More and more marketers are taking advantage of Foursquare, the location-based social networking game. Nationwide companies like Bravo and Starbucks have tapped into Foursquare’s marketing genius by offering users added incentives to engage with their brands.

What is Foursquare?
Foursquare is a smart phone app and website that works by letting the user tell the app where they are and sending that information to the user’s friends. All users need to do is “check-in” via SMS, mobile app or website. Using the Foursquare mobile app, users can automatically check-in and post shouts based on where they are and what they’re doing. Users can also find friends, search venues, earn badges, become the mayor of a venue and add friends.

Are any Milwaukee companies using Foursquare?
AJ Bombers
AJ Bombers has become a popular hang out for Milwaukee Foursquare users. On “Foursquare Day,” AJ Bombers partnered with Foursquare to develop special opportunities to pack the bar and restaurant with Foursquare users. The bar and restaurant attracted 231 people to their venue throughout the day, and experienced some of their longest wait times. You can read more about how AJ Bombers leveraged Foursquare here.

Stack’d Burger Bar
Stack’d Burger Bar entices customers with their Foursquare specials. Foursquare users can take advantage of happy hour all day, every day when they show their server they’ve checked-in. The mayor of Stack’d also receives a free burger!

Other Milwaukee businesses like the InterContinental Milwaukee Hotel and Molly Cool’s Seafood Tavern are using Foursquare to offer special discounts and deals to patrons.

How can I start using Foursquare to positively impact my business?
The first thing you should do is Google your company to see if you already have a Foursquare presence. For instance, the Harley-Davidson Museum would Google: foursquare.com/venue Harley-Davidson Museum. When you find your venue you will be able to see how many times people have checked-in, the number of people who have checked-in and who your mayor is. You may discover a Foursquare fan base you didn’t know about.

Once you know how and if people are using Foursquare to interact with your business, you can decide how integrating Foursquare into your current communications and/or social media plan will work best. Depending on your goals there are three main ways to interact with consumers on Foursquare.

1) Work with Foursquare to develop a special
Many restaurants and bars offer new mayors a free drink or meal when they check-in. Others encourage repeat visits by offering customers deals or specials every time they check-in.

2) Work with Foursquare to create a new badge
If your company has multiple locations, you may be able to develop a special badge. For instance, Starbucks worked with Foursquare to develop the “Barista” badge. Users earn the Barista badge by checking-in to five different Starbucks locations.

3) Create your own Foursquare account
When you create your own account on Foursquare you can become friends with your consumers, learn where they are checking-in most frequently, learn who is at your business at what time and let consumers know where you hang out. All of this allows for increased interaction between you and your consumers.

We all know “people like that.” You know, Harley-riding rebels or Nike-wearing heroes or Chevy-driving regular guys. There are so many different types of people in the world – or just in our circle of friends for that matter – and each of us is motivated by something specific. To satisfy that inner motivation, we all employ different strategies. In the same way, so do brands.

Not unlike each and every person on the planet, brands are motivated by one of four things: Stability, Independence, Mastery or Belonging.* Can you identify with one of these motivations personally? What about your company? It gets a little murky at this base level of brand construction. However, one of these four motivations is, indeed, what drives you and brands forward.

Let’s say you long for stability – you want or need to make everything OK. Well, there are a few different strategies that can satisfy you:

1. The Caregiver. Like a mama bear with her cubs, or a dedicated nurse by our bedside, this archetype creates stability through comfort. Think Johnson & Johnson, Campbell’s Soup or Bob Hope. A caregiver brand’s goal is to help others. Is it yours?
2. The Ruler. When things get dicey, do you feel compelled to “grab the reigns” and control the situation? If so, you may be a ruler. Companies like Microsoft, Cadillac and CitiBank express themselves as large and in charge.
3. The Creator. This archetype needs to create something of enduring value. This is the innovator, the entrepreneur or the writer. They make the world stable by giving form to a vision. Williams-Sonoma, Lego and Kinko’s are all creator brands.

But maybe you’re independent; maybe your brand represents paradise, deep understanding or free-spirited exploration. Try these archetypes on for size:

1. The Innocent. Somewhere in this world, there are spots that still hold the magic and romance of a perfect world. We find these spots at Disneyland, or while drinking a Coca-Cola, or watching a Tom Hanks film.
2. The Sage. From the Buddha to George Carlin to the New York Times, the Sage seeks to uncover the truth. These brands use quality intel to understand the world around them.
3. The Explorer. Some brands need to see things for themselves. They discover themselves through adventure and experiencing life first-hand. These brands include Starbucks, Jeep and Homer’s “The Odyssey.”

Say those six archetypes just don’t seem like you. There are six more to try on for size. If you are more about making a mark on the world before you go, these characters could appeal to you:

1. The Magician. Making dreams come true is the goal of this icon. Like a spa in a nice hotel, Harry Potter movies or MasterCard, this archetype transforms us into something better.
2. The Rebel. Want to make some noise in the world? Why not tear down the status quo and blaze a new trail like Harley-Davidson, MTV or Jack Daniels. If your brand is revolutionary, it just might live here.
3. The Hero. One of our most-loved icons seeks to help others and improve the world. If your customers identify themselves as good and moral, you could be in the same crowd as Nike, The Olympics or the Marines.

Then again, your inner motivation could be simply belonging with other people. Does your brand make connections on a personal level? Check these archetypes out:

1. The Lover. Godiva Chocolate, Victoria’s Secret and Sofia Loren all desire intimacy and sensual pleasure. These brands represent the promise of sexual appeal and indulgence. Is your corporation up for some?
2. The Jester. Let’s live in the moment with full enjoyment. Let’s have a great time and lighten up the world. If these are your thoughts, you may be like Pepsi, Ben and Jerry’s or Captain Morgan Rum.
3. The Regular Guy/Gal. Throw on your Wrangler Jeans, hop in your Chevy pick-up and let’s go to the union hall. These brands are down-to-earth, friendly and without pretense.

Each of these 12 iconic types of people and brands wrap up who we all are here on Earth. Where do you fall personally? Where does your company or organization fall?

B+L employs the use of archetypes as a part of brand personality analysis within our Brand ALIVE process. It’s a fabulous way to manifest your brand soul. The stages of brand/customer relationship become a concise blueprint when you understand and embrace the singular voice of one of these archetypes. At least that’s this Hero’s opinion.

* Much of this information can be attributed to a wonderful book called The Hero and the Outlaw, Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of Archetypes by Margret Mark and Coral S. Pearson.

I’ve pretty much given up explaining my job to people at cocktail parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs.  However, every now and then I get drawn into a conversation that begs for a more detailed response than “I’m in marketing.”  Typically, the doctor/lawyer/cable installer I’m talking to has only the vaguest idea of what an agency PR guy actually does every day and it raises their eyebrows to learn that I spend a good chunk of my time trying to influence news media coverage. Occasionally, they’ll wink conspiratorially and ask how they can get on TV or in the newspaper like my clients do. At that point, of course, I hand them a business card …and the conversation usually shifts to sports or politics or the girl in the black dress.  But for those of you who really want to know, here are six simple tips for free. You don’t even have to buy me a drink.

1. Know the difference between an ad and a press release – Surprisingly, many people don’t. While there is neither the time nor space to fully cover this topic here, suffice it to say that releases should have a news angle to them…not a sales angle. Before you write it, ask yourself if your news is really, well, news.  If so, go ahead with the release, but try to write it in a journalistic voice, using inverted pyramid format. Keep it brief and to the point. Keep an AP Stylebook handy. And keep ad/brochure language out of it, as that will turn off reporters and editors. Also – here’s a tip inside of a tip – if your boss insists on including sales-y language, turn it into a quote. That way you’re presenting it as someone’s enthusiastic opinion, not a ham-handed attempt at an objective news statement.
2. Tie into a trend – By itself, your news may not rock an editor’s world. However, if it ties into a larger trend, you may be onto something.  Suggest your product or service as an example of how a national trend is playing out locally and you could get rewarded with lots of ink or airtime.
3. Tie into a current news peg – Huge new stories have an incredible ripple effect, spawning dozens of smaller, related stories.  If you can connect your news item to the bigger picture, you may be in luck. You can also anticipate news coverage based on seasons and holidays and plan accordingly.
4. Know the media outlet – A press release on a new industrial automation product probably isn’t going to be of interest to Time or Newsweek unless it plays into a larger story or trend. Sending it blindly to them is like hunting with your eyes closed – ineffective at best and potentially dangerous. However, the same release could be of great interest to a trade magazine covering industrial automation.  Always make sure you are familiar with the media outlets you are targeting…or don’t target them.  Waste their time once, and you’ll be junk-listed forever.
5. Know the journalist’s beat – An obvious corollary to #4.  Even if you are targeting the right media outlet, you may be going after the wrong reporter or editor.  In many cases, media outlets will readily identify reporter’s beats. But even if they do, take the time to research the reporter and read/watch his or her stories. Follow them on Twitter. Friend them on Facebook. Being able to reference a reporter’s recent work will not only show you have a clue, it will stroke their ego. Both are good things.
6. Respond quickly to media requests – If you’ve successfully piqued a reporter’s interest, don’t blow everything by taking all day to get back to them.  Reporters don’t care if you’re out of town, on vacation or chaperoning Little Sallie’s field trip…if you can’t get back to them within two hours or less, they’ll simply call someone else who can provide the same information.

Love her or hate her, Sarah Palin attracts media attention. And it’s apparent from the attention she garnered around the November release of her book, “Going Rogue,” that she’s more polished and prepared for the media spotlight than she was when she was stumping for the McCain ticket.

And regardless of your feelings about the woman and her politics, you have to agree she’s a cautionary tale for the importance of media training. (Remember her horrifically embarrassing interview with Katie Couric? When she couldn’t even name a single newspaper she claimed to read? How she couldn’t manage to at least spit out “The New York Times” is beyond me.)

Far and away, the most important things to do before you face a camera or a microphone are to prepare… and then practice, practice, practice.

Here are B+L’s Top Five Tips for Avoiding Palin-Like Media Missteps:

1. Find out why you are being asked for an interview. (Make sure you’re the appropriate interview subject.) Get answers to at least these questions:
• Which specific topic(s) will be covered?
• What questions could be asked?
• Length of interview? Live or recorded?

2. Identify two or three key points you want to emphasize. Determine what it is you want to convey. View the interview as an opportunity to tell your story.
• Summarize each key point in a sentence or two and commit them to memory.
• Come up with an interesting short story or two to illustrate your message.
• Assume little or no knowledge by the interviewer.

3. Practice.
• Find a colleague who can play the role of reporter.
• Make sure you can give your answers in a way that is genuine and in your own “voice.”
• Ask your colleague to give you feedback. Better yet, videotape the mock interview so you can see where you need to improve.

4. During the interview, stay mindful of your body language. It can speak volumes.
• Smile, be pleasant even if it is a negative issue.
• Maintain good eye contact. Shifty eyes won’t serve you in the court of public opinion.
• Exude confidence but not arrogance; be sincere and enthusiastic.
• Whether standing or sitting, keep your weight centered and don’t fidget.

5. Stay in the game.
• Once you’ve given an adequate answer to a question, stop talking. Too often people dig their own holes.
• If you honestly can’t answer a question – for whatever reason – tell the reporter, “I’ll need to get back to you with that information.” Don’t try to fudge an answer on the spot. THEN MAKE SURE YOU DO GET BACK TO THEM.

Bottom line: A media interview is an opportunity to tell your story and to build a relationship with the media. Your handling of an interview can pay dividends or leave you at a deficit.

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”
– Mark Twain

Like Mark Twain, direct mail may have been written off a bit prematurely. In fact, given the growing pervasiveness of spam filters, direct mail is probably poised for a comeback. At the very least, it offers marketers a nice complement to e-mail direct marketing. In the right circumstances, it can yield spectacular results – as one of our clients experienced recently.

Several months ago, automotive lock manufacturer Strattec hired Boelter + Lincoln to help launch its new BOLT series of locks at the world’s largest automotive aftermarket trade show. In developing a plan with them, we quickly agreed that the primary goals of this effort were to drive potential retailers to the Strattec booth at the show and get product samples into their hands. Considering there were nearly 2,000 exhibitors sprawled through three huge halls at the show, this would be no mean feat.

Rather than reaching out to convention attendees via trade pub advertising or e-mail, we chose direct mail, for several reasons. First, we felt a three-dimensional direct mailer would convey the concept of the product (a lock that opens with the owner’s car/truck key) better than a two-dimensional e-mail. Secondly, we wanted to get something tangible into their hands to drive booth visits – in this case a “credit card” that offered a free sample lock. Third, we were able to purchase a very, highly qualified list of show attendees. Finally, we knew that direct mailers typically have far greater deliverability rates than mass e-mails do.

The results? Of the 1,400 show attendees we sent the mailer to, nearly 350 brought their card to the booth or went online to get the sample lock. That’s a 25 percent response rate, or nearly 10 times what’s typically considered successful. Better yet – to quote Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum – nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. The constant booth traffic generated by the mailer attracted other show attendees, and the overall leads generated at the show exceeded the client’s admittedly optimistic goal of 500 by more than 10 percent.

So when are the circumstances ripe for direct mail, versus e-mail? Here are a few general tips:

• Use direct mail when you need to tell a story about your
product or service.
Use e-mail if the message can be kept very short. (People typically have less patience with direct marketing e-mails than regular mailers.)

• Use direct mail for a smaller, more qualified list.
Use e-mail for a larger, less qualified list. (Perhaps the biggest strike against direct mail is its cost, so if you’re not so sure about the quality of your list, don’t go there. In this case we were able to qualify that recipients were not only show attendees but were also in purchasing-related positions.)

• Use direct mail if you want to put something in the recipient’s hands.
Sure you can e-mail coupons or certificates, but we knew that something more tangible – in this case, a pseudo credit card – was more likely to be put into a wallet and kept than a print out.

• Use direct mail if you have enough lead time.
Use e-mail if lead time is short. In Strattec’s case, we delivered the printed mailing pieces (about the size of a small paperback book) to the mail house just under a month prior to the show and the mailing went out two weeks prior.

• Use direct mail with an older, less techy audience.
Since more retirement age Americans are online than ever before, this argument is definitely losing some credence. But it still holds true in most cases.

We know that “social media” continues to be hot topic. There are hundreds of seminars and conferences dedicated to the subject. There are also hundreds of books detailing the need for businesses to understand how social media can (or more importantly will) impact them now and in the future.

If you read only one book on the subject, we highly recommend “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Amazon.com recommends it, too. In fact, Trust Agents has been recently named to its “Best Books of 2009 – Top 10 Books: Business & Investing” list.

As you start reading this book, you will realize that Trust Agents isn’t written just for business owners. Anyone who has a role in marketing will discover information that is relevant to them. There are detailed “ACTION” steps in the book that will help you to establish your reputation, to build and share influence, and ultimately, to enhance your bottom line. And that’s what we all want, right?

If you have a blog, Facebook profile or Twitter account, you may be on your way to becoming a trust agent. Why not pick up a few extra tips along the way?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on Trust Agents. You can Follow us on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook.

On the surface, being a creative person in advertising is an opportunity to show your true self. Writing or designing is inherently expressive and free of corporate norms otherwise reserved for people in suits. And this is largely the view of ad agencies as a whole – fun, energetic spirits brainstorming on modern furniture.

But the truth is a bit more “buttoned up” as they say.

The truth? We represent corporations, CEOs and the interest of stockholders. The work we do is on behalf of growing business for our clients. It’s not about us, or our personal agendas, it’s about women in Chicago with 2.5 kids and household incomes of $80K or more. But don’t get me wrong, expressing the wants and needs of others does hold an exceptional opportunity for creativity – it’s why I smile each day when I stroll into work.

Just don’t get confused, my job isn’t about creating art, it’s about problem solving. And though personal insights, opinions and favorite colors do influence the ads we create for others – we are acutely aware of who’s paying the bills, and most importantly, the integrity of the brands they stand behind.

But from time to time, as both an individual as well as an agency, you long to scream your own beliefs with your own voice – to fly the ubiquitous freaky flag.

And many agencies have fostered “inside projects” ranging from gallery night shows to allowing their creative staff use of company equipment for personal expression. It’s something B+L has done in the past from time to time. But lately, this topic has grown into a dialogue about giving back to the world – an opportunity to show off our capabilities through the free speech of employees, or outsiders for that matter.

And it’s no surprise – we’re really in the entertainment industry, right? It’s what we do best for the brands we represent, so why stop the show at the boardroom door? Why not add a little extra beauty to our media stream? One does make the other stronger after all.

I won’t say it’s the responsibility of agencies to give some love back to their communities (sans the sell message), but at B+L, we feel pretty strongly about it.

So don’t be shocked to see some non-client driven creativity kicked outta here. In fact, we’re tossing around some ideas to help facilitate the independent visions of some young artists as well. It’s our contribution to the collective gallery of the world. And we’d love to see this catch on – as art programs in schools decline, maybe more corporate capabilities can pick up the slack. We’ll keep you posted…not to mention, entertained.

“Ghostblogging” is a red-hot topic in social media circles, with many experts railing indignantly against it. As someone who has been ghostwriting client speeches, soundbites and quotes for nearly two decades, I’ve followed this conversation with great interest…and, admittedly, some amusement.

The argument against ghostwriting revolves around authenticity and transparency. Blogs, it is felt, should reflect a personal voice and personal opinions, as opposed to company policy. Furthermore, blogs should be used to start a conversation, not broadcast in one direction. If you’re not willing to engage in that conversation, the argument goes, you shouldn’t be blogging.

While I mostly agree with these arguments, I do have some reservations. Obviously, it would be ideal for a company’s top-tier spokesperson to write their own blog with eloquence, insight and regularity, and, in the process, gain followers and position themselves as an industry thought-leader. Unfortunately, many chief executives have neither the time nor inclination for such an undertaking. So where does that leave us communications people, who are typically charged with establishing their client or boss as an industry thought-leader? Here are a couple of ways I’ve found to get them to commit to becoming an online voice for the organization:

1. Prepare a list of “hot topics” that are generating chatter within your industry (and perhaps are being blogged about by competitive company CEOs). Ask your chief executive to pick several and then make brief outlines of his/her thoughts on them, from which you can develop a draft blog post on their behalf. Those drafts would then be reviewed and tweaked by the executive, hopefully with the addition of the executive’s commonly used words or phrases (“voice”). This model parallels the procedure typically used for the drafting of speeches, statements, releases or any other form of communications.
2. Create an editorial calendar of topics, based on both buzz-worthiness and timing/seasonality specific to your industry. Here, once again, follow the outline-draft-redraft-finalize model.
3. Have the executive write rough drafts of a series of blog posts for you to edit. Once you’ve shortened and sharpened those drafts, they go back to the original author for final approval and one more look before posting.

Again, the crux of the argument here is the need for blogs to be written in the blogger’s authentic voice. While I agree that is absolutely vital, it isn’t unique to social media. If anything, it is even more crucial in speechwriting, since there the client not only has to be comfortable with their comments, he/she has to actually deliver them to an audience. That’s why good speech writers have always studied the mannerisms, vocal inflections and metaphors used by their clients…knowing that drafts which didn’t accurately incorporate those nuances would come back needing massive revisions. Whenever possible, I meet in person with the executive I’m writing for. Short of that, I watch video of them speaking.

Another suggested downfall of ghosting is that a top executive might be caught in an embarrassing position if asked about a blog he/she didn’t actually write or read. Although that “outing” scenario definitely would be a nightmare, I honestly can’t imagine it happening. In 20 years of doing PR work, I’ve never had a client who’d allow me to send out a comment attributable to them without having read and approved it first.

(NOTE: Twitter is a whole different can of worms…and one I won’t open here. Look for a pros/cons discussion of “ghost-tweeting” in the next B+L e-newsletter.)

The bottom line? In my opinion, the job of the corporate communicator remains essentially the same as it has in the past – to distill the essence of a company’s positions (and its CEO’s) and articulate them as clearly as possible. Whether that process requires simple topic research, light or heavy editing or even full-blown ghostwriting is determined on a case-by-case basis…but in no scenario should it be done in a vacuum, or without full knowledge and acknowledgement from above.

I’m an easy-going guy – 98% of the time. I enjoy a good laugh, I let people merge into traffic. But then there’s the other 2%, when the smallest things drive me nuts. Like NFL pre-game shows or forwarded e-mails commanding you to follow asinine instructions. Things like this usually fall victim to one of my diatribes – I have a soapbox and I’m not afraid to use it. And one thing that really gets me riled up; that angers me more than any of the aforementioned is…Hardee’s. Yep, the middling fast food chain that’s too dumb to die.

I can go on about the ills of this greasy albatross. How everything they cook actually does taste like chicken or that each restaurant looks suspended in 1974. As troubling as funky fries and out-of-date décor can be, my biggest problem is that their brand is focused solely on stereotypes. They assume we’re all non-informed, sugar-water guzzling, calorie-consuming knuckleheads – whether they’re pushing a 1,400-calorie hamburger or serving fried bologna biscuits. Like anyone would purchase a fried bologna biscuit without a double-dog dare.

I’ll give them this for such prolific pandering though – they don’t try to hide it. If you look at one of their recent TV spots, this isn’t hard to figure out (sexual innuendo be damned). Hardee’s is blatantly selling sex. Just take a look at this video starring Padma Lakshmi, of Top Chef fame, enjoying something called a Western Bacon Thickburger.

CKE Restaurants Inc., parent company of Hardee’s Food Systems Inc. has also received some negative publicity about a campaign promoting their new “biscuit holes”. A chairman of their biggest franchisee made his dislike public prompting the following statement:

“CKE Restaurants, Inc., owner and franchisor of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants, adopts a creative approach to our advertising. It is intended to communicate the core message of our premium quality food to our target audience of young, hungry guys. We do not aim to exclude or offend any other group with our efforts, but merely to appeal and amuse a very specific audience. We understand that not everyone may view our advertising the same way and we respect all views. With respect to the referenced commercial for Biscuit Holes, the spot is only airing after 9 p.m. Our franchisees have the opportunity to provide input on which commercials will air in their respective markets and can choose not to air any that they might have a particular concern with. There are no present plans to drop the ads.”

It’s like they raided the Jay Leno Comedy Vault and found the “lowest common denominator playbook.” Don’t get me wrong – I’m the farthest thing from a prude. I’m a guy who giggles like a child whenever I see a chimp dressed in human clothing. It doesn’t take much to make me laugh…heck, I’m a young, hungry guy.

And though this bothers me unbelievably, the strategy seems to be a profitable one. CKE Restaurants Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit at the beginning of this year… So maybe this knucklehead should just line up for some B-holes himself.

You’ve listened to the talking heads and read the articles. Social media is here to stay and if you don’t jump in now you might get left behind. However, if you didn’t grow up IMing (that’s instant messaging) or creating MySpace profiles, the world of social media can seem quite daunting. Which brings us to the question, where do you begin? Before you grab the nearest 20-something and tell them to get on Twitter there are a few steps you should take first.

Step 1: Listen
It sounds simple enough, but many people rush into social media without taking the time to familiarize themselves with the space. If you and your company are new to social media the first thing you should do is monitor what’s being said about your company and industry.

One of the simplest ways to do this is by setting up Google Alerts. Google Alerts allow anyone with an e-mail address to receive an automated keyword search of recent news stories and blog posts. For example, if you work for Midwest Airlines you may want to set up Google Alerts for “Midwest Airlines” and “Milwaukee airlines.”

Other tools you can use to monitor social media include:

• Search.twitter.com – This search engine shows you what people are saying on Twitter in real time.
• Technorati.com – Use Technorati to do in depth blog searches and find out which blogs are the most influential in your field.
• Facebook – If anyone in your company has a Facebook profile they can easily search for people, pages, groups and events related to your company. A quick search for Midwest Airlines came up with three pages of information.

Step 2: Develop a plan
Once you’ve taken the time to monitor or listen to online conversations you are ready to develop a plan of action. (Note: This does not mean you can stop listening!) Throughout step one you have probably noticed that people are talking about your company and industry in more places than others. These are the communities you want to make sure you are a part of.

When developing your plan, identify your goal for engaging in social media. That is, what are you hoping to accomplish? Then, make sure it’s clear who is responsible for which tasks and what is expected of them. In many cases you will need to participate in your social network several times a day to make it successful.

Another helpful tip is it’s better to be involved in one social network and do it really well than be involved in several and execute them poorly. Don’t sign-up for more than you can handle! You can always add more social networks. Try starting with one or two.

Step 3: Join the community
Now that you’re actively listening and have developed a plan you are ready to join the online community. As you engage in conversations make sure you think before you post. As they say, Google is forever. If you are slightly uneasy about saying something online it’s probably best not to say it at all. Also, do not use your social networks for the sole purpose of pushing out marketing messages. If you engage in the hard sell people will quickly tune you out. Make sure you are providing value to your online community, whether it’s by sharing useful links, answering questions or providing a service.

Are you still hesitant? B+L can help you begin the listening and planning process.