Every time I get into a conversation with people about the use of social media for marketing themselves, their businesses or organizations, I seem to get the same questions.

How often should I blog? How many people should I follow on Twitter? How many friends or members or fans should I have on Facebook? How often and when should I tweet or update? How often should I broadcast, how often should I provide information and how often should I engage in conversation? How much is too much and how much is just self promotion?

Interestingly enough these are all HOW questions. Nearly unfailingly, the most important questions overlooked are the WHAT and WHY questions. After that the next most important is determining the WHERE. The last question they need ask, if necessary at all, should be the HOW. In fact, once the why, what, and where are known, the how almost becomes obvious.

Before even caring to consider the how one need first carefully ask what their initial strategy for using social media is? What is the goal they’ve set out in advance to achieve? What is it that they want to accomplish? Why are specific channels chosen in preference over others? Where are the people you want to find going to be? Without knowing what they want to accomplish and why they are doing it, and where they are doing it, then no matter how they are doing it, it will likely lead to no good or sustainable result.

If they do not know what they want to achieve there is no metric available to determine if they achieve it. If the why is not clear then there will be little chance of establishing any clear or meaningful communication and without searching out where people are it is going to be pretty much like shouting into the wind.

Before undertaking entry into the use of social media at all they must first also take a step back and ask the question. What do people want? The Millennium survey done by Gallop in 1998 indicates that people want trust and respect, and to be valued and appreciated. It is largely accepted that there is a requirement to be authentic, and transparent in order to respond and deliver to these needs. This is why determining the what, the why and the where are so crucial. Without this the how takes precedence, and trust and respect are abused and people are neither valued nor appreciated.

Authenticity, what’s real and true, is lost and everything is reduced to a tactic instead of a principle. As much as people know, according to the Gallop survey, what they want, then they are very likely to recognize what they do not want as well. People can generally access when something is being done to them instead of with or for them. This too is transparent.

Remember, there is no shortcut to forming personal relationships. There are no fixed algorithms or formulas to use. If anyone tells you that they have definite methods or answers, without first spending any time looking at goals and the issues in getting to them, then a healthy skeptic’s early warning system should go off repeating loudly…

WARNING: Your Transparency is See Through

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The single most difficult part of using Twitter or any new social media network is in simply knowing where to begin. What do I do? How do I behave? What do I say? Here are some useful tips for using Twitter.

Set up your profile: The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.

Follow people with similar interests: Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.

Get into the conversation: So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.

Don’t spam: Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.

Update daily: Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.

Find the latest buzz and contribute: Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.

Help other people out: The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.

Create relationships: Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.

Integrate Twitter with other social networks: Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.

Establish relationships even outside Twitter: Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.

For more on how to use Twitter and many other social media networks demonstrations in the upcoming bootcamp offer approaches for monitoring and engaging consumers in social media from a multiple discipline approach. Learn how to engage your target and gain valuable knowledge of how consumers are interacting with your brand and category.

Cost for the entire event, including $100’s in products and takeaways, and 3 bonus offsite social and networking parties, is only $249,95. Register from http://www.social-media-bootcamp.com and enter the Rock River Times Discount Code, RockRiverTimes, for a $25 discount. For more information please send an email to: registration@social-media-bootcamp.com

Social media is an integral part of life today. Let’s get onboard and see where it takes us. Better still, let’s join in the conversation, even lead in it, and a have a say so in creating the future ourselves.

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Well, it didn’t just start overnight and it’s not going away anytime soon.

I moved to the Netherlands in late 1989. Upon getting settled in Amsterdam one of the very first things I did was to ride a late night train to Berlin. Together with a group of college students and backpackers standing alongside Berliners and in the midst of military and police, I wielded a sledge hammer and broke off massive chunks of the Berlin Wall. I still have pieces of it in my office today.

The Soviet Union crumbled, East and West German reunified, the maps of central and eastern Europe were rewritten daily. The countries of the European Union opened up their borders to one another.  The whole world changed. Then it happened.

First twenty four hour news, and then the Internet arrived. Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) became the native language of the World Wide Web (WWW). Internet Service Providers (ISP), domains, hosts and serving computers came into place. Websites were born. Email was introduced and has quickly become the largest form of communication ever known.

Suddenly information traveled faster and to more people than ever before in history. A world that was starved for information now had access to it. A new Information Era had emerged.

We’ve now grown from Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), Usenet newsgroups and Internet relay chat (IRC) to websites, online forums, instant messaging (IM) and blogs to social networking, communities and micro blogs. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are busily active and growing rapidly.

People today not only have access to information, they respond and contribute to it. The days where it was possible to tell people what to think, what to do and what to buy has passed away into the night. They (We) are no longer willing to have marketing and advertising pushed at them and business done to them. What people want is to have a voice and to be a part of the conversation.

Today’s tools for social media provide a means to engage one another and are the hottest innovations in internet marketing since search. Trends indicate this medium is poised for continued and exponential growth for years to come.

Let’s face it, social media is not a question of “if”, but rather of “when” you will get involved.

In response to a growing groundswell of interest and participation in social media we thought it appropriate to help facilitate a resource that would give people, business and organizations of all size and type in the local community opportunity to learn more.

As a result the newly conceived Rockford Media Group, consisting of DD Griffith Consulting and Infinite Horizons Design, has put together a Social Media Bootcamp which is being hosted by the Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center.

Please join us for this 2 ½ day event, “My Kung Fu is Stronger Than Yours”, from 9:00 AM to 5:15 PM Central Standard Time (CST), on July 24th  and 25th and from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM on July 26th to participate in presentations and interact with presenters in live Q&A sessions, scheduled chats and informal breakouts.

More than 20 speakers from all over the country will offer interactive workshops and demonstrate examples on why to use social media, how to set up the tools and how to effectively market, reach larger audiences, increase brand awareness, generate sales and perform customer service for organizations by the use of social media.

Sessions, ranging from beginner to expert, will be staggered throughout Friday and Saturday to maximize each participant’s experience. Sunday offers a uniquely tailored, interactive exercise that will allow participants the means to quantify their learning.

There will be 4 different sessions going on simultaneously in 4 different rooms, 4 times a day, or a total of 16 sessions daily on Friday and Saturday. Sunday will offer participants the opportunity to make use of what talents they brought in, to test out those just acquired, in a *Special Event*.

Evening “Tweetups”, meetings including social networking and entertainment, will be announced and held at various HOT Rockford locations on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

Demonstrations in the bootcamp offer approaches for monitoring and engaging consumers in social media from a multiple discipline approach. Learn how to engage your target and gain valuable knowledge of how consumers are interacting with your brand and category.

Cost for the entire event, including $100’s in products and takeaways, and 3 bonus offsite social and networking parties, is only $249,95. Register from http://www.social-media-bootcamp.com. For more information please send an email to: registration@social-media-bootcamp.com

Social media is an integral part of life today. Let’s get onboard and see where it takes us. Better still, let’s join in the conversation, even lead in it, and a have a say so in creating the future ourselves.

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Due to errors in management of PHP memory allocation… blah, blah, blah… My website died!

Actually both my website and my blog. on the same server, both died!

After years of using a host in the Netherlands (where I lived for nearly 20 years), my site crashed. Repeated, unsuccessful, attempts to revive it  have caused me to relocate my hosting to the USA. Appropriately, in fact, on the 4th of July.

As soon as I can get the database of the old site backed up, transported, edited and injected into a new Drupal (custom coded and templates) and WordPress (Thesis Theme)  CMS platforms respectively, I’m going to start making some blog posts on a new version of Griff Says. this is being installed at http://ddgriffith.com/griffsays. This space, at http://ddgriffith.com, will be replaced by the Drupal custom site when ready to relaunch.

I hope this is soon, and apologize for the inconvenience, yet with many client demands and the upcoming Social Media Bootcamp in Rockford, IL, Jul 24-26 http://social-media-bootcamp.com, I’m a ‘Cobbler’s Kid’ for right now.

Just between you and me though it could all be for the best as my friends at Infinite Horizons and partners in Rockford Media Group are going to give me a makeover! Cannot wait to start populating contents and products to the new website and blog. Hope to see you there!

Meanwhile you can look me up at a few social media addresses:

LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com/in/DDGriffith

Twitter

http://twitter.com/DDGriffith

Facebook

http://facebook.com/DDGriffith

Skype

SkypeID = DDGriffith

In fact, you’ll find me as DDGriffith on many other social media locations as well.

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