SXSW is like Burning Man with Laptops and Bathrooms

I am attending SXSW for the first time this year. If you have never heard of SXSW, it is one of the largest film, music, and media conferences in the world. Held every year in March in Austin Texas, it’s been described as Burning Man with laptops and bathrooms. I am attending the interactive media segment, which lasts for five days. I am so excited to meet some of the business and social media bloggers, thought leaders, and best-selling technology authors I have been following for over eighteen months now. I am ecstatic to see and hear some of the key-note speakers like Ev Williams, CEO of Twitter. I feel like a kid riding my bike without my hands on the handle bar…HAPPY! For the last year and a half, I have immersed myself in social media, internet marketing, SEO, and learning online software tools, all for the purpose of growing my own company’s presence online. In my former life, I was an outside sales person. Today, I sit in front of a computer connecting with the online world. And, surprisingly I’ve realized that I have a knack for it. Perhaps that is why Hewlett Packard contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me to review thier new HP iPAQ Glisten SmartPhone, which I am giving away on March 17th. Perhaps that is why  oftentimes, I have to peel myself away from my computer, even though I have been in front of it for 16 hours. I know it sounds obsessive and unhealthy. I am working on finding that balance. But, the point is that who would have thought a non-techy gal like me has found LOVE and PASSION for internet technology! I have transitioned from an off-line business model to an online business model and now I am going to meet the very people whose content and guidance I have used to help me make that transistion.

What is Your ROI Formula for Attending Conferences?

There are literally a gazillion conferences to choose from and obviously a small business owner cannot attend every single one. So, how does a small business owner choose the best conference for their specific needs? It starts with the ROI (Return on Investment). Simply put, the ROI is the amount of time, money, resources, opportunity costs, you put into attending the event (which is the investment). After you add up all those expenses, costs, etc., you then subtract it from your return or your gain.  Whatever amount is left is your ROI. Recently, I got into a fairly big discussion with my biz partner, Chuck on this very subject. He is the left-brain of our business and I am the right-brain. He wanted to tie the ROI of my time spent at SXSW to the sell of a product. I wanted to tie the ROI to the networking, relationship building, as well as the sell of a product. In other words, I should gain not only social equity from SXSW, but financial gain as well. In addition, that gain should be tied to a specific timeline. In a future post, I will give you specific examples of the ROI formula I used for attending SXSW.  In the meantime, here is my question for you. How do you measure your ROI when attending conferences?  I think it is hard to measure relationship building because you are not always sure how that relationship is going to evolve. The sell of a product or service is much easier to measure, but honestly, that’s never the main reason why I like to attend conferences. Everyone has their various reasons for attending a conference. Authors attend to promote their book. Speakers attend to gain more exposure. Companies attend to expand their brand.  Attendees attend to learn, network, and build prospective strategic alliances. What are your reasons and how do you justify your investment? Please leave your comments on my post! Thanks!

Crush It

I just finished reading two books and they are filled with powerful reminders that strong business relationships matter and harnessing the power of social media is critical to cultivating those relationships. The first one is called “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuck. For those of you who have not heard of Gary, he has internet rock star fame. He grew his family’s local wine shop into a national industry leader using the power of social media. I highly recommend it to every entrepreneur who wants to grow their online brand. It’s fresh, authentic and a very fun read. I believe we are seeing the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneur in America and Gary Vaynerchuck is our poster boy.

Trust Agents

The second book is “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Chris was just recently named one of Forbes Web Celeb 25. Trust Agents offers incredible perspective on how to harness the power of social media by understanding that transparency and authenticity is powerful behavior in building your online presence. They write about being a “Human Artist” – someone who understands how to communicate with people in a real and thoughtful way.

Using the Power of the Internet

These two books, “Crush It” and “Trust Agents” should be the foundation to growing your business online. They are a must read for anyone who is serious about building your business by using the power of social media.

Here’s How YOU Can Win the Glisten SmartPhone! A $380 value.

Hewlett Packard has teamed up with Hware! Their representative contacted me (Brenda Horton) a few weeks ago and asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing their new iPAQ Glisten Smart Phone. After my review, I am going to give one AWAY! All you have to do to be eligible to win is sign up for Hware’s Demo on Social Media. When you click on the link it will take you to a page that will ask you for your name and e-mail address. By entering your name and e-mail address you will have a chance to win! And as an EXTRA BONUS, YOU will have access to our “Getting Started with Social Media for Small Business” Online Training Demo, which I highly recommend you take advantage of  because it is filled with key strategies on how to use Twitter, Facebook and Blogging to grow your online presence. That’s it! It’s that simple!

Oh! Be sure to follow me (Brenda Horton) on Twitter closely and become a FAN on Hware’s Facebook Page as I tweet about the HP Glisten over the next 2 weeks. The contest ends on March 17th midnight Pacific Time. The winner will be announced on March 19th!  The winner will be notified by e-mail and posted on Hware’s FAN page and Brenda’s Tweets! Applies to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: Brenda Horton of Hware is not receiving any financial gain from Hewlett Packard and her review is strictly her own personal opinion of the SmartPhone.

I am a firm believer in selling through education. And, there is no better way to inform and educate your customers than through blogging.  That is why I have invited a few entrepreneurs over the course of the next few weeks to share with Hware’s readers how they are using their blog to expand their online reach to attract more customers. You will find that you don’t need to be a Chris Brogan or Seth Godin in the blogosphere to be a success. You just need to take the first step. We would love to hear what steps you are taking to start your blog if you have not started one already. What are some of your fears or concerns about blogging? If you are an experienced blogger, feel free to jump in and share your advice. We are all here to learn from one another. Please share your thoughts with us. ~ Brenda Horton, President of Hware

This is a guest blog post from Mary Anne Davis, a jewelry designer of  Madison Design Jewelry

The beauty of internet-driven marketing tools is they are very inexpensive (often free) to utilize in helping build our businesses. I am launching my jewelry business on a very tight budget. What started as a hobby quickly turned into a business — it still surprises me when people want to buy my handmade earrings or necklaces. So how do I use the internet and social media to market my jewelry? I have a Facebook “fan” page for Madison Designs Jewelry, where I post my blogs and an occasional message to my fans about a new design, or a “special sale for fans only”.  Because I’m trying to be careful not to over-sell,  I keep my blog postings to once or twice a week. I think a good rule of thumb (for me) is to market 25% of the time I post, blog, or tweet.

I spent some time thinking about what to write in my blog that wasn’t just a huge “buy my jewelry” message. I came up with what I think is the perfect balance — blogging about a different gem stone each time. I tell the folklore about a particular stone, and keep it strictly informational. Of course the photo I use depicting that particular stone is something I’ve made and is available on my website. But other than that, it’s not a big “buy me” message, and I have had people respond well to that.

I recently started using Twitter (www.twitter.com/maryannedavisnc) where I post my blogs with the gem stone stories, but I also comment on other tweets and other things I do. I purposely did not put the name of my jewelry company into the Twitter account title because I didn’t want it to limit what I could talk about. I am also a photographer and occasionally like to post about that as well. (To view some of my photos, www.maryanne.imagekind.com).  Having my name as the title keeps my options open.

You don’t have to have 25 years of marketing experience to use the social media to your advantage. There are some great experts out there who can help guide you through the sometimes confusing technology. None of us have to do everything ourselves — the best entrepreneurs are the ones who capitalize on their strengths and outsource everything else.

Mary Anne Davis

Nevada City, CA, United States

See Mary Anne’s blog at www.maryannedavisjewelry.blogspot.com

Getting Started with Social Media for Small Business

As a courtesy to Hware’s blog readers, we want to hip you to our popular online self-paced video training series called, Getting Started with Social Media for Small Business. Go ahead and try the Demo! It’s FREE!

Get Started Now with Free Demo!

No software to download. No Dvd to install.

5 Reasons You Should Check Out Hware’s FREE DEMO on Social Media:

1. You cannot afford to waste another moment while your competitors are using social media to grow their business.

2. You are frustrated and overwhelmed with understanding how to use social media to grow your business.

3. You want to learn specific key strategies and methods to using social media to sell more of your products and services online.

4. You want to harness the power of Twitter (fastest growing social networking site), Facebook (400 million users), and Blogging (powerful tool to communicate with your customers) to generate more sales and revenue.

5. Social media is the cheapest and fastest way to connect with your customers online and you want to learn the tools, tactics, and strategies to build a trusting long-term loyal customer base who refer more customers to you.

Are you already using social media to grow your online presence? Feel free to share with us how you are using it to grow your business online.

As an online business training and software company, we often get a lot of  small business owners who come to us asking to help them grow their business online.

So I have put together 7 tips on creating an online presence for entrepreneurs:

1. Have a long term perspective about your brand. Word travels fast on the internet so be intentional about your activities online.

2. Do some market research. Find out where your customers are hanging out online and start contributing to the conversation using social media. If the majority of them are on Facebook, then start networking with them on Facebook. The point is to be highly targeted when connecting with your prospective customers online. Otherwise, you can easily waste a lot of time.

3. Put a simple marketing plan together. Putting your intentions to the written word is a powerful exercise that will help you achieve your goals. Be sure to include an action plan. Keep it simple by writing out who is responsible for what by when.

4. Play to your strengths. The point here is to keep it simple by doing what you are good at. Don’t make it so hard on yourself. If you are great at writing, then start a blog. If you are great at speaking, then start vlogging (video blog). Start with one thing that you are good at and then incorporate another thing once you’ve got the first one down.

5. Join industry groups online. There are a gazillion like-minded groups and industry associations on the internet. Check out what your industry is doing online and be sure to connect and network with your colleagues. You never know when a collaboration can turn into something that is mutually benefitting.

6. Track your results. By measuring the outcome of your actions you will see where you need to make improvements to get the results you are looking for. There are a ton of measurement tools on the internet to track your web traffic. Google analytics is a good place to start.

4 Tips to Getting Started with Social Media:

1. Understand your Target Audience – It’s not the entire 2 billion people on the internet. Get laser-focused on who they are and where they hang out online.

2. Know your Target Audience’s problems, challenges, and concerns. When you understand this, you will be in a much better position to help them.

3. Be a Solutionary! Yes, it’s a made-up word. Bring a solution to their problems in a revolutionary way. Today’s economic times requires that you address their issues with creativity and innovation. How does your product/service solve their problem?

4. Make it easy for them to find you online using social media, search engine optimization, blogging, etc.

Not having a Social Media Plan is like going for a long Hike in the Mountains without any Food and Water.

The point is that you may survive, but it will be a very challenging and frustrating experience that could have otherwise been avoided. In my last post, I wrote about how planning starts with a VISION. In this post, I want to emphasize the importance of PLANNING. When most people think of planning, they yawn, BORING! Who wants to get boggled down with details?! “Let’s just go for it, make it happen and we will adjust along the way. Besides, it’s more fun and adventurous to have some spontaneity in our lives!” I swear, I used to say that and believe that with all my heart, and I still do in some areas of my life, but NOT when it comes to business. Unfortunately, I have had to learn through too many failures to understand why PLANNING is key to a successful business. So let’s dive into some key factors that are fundamental to having a solid social media plan. For the purpose of this blog post, I will be referring to small businesses:

• Know your target audience – Who are you selling to? Who’s attention do you want? Let’s narrow it down further. What  is your buyer persona?  That means, what are your buyers’ preferences, tastes, likes and dislikes. For example, my company, Hware sells software tools that help small businesses. Therefore, I look for entrepreneurs, and Work-at-Home folks to connect with online and try to make myself useful to them. I am laser-focused on the kind of person I want to interact with online. It’s  not that I don’t or won’t engage with anyone other than my ideal client, it’s just that I am very specific and clear about who I need to be talking to online for my business. More importantly, if your target audience is not online, then you are wasting your time being online. You need to be where they are. That’s where market research comes in.
• Spend some time doing some Market Research – It is crucial to find out where your customers hang out. Are they on Twitter or LinkedIn? Are most of them not using social networking sites and still prefer e-mail? The point is that you need to have a clear understanding of where they are so that you can communicate with them.  Occasionally, I enroll my online audience in surveys, which gives me insight into what they need. I then provide them with the results of the polls. By engaging my audience and asking for feedback, I gain tremendous knowledge on who they are, what their challenges are, and how I may better serve them. Here are a few online survey tools: Poll Daddy,  Survey Monkey and Twtpoll (for Twitter). The surveys need to be short, simple and convenient for the participant, otherwise, they will be reluctant fill it out.

• Know your online STAG: I call these your Strengths, Talents, Attributes, and Gifts. You must find and own your STAG and become like the beautiful statuesque male deer I live with here in the foothills of Northern California. They know their own power and beauty.  They grace the land with great ease and confidence. When you know your STAG, you will attract, engage, and be like a magnet to your online Fans, Friends, and Followers. When you are clear about your STAG, it will show in your energy, your presence. We all feed off of each other’s energy and your customers are no different. They will know if you are moving with ease and confidence and when you are putting their best interests first and foremost. (I will write more about STAG in future blog posts.) An example of using your STAG is let’s say that you are better at talking than writing; then perhaps you may want do more vlogging (video blogs) than blogging. The point is that you are playing to your strengths and when you work from a place of strengths, it always much easier.
• Remember that your Social Media Plan - should come under the umbrella of your marketing plan and your marketing plan falls under your business plan and your business plan should be part of your long-term strategic plan, (which I will write about in more detail another time.) So many people get overwhelmed with social media, but it is important to keep things in perspective. Social media is just one aspect of your overall business and as an entrepreneur/self-employed, you wear many different hats – social media is your marketing hat.

On my next blog post, I will delve into more detail about social media planning. I will be writing about some specific automation tools to help systematize and simplify your online presence.

Brenda Horton is Co-owner of Hware, a software company that designs business planning tools for small businesses. She will be hosting a FREE and LIVE Webinar on Social Media STRATEGIES for beginners on September 2nd.

If you would like to be a subscriber to Hware’s blog click on Email or RSS.

Your PLAN must start with a VISION.

I stopped by my Realtor friend’s office yesterday and she shared with me how she felt overwhelmed with all the social media stuff. She said that she did not understand what the Acid Rain website was all about. I said, “You mean, Active Rain.” A social networking site for the real estate community. If I were a grain of sand for everytime someone has said that to me, I’d be a beach. There is so much confusion and curiosity about social media. It is a HUGE topic that makes people feel like it is one more thing — like a necessary evil that they have to learn. I feel their pain. That is why I am writing a series of blog posts specifically for the social media newbie.

Begin with the END in mind.

Let’s put things in perspective. As with all big undertakings in life, you need to have a PLAN. Why do you think the planning industry is so BIG; event planners, wedding planners, financial planners; retirement planners, meal planners, life coaches, fitness trainers…you get the picture. Having a social media plan for your small business, start-up, or your non-profit is no different. Your PLAN needs to start with a VISION: Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish with social media? Some people want to use it to grow their business. Some people want to just connect with friends. Non-profits may want to reach their donors with it. The point is that you need to start with the end in mind. What is your intention? It’s important to understand that social media is about networking, as in building relationships and making friends. After people like you and trust you, after they have become your friends, then it is much easier to ask them to buy from you or donate to your cause.

Are you social media conscious?

On my next blog post, I will write in more detail about creating a VISION for your social media plan. I’ll give you a hint. It starts with your target audience, your buyer persona, your ideal client profile.  In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your social media plan if you already have one. Even if you say, “I don’t have a plan, I just like observing and reading what people are saying on the different social networking sites.” That’s is okay too. The fact that you are conscious about what your intentions are with regards to social media is important to identify and understand. I realize this stuff sounds so obvious to those who are power users of social media, but I’m trying to help newcomers to social media connect the dots and make some sense of it. Please make comments on the blog post and let me know if you found this post to be useful.

Brenda Horton owns Hware, a software company that designs easy-to-use web-based, business planning tools for entrepreneurs.

She will be giving a webinar on social media for newbies next month. Be sure to sign up for her blog for notification of the upcoming webinar at www.hware.com/blog

Join Hware’s FAN page at www.Facebook.com/HwareFB

Mastermind Meeting

Monday Mastermind Movers and Shakers

Lately, I have been getting a lot of inquiries about my mastermind group, so I thought I would share my personal experience with my current mastermind group without divulging confidential information.  Everyone has different reasons for business masterminding. They range from networking, accountability, brainstorming, collaboration, support, guidance, sounding board, different perspectives, cheer-leading squad, inspiration, the list is varied.  The main reason I started my mastermind group was to help one another stay focused on building our business using social media. Focus is one of the biggest ongoing challenges many entrepreneurs have. A mastermind group is excellent because of the accountability factor.

Invite more than you want because not everyone will stick

The mastermind group I am currently in started in March 2009 and will continue until late August 2009, a six month commitment. We meet twice a month (every other Monday from 2:00-4:00 pm PST.) I invited 8 people and 4 people made the commitment. It is best to invite more people than you want because not everyone will be able to make the commitment.  At the end of six months, we will reassess to decide if we want to continue for another six months. We will also decide if we want to open up the group to others by inviting them to join. Ideally, it is best to have a minimum of four people and a maximum of eight. We meet in person, although some groups meet via teleconference or the web.

Mastermind Groups must have Focus

The focus of our Mastermind group is “How to grow your business using social media.” We rotate the location of the meeting each time as well so that a different member can host it at their location.  As the leader of this Mastermind group, my role is mainly a facilitator. I start the meeting by having everyone take three deep breaths so that we can get centered and focused. Each person has about 20-30 minutes to talk about their business.  Every meeting ends with the host providing an inspiring quote, video, musical piece, etc. It’s important to end the meeting with an upbeat tone so that people leave feeling good.

Mastermind Groups must have some guidelines

This is a summary of the agenda that I use as a guideline to facilitate our mastermind meetings:

1. Start with something you are grateful for. Gratitude is very important in a mastermind group. It is very easy to dump all your negative stuff on people you are close to but this is not the place. The purpose of the mastermind group is to help brainstorm solutions, not vent on everyone.

2. Review what you achieved from the last two weeks. What have you learned that you can share? What is your “aha?”

3. What are your major challenges right now? What can we do to help you move onto the next step so that you can reach your goals?

4. What is your action plan between now and the next time we meet?

5. What are you doing with social media to grow your business?

Mastermind Group should have members who are helpful

During the week that we do not meet. Each member checks in via phone (10-20 minutes) with a partner. It’s important to partner with people who have skill sets that are complementary to one another. For example, you don’t want to have two techie guys as partners. The techie guy will be better served with someone who has excellent sales and marketing skills and vice versa. The same principle should apply to your overall members of the group. For example, I don’t think it is a good idea to have all sales and marketing women in the group. There are plenty of other professional groups for saleswomen to network. It is best to mix it up with gender and professional skills set. Invite people who you think will bring balance, helpful, committed to their business, and is respectful to others.

What does it cost to belong in a mastermind group?

Lastly, I don’t charge for my mastermind group. I realize some group leaders do charge and that is part of their revenue model and that is absolutely okay. For this specific group, I have chosen to make it FREE. I have also decided that if we continue for an additional six months, I should not be the lead facilitator. I want to give other people an opportunity for a leadership role.   Are you in a Mastermind group? Perhaps your group is very different from mine. I would love to hear about it. If you are not in a mastermind group and would like to start your own, feel free to ask me a question.

Brenda Horton is the owner of Hware, a software company that desgins online business planning tools for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits.

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