That’s it. Link up and link on, my friends.

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Socialnomics, By Erik Qualman

I had social media ROI on the brain today and as good fortune would have it, up popped this little YouTube gem about socialnomics in my RSS feed reader. I follow Rax Lakhani via his very awesome RSS feed at raxraxrax.com and his post about Erik Qualman‘s new book, Socialnomics, was as timely as could be. (Being impatient, generally speaking, I just love it when this kind of serendipitous synchronicity happens so quickly.)

You can check out the Socialnomics blog or learn more about the book, of course, but this video should provide a nice little teaser. It certainly was the healthy dose of social business I was looking for today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If the image does not appear above, click here to view Social Media ROI: Socialnomics on YouTube.

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TEDx MidAtlantic Live Video Stream

Click the image above or head on over to http://tedxmidatlantic.com/live/.

See how nice it is to share?

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• Watch Day 1 of TEDIndia live, for free (ted.com)

Rise Up Right-Brain Thinkers!

The fact is, we are still in the very early stages of a period of virtually unfettered creativity in how we communicate — whether it’s with friends and/or business prospects. Opportunity is everywhere and accessibility is only increasing via the Internet. I’ve been reading a book that, astride the following video (below), make for a compelling look at the future for creative, right-brain thinkers…A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink (Audible.com link, Amazon.com link). And while I know there are many people struggling right now with unemployment rates so high, I also know many people who are seizing this very moment in their lives to reinvent themselves by way of reinventing their career identities by engaging their right-brain thinking.

The Right-Brain Revolution Is On!

It is with that spirit of optimism and opportunity that I post today’s FileShare, “Social Media Revolution.”

If you are unable to view the image above, you can watch the video on YouTube. Here’s a link to the original Socialnomics blog post which provides sources for the stats in the video. Shout out to Kyle Lacy who featured the stats from this video in his recent blog post. If you’re not a subscriber of Kyle’s blog, I highly recommend it for high-quality content if you’re interested in social media for business.

Are you a left-brain thinker or a right-brain thinker?

Here’s a fun little test to see which hemisphere of your brain is more dominant (source: The Herald Sun).

The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test

Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa. Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS	RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic detail oriented facts rule words and language present and past math and science can comprehend knowing acknowledges order/pattern perception knows object name reality based forms strategies practical safe	uses feeling “big picture” oriented imagination rules symbols and images present and future philosophy & religion can “get it” (i.e. meaning) believes appreciates spatial perception knows object function fantasy based presents possibilities impetuous risk taking

Facebook released this cool video that maps its growth to a whopping 250 million users that I wanted to share.

If you are unable to view the image above, you can see the video on facebook videos.

Not on facebook yet? I have to ask: aren’t you just a tiny bit curious?

Give a listen to this commencement speech given at Tulane University’s 2009 graduation. Why? Because it’s about taking chances. It’s about being true to yourself…being who you are, no matter who that is. It’s about not knowing, trusting and leaps of faith. It’s about passion. It’s about fear, overcoming fear and embracing personal freedom. It’s about success and failure and success again. It’s about what we all do every day: we take chances. And if we don’t, it’s about why we should.

Live every minute of your life with intention and share a laugh whenever you can.

Congrats to the graduating classes of 2009 and the parents who believe in you.

(NOTE: YouTube has pulled the video, however you can listen to the audio version at http://www.entertonement.com/clips/wfxbjlpnnh–Ellen-DeGeneres-Commencement-Speech-at-Tulane-University )

For businesses in social media, when you operate as though your bottom line isn’t always at the top of your list, you’re giving people a good reason to return to your brand, time and again.

I’d say that’s an investment worth making.

Learn more about metrics that make sense in social media in today’s fileshare by yongfook: Social Media ROI.

In this (very first) “Social Gets Local” post, an interview with GrayMatter Minute contributor @cameronbarry, she shares the successes and challenges of adapting new communications tools in an organization with a social mission.

Q: How has social media impacted your marketing efforts?
A: The biggest change we’ve seen to date is in public relations.  Social media is where the journalists are. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are the new bridge to our media contacts and the answer to the question of what’s the best way to get in touch with them.  They also give us insights into the stories that journalists are talking about and covering. However, we’re about to launch a new social media campaign that I think is really going to change the way we communicate.

Q: What social media tool do you use the most?
A: Twitter, where I have both my own account and one for the Foundation.  We also have a Facebook page and I’ve been working with my colleagues on the benefits of using LinkedIn, but between listening and posting and answering questions about what it is and why my colleagues should care about it, Twitter definitely gets most of my attention.

Q: How much time each day do you spend using Twitter?
A: I worked with our IT department to install Twhirl on my desktop. Since then, I’ve been able to keep an eye on our accounts and post or respond quickly.  I can’t put an exact amount of time on it because it’s always kind of a low hum in the background.

Q: Do you consider your time on Twitter “time well spent?”
A: That’s a lot like asking a PR person if there’s a value in building a relationship with a reporter if the story you pitch doesn’t come out right away.  In other words, yes, especially in maintaining and managing relationships with journalists.  The Foundation tends to keep a low profile and now, because I’m in regular communication with reporters, they remember us.  We don’t have to constantly restart the conversation every time we have a story to share. In the area of policy and communications strategy, we see more and more members of Congress using social media to take the pulse of their constituencies.  They’ve discovered that there’s more than one way to have a conversation and maintain relationships and we’re going to be taking a look at social media from the policy perspective as well.

Q: Is the leadership of your organization supportive of your use of social media?
A: They are supportive and curious.  All foundations are on information overload, but as tools like Twitter get more and more mainstream media coverage, our leadership is realizing that we have to make an investment in learning about how to make good use of these tools to engage with all of our audiences.

Q: Do your colleagues use social media?  How and in what ways?
A: Yes.  In addition to the basic networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, we’re also using social media to help our grantees across the country stay in touch with each other.  The Foundation awards grants to address specific issues and our grantees have been asking for help in setting up their own smaller social networks.  We use ning, an online platform for creating, customizing and sharing your own social networks.

Q: How are you gauging “ROI?”
A: Right now, we’re being modest, but we’re getting smarter as fast as we can.  We’re still evaluating what success means, but we’re tracking how often bloggers write about us and how many tweets we get and of course, our website traffic. Our new social media campaign is going to give us a much clearer idea of how we can make social media engagement work for us.

Q: How is social media working for you on the…
Local level?
A: Our success is most visible locally, probably because I’m here in Baltimore.  I can see our message getting out via local channels, I hear from our grantees, the media can see our local programs at work….
Regional level?
A: We have offices in several cities around the country and from our headquarters here in Baltimore, we view a regional rollout of our social media efforts as a next step.  We’re going to take what we’ve learned here and share it with our offices in Atlanta, Seattle and New Haven so they can use social media to support their efforts.
National level?
A: Nationally, there’s a lot of internal recognition for our efforts, but extending our social media efforts nationwide is still a goal.

Q: What would you say to other area philanthropies about social media?
A: I would say that social media engagement is totally worth the effort if you’re willing to take the time to build relationships.  Social media is great for taking the pulse of what people are talking about, thinking about and listening to. It’s easy to get insulated – we all have a tendency to think that because we want to say something, people want to listen, but that’s not always the case.  Social media encourages you to listen and it gives you the quickest return on being a good listener.

Q: What question do you have about social media that you’d like to ask your local community?
A: I go right back to the question of ROI.  Even with the phenomenal growth of social media, how are folks out there figuring out when it’s worth doing?

Click here if you’d like to be a part of Social Gets Local, a FREE local directory supporting businesses located in Baltimore, Washington DC and Annapolis that are using social media effectively.

Pay attention to your fish, people.

Without further ado, you can view these slidedecks below or on SlideShare.net. (Storyboard #1: Social Media Marketing and Storyboard #2: Social Reef)

Enjoy.

If you haven’t made a commitment to learning how to use an RSS feed, do it now. Right now.

If what I’m hearing on the streets is anything to go by, there are a lot of people out there who don’t know what an RSS feed is, let alone how efficient it can make your web browsing, information gathering and content management. (Not to mention the power it can put behind your networking efforts!)

Fear not! I’m here to answer your RSS SOS.

Without further ado, I’ve put together this little RSS “How To” and “Why Should I?” Guide under a Creative Commons‘ BY-NC-ND license which enables you to download, share and redistribute this work (unaltered) at your discretion.

Click here or on the image above to download the full PDF presentation, or view it online at SlideShare.

Oh, and if this tutorial doesn’t get the job done, by all means, walk right out of your home or office immediately and find someone who can take a few minutes to sit down and show you how valuable a tool this can be.

Final thoughts? Enjoy and befriend the feed. Trust me, it’ll be well worth your time.

If you have any questions, you can always find me on twitter @usegraymatter. (Which reminds me to add that if you are using twitter, believe me when I tell you that twittering without tweetdeck is like riding a bike with one eye closed and without the benefit of handlebars.)

You can follow John Sheridan on twitter at: @JohnSheridan

Authored By Chris Baggott
Co-founder and CEO, Compendium Blogware
Click here for link to PDF download.