I sucked at blogging for the past few months. There I said it. I have been so overwhelmed with writing a book and working with clients that I just let it slide. In addition, I found myself tweeting my thoughts, where I should have blogged them. One of those thoughts was how companies can use social media in their B2B efforts. So, I took those thoughts and put them into list form, because people like lists.

- Share lots of photos, and ask your fans to share photos on your different networks. Facebook’s photos are some of the most powerful tools out there.

-Be strategic and pay attention to signal vs. noise. There is nothing worse to a consumer than having businesses shout at them.

-Create content that can go mainstream (outside your industry bubble) and monitor which posts attract the most “Likes” and feedback.

-Share your industry’s articles and blog posts on your social networks.

-Write your updates/posts to have a call to action – give the user something to do after they are finished reading. Ask questions that do not have a simple answer like “Yes” or “No.”

-Use tagging strategically when you can. Try to engage businesses by their location and even language as well. Oh and don’t forget the mobile users.

-Make sure to let your company show its human side and show the diversity and uniqueness of your team.

-Share exclusive and simple behind-the-scenes information.

-Make it easy to share your calls to action and offer incentives.

-Note your post frequency and timing. Find out what time they do best.

-Know your audience well, and when you make a mistake, quickly own up, do right by your audience and fix the problem.

-Integrate your website broadly with Facebook Connect.

-Find the resources to respond to your fans’ questions and inquiries.

-Make sure to hold real-world events.

-Try to always respond to comments. Yes, even the negative ones.

-Find synergy with other organizations and entities, and then work together to promote each other’s content so that everyone benefits.

What are some of tips and tricks you use in your B2B marketing?

Meet Antonio Sabato Jr… you may know him from such things as General Hospital, Melrose Place, Rizzoli & Isles, CSI:NY, Scrubs, Ugly Betty, My Antonio, Modeling and of course from his very active Twitter account.

Antonio was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to do an interview about his current projects and use of Social Media.

I don’t mean to bug you, no really, it is not my normal style. My oldest is now on Facebook, I know right? So he discovered the Popchips, Vice President of Pop Culture contest. In short your voting for someone to be the VP to, well President Ashton Kutcher. See, Ashton is the President of Pop Culture… here..

just see his video.

What I am asking is can you please go HERE and vote for our video? I would really appreciate it. Ill owe you, maybe some Popchips? Also, be warned, you can vote once ever 24 hours, so I might bug you a few times. Dont worry contest ends March 9, 2011.

Hey, thanks.. You ROCK!! Really, you do! Oh, if you want to tweet it feel free

Dont forget to click the button to vote!

UPDATE: Currently in 7th place out of 180 videos!! Thank you all so much! Here are 2 new videos my kids made for the contest. Please keep your votes coming!

You may know her from her countless appearances on such TV shows as Melrose Place, Matlock and The Sentinel, as well as her series regular roles on Dark Skies and Shark. There is no doubt that you know her best for her role as Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager!

That’s right — actress Jeri Ryan is my guest this week!

Jeri and I discuss how she got into acting, what it is like being on Star Trek, what she thinks about using Twitter, how she likes interacting with fans and her thoughts on her upcoming show Body of Proof on ABC.

Listen Now!

How thrilled was I when I got the chance to interview Kathy Ireland this week? Yes, the former model and actress Kathy Ireland, who is now also a wife, mother, Sunday school teacher, Chief Designer and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide. The Wall Street Journal recently acknowledged her company as a $1.4 billion design empire. Pretty incredible!

In the audio posting below, Kathy and I discuss how she went from supermodel to CEO, how her company works and the very cool Chef Andre. Of course we discuss her use of social media and   I also ask her some of the questions you asked via Twitter and Facebook.

Listen Now!

Let’s think about why people are so into social networking sites, or to ask a better question why are people into social activities at all? They’re doing two things. They are expanding the group of people they know, and they are…drumroll please… having fun! No one wants to go to an event to be bored. They can do that at home. They go somewhere to have fun. Social networking sites are no different.

Even Linkedin, the so-called Professional networking site, is recognizing the need for more entertainment value with its features. They’re now allowing blog and Twitter feeds to connect your other social media profiles and they’re expanding their group discussion platforms for more interaction. Will Linkedin ever have games like Farmville? Doubtful. Maybe we’ll see a cubicle puzzle or a flash paper toss game (doubtful), but for the most part they keep it pretty professional, and rightfully so.

My point is most people, the target audience of marketers, aren’t on these websites to be marketed to. Most people use social networking as a means of escape. They frequent these sites to sit back and let their brain rest for a few minutes. But in the process they are still that same person they are at work and they still have the same interests.  Maybe they’ll stumble across some cleverly designed marketing and might take a produce or service for a ride.

So here’s how to get past that “I don’t want to buy your stuff” wall that most people on social media sites put up.

Think of your social media activity like a party, and then compare that to how you handle your social media marketing right now. Most marketers just throw out their links every time they post a tweet, status update, group discussion topic, video, etc. How would this come across at a party?

Imagine someone just running around screaming at people about themselves and the products they sell. How would that come across? Would anyone want to talk to that person? Probably not. They’d get snubbed.

Now think of how an event networking veteran does their thing at parties and networking events. What does this person do to “work the room?” They strike up conversations. They talk to several different people. They share their stories. They offer assistance. They hand out freebies. THEN, after a relationship has been established, they do their elevator speech about what it is they do and how they can help. Or they ask their prospect to take the next step in their sales funnel. Sign up for my blog, newsletter, free trial, whatever.

Make sense? Are you starting to get the picture?

The same thing goes for social media marketing. The psychology of people is no different online than it is offline. On social media platforms make connections through DMs, wall posts, @mentions, group discussions, fan page messaging, etc. Hand out gifts that you know people want through these same distribution channels. Grow relationships this way before you start selling and you’ll be much more effective.

On top of getting more leads, you’ll also probably make some friends along the way who you can then leverage to help you get the word out about future deals, and vice versa. You’ll grow a partner network online, which can be a very powerful thing.

So take a step back and start viewing your social media marketing like a party. Even though some people use social media for marketing and marketing only, be smart about it. No one wants to talk to the person who is obviously just there to peddle their wares.

by Cody B Wheeler of cbwheeler.com
@CodyBWheeler

Meet Ryan Osborn. Ryan started as a Page, moving on to becoming a Production Assistant and now holds the role of Director of Social Media at NBC News. That’s right – Ryan gets to work with the NBC News teams and implement Social Media strategies. I would call this a dream job!

Ryan found time in his very busy schedule to discuss the use of Social Media at the network. You can learn more about Ryan here.

Listen to the audio version below or download a copy of the interview transcript.

Dear Pizza Hut,

I like Pizza. My 5 kids like Pizza. Pizza is good.  Getting the right experience is good. That being said, you have really let me and my kids down recently.

Let me back up and tell you the story.

Recently, my twins had their 5th birthday party.  We had about a dozen 5 year olds over for a party with a bounce house. Oh how they loved the bounce house.  Per my kids request I ordered Pizza Hut, not my choice of Domino’s ,because they like the stuffed crust. (Hey I like the crust to, but feel loyal to Dominos, plus they have a great social marking)

Being the tech savvy guy I am, I ordered my pies via your website, it was a very easy experience. So, far so good right? Well then the pizzas arrived. They were wrong., well 2 of them were. The other 4 were fine. We quickly adapted to the problem and moved on.

Then the following week my family wanted more Pizza Hut. One look from those kids and I gave in. Ordering pizza again via your Iphone app.  I went to pick up the pizzas and again, they were wrong. I worked it out with the person at the counter.

Now, being the calm cool guy I am I posted this:

To your credit your responded with:

and this:

I was impressed! I had thought, wow you really care! You listen! You monitor conversations on twitter. Also, I figured you must of saw these tweets:

So, I quickly sent you a direct message as you requested. Yes, I follow directions well. So that is where I think you really dropped the ball with the @pizzahut. See, I have not heard back from you in 2 days. Are you done with me? What was the point in having me contact you directly? I am just wondering. I would think you would want to respond to me, have me write a blog post about how you hit a home run with your use of social media. I would tweet about it and others would Retweet it. There would be great buzz on twitter about it.

Sincerely,
Dave (the guy whose family likes stuffed crust)

Dear Fast Company,

First, let me congratulate you on your monthly magazine. It is a magazine, I still look forward to getting every month (along with my bible, Entertainment Weekly). It is great to get a magazine that has reviews, comment and articles about people I actual know instead of, say, Spencer and Heidi.

I am writing you this letter because you, well, do not get it.

You put out this well-done resource with articles about new technology, design, leadership, blah, blah, blah. It was something that told me, “Fast Company is a resource that is creditable and a good source for things in the Social Media/Online area.” That was until yesterday, when I got invited to take part in your  “Influence Project.”  See, first I got this teaser email back in June:

Hi Dave, it’s Rebecca from Fast Company and I want to share with you a very new, soon-to-be launched project.

The project? It’s a fun experiment called The Influence Project that will visualize and track how active influence spreads, the reach of people’s social graph, plus it will map degrees of separation, etc. By participating in the program, you can more accurately measure your active influence on your networks.  Everyone’s photo will land in the pages of Fast Company plus interesting stories from the program will also be covered by the magazine as well as online.

We’ll ping you Wednesday with more detailed info. And for being one of the first to jump in, we’d like to give you something back. We’ll email you the link to the site the eve prior to launch to check it out.

Looking forward to seeing you in The Influence Project and feel free to get in touch anytime.

Best,
Rebecca

The Influence Project :: Fast Company

I thought, “Cool, I am looking forward to this amazing metric, new technology  and new way to measure influence. Wow, maybe they will give Klout a run for their money.”

Then I got this email:

Dave,

Thank you for participating in Fast Company’s The Influence Project.
You’re about to find out how influential you really are.

Your unique, personalized ‘influencer’ URL is:

http://fcinf.com/v/ase7/welcome

Click on the above link, and start influencing!

Remember:
1) You can use any means to spread your unique link to your online network.
We shortened it for you so you can share on Twitter and Facebook.
2) Your goal is to influence as many people to click on it as possible.
3) You want those people to sign up as well, since they will be spreading
your influence along with their own.
4) You can track how your influence has grown, where it’s lead, and where
you stand at any time on the site.
5) Your picture is going to be in the November issue of Fast Company
magazine, where we’ll reveal the most influential person online!

Thank you,
The Fast Company team

Ummmm…a link? You’re measuring influence by the number of people I get to click on a link? A lousy link? Are you kidding me? Is this a joke? I know — you’re punking me right? Where is Ashton Kutcher?

Oh, you’re serious… this is your great project?  Well, I  hate to break it to you. It’s flawed.  No, really, it is. See look…

If I have a network of 100 people and I get 100 people to click the “link,” but there is another person that has a network of say 100,000 people and gets 1,000 to click it, they have more influence? I am far from being a math wiz, but I do not see how that person has more “influence.” They have a larger network, but a smaller success rate.

Also, you are looking at influence being based on clicking a link? Did I mention that? I promise you that somewhere right now, someone is setting up a contest that says “Wanna have  a chance at winning $1,000? Just click this link.” Oh, and that link would be the influence project link. So they get to buy influence, kinda like Bernie Madoff.

Bottom line, you’re measuring influence on getting people to click a link. You are way off base.

Well, thanks for reading my letter.  I appreciate it.  Also, I was looking to renew my subscription and wondering if I can get the Fast Company clock radio this year instead of the blanket? Is that okay? I mean, I do not want to influence you into doing it…

Last year, I spoke at the 140tc in Los Angeles and had an amazing time. One of the best panels there was a celebrity panel put on by Dr. Drew. He lead the panel of: Tony Hawk, Loni Love LeVar Burton and others to discuss how they use Twitter. Afterward, I got to spend some time with Dr. Drew. I discussed with him, one thing that he had not asked. “Why they use Twitter and what is in it for the celebrity.”  He agreed and stated he had tried to get them to comment on it, but none of them would go there. This has always stuck with me.

So, that discussion has taking me here to this. Something I want to try. Interviewing others about their use of not just Twitter, because there is more to social media then just Twitter, but social networks, online branding, blogging, communities, and lots more.

I started by producing an interview with Heroes creator Tim Kring using Second Life last month. I moved on to a short interview with Yvette Nicole Brown of  the tv show Community.  Which brings me to the next interview I am going to do with actor Lou Diamond Phillips.

For this interview, I plan on recording the interview and posting here on the site. Nothing daring or out of the box I know. What I want to do is ask questions about his use of social networking sites, interactions with his community and such.

…But I need your help!

Lou has agreed to let me get the questions ahead of time from online communities or via my blog. As he put it, ” I think it is a great idea to include the Twitterverse.”

So, what would  you like to ask actor Lou Diamond Phillips? Here let me give you some ideas. I will do it in list form, becuase people like lists:

- How and why he uses Twitter.

-His online interactions with fans.

-Why he is not on Facebook.

-Maybe  about  his SyFy tv show Stargate Universe which just finished season 1.

-It could be  about something about La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, Young Guns, his stage work or even his poker skills

- His recurring role on Criminal Minds

I need your help to make this awesome! So bring it!

So leave a question here, send me a Tweet, leave it on Facebook.. heck email me. I will need them by June 25, 2010 and of course I will give you credit for the question!

Thanks in advance for your help.