The sad truth is, my mailbox isn’t always filled with questions from my vast readership. I assume someone is reading this column, since publisher Norm Rosinski hasn’t replaced me with an advertisement or a column dealing with holistic human resource management. But evidently, I don’t generate enough controversy to elicit more than the very occasional reader response. So I’m forced to make up my own reader mail (hey, it works for Doonesbury!). Perhaps these are the questions you’ve been dying to ask. If not, drop me a line.
Dear Mike: What should my business be doing about social media? Do I need a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a blog?
Actually, a friend of mine (a local commercial architect) asked me this question the other day. Here’s what I told him: I don’t know. It really depends on whether you have something worth saying and if anyone you care about (such as clients and potential clients) is likely to listen when presented with information through one of these channels.
The world doesn’t need another blogger saying the same thing as everyone else. On the other hand, you can perform a valuable service by providing useful information clients wouldn’t otherwise hear about. For most businesses, building an email list and periodically sending useful stuff to it is a proven approach to building business.
And your audience may not be listening to social media. Certainly, things like Facebook and Twitter seem more appropriate to consumer-oriented businesses than to professional services like architecture. Ask yourself: Who buys your product or service? Which (if any) social media services do they frequent? My friend is probably better off getting mentioned in NorthBay biz than building a Facebook page.
My advice was to take a look around the social media space and see what other people in architecture are doing. For example, who are the most prominent “architecture” bloggers? What are they talking about? Do you have anything to add to the conversation? And it’s a good idea to look at what leading architects (and your competitors) are doing. Finally, you need to evaluate your level of interest in using social media tools to communicate with others.
Speaking of social media, let’s take a look at the next item in the mailbag:
Dear Tech Talk: What’s the best strategy for using LinkedIn?
The recent LinkedIn IPO has raised awareness of this networking site for business people, which recently added its 100 millionth member. One of the big attractions is its basic features are free, and they’re really all you need to make effective use of it. Having a LinkedIn profile shows you’re keeping up with technology, and I recommend you set one up if you haven’t already.
Kurt Shaver of The Sales Foundry coaches people on how to use LinkedIn, and he provides a simple strategy for building your business with it. Using its advanced search feature, you can identify members who match your “ideal customer,” such as CFOs (title) in the printing business (industry). Then limit those matches to LinkedIn members who are “second connections,” meaning they’re a direct connection of one of your direct connections. Finally, ask your connection for a referral.
The problem with LinkedIn is there are two ways to use it. You can be “promiscuous” and connect with everyone who requests a connection. While this is a way to look well connected, it basically degrades the value of each connection. The alternative is to be highly selective and only connect with people you’re willing to refer. To me, this approach makes more sense and increases the value of each link. On the other hand, it can be tough to explain to people you work with why you won’t connect to them on LinkedIn.
Dear Mr. Duffy: How can I get you to write about my company in your column?
First, send me an email that reads like it was written by a real human being, not a PR automaton. Second, be relevant to business and technology. Third, please understand that I don’t write about companies that aren’t doing business in the North Bay. Fourth, for gosh sakes, be interesting. Most of the people I mention in Tech Talk I’ve met under casual circumstances and found them to be interesting enough to write about.
Dear Tech Talk: How can I impress my coworkers with my technical savvy?
Probably the best way is to switch your browser from clunky old Internet Explorer to Google’s super-fast Chrome. If you spend any amount of time using web-based tools, it really pays to be using the fastest browser you can.
It’s easy to make the switch by visiting www.google.com/chrome and downloading it. Chrome will import your existing Favorites, which makes it even easier. If you don’t like it, of course, you can always go back to using Internet Explorer (at least make sure you’re running the latest, best version, of Internet Explorer, IE9, which looks suspiciously like Chrome).
Another impressive trick (for Windows users only) is to double-click the title bar of a window to maximize it, instead of hunting painfully for the little “maximize” button at the top right. If you’ve never seen it done, it looks pretty magical. Go ahead, try it!
Finally, do yourself a favor and learn some easy shortcuts. It always pains me to watch people typing into an online form take their hands off the keyboard and use the mouse to move the focus (where typing appears) into the next box. The Tab key moves you forward through the controls on a page, and Shift-Tab moves you in the reverse order, keeping your hands on the keyboard. Also, when presented with a dialog box where the buttons are labeled “Yes” and “No,” you can just press the “y” or the “n” key instead of using the mouse to click the button.
Dear Mike: What are your favorite things?
Sunsets, adoring mail from my readers, fluffy bunnies and another completed column. Hey, thanks for asking!
