When Walton Search made the shift this summer to offer more services to small businesses mainly in Social Media marketing and Web Development there was a concern that it might take some time to develop that side of the business. To our surprise it was the complete opposite. Small businesses are recognizing the need to build and maintain their online presence. We thank everyone who has referred our services and look forward to seeing all of the continued successes of those we have assisted.

If you are new to Social Media or are a small business considered developing your strategy please consider giving us a call. In the meantime, think Social Media is just a fad? Check out this video….

I came across this visual post from David Steel of the Steel Method LLC and though it was a great quick, simple and fun visual for building and maintaining networks for small businesses using social media.

Via: The Steel Method

After a number of years as a recruiter, I have to remind myself at each networking event or party that it takes time to become good at networking. It’s a skill some people seem to be born with but for the large majority of people it is a never ending learning process that can be even a little scary in the beginning.

To overcome the early obstacles there are things you can do as a new networker:

• Take and extra few minutes the day of the event to get caught up on current events, headlines, movies or books so you can insert yourself into conversations that might be happening on these topics or stock pile yourself with something to talk about.

• Practice your elevator pitch. One the way to the event practice some questions and answers out loud to yourself. It sounds silly but it gets your mind moving in the right direction.

• Many networks have current members listed online. Sift through them and see if there is anyone you want to meet or learn a little about them ahead of time.

• Get to the event early. It’s easier transition to go into an almost empty room rather then when it’s full of conversation. By doing this you also almost turn into a greeter and get to meet the first group of people one on one.

• Bring a pen with you to quickly jot down information about people on the back of their business cards before you drive home. Be sure to follow up with and email or other introduction.

• For more experienced networkers keep an eye out for shy or new networkers who might be trying to join a conversation. If someone stands next to you in a conversation ask the other person to “hold that thought” for a minute and ask for the new person’s name. Be sure to introduce them to the others you are talking to. It will make them feel more at ease.

Planning might not always make perfect but it might help you be more successful at your next networking event.

Look forward to seeing everyone at an event soon!

A few months ago was the Social Recruiting Summit held by ERE hosted at the Best Buy headquarters in Minneapolis, MN. I would have loved to attend but although I could not fit the travel into my schedule I was lucky enough to see many of the wonderful presentations streamed live via the internet. Even after the conference we had access to some of the slide presentations through SlideShare. The presentations were full of great content and an excellent learning opportunity even for those of us who did not attend. This experience made me think of other non-traditional learning avenues that are worth exploring.

Though I don’t commute for work any longer I actually do not mind long car trips due to what I call “Auto University”. There is an actual educational program out there called Auto University about cars but what I am talking about is my audio CDs of seminars and book reviews. Most commutes are filled with listening to a little Howard Stern or some NPR but what a great place to learn or soak up a book. Don’t have a lot of time to listen to an entire book? Check out Executive Book Summaries where they break the book down into easily digestible concepts and reviews. Can’t attend a seminar in person? See if there is a recorded event on YouTube or an iTunes podcast. Visit SlideShare to see if their presentation is posted online. Search for webinars online. If you can’t make the live presentation ask if the webcast will be recorded. Many times it is.

Life is a continual learning process, what have you learned today and where did you learn it?

Most people have heard of the 30 second commercial or elevator pitch, meaning you should be able to meet a person and pitch what you can do for them in between getting on an elevator and the doors opening again. Good elevator pitches are well practiced, concise and clearly articulate what you do.

The truth is it doesn’t matter if it’s a business offering a service, a candidate submitting a cover letter and resume or the Boy Scouts selling something outside of the local Wal-Mart. Most people have a short attention span until you have “hooked” them into listening longer.

This past week I had the pleasure of sitting in on an excellent business seminar where throughout the day the participants were able to come to a clear objective of what their business could offer. Not only was it easy to ascertain what they could or couldn’t offer me but the clearer they were and the more they had their statement down the more confident they were in what they were saying.

Here are some tips on getting your own clear objective.

• What is your product or service you offer?
• Who is your target market?
• What can you offer that no one else can or what makes you stand out from competition? What is unique about you or your service?
• Make sure it is clear of too many ten-dollar words or industry jargon. You can go into details afterward but remember people may have other things on their mind, you need to catch their attention quickly be sure it is understandable.
• Is your pitch compelling? Remember you are just setting the hook. The next step is a further conversation or in the case of a resume to read further.
• How can you customize it to different audiences?

Once you have your pitch put together, write it down, and repeat it as often as you can until it becomes second nature. The more you have it down the easier it will be to customize it and the more confident you will be the next time you go to a networking event, on an interview or better yet stuck in an elevator with just the person you are trying to impress.

One of the first things people signing on to Twitter or Facebook ask is how to keep up with all of the content coming through the content streams. The more people you follow the more tweets and comments to read. The real answer at least for me is you don’t read them all but there is a way to manage the stream and filter through to the important stuff you want to read to remain active with your most important contacts.

The best way to do that is by using a social web browser such as TweetDeck. TweetDeck combines all of your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, FourSquare and Google Buzz into one stream of content. Instead of signing into different accounts it allows you to read, sort, respond to all of your connections in one spot. TweetDeck also has a large number of other time saving and useful features such as spell check, tweet and URL shorteners, even a mute button if you have an active commenter you want to not see for awhile. Tweetdeck is also available via iPhone and iPad.

Seesmic is similar to Tweetdeck and offers a number of similar features such as image and URL shorterners. Seesmic also works on BlackBerry and Android Smartphones.

One of the most useful features of some of the social browsers is the ability to sort your users into lists. If you were doing a job search you might want to create different columns for the companies and people you are following or keep tabs with recruiters you may be working with. You can also create columns by keywords and you could create a column based on the job title you are searching for. Unlike doing a search once for users you might not be following, a search column keeps a running stream of content from users you may or may not be connected with. In other words you do not need to be connected to continue to follow their comments as long as their posts are public. As with job seekers this is an excellent tool to user for businesses to keep an active eye on what is being said about their company and be able to interact with possible leads. 

Some other applications you might want to check out include:

Flock – Flock runs as a side bar and makes it easy to drop and share content you view on the web with you connections.

Yoono – Yoono is a great Firefox add on now available for Windows to maintain your connections and includes other chat platform such as Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, MSN Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger . Almost a must for heavy Firefox users.

Hootsuite  – Hootsuite offers some additional useful tools such as analyzers, Wordpress intergration and the ability to schedule tweets. It also allows multiple users to be able to gain access to a company profile. A great tool for a company to have if you want to have someone consistantly available to monitor and respond to comments.

Are you using a social browser currently? We’d love to hear about and what tools you find most useful.

Today I introduced another one of my colleagues to Google Reader or as I call it “My Personal Newspaper”. If you already have a reader I hope you’ve scrolled down the right side of our blog and added us but for the rest of this post you may want to skip. If you aren’t familiar with RSS Feeds you might be missing out on a large internet time saver.

Do you have a ton of bookmarks on your desktop to sites you constantly visit? Ever see that nice orange box (or circle on this blog) that might even have RSS listed next to it? RSS Feeds (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. An RSS Feed Reader is an application that captures the web content as it happens. So if you ever go to a number of websites check for new things then, click on the next one and so on, this Reader would save you time by just delivering you the new content as it becomes available in an easily digestible format you can sort through.

For a great little overview of RSS that is easy to understand visit this YouTube video by commoncraft.  Happy Reading!

I took this photo in a session led by Mark Magliocco during MarketingCampPhilly a few weeks ago. Mark asked a great question and led a lively good discussion started with the question….Are You a Brand? You may have a company or work for a company that you consider a brand but in reality we are all walking talking personal brands. There are a number of blogs popping up every day devoted to this concept such as Brand-Yourself and Personal Branding by Dan Schawbel dubbed the “personal branding guru” and author of bestselling book Me 2.0.

So how does this play into your career or business? Reading a post by Libby Sartain on Brand For Talent entitled “How Would This Look on the Cover of the WSJ?” reminded me that whether you like it or not everything you say and do is interpreted in person and online. This affects not only the company you work for or respresent but your reputation as a personal brand.

Growing up in a small town word travelled fast. Everything I did I would sometimes have to ask myself…What would my family think if they knew I said or did something? Nowadays that word of mouth is now the world of mouth, news good and bad, can travel not only within your town limits or your “friend” circle but around the world in a blink of the eye. Company reputations and brands can be lifted or ruined in a matter of days. If someone wants to know about you or your past they can easily research it online.

So next time you think of blasting that nasty email about a colleague, talk poorly about your employer or even make an unwise choice in your personal life, think…Is this something I would want posted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal? Is this something that best represents me to future employers or clients? And of course…What would mom say?

If leaving for a better opportunity, moving to a new position can be an exciting time and most likely most of your focus but don’t forget to put as much effort into your departure as you do into your new opportunity. A few quick tips on making a professional exit:

• Don’t burn any bridges. You might be surprised to find some of your old co-workers or managers moving over to the same company as you.
• Handle exit interviews with tact. Be honest but this isn’t a time to unload.
• Finish projects and wrap up any loose ends. Don’t leave a project dangling upon your departure for someone else to complete. That is the last thing a co-worker might remember about you.
• Keep the details of your departure to a minimum. Leave your contact information with colleagues you might want to keep in touch but discuss your new position off company time.
• Leave things organized and cleaned out for your replacement. Think of how you are hoping to walk into your new position and keep this in mind with how you leave things for your replacement.

Neurosurgeon – Texas

We currently have an immediate need for an experienced Neurosurgeon in the Texas Panhandle region. This is a hospital supported solo practice. Income guaranteed, relocation and overhead support to start from hospital. There is a large referral base for neurosurgery services and practice need in this Texas region. For more information please contact Shannon Myers, Managing Partner Walton Search, at (215) 793-4892 or by email shannon@waltonsearch.com.