Shame on you if you’re seriously looking for my advice on this matter. I am a social media user who , as fellow LinkedIn author Viveka Von Rosen would say, is a “promiscuous networker.” I virtually meet and connect with a lot of other people in the world. It is a virtual connection to establish potential that I have been talking about ever since I published my first Windmill Networking book in September of 2009. Over the years, with the advent of open networking platforms like Twitter and Google Plus, many of us are much more promiscuous online than we …
read moreNeal Schaffer
The founder and editor-in-chief of Windmill Networking, Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses and professionals strategically leverage the business potential of social media. A Forbes Top 30 Social Media Power Influencer and creator of the AdAge Top 100 Global Marketing Blog Windmill Networking, Neal is a popular social media conference speaker who is also known for his two award-winning and critically acclaimed social media books: ”Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing” and “Windmill Networking: Maximizing LinkedIn.” As a leading social media strategist, Neal has created social media strategies and coached implementation for companies ranging from a Fortune 50 software company to a Grammy-award winning musician with one million social media fans. Neal on Google+
Neal Schaffer's Posts
As I was flipping through the inflight magazine on my recent All Nippon Airways (ANA) Brand Ambassador trip to Okinawa, Japan, it was a pleasant surprise to see the below article: I’ll translate it further below, but for the sake of this conversation, let’s just say that ANA is very clear as to what content you can expect to receive should you Like the All Nippon Airways Facebook Page. Instead of simply saying, “Please Like our Facebook Page,” I always tell my clients that they need to give a reason as to why present and potential customers should Like their …
read more
“Maximizing Your Social” is all about fully leveraging the opportunities that social media holds for your entire enterprise. While most companies seem to be stuck on simply using limited social media channels for social media marketing or marketing communications, there is a new generation of enterprises that are using social media in a broader and more integrated sense to truly humanize their brand, better communicate on a one-to-one basis with stakeholders and influencers, and, for lack of a better word, reap the many benefits of simply participating in the conversations all around us for . I had the chance to …
read more
Our social media for the hospitality industry expert Debbie Miller has already touched upon how destinations can better leverage social media. However, if you think about it, how are you not only going to get people to come to your destination, but also where are you going to have them stay or eat? More than anyone else, destination marketers should be reaching out to ecosystem partners and joining forces in being proactive in engaging with relevant and active social media users. I recently participated as a Brand Ambassador for All Nippon Airways (ANA) on one such “brand mashup” between ANA …
read more
As influencer marketing has risen with the likes of Klout Perks, exclusive Kred events, and the rise of Social Media Brand Ambassadors, there is one thing that strikes me as contradictory to the whole concept of social media marketing: If social media is about creating long-term relationships of value, why do so many companies target influencers for one campaign and move on? As others who read this blog already know, some of the contributors here, including myself, have been the recipient of exclusive giveaways through Klout, Kred, PeerIndex and direct outreach from brands. What’s interesting, though, is that rarely is …
read more
This blog post has been a long time coming, and today I was reminded once again of the general misunderstanding that the public has regarding Google Plus with a tweet like this: Now, I’m not trying to pick on anyone in particular here, because social media is all about communication and the exchanging of ideas and information. It’s a valid question that I get asked a lot, and the most common thing I hear from savvy business people who might be more active in other social media channels yet stray away from Google Plus is, None of my friends are …
read more
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of easypromos. All opinions are 100% mine. Every social media marketer would be foolish not to want to try to leverage the viral aspect of Facebook and achieve greater visibility for their presence on Facebook. When you think about it, that can be done in a number of ways: Promoting your Facebook presence outside of Facebook to invite your present customers, partners, and employees to Like your Facebook Page Writing for engagement with your present Facebook Fans in hopes that the engagement from every Like, Comment or Share will go …
read more
Having written two books on LinkedIn, I naturally get asked for my opinion every time LinkedIn adds new, or deletes old, functionality. But instead of writing this post about what I think about LinkedIn discontinuing LinkedIn Answers, I wanted to instead tell you how I respond to all change in social media. And while I really dislike provocative, finger-pointing blog post titles, hopefully by the end of this blog post you’ll see some truth in what I’m about to say: LinkedIn is evolving – are you? Let me first provide you some background with what I see are some truths …
read more
It’s the beginning of a new year, and as our thirst for social media education and learning best practices from other businesses is only on the increase, there’s no better time to start planning to attend the best social media conferences that 2013 has plans to offer us than now. In this annual list (click here for the 2012 best social media conferences list), I am not attempting to make a list that is inclusive of each and every social media conference that exists; on the contrary, as a social media speaker myself I want to hand pick those conferences …
read more
Many small businesses spend time on Facebook without realizing what they perceive to be a good return on their investment. On the other hand, there are many other small businesses who are afraid to invest more resources into the platform fearing that it will be a waste of time. While there’s no lack of Facebook marketing advice in the blogosphere, there’s no better person to provide that advice than a company that has been successful at using Facebook as its primary marketing channel. As you will see below, it turns out that with a step by step approach that they …
read more
Every year I share my own experiences using WordPress plugins to run Windmill Networking to help you make your own website more social media optimized, SEO friendly, and even help convert more of your visitors into new leads. I say “website” because WordPress is not just for blogs: As a CMS, WordPress powers one of every 6 websites on the Internet, nearly 60 million in all, with 100,000 more popping up each day. Everyone’s particular experience with WordPress will be different, but since I’ve always run a content-heavy site, I’ve become obsessed with increasing the performance of how quickly this website …
read more
LinkedIn Endorsements. Nothing in the history of LinkedIn has created so much “buzz” in the online community as this newest feature. For those who know me, you’ll appreciate my perspective: 1) I don’t tend to waste time voicing a positive or negative opinion of the changes – they are what they are, and this is LinkedIn implementing their own vision that we will all have to adapt to, and 2) I usually like to have some historical perspective before I blog on anything new, similar to how I didn’t blog about the new LinkedIn profile user interface before I had a …
read more
Welcome to 2013! Now that you’ve read all of the “best of 2012″ and “predictions for 2013″ posts, it’s time to take a fresh look at your social media operations and optimize for the new year. A social media audit is part of any social media strategy consulting that I do, but to give you some simple advice as to what you should do to further improve on your social media presence, ask yourself the following 10 questions: Social Media Platforms 1) Are your activities on the various social media websites aligned with where your target customers are spending their …
read more
We are always looking for new insight as to how we can be better utilize social media for our business. We have more choices than ever from which to learn about social media, whether it’s a Social Media MBA program like the one I help teach at Rutger’s University, the ever-growing number of social media conferences, or the numerous social media books that have been published. On a daily basis, however, it is the blog posts of individuals, and a growing number of companies, which might have the biggest impact on our understanding of social media. As the mission of this blog is …
read more
In what has become an annual tradition for this blog, the time has come to take a look back at the incredible additions that many authors have made to our understanding of social media from a wide variety of perspectives in 2012. My initial list featured 15 best social media books of 2010, followed by increasing the number listed to 25 for my best social media books of 2011 post. While I could have easily increased this list to 30 or even 35, I wanted to instead concentrate on only those books that I feel truly add value – and therefore …
read more
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you’ve probably noticed a LOT of new changes coming out of LinkedIn. I do free monthly webinars on LinkedIn, and I now have to spend the first 5 to 10 minutes just updating all of the attendees on all of the recent changes that LinkedIn has undergone since the previous webinar – just a few weeks ago! Considering that LinkedIn profiles are the most viewed pages on LinkedIn, and your profile page really is every professional’s starting place to claim and create their own professional brand, the new …
read more
If you haven’t noticed, Windmill Networking has become a community blogging platform with contributions from those that I consider true thought leaders in their fields. Take our Google Plus contributor, Mark Traphagen, for example. When Mark and I first “met” online, I was already impressed with his content and the early coverage he was receiving in the blogosphere for his G+ blog posts. Since then I have seen how Mark has almost singlehandedly leveraged Google Plus for his personal branding to become an established thought leader in the space. We’ve talked numerous times on this blog about the value that …
read more
When I present on Facebook as part of my social media workshops, I introduce a number of Facebook tools for business that I would divide into the following categories: Application platforms (for Facebook contests, etc.) Tab creation apps (for customized content iFrame tabs) Analytical applications Posting applications The subject of this post, Post Planner, is a posting application that I have always introduced together with its “competition:” Facebook and Buffer. True, you can also post to Facebook from a number of other social media dashboards such as HootSuite and Sprout Social, but Facebook, Buffer and Post Planner work at a …
read more
Is it time for you to get started using Pinterest? By now the answer should be a resounding yes! Although some naysayers initially decried the platform as being unnecessary considering the other options out there, social media marketers were quick to discover that Pinterest could generate an incredible source of website traffic – and income. Rebecca Dillon was one of those business owners who saw the potential of Pinterest. Her handmade shea butter soaps shop at www.soapdelicatessen.com and related blog are getting massive traffic from Pinterest. “In the past week I got 17,824 hits to my blog from Pinterest and my …
read more
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CDW. All opinions are 100% mine. Recently I had a chance to present on social media for IT professionals at the 2012 SOTEC conference. I made the point that, with the advent of social business, every internal department deserves a “seat at the table,” and it would be the responsibility of IT executives to make decisions that could determine the fate of their company’s social media implementation. To help those in attendance, and based on my social media consulting experience, I presented on the following seven trends that are …
read more
